In an attempt to make this monthly income report more useful to YOU, blogger…I include revenues, expenses, downloads and other metrics, monthly wins and fails, goals, and more! Transparency is key.
Yes. I made money last month.
Yes. I’m going to use this post for marketing my blog.
Yes. I CAN add value to your life through a monthly income report.
Many bloggers understand the lucrative appeal of a juicy monthly blog income report. We’re all guilty of searching through those reports showing $25k+/month from a blog.
We want to see how they did it!
But bad news is…
Many reports don’t share much with regards to how.
I am THRILLED to share my blog income reports, for one reason:
To show every single one of you that anything is possible.
- I am NOT a mega-blogging-marketer-influencer.
- I am NOT the smartest person on the planet (or even the coffee shop I’m in).
- I am NOT better than you. (taller maybe, but not better or smarter)
That said, if you desire to produce income via your blog, whether it’s for some extra cash to pay bills, save for FI, or to build a full-time income for yourself…it IS possible.
I am proud to be evidence of that, and even prouder to be 1,001% transparent about the process!
But first…
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Here’s why I publish ALL of DYEB stats, even though I kind of hate blog income reports:
- Do You Even Blog is a business, and I treat it as such
- Transparency is a MUST for ANYONE teaching others how to blog…
- Showing you my goals, wins, failures, and monthly strategies will hopefully add value to your own blogging journey.
The purpose of these monthly income reports is to be an open-book for the Do You Even Tribe:
Those of us fighting blog mediocrity and seeking-income via our blogs.
The Blog Monthly Income Report
Did I reach my blogging goals last month?
- Revenue goal of $750 – WIN ($2,306.75)
- Traffic goal of 4,000 views – FAIL (3,676)
- Email Sub goal of 500 – FAIL (453)
For more info on what worked and what didn’t….scroll down yo!
Other blog metrics
Podcast downloads – 5,389 (2,715 prior month)
Ok. I’m excited. My grow remained exponential last month. I’d give my left arm to experience this month-over-month grow for like, another year. Omg.
(ok not going to happen. That’d be 22,000,000+ downloads)
Private Facebook Growth – 55ish (roughly doubled)
I love this group so far. There’s zero promotion, and I kinda wanna keep it under 500 people forever. Probably a little selfish of me?
Next month’s goals and how I’m going to get there:
- Email Subs – 750
- Traffic – 4,000
- Revenues – $1,000
How I’m going to get revenue
I’m not pushing this at all in October. I have my freelancing work, my loyal, BEAUTIFUL subscribers, and that’s it. I’m not exploring any products at all this month.
How I’m going to get traffic
Organically. Don’t care.
How I’m going to get email subscribers
Aside from over-delivering to the monthly challenge participants (challengers?)…THIS is my focus this month.
October is list-building month for us over at Do You Even Blog. Here are a few ideas I’m playing around with:
- BlogBox – A physical assortment of blogging goodies, shipped to you 🙂 🙂 These are sooooo much fun to make and give away. I’m going to assemble a few BlogBoxes and give them away this month.
- The one-on-one hustle at FinCon – I have Do You Even Business cards, and I’ll be hustling to connect with people! I’m sure this will result in a few more additions to the email list.
- Big giveaway? Want anything? Can I do a sweet giveaway? $1k range? What do you want?
- Create a massive content upgrade – Not quite sure what this will be yet, but I’d like to create a little something special and use it as an opt-in. Thoughts?
Published this month:
- The 20 best Email list building strategies for beginners – mega resource!
- A strong case for why you SHOULD promote Bluehost and put ads on your blog – Millennial Boss – REALLY solid interview here.
- My Failure Resume: A walk through 40+ failed blogs and biz ideas – most popular piece of content this month
- Why Chris left the American Dream to focus on blogging for a year [coaching session]
- How to “stumble” into national PR coverage, save $82k from side hustles, & travel the world for a year – Round the World Couple
Final thoughts on what worked and what didn’t.
Ok folks. Let’s get into the meat of this month.
I REALLY want to dig in deep to the 30-Day Challenge launch (which generated $1,550), but I’m going to save the nitty-gritty “product launch!!1!” stuff for a separate case study.
However, I do want to talk about what I learned from this.
1 – Launching your first paid product is…scary.
(read: but also incredibly exciting)
- What if nobody buys it? My audience is still SUPER small.
- What if nobody gets value from it? Who the hell am I to teach/help/lead people?
- what if what if what if….
I’ve pitched sponsorships, I’ve Skyped with multi-millionaires, I’ve been responsible for $750,000,000 in revenues for a Forbes’ top-25 company.
Yet I was stressed to the max asking 25 people for $100.
It was silly, and shouldn’t have been….but it was.
2 – WHY are product launches scary?
For me personally, it was due mainly to transparency.
I *knew* I was going to release the details of the launch to you, my audience, eventually. Success OR failure.
And if I’m building a business around showing people an alternate way to provide income for themselves (creating content via the internet), well, I’d better make money then, yes?
In retrospect, it was still silly, as
- I already shared 40+ failures with you, and
- Another in-depth failure case study could still be valuable.
Still, putting yourself out there is scary. Asking for people to trust you is scary. Asking for money is scary.
I’m incredibly thankful 18 people came through and signed up 🙂
3 – I keep rediscovering the same truth: Content is still king.
It’s why you’re a member of the Do You Even Tribe (wait, are you?). Content.
It’s the reason I have any traffic, followers, and revenues at all. It makes me think…what the podcast was only 50% as valuable as it currently is?
Would any of you stuck around after one listen?
To the same point…
What if the podcast were 200% more valuable? How many more people’s lives could I change for the better? How about my revenues?
This is my current food for thought, and I’m hungry.
4 – Screw traditional marketing channels (sometimes)
Can we be frank? Pinterest marketing is doing nothing for me right now.
I have implemented strategies from some of the best in the game (literally gotten free Pinterest consulting from Rosemarie Groner, Michelle Schroeder, Grace Moser, Eden Fried, all brilliant at Pinterest).
I’m on 30+ group boards, my images are….better than they were. Is it my niche?
In fact, social media in general is completely lackluster right now.
I have seen VERY little growth in Twitter, despite tripling my follower count since July 1.
I’m aware podcasts work a bit different, and maybe I should publish more regular blog content (probably not though, don’t you already have enough of this??)…but still.
#traffic
But you know what IS growing? My backlinks and SEO authority.
IMPORTANT: I have done exactly ZERO outreach to get backlinks! They have all come organically.
I’ve been mentioned briefly on 4-5 podcast guests’ sites recently, and in addition to sending new eyes on my content…it has given me extended credibility and SEO juice.
In the coming months, I’m expecting organic traffic to continue to grow, and I might even publish 3-5 bigger pieces of blog content targeting specific keywords.
The theme for NEXT month:
DELIVER for 30-day challenge folks, and grow the email list.
DELIVER value promised. Grow email list.
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Please, please leave a comment below! I’d love to hear…
- Do you publish your own monthly stats? Drop a link!
- What sweet thing for bloggers could I give away this month? Let me know!
- Do you find these reports useful at all?
<3
Pete
38 Responses
Don’t fret about Pinterest Pete, your graphics indeed look better (I was going to comment on that even before I read the rest of the post). Pinterest doesn’t do anything unless one pin goes viral so it’s more a waiting game for newcomers like us nerds. Twitter is pretty useless for conversions so I wouldn’t worry about that either. It’s just a place to hang out with blog friends since no real people use Twitter anymore.
oooo you made me feel better. I appreciate that. Thanks Lily!
Annnndddd see you on Twitter >_<
Interesting stats, good to see that we have a lot of space for improvement 🙂 I don’t share things like this until there will be true results which worth looking at. My numbers 20 days into this blogging thing are 6 posts, ~150 visitors with 400+ pageview and 35 twitter follower. I don’t know if this is ok but much more than I expected at all 🙂 Keep on rollin’
My first blog took 6+ months to get 400 views. 🙂
Oh, and go connect w/ more personal finance peeps on Twitter. Insta-views and engagement in the early months. Good for momentum.
Well done on hitting a lot of your goals for the month. Can’t wait to see how October goes with what you have planned.
Well, 1/3 of goals. Thanks Eric, I appreciate that 🙂
Nice work. Thank you for sharing and encouraging. I have a tough time treating my blog as a business. Mental block, lack of experience, you name it. But I’m coming around, and things are starting to click.
Also, a giveaway idea, I’d love advice on my email subscription strategy. Not sure how you’d work that in. Just an idea. Money isn’t as important to me. I’ve got some of that already.
Thanks Chris 🙂 Definitely different for everyone of course, but DFG is on the right track!
I’m so impressed you’ve found a way to make these kinds of reports actually valuable, and funny and engaging, too.
Congrats on the product launch! I remember seeing stuff about it on Twitter, but wasn’t sure exactly what it was. Now I wish I had looked into it more! Did you close it quickly on purpose?
I struggled with putting stats on my last post, because it invites comparisons and makes people feel bad. But at the same time, I think it’s good to show people that there are multiple ways to grow (even without Pinterest!). I think I’ve had like, 5 clicks from there, because I haven’t done anything with it. I don’t want to do anything on there until I’m positive I can convert that traffic. And I definitely don’t think that Pinterest will work for every single person/niche.
Would love to know ideas for a can’t-miss freebie that’s not lame. I struggle with that a lot, because I’m a perfectionist.
Also, forget if I told you, but I had your podcast on one day, and my husband was like, “Ohh, this guy’s good at podcasting.” And usually when I have a podcast on, he’s like, “Honey, this guy is so annoying. Can you please put your headphones on?”
WHAT? I love that! Made my day, tell him thanks 🙂
Couldn’t agree more about Pinterest by the way. I’m with ya there, and the product was time limited, hence the short sales period.
You rock Luxe.
Keep up the good work! I find your content very helpful, so I’ll keep reading it and coming back, even if you cut our social media altogether. I do appreciate your income reports, so I would vote for you to continue them.
Thanks Dylan! I appreciate that. and I shall 🙂
I really love your content & clicked this post off of Pinterest! I think you’ve done a tremendous job to really build your reputation (I found you first from a guest post on Edens blog, and have loved reading your posts from there. Especially your failures post.)
Great job and it will be fun to continue following along! I think you’re on the right track and soon there will be more people like me who click off from Pinterest!
For me – I try to focus on getting regular repins. This way I show up on Pinterest searches. (You probably know that lol)
Wait I’m on Pinterest?? Doesn’t feel like it sometimes 🙂
Those are some kind words Krista, and I appreciate you! I’m going to keep pinning for sure. Keep me posted on your own journey as well? (seriously)
Thank so much for sharing, Pete! I’d love to publish my own blog income reports because I find them so helpful as a new blogger. However, this being my second month, I only had 400 views last month and made $0. I don’t think anyone wants to read that.
This month I’m really focusing on Pinterest and starting to see some results one week in (doubled daily pageviews) but still nothing to write home about. I really appreciated your Pinterest email course and thought it was great. Your Pinterest graphics are looking good.
My biggest issue is that I have so many ideas and get frustrated quickly when I don’t see results right off the bat. I do corporate marketing for a living but I work with an established brand, which makes getting results quickly much easier. I’m now focusing on one strategy at a time and seeing it through.
Thanks for all the helpful content and advice that you provide us newbie bloggers. 🙂
You and me both!
And loads of other bloggers. Patience is harddddd, yes?
Keep at it Veneta, and I still read $0 income reports (and happen to know a ton of bloggers that value *relatable* content, so I think you should do one next month!) It might be a good exercise for you as well 🙂
Amazing job on your product launch!!! Like seriously great results!
Also I love reading your income reports so please keep doing them!
P.S. I super wanted to share this post on Pinterest but I couldn’t see any social share buttons
Yeah? They’re showing on my screen, attached to the left side of the screen (desktop), bottom on mobile, and when hovering over the image.
🙁
Good job setting and reaching a goal! Even reaching one goal is a big accomplishment! Love this idea of writing an income report that is more than just “here’s how much I made”. I felt encouraged by your experiences with twitter and Pinterest because I have also been feeling underwhelmed by the lack of social traffic to my blog lately. But I have been loving twitter as a place to connect w/ the blogging community! Look forward to seeing how you do next month 🙂
Thanks Sav! Appreciate that. Don’t give up 🙂
Congrats on a successful month! I’m glad to see your podcast growing increasingly popular. Thanks for sharing all the tips with us! 🙂
Thank YOU for the support Ms. FAF. I appreciate it 🙂
Hi Pete,
I just found your blog from your comment in the FinCon group.
Glad to see you’ll be going this year. Looks like you’re taking some massive action here at DYEB and starting to make some income.
I started my insurance blog about 10 years ago and I’ve learned a few things along the way too. I hope to connect with you at FinCon.
Lookin forward to it Chris!
😉
Somehow I missed this post earlier! I like this format with takeaways with what worked and what didn’t. I think even showing what was purchased and how much each affiliate is making helps add validation for other people thinking about using those products. It’s almost like a tl;dr of what to buy – “Here, these products have been validated by other people buying them so you know they’re good!”.
Thanks Adam! Definitely planning on doing *more* of that…and do you mean affiliates for my products, or other products I promote?
Dude, this is fantastic. You killed it with your first product. Interested to see where this goes my man!
Thanks Nick! You rock sir.
Great income report. I love your learning and we are all in this journey together.
The majority of my traffic (thank goodness) comes from organic search and now I’m doing/looking to do more guest posting. Over the last month or so, I did 2 of those and would love to do 1 per week through the end of the week…but, I think I’ll be lucky if I can get to half of that.
I think you pinterest images are good, and that’s how I got here. You may want to do a few of them lighter, but overall they’re good. I have a hunch the opportunity may be in groups. As I’m sure you know, it’s not the # of groups, but the quality of them (look at tailwind repin rates, especially over last 7 days). I’ve been in some of your groups and either dropped them or stopped pinning as I wasn’t getting repins. I believe it truly is quality over quantity. If you pin to a group and no one repins, that seems to hurt your pin. At the same time, I got into some better groups. So, now I’m just pinning to those. I only pin to groups in my niche/applicable to my pin and I’ve ditched the general/pin everything groups.
I wish I knew the best boards for your niche. Pair up w/ someone in your niche and trade info, see if you can invite each other to a couple of good boards or at least identify them.
BTW, here’s a link to my latest income report…a bit lower than yours, but I don’t include the blogging or coaching I do (as that is “active” income), but it would triple my numbers. Hopefully in the future, it will be the reverse. My category seems to be tricky and slow to monetize (flooring, home decor).
http://theflooringgirl.com/extra-income-reports/extra-income-report-october-2017.html
Ah very nice Debbie! Pretty great amount of Amazon affiliate income as well.
Yeah, truth is…I haven’t spent a ton of time going through and optimizing group boards. At all 🙂 Maybe one day soon I’ll be convinced it’s worth it!
I am struggling to grow my views and it is always helpful for you to provide these details. Thank you!
Thanks Shaunese! You are very welcome. Let me know if there’s ever any way I can help you.
This was super exciting to read! I’ve gone through your first few income reports (and will continue reading all the rest) but I was waiting for this one and I’m so excited that it happened in month 4. Here’s why – I’m just starting my blog and I have a stretch goal of hitting $2k by 3 months. (Note I said STRETCH goal). I figure if you can do it by month 4, if I truly dedicate myself and learn from experts, it’s totally possible to achieve for me too!
I got a lot of work to do, but thanks for all the great content that is waiting here for me and on your podcast, guiding my way to success and constant improvement 😀
Wooo you got this! And thank you btw 🙂
Thanks a ton Pete. Beautiful post. I’m still new in blogging. I’m honestly green and have a lot to learn and figure out. So true quality content is HUGE on driving traffic… My Pinterest following is trickling in at below 100. I hope to work more on Curating beautiful pins and definitely better quality content this month. Any advice would really be appreciated. thanks keep up goal smashing
Thanks OMGjee!
I recommend following Kate Ahl’s stuff for Pinterest (and listen to my podcast episode with her!). She’s simply the best.