Income Report for September 2020
Are you interested in how my blog did in September? I’ve been putting together income reports each month because this blogging is a really hard business, and if I can figure it out, then I want other people to be able to see how I did it.
I can’t say that I’ve quite figured it out yet, but I’m getting there. I thought I hadn’t made much progress since last year, but when I looked back on September 2019’s income report it was for $1. So, I guess I’m getting somewhere.
There’s a still a long way to go though. Anyway, I hope you stay a while and read and learn at least one thing that helps.
September STATS:
Note: The numbers in parentheses are from last month. I’m retrieving these numbers from Google Analytics, Convertkit, and my social media platforms.
Pageviews: 36,386 (39,163)
Sessions: 30,094 (32,355)
Users: 26,648 (28,765)
Organic Sessions (Google): 11,947 (9,276)
Social Sessions: 15,609 (17,336)
Mailing List Subscribers: 3948 (3735)
Pinterest Followers: 4k (3.2k)
Facebook Followers: 5.3k (5.2k)
Facebook group members: 40 (36)
Twitter Followers: 3.2k (3.2k)
Instagram Followers: 323 (319)
Tik Tok Followers: 167 (80)
Total Social Media Followers: 13k (12k)
Posts published: 9 (8)
Overall, it seems like I lost some ground on Pinterest and social this month but did well with Google. This tells me that I need to get back into a regular schedule with Pinterest or try something new.
Google Search Console stats
Google Search Console total impressions: 398k (309k)
Google Search Console total clicks: 9.72k (8.57k)
Average Click through rate: 2.4% (2.8%)
Average Position: 18.4 (21.2)
So, it seems like I’m getting more impressions and moving up the ranks, but I’m not winning the click with Google. I think it has to do with my headlines not being “sexy” or alluring enough. So, I’m going to be doing some work on revamping my headlines.
SEMRUSH stats
Organic search: 11.8k (3.5k)
Backlinks: 1.9k (1.6k)
Organic keywords: 3036 (2975)
MOZ Domain Authority: 19 (19)
Looks like some good movement here! I’ll be honest, I thought if I had numbers like these I’d be getting a lot more traffic than I am. I’m not sure what that organic search number reflects. Perhaps impressions rather than clicks? Again, I need to start winning the click.
August BLOG INCOME REPORT:
Advertising
Mediavine: $397.40 ($375.81)
Pageview RPM: $13.21 ($11.62)
My revenue from Mediavine has been going up and I attribute it to higher RPMs as we head into Q4. But, I also think it has to do with what I’m pinning on Pinterest.
I’m trying to recycle pins that I know are more “Pinteresty” which in essence means they are more about shopping or buying things. Posts with a buying intent are obviously going to do better for ad revenue too.
Affiliates
Amazon OVERALL: $58.58 ($54.86)
Note: I’m reporting everything in US Dollars.
Amazon US: $43 ($48.92)
Amazon CANADA: $5.27 ($1.55)
Amazon UK: $10.31 ($4.39)
My goal with Amazon is to make $100 in a month!
Betterhelp: $0 ($675)
Ah, the wonderful world of ups and downs with affiliate income. Betterhelp referrals is just not income that I can seem to rely on. Last month I did great because I launched the affiliate to my list, and most people had never seen my full email launch. What I’ve decided to do now is to add this affiliate back to my welcome sequence, as well as run a launch to my list once every quarter or so. That should be enough “talking” about it to get people thinking about it. I truly believe it’s a valuable service, especially now!
ShareASale: $27.50 ($0)
Hmmm…. well I actually made money from ShareaSale! This month I launched the Therabox subscription box to my list. This is something that I ordered for myself as well (can’t wait to get it). A handful of people bought the box along with me.
Awin: $2.84 ($0)
These commissions were coming from Etsy.
Clickbank: $0 ($0)
Products
Products overall: $154 ($242)
Social Anxiety Masterclass: 0 sold (5 sold)
Art Therapy-Inspired Coloring Bundle: 0 sold (0 sold)
CBT + Mindfulness Workbook Tripwire: 11 sold (6 sold)
Social Skills Workbook: 2 sold (0 sold)
Self Confidence Journal: 0 sold
Overall, I’m pleased with how I did with products this month considering I did not launch anything. I did run a very quick flash sale at the end of the month that consisted of only two emails being sent.
Total income: $640.32 ($1347.67)
Income per subscriber: $0.16 ($0.36)
So, the income number was less than half of last month. Again, this is just due to that Betterhelp affiliate being unstable. I’m seeing this as kind of my “base amount” that I can count on right now. I need to work on boosting all the pillars of my income and not worry as much about Betterhelp.
Monthly expenses:
Email (Convertkit): $79
: $13.60 (use and discount code KSDISC to save 20%)
Teachable: $39
Canva: $12.82
Tailwind: $14.99
Kara Fidd Templates Membership: $15
Faith Mariah Blogging Mastermind: $50
WordPress Support from iMark Interactive: $27
Total expenses: $251.41 ($251.41)
So, I’m still thinking about Leadpages. But, I’m also thinking about cleaning up my email list because I’m approaching 5000 subscribers which means that I’ll be paying more. Plus, it’s a good thing to do to increase my open rates. So if you are on my list and want to stay on it, be sure to keep opening my emails!
Net blog income: $388.91 ($1096.26)
Thoughts about this month’s income report:
I’m feeling a little down that my income was less than half of the previous month. However, I have lots of ideas on how to keep improving. I’m thinking of focusing on traffic for a little while, since that will support all of my efforts.
While I have lots of ideas of products to make, I need a stable income base to support me while I do that work. I’ve recently taken on more work with my regular job, and it’s ALL writing. I figured out that I have to write at least 3000 words a week just for my regular job. I really don’t want to end up burnt out for blog work.
Goals for October:
Well, the goals list keeps growing, but hey that’s okay. Actually it looks a lot like last month.
- Improve my welcome sequence to sell my evergreen course
- Open an Etsy shop to sell my workbooks
- Redo my homepage as a static page
- Finish Stupid Simple SEO
- Read through Lena Gott’s Traffic Transformation
- Get on a regular schedule for each social media platform
- Run a launch and a flash sale this month
- Figure out next steps re: products and membership or coaching
Do you want to learn to start your own blog? I’ve put together my ultimate guide to starting a blog in this post.
Past Income Reports
- April 2020 Income Report ($291.04)
- May 2020 Income Report ($442.24)
- June 2020 Income Report ($942.64)
- July 2020 Income Report ($515.94)
- August 2020 Income Report (1347.67)
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