Tag: Blog Income Reports

 

A blogger’s income report can fluctuate tremendously. I know this from living it.

Summer can be very rough because readers are on vacation or distracted by obligations. They are not online as much as when the kids are in school. So, if you saw your page views and income dip, you are not alone.

In this post, I am going to get really REAL with you. Ready?

The truth is… months like this can leave me feeling defeated.

I have friends who started blogging at the same time I did who make $10,000 a month. When I start thinking about how they have moved beyond where I am in my blogging business, it’s easy to get trapped in a mindset where I think something is wrong with ME.

Why can’t I make what they make?

What am I doing wrong?

Maybe I should quit!

Blogging, even with a network of friends, can feel very lonely.

You spend your days (and nights) pouring your heart into content that you hope will help someone.

When you need to learn something, you sit in front of the computer with earbuds firmly placed and watch a dozen videos. Or, you listen to several podcasts. Alone.

And while monetizing is a secondary goal for most bloggers, when the money doesn’t appear at the end of the month… you wonder if this is even worth the effort.

Or is it just me?

I can remember when I would be happy to make $400. I just wanted enough to break even at the end of the month.

If I could just make $400… that’s all we need!

Now, I consider myself an absolute failure if I don’t make at least $3,000 a month.

What happened? Am I less of a success when I make less money? Does falling short of a certain number make me less of an expert?

Absolutely NOT.

So why the feeling of defeat?

Perhaps my definition of success should not be based on a monetary value.

The amount of money most bloggers hope to make

Here is a wake-up call… Despite the stresses, you are among the most profitable of bloggers if you make $1,000 a month.

Um… yeah.

Yes, there are bloggers making $10,000 a month. Yes, they are awesome! Yes, I hope to be like them one day (and soon.) But, if you are making $1,000 a month then you are making exactly what some people are hoping for.

During a recent conversation in our Facebook group, I asked,

How much money do you need to make from your blog each month to feel successful?

I was shocked to discover that most bloggers would be happy to make between $100 and $1,000 a month. That’s it.

And here I sit… scratching my head and wondering why I feel depressed when I have what so many hope for, knowing that this $1,000 goal is easily accomplished.

$1,000 a month is more than possible

If you are reading along and thinking,

I would be super happy with a $1,000 a month!

I want you to know that this is more than a possibility.

To build a profitable blog you need three things:

1. Quality content that solves a problem.
2. Traffic to your blog.
3. A passion that will motivate you on the months when you don’t make a dime.

A little creativity doesn’t hurt either. (Emphasis on the word *little.*)

There is absolutely no reason why a blogger with 50,000 pageviews a month should not be making $1,000 a month.

And this is why I say that…

If you have an average of 50,000 page views a month, you could be receiving:

• $400 to $500 a month from Adsense (with specialized topics earning more)
• $600 from three sponsored posts a month
• $100+ a month in affiliate sales

Not to mention all the other income streams you could utilize.

What if you don’t have 50,000 page views?

If your traffic is not between 20,000 and 50,000 page views a month, you will struggle to make money blogging. Plain and simple.

Does that mean you should give up?

NO!

It took me one year (of knowing what I was doing) to make $100. Not a month. A full $100… in a full year.

The second year of blogging, I started seeing $100 a month. By the beginning of the third year, I was making $1,000 a month.

And while there are people out there who make much more money faster than I did, my story is the norm… because most people will not invest to learn what they need to know, and the time it takes to master growing and monetizing a blog slows to a crawl.

If you want to make money blogging quickly, you must do these things:

1. Learn as much as you can as fast as you can.
2. Write high-quality content and a ton of it.
3. Begin monetizing your blog with multiple income streams from day one.

You will not get rich quick by blogging. But, you can expedite your growth if you are willing to fully commit the time and effort it takes.

Blog Income Report – June 2016

InspiredBU represents Inspired Bloggers properties including this website, Inspired Bloggers University and the associated Facebook communities.

Meet Penny is the group of blogs I write under a pseudo-name, Penny. These blogs are lifestyle and food focused.

INCOME
InspiredBU Affiliate Earnings $50.00 (Siteground)
InspiredBU Product Sales $2,123.05
Meet Penny Affiliate Earnings $188.88
Meet Penny Advertising $762.13
Meet Penny Product Sales $58.23

Total Income = $3,182.28
June Goal = $6,000
Difference = -$2,817.72

EXPENSES
Advertising $740.58 (Facebook Ads)
Contractors $338.85
Paypal & Other Fees $108.51
Email Service $149.00 (ConvertKit)
Internet Service $194.13
Cell Phone Service $183.08
Audible Subscription $14.95
Post Planner $75.32
New Camera $960.44
Podcasting and Video Equipment $128.71
Office $199.83 (GoDaddy domain renewals, Canva, PicMonkey, Amazon S3, etc.)
Total Expenses = $3,093.40

Net Profit = +$88.88

My business mistakes

• Honestly, I don’t know if the Facebook Ads were a mistake or not. I followed models very closely and had experts review my ad copy. Each sales funnel and landing page were reviewed at least three times. But, nothing converted into profit. However, I did add email subscribers who may convert into sales later.
• My page views at Meet Penny have tanked, sending my advertising income into the toilet. June is always a terrible month for page views but I can’t help thinking that spending so much time focused on Inspired Bloggers is hurting my other blogs.

My business successes

• I posted new content to the Inspired Bloggers blog five times AND posted new content at Meet Penny and Frugal Family Favorites. Granted, the recipes at FFF are hired content but using a ghost writer is helping me maintain balance as I have elected to focus on Inspired this year.
• You might not consider this a success but… I do! I invested in my family. My children decided to launch their own YouTube Channel. So, I purchased a new camera, sound equipment, and lighting to help make their business a reality. The expenses almost put me in the hole for the month but we are having so much fun on this summer project as a family.

Subscribe and get the Blogger Income / Expense Report for FREE.

When I first learned that you can make money blogging, I was astounded. “How is this possible?!?” I wondered and began learning as much as I could. With a lot of time with Google and YouTube and the help of fabulous bloggers who generously invested their time and information in me, I have successfully doubled our family’s income. To prove that you can do this too, I share my blog income reports each month.

Since my income is diversified between two types of blogs, I divide my income and expense report so you can see that it is not just bloggers who teach blogging that make money. Lifestyle, homeschool, DIY, food, fashion… whatever your niche, you can be a profitable blogger.

As a matter of fact, if you look closely at the numbers below, you will notice that my “regular” blog brings in almost the same amount of income as my “how to blog” blog.

Multiple streams of income

When you study a blogger’s income report, look for where the income originates.

I have mentioned before that profitable bloggers have multiple streams of income. For me, those avenues include:

• Self-publishing to Amazon Kindle
• Passive sidebar advertising with Adsense and 3rd party networks
• Creating my own products and connecting them to sales funnels with ConvertKit
• Maintaining affiliate relationships with others who have created awesome products
• Soliciting sponsors through direct relationships
• Accepting sponsored campaigns through 3rd parties like TapInfluence
• and more…

If my income streams were meshed into a flowchart, my revenue sources would be buckets and under each would be multiple contributors to help fill each bucket.

Just in case you were wondering why I do not use affiliate income to generate revenue from Inspired Bloggers… I want you to purchase my products and not someone else’s stuff that might appear in 3rd party advertising on my website.

Blog Income Report – May 2016

InspiredBU represents Inspired Bloggers properties including this website, Inspired Bloggers University and the associated Facebook communities.

Meet Penny is the group of blogs I write under a pseudo-name, Penny. These blogs are lifestyle and food focused.

INCOME
InspiredBU Affiliate Earnings $8
InspiredBU Product Sales $3,730.75
Meet Penny Affiliate Earnings $328.44
Meet Penny Advertising $2,669.24
Meet Penny Product Sales $108.02

Total Income = $6,845.44
May Goal = $6,000
Difference = +$845.44

EXPENSES
Advertising $97.62 (Facebook Ads)
Contractors $413.90
Paypal Fees $140.69
Email Service $149.00 (ConvertKit)
Internet Service $194.13
Cell Phone Service $183.08
Stock Image Membership $99 (GraphicStock)
Audible Subscription $14.95
Office $207.25 (GoDaddy domain renewals, Canva, PicMonkey, etc.)
Total Expenses = $1,499.62

Net Profit = +$5,345.82

My business mistakes

• My products perform really well but I think I am probably missing income potential with affiliate sales. Don’t be surprised if you see more of my affiliate links coming soon… in a completely non-spammy way, of course.

My business successes

• FOUR sponsored posts through TapInfluence. I love this company so much! They allow you to choose your fee for sponsored content and only send you offers from brands willing to pay your asking price.
• I went back to the business plan that I knew worked. It’s okay to try new things. It’s also okay to go back and do what you know will work with your audience when new plans fail.

Register as a Free Inspired Bloggers University Member

Join the Inspired Bloggers University and find the Blogger Income / Expense Report on your profile page.

Not a member? Join for FREE.

April was the perfect storm of expenses and low income, making this month’s blogger income expense report anything but perfect. In fact, these numbers are so bad that it is tempting to close up everything and go work for someone else instead of striving to be a financially independent blog-preneur.

But is it possible to make money blogging? Yes. Through blogging, I have managed to more than double our family’s income. This year I committed to prove it by sharing my blog income reports each month.

Just ignore this month’s discrepancy.

The majority of bloggers will never incur these kinds of expenses.

Why is this month’s blog income report so terrible?

Travel expenses

My trip to speak at a blog conference in April was the most expensive I have attended. Not including airfare, my hotel, cab fare, and meal expenses were over $1,000.

What you might not realize is the majority of blog conference speakers are paid NOTHING in exchange for their service. In most situations, the speaker must also cover their own travel expenses and accommodations.

Specialty Equipment

When Katch announced they were closing shop, I had to move quickly to move my 100+ Periscope broadcasts or lose them forever. I purchased a huge external memory drive.

Specialty equipment can be a HUGE expense and is best purchased when you can budget and plan ahead, but sometimes the unexpected happens. Thankfully, most bloggers will not require a lot of high-price equipment.

This month, I had to invest in new equipment AND pay for annual updates on existing services like my subscription to WebinarJam. Ouch.

Sponsored Post Expenses

April also brought a surge in sponsored posts, requiring an investment into the ingredients, events, and other items necessary for creating the post. However, I will not receive the payment for those posts until May or June.

Blog Income Report – April 2016

INCOME
InspiredBU Affiliate Earnings $292.53
InspiredBU Product Sales $1,977.20
Meet Penny Affiliate Earnings $209.58
Meet Penny Advertising $774.99
Meet Penny Product Sales $80.38

Total Income = $3,334.68
March Goal = $7,000
Difference = -$3,665.32

EXPENSES
Advertising $23.94 (Facebook Ads)
Contractors $225
Paypal Fees $190.84
Email Service $149.00 (ConvertKit)
Travel $1,124.90
Internet Service $194.13
Cell Phone Service $183.08
WebinarJam $297
Office $2,044.30 (Images, Photography, Ingredients for Sponsored Posts)
Total Expenses = $4,431.29
Net Profit = -$1,096.61

My business mistakes

• I built too much of my business on a 3rd party (Katch). Never, ever rely on a 3rd party to support your business because when it fails or changes, you will suffer the expense.
• While the travel was a huge expense, I cannot consider it a mistakes as I had the opportunity to pour myself into dozens of bloggers to help them be more successful.

My business successes

• Without a surplus of income from previous months, I would not have survived the financial expenses this month. Always plan ahead for the unexpected and leave a cushion in your bank account.

Register as a Free Inspired Bloggers University Member

Join the Inspired Bloggers University and find the Blogger Income / Expense Report on your profile page.

Not a member? Join for FREE.

Is it possible to make money blogging? Absolutely.

Through blogging, I have managed to more than double our family’s income. This year I committed to prove it by sharing my blog income reports each month.

Blogging income is not a predictable science. Deposits can vary based on traffic, promotions, and so much more. But this doesn’t mean we should not plan or set monetary goals.

Plan and Perform

During my planning week, I sat with my Blog Success Planner and wrote out my monthly income goals. Writing down a number is easy, but without a plan, your number is just a day-dream. You must put action steps to your goal.

Income goals are easy but without a plan, your number is a dream. #blogging (CLICK TO RETWEET)

So, I flipped over to the calendar and wrote down my plans for blog series and product launches. For me, creating a product, marketing the product, and generating sales for the product is the precipice on which all of my goals are constructed. All of these steps must be planned and performed in order to make my income goal a reality.

Assess and Adjust

When I wrote my financial goals at the beginning of the year with plans to be a six-figure blogger, I planned to have ten to twelve people going through the Blog Success Mentorship program during each session. I also planned to have multiple sales funnels generating traffic to my products.

It’s amazing what we learn in just three months. 

 As I worked through the first Blog Success Mentorship session, I quickly realized that it took a lot more time (and energy) for each client. So, before launching the second session in March, I altered the number of people I would accept. However, I did not change my income goal… because I forgot.

Now, at the end of the month, I find that I fell short of my goal and I am totally bummed. (Pardon the 1980’s coming out of me.)

So… it’s time to adjust.

I can either change my goals… or I can change my plan.

I would rather change my action steps and increase my efforts than give up on being a six figure blogger.

Blog Income Report – March 2016

INCOME
InspiredBU Affiliate Earnings $0
InspiredBU Product Sales $4,064.63
Meet Penny Affiliate Earnings $221.28
Meet Penny Advertising $1,468.46
Meet Penny Product Sales $106.75

Total Income = $5,861.12
March Goal = $7,000
Difference = -$1,138.88

EXPENSES
Advertising $195.78 (Facebook Ads)
Contractors $325
Paypal Fees $139.57
Email Service $178.52 (ConvertKit)
Office $1,446.29 (Images, Paid Content)

Total Expenses = $2,285.16

Net Profit = +$3,575.96

My business mistakes

• Feeling bummed that this is the second month in a row I have failed to reach my goal. Part of that is because of poor marketing. Part is assuming I would have more students to mentor. However, as I have seen how much time it takes to adequately mentor other bloggers (and to do it well), I cut back on the number of people I would accept. I just never changed my annual goals to reflect those changes.

My business successes

• Although this was my largest expense for the month, I consider buying blog content to be a huge success. I have always been obsessive about doing everything myself. However, as I noticed the traffic at MeetPenny.com begin to slide and knowing that I did not have time to devote to generating two posts each week on multiple blogs, I let it go and bought quality articles that fit what my readers need.
• I have ONE completed sales funnel with ConvertKit, and it is amazing me! I make money every day and do nothing. It runs by itself, completely passive, and sells my products while I focus on other details of my blogging business.

This month’s blogging income report is not what I had planned. The results certainly did not compare to January’s blog income report either. But I am always mindful of a time when I did not have blogging income to help balance our family’s finances.

February might have been a short month but it was packed with family and friends. Wonderful things. Difficult things. Distracting things. But, the joy of being a work from home blogger is having the flexibility to do what we need to do without the added stress of dealing with an employer.

Even so, it is super important to think of yourself as the boss of your business. If the boss takes too many days off, the business struggles.

In February, both of my boys had surgery. I focused a tremendous amount of time on moving the Inspired Bloggers University to the new platform at Rainmaker. I spent a weekend with other brilliant women brainstorming our businesses.

And I completely forgot my income plan… which brings me to something for you to remember:

1) Plan your income. Work your plan.

In December, I decided that I wanted to be a Six Figure Blogger. Using the Blog Success Planner Blogging Goals section, I planned how much money I needed to make each month in order to reach $100,000 in income by December 31, 2016.

From there, I created specific goals with action steps to make these amount happen. In January, I blew right past my goal. Then, February rolled around… and I got distracted.

Don’t get me wrong. I believe my first priority is my family and the time I spent with them was worth the time away from blogging. However, as THE BOSS in my business, I need to plan ahead for those days and delegate tasks to others if needed.

2) Establish multiple streams of income.

To grow a successful blogging business, you cannot rely on any ONE type of income. You need multiple streams of revenue fueling your blog. Sidebar advertising, your own products, coaching, sponsored content, direct sales, 3rd party stores (like Amazon, Teachers Pay Teachers, etc)… Get creative! The possibilities are limitless.

Multiple income streams are threads in a #bloggers security blanket. If one snaps, others hold together. @TabithaPhilen

Why do you need more than one type of income? Think of it as the threads in your security blanket. If one thread snaps, the others hold the blanket together. Since blogging as a business can be filled with unpredictable changes (algorithms, SEO updates…), you need to diversify your revenue streams.

3) Delegate to others.

There is no way I could do everything I need to do in a day without help. While I have always known this and been a huge fan of hiring a team, I had no idea how much I should hire out until I had a very real meeting with my to-do list.

As I sat on the plane flying home from my weekend mastermind retreat, I attempted to create blocks of time in my work hours for specific tasks. As I filled in the open spots with tasks, the obvious hit me.

There was no way to do it all. I would always be behind and overwhelmed unless I delegated some jobs and projects to my team.

Blog Income Report – February 2016

INCOME
InspiredBU Affiliate Earnings $192.00
InspiredBU Product Sales $1,103.47
Meet Penny Affiliate Earnings $2,574.38
Meet Penny Advertising $739.99
Meet Penny Product Sales $75.47

Total Income = $4685.31
February Goal = $6000
Difference = -$1314.67

EXPENSES
Advertising $1.42
Contractors $175
Paypal Fees $47.88
Email Service $119 (ConvertKit)
Travel $132.16
Office $554.03

Total Expenses = $1029.49

Net Profit = +$3655.82

My business mistakes

• I failed to market my products and this resulted in missing my goal for the BOOST class registration. I stopped using my to-do list and did not realize we were launching the course until three days before launch. HUGE mistake.
• When I moved to Rainmaker, I forgot to place “buy now” links on the Blog Success Planner landing page. So, people were browsing the page but had NO WAY of making a purchase and were too nice to say, “Ummm… you are missing something.”
• My store plugin on Meet Penny is not delivering the products when purchased. This cost me a chunk of change in refunds.

My business successes

• I made a profit of $3,655!
• My email sales funnels started bringing in my first successful sales off the free member funnel. So exciting to experiment with sales funnels and then see it work while bringing high quality content to those who need it.
• I realized that I had too much to do within my work hours and starting looking for new people to add to my team. Learning to let go and let others help is always a big win for this over-achieving perfectionist.

A brand new year brings fresh new vision and opportunities. My ambition reflected in the blog income expense report. My goal was just $5,000 but I blew it away. (All glory to God.)

January meant getting back to work after a long holiday break and I struggled. While I still have a fire in my heart fueled by new goals in my Blog Success Planner, the backlog of work made me feel like I was so far behind. I absolutely hate working backwards. I need to remember this when the holidays roll around this year and give extra hours to team members so they can cover for me.

Even so, the annual Inspired Bloggers University membership sale was a huge success and Blog Success Planners sold like crazy. Affiliates were hustling and commissions were the highest they have been.

Your #blog page views cannot limit your profitability, but your creativity can.

As I compared the income between my blogs, one thing became VERY clear. Page views do not restrain profitability. Inspired Bloggers University is much younger and smaller than Meet Penny but made tremendously more.

Why?

I was selling my own products. These are not measly commissions or sponsored posts represented by my income. Even the passive sidebar advertising cannot compare to the profit I achieved by selling printables and classes. So I am not limited by my page views. My only limit is my creativity.

But the best part comes in knowing I am not just hustling snake oil but providing solutions for people, boosting them towards success.

Blog Income Report – January 2016

INCOME
InspiredBU Affiliate Earnings $261.65
InspiredBU Product Sales $7,514.83
Meet Penny Affiliate Earnings $781.40
Meet Penny Advertising $634.09
Meet Penny Product Sales $98.90

Total Income = $9290.87
February Goal = $5000
Difference = +$4290.87

EXPENSES
Advertising $290.41 (Facebook Ads)
Contractors & Commissions $651.32
Paypal Fees $370.60
Email Service $119 (ConvertKit)
Blog Hosting $1495 (Rainmaker)
Office $222.94

Total Expenses = $3149.27

Net Profit = +$6141.60

My business mistakes

• WHY have I not completed the move to Rainmaker before my free trial ended? Quietly kicking myself for moving so slowly.
• Ignoring my inbox over the holidays. Oh my gosh! When I looked, I had several sponsorship opportunities that I missed because I was being lazy. Do I regret taking two weeks off to be with my family? No. But I wish I had at least hired someone to babysit my inbox while I was off.

My business successes

• I made a profit of $6,141.60 and blew my goal out of the water!
• Slowly but surely got over the holiday blues and returned to my normal work routine. It was so hard though!