Month Five Blog Income Report

This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission, at no cost to you, if you make a purchase.

I seriously cannot believe this is my month five growth/income report! I have seriously grown to love this blog and you wonderful community of ladies.

This month (income wise) was a bit slower than my previous two months and I am totally okay with that. I was sick for about two weeks this month, plus my husband and the little guy got sick, and we are remodeling and I spent a week out of town visiting my parents and sister. The beauty of being a blogger and an entrepreneur is that (for the most part) you get to determine your own schedule.

WHY AM I POSTING AN INCOME REPORT?

If it is your first time on my site, you may be wondering why in the world I am sharing the nitty gritty details of my traffic, subscribers, and income on my site. Isn’t that taboo or something?

Income reports are what gave me the courage to finally start this blog. If you want to start a blog check out my step-by-step tutorial here. (P.S. There are lots of pictures for you visual learners 😉 )

I do not in any way post these reports to be prideful, it is actually the opposite. I am putting myself out there, successes and failures so you can learn from my experiences.

These posts are designed to be a case study for you. In each post I share what worked that month and what didn’t. I hope that you find these posts encouraging and motivating to you. If you have any questions about this post leave a comment below and I will be sure to reply!

You can check out my previous growth/income reports here.

Month One
Month Two
Month Three
Month Four

Now onto this month’s growth report!

You may remember that last month I was feeling burned out. I was exhausted from my course launch and overwhelmed with client work. After pulling one too many late nights it finally caught up with me and I got super sick (P.S. being a mom and an entrepreneur means no sick days.). For one week I was pretty out of it and the second week, I didn’t feel well, but could at least get the basics done.

However, despite being sick this month I feel like I really got my mojo back! I started getting excited again about blogging and planning awesome new things for the site. The fire was back and it felt so good.

PAGEVIEWS
10/22 – 21,899   11/21 – 23,615
Difference – 1,716 Increase – 7.8%

Woohoo! This was my highest traffic month yet. I’ve had a few pins do really well this month that have brought a lot of traffic to my site.

My most popular posts this month were,

How I Make Money On Pinterest Using Affiliate Links 15.9k Pins
Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing: The Secret to Making $50,000 a Month Blogging 1.5k Pins
How I Started 3 Businesses My First Year As A Stay At Home Mom 2k Pins
35+ Free Online Course For Bloggers + Online Biz Owners 4.9k Pins

Again Pinterest topped my referral traffic for the month, followed by Facebook and then miscellaneous traffic sources.

EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS
10/22 – 868    11/21 – 1,245
Difference – 377 Increase – 43%

I gained 377 subscribers this month. That is awesome! I was really excited to see that growth this month.  I launched two new freebies and my 95+ Free Blogging Resources opt-in did really well!

My goal last month was to improve my email marketing techniques. I have been taking Email Lists Simplified by Meera Kothand and it is amazing. Email marketing has seriously terrified me, but the way Meera breaks it down made me feel like this is something I actually could master!

So how did I do? I have written out most of my welcome series emails, but I haven’t set them up yet. Why? I’m really considering signing up for ConvertKit this month. I have used it with clients and it is so easy to navigate. The tagging features are dreamy and I know they would be incredibly helpful for sending targeted emails to my list.

PINTEREST
10/22 – 290811/21 -3328
Difference – 420 Increase – 14%

It was another great month for Pinterest growth! I probably spent one hour on Pinterest this entire month.

I have a lot of the systems automated using BoardBooster so lately I rarely pin. At a maximum, I am spending 30 minutes a week on there and it is still bringing in over 85% of the traffic to my site.

TWITTER
10/22 – 756    11/21 – 815
Difference – 59 Increase – 7.8%

I’ve found that Twitter is a great way to engage with readers and other readers, but it doesn’t bring much traffic to my site. I respond to tweets I am tagged in and try to retweet some of my friends, but the rest of my tweets are looped with IFTTT.

FACEBOOK
10/22 – 8811/21 – 111
Difference – 23 Increase – 26%

My Facebook page has continued to grow, although I have given it little attention. My main focus this month is my Facebook Group! A couple weeks ago I did a super fun Facebook Live Pinterest Q&A with the group and it was a blast.

If you want to come hang with me on Facebook –> Join the group here!

INSTAGRAM
10/22 – 10011/21 – 115
Difference – 21     Increase – 27%

So yet again I totally FAILED at Instagram. I do have some things in the works, so you should be seeing more of me on Pinterest in the next month!

What would you like to see from me on Instagram?

WHAT WORKED?

I actually let go one of my freelance clients! I never thought I would say this, but I was actually so relieved. She is a total sweetheart, but I was ready to go in a different direction.

This month I also released some awesome new content upgrades/freebies. They did really well, and helped me build my email list!

WHAT DIDN’T WORK?

Getting sick and second guessing myself. There wasn’t much that I could do in the “getting sick” category, but I really need to get out of my head.

I often am a perfectionist. If I’m not sure if I will succeed I don’t even try. I have been making great improvements in this category (parenthood and entrepreneurship teach that really fast), but there were a few times this month where I had self-doubt. I second guessed whether I should send a certain email, reach out to another blogger or invest in my business.

Here is what I have learned from this attitude. It is stupid. Yep, I said it. Honestly, all the time I spent worrying and questioning was a waste. Now I am not saying you should go out there making rash choices, but rather during your consideration, ponder, “What is the worst that could happen?”

Maybe I send an email and it doesn’t go over well and a few people unsubscribe. Is that a bummer? Yes. Can I recover? Absolutely.

This month I did my first Facebook Live ever. I was so nervous. I anxiously thought, “What if I mess up? What if no one watches? What if someone asks a question and my mind goes blank?” Each of those things would have been difficult, but chances are in an hour everyone would forget that I messed up or sounded like a goof.

This month I challenge you to ask yourself, “What is the worst thing that could happen?” In most circumstances “the worst” really won’t be that bad. I dare you to take the chance!

TOTAL # OF POSTS

Month Four Blog Income Report: How I Made $2,126.48 Blogging
How To Make Money Blogging With Affiliate Marketing
Eight Affiliate Networks To Boost Your Blog’s Income
2016 Bloggers Gift Guide
What Is A Media Kit & Why You Need One

SO WHERE DID MY INCOME COME FROM THIS MONTH?

1. Affiliate Marketing
A lot of the strategies I have implemented have been from the course I took Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing.

If you do not have your own product I would highly recommend finding a few affiliate products that you love. You can do a google search for a specific brand or product you want to become an affiliate for or check out an affiliate network where you can apply to many brands.
Check out my recommended affiliate networks here,

2. Pinterest to Profits. 

I launched my course in September and literally have done nothing to promote it since then so I was pleasantly surprised to see a sale this month. Over the next few months, I will be implementing a few more promotions of the course and I am excited to see the growth!

INCOME:

Affiliate Marketing: $974.15
Pinterest to Profits Sales: $89.20 (after Teachable’s fees and the payment processor fee)
Total Income: $1063.35

EXPENSES:

Mailchimp: $15

Teachable: $433.03
This month I upgraded to the basic plan on Teachable which is $39. Later this month they were running a promotion on their annual plan so I made the upgrade. This was THE BIGGEST purchase yet for my site, but I know it will be worth it!

I absolutely love teaching and Teachable has made it so easy for me to create my own course. If you are interested in creating a course I recommend signing up today for their free plan to see if you enjoy the platform!

Courses + E-books: $169
I am all about investing in education. Nearly every month I buy a new book or course to increase my knowledge in different industries. I am very excited to implement what I have learned from these courses this month!

Promoted Pins: $15
I have been running some new Promoted Pins campaigns for one of my secret projects I have been working on. I have run ads in the past, but I wanted to try a new strategy. Stay tuned for more info coming soon!

Total Expenses: $632.03

Ouch. This month was my highest month for expense yet. The majority of the cost was for the year upfront that I paid for Teachable. This month I did still turn a profit, but it was significantly lower than last month. However, I am okay with this month’s report because I made strategic investments in my business that I am confident will pay off in the upcoming months.

Net Income: $431.32

Even though my net income this month was significantly lower than previous months I am still extremely please with the month. From a business standpoint a five-month-old business is still a baby business. The main financial goal for my blog right now is to be able to make enough in order to make strategic investments to grow it even more!

Do you have a blog? If so comment below with the link so I can check it out, if not click here to learn how to set up your own blog!