Mark this as the very FIRST monthly blog income report for my new site! In an effort to actually HELP bloggers, I plan on sharing NOT ONLY how I monetize a blog, expenses, lessons learned, wins, fails, and strategies. These are NOT your average inflated, revenue and affiliate link only income reports. Enjoy!
Let’s be frank for a second…
I do NOT enjoy looking at other bloggers’ monthly blog income reports. Not even a little bit.
For most of them (not all), it’s just a “hey look how successful I am blogging part-time from home! You could do the same thing with my free blogging course here!!!1! and make sure to use Bluehost!”
Am I right?
Why I’m publishing ALL my stats (not just income):
- Do You Even Blog is a business.
- I treat it like a business…and businesses publish monthly financial reports.
- I should know. I used to be an accountant 🙂
In fact, the purpose of DYEB is to be an open book for income-seeking bloggers…whether it’s through the podcast, instructional YouTube videos, or blog stat breakdowns. I want to show you how to start a grow a blog.
You need to see the process of how I grow my blog…not just large gross revenue numbers and affiliate links.
Did I reach my goals last month?
Get 250 podcast downloads – Yes! (508)
Launching a podcast can be difficult, especially when you have NO existing audience.
Truth is…I had no idea what to expect, but I’m thrilled with the results! 500+ downloads. Yay!
Get at least 1 “rockstar” podcast guest – Yes!
Honestly, all my guests so far have been rockstars…but I was particularly thrilled when Nick Loper agreed to come on. He was a delight.
Spoiler alert: this week’s guest is one of the most successful online marketers of all time (says President Obama and the United Nations. Literally)
Make money in month 1 – Yes! ($51)
So, my original plan was to be all hipster-like and publish my first monthly income report with $zero earned.
Then I thought…
Wouldn’t it be clever of me to go ahead and make my first dollar?
So I did.
See details on how I did this below.
Get 1,000 Twitter followers – Fail (509)
This was an arbitrary goal I set for myself in month 1. I didn’t think to much about it, and didn’t really hustle for a following.
Another truth: I kinda don’t enjoy Twitter anyways.
June Blog Traffic and Stat Breakdown
Note: I didn’t have traffic or email list goals at all.
Launching a new blog often results in super low traffic numbers, even for experienced bloggers.
That said, I’m satisfied with these results.
Website traffic: 929
The biggest source of traffic in June:
When I interviewed Physician on Fire, he featured me on his weekly roundup post! Other than that, traffic was from Twitter.
Email List Growth: +327
I am SUPER happy with this in month 1. This is with ZERO popups, ZERO content upgrades.
Random Fun Metric Win: My homepage email opt-in is currently converting at 10.78%(!)
June Monthly Blog Income Report
Revenues – $51
Podcast sponsor income – $50
I emailed 5 different people in the personal finance blogging community, and straight up pitched them.
Menu Link sponsor income – $1
I emailed 5 people, and my good friend Tom at High Income Parents said “yes!”
He is a great sport, and I’m grateful he agreed to be my first sponsor! Even if it was only a buck…
Expenses – $99.84
Facebook Ads – $84.84
I felt like testing out a few ads to kickstart the podcast launch. If you’re interested in the paid reach breakdown, email me…but I was not impressed. CTRs and CPCs weren’t great at all.
Pinterest Ads – $15
Even worse CPC than FB. Something like $1.75 a click.
Bottom line: Paid reach is meh at this point. I don’t plan on doing ANY more until I have substantial revenues to optimize and get a positive ROI.
My marketing dollars are best spent elsewhere (T-shirts anyone????)
Net Income: ($48.84)
So I lost money in month 1. I’m not ashamed in the least.
In fact, I’m just proud I made ANY money from a brand-spankin-new blog. Super proud.
Next month’s goals and how I’m going to get there:
- Revenue: $250
- Traffic: +20% (roughly 1,100 visitors)
- Email subs: +10% (roughly 360 email subs)
How I’m going to get revenue
Now that my episode downloads are starting to grow on a weekly basis and traffic is increasing…I feel comfortable upping my charges for podcast sponsorships.
In fact, it’s a dadgum steal.
Sponsors get a live read during the show (dang good ones if I say so myself), backlinks on my site (w/ description), AND links to their site on iTunes, Sticher, Overcast.fm, etc.
FOREVER.
Their sponsorship gets them perma-backlinks, as all of that content is evergreen!
So the longer I keep publishing, the more and more views and click-throughs sponsors will get.
A steal at this point. Not for long though 😉
My plan is to do more cold outreach for podcast sponsorships to get $200, and hopefully round that out with affiliate income (namely from Michelle’s course on affiliate marketing, Namecheap (NOT Bluehost), and ConvertKit (as I’m switching to that software).
How I’m going to get traffic
I’m hoping to bump up my Pinterest game. Like, hardcore!
I just signed up for Tailwind (loving it so far), so hopefully that’ll help a bit.
I’ve also interviewed some Pinterest GURUs so far, so I’m taking their advice and hustling for some group board invites!
July is Pinterest month. I wanna see some results.
ALSO, I’m going to try for 1 guest post. Wish me luck.
How I’m going to get email subscribers
Honestly, I just created my outreach template download (the one I use to get sponsorships), so that’ll generate a few loyal subscribers.
Other than that, I’m not doing anything specifically to grow the email list.
- I’m still not showing popups
- I’m still not showing ads
- My unsubscribe button is still up top
I refuse to compromise on these items, as I want to have a badass, world-class community of income-seeking bloggers.
The DYEB Bloggin’ Club
The email subscribers are starting to flow organically…so I’m going to focus MORE on providing world-class content, and let the results speak for itself.
Published this month:
- Blog – 6 Tim Ferriss Questions to Help Grow Your Blog
- Video – 6 Tim Ferriss Questions to Help Grow Your Blog
- Blog – How to Start a Blog for $10 in 10 minutes
- Podcast – Nick Loper, Anfernee Chansamooth, Michelle Schroeder, Brendan Alan Barrett, Physician on Fire, Millennial Money Man
Final thoughts on what worked and what didn’t.
I am thrilled with my 1st month’s progress.
Things I’m proud of:
- I launched (whew)
- I landed KILLER podcast guests so far and upcoming(!)(!)
- I made money! (not a ton but still)
- I launched (seriously).
Things that didn’t really work:
- Paid reach (not doing this for the next few months. No value there yet)
- Twitter following (seems shady and ineffective at the moment).
What I want for the next few months:
- A following. I want to cultivate the best friggin community of income-seeking bloggers on the web. But, where should they congregate?
- Should I start a forum?
- Private Facebook Group?
- Just keep with the email list, Twitter and Pinterest following?
- Monthly revenues
- I’m not blogging to journal my daily activities.
- I want to TEACH people how to make money on the internet, consistently and reliably, and cultivate a loyal following of dedicated bloggers.
- This is a business, in addition to a blog. As such, it needs to make money.
Please, please leave a comment below!
If there’s anything I struggle with, it’s constant and consistent motivation!
Please leave me a comment below and:
- Tell me how I’m doing!
- Tell me your favorite part of DYEB thus far
- Tell me who I should interview next on the podcast
- Share your blog URL! I wanna see it.
<3
Pete
36 Responses
So this is really a much better income report than most other blogs have! No bragging, no advertisig for courses and Bluehost ?.
So to answer your questions:
– I guess you already know it, but I’m a huge fan of this podcast. So you are doing incredibly well! I like the guests and you are improving with every episode. I like how you use these short breaks (forget the name again) now. Also these key takeaways are brilliant!
– Favorite part: The great and influential guests you have!
– Who to interview next: Difficult question as you’ve already interviewed most of my favorites. I think more bloggers outside of PF would be great. I would also like to hear you interview Ramit Sethi and Jonathan Levi. The later has build a great number of online courses and systems.
– Blog URL: Well still building my website but started to create the content for the pages yesterday. http://www.budgetlikeasir.com
Keep up the good work!
Thanks man. Appreciate it.
Also, I’ll look into Jonathan Levi. Not too familiar with him, but will add him to the list!
Nice update! Congrats on an awesome first month! Looking forward to seeing your future content!
Thanks Lance! I appreciate that 🙂 🙂
You made money in your first month of blogging congrats!
I recently started my blog too but only made $25 so far but my hopes are high. I’m hoping to surpass 1000 page views this month like you did.
Let me know how it goes Cory!
Congratulations on money. I haven’t tried to make any money on my blog yet. Maybe I need to view it more as a business like you. I’m doing it for fun right now because I just love creating content. I’m interested in your house and maybe I’ll try some revenue in the future. Thanks for posting your journey so I can learn.
You want to buy my house?? Sold!
But on a serious note, don’t ever let the internet blogosphere pressure you to monetize. It’s overrated for anything less than 20k uniques a month and a seriously loyal following.
Just my opinion.
Awesome writeup! I’m in my first month as well and definitely will be following some of your strategies. #1 will be getting my email signup up and running. An email list of 327 subscribers in the first month is truly impressive!
Keep up the good work. Looking forward to subscribing and following along.
hey Thanks Derek! I appreciate the follow of course. Going to check out your blog now, and let me know if there is anything I can do to help.
I am also a dad and also love money.
Started listening to your podcast last week, already finished all episodes. Great work, really enjoy it.
Good to read this post as well, recognize a lot of what you have already told 😉
This made my day! Thanks Div 🙂
Also, this is a good blog post -> https://divnomics.com/2017/06/17/how-value-and-price-are-the-same-yet-entirely-different/
Reminds me of my fave Warren Buffet quote: “Price is what you pay, value is what you get.”
Thanks listening Div, I sincerely appreciate it 🙂
Keep up the great work Pete. I’m loving the podcast. I bet you could sell a course on how you got the sickest lineup of your first six guests. That is a who’s who of blogging, marketing and side hustling. I’ve enjoyed every single one so far. Thanks for letting me have the honor of being your first sponsor!
Tom @ HIP
Hey thanks Tom! I sincerely appreciate that.
Re: course -> Not sure I have the following just yet to launch a full-scale course (planning on Nov-Dec launch for something)…BUT…I am currently working on a guest post for Eden Fried (http://edenfried.com/) that details EXACTLY the process I’ve used for outreach.
It’s gonna be a good one, and will probably drop mid-August. If you’re on the email list, I’ll be promoting when it releases 🙂
Thanks again for the kind words Tom. I really do appreciate it (as well as your 100 cents!)
Great first month Pete! I want to take a stab at Michelle’s course too, maybe in winter.
I think I got one message from you about sponsorship and I had no idea what that meant. I think if you reach out again, it’s better to pretend like you’re talking to a noob about how any of it works because I was like… what’s going on?
Thanks Lily! I appreciate it!
And sorry about that. I was just trying to be as short as humanly possible, as not to waste your time 🙂 I’ll keep your comment in mind going forward though!
:-p
Lol don’t worry, my time isn’t worth much! xD I’m the shy careful type and like to scope out things because I’m new as well 🙂
This is the first blog income report I’ve read that seems down to earth and realistic. Personally, I think your results (site views and income) are fantastic for the first month of blogging!
haha thanks Ava! I appreciate that 🙂
My conversations with Rosemarie and Eden have definitely motivated me to step up my income report game. Trying to actually add value in these things wherever I can!
Great work so far. That is an awesome first month. Keep up the good work! I look forward to following your progress.
Thanks Divi! Checking out your blog now btw.
Congrats on such a successful first month! Just started listening to your podcast and it’s fantastic.
Wow, thank you Nicole. Such kind words. Glad you enjoyed it 🙂
So…Bluehost? Yes or no? 😉
Yes but only if you click here: https://doyouevenblog.com/bluehost, I repeat https://doyouevenblog.com/bluehost
Great first month! After seeing your guest post on Millennial Money Man, I just assumed you had been a blogging pro for awhile! You’ve got some super content here – I’m definitely gonna take advantage.
Congratulations and keep it up!
Thanks Shawn! Been blogging about 7 years, but it’s true: the DYEB project is a bloggy-infant 🙂
Let us know how things progress w/ your own blog?
Hey Pete,
Love your content so far. I am a new and starting entrepreneur getting into the printables field. I am thinking of opening a blog along with my storefront. I have opened my storefront but no blog.:( It’s called that thing “content.” I am like all over the place with the content. Saw yours and read the whole thing. Your font that you chose took me under the boat. (good way.) I found your content real enticing to read more. Then you topped it off with your monthly earnings and that. Which was really good expressing yourself. I figured by switching it up between a storefront and reading some articles before you shopped was a good idea. Just don’t know what people want to read honestly. Then it’s kind of hard to look up other bloggers to kind of find out what content is out there. Anyways, good read.
Hey Keith, thanks for the kind words!
I’ll just drop 1 tip here from my friend Bryan Harris: start with questions.
Picture your ideal customers and readers the bet you can, and brainstorm 25 questions they’d ask about your topic.
Make yourself get through 25, even if 22 are terrible! You’ll still have some ideas from that.
Best of luck Keith.
This is super awesome. I love your style of writing, too – you can hear the charisma in your voice.
Can’t wait to keep following along – genuinely.
Ooo charisma! Thanks for the kind words. Hope I don’t disappoint 🙂
Honest and realistic, this approach will benefit you in the long run. Keep it up!
Thanks for all of your work, Pete! I’m finding it incredibly useful in the begininning stages of my blogging adventure. I went into the archives to find this post because the current income reports don’t do me a lot of good and I’m much more interested in your first few months.
I launched my blog less than a month ago and I have no experience in this field, so my focus right now is (following your advice) producing great content. Monetization is an eventul goal, but not currently a focus. I discovered you through your podcast first and am now combing through your other resources daily. As a new blogger, I’ve already learned so much and I appreciate that you produce so much content for those who are new to the game. Thank you!
Here is my url: https://theprodad.com
Nice! Welcome then, Alex!
Thanks for the kind words, and let me know if there’s anything I can do to help 🙂
P.S. and have fun with the twins!!!
Encouraging for those of us who aren’t making a dime from our blogs. Keep up the good work, Pete! You’re doing great and I wish I could do half of the things you do to grow your blog. You’re truly killing it!
Hello! Thank you so much for the post! I know I am super late to the party on this one.. ha!
Question though, for those of us that want to blog exclusively and not start a podcast. What is your biggest suggestion there? It seems like you have to have 10K+ followers minimum just to get your money back.
Thanks!!