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Here’s my latest income report. I mainly do these to show it’s possible to make income off a blog. I didn’t think that for many years, but with a LOT of effort you can!
Visitors
Users: 137,152 (down 1% — June has 1 less day than May, so traffic was fairly equal)
Pageviews: 193,326 (up 1%)
Sessions: 154,998 (down 1%)
The links included may include affiliate links and I may be paid a small portion of your income with those companies with no cost to you! You can read my full disclosure here. If you go with one of my ad networks, please mention that you heard about them from me! I’d love the referrals!
Ads
Padsquad
Income with Padsquad was down 18 percent at just under 900 dollars. Almost all of that drop was the last half of the month. The end of the quarter seems to REALLY affect padsquad. I had mulled over a switch to AdThrive, but I really like how PadSquad customizes things for me when I ask. Mobile is their thing, and they do it well.
The Blogger Network
The Blogger network fairly even with just over $300 (6% higher than last month). I have been asking them how to increase revenue. I now have a border at the bottom of my desktop site. What do you think? Annoying, or easily closeable?
BlogHer
Blogher was also pretty even with last month at 188.42 (up 4%). I decided to stick with them, in hopes of some good sponsored posts content. Fingers crossed.
I have a large google ad in my sidebar that did pretty good this month $35.03. I mainly have one ad because I use google ads on my videos and I’d like to get paid at some point. 🙂 With AdSense you don’t get paid until you pass $100 dollars.
Total Ad Sales: $1433 (a 10% decrease)
My goal was to stay close to $1500 with just ad sales. I’m a little under it, mainly due to Padsquad at the end of the quarter.
Sales
Amazon wasn’t as good of a month, but still pretty great at just under $80. I am trying to list one of my favorite things in on my Facebook page once a day. They’re things I love so I don’t feel like a used car salesman. I’m not sure if this will help my affiliate #’s with them, or not.
Spreadsheet 6 bucks, 2 were bought. I have the spreadsheet for my own use. I sell it for the love of my people. It’s not making a million bucks, and I’m OK with that.
Kindle E-book the book was still riding off my sale from last month. I’ve decided to keep the price at $2.99. I got a really low review, which was a bummer. The book isn’t rocket science, but I think they are helpful tips. I doubt that review is going to help my income at all. I plan to do a big sale after school starts. I sold 3 books, and 11 kindle unlimited. Not sure how kindle unlimited is going to price out after this as it will be based on the # of pages read (I think) rather than just them “buying” the book.
Dressing Your Truth. I am finishing up a giveaway with them, and I am doing really well wiht it. I made just over 500 with them, and they are great to work with. I am still looking for other great ways to affiliate (with good products). If you know of any, email me or comment below! I have been asked to affiliate with some schwarmy money-grubbing products and while the income might be good I just can’t. Not who I am, or who this blog is. I have to affiliate with things I believe in. I did start a couple of things with Dating Divas, and made just a few dollars. So, we shall see.
Sales total: $614.87 (no noticeable change)
Thrilled with this. I hope I can keep it over 500 in the future, if not more.
Sponsored Posts:
This is where the big increase happened. I have been with a few companies for quite a while and I haven’t gotten many posts, so I decided to email, and then they flooded in. I worked with a few companies this month including Izea, Izea, MomInfluence. I have really had good experiences with all of them. I’m starting to figure out what a post on my site is WORTH, and that helps. I am turning down a fair number that aren’t a good fit, or an appropriate price, so that’s nice.
Sponsored post total: $1130
Blog income total for June $3178(up 34%)
SUPER thrilled with this number!
My entire blog CPM including all revenue streams was just about $16.44 per 1000 pageviews (up 4 dollars from last month, mainly due to the sponsored posts). If you just count ad revenue it’s about $7.41 (down about a dollar from last month). That means, for every 1,000 pageviews on my site — JUST ad income, I make $7.41 (keep in mind my visitors split between desktop and mobile, and those two sets see an entirely different site and ads) In case you wondered (my spreadsheet calculates that all out for me!).
My year to year change was great. Views are up 20% more than last year, and income was up 212%. Good news!
The spreadsheet also calculates my percentage of income, which you might be interested in:
- Ads 45%
- Affiliate 19%
- Sponsored Posts 36%
- Self (book) <1%
I really want that last one to increase. I have mulled over my own online prenatal class. I think it could be good. However, our life is still really in flux, so I need to let things settle first.
Blog costs:
RFE hosting (love them — 14 bucks) — if you’re new, I recommend BlueHost for only $3.95/month They’re GREAT for new blogs without much traffic. Check out their price, I don’t know if it can be beat!- PO Box 6 bucks (need one to have a newsletter)
- Boardbooster, 20 bucks/month. Love them. more below.
- Build a Better Blog Class $39.90
RFE hosting (love them — 14 bucks) — if you’re new, I recommendTotal cost : $80
That puts me about $3100 for the month. Since my husband is home full time I have probably been doing 20 hours/week on the blog. I’ve been updating a lot. That brings me to about 38 bucks/hour, which is still pretty great.
I do not believe that much of this income increase is due to me. I know God is blessing us due to my husband's job situation. I am REALLY thankful, to the point of tears quite often. It is REALLY amazing.
What I’m doing Right:
1. I am really picking through my pins and ONLY pinning ones that do really well on Pinterest. This is time consuming, but because I use Board Booster to pin for me, I can spend my time weeding through my own 300 pins to pick just the best for each board. I think this REALLY helps on Pinterest.
2. Facebook traffic is up as I have implemented Holly Homer’s scheduling technique. I think I do about 7 posts/day.
3. I am working on getting my blog more “sticky” – meaning people stick around for a while. Experimenting with different plugins, etc. I had more pageviews this month, although I had less visitors, so it is working!
4. More time does mean more income. What bugs me most is people wondering how they can make this much and just do it a “few hours a week” — you just can’t. I mean, I could take a week or two off without much consequence, but an income like a job IS a job, and you need to work it.
5. I am frustrated by SEO. I don’t get a lot of search hits, which is dismaying for such a LARGE blog. My good man Kan came up with a really cool SEO tool that isn’t that expensive to use and VERY easy to understand when you run the report. I just put in the post that’s doing well and I try to fix it up. I can do one a day or one a week. Only 10 bucks/month, check it out! https://https://goracoon.com/
I think that’s it for this month! Let me know if you have specific questions and maybe I’ll answer them next one!
Lydia @ Thrifty Frugal Mom says
Wow, you did well! I love how God is providing for you all through this.
Just a question about the sponsored posts. When you said you emailed, who did you email? The companies that you were with for sponsored posts (Izea etc.) or individual brands? And if it was the companies, did you just tell them that you were really interested in sponsored posts? I’ve been really trying to figure out how to get more sponsored posts too. My traffic is just a bit lower than yours, so it seems like I shouldn’t have that hard of a time getting some good posts, but so far it’s been a bit hard.
As always, thanks for posting these income reports! 🙂
Hilary says
I just clicked on “contact us” and said that I was REALLY interetsed in sponsored posts, gave my blog stats and just asked what I was doing wrong. With Izea, I took the step to pay the buck, and I don’t know if that helped or not but either way I’m getting a lot from them right now. I also did that with TapInfluence, so there you go. I need to work on increasing my FB page followers, but it’s a slow, slow, process. 🙂
Lydia @ Thrifty Frugal Mom says
Thanks! That is helpful. I had done that with TapInfluence about 7 mom. ago but they weren’t much help. However, I know they’ve changed things a lot since then and so it would probably help to do it again. Sometimes I forget that simply asking really can be a great way to learn!
Hilary says
Yeah, email them again. See what happens!
Evie says
I am so so so happy for you:):):)
You’ve earn it !!
Every month I am checking your income ( ? hee hee)
and crossing my fingers and ..toes :):)
I hope that all now will be better and I will see many very happy posts from you!
best wishes:)
Hilary says
Thanks Evie! I am pretty thrilled myself. Thanks for following them!
jack says
Love the stats, Hilary!
Thanks for doing this.
Wondering what number of visits are from desktop / mobile?
As I see Adsense earnings (fromdesktop) are low compared to Pdsquad.
Hilary says
Mobile is 76% of my traffic. I don’t use much adsenes, but my combined earnings for desktop are low, but you always make more money on your desktop ads, I think.
jack says
76% wow.
That’s something. Very impressive.
But then pad squad has low CPM I believe? Like half a dollar to one dollar?
Was planning to switch to this network but that cpm sounds low.
Correct me if i am wrong?
Thanks
Hilary says
It depends on the month. This month has been low. I am at about 50 cents this month, but the rpm is about 3.5.
Last month was much better at over a dollar. PadSquad tends to swing harder with the highs and lows than other ad groups. Tell them I sent you if you switch! 🙂
jack says
Yea! Planning to switch. I need to check the math here.
If the CPM is 50 cents – your earnings are justified.
How come RPM is 3.5 dollars?
In that case, shouldn’t your earnings by (visits*3.5)= $4795? (sweet numbers)
Hilary says
So, let’s say I have 1000 visitors, if my rpm is 3.5 I’ll make $3.5 that day. If I have 10,000 I make 35 — make sense?
I tend to average about 5-6k/day and lately I’ve been making 15’ish. Again, it’s a SUPER low month with them. He said they have big stuff starting in a couple of months. July’s the end of the quarter. Thanks for putting me as your referral!
jack says
Yes, makes sense. I think we both said the same thing right?
I saw the users you have – considered them as visits.
Take those visits, divide by 100… and multiple by RPM.
So we have 137,152, divided by 100 is 1371.52.
Multiple by RPM 3.5, we have 1371.52*3.5=$4800.
(If we take pageviews, the earnings will be over $7k).
But of course I am not EXCLUDING the desktop views. If you have 76% mobile visits, that’s around 100,000 unique users / visits.
Still earnings should be $3500 right?
Something is amiss here. How come it’s less than $1000, I wonder.
Hilary says
I have to devide by 1,000 — not one hundered. CPM — m stands for the roman numeral for 1k. 🙂
jack says
Haha! Damn! 😛
So if we divide by 1000, we have 137*3.5=$500ish.
I wonder what it takes to earn $5000 per month with these guys.
Are they really worth it?
I fear the earnings seem low for the kind of pageviews you have (which I clearly don’t, so I might be making peanuts).
Hilary says
I don’t see hardly any ad income reports making that type of money from ads. You have to diversify in order to make the big bucks. 🙂
jack says
Hmm. I make $600 via adsense – and, in your case, comparing adsense with padsquad ($35 vs. $900) that’s some huge difference.
If I use the same math, that’s $21k with PD. What a joke, right? 😛
You have amazing mobile visits, which I don’t.
Hilary says
Wow, I have never made that much with adsense. Because the majority of my traffic is from Pinterest, the majority is mobile. Every 21 bucks counts. 🙂
jack says
I meant $21000 ($21k) 😛
Sounds as easy as finding an unicorn. 😛
Very happy to know you are getting traffic from pinterest.
Love your quick responses. Thanks!
Your new fan. 😉
Hilary says
Happy to help! 🙂
Diane Dalmasy says
Great post and keep up the good work! How are you doing with Blogher this month? My revenue has gone down tremendously! I went from earning almost 1K a month to rounding out to around $20 for this month. And this is with my readership doubling!
I did get some amazing sponsored posts from them so I can’t be mad at that!
Hilary says
WHAT? You went from 1k to 20 bucks? ARe you using another provider now, in addition to blogher? My revenue with them is actually up just a little from last month. I guess I’d email them! 🙂
Diane Dalmasy says
I’m only using them. They have been really consistent in the past. I did email them and was told July is a slow month. I’m going to just stick around and see what happens in August. On the plus side I’ve been receiving a decent amount of campaigns from them so it helps a bit. I was hoping it was an issue across the board and not just me! Eek!
Hilary says
Umm… made 200 with them this month. You shouldn’t have gone from 1k to 20 bucks. 🙁 Are they still showing up?
cassie says
hilary, thanks for being unselfish with sharing information. I am now enjoying my 90 days maternity leave and a big TO DO this period was to get a website / blog jump-started – i just didn’t know which direction to take. loved the read and advice.
Hilary says
I hope it’s helpful!
Orlena says
Congratulations and thank you. This is super inspiring! (I’m just starting off on the ‘hoping to make some money’ venture.) Please could you clarify the sponsored post agency “MomInfluence”. I googled them but couldn’t find them.