November Blogging Income Report

Where did 2016 go?! It’s been an amazing year so far, and November marks the point when I finally reached my goal: making a full-time income from blogging. In my November blogging income report, you’ll see how I matched my husband’s income and officially made me feel… well… official!

I owe 150,000% of my success (any single dollar) to Elite Blog Academy. That was the turning point in my blog and in my life. To date, it’s still the biggest investment I’ve ever made for my blog and it has paid for itself over and over again!

But first, a little bit about me…

A little over a year ago, I thought that it was a joke to be a “full-time blogger.” And now here I am making money from home as a blogger!

I started “getting serious” about my blog less than 9 months ago when I enrolled in Elite Blog Academy and it’s been a wild ride from there.

Thanks to blogging, I work from home between 10 and 20 hours a week. I am a homeschooling mom of 3 boys ages 5, 2 and 1. We live on one low income, and my husband works second shift. We don’t have the luxury of having help babysitting, but I still put in the hours to make this into something amazing (if I do say so myself).

If you only remember one thing about me, it’s that I’m not special… not even close.

I’m so average. I’m not a millionaire (far from it!) who can invest thousands of dollars into a blog. I don’t have the time to spend 24 hours a day working on my blog. I don’t have an English or journalism degree. And I’m definitely not a grammar pro (thanks to a free app called Grammarly, I don’t have to worry about looking like an idiot when I post things).

I do love to write and I love to help people. And I’m really good at cutting out spending and finding new ways to save and make money. Through my blog, I have a way to help people find answers to their questions about how to save money, live on a budget, and get in control of their finances.

By writing about what I love, I’m able to provide my family with a second income, while getting to stay at home with my children.

Here’s my November Blogging Income Report

Affiliate income: $2,054

Bluehost (check out my tutorial on how to start a profitable blog) – $450
Ebates – $375
Amazon – $338
Swagbucks – $250
Survey companies – $125
Ultimate Bundles – $116
Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing Course – $97
Digit – $95
$5 Meal Plan – $72
Real Life Money Plan – $46
17 Strategies Used to Go From 17K to 350K+ Page Views in 9 Months – $35
How I Grew My Facebook Page From 2,000 to 100,000 in Five Months – $32
The Ultimate Guide to Building a Profitable Blog – $30
Izea/SponsoredTweets – $27
The Ultimate Pinterest Strategy Guide – $25
Make Money Proofreading By Becoming A Freelance Proofreader – $24
ConvertKit – $22

Ad Revenue: $1,238

Pageviews: 95,938

Total November Blogging Income Report: $3,292

I have expenses that I need to account for:

Convertkit: $45
Elite Blog Academy (still worth it, always worth it!): $49
Haute Chocolate stock photo subscription: $25
Pixel Me Designs (for my new site overhaul coming in March!!!!): $250
Crystal Paine’s Blog Coaching Class: $97
Big Scoot (I changed my site host and couldn’t be happier): $13

Total expenses (excluding taxes): $479

Making my pre-tax take-home income $2,813.

Previous income reports:

What worked:

I focused on finding more affiliate programs that it in my niche to promote and it has really paid off.
My free eCourse, Side Hustles That Work, has been so great! I love sharing the ways that I’ve found to make money from home. We’re growing a little Facebook Community that you get access to through the group and it’s been so great! I’m loving being able to help other people in such a specific way!
Christmas season means a lot more spending, which has translated to a great Amazon affiliate month for me.
The end of the year excitement also means so many people looking for help getting their budget under control! Which is the perfect time to get my Budget Binder printable pack! I was so excited to make this printable and I was even more excited that I got it done in a day. Check it out here!
My goal shifted this month thanks to a mind-blowing realization from my friend, Rosemarie from the Busy Budgeter. She had mentioned that the goal of traffic isn’t to have the highest number. It’s to get people on your email list. Mind = BLOWN. That said, my focus this month wasn’t to obsess over my pageviews, but to focus on my email list. That’s why I love Convertkit. The email opt-ins that I can make from them are just amazing. It’s an expense I highly recommend as a blogger!

What didn’t work:

Pinterest is so hit-or-miss. It hurts me at a very core level that my beloved Pinterest has had such a dip in traffic.

And it’s not just me. It’s across the board for bloggers! Everyone’s traffic really seems to be taking a serious nosedive.

Thankfully, I had a post go mini-viral as we lead up to Christmas, Dollar Store Christmas Decorations. But once the season is over, my traffic will take another nose dive. *Sad face!*

December goals:

Launch my first paid course on budgeting.
Launch my free blogging eCourse for January.
Finish off the year STRONG! 🙂

This is arguably the coolest thing that I’ve ever done! You guys… I make money from the internet. Like, it’s my JOB! How crazy is that?!

And I mean it when I say it: if I can do it, anyone can do it! All you need is the right guidance and a whole lot of determination!