The Rise of the Income Report

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Income reports are not new. I read articles from website owners over ten years ago in which they shared how much money they made. Yet, they seem to have grown in popularity over the last couple of years. Even my friend Sam has started posting income reports on his blog WP Squared.

The reports show how the person has made money over a specific period of time. Most bloggers post updates every month, however a few people post more infrequently. Reports usually show changes in traffic and changes in income, with a comparison to how they performed in the previous period.

Sharing income is something I have never been interested in doing in the past. When I launched WP Mods a few years ago, I wrote a few follow up posts that detailed my goals for the website and detailed how traffic was growing. The only time I have shared income online is when I had to i.e. when I was trying to sell a website.

The Pros & Cons of Sharing Income Details

I have always been hesitant to reveal too much online about a particular website. Income reports are a good way for people to see how you operate your website and how you are making money through them. I have no doubt that if I started posting income reports here, they would be very popular with readers. From a reader’s point of view, I can understand why so many people like reading them as they allow you to see exactly how someone is making money online.

Income reports should inspire people to work harder, though that isn’t always what happens. Many people duplicate what another person is doing rather than looking at the methods they used to become a success and be inspired by that. So for the website owner, it is probably better not to delve too much information to readers. For example, if you start sharing detailed traffic stats which shows where your traffic is coming from, you are making it very easy for people to see what your most profitable keywords are. Of course, it is not too difficult to find this kind of information out using a keyword analysis service, however by telling people “I am getting 1,000 visits every day from Google because of this particular article“, you are encouraging people to target the same keyword.

Perhaps I am looking at the whole situation wrong and should be more transparent about what I do online to make money, however I have always preferred to keep those details private until I have sold a website. I suppose I could always focus income reports on one particular subject: be it money made from freelance writing, selling websites, or Google Adsense. Though it is interesting that EmpireFlippers are no longer detailed income breakdowns and Pat Flynn has not been open about one of his new niche projects because some of his followers were duplicating exactly what he done before.

At the moment, the most interesting statistic for me is traffic. Making money through a blog with traffic is not that difficult. If you have a blog with 5,000 unique visitors per day, it is going to make money. It does not matter if you sell products or promote third-party services, the blog will make money for you. When a website reaches that level of traffic, your aim is to increase traffic and optimise your revenue.

I doubled the traffic to this blog over the last month and I hope to repeat the same feat next month. So for me, reading “I increased my blog traffic by doing X, Y, and X” is more helpful that “Look here: I made $47 last month from my banner ad”.

So moving forward, I would love to share with you all the growth of this blog’s traffic levels. Remember, blog traffic is kind of like a snowball rolling down a mountain. Once you gain a good readership, you just have to keep the momentum going.

Blogs That Post Income Reports

There are many people that are transparent about their online income. Pat Flynn’s income reports are always hugely popular on his blog. It is easy to see why. He is completely open about what he doing online and how he is making money. The most astounding thing is that from his 60K monthly income, more than half of that is being generated from referrals to BlueHost.

Unfortunately, not everyone produces income reports as good as Pat Flynn. Most people simply publish how much they made last month, without going into great detail how they did it, which leaves suspicions as to whether they made that money or not. Also, many bloggers who post income reports do not really write about anything else. Their income reports account for half of their published articles. Their whole blog revolves around them making money online by explaining to people how they make money online.

Here is a list of some of the most popular blogs online publish income reports (in no particular order):

If I have missed any, please feel free to post a link to it in the comment area and I will update this post :)

What Say You?

Income reports are very popular with people who are just starting online. They illustrate what can be achieved and they show how it was done. From my own point of view, I have never felt too comfortable posting details of my income online. Am I wrong to feel this way? Should I be more transparent?

I would love to hear your opinion on this issue. Also, I am curious as to what you find more useful: Income reports or traffic reports?

Thanks,

Kevin

15 thoughts on “The Rise of the Income Report”

  1. I think there is certainly a risk of imitation with certain types of websites. I was never keen on posting income reports myself, however many readers requested it and I gave in to peer pressure ;)

    Posting income reports seems to validate the author in the eyes of many readers. Whilst I do believe that content is the most important thing for my own blog, I do realise that reputation is a factor too.

  2. That’s exactly why I stopped talking about my income reports. I was teaching my competitors. I saw people start creating things on the websites I sale therefore increasing the risk that customers would buy from them and not from me. I even had other designers steal my graphics. Lesson learned. Never share your business details, reports, or resources if you want to stay successful. Period! :)

  4. No problem Matthew. I’ll be sure to check it out.

    I didn’t realise you spent that much time writing the income report. That’s impressive.

  5. Thanks very much for the mention – I put an awful lot of work into them.

    The 1st of the month is always a brutal day, 4 hours of accounts, 3 hours of reports and 8-12 hours to write the income report.

    Oh wait its the 1st tomorrow.

    And its a Saturday ><

  6. I probably wouldn’t be (that) inspired by people like Pete Cashmore and Peter Rojas as what they have created is far beyond the realms of my imagination of what I could create. I couldn’t relate to their success.

    I think I mentioned that by learning of someone’s income, you can see whether their advice is relevant to you (me) or not. If I read an income report from someone making $100,000 a month then I would think “that is great for them, but its not something I am likely to achieve”. Whereas if I saw someone making $5,000 a month, I might be more likely to follow their blog as it is something to aspire to. But that is just one factor of many as to why I would chose to follow them.

    It doesn’t really make sense as its probably best in life to follow the most successful people but such is human nature!

    Why doesn’t Pat only focus on his blog? I think with Pat, and other people in the MMO niche, is that if you aren’t making money elsewhere, apart from your MMO blog, you lose a lot of credibility. Again you could argue that he is teaching how to make money online and has made a site (his blog), that is making lots of money; but people could also argue that he only makes money from teaching, not doing. I agree with both sides of this argument but tend to fall on the side of the latter. Although in Pat’s case his blog has outgrown its original purpose and has become something in its own right.

    I guess people (me) want to know what successful people are doing in general to help try and get into that mindset. You are right it comes down (mostly) to hard work and determination, but those can he hard to maintain when things aren’t working out etc I am inspired by Pat, as on one of his podcasts he said he has two kids, is a stay at home dad and does his work at night after the kids have gone to bed. That is some impressive time management there which I’d love to emulate!

    Joe

  7. That is a good point Joe. I can appreciate why some people may not relate to someone in particular.

    As I noted before, I find inspiration from Pete Cashmore because he is not a developer (by trade). I can still remember when Mashable was a new blog. At the time it was no different to other blogs that I myself created. He quickly changed that and set out to distinguish it from the crowd with high volume posting and high quality articles. So whilst I cannot relate to having a mega blog that is worth millions, I do find inspiration in the fact that his blog started in the same way as mine. As did Peter Rojas’s first success Gizmodo. I guess when it comes to inspiration, people find it in different places.

    I am not sure that Pat should worry about credibility. Perhaps he is thinking more about diversifying his income. Maybe in two years from now, a bigger part of his income will come from his other projects.

    He is definitely someone to inspire to. He works incredibly hard at what he does and is a great example of a blogger that knows how to connect with his audience.

  8. Thanks again for taking the time to leave such a good comment.

    I agree, it is one way to decide whether someone is worth listening to. I do think the websites they own and developed are a better indicator of someone’s capabilities…and their past success counts for a lot too.

    I personally find more inspiration from guys like Pete Cashmore and Peter Rojas as they have created mega blogs (Mashable and Gizmodo/Engadget respectively). And I don’t believe they are technical guys. I only know basic coding so I was never inspired by Mark Zuckerberg; as he did something I could never have done.

    Cashmore and Rojas are different. They developed their blogs through nothing but sheer determination. Peter Rojas wrote a blog post two months ago in which he noted that when he initially started Gizmodo and Engadget, he was writing more than 30 posts per day. I know most were short posts, but still, that to me is very inspiring. It also shows what one person can do if they are determined enough.

    Another factor for me is how they make their money. For example, John Chow is a great blogger. He blogs frequently and he knows how to sell products to people….however, there is no mystery to how he makes money. He is fantastic at what he does but I have never wondered how he has built his blog (though like the other bloggers I mentioned, I’m inspired by his work rate).

    Pat Flynn is another good example. He is making around $58k a month. If you look at his breakdown, he is making around $46k of that total from his blog (around 80%). He is making around $3k each with the niche sites he owns.

    I’m sure that many people get inspired by the fact he is making so much money…though it isn’t a real mystery as to how he makes the majority of his cash. It all comes from his blog. However, like you said, he has demonstrated that he knows how to make money on the web with niche websites. He makes great videos and podcasts too. That is what people should be focusing on, rather than his income.

    The only thing I have always wondered about Pat is why he doesn’t focus 100% of his time on his blog. I realise he needs example websites to teach people…however if I was in his boat, I would be focusing more on the website that brings in the majority of cash. Alternatively, I would save up a few hundred grand and start buying websites.

    Pat comes across as a nice guy. Again, it’s his hard work and determination that inspire me.

    I do take your thoughts on board though. I’m hoping to relaunch a website soon and I’m keen to share details about it with all of you. I didn’t even think about sharing details about what my days involved etc. It’s little things like that which I forget others would like to know.

    Feel free to give me a buzz if there is anything you want me to cover…or if you have any questions about how I make money.

  9. I can see where you are coming from and agree with a lot of what you say.

    However, I still think income reports can be one good way of determining credibility. Sure they can be made up and if I saw a new blog spring up from someone I’d never heard of, who wasn’t linking to any projects they’d done or wasn’t mentioned anywhere else online, and they posted a big income report I would be wary.

    Likewise if someone with a good reputation and was ‘known in the scene’ was posting in-depth advice, but wasn’t posting income reports I wouldn’t discount his advice as he wasn’t backing it with an income report.

    I should’ve really said I think income reports are *one* way to help determine if someones advice should be followed or listened to. In the make money online sphere there are so many bloggers offering advice that is can be hard to know who to listen to.

    If I discover a blog that is new to me that contains a guide on keyword research that I think sounds interesting, and then I see an income report showing that the last site they built made $1000 last month, it then puts the guide in perspective. This is someone who has done something, made some money and is now sharing what they did.

    But equally I should also say, to cover myself, that just because someone isn’t making money online their advice shouldn’t be listened to. How many football managers had less-than glittering careers as players but go on to become top managers at the highest level? Why should a player listen to someone tell them how to play when they can’t play themselves…

    What would inspire me? Income reports, ranking data, traffic number, bounce rates, number of subscribers. Reports of progress against goals. Work/life balance. What you are doing with the money etc

    They all add up to create a good picture of how someone is doing and whether I would aspire to emulate their success in my own endeavours.

    So yes I still think income reports are a good idea but they are only part of the bigger picture.

  10. Kevin, I really love reading other people’s income reports, although I am quite selective about them. I actually wrote about the topic a while ago (http://www.fitforblogging.com/monthly-income-reports/). Sharing income reports does have its pros and cons, and ultimately it’s a personal decision for each one of us, and also depends on the project. Having multiple income streams/projects, might also make it less risky for one to share his income reports on a particular blog/project.

    With regards to discovering a competitor’s ranking keywords, what methods do you use? Alexa does provide some stats but they aren’t really that accurate.

  11. Thanks for the comment Jean. Yeah I do think it’s a personal decision. If I did it, I am not positive it is something I would do long term. Though the popularity of income reports is making me question my own view on the issue.

    With regards to checking ranking keywords of competitors, Alexa is ok for a quick look. SEMRush and Open Site Explorer offer very limited results for free too.

    It is not something I actively do myself, though I am keen to use SEO software more for future blogging projects. SpyFu looks like a good option. It’s $79 per month for 200 reports.

    Kevin

  12. Thanks for the comment Joe.

    I can understand why newbies find it useful to see income reports, however I do not think anyone should be wary of someone giving advice just because they didn’t share details of their income. Is evidence really necessary if you know the websites they own (or owned)? What if someone sold a $500,000 website two years ago – is there experience relevant now? I would say it is.

    For example, Darren Rowse doesn’t actively share details of his income online, yet I think it would be silly to be wary of his advice, as he is one of the most experienced bloggers online.

    I actually noticed that EmpireFlippers (formerly AdsenseFlippers) have stopped breaking down how they make money. Instead, they just post a figure. Pat Flynn has kept his new niche project a secret too because of people competing with him.

    Here’s the problem I see. Many people do not get inspired by income reports, they simply try and duplicate what that person did. I saw this time and time again online.

    Around 2001-2002, there was a nice guy on the SitePoint forums called Nintendo. He was making thousands upon thousands of dollars every month through Amazon. He did this through a script he created for himself that allowed him to pull item data from Amazon. Surprisingly, he released this script for free.

    Overnight, hundreds of webmasters created Amazon stores using his script. I had an online shopping directory at the time called AceShopping (my second shopping directory). Therefore I added the script to that website. I also created several niche Amazon stores creating it.

    Some people started making thousand of dollars a month using his script. I only created a few websites, but I still managed to generate a few hundred dollars a month for several months. Considering how little time I spent creating those websites, I was pleased. As time went on, changes in Amazon and Google eventually stopped the effectiveness of the script.

    Still, the guy who released the script got nothing. All he did was reduce his own earnings. Around that time I owned various webmaster related forums (Affiliate Talk etc.). I advertised my projects in the signature on my forums, therefore it was easy to find out the websites I owned. I occasionally got emails from people asking about one of my websites. More than once, I saw someone creating the same website as they knew I was making money.

    This isn’t a big concern now. Everyone knows blogging can make money and the ones who would simply try and copy what someone is doing are probably the people who are too lazy to make it work. Though there is still a risk of imitation. For example, if one particular blogger claims to be making $5,000 per month through one blog, it only takes a few minutes to find what keywords they are ranking for.

    On the flip side, any negative aspects of sharing income online would arguably be overshadowed by the positive aspects you mentioned.

    At the moment, I am still in the “NO” camp of sharing income, however I always try and ensure I see both sides. My view on this issue is clearly biased by the experiences I have from working online so long etc. I should perhaps start looking at the positive aspects of sharing more details online, rather than the negative aspects.

    So let’s say I shared details of this blog: traffic and/or income (not income from my other websites). What details would you like to see, what details would inspire you?

    I believe this subject is subjective. I do not think your viewpoint is wrong and I do not think mine is either. It really comes down to whether someone wants to be more open about their income online.

    Therefore, I would love to hear more about what inspires you. Again, I do think you should listen to people who do not share income online. It isn’t always an indication of whether they are experienced or not. In fact, there are some people making ok money online and they are giving out terrible advice. :)

    Kevin

  13. I think income reports are a great way for allowing visitors to quickly see whether they can related to your advice or not.

    If a newbie comes across a make money site and the author is earning a couple of thousand a month that can be very inspirational as it is a realistic goal to aim for for someone starting out, making them more likely to follow the blog.

    Sometimes when I read a ‘how to’ blog and there is no income report I am wary as to whether to follow there advice or not as there is no evidence their approach is working.

    As a reader, for me, it just helps put the whole blog/site/project and its content in perspective when there are earnings reports posted.

    They don’t even need to be done on a monthly basis. It could be an income report for one Kindle ebook, or a project they worked on etc. It can be done without giving all your financial information away I think.

    The more the merrier I say.

  14. Thanks for the reply Sam.

    1. I’ve actually came across a few bloggers sharing income reports that are just starting out (i.e. earning less than a $100).

    2. You make a good point about encouraging readers to support you. I think people forget that there is a real person behind a blog sometimes (less so here, as it is a personal blog).

    3. Cool. Looking forward to seeing what you develop. I have referred back to traffic stats from my previous blogs to check how long it took me to reach a particular traffic point.

    Would love to hear from others on this subject. Do you share Sam’s view?

    Kevin

  15. I decided to be transparent with the income of my Wordpress blog for four main reasons;

    1. I have always enjoyed other peoples income reports (even though it tends to be only the most successful bloggers that are open enough to do this).

    2. I wanted to encourage readers of the monthly round-ups to support my website as a whole and understand that there was a real person behind the blog (as it is not really about me, it is about Wordpress) – which would in turn hopefully encourage commenting on other posts. Also the odd backlink due to these reports wouldn’t harm the site (thanks for the link Kev:))

    3. I have an idea for another blogging project where me being able to prove my ability in taking a website from $0 to a reasonable level of income within 18 months would be beneficial – these reports may help me, or may not!

    4. I wanted to keep my own eye on the ball, without becoming a stats junky – Looking at my stats becomes post research!

    I can see the pros & cons to such an approach, but for this blog at least I thought the benefits outweighed the cons. Had this blog been focused on “making money” or similar topic I would never have gone down this route – especially with a brand new blog.

    I think offering some stats can be motivational.

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