Just like last year, and the year before I am doing another income report. I really think that transparency is important and I want you all to know that I do make money from blogging.
2016 Stats
The year started off at a high for views that dipped down during the warmer months and came back with a vengeance toward the end of the year, which was pretty much the opposite from 2015.
In April of 2015, my first viral post took off, which really gave my traffic a lasting boost that you can see in the above screenshot. In January 2016 I had a great month, due to being featured on Brit & Co, as well as reddit. It’s been an ongoing struggle to get back to those numbers since, but slowly it’s been happening. December of this year was in fact, my best month ever, which is super exciting, and something that I hope I can keep going into January.
Over the summer I decided to switch gears and put some real time and effort into my blog. I made a few changes to the type of content I was creating and started to get more specific about my posting topics. I think this strategy has paid off in pageviews for sure since there has been a steady rise in traffic since September. I’m nowhere near pro blogger status yet, but it’s a fun challenge to keep working on.
Another thing I started doing was reviewing old posts. Many of the posts from back before my switch to wordpress were formatted wrong with little to no SEO. Going back and updating those posts has really made a difference for me in the traffic searches. Organic searches have been an continnue to be my number one source of traffic for years, so good SEO is important.
Top Performing Posts
Of all the almost 900 posts I have put out there in the past 4-ish years there are a handful the consistently bring in the traffic. Of my top 5 performing posts for this year, only one was actually posted in this year. The top 5 posts highest performing posts from 2016 are listed below. The only one of these posts that was actually posted in 2016 is 20 Awesome Slow Carb Recipes.
Panera Soba Noodle Broth Bowl
Lemon Pepper Baked Fish
20 Awesome Slow Carb Recipes
Evelyn’s Favorite Pasta from The Cheesecake Factory
The Best Juicy Venison Loin
The Numbers:
Income:
Contributor Work: $1,045.00
Sponsored Posts: $166.00
Dealspotr.com: $107.94
Affiliate Sales: $50.50
TOTAL INCOME: $1,369.44
Expenses:
Domain/Hosting Fees: $60.17 Read how I do it here.
Learning Tools & Conferences : $1,009.05
Advertising: $13.99
TOTAL EXPENSES: $1,083.21
Net Income: $286.23
Net 2015: $27.50
Net 2014: -29.50
Notes on this report:
That’s an over 10x what I made last year. Hot Damn!
I know you’re looking at this like it’s small potatoes, but I’m thinking that’s a pretty damn good increase. Most of the increase came in the form of contributor work, but my income did increase in all categories. Simultaneously my expenses also increased in all categories. That’s the way of things right?
I’m totally cool with this since it meant I got to attend some cool conferences, and buy some camera gear while still pulling in a profit.
I stopped participating in dealspotr in April. Their policies changed and I began to get a nagging guilty feeling since I don’t particularly like massive consumerism, which the site promotes. Not that getting deals is bad, we all have to buy stuff, I just didn’t want it to become a focus on my blog. Personal preference is all it comes down to.
The income I made from sponsored posts was mainly through product reviews, so while I still have to count them at their dollar value as income “you cannot eat product”, so keep in mind a large portion of those dollars are not actual dollars at all.
I lumped all of my affiliate sales into one category because I am a part of several affiliate programs and have only made minimal amounts at each. It didn’t seem useful to list all of those dollars separately. Most of the sales came from my Food Blogger Resources Page and my 10 Best Around the Table Dinner Party Games Post.
The affiliate programs that I am a part of are AvantLink
Conclusion
This year was a great year on the blog. I really believe that my photography is improving (though it might be painfully slowly), as is my recipe developing and writing skills. I am hoping that all these numbers improve again in the next 12 months. I can’t really hope for another 1000+% increase, but it would be awfully nice.
This blog is my hobby and it’s a hobby that I am passionate about and I want to learn more. Making money here allows me to reinvest it in the blog, and learning tools so that I can then supply you guys better content that is free to you.
I want you all to know that I appreciate each and every one of you that stopped by my little corner of the internet, even for a second. Every single view, comment, question, and share counts, and it means everything!
2014 Income Report
2015 Income Report