I hate reading income reports.  There, I said it.

I get SO frustrated by people who make the majority of their income off of other bloggers.  Makes me nauseated.  Yes, selling to other bloggers is lucrative and I don’t mind buying recommended items from those bloggers — but I just want to buy stuff that they know an actual blogger uses, and works.  Not a blog for bloggers.

Does that make sense?

So, last April (or something) I stopped giving full #’s, just because the numbers were getting high enough that I was uncomfortable.  Of course, the numbers fell after that and I feel fine sharing the #’s at this point.  Plus, we all know that when you give the full #’s it is just more fun.

Pageviews — just under 150k

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Guys, this is super depressing as I was well over 300k in January.  BUT, life is going on, and this is a good # of pageviews.  Also, my pages per session is up.  I’m doing a few things to help with that:

• Making trophy pages as recommended in Kelly Holme’s SEO class
• Switching off Padsquad made it easier for my readers to see more of my stuff
• Better in-post links to lure people around my site.

Ad Income — $1230

I use MediaVine for all of my ad income.  I love them.  I can’t recommend them any more than I do.  They have amazing customer service my site loads so fast, ads aren’t everywhere.  I don’t use pop-ups or in-image ads any further, and while my income is down I am still happy about it.

Affiliate Income — $1031

I have to say it’s frustrating to deal with other people’s whims on affiliate programs.  It reminds me to not tie my sail to any particular company.  But, I am grateful for the affiliate income I have earned.  Excited for the 4th quarter. 🙂

For affiliate income, I use a few programs — only about $200 of this is from blogging affiliate programs.  The rest is Amazon and some other products I use and love.

I do think that the recommendation of a product that YOU love is so much better than any other recommendation. 🙂

Own Products — $400

This one’s still a mystery to me.  I really WANT to sell more prenatal classes, but I have tried everything I can think of.  This month I decided to create a new video and put it on Auto-play.  You can see that sales page here.

I am always open to input to try to get that to convert better.  I had been mulling over more ads but the product just doesn’t convert that well… yet. 😉

However, this is a pretty niche product.  I need to sell it to pregnant women in their 30’ish weeks (obviously, they can buy it whenever).  A few things that I’ve done

• I have a week by week newsletter that is engaging readers, but I haven’t seen an uptick in prenatal class sales
• Changing up the page, adding more emphasis on reviews (I have a cute gif that flips through my favorites).
• Changing the price.  Up, down — it doesn’t really change the # of items sold, or income.

I do have a survey for people who enter the funnel but don’t end up purchasing.  Most of them are taking an in-person class or felt it was too expensive.  Who knows.

If you’re a marketer who wants a feather in your cap — feel free to offer your advice.  If I sell more I’m happy to give you the credit.  Those who have taken the class love it — so that’s good.  Maybe it just needs time. 🙂

Also, I have a new product coming out in 2017 about organization.  I thikn I learned my lesson on the super-niche product.  So, now there’s one that all my readers can use!

Sponsored Posts — $2600

I have increased my sponsored post rate as of late.  I just feel like it allows me the freedom to really give those posts a lot of time and attention.  I have also been blessed to get some really well-fitting posts.  It’s exciting to get a company that you think fits you PERFECTLY.

Great for both of us, really.

If you’re a blogger I’d encourage you to look at your sponsored post rates.  Just make sure you feel like you are adequately compensated for your time.

I will also say that I feel like I create stellar graphics, as well as great writing.  After taking sticky Blogging I feel like my posts sell better and are more “me” than ever better.  That reflects in my price.

And, companies have been happy to pay. 🙂  Thank goodness.

I don’t want to rely all this much on sponsored posts, but since my family mainly relies on this income to pay our bills, it’s good for me.

Total: $5200

Full blog CPM is just over $35 — that means for every 1,000 visitors to my site — I make $35.  Or, for every visitor, I make 3.5 cents. 🙂

BTW — interested in getting all these stats for yourself, check out my blogging income spreadsheet.

Which, I consider a full time income.  Yes, there are expenses (went over those last month) and yes, I have to pay taxes, but it’s more than I’d make as a nurse full time so I’m pleased.

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I have taken a few webinars lately.  One of the ladies (from Brilliant Business Moms) really struck me.  I’m in this for money, I’m not in it for “vanity metrics” — the # of followers or # of pageviews.  Right now I’m really trying to focus on helping as many women as possible, as that is my #1 on this blog — of course, followed very closely by #2 to make money.  And to create a lifestyle that I love.

I am so grateful for the blessing the blog is in our home.  It truly is amazing, even if it’s not 10k — it’s great money and I love doing it. 🙂

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Gift Guide for Bloggers

There are a lot of things that I love as a blogger, but I’d love to share the top 10 things that you should put on your wish list if you’re a blogger.

Sticky Blogging — whether it’s her SEO course or her Sticky Blogging class — both of them really made me re-think my own writing and has changed how I blog.  I really think of myself as a writer after these.  I’m truly crafting a post.  It allows me to charge more for sponsored posts, and people love my blog more and more.  HUGE fan of sticky blogging!  Also, her courses are reasonable.  I don’t get these webinars that are hundreds of dollars.  They’re cheating you.  Look for stuff on the internet. 🙂

ConvertKit — The #1 thing you want to do when you start a blog is to start your newsletter.  I love ConvertKit.  I did start with MailChimp when I started, but ConvertKit is the next step after you have about 1,000 addresses.  It just allows me to engage my audience.  I love doing that. 🙂  The good news is that just recently they are really upping their game.  There’ve been new metrics and I am such a numbers girl.  I absolutely love it!  I have also heard good things about Active Campaign, although a friend just switched and said is more complicated.  So, take that for what it’s worth.  I haven’t used it. 🙂

Happy Planner — I use my planner to do all of my blog planning and I absolutely love it.  I would recommend some sort of organization system to your blogging attack plan.  You can find how I use mine here.  You can see my planning gift guide too to see the products I love on that one.

Business Cards — I think these are just crazy handy (even if you need to give it to another mom to give your contact details).  I have a whole post about them here.  Plus, something about a business card makes you feel like you’ve “made it” — I sure love handing out mine. 🙂

A Great Host — I have used a lot of hosts, but I have to say — hands down — that the one I am with right now is amazeballs.  They are so great to try to fix anything wrong.  Way better than any other host I have been with.  It’s been so nice.  Yes, they’re pricier than Bluehost but the hosting is SO much better.  Please don’t be swayed by the affiliate partnerships other bloggers have with large hositng companies.  Pick one that is great.  Stay with them.  I’ll be with Big Scoots (and in my defense this is an affiliate link, but I actually have no idea how much money I would make if you purchased off of it — I just LOVE them).

Photo Software — there are a lot of great options.  I do think if you REALLY want to make great stuff, you need to have a basic grasp of Photoshop.  However, there are a lot of great programs if you want to make quick graphics.  I mainly use Stencil mainly because they have a lot of awesome stock photos included in the price.  Makes it easy to make a quick one!  But, I have also used Canva and I’ve heard good things about PicMonkey.  If you think you can make money blogging WITHOUT good graphics, you are wrong.  You need some awesome photos and photo skills.  BTW, AppSumo often has awesome deals on stock photos (it’s also where I purchased Stencil).

A Great Computer — I mainly work on a desktop.  I’d get as fast and as good as you can.  You don’t need a great graphics card, but I need the ability to have 25 windows open for most of my day as I link to things.  Look for a high memory level, a good # of cores in your processor.  You want something good, so you don’t outgrow it in a few months.

I also love my laptop.  I love a small laptop so it’s easy to take with me when I travel.  I, however, made the mistake of going cheap instead of going great.  I want one that’s small AND fast, and those seem to be hard to come by.  Still on the lookout. 🙂  Let me know if you love yours!

Board Booster — Guys.  I am so tired of the affiliate game in the land of blogging.  Yes, this post is FULL of them, but I totally use and LOVE all these things.  I just need you to know that companies pay bloggers to talk trash about other companies.  So, when you hear that “this” schedule is the ONLY one to use, it is likely an affiliate link.  I love Board Booster.  It’s so fast and easy, I don’t have to pay a company to schedule it out and I have A/B tested other schedulers as well as hand pinning and seen ABSOLUTELY NO DIFFERENCE.  Many people have been to Pinterst headquarters and been assured that it doesn’t matter what scheduler you use.  I just love Board Booster.  It pins my pins, and is consistant.  {swoon}

Mass Planner — if you are looking to grow your Instagram or Twitter following, check into this one.  I gained over 2k twitter followers, and 1k instagram followers last month using it.  Is it the most honest and genuine way to gain followers — no.  But I’m being turned down from campaigns because those #’s are so small.  I am also starting to see a good # of click throughs from Instagram now that I’m posting more consistantly to more followers.  Good stuff.

FULL DISCLOSURE:  Most of these products come with an affiliate link, but I don’t want you to blindly take my word for it.  Really research out your options.  Tailwind is awesome for people who work that way (or want to pay someone to schedule pinning for them).  But, each of these has competition so be sure you’re picking the right one.  Switching is a HUGE pain for many of them.  I just want you to get quality things to really grow your income.

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