Income Report for January 2020
Welcome to my blog income report for January 2020! I like to post income reports here because I know so many people with social anxiety also struggle with work. Working from home, whether it’s running a blog or working as a freelance, can be one option if you’ve tried going the regular route with a job and it just hasn’t worked out.
Blogging specifically is not a get rich quick scheme – not at all in fact. But, if you stay consistent and don’t give up, there is the potential to make enough money to support yourself and actually never need a real job again. I’m certainly not at that point, but I’m seeing progress and I want to share that with you, so that you can see how it’s done and that it might be possible for you.
If you’re interested in how I made it to this point, I’ve linked to previous month income reports at the bottom of this post.
Okay, here we go!
January STATS:
Note: The numbers in parentheses are from last month.
Pageviews: 45,375 (32,833)
Sessions: 36,844 (26,049)
Users: 33,064 (23,077)
Mailing List Subscribers: 1879 (1553)
Pinterest Followers: 1.5k (1042)
Pinterest monthly viewers: 1.5 million (1.5 million)
Facebook Followers: 5046 (4997)
Twitter Followers: 3197 (3149)
Instagram Followers: 157 (146)
Posts published: 9 (10)
SEMRUSH stats
Organic search: 966 (872)
Backlinks: 1.5k (1.2k)
Organic keywords: 1292 (1561)
Thoughts: In general, all of these numbers moved upward, which is a very good thing! I actually felt like January was quiet compared to December, but it turns out that was an illusion. That’s why I think it’s really important that I do these posts (both for you and for me). All good businesses track their performanc so that they can adjust where needed.
January BLOG INCOME REPORT:
Advertising
Monumetric: $153.67 ($208.96)
Pageview RPM: $3.39 ($6.36)
Affiliates
Amazon OVERALL: $24.99 ($59.15)
Note: I’m reporting everything in US Dollars.
Amazon US: $24.87 ($59.01)
Amazon CANADA: $0.12 ($0)
Amazon UK: $0 ($0.14)
Betterhelp: $0 ($300)
Cratejoy: $25
I actually missed this Cratejoy earnings from December (I got an email to update my payment settings and noticed I had a commission). So I’m just going to stick it in the January report.
Products
Products overall: $257 ($53)
Social Anxiety Masterclass: 5 sold
I actually sold 7 of these during my launch, but 2 of them were not counted until the February earnings cycle.
CBT + Mindfulness Worbkook Tripwire: 14 sold
CBT Workbook: 1 sold
Total income: $460.66 ($621.11)
Thoughts: Overall my income was lower, and this was mostly because I did not have any big affiliate commissions like I had in previous months. If I could just get those stars to align so that I have income coming from all categories, I’m pretty sure I could have my first $1000 month!
Monthly expenses:
(Note that I don’t include my training expenses in here for courses I’m taking, mastermind groups, etc. I consider that part of my education and not a direct business expense).
Email (Convertkit): $49
Tailwind: $14.99
: $13.60 (use and discount code KSDISC to save 20%)
Teachable: $39
I joined the Basic Teachable plan in January as I knew I had my launch coming up and I was crossing the threshold of where it made sense to keep the FREE plan and switch to the Basic. With the Basic plan I have to pay $39 a month ($29 a month if you can pay for a whole year at once) but the percentages I pay when I make a sale are smaller. I also can now use coupon codes and set up affiliates. Yay!
Canva: $12.82
I started paying for Canva Pro so that I can get premium pictures instead of using free ones.
This was actually $16.99 in Canadian dollars. Is Canva a Canadian company? I have no idea. Maybe they charge in your local currency, but that seems strange it would be a number like that. None of this is really important, I’m just curious because I am a Canadian who basically works like an American, and it’s rare for me to think in Canadian dollars as far as business is concerned.
Total expenses: $129.41 ($77.59)
Net blog income: $331.25 ($543.52)
Thoughts about this month’s income report:
It’s interesting how blog income growth is not linear. In my case, having a large-paying affiliate that did not convert this month meant a lower income. Also, I’ve heard that January tends to be lower RPMs and affiliate sales, and that seems to be reflected in my numbers.
The big news this month was that I did an official launch of my signature course, the Social Anxiety Masterclass. This helped to prop up my product sales quite a bit, which helped to save my income for the month.
I also was approved for Mediavine this month, although their ads did not go live on my site until February 8th so those earnings won’t show until the next income report. I will say that even in the few short days they have been live I am noticing that the earnings look better than they did with Monumetric. So that’s a good thing!
I kind of slowed down on my Pinterest strategy this month (in December I was making up to four pins a day following a strategy I learned from Alison Reeves). I had two instances of my website being blocked as spam (this is different than your account being suspended). It was enough to scare me a little to scale back to one new pin a day. But some days I do more if I notice traffic is slow.
Did I hit my goals for January? I completed my course launch just under the wire for the end of January and also kept up with my day-to-day tasks. Winning!
Goals for February:
- Plan out my next product, which will likely be a Social Skills ebook
- Complete the course Easy SEO Revamp by Debbie Gartner to begin boosting my Google traffic
- Do an affiliate launch by the end of February (side note: I’m so stuck on what product to promote! If you have any suggestions, I’d love to hear them).
- Keep up with day-to-day tasks
As you can see, my goals are task-oriented rather than stats or money oriented. Of course I’d like my stats and money to grow, but those are not things I can directly control. I’d rather focus on things that are tasks I can check off.
Are you interested in starting a blog or do you have one already? I might be nuts, but I feel like every person with social anxiety, and especially those who aren’t working due to their anxiety, should absolutely try starting a blog.
Yes, it takes a lot of hard work and perservance, but it’s about more than starting a business.
It’s actually about changing your life too, through the people you will meet and opportunities that will come to you. This is especially true if you join a blogging course like Elite Blog Academy, which is the course I am currently completing and wholeheartedly recommend.
Past Income Reports
- February 2020 Income Report
- December 2019 Income Report
- November 2019 Income Report
- October 2019 Income Report
WANT TO REMEMBER THIS? SAVE JANUARY 2020 BLOG INCOME REPORT TO YOUR FAVORITE PINTEREST BOARD!
