During my 1st Year Blogiversary post, I asked you all if you would be interested in my doing both a Pinterest post (since 60% or more of my traffic comes from Pinterest) as well as an income report now that I am actually making some money! Your response was overwhelmingly “Yes!” so I’m going to start doing these Traffic & Income Reports on a monthly basis!
I believe that more bloggers should reveal their income, as well as some stats about their traffic to inspire and encourage others, so I’m am giving monthly updates about my income and traffic statistics. This is my actual blogging income, folks. Read on!
Let’s get started!
I am discovering that I’m less obsessed with page views now, than I ever have been before. Page view fluctuations are completely normal, and I am more focused on having an engaged and present audience than on pure numbers. That said, numbers still matter, so here are mine:
Traffic –
Retired by 40:
- Pageviews: 116,432
- Unique Pageviews:66.751
Time –
I keep track of the hours I work as dilligently as I can because I want to know if I am spending my time wisely. These hours include hours worked both here on the blog and on The Pinterest Assistant, for my Pinterest clients.
The month of May brought the highest dollar amount I’ve ever made per hour, at $28.94. During May, here are the hours I worked:
- June 1-6: 38 hours
- June 7-13th: 32 hours
- June 14th – 20th: 34 hours
- June 21st – 27th: 58 hours
- June 28th – 30th: 16 hours
- Total Hours: 178
I promised myself when I went into business for myself that I would NOT work more than 40 hours per week (averaged, not exactly) and so I love seeing these numbers! Based on those hours, and the income I will spell out below, in May I made:
$9.62 per hour
Not nearly as good as last month, but quiet honestly, that’s life! There are ups and downs, and the idea is to take the low months and learn from them.
If you want to start your own money-making blog, you can do so very cheaply. I created a tutorial that will help you start a blog of your own in about 10 minutes, and very cheaply, with prices starting at only $3.95 a month. This low price is only available through my Bluehost link, and when you purchase at least 12 months of blog hosting, Bluehost will even throw in a FREE domain name (a $15 value). Again, this pricing + free domain name is only available through my link, and if you want to make money with your blog, then self-hosting through a company such as Bluehost is essential.
Income –
This is important: Previously, I was reporting the income I earned (not necessarily was paid) and actual expenses paid. When this blog was smaller, it worked well, mainly because I was so excited to be making money – haha!
So, this month I am reporting the actual income I received, as well as actual expenses. This will make for a more accurate income report and hourly rate, but it will look a little bit deceiving, because some of the income I reported in previous months I will show as received this month – so just realize that as you read this!
This does not account for the 30% that I hold back for taxes. Also, this does not take expenses into account – those will be covered in the next section.
My New Favorite –
My friend Cat, who is an amazing freelance writer, blogger, entrepreneur, and speaker has launched her course, Get Paid to Write For Blogs! Cat started her business from nothing, living in Grenada, and now supports her family with her incredibly successful writing.
If you’re looking for a comprehensive course that will teach you everything you need to know about how to earn extra money by writing, you should check out her course! Oh, and did I mention, there’s a bonus video and handout from yours truly about how to market yourself and your business on Pinterest!
Also, you’ll notice that The Blogger Network Manages my ads – which is a godsend because it takes that crazy technical stuff off of my plate. Previously TBN was only open to blogger with 100,000 page views or more per month, but they now have service for almost every blogger that has more than 10,000 page view per month. You can check out their new adventure here
Retired by 40!
- Ad Networks: $438.23
- The Blogger Network: $335.09
- Media.net: $103.14
- BlogHer: $0
- Affiliate Sales: $103.11
- Commission Junction: $0
- Tailwind: $53.05
- EBA: $0
- Amazon Associates: $50.06
- Sponsored Posting: $230.00
- Moms Affiliate: $0
- TapInfluence: usually this is around $400 – if you want to to participate in awesome, well-paid sponsored posts, check out TapInfluence!) $5.00
- Clever Girls: $0
- Kasai Media: $225.00
- The Pinterest Assistant: $491.77
- Freelance Projects: $450.00
- Total Income: $1,713.11
Expenses
Finally! After a couple of really high expense months, things are finally down to a manageable level! Also, you should know that these are just the expenses for the blog, the income you see from The Pinterest Assistant is net of expenses already.
- Tailwind for my Pin scheduling. You can learn more about how to schedule pins for only $10 a month here.
- MailChimp: $40.00 – I absolutely loooove MailChimp . For those of us who are technically, and artistically challenged, this is the absolute best way to go for emails. Check out these 11 Reasons why Every Blogger Needs Mailchimp for more info!
- BoardBooster: $0 –I recently stopped using BoardBooster altogether. You can read a case study of why here
- Fiverr: $11.00 –New Logo – like?
- Productive Inbox: $5
- Misc: $65
Total Expenses: $56
Some Highlights –
June brought 3 new Pinterest Assistant clients, and I am so excited to announce that Melissa, from Sunburnt Saver has come aboard The Pinterest Assistant team!
Other than that, it was a pretty quiet month on the blog, and I expect the rest of the summer will be the same!
Oh, and one more thing: If you love Canva like I do for it’s free, amazing design program, as well as affordable images for purchase, then click here to register for early access to Canva for Work – just another way that Canva is changing the face of online design!
June 2015 Goals
- Pick up one new Pinterest Assistant Client – SUCCESS!
- Gain 1,000 new Twitter followers – FAIL – I did gain 500 new followers
- Make $2,500 – FAIL – I fell little bit short
- Possibly hire help for The Pinterest Assistant? – SUCCESS!
July 2015 Goals
- Get all of my Pinterest boards in Tailwind
- Comment on 5 blogs, 5 days per week
- Change the eBook download that you get with a subscription
- Figure out how to offer free printables in exchange for an email adress
- 150,000 page views
- Make $4,000 before expenses
If you want to start your own money-making blog, you can do so very cheaply. I created a tutorial that will help you start a blog of your own in about 10 minutes, and very cheaply, with prices starting at only $3.95 a month. This low price is only available through my Bluehost link, and when you purchase at least 12 months of blog hosting, Bluehost will even throw in a FREE domain name (a $15 value). Again, this pricing + free domain name is only available through my link, and if you want to make money with your blog, then self-hosting through a company such as Bluehost is essential.
How was your month? I would love to hear about it!
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