This article contains affiliate links.
Hello everyone and welcome to my October blog income report.
My life has changed completely ever since becoming a full-time blogger and dedicating all my time to writing and updating content, interviewing people, building my email list and staying in touch with my readers, keeping the site optimized, testing and investing in new tools, taking online courses to master new aspects of blogging, and building and selling my own digital products.
A lot of thought is put into every element you see in this post and on the blog, as well as other channels such as Pinterest and Teachable where I promote my content, sell my products and offer my free courses.
The life of a full-time blogger is not what others assume. Most of the time, the work never ends.
However, knowing that a blogger has worked hard to get to where they are today and the fact that they love what they do – this makes all the difference.
I publish monthly 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.
For some readers, it’s the type of content they look forward to every next month as it keeps them working on their blog even when they don’t see results. For others, it’s how they find out about me and want to learn more.
Blogging definitely is my favourite side hustle and I only want to learn more about it and help others do the same. If you haven’t started a blog yet, make sure you enroll in my free course Launch Your Profitable Blog Today:
Read on to see what happened in October 2019 on Let’s Reach Success and in my business.
With every new income report, I try to bring something new to the table. That’s why in the last one, I shared my exact Pinterest strategy. And the one before that talked about my business vision.
Now, I’ll talk about the importance of free content and how it can scale your blogging business like nothing else.
Blog Updates
Free Resource Library
As you might know, I recently did some new things in my business, such as :
- Took the course Six-Figure Blogger to learn more about email marketing and selling digital products;
- Switched from MailChimp (which I used for free) to ConvertKit;
- Created new opt-in forms for my blog;
- Started investing more in my relationship with my email subscribers and began using automation and sequences to introduce new people to my brand and my best offer (my premium blogging course Financial Freedom Through Blogging);
- Purchased a new premium WordPress theme from Bluchic and changed the design of the blog;
- Paid for stock photos from IvoryMix to use unique images on my blog and Pins and in my courses.
All this shows I’m constantly investing in my business. I’m willing to try new things, learn from others and see where it takes me. But I also have fun during the process.
Another step I’ve been meaning to take is update all my freebies.
As you know, every blogger trying to build their email list is offering free downloads such as checklists, eBooks, email courses, or else, to get people to subscribe.
The better your freebies are, the more people you’ll get on your list. Of course, from then on you need to keep producing quality content and give it for free in order to keep them there long enough to form a relationship.
Well, I had many old freebies and they weren’t organized in 1 place. So I decided to finally do that by removing irrelevant ones and those that didn’t provide enough value, and leave only those that matter.
I called it the ‘Free Resource Library’ of Let’s Reach Success and those who are already on my email list, received a link for it.
The downloads (new and old, updated ones) are organized into 3 categories – Side Hustles, Blogging and Personal Development. I will constantly be adding new ones as my blog grows.
New Module in Financial Freedom Through Blogging
I learned a lot about ConvertKit ever since I switched and have seen progress in the last 2 months. New people are joining my email list on a daily basis, I’m checking the reports and know how the emails I sent performed as well as how my current optin forms are doing.
I feel more in control of my email list than ever.
As email marketing is a major component of not just starting a blog and earning a solid income from it, but to actually reaching 5 or 6 figures, I wanted to share what I learned in my premium blogging course Financial Freedom Through Blogging.
There were already lessons covering:
- Email marketing 101
- How to launch an email newsletter
- How to add opt-in forms to your blog
- How to create a lead magnet to collect emails (+ 10 lead magnet ideas)
- And tips on how to get your first email subscribers.
Now, I added the following lessons:
- Why and how to get started with ConvertKit
- Switching from MailChimp (or Another Provider) to ConvertKit
- How to Create a ConvertKit Form
- How to Set Up a Welcome Email Sequence + Sell Your Product to Your Email List
- Connecting Your Form to Your Sequence (+ Setting Up Automation Rules in ConvertKit)
Also, I combined all these and turned them into a separate module called ‘Build Your Email List’.
More than 70 new people enrolled in the course in October thanks to an affiliate promotion I was doing of something called the Side Hustle Toolbox. My course was one of the many products in this bundle which was offered at a really good price.
It’s hard to sell an expensive online course, even if the product is super useful, as there’s so much going on in the Blogging niche already and people have many choices.
But that was a good way to get more people engaged with Financial Freedom Through Blogging and hear their feedback.
What’s more, many aspiring bloggers are contacting me through the chat box on the sales page of the course or via email and ask different questions about the course or about blogging in general.
That gives me an idea of what people are struggling with before starting a blog or while trying to grow it. As my product and most of my content on the blog is trying to solve these problems, that’s valuable information.
You can find some of the questions together with my answers at the Featured Readers Questions section at the end of this income report.
Traffic Update
Pageviews: 111,961
Sessions: 93,646
Users: 81,419
For the first time since the beginning of the summer, there was no increase in traffic. While page views were still over 100K and the blog gets a decent amount of traffic, it was lower than the previous month.
Pinterest traffic has been going well for the last 2-3 months. I’m using Tailwind often and joined new Tribes as well. Some old Pins are bringing steady traffic and new many ones also have some short-term success.
Every day, I get between 200-300 visits from Pinterest. That traffic is targeted as it brings attention to important/monetized blog posts and Pinners are more willing to engage with the content, subscribe to the newsletter and consider purchasing a product if trust is built.
If you haven’t found the right social media for you, I highly recommend this channel. It can bring quick traffic even if you have no blogging or marketing skills.
I learned how to use it right thanks to the course Pinterest Traffic Avalanche.
My monthly Pinterest page views are over 500K. You can read about how I increased my Pinterest traffic here.
Email Subscribers Update
New Subscribers: 157
Cancellations: 42
Total list size: 2,150
Content Update
32 new blog posts were published on Let’s Reach Success in October. Here are some of the pieces worth checking out again.
Interviews
I just interviewed Kelan and Brittany from TheSavvyCouple.com. They are high school sweethearts and now 6-figure bloggers. But they had to go through many challenges first to get to where they are now.
You can read the whole interview here.
In it, Kelan and Brittany share:
- what jobs they’ve had in the past;
- why they chose blogging;
- what ‘hustling’ looked like before they made their first money blogging;
- how they were able to pay off all $25,000 in less than five months;
- what their Pinterest strategy is like;
- how they earn over $20,000/month from their blog;
- how they once made $43K in a single month;
- how they land new sponsorships for their blog;
and more.
Another inspiring story I featured is that of Prakhar – a 23-year-old freelancer who completely transformed his life in 1 year.
In this interview, he shares the challenges he had to overcome in order to say ‘No’ to living an ordinary life and working a day job, and how he hustled for 1 year in order to make money online (through freelancing and then coaching) and become a lifestyle designer.
Any college graduate or aspiring world traveler or freelancer can learn from this. Most of the barriers we need to overcome in order to start a profitable side hustle are in our heads. Here’s how Prakhar went from an average kid to an online coach working from his laptop.
Next, I interviewed Eric Holland who started a blog and was able to quit his job 2 years later thanks to this new side hustle. You can read all about how he did it here.
Another extraordinary interview I did recently on Let’s Reach Success is with a guy who turned his unusual passion into his side hustle, and then into a million-dollar business!
Updated Content
One thing you might be familiar with if you’ve been blogging for more than a year is that old – but good – content tends to get buried among hundreds of other posts.
That’s why I update old articles all the time. I optimize them better, remove/change some links, add better images and new optin forms, and can even delete or add paragraphs.
All my content is evergreen and it’s important to keep bringing traffic to old posts for that very reason. Sometimes, I update a post so much that it’s worth republishing it. And here are the articles I republished last month:
- 67 Best Side Hustle Ideas to Earn an Extra $1000/Month
- The 3 Best Paths for College Graduates Who Want to Live Their Best Life
- How to Start a Successful Blog That Makes Money Forever
- 12 Evening Habits to Include in Your Night Routine
Let’s move onto the earnings and expenses from last month now.
October Blog Income Report
I earned a total of $5,178 in October 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 income reports.
Blog Income Breakdown
Sponsorships: $3713
Ads: $1242
Affiliate earnings: $188
Books: $35
TOTAL (Gross Income): $5178
Proof of ad revenue from Mediavine:
Blogging Expenses Breakdown
WPX Hosting – $0 (paid yearly)
Teachable – $0 (paid yearly)
ConvertKit – $68
Tailwind Plus – $0 (paid yearly)
Tailwind Tribes Max – $0 (paid yearly)
Accountant – €181 (paid quarterly)
Mobile Plan – €27
Health Insurance – €118,50
PayPal fees – $175
Featured Readers Questions
Is there any chance to grow in the Self-Improvement niche?
Yes, you can make money in almost any niche. I just found ways to combine online business and making money online with the topic of lifestyle design and financial independence, which all starts with personal and spiritual development. And that’s how I lived my life too.
You can monetize your Personal Development blog with ads. Get traffic (through optimized content and a social media channel like Pinterest), sign up with a good ad network like Mediavine and make passive income.
Then, you can start contacting brands for sponsored content.
In addition, of course, you can find affiliate programs related to your topics and place links, as well as create an ebook and an e-course. Online courses are really profitable in any niche now.
So there you go, the 4 main ways to make money blogging applied to your niche.
Do you believe it’s possible to start a successful personal development blog without being in front of video or doing podcasts?
No, you don’t need video.
Back when I was feeling disappointed in my inability to create video content and was trying to push myself in that direction, I also did other things wrong. I tried Facebook and Instagram and other social media channels as ways to grow an audience and promote my content.
I was also publishing many eBooks but I didn’t see results. Btw, I also had a podcast and had published over 100 episodes, but then deleted them all.
Then it hit me – I should focus on the things that work for me and master them.
So, now, my blogging business looks like this – I write a ton of content, update old posts, and rank them higher in Google. I also learned a ton about Pinterest and it really does wonders for bloggers. I only create online courses now (paid and free ones) and no eBooks.
Thanks to narrowing down, I also chose specific online courses by experts to take, and was careful with what I read, etc.
