Blog Income Report February 2018: My Ninth Month Blogging

WELCOME TO WELL AND WEALTHY‘S NINTH BLOG INCOME REPORT FOR FEBRUARY 2018!

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!!!

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 was a beta tester for Carly’s (from Mommy on Purpose) new course Affiliate Marketing for Bloggers – Everything You’re Missing (which is now available for $67 dollars and comes with a free bonus Amazon affiliates ebook until March 11th, 2018, then the price will go up to $89, which is still super cheap for the amazing value! You can check the course out here!)

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 Carly 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 an brilliant month. So thank you Carly!!!

You can have a look at Affiliate Marketing for Bloggers – Everything You’re Missing 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:

Launch Day Income Report: Day 1 stats and figures

June 2017 Income Report: My First Month Blogging (I made money in my first month!!!)

July 2017 Income Report: My Second Month Blogging

August 2017 Income Report: My Third Month Blogging

September 2017 Income Report: My Fourth Month Blogging

October 2017 Income Report: My Fifth Month Blogging

November 2017 Blogging Income Report: My Sixth Month Blogging

FREE First Six Months Blogging Income Report Roundup Ebook

Blog Income Report December 2017: My Seventh Month Blogging

Blog Income Report January 2018: 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 Carly’s new course Affiliate Marketing for Bloggers – Everything You’re Missing.

Posts Published This Month:

Starting an email list (the guide you NEED to get your first subscribers)

The frustration of stagnation! (Week 4 of Health and Weight Loss Diary)

50 Easy Keto Recipes (keto, the best diet to lose weight fast)

You NEED To Try These 16 IBS Treatments (the most successful natural remedies, diets and medication)

Blog Income Report January 2018: My Eight Month Blogger

Fibre Is Not My Friend! (Week 5 of Health and Weight Loss Diary)

Is car ownership really a deal breaker for early retirement?

No focus, no progress! (Week 6 of Health and Weight Loss Diary)

How To Build An Easy and Realistic Capsule Wardrobe For Stress Free Mornings

10 Simple Ways Minimalism Can Stop Depression And Anxiety

Just Gotta Keep Going! (Week 7 of Health and Weight Loss Dairy)

100+ Email Opt-In Freebie Ideas (get the list for free!)

Wow I posted a lot, that’s eight proper posts for February!

Posts Updated This Month:

(I’ve recently learnt 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!

Top Posts

Top five posts this month:

53 Cheap Date Ideas (that will rock your love life) – 1,208 pageviews

Fibre Is Not My Friend! (Week 5 of Health and Weight Loss Diary)– 1,130 pageviews

You NEED To Try These 16 IBS Treatments (the most successful natural remedies, diets and medication) – 230 pageviews

The Ultimate List of Blogging FREEBIES (everything you need to start a blog in 2018)  – 424 pageviews

How To Declutter Your Home (And Transform Your Life) – 365 pageviews

Top ten posts of all time:

June 2017 Income Report: My First Month Blogging – 2,234 pageviews

The Ultimate List Of FREEBIES For Bloggers – 1,956 pageviews

Introducing Early Retirement and Financial Independence; plus the maths behind it – 1,613 pageviews

53 Cheap Date Ideas (that will rock your love life) – 1,321 pageviews

Fibre Is Not My Friend! (Week 5 of Health and Weight Loss Diary)– 1,130 pageviews

Your Blog Post Needs These 15 Things – 1,084 pageviews

How One Family Paid Off £111,000 Of Debt In Only 4.5 Years – 942 pageviews

10 Mistakes New Bloggers Make When Monetizing Their Blog – 794 pageviews

Blog Bundle Giveaway – 741 pageviews

How to set up Google AdSense ads on your blog – 558 pageviews

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)

Billionaire Blog Club (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)

Carly’s new affiliate marketing course (this is amazing!!!): £28.14 ($37.00)

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!

What worked and what didn’t this month?

CARLY’S COURSE WORKED SOOOOO WELL. But you might have guessed that from my intro to this income report…

You can check out Affiliate Marketing for Bloggers – Everything You’re Missing here!!!

I also signed up for Billionaire Blog Club (under Carly’s recommendation) and it’s pretty amazing as well, plus Scrivs is always adding more resources so while it felt expensive to buy (I got it on sale for $179) it’s actually amazing value. If you’re interested then sign up for Scrivs 12 day free blogging course to see if you like his style!

I would have to say that there wasn’t any major things that didn’t go to plan this month, in fact I would say it’s my best month yet!

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 [email protected]!

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