Welcome to my monthly blog income report.
This has been my best month ever in terms of blog income and traffic and I can’t wait to share with you all the numbers and details. I didn’t experience a ‘summer slump’ and despite the latest Google algorithm updates that seem to be decreasing the traffic of many reputable blogs, my numbers have been going up.
I publish monthly blog income reports to share the numbers (earnings and expenses) from my blogging business and the mistakes I made, the lessons I learned, and the new projects I’m about to work on.
You can find all blog income reports here.
Read on to see what happened in July 2019 on Let’s Reach Success.
If you haven’t started a blog yet, make sure you enroll in my free course Launch Your Profitable Blog Today:
If you’re new to this site, let me share a bit about me and how this business came to be.
Many years ago, I found out I wasn’t satisfied with my life. I then started looking for ways to turn my passion for writing into something more.
I started this blog and at the same time began writing for clients to make my first money online.
As a freelance writer, it took me around 2 years to earn $1000/month (without any experience or even knowing it was possible to make money this way).
I then focused more on my blog and monetized it too. Once my income grew and I had some savings, I used that money to design the lifestyle I wanted.
I left my home country and relocated to another place in Europe – the Netherlands – where I was much happier and independent.
Since then, I’ve diversified my income from blogging and earn from ads, sponsored content, affiliate marketing, and selling my course Financial Freedom Through Blogging.
I also ditched freelance work as it’s wasn’t what I wanted anymore and started blogging full-time.
This started as a hobby blog but after 5 years, it became a 5-figure business allowing me to live anywhere, do what I love and help others achieve the same. Now I share all I learn so more of you can start something on the side and use that income to be financially free.
And here’s what I did last month and how I earned nearly $7,000 as a full-time blogger.
Blog Updates
Taking Six-Figure Blogger
In the first years of being a blogger, I wasn’t comfortable with investing back in the business. That means no quality tools, platforms or expensive online courses.
Now, however, I have the chance to do it and can see the amazing benefits it provides. I’ve always relied on self-education, my lifestyle design project and online business exist for that very reason. But there comes a point where you want to go from beginner to advanced blogger and that takes some specific knowledge that only the experts can provide.
This means learning from those who’ve already achieved what you’re after. I took a course on affiliate marketing last year and one on Pinterest earlier this year (which helped me saw terrific results in only 2 months).
Now, I’m going through the biggest product I’ve ever invested money in – Six-Figure Blogger.
It’s the formula Alex and Lauren (whom I’ve interviewed here) used to grow 2 blogs to 6 figures. They travel the world thanks to being full-time bloggers and earn over $100K month almost passively now (from selling their courses and affiliate marketing).
These are the blog income streams I’m after too. Currently, I earn mostly from sponsored posts and ads, which is not my long-term goal as a blogger.
I’m taking Six-Figure Blogger to learn about email marketing, creating content that sells and high-converting sales pages, improving my digital products and creating an irresistible offer for my audience.
Because the course discusses the bigger picture of running a blogging business, I’m also able to look at things from a different perspective. I can clearly define the business model I’m interested in and the possible ways it can scale as well as the steps I need to take to get there.
And the more I learn, the more I can update my premium course Financial Freedom Through Blogging with more of my unique experience, results and particular steps I’ve taken.
New Stock Photography
I’ve always been using royalty-free photography for my blog posts. Sites like Pixabay and Pexels offer tens of thousands of quality free photos which anyone can use on their site without even crediting the photographer.
Some time ago I was part of the Shutterstock partner program and had the chance to use many of their images (with credit). This is stock photography and it’s paid.
Now, however, I decided to invest in a membership that many bloggers I know love – IvoryMix. It includes thousands of stock photos for bloggers (with 100 new ones being added each month) at an affordable price. So you’ll be seeing more of these on Let’s Reach Success and on my Pins around Pinterest.
Also, it fits well with the latest premium theme I purchased, Victoria from Bluchic Themes.
I use a new design for my Pins thanks to these images now and am pinning more often again, which increased my page views on Pinterest as well as how many of these visitors actually come to my blog.
Here are some of the latest pin designs:
Earning Over $6K Blogging
If you’ve been following my blog income reports for some time now, you know I earn anywhere between $3K and $5K, so this month was a new record. Why? Because some of my regular clients for sponsored posts came with many orders, and I landed some new ones.
I’ve shared my rates on this page and in July, I even earned $500 from 1 sponsored article. That’s a pretty fair price. In some cases, however, it’s even low. I know that other bloggers who get over 100K page views per month are charging many times more (which means earning thousands of dollars from a single blog post).
I’ve covered a lot about how I started making money from sponsored posts, what marketplaces I use, how to find and pitch brands, and how to make your site attractive to charge more in my course Financial Freedom Through Blogging.
In the bonus section, I’ve also provided a downloadable file called 10 Tips for Landing Your First Sponsored Post Even with a Small Blog.
Paid my first taxes as a solopreneur in the Netherlands.
I registered my business here at the beginning of 2018, and tax time is the summer of the following year. So, after knowing the numbers from my accountant for a long time now, I was prepared with the money (over 5,000 euros) and made the transaction.
Part of managing my finances includes setting aside money every month (or every 2-3 months) in a separate savings account, knowing they will be used for taxes.
That’s because not preparing in advance and seeing such a huge bill unexpectedly can be pretty stressful.
Traffic Update
Pageviews: 115,526
Sessions: 92,067
Users: 78,377
Google recently released a new algorithm update that everyone in the blogging world is talking about as it affected negatively the traffic of some pretty great websites. Including bloggers I follow and who I learn from, and those who drive hundreds of thousands of visitors per month, get a ton of backlinks and have a great outreach strategy for gaining more.
They are used to seeing an increase in their blog traffic month after month, but were now disappointed due to the dip. I, however, had the opposite effect.
I’m truly grateful and take it as a good sign. Google likes content-heavy sites that are interlinked well and whose content is being updated frequently and that’s exactly what I’ve been doing for the past year.
I’m not sure if this is the reason why I’m seeing an increase in traffic this summer, but it’s definitely not my backlink profile as it’s not strong. I also don’t pay for advertising or any other marketing activities other than what I do as a blogger.
While I’m always active on Pinterest and design and schedule new pins for new and old posts all the time, this wasn’t a big part of last month’s traffic (I brought only 5,000 visitors to the blog from social media). 10K people came from direct traffic, a few thousand from referrals, and the rest was purely visitors from search engines.
The articles that got most views are:
- how to become a millionaire with no money;
- how to plan your life;
- how to become a millionaire online;
- how to write and publish a book in less than 30 days;
- highest-paid bloggers;
- the mirror technique;
- ideas for a small printing business;
- make $5000 a month online;
- the importance of saving money;
- best side hustle ideas.
Content Update
I published a total of 34 articles on Let’s Reach Success last month. Let’s go through the most interesting pieces.
For a start, I updated and republished 2 blog posts:
Life is a Set of Problems. Here’s Your Guide to Solving Them
These Highest-Paid Bloggers Started from Nothing and Now Earn Over $100K/Month. Here’s How
I wrote the following pieces:
How I Design My Home Office as a Lifestyle Designer – in this post, I talk about the new place I moved to in Amsterdam, how I’m turning it into a home, and what role a home office plays in my lifestyle design project.
Why I’m Taking Six-Figure Blogger – I shared the reasons why I invested in the course and in what ways I expect it to help me with my business.
How I Got 103,231 Page Views and Made $4,305 from My Blog Last Month – that’s last month’s blog income report where I share how I got over 100K monthly page views for the first time.
How to Make The Transition from Employee to a Franchise Business Owner
Interviews:
In July, I published just 1 interview. For August, however, I have many more scheduled already so stay tuned.
Meanwhile, read the story of Dale from Blogging Her Way.
How This Student Became a Full-Time Blogger and Gets Paid to Pin Every Month
Guest Posts:
14 Amazing Business and Life Lessons We Can All Learn from Nikola Tesla
9 Strategies to Boost Your Blog Revenue
7 Tricks to Save Money While Traveling
5 Easy Ways to Master a Foreign Language Faster While in a New Country
The 4 Most Important Money Lessons to Teach Your Kids
July Blog Income Report
I earned a total of $6,652 in July 2019 from my blogging business.
Please keep in mind that’s gross income.
After extracting fees I pay to other platforms, transaction fees, paying my own taxes and insurance and covering my pension as a solopreneur in the Netherlands, there’s much less left for me to spend.
You can see the progress here together with all other blog income reports.
Blog Income Breakdown
Sponsorships: $5346
Ads: $1002
Affiliates: $187
Launch Your Blog (course)
Pinterest Traffic Avalanche (course)
Books: $60
Freelance writing: $40
Courses: $17
TOTAL (Gross Income): $6,652
I’ve listed the products I’ve earned a commission from (affiliate marketing earnings) as well as the course of mine that was sold.
As for ads, I’m using Mediavine and here’s proof of the revenue for July.
My clients for sponsored posts are different and I’ve built a relationship with them over the years. New ones find me too.
If you too want to get started with sponsored posts, check out my article How to Get Sponsored Posts for Your Blog: 7 Ways to Start Earning.
Blogging Expenses Breakdown
Accountant – €181,50 (paid quarterly)
Internet Router – €90
IvoryMix Membership (Stock Photography) – $47
WPX Hosting – $0 (paid yearly)
Teachable – $0 (paid yearly)
Tailwind Plus – $0 (paid yearly)
Tailwind Tribes Max – $0 (paid yearly)
Mobile Plan – €27
Health Insurance – €118,50
PayPal fees – $233
TOTAL: ~$748
What I’ll Be Working on in August 2019
Updating Financial Freedom Through Blogging
I’m completing the module of the course Six-Figure Blogger teaching about creating a high-converting sales page. At the same time, I’m taking notes and there are many tasks to complete.
In my case, as I already have the product and sales page, that means updating it.
I will add live chat, re-consider the sub-headline, update the copy and font, as well as organize the sections better and tell my story in a more appealing way.
Tackling Other Design Elements
I will update the homepage (you can already see some of the changes) as well as put the finishing touches to my Teachable School to resonate with the blog (colors, images, logo, etc.)
Content Audit
I’m also spending some time thinking about the direction Let’s Reach Success is heading in and what niches I want it to stay in. That’s Blogging, Making Money Online, Finance, Online Business and Lifestyle Design.
All of them are profitable, in demand on Pinterest and in search engines, I already have a ton of content on them and all my products (free and paid) fall into these categories.
I will also make a list of keywords I want to rank for and see what old content can be updated according to that, as well as what new posts I can write in the next few months.
Final Thoughts
Thanks for making it this far, guys. This has been the best blog income I’ve had the chance to report so far and it feels amazing.
It’s not something I earn on a monthly basis and I’m now working on other blog income streams (online blogging courses and affiliate marketing), but seeing such numbers right now is definitely keeping me motivated to work harder and look at the bigger picture.
A blogging business is indeed life-changing and that’s why I’ll keep contacting and interviewing bloggers from all over the world who are earning a full-time income and living their best life.
If you haven’t started your blog yet, check out my detailed and FREE guide on how to start a blog to be on your way to earning your first $1000.
