*There may be affiliate links in this post. (Please see our legal pages, link in the footer, for more information.)
Welcome to Well and Wealthy’s Fifth Month’s Income Report for October 2017
Five months of blogging and I’m really starting to get it.
You know what, on paper a lot of stuff doesn’t look great for this month, my pageviews were down, I barely made any money. But I’m choosing not to focus on these things because lots of amazing things happened too. (Like that it was my highest paid month yet!)
I’m making a conscious effort to change the narrative of this month, my business and my life.
So actually you know what happened this month, I got my email open rates the best they have ever been!
I figured out a long-term growth plan for my blog. So instead of focusing on immediate short-term money I’ve got a plan to make Well and Wealthy a long term, sustainable business that actually helps you.
I made progress with my Pinterest account (but more on that in November’s income report, I know waiting’s hard but that’s life).
I connected with quite a few different companies and some amazing bloggers.
So actually it’s been an incredible month!!!
Why am I writing an income report?
This blog is all about education and my journey from quitting the 9 to 5 to reaching financial independence.
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. I am planning on doing ‘Net Worth Updates’ as well so that way you will see (hopefully) exactly how I’m making money through blogging and then how I’m managing my money, including my budget and investments. But in fairness, that’s a while off!
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!
How will these Income Reports be structured?
They will all loosely follow the plan below:
- Any major updates
- Number of posts completed this month
- Pageviews including most popular posts
- Social media stats
- Email Subscribers
- Income
- Expenses
- Profit/Loss
- What worked and what didn’t this month?
- Month Action Plan and Goals
I reserve the right to change this order at a later date if it would clearly make more sense written differently haha. Also if you think I am missing a vital stat that you would really love to see me track then please comment on this post or chuck me an email at [email protected]
Other 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
November 2017 Income Report: My Sixth Month Blogging
First Six Months Blogging Income Report Roundup FREE Ebook

Major Updates:
I released an awesome new freebie, my DIY Blog Audit Checklist which is seriously useful if you’re finding that your blog just isn’t progressing much.
Posts Completed this Month:
- September 2017 Income Report: My Fourth Month Blogging
- Do It Yourself Blog Audit Checklist FREEBIE
- How to use Google Analytics: the free tool that tells you what you readers want
- Renting Versus Buying: Which is best for early retirement
- What’s so good about SiteGround? A SiteGround review for non-techy folk!
I also had a guest post published over at Reroute Lifestyle, which you should really check out:
How to build engagement and trust with your mailing list
So much excitement for that!!!
Pageviews:
Pageviews over October 2017: 2,461 (2,909)
Sessions: 1,652 (2,017)
Bounce Rate: 75.42% (77.14%)
Average Session Duration: 01:44 (01:21)
(Numbers in brackets are last months)
Told you my pageviews had decreased, although not as bad as I thought.
But hey check out my bounce rate and average session duration, both have improved!!! Yasssss a big win I reckon!
Above is the graph showing Well and Wealthy’s pageviews since I launched on 1st June.
Previously I’ve been showing the daily pageviews on this graph but I discovered that its much easier to spot overall trends if you do it weekly because then it averages out those weird days when you get massive spikes and dips.
And look the blog has had over 10,000 pageviews, that’s actually really freaking cool!
Top Posts:
Top 5 posts this month:
June 2017 Income Report: My First Month Blogging– 320 pageviews
Introducing Early Retirement and Financial Independence; plus the maths behind it – 190 pageviews
The Ultimate List Of FREEBIES For Bloggers – 183 pageviews
Your Blog Post Needs These 15 Things – 141 pageviews
September 2017 Income Report: My Fourth Month Blogging – 130 pageviews
Top 10 posts of all time:
June 2017 Income Report: My First Month Blogging – 1,585 pageviews
Introducing Early Retirement and Financial Independence; plus the maths behind it – 858 pageviews
The Ultimate List Of FREEBIES For Bloggers – 797 pageviews
Your Blog Post Needs These 15 Things – 587 pageviews
7 Top Ways To Save Money Every Month – 297 pageviews
How to set up Google AdSense ads on your blog – 296 pageviews
My 6 Worst Money Mistakes: I made them so you don’t have to – 292 pageviews
What is a Millionaire Mindset? – 272 pageviews
July 2017 Income Report: My Second Month Blogging – 265 pageviews
The Basics of Blogging Ads: A guide to putting ads on your blog – 259 pageviews
Traffic Acquisition:
Once again social media is my top referrer. But look organic search has gone up from 49 to 71, that’s got to be a win in anyone’s book!
Of course Pinterest is still my biggest refer, are we even surprised!
Social Media:
Pinterest:
I think (I say this tentatively) that I may have cracked some of Pinterest. Only on the last few days on the month but still, and because of this you will have to wait until November’s income report to discover if I did indeed figure some of Pinterest out.
I also did my first promoted pin, but again you’re gonna have to wait until November to hear about that!
Followers: 272
(Increase of 30)
Here is my Pinterest account overview. Still unsure if the numbers related to the last week or the last 30 days…
Decreases, was expecting that though as I didn’t make (what I think are) good Pinterest decisions until the last few days of October.
Here is my reach, so the average number of people who see what I pin (72,280) and the average number of people engaged with my pins (2,264). I don’t know if you can see but right at the end there it starts to pick up!
And here are the views that pins from Well and Wealthy get.
This graph shows the number of repins (or saves) that pins from Well and Wealthy get on Pinterest. A decrease from 20 average daily saves by others to 17, but that bottom line does spike up at the end!!!
This graph shows how many times pins from Well and Wealthy are clicked taking people to the site. This the graph I’m most concerned with. Average daily clicks have decreased from 50 per day to 38, but again there is something going on at the end!
Facebook:
I’m really not focusing on Facebook right now, just keeping it ticking over.
Likes/Followers: 137
(Increase of 4)
Reach: 57
(Decrease of 42)
Instagram:
I had increases all round on Instagram. I’m still considering whether I should bother with it or not as I don’t get much traffic from it. But at the same time it seems such a shame to stop doing something that is promoting my brand, even if it’s in a tiny way…
Followers: 271
(Increase of 43)
Total Posts Published: 157
Total Number of Likes: 979
Average Number of Likes per Post: 33.76
Total Number of Comments: 68
Average Number of Comments per Post: 2.34
Email Subscribers:
I feel like email went incredibly well this month! I got my open rates up loads!
And I’m really loving ConvertKit and half of me wishes I had invested sooner, although realistically the price is not ideal. But yes ConvertKit really is as good as everyone says it is!
Freebie wise I released a new one (YAY) which is the DIY Blog Audit Checklist. A total game changer if your blog is stuck or not progressing and you want some pointers on what you may have missed. Because everything on that checklist is stuff you need to be doing to become a professional blogger.
My original awesome freebie, The Ultimate List of FREEBIES For Bloggers, is still up and available and bringing me a steady stream of subscribers. It’s a list of over 100 different free courses, eBooks, worksheet, cheatsheets, resource libraries and challenges from 50 plus TOP bloggers, so if you haven’t already, sign up now!
Subscribers: 245
(Increased by 22)
Newsletter Opens: 42.8% (an increase of 12.83%)
Newsletter Clicks: 8.52%
Automation Opens: 63.35% (Ultimate Freebies and DIY Blog Audit automations)
Automation Clicks: 18.6% (Ultimate Freebies and DIY Blog Audit automations)
Woohoo opens and clicks both increased A LOT.
I can officially say ConvertKit is FAB!
Emails I sent:
My weekly emails were as follows:
- Weekly tips and what to do when your week goes to ****
- Weekly tips, income report is live and funnels simplified
- Weekly tips, my DIY Blog Audit Checklist FREEBIE and finding your avatar
- Weekly tips and how to actually accomplish your to-do list each week
- Weekly tips and how changing your narrative leads to success!
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!
Income:
I barely made any money this month. But then that makes sense. My pageviews were down and I was on a big downer regarding my blogging biz this month.
But I’ve turned that around, I’m focusing on the positives and changing my narrative so expect AT LEAST a millions dollars in revenue next month!!! Hahaha but no next month is going to be awesome!
Income Earned in October:
Tailwind (Pinterest Scheduler): £0.38 ($0.50)
Google AdSense: £2.53
Total Income Earned in October: £2.91
Total Income Earned Since Launch: £319.14
***Want to start making money from you very own blog? Then check my tutorial on How To Set Up A Professional Blog for Profit!***
So from September being my highest month so far, to October being my lowest! The highs and lows of blogging eh!
Income Actually Received:
The money that actually hit my bank account this month is: £99.72 ($130)
THIS IS THE HIGHEST AMOUNT OF MONEY THAT HAS HIT MY BANK ACCOUNT IN ONE MONTH SO FAR !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So yeah I may not have ‘earned’ much in October, but I sure did get paid well!
Expenses:
October Expenses:
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!!!)
October Expenses Total = £44.10
Previous Expenses:
Hosting with SiteGround 24 months: £101.94
Divi Theme from Elegant Themes 12 months: £90.15 ($106.80)
Haute Stock 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: £19.92 ($25.00)
BoardBooster: £15.95 ($20.00)
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)
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)
Total Expenses Since Launching = £838.82
Profit/Loss:
Currently at an overall loss of: £524.48
Considering last month I was at a loss of £672.50 I would say I’m most definitely on my way!!!
So what worked and what didn’t this month?
Ermm how about being paid the most in a month so far, that seriously worked for me!
ConvertKit also worked really well for me (hello did you see my email open rates!), I would recommend it to anyone serious about his or her email list.
At first I was being totally rubbish with Pinterest, so that wasn’t working for me, but then I think I cracked some of it so watch this space in November to see if I did!
Also I have not promoted my new freebie enough, or it’s just not a freebie people are massively into, as there haven’t been many sign ups. But honestly it’s such a good freebie, and something I would have found SO helpful that I’m leaning towards me not having promoted it well yet!
Lasts Month’s (October’s) To-Do List:
- Finish Blog Audit sales page DONE (check it out here)
- Create DIY Blog Audit freebie DONE (and you can check that out here!)
- Write guest post DONE (and published, so have a look at that here)
- Change all my affiliate links so they are no follow DONE (phew that was a job and a half)
- Compress all images on my blog DONE (that was even more a job and a half!)
- Consider changing to Social Warfare NOT DONE (decided against it and that there are better things to spend my money on right now)
- Complete Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing DONE!
Goals:
I know what you’re thinking, ermm Sammy you seemed to have skipped the bit where you tell us this month’s to-do list.
Well you see after my ‘no-goals October and reading Paula Pant’s excellent post on goal setting I have decided that from now on my goals will not be random numbers I have plucked out the sky.
But instead my goals will be my to-do list.
This ensures that I will concentrate on the actions that can help increase those blogging metrics, rather than hanging my self worth on whether I hit those numbers that I plucked out the sky.
In a way this is about my mental health, because not hitting goals really makes mine take a nose-dive. But it’s also to ensure that I carry on working on my business rather than becoming paralysed with a lack of productively because I am scared of not succeeding.
Normally when I take the pressure off, I actually do far, far better.
I get that most people don’t work like that, but I really think I do. So let’s see how it goes!
I will still use those traditionally measured blogging metrics to inform my goals/to-do list, they just won’t be the main feature.
So for example if I want to increase traffic, I may decide to work on my Facebook reach and a to-do list item might be to revamp my Facebook page
See how the blogging metric of increased traffic informed my to-do list goal of revamping my Facebook page.
So what do I want to improve over November?
I want to increase my finance and early retirement email list.
I also want to increase my blogging email list.
Plus I want to stay ahead of myself in terms of written posts.
Cool therefore my to-do list will look like this…
November To-Do List:
- Write five blog posts NOT about blogging
- Create and launch an early retirement/finance freebie
- Finish confirming my giveaway prizes (yes that’s right in January I will be holding an epic giveaway!!!)
- Start creating my ‘First 6 Months of Blogging’ FREE ebook
- Continue experimenting with promoted pins
- Experiment with Facebook ads
- Insert pop-ups on the blog (in a non-in-your-face-way)
- Sort out all my opt-ins on different blog posts so they are more reflective of the posts
Phew that’s actually quite a lot to get done! Still I’m sure I can do it! Plus I’m having a lot of December off so I need to get a bit ahead of myself and be ready for the New Year!
As always comment below or email me at [email protected] with any thoughts, questions and especially if you can think of anything that would improve the site for you or that you want me to write about!
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!

I’m glad you’re focusing on the positive because you really deserve to! I love your blog & following along on your journey.
P.S. Thanks for the incredible guest post!
Thank you so much! Focusing on the positive is so important right. And I can’t wait to publish your guest post, only a few weeks to go!
Great post! I love reading your income reports. So inspirational! I’m only in my 4th month blogging and have started making an income. Very exciting. Keep up the good work!
Well done for already making an income in your fourth month that’s awesome!!!
I’m really glad you enjoy reading the income reports, I love reading other people’s I find them so insightful and inspirational!
Hey I justed finished reading your blog and it was great to see you put in alot of detail of what you made and didn’t make on your blog so far. By you focusing on the positives and not the negatives this will definitely help alot of bloggers that are just starting out in there journey.
I’m really pleased you enjoyed it!I definitely think focusing on the positives is important. Blogging can be quite a lonely and long journey so we all need to focus on those wins as they happen!!!