Why did I start publishing my monthly income reports?
Blogging is never about talking the talk.
That’s what politics are for.
It is my goal for these reports to show that walking the walk and actually bringing in income from our online ventures is possible and within reach for all of us, whatever the niche.
As you’ll see, traffic and perceived popularity doesn’t always automatically translate into cash.
I’ll show you my traffic stats, let you know what I’ve done in the previous month to improve them, what worked and didn’t work, and how much went into my bank account in terms of earnings as well as left it in terms of expenses.
On a Personal Note
It’s official: I am a super woman.
I grow sunflowers and make cats out of socks, golf balls, plastic gloves, and paper towels (thinking of writing an ebook with step-by-step instructions on how to make your own cat Ana-style) by day, make gourmet meals and bake crystallized ginger scones by night, and run Traffic Generation Cafe in my spare time.
I am often asked how I manage to be all over the internet while still working part-time.
The best way to sum it up is through this quote by John Wesley:
“I have so much to do that I spend several hours in prayer before I am able to do it.”
Here’s another one from Abraham Lincoln:
“I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had absolutely no other place to go.”
Powerful words.
On another note, San Fransisco - here we come!
My husband has already made it over there, started his new job (he is very excited about his floor to ceiling office window with the view of the Golden Gate bridge), got settled into our temporary home (extended stay hotel), and experienced his first earthquake.
All in his first 3 days there…
Within the next week, I will finalize the sale of our house in Arizona, pack up the household goods, put everything into storage, stick the essentials in the car - including my 4 year-old and our cat, and drive out to San Francisco.
Yes, I am a super woman…
Reminds me of how blessed we are to be in a business that can go wherever we go and still make money even when we find ourselves in a tornado of life.
Speaking of making money: the fact that my business was on the back burner for the past 3 months definitely reflects in my bottom line (are you going to rush down to the end of the post to see the number now? lol).
As a fellow blogger Dave Lucas put it in one of his recent posts:
“Ana is making some good money with her blog (she periodically releases blogging income reports), but to read her article entitled “Why Traffic Generation Cafe Is NOT Doing As Well As It Should” - you’d think she was living and blogging out of the back of a pickup truck.
Of course, she’s obviously built her blog as a moneymaker, but gee whiz, four figures a month in amounts that equal the take-home pay of minimum wage workers is nothing to be ashamed of!
(Hey, if Ana can do it - YOU can too!)”
January Traffic at a Glance
Last month’s traffic graph from Google Analytics was bizarre to say the least.
It showed that my direct traffic brought in close to 50% of all my traffic for the month (almost 100% increase from what it would normally be).
I am still convinced that GA was just being naughty and screwed up my stats.
February stats look a bit off as well.
I think it’s because now the system is trying to compensate for the previous month’s mysterious jump in direct traffic.
My direct traffic number is close to normal; however, my search engine traffic almost doubled.
If I accept the fact that these stats are as accurate as stats get, that’s great news.
As I mentioned in my January income report, increasing my SEO traffic was one of my goals for the month.
Even though I never want to put all my eggs in one basket (especially with Google’s name on it), it’s nice to have a steady flow of traffic without having to work for it too much, like we do with networking for instance.
With that said…
Thumbs Up to These Blogs
Referral traffic is still one of the best kinds of targeted and responsive traffic we can get.
Why?
Because it’s endorsed by someone else.
When another blogger mentions you in one of their posts, they pre-sell their readers on YOU.
You have to do nothing more than to look pretty and write about smart things on your blog and their readers will become YOUR readers.
Leo Dimilo just published a great guest post on the topic, by the way: 4 Proven Reasons You Should Quit Building Links for SEO.
I really appreciate everyone who mentioned me in any shape or form last month.
Special thanks to these ten blogs that were my top blogging referral traffic sources in February:
1. Nick’s Traffic Tricks:
Take a look at Nick’s Baby Steps to Ranking #1 in Google (99% Of People Skip The First 2 Steps)
2. Kikolani.com
Definitely read Kristi’s 70+ Resources on How to Start a WordPress Blog
3. Kim Roach’s BuzzBlogger
More traffic? You got it: 21 Steps to 1,000 Visitors per Day
4. Yaro Starak’s Entrepreneurs-Journey.com
Learn from Yaro (also Gideon and Leslie): Just Released: Our Ten New Become A Blogger 2.0 Training Videos
5. BasicBlogTips by Ileane Smith
Ileane knows what she is talking about: How to Get More Traffic from YouTube
6. Leave Work Behind by Tom Ewer
Linkbait done right: It’s Here: The 100 Blogs You Need In Your Life
7. Lisa Irby’s 2CreateAWebsite:
Only because Lisa says so: Pinterest: My Favorite Free Traffic Source in 2012
8. FirePoleMarketing.com
Check out Danny Iny’s Why Guru Strategies for Blog Growth DON’T WORK… and What Does!
9. DiTesco’s IBlogZone
Great recommendations: Best SEO Tools For 2012
10. WordPress-WebsiteBuilder.com by Mitz
Something we all need to pay more attention to: WordPress Website Maintenance Checklist
My January Bottom Line
Let’s get on with the best part.
By the way, as I write this post I have no idea how much I made, so I am in anticipation as much as you are.
Note: these are all paid earnings, meaning I might’ve actually made those sales in the previous month, but got paid for them in February.
February Income
Here are my income sources for January:
1. Affiliate marketing
- TweetAdder – $120
- Thesis theme - $112
- SEMRush - $96
- Market Samurai – $93
- Income Blogging Guide – $45
- Thirsty Affiliates – $20
********
Subtotal: $486
2. Paid Advertisement
- $950
*****
TOTAL: $1436
Difference from January: -$1256
Ouch.
February Expenses
After I published last month’s report, many of you asked “What about your expenses?”
Fair question.
Here’s a list of my expenses:
- SEMRush.com (my favorite SEO tool) - $50
- Aweber -$49
- Fiverr.com (outsource tedious tasks I don’t have time for) - $35
- Hostgator (hosting) - $10
TOTAL: $144
********
FINAL FEBRUARY INCOME: $1292
Moment of Silence
Ok…
So this wasn’t a great month for me.
On the bright side, it shouldn’t be too much of a challenge to outdo this number in March. lol
My Goals for March
I started March off with getting a second opinion.
You know how I always say that developing an emotional attachment to our sites could cloud our objectivity?
And we can’t help but get attached - this are our businesses, our babies we are talking about here, right?
Well, I called on my friend Danny Iny to help me sift through any potential blind spots that I might be unaware of.
That was HUGELY helpful - thank you, Danny!
My main takeaways:
1. Narrow Down my Focus
Want to make money with your blog?
Great.
HOW are you going to do it?
Affiliate marketing? Your own products? Niche sites?
I think the reason many bloggers don’t make the kind of income they’d like to is their lack of focus (me including).
The very first time I knew I needed to work on this specific issue was after I listened to this interview where the interviewee (Penelope Trunk) ended up grilling the interviewer (Steve Roy) on why Steve was not successful online and, according to Penelope, would never be successful until he figured out what it was he wanted to do.
“What do you want to do to accomplish your income goals?
Do you want to be talking to people?
Do you want to write?
You can’t do both, you see.
Either you are a writer and want to be left alone or you are too social to do that and just want to help people one-on-one basis.”
I’ve tried a few different income streams in the past and figured out that I:
- Strongly dislike doing consulting of any kind.
- Don’t want to/don’t have the time to come up with my own training of any kind.
- Don’t want to create a high maintenance site like a forum.
- DO like affiliate marketing.
Bingo!
Now that I know what it’d like to do to make money online (the destination), it’s much easier to map out HOW I am planning on getting there (the route).
My next steps are to focus on finding the BEST affiliate marketing programs out there that offer the BEST products (nothing less will do) and find ways to introduce them to my readers.
What about YOU?
Do YOU know what your heart is set on doing online?
If you don’t, you are just setting yourself up to fail - no one wants to willingly do something they hate doing.
2. Define my Audience
In theory, we all know that properly targeting our audience can make or break our business.
In practice, we rarely take our time to do that.
Sometimes, it’s because we simply don’t know how.
Sometimes, it’s because we don’t make it a priority.
Either way, it hurts us.
One interesting thing Danny and I discovered was the fact that I was approaching segmenting my audience from the wrong direction.
My readers come from all walks of online life: bloggers, affiliate marketers, e-commerce site owners, small business bloggers, etc.
So should I focus on only one of those segments and sentence the rest to an eternal traffic-less existence (since no one can teach them about web traffic the way I can…)?
Or do I continue to catch all the traffic I can and let them decide whether they can apply my advice to their specific niche and circumstances?
And that’s where Danny’s brilliance came in.
He saw something that I kind of knew all along, but never really took the time to understand what it meant to my blog.
My pool of readers can be subdivided into:
A. Beginners
B. Intermediate/Advanced
Makes complete sense.
Now I can write my content based on those two groups and set up my affiliate marketing offers accordingly as well.
Of course, there was a whole slew of others things I took away from my conversation with Danny, but I’ll leave it for another post.
My Blog Audit Fridays
If you’d like to have an extra pair of eyes (mine) to take a look at your blog and give you an honest opinion on what’s working and what isn’t, feel free to join my email list.
Besides providing timely no-fluff marketing advice exclusively to my subscribers, I also do a monthly drawing for my Blog Audit Fridays as an added benefit.
So to have the privilege of being the next blog I tear apart and publish the results at Traffic Generation Cafe for all to see and make fun of you… no, of course not - to help out with any additional advice and to give you a boost of traffic:
Click here to join our Traffic Generation Cafe community now
Marketing Takeaway
There’s no such thing as free bacon.
Making money blogging is entirely possible, as I was surprised to learn from my own experience.
Just takes time, determination, and a lot of work.
Image source: amazing photo by Kira Rozanov
What's Next?
- Discover how to bring YOUR website to life.
- Get the insider skinny on free traffic generation.
- Convert more traffic into more sales.
"When it comes to traffic generation, Ana knows her stuff. She provides actionable information about the latest tips, trends, and technology that can result in getting more visits to your blog or business. Not only does she give great advice, but she puts it to the test and shares the results in a regular income report so you know that her strategies really work if you are willing to put in the effort!"
Kristi Hines, Kikolani.com
"Ana has become someone I look to for a unique insight into all kinds of aspects of running an internet business, but especially for updated SEO information. She does the research and testing to back up her claims, so I refer back to her content when I need to see what is fresh and current in the world of generating traffic to your website."
Yaro Starak, Entrepreneurs-Journey.com
I will never share your email address with anyone.
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Thanks for the honesty Ana. It is inspiring reading the full story.
I also loved your quote from John Wesley!
Chris R. Keller from Profitworks invites you to read: How To Get To The Purchase Decision Maker When Making A Sale
Just learned something new about you, Chris - glad you liked the quote!
This is a great post Ana. Thank you for your honesty and reflections.
I agree that focus is really important - and once you have it then everythign else seems much easier. And knowing what you like and don’t like to do is the starting point for this. Look forward to seeing where this goes!
Cathy
We don’t have to love what we do for living, but at least liking it makes a tremendous difference, Cathy.
Thanks for coming by!
Wow, one doesn’t see this much transparency from a blogger, at least I’ve never seen a blogger be so open about their stats and blog earnings. It may seen disappointing to see that you’ve made less money in February than you have in January, but you’ve generated clear profit nevertheless, and that’s the main thing that counts! Plus, it’s February, that one month when few people are spending and most are busy paying off their cc bills from Christmas
Indeed, Alice - I am in the green and that’s already better than many bloggers.
Although you lost about half your income from January to February, it’s great to see that you still made a significant profit. I have only been blogging for a month and right now I am in the negative. I hope to one day be able to profit from it. I wish you a fantastic March!
Thank you, Jonathan - the same to you!
Thank you Ana, I’m still in the beginner portion of your audience and soaking up a little from each post. I’ve identified one product that I use every day and love that I would feel good about affiliate marketing on my blog- looking forward to setting that up over the next month or two.
Sounds like a perfect match, Mary - assuming it’s relevant to your audience, that is. lol
A move like you made requires hours of planning, packing, and then the actual move; followed by unpacking. Those lost hours may have affected your bottom line.
Ironically, my daughter and her famiy; kids and pets made a similar exodus from Arizona. Yuma to St. Paul, MN
I have confidence in you. With more time in March, your bottom line will improve.
David Sneen invites you to read: How to Get a Lifetime’s Worth of Raises in 4 Years
I hope so, David, and thanks for your encouragement.
Right now we settled into a hotel in San Francisco; time to find ourselves a more permanent place to live. Might take a while.
You are brave, Ana, for daring to live the life you are living. I have not been in your blog for almost a year now, but was led to it today through somebody’ else Google+ profile. I stopped visiting blogs in general and I stopped guest posting over a year ago simply because I had to prioritize. I’m in the internet business for different reasons so I felt it was wiser at the time to stop or outsource certain activities. Because of that, I missed the blessing of the social aspect of blogging. Who knows, maybe I come back to it sometime.
I admire you for your contribution, your hard work and commitment to your chosen lifestyle and I am certain it will pay you off in multiples. It is not easy at all to maintain a business on a 3-4 hour per day. Demanding kid(s) and instability at home that has become the norm, rather than the exception are all detrimental factors. I know how it feels because I was there too sometime ago. Things are different now: I’ve the luxury of putting no less than 10 hours a day, full-time, Mon-Fri, concentrating 100% while working in an office building, benefiting from an army of contractors and a huge budget to “play” with.
But people like you are the true heroes. So here is my word to you:
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. Mat,7,7
Now look and see that Life has already blessed you with a lot of what you wanted. There is more good stuff on its way.
And off course from what I have understood, you have the best business partner with you, who gives you health, inspiration, wisdom and success, the one type of partner who only wants a 10% share! How good is that. This is the type of partnership I want to honour the most!
And one more thing:
Happiness is more important than business. Family is more important than blogging. In the last few years I learned the importance of putting things in the right order. Success and money through a blog alone, or any business, passive or active, do not bring true happiness. We are not just bloggers or entrepreneurs, we are also spirit and emotions. We have to nurture this part of ourselves.
I wish you and your family all the very best in your adventures. Alex Papa
Thank you for your encouraging words, Alex!
And yes, I am truly blessed right where I am right now. Things can always be better, but if we focus on the future and wait for them to get better, we’ll miss out on life.
Definitely appreciated your email advice as well.
Every time I drop by your blog, I remember that I need to just make it a regular stop. You always have good info and a new perspective. A lot of stuff in this post. Al useful.
Alison Moore Smith invites you to read: Perfecting Your Blog Design Is the Wrong Place to Start
Would love to see you here, Alison!
Hi Ana,
I think you monthly report is quite impressive and a cute motivator for some of us. Thanks for sharing.
GADEL invites you to read: Inspirational and Motivational Prayers
You are very welcome, Gadel.
I sooo appreciate that you don’t publish inflated numbers. That only makes people think it’s impossible to do. Thank you for your honesty.
Inflating my numbers wouldn’t help my bank account much, Denise. lol
Yep, your income on February was reduced, however, it still impresses me, I’ve just started some new niche website to run my online business, I hope I can get some result soon. Thanks for the share, Anna.
Trung Nguyen invites you to read: How To Start a Blog From Scratch: The Only Guide You Need
Much appreciated, Trung.
Ana, your transparency is very effective. You are showing other people how to chose a niche, go out and work on building a blog around that niche, and then make an income from that blog. In the meantime you have found what you are best at doing and that way your focus is very clear. It will be interesting to watch your progress this year.
Hope you get settled soon. I have moved a couple of times in past few years and know it is not easy to do.
Danielle Parsons invites you to read: SMS Dominator to Grow Your Business
Thank you, Danielle.
We’ve moved quite a bit in the past (former military), but it’s much more difficult when the move is unplanned.
God is paving the way though!
Wishing you the best on your move. My husband was put up long term in a hotel and we loved it. The view sounds like a good enough reason to go into work everyday!
I think it’s great to have lots of different things going on - it keeps life exciting and it keeps you in the present moment!
Looking forward to March’s income report.
I probably would love it if we didn’t have a 4 year-old who needs to go to bed at 7:30 pm, Bellaisa. lol
Ana, when you aren’t busy, you should write a book and charge us for it. I get so much orientation from your articles, and gain by re-reading them. (It takes awhile to sink in.
) I printed out your great e-book and read it. Twice. Will read it again. You have a capacity for couching the technical in the readable. Play to your strengths. I just bought a bunch of books on SEO on Amazon. I would buy an Ana Hoffman book in a heartbeat.
LOL, Astro - if only someone invented an app to stretch the day to 36 hours or so.
I did start working on an ebook; will get back to it when life gets back to normal.
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