I can’t quite comprehend what happened in October.
I’ve been blogging for just 8 months. I’m doing lots of it wrong. I’m still breaking a bunch of the “rules”, because I honestly don’t know any better. And yet, I’m making money.
More money than I have ever made at any other job in my life. And I’m doing something that I love to do.
So I just can’t quite comprehend it.
Last month, I mentioned that I felt weird and hesitant about posting my income online, and decided to do it anyway. I still feel weird and hesitant about it.
But the feedback from the report in September was 100% positive, and you guys encouraged me so much… I decided I would do one this month too.
The truth is, I would never, ever, have started this blog if it weren’t for other blogger’s sharing their income reports.
I am 100% not special or in any way more qualified to do this than you are, and I want to be encouraging to you, if you are trying to make money blogging. Or if you are just thinking about starting a blog and wondering if it’d be possible for you to make money blogging. I’d have to say, based on my experience, that the answer is YES!
Actually, I’d have to say DO IT! DO IT NOW!
(THIS POST PROBABLY CONTAINS AFFILIATE LINKS. OUR FULL DISCLOSURE POLICY IS REALLY BORING, BUT YOU CAN FIND IT HERE.)
Related: How to start a Blog for Profit and Work From Home
UPDATE: If you enjoy my income reports, I want to let you know that I have decided not to post them publicly anymore for 2017. I recognize that they’re an awesome learning tool, so I have decided to continue sharing them with my blog email list. Get access here:
October 2016 Blog Income Report (& Traffic)
(I am reporting in Canadian dollars at the exchange rate for today of 1.3396 USD to 1 CND. Some of the money comes to me in CND and some comes in USD, but it all ends up as CND dollars in my account.)
Total October Income: $5035.17
Adthrive Ads – $2802.73
Travel Hacking book affiliate program – $0
BestMark affiliate program – $13.40
Cj.com affiliate program – $354.97
Shareasale.com affiliate program– $15.00
Elegant Themes affiliate program– $0
Ultimate Bundle affiliate program– $1413.15
Amazon affiliate program- $293.28
Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing affiliate program- $90.54
Transcribe Anywhere affiliate program- $52.10
October Traffic: 168,754 users & 229,874 page views
WOOHOO!! 229k pageviews in month 8! I am totally having a party here. (Yes, despite my gross bounce rate and terrible session duration. I don’t even care. You can’t win ’em all and it’s. month. eight. I’ll work on those things.)
Related: September 2016 Blog Income Report
Despite the awesome page views and income, October was really, really hard for me.
Not just blog-wise, but life-wise. I’m 8 months pregnant now, and sitting at the computer is a special kind of uncomfortable. There is SO much I want to get done before the baby comes, but just keeping up with the day to day has become overwhelming.
I didn’t accomplish ANYTHING I set out to accomplish this month on the blog. (And yet I still had an amazing month. I’m trying not to lose sight of that.)
My unfulfilled plans for my blog included getting 2 months ahead in my posts (so I could take a break when baby gets here), getting my pinterest ebook formatted for amazon and for sale on my blog (UPDATE: Book is finally for sale! Check out Pinteresting Strategies: how I went from 0 – 200k page views in 6 months) , and getting serious about Facebook and Google+ (using the tips from Lena Gott’s freaking amazing book, the Traffic Transformation Guide .) I did NONE of those things.
I DID manage to make sure that between sessions of crying in the bath tub and eating mini mars bars (thank you Halloween), I still pinned for at least an hour per day and posted in my work at home series at least once per week. (We’ll call that basic blog survival.)
It makes me wonder what I could have accomplished in October if I had been able to really commit and to blog harder. It makes me insanely hopeful (and cautiously excited) for the future of this blog.
Looking ahead to November and December
I don’t expect the next two months to be any easier. More blog survival is on the table. (I do have a few minor goals, like decreasing page load time and getting at LEAST a couple weeks worth of posts pre-written for baby time.)
I know that I won’t be able to make as much money in the next two months as I made in October, largely because there’s no ultimate bundle to promote now and a good chunk of my income came from the ultimate bundle sale. (The sale did go one day into November, but that’s it.)
But I DO expect to make at least $2000 / month.
If a newbie blog in survival mode can make me a couple thousand dollars per month, I. am. totally. thrilled. with. that.
It gives me the confidence to say this: if you are thinking about starting a blog for profit DO IT. Just do it the right way. I attribute the success of this blog to three things: much prayer, much effort, much investment in blog education.
If you are at all serious about making money with your blog, you need to be asking the question:
Where should I start with my blog education?
If you’re a newer blogger (or an about to be blogger):
First of all, if you don’t have a blog yet but you’re ready to start one, here’s an easy to follow tutorial on how to start a blog for profit.
Then I suggest you take some great blogging courses – The Best Courses for Bloggers (in 2021)
If you have some blogging experience but you aren’t “getting anywhere”:
If you already have a blog up and running and are struggling with getting page views, I just read Lena Gott’s book, the Traffic Transformation Guide , and she talks about strategies I have never even heard of before. I can not WAIT to start implementing them.
Related: 5 Reasons You’re Not Making Money With Your Blog (& what to do about it)
How was October for you? Do you have big blog goals for November and December? Did you share a blog income report (link to it in the comments so I can check it out!). (And are we putting out Christmas content already? I started last week… I’ve read that Christmas pins need a good 6 weeks to really gain traction. What do you think?)
New to Blog world and looking for blogging tips? Check out these posts:
How to Start a Blog for Profit and Work From Home
Choosing a Theme You Love
Creating Your First Blog Post in WordPress
5 Very Important Things to do Before You Start Blogging
WordPress Settings, Permalinks & Google Analytics
How to Install WordPress Plugins
7 Ways to Make Your Blog Look Less Like a “Newbie” Blog
Printable Blog Organization Binder
Affiliate Marketing: Can YOU Really Make Money With It
Carly, I’m so happy for you and proud and you should be too! You have a lot going on, so my advice would be to focus on your successes. You will get all those things you didn’t get too! Your Pinterest strategies and analysis are quite good. I’m enjoying reading the book and trying it all.
Hi Julie!! I’m so glad you’re enjoying the pinterest ebook. One day I’ll get it up for sale :p I hope it brings you lots and lots of traffic! Thank you for the encouragement, it’s easy to focus on what you HAVEN’T managed to get done… that’s for sure!
Congrats, I’m a newbie blogger and I just started my income report. I been using your tips and made about $1456 so far. http://supersimpleways.com/1/post/2016/11/smart-passive-income-report-october-2016-145600.html
Hi Francie – FANTASTIC income report! Thank you so much for sharing – your side hustle income really proves that it IS possibly to make significant income on the side, and absolutely worth the effort. WOW!
Making that much money in only 8 months is definitely impressive! Congratulations! I’ll take a look at some of the links that you included herein and (hopefully) I’ll get a bit more traction on my blog views! 🙂
Thanks for sharing! #SmallVictoriesSundayLinkUp
Hi Estefania 🙂 Thank you! Yes pageveiws is a a pretty important place to start – good luck!! I have used and love all the things I included here, and would recommend any of them!
Thank you for sharing! That is very encouraging and inspiring. It was really helpful to see where your income came from specifically. Congratulations to you! What a blessing to have income doing something you love! Good luck with your baby and your November plans!
HI Marielle 🙂 Thank you so much! I’m so glad you found it helpful… I have to agree – a huge blessing to earn an income doing this. I never imagine I would love blogging, that was a huge surprise! lol
Great job! I’m working on this stuff myself. I’ve read through Lena’s book and I just started Building a Framework. Great to see that these have worked so well for you.
Thanks Nicole! Yes, I totally think you will LOVE building a framework. (And Lena’s book too – I am very excited to try her google+ tips!!)
You’re amazing! Keep trucking and I’ll owe you forever for the mention! <3
Not all Natosha – I owe YOU for the awesome planner!! 🙂
Congrats on having a record month. One of the great things about earning passive income is that it continues even when you go on vacation or take maternity “leave” (in this case, it will probably just be maternity “slow down.”
I’m in the process of trying to monetize my main blog for my business. It has been much slower. Last month, I hit $444. Of course my blog was set up to drive leads for my business (which it does) not to monetize. I’m now starting a new blog and hoping it will lead to much more passive income. We shall see.
Hats off to you. I have already learned a lot from you. Oh, and I just followed you on pinterest, too and would love to learn about your approach.
HI Debbie! Thank you so much 🙂 I am so afraid that my blog income won’t be QUITE as passive as I’d like it to be… lol. I pin manually – which you will learn all about when I finally get that book done! – so there’s an every day commitment there. I could handle a “slow down” though I think 🙂
Congrats on 444$!! My first blog income report in August was for 460 or something like that – and August wasn’t too long ago at all, so just think where you could be in a few months!
You’re story is so inspiring and I’m so amazed at your immense success in such a short time. Very happy for you. I know it’s tough blogging ahead but I wish you luck as baby arrives! Thanks for sharing with Small Victories Sunday linkup and pinned to our linkup board.
Hi Tanya 🙂 Thank you so much – I know that life will look different with a baby… and so will blogging! I have a hard time believing the success can continue… I still have SO much to learn lol.
Carly, all I can say is “Wow” when I read your latest income report! You are really rocking this thing and good on you! Can’t wait to get my hands on some of the resources you mentioned and putting it all into practice.
Thank you for being such an inspiration to this newbie and sharing the secrets to your success!
HI Bri! Thank you so much 🙂 I was pretty excited about this month’s income… I know it’s not sustainable, but it definitely is encouraging to see what’s possible for me (and you!) if we just keep working towards are goals.
Wow. You totally rock! Great job figuring out what works best for you. I’m so excited for you, having your first baby. My first was born on New Year’s Eve, and we also have a baby that was born within a few days of Christmas. It’s crazy, but it’s so fun. 🙂
Aw thank you Jamie!! I am so glad to hear other people have survived having a baby this close to Christmas (or twice LOL). Nervous but excited… and ready to be DONE being pregnant!
Woo! Glad I’m not the only preggo trying to take on this journey lol! I’m 7 months and trying to suck in all education I can while I wait for EBA to open up again. You’re doing awesome, girl!! I hope to be where you are soon!
haha thank you and Congrats on the babe! So exciting, and you sound JUST like me – trying to get in as much as possible pre baby! Being a few months ahead when you start EBA will be AMAZING – it really is geared towards people who have an existing blog and not just setting one up. EBA will take you far!
4.5
Yes, I need help with blog traffic. Thanks for the insight. I need to find a real amount of time and work on this.
Blog traffic is hard – but it’s a very worth while investment!
Hi Carly! I love reading your income reports! You definitely set the bar and a healthy goal for bloggers everywhere. I’m new to the blogging scene but have seen traffic grow steadily due to Pinterest. I don’t feel a lot of bloggers (especially new ones) need to use advertisements to drive traffic to their blog. I’ve spent some money on Facebook ads, but once the ad ends, traffic dies. It’s not a great use of the minimal funds we bloggers have (I’d much rather invest in Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing and other blogging resources!). Pinterest is a much better strategy. Clean graphics and captivating text is the way to go!