Blogging for Income: August Blog CFO Report

**Again, sorry if you hate these, but I think it's good info for the bloggers out there.  I blogged for 9 years before making much at all off this blog.  I love to blog.  I just like getting paid for it too. :)  I'm always looking for input though -- if you hate these, let me know! :)

August was another poor month around here at Pulling Curls.  Revenue was down, sponsored posts are down and hits are down, but towards the end of the month I made some changes that are already looking good in Sepetember.  But, back to July.

{I have gotten wind of some advertising companies saying that putting actual dollar amounts out there for the general public is a no-no, according to their terms of use — I have emailed them and asked if I can do this going forward, but this month will be more general}

 Users

One of my ad networks changed how analytics looks at my views.  That makes them skewed a bit (and a LOT more in months to come).  I will now be tracking users.  87087 -which is actually JUST over what I had in July.  I think I had a hail mary at the end of the month because I was low, low, low with moms and families out of town.  Next summer I’ll just know views are down in the summer and not fret about it.

Blogher:

Down 20% from last month.  I have been working hard to maintain good viewability with them, but it is tanking my mobile revenue.  I was very upfront and honest with them about this.  I found a solution, which they were OK with — you’ll see it below

Adsense

Down 56% — SERIOUSLY low CPM’s this month.  Again, it’s families on vacation.  I’ll know it’s all fine next year.  I also stopped using Adsnse about 2/3 of the way through the month.  I still have one of their ads to try to eek this to 100 bucks so I can get paid, but I’m done with them after that.

Bloggers Network

This is what took the place of Adsense.  I really like them, they configure my ads for me and are quick to listen to feedback.  So far, so good.  Let’s just say in the 10 days I had them, I made more than I made with 20 days on adsense.

Padsquad

They are now running my mobile views.  That means tablet AND phone.  I really like the way it looks and I hope users like it too.  I was only on it a few days but made more than I made on Adsense all month.  Just to give you an idea, I’ve been making over 20/day with them since September started.  That’s good news.  If you’re interested in joining, here’s the link — and I’d love it if you said you were referred from Pulling Curls. 🙂  You can also email them with any questions {publishers @ padsquad.com}.

Amazon

Down 32 percent.  Again — I think people just weren’t buying. {this is me, not freaking out}

Spreadsheet

I had 9 bought.  I hope people find them helpful (and that’s how I mined all this great data out for you guys!).  If you’re interested in my blogging income spreadsheet — here’s the link . It does all the math for you and gives you great info about your blog!

Ad/Spreadsheet total 515.52

Down 2 percent, so I was pretty well on track from last month.  Similar views, similar income.

 Sponsored posts:

I made 350 between a Pinterest Campaign and another written campaign with Blogher.

Grand total: 865.58

A good’ish amount — although down 30% from the month before, mostly because I had a TON of sponsored posts in July.  Seriously, if you’d told me 6 months ago the blog would be making this I would have laughed in your face.  I am VERY grateful for each and every view and the opportunities that are coming my way.

How I’m getting traffic:

My blog continues to be 80% Pinterest, and I’m figuring out ways to make that take less of my time.  I have started using Viral Tag more and now I’ve started a spreadsheet {SURPRISE!} to track where I’m pinning and all that jazz.  I am getting more from Google.  I know my SEO has picked up.  I’m hoping that continues to advance, as it’s a lot easier to get google hits than Pinterest.

 The Bad:

• Views just go down during the summer.  I have TOTALLY seen them pick up since school has started for the East coast.  I had heard this rumor, and now I know it’s true.  🙂
• The reality is that Adsense just is a cheaper alternative and easy to put on your blog.  I had heard there were other, better networks out there.  I was right.  I’m sad it took me so long to convert.
• I’m not getting sponsored posts from Blogher due to my switch to PadSquad.  I’m not sure if I WILL get offers, or if that well will go dry.  It’s a trade-off.

The good:

•  My new ad networks (The Bloggers Network and PadSquad) are both great to work with and I’ve seen good income so far (I am over 350 on the 10th of September).  I have been tracking these fairly closely at the beginning, just to see how it’s going.  I hope to stop doing that soon.  I HATE being stats obsessed {spreadsheet anyone?}.
• Pinterest has picked up.  Other stuff is picking up, the internet is alive agian.
• I’m able to not worry about picking up a bunch of extra shifts and just work from home.   I love my job, but I also like being home in case there’s a sick kid or a need elsewhere.  I just am a homebody.

So, that’s what’s up in blogland.  I hope this was helpful for you.  We’ll see what the ad networks say about giving hard data for each one.  I’m fine to do it, but I guess I need to make sure they are too.  So, what do you think?  Helpful?  Here’s to more money, and great blog posts next month! 😀

If you enjoyed this post be sure to check out my other blog income posts, or my blog income spreadsheet.  You’ll see how far I came since January. 🙂  Also be sure to follow my “Business of Blogging” Pinterest board.