Blog Income Report February: My Ninth Month Blogging

WELCOME TO WELL AND WEALTHY‘S NINTH BLOG INCOME REPORT!

I’m so incredibly excited to bring this month’s income report because it has been an amazing month!!!

I doubled my pageviews in two months, had my first viral pin (and then my second viral pin) and make a sale on Amazon’s affiliate program within the first three weeks of signing up (that means no scary ‘it’s coming up to 3 months of being with Amazon and I still haven’t made a sale so they are gonna kick me off the program’ fears!!!)

Plus I made over $90 from sending a single email!!!

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Okay that actually happened on March 1st so I won’t be including that on my income section below, but I just to tell you because prior to this I had never ‘launched’ an affiliate product via email and made any sales…

So what has made all the difference this month?

I finally started making some sizeable affiliate sales! The Blog Monetization course teaches a step-by-step process for making money with a website.

It’s amazing. In fact this the first course I’ve taken where I’ve actually gotten direct results from it almost immediately!

The course is mainly about affiliate marketing, less beginner-level stuff and more like how to seriously increase your current earnings or why you aren’t making any money yet!

But Chelsea also busts a load of blogging myths (like that we all need to be niched down 3x levels and that you need an email list to make thousands each month, spoiler alert you don’t) and she keeps things super real and honest.

I can honestly say it was the information in this course (and not just the affiliate marketing stuff, her other information is gold!) that has lead to such a brilliant month.

You can have a look at The Blog Monetization course here!

LOOKING FOR MY MOST RECENT INCOME REPORT?

As of May 2018 all my latest income reports are shared exclusively with my subscribers! Sign up below if you want a behind-the-scenes look at how I make a full-time income from home, online!

My excitement got ahead of me! Shall we carry on with the income report now?

WHY AM I WRITING AN INCOME REPORT?

(I write pretty much the same thing here every month so just skip this section if you’re a regular!)

This blog is all about education and my journey from quitting the 9 to 5 and making a living from blogging. I want to help you guys and I figured the best way to do that is to be honest with you. Particularly about what I’m doing that works, and what I’m doing that clearly doesn’t.

The best way to detail all that out is an income report.

Now if you haven’t previously seen an income report before you’re probably a little confused as to why someone would basically reveal all their business’s finances to the world. But that’s what I love about blogging. It’s an entire industry obsessed with being transparent and helping one another succeed.

The income reports are not released to brag, they are there to help everyone see exactly how you make money blogging.

And hopefully inspire them to see that it is possible to create a sustainable, authentic business that really helps people while supporting you financially!

PREVIOUS INCOME REPORTS:

Blog Income Report December: My Seventh Month Blogging

Blog Income Report January: My Eight Month Blogging

MAJOR UPDATES:

I mean I kind of told you this earlier but just in case you skipped over it, I …

• Doubled my pageviews in 60 days
• Had my first viral pin/post
• Had my second viral pin/post
• Made a sale on Amazon affiliates within three weeks of signing up (I don’t have to worry about being kicked off the program yippee)
• Made over $90 from sending one email (this actually happened on March 1st, but it was my first ever successful affiliate launch!!!)

All thanks to Chelsea’s course Affiliate Marketing and Blog Monetization Training!

POSTS UPDATED THIS MONTH:

(I’ve recently learned the importance of updating posts and how traffic-wise for both Pinterest and Google they basically count as a new post, so here’s to updating!)

My Review of Haute Stock Photos (feminine styled stock photography your blog needs!)

PAGEVIEWS

(Numbers in brackets are last months…)

Pageviews over February 2018: 7,885 (5,306)

Sessions: 5,865 (3,725)

Bounce Rate: 84.21% (75.01%)

Average Session Duration: 01:05 (01:23)

Oh my goodness, nearly 8,000 pageviews!!! This is incredible! You can really see my second viral just after February 15th, look at that massive spike.

Here you can definitely see that February was much better than all the previous month’s traffic!

TRAFFIC ACQUISITION

Social media doing the majority of the work, but look organic search is at nearly 300 users!

As per Pinterest is pretty much where all my social traffic comes from!

SOCIAL MEDIA

PINTEREST:

No promoted pins this month, just awesome organic traffic!

Followers: 610

(Increase of 67)

Here is a screenshot of my traffic from Pinterest from Google Analytics.

Below is a screenshot of my Pinterest average viewers. What’s super exciting to see is that the number of people engaged with my pins has almost doubled (up 82%!)

FACEBOOK:

I’ve pretty much stopped posting to Facebook right now, it just doesn’t have a decent ROI for me!

Likes/Followers: 285

(Increase of 4)

Reach: 10

(Decrease of 6,192 as no more Facebook ads)

INSTAGRAM:

I’ve also stopped posting to Instagram but that’s just temporary whilst I create my email marketing course!

Followers: 440

(Increase of 16)

Total Posts Published: 257

Total number of likes in the last 30 days: 743

Average number of likes per post in the last 30 days: 43.71

Total number of comments in the last 30 days: 122

Average number of comments per post in the last 30 days: 7.18

EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS

Well I’m now fully switched back over to MailerLite and I’m super happy with my decision.

Subscribers: 812

(Increased by 69)

Newsletter Opens: 19.5% (Last month’s open rate was 34.56% it has likely reduced so much due to the huge influx of new subscribers last month from the giveaway. That is the only problem with getting email subscribers from the giveaway, a lot of people only signed up for their chance to win, I’m totally okay with this I just need to give my list a clean now, which will bring my open rate way back up!)

Newsletter Clicks: 3.19% (Last month’s click rate was 7.56% and the big decrease is most likely down to the same reason as why my open rate has decreased!)

EMAILS I SENT:

How to get over 400K pageviews per month!!! (Open rate – 23.75% Click rate – 5.53%)

Resend to unopened of duplicate of email above – How I got my first viral post!!! (Open rate – 19.19% Click rate – 3.57%)

What you’ve all been waiting for!!! (Open rate – 23.62% Click rate – 0.94%) (Email about Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing sale)

Last chance to transform your traffic! (Open rate – 27.27% Click rate – 6.06%) (Email say Traffic Transformation sale was ending, only send to 33 subscribers if they had previously show interest in Traffic Transformation)

How much does blogging really cost? (Open rate – 23.37% Click rate – 2.58%)

Resend to unopened of duplicate of email above – The truth about my blogging expenses… (Open rate – 13.92% Click rate – 1.37%)

The easiest and quickest way to make opt-in printables!!! (Open rate – 17.40% Click rate – 3.61%)

Resend to unopened of duplicate of email above – How they made $29,000 in January!!! (Open rate – 7.44% Click rate – 1.86%)

INCOME AND EXPENSES

INCOME EARNED IN FEBRUARY:

Amazon: £1.84 ($2.54)

Google AdSense: £8.41 (that’s like double last month!)

Total Income Earned in February: £10.25

Total Income Earned Since Launch: £417.88

INCOME ACTUALLY RECEIVED IN FEBRUARY:

The money that actually hit my bank account this month is: £11.31

In case you were interested, since I started blogging £291.13 has hit my bank account!

FEBRUARY EXPENSES:

Promoted Pins: £19.64

BoardBooster: £15 ($20.48)

Blogging Bootcamp (sooooo freaking good!!!): £180.58 ($247 I think)

Currys: £213.95 (wasn’t sure if I should include this or not, I brought a second screen to make it easier for blogging, but it’s also to watch movies and stuff on because my household doesn’t have a TV, we are all about the Netflix!)

SiteGround (renew Well and Wealthy domain and a few other bits): £37.14

February Expenses Total = £418.33 (ohhh it hurts!!!)

PREVIOUS EXPENSES:

Hosting with SiteGround 24 months: £101.94

Divi Theme from Elegant Themes 12 months: £90.15 ($106.80)

Haute Chocolate Stock Photo Membership 6 months: £105.26 ($125.00)

Scan my Post PO Box 12 months: £15.00

Tailwind Pinterest Scheduler 12 months: £73.80 ($89.00)

Traffic Transformation eBook: £42.04 ($50.00)

How To Make Your First Affiliate Sale In 24 Hours Using Pinterest from House of Brazen: £19.92 ($25.00)

BoardBooster: £8.01 ($10.00)

The Core Affiliate Strategy: £36.72 ($46.00)

How to Blog for Profit Without Selling Your Soul: £14.74

Income Journey eBook and Email Bundle: £63.73 ($80.00)

BoardBooster: £7.94 ($10.00)

Pinteresting Strategies: £21.59 ($32.00)

Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing: £136.12 ($169.00)

BoardBooster Strategy by Pot Pie Girl: £22.58 ($29.42)

Microphone Headset: £19.99 (Actually brought it in September but forgot to add it last month)

ConvertKit: £23.16 ($29.00)

Pinterest Promoted Pins course by Pinterest: £0.95 ($1.20) (Yes it really was this cheap!!!)

BoardBooster: £7.66 ($9.67)

Strategies Worth Sharing Facebook Course: £22.23 ($30.00)

Upgraded my Elegant Themes Membership: £111.93 ($125.00)

Upgraded my SiteGround hosting: £17.28

ConvertKit: £22.99($29.00)

Facebook Ads: £50.05

Promoted Pins: £29.26

BoardBooster: £11.59 ($15.00)

ConvertKit: £22.91 ($29.00)

Promoted Pins: £29.26

BoardBooster: £11.59 ($15.00)

ConvertKit: £22.91 ($29.00)

Promoted Pins: £54.86

Facebook Ads: 65.48

BoardBooster: £11.47 ($15.00)

ConvertKit: £21.67 ($29.00)

Facebook Ads Side Hustle course from Millennial Money Man: £180.58 ($247 I think)

SiteGround (second blog stuff): £22.74

iMark Intereactive (to sort out my SSL certificate: £30.71 ($42)

Total Expenses Since Launching (Including February) = £1,981.74

I’m now officially on a no more courses budget until I’ve made most or all of those expenses back!!!

PROFIT/LOSS:

Currently at an overall loss of: £1,690.61 

Like I said it’s time to stop spending and really put some hard work in to make some/all of that back!

LOOKING FOR MY MOST RECENT INCOME REPORT?

As of May 2018 all my latest income reports are shared exclusively with my subscribers! Sign up below if you want a behind-the-scenes look at how I make a full-time income from home, online!

LAST MONTH’S TO-DO LIST:

(Don’t forget I didn’t expect to get it all done though…)

On Well and Wealthy:

• Move back to MailerLite
• Update all posts
• Complete training in the Billionaire Blog Club
• Make new freebie (relevant to email marketing course)
• Create my email marketing/ how to get ConvertKit results with MailerLite course!!!

On my second blog:

• Get seven posts published in each of my four main categories
• Create an email opt-in
• Get a good Pinterest system going

Yeah I didn’t get a huge amount done, but I’m totally okay with that because my growth this month was phenomenal.

FEBRUARY’S TO-DO LIST:

• Create my email marketing/ how to get ConvertKit results with MailerLite course!!!
• Update 12 posts

I know it’s super short but that’s because this month is pretty much being dedicated to course creation!!!! (So much excitement!)

Then in April I plan to continue updating posts, create a load more content for Well and Wealthy and get my second blog fully up and running!!!

So that was February! An incredible month and fingers crossed I keep growing!

Any questions please ask away in the comments or email me at sammy@wellandwealthy.org!

Also please could you share this post on Pinterest, pretty please! 🙂