It is that time of the month again when I look back at the previous month and see how much money I made through this blog. Income from my books and freelance blogging is included in this report since I promote these products and services through this blog. Please note, however, that income from my other projects, such as Rise Forums, are not included in this report.
On the whole, January was an ok month. Affiliate income was down a little, however I managed to increase traffic a little bit. Also, due to unfair British visa laws that do not count my earnings during the previous years due to me travelling South America, my girlfriend had to leave the UK and I have to stay here.
I will not bore you with all the details, and I do not like talking about my personal life too much on this blog either. Though I will say this: It has been incredibly difficult to be apart from someone I love for so long, particularly after spending every single day with them for two and a half years. On the plus side, this should hopefully all be resolved within a few months and it gives me an excuse to return to South America on holiday.
When I take everything into consideration, I am actually very pleased with my performance in January. Income only increased a little, though towards the end of the month I had a lot of enquiries about freelancing for others.
OK. Enough chit-chat. Let’s dive right in!
Traffic Statistics
In December, the blog saw a slight dip in traffic of around 1,700 visits. I was therefore pleased to see an increase of around 4,500 visits in January. The additional traffic seems to have come from some posts that went viral on Facebook; and December is usually a quiet month so I should have expected a traffic jump in January regardless.
Still, let’s not dwell on that and focus on the positives!
- Visits – 13,614 (+4,511)
- Unique Visits – 12,110 (+4,276)
- Pageviews – 38,239 (+10,222)
* Difference in traffic from previous month shown in brackets.
My Alexa rank increased again, but only by 15 haha. Last month my global Alexa rank was 69,895. It currently stands at 69,680.
Readership & Social Media
My newsletter continues to crawl along at a snail’s pace. I also saw a slight decrease in Twitter followers, however that is not a concern as I believe many people followed me in the past simply for a follow back. Therefore, when I unfollowed them, they have removed me (in other words, they never had any interest in what I had to say anyways!).
Facebook had a large increase of 650 fans. This was a result of a small like campaign I tested using Facebook Ads for a week. The growth of 148 followers on Google+ was organic, which was pleasing. I still do not participate there as much as I should; however I know that the number of followers a person has on Google+ is becoming more important.
- Email Newsletter = 1,927 Subscribers (+5 subscribers)
- Facebook = 1,017 Followers (+650 Followers)
- Twitter = 1,937 Followers (-57 Followers)
- Google+ = 809 Followers (+148 Followers)
- YouTube = 30 Subscribers (-1 Subscriber)
Income Details
I was disappointed to see that affiliate income dropped again. This is something that I need make a priority and rectify. Ideally, I want this blog to be generating at least $1,000 in affiliate earnings every month. In order to do this, I am going to focus on more good product and service reviews rather than placing sponsor’s banners everywhere.
Book income was slightly up again, reminding me once again that I need to take my finger out of my ass and put it back on the pulse (so to speak). There is clearly money to be made there – I have just found it difficult to juggle all my work and devote time to writing books. Even one day a week would be enough to make progress on a book. Though you should not be too surprised to see an excuse as to why I didn’t work on a book when you read next month’s income report!
In total I earned $2,173.87 in January. This is a rise of $90.88 from the previous month.
- Freelance Blogging = $1826.95 (+$186.95)
- Consultation = None (No Change)
- My Books – $234.02 (+$9.37). This includes digital and printed book sales.
- Affiliate Income = $112.90 (-$91.44)
- Advertising Revenue = $0 (No Change)
* Difference in income from previous month show in brackets.
Overview
There you have it folks – another month of ups and downs :)
In my last report, I noted that I wanted to focus more on Google+ for networking and YouTube videos for generating additional traffic. Neither occurred in January.
I am not too disheartened by this. I am being approached more and more for my writing services. This is getting me seen on more places; which, in turn, is raising the profile of me and this blog. It is also helping to bring in more clients. Therefore, you should expect my income report next month to show more income.
Due to this additional workload, I am going to look into hiring some people to write here. I am hoping to bring in top bloggers to write here regularly and/or hire an assistant who can do research for me and prepare longer posts. That is something I am excited about as it will help me publish more great content here.
I am also planning my workload better with the help of a good task management service. It is amazing how something as simple as a todo list can help you stay focused and get work done.
I hope you enjoyed this month’s income report. How did your blogs perform in January? Were you up or down?
Kevin
The earnings are the meat and potatoes of each income report, so I make sure to break them down to the very last penny. I disclose the sources that my passive income came from, and the exact amount that each source produced during the month.
Once a month, I write a detailed report about my online earnings. I always begin by describing the things I did within the previous month that might have an impact on my income. Then, I breakdown the sources of my income to the cent and always finish with what I’ve learned.
Thanks for the kind words Jayne.
Have you been contacting people with regards to writing work?
Getting reviews on Amazon is very difficult. I did promotions where over 1,000 people downloaded my book and I did not generate one review. Social proof is everything, so you need to try and get some reviews in. Ask some friends to help you out with some reviews.
Have you offered your book to some of your blog readers in exchange for some reviews?
I love catching up with readers, however at the moment my schedule is swamped. I am spending all of my time writing, posting on Rise Forums and training for marathons (I’m doing four this year).
Kevin
Hi Kevin,
I read your monthly report with higher interest, and here is why. I need more writing assignments, until the pieces of my puzzle will fall into their appropriate places. The truth of the matter is that unfortunately I got ill, and still being tested so I had to priorotize.
I decided that the Kindle book should be my number one priority, so principally I concentrated on writing it and managed to publish it, about nearly three weeks ago “Negotiate Your (freelancing) Income to Six Figures.” I did not start any of my launching plans, landing pages, FB ads, etc. just sent some requests to people I know for a review. Naturally, people do not appreciate nice people, unless they are from the group of “influencers”, so no reviews yet.
Anyway, I write well, being a medical writer for over 25 years, my searching abilities are somewhere at the five star level (I am being modest, because modesty gets you somewhere).
Let me know if there is any interest to chat.
Jayne Georgette
PS I own a couple of books from you. I find them informative and very useful. I am not telling you this for “buttering you up”, I purchased everything quite a while ago.