Blogging for Income: November 2014

November saw some decreases.  BUT, there is plenty to be thankful for and I’m optimistic, but also realistic.  Let’s jump in:

Visitors

Users: 74,500 (down 20%)

Unique Views: 97,700 (down almost 30%)

*I use padsquad and it inflates my pagviews, I have found a way to find my “unique” pageviews which more directly compares them without the inflation of how they can mobile views.

Ads

Padsquad

Keeping in mind that my visitors were down 20% and my views were down even more, padsquad was just above $550 which is down 40% from last month.  They had REALLY low CPM for a few consecutive days but then it popped up high for the last few days.  I do think Padsquad is the best way to make money on mobile views, but you have to be ready for a rollercoaster of CPM’s, just like any other ad net work.  Please tell them I referred you.  Perhaps it will make up for the 9 million questions I ask them.

The Blogger Network

Blogger Network was also struck by lower CPM’s and it was down 40 at about $175.  I think they also took one of my ads off.  I had an AWFUL lot in my sidebar.  I do like the Blogger Network interface though, and it is still better than Adsense has been in the past.

BlogHer

Blogher continued a sad trend of decreasing revenue.  A Pinch of Yum had a great article on advertising… it made me think a lot.  Blogher was down to 71 bucks.  That’s a 30 percent decrease in revenue.

Media.net

I haven’t done much with these lately.  They were configured well for my Halloween google searches, but not so much at this point.  I should re-do them.  It was just under 10 bucks for the month.

Total Ad Sales:  $835.40 (a 40% decrease)

 Affiliate Sales

Amazon continued it’s poor trend, making me just under 20 bucks.  I am trying to include links when I can, but I REALLY want people to find the best price for them and their family…. Amazon has great pricing, but not always the BEST. 🙂

I sold two spreadsheets.  In case you’re looking for a way to track your blog income — check out my blogging income spreadsheet.  That’s how I keep all this great info, track CPM’s, as well as increases/decreases.

 Sponsored Posts:

Sponsored posts were certainly the bright spot for the month (thank goodness for Christmas shopping).  I did Campaigns for Izea, Blogher and Clever Girls.  I liked all the Campaigns, I thought they had good support — I would use any of those companies again.  However, I am getting more and more approaches for sponsored posts lately (mostly from individuals).  I really think that sponsored posts are some of the biggest sell outs a person can make.  I am REALLY trying to think about who I am and who my reader is and find things that would work for them.  Sometimes I am wrong, and sometimes I’m right.  Either way I don’t see me getting this much income from them in the future.

Sponsored post total: $900 (More than double last month)

 Blog income total for October $1735 (Down 3%)

 Blog costs:

• RFE hosting (love them) 14 bucks
• PO Box (you’ve gotta have one if you have a newsletter) 6 bucks
• Vaultpress 5 bucks

I am pretty careful of my costs. They were higher when I started and migrated to Wordpress, but since then I have kept them at about this level…

Total costs:  25 bucks.

 Things I’m doing good at:

1.  Not much.  Did you see my views are down 20%?  I think most of that is due to a lack of seasonal content.  I had a LOT of Halloween stuff, and once Halloween was over my views tanked.  I did do a series on Christmas organizing which did OK.  It’s hard to get new things seen on Pinterest.

2.  I haven’t spent much money on blogging this month.

3.  I am going to start a 31 days post in January.  It’s going to be about family systems, and i’m already working on posts for that.  I do write a fair bit ahead.  I’d love for you to join that newsletter to see those posts!

4.  I think I’m going to convert one of my credit cards to a blog card.  It will make it easier to see what we spend each month on blog stuff.  I am also meeting with a CPA next week.  I plan to continue to do my own taxes, but I’d like some advice from him.

Things I’m working on:

1.  Views are down this month.  {sigh}  WAY down.  BUT, I have started scheduling my 2 biggest boards on Ahaology and that has started helping.  Things are up so far this month.  I am hoping my 31 days of systems post in January will help views.

2.  I’m trying to put more Amazon links in my posts.  Again, it’s a double-edged sword.

3.  Working on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.  I continue to use Ahology and Viral Tag for Pinterest.  I have started using Unfollow to help me on Twitter and those numbers are up over 300% this month, so that’s great!

So, that’s what the CFO has to say this month.  Things are great, and I am loving more comments I am getting here.  I think those are worth gold to me.