It’s time for the monthly income report.
Each month “The Wife” crunches the numbers on our earnings while I, “The Husband”, puts together a recap of what happened in our online business. A dangerous combo!
As a reminder, this is why we do the income reports:
- Accountability. These will allow us to finally keep track of our total online revenue – something that I’ve been horrible at but seeing improvement. You can go here for all of our previous blog income reports.
- Progress. Now that we have it documented, we’ll be be able to chart our progress as our income increases. (thankfully it has)
- Truth. To show people that you really can make money online and in a non-scammy way.
- Transparency: We want others to see how we do it so that others can do it, too.
Remember: We both started blogging in 2008 so it’s taken us A LOT of time to figure this blogging thing out. And truthfully, we still have a lot to learn. Don’t get the impression that you can start a blog today and turn a profit tomorrow. I promise you, it ain’t going to happen.
What went down in May
April showers bring May flowers? Usually, true but not in our case.
April was such an awesome month for all of our sites that we knew eventually we would have to come back down to reality.
This is one of the toughest things about blogging and anyone that has been blogging for any period of time can relate. You have to be able to deal with the highs and lows of blogging.
These highs can be comments on your posts, new Facebook likes, overall traffic to your site, Adsense earnings, and on and on and on…..
It gets really easy to associate your view of blogging success with any of these statistics. If I had any word of encouragement for bloggers regarding this: DON’T!
All of these statistics come and go, don’t let them define you. Instead let your blog’s mission define you. Always remember why you started your blog in the first place.
Traffic Showdown
Last month I saw the most traffic to my blog ever crossing 200,000 visits for the 1st time. With tax season behind us, I saw my traffic drop back to more “normal” levels with 128,453 visitors and over 183,000 pageviews.
I had hoped to be around the 150k level but Google has been rolling out Penguin updates ongoing and I keep seeing fluctuations in some of my top keywords. I’ve talked to other bloggers in my niche that are all seeing the same fluctuations so I’m not ready to panic like I was in April 2011.
Okay, so now that you see my numbers, let’s see how House of Rose did…..
Last month she had 164,000 visitors with this month dropping to 140,303. And once again she killed me on page views with over 225k.
So yes, even though her traffic and page views dropped she still takes the prize.
Congrats babe, you deserve it! 🙂
Blogging = Real Friendships
When you first start blogging it can be a very lonely place. After you start commenting on other blogs, chatting on Twitter, and emailing other bloggers, you start to build “online” friendships.
What’s even cooler is when these “online” friendships become “offline” friendships.
I had been itching to take a spontaneous road trip this summer to some random location. This craving was affirmed while sitting in church a couple Sundays ago when our pastor encouraged families to take a break and spend quality time with your kids.
What not better quality time than several hours locked in a minivan? Ha! 🙂
I leaned over during the service and told Mandy we need to go somewhere. The brief conversation went something like this:
- Husband: “See, we need to go on a road trip.”
- Wife: “Okay, lets’ go visit Natalie.”
- Husband: “Sure, where does she live?”
- Wife: “I’m not sure. I’ll find out….”
First, you’re probably wondering who Natalie is. Natalie is also known as The Busy Budgeting Mama and her and Mandy met at Blissdom in March. Mandy couldn’t stop talking about her because of the amount of things they had in common. They quickly hit it off and have become really good friends.
After church we learned that Natalie, her husband Ben and their 3 kids all live in Pittsburgh, PA; approximately 10 hours from us. To make things even more fun the only time we could really go was the very next weekend – which was the only free weekend they had available until later this summer too.
So it became official, #houseofroseroadtrip2013 was on.
I think I was just excited to meet Natalie as much as Mandy was to hanging out with her for a weekend. Her husband and I hit it off too and bonded over what men bond over: sports. Our kids had a blast, too.
You can read more about the trip on Mandy’s blog here and Natalie’s blog here. Yes, there are plenty of adorable cute pics of all our kiddos.
In the spirit of true blogging where bloggers never quit, check out this video that they filmed while I had kid duty back at the hotel:
House of Rose Gets a New Look
We’ve talked about it for months and it’s finally here…..
House of Rose finally gets a facelift!
We were initially disappointed with the upgrades to Thesis and we both felt it was time to switch to a new theme. The Genesis Framework has been the buzz lately with many big bloggers switching to it.
House of Rose got first dibs on moving her site to Genesis {she’s never done a site redesign – ever}, with my site beginning the process soon.
I know she’s excited about her new look and I have to admit I kinda like it, too. Big shout out to Larry from SideIncomeBlogging.com for bringing her new blog design to life. Time for the income reports.
Here’s a look at the numbers for May….
Income Breakdown
Good Financial Cents
- Adsense: $1,614.46
- Adspeed: $1,552.61
- Commission Junction: $917.00
- Flex Offers:$250.19
- Direct Advertising: $0
- Media Net: $247.94
- Personal Capital: $720.00
- Consumer Track: $84.00
- You Need A Budget: $6.00
- Google Affiliate Network: $550.00
- Total: $5,942.20
Dollars and Roses
- GoDaddy: $31.86
- ShareASale (Thesis Theme and Genesis Theme): $205.62
- Blogging Your Passion: $18.50
- AWeber: $0
- SEMRush: $195.86
- TweetAdder: $27.50
- Total: $479.34
Other Niche Sites
- Adsense: $137.60
- Flex Offers: $456.00
- Direct Advertising: $339.55
- Media Net: $23.97
- Main Niche Site Revenue: $6,247.59
- Total: $7,204.66
- BlogHer Ads: $584.54
- BlogHer Sponsored Posts/Touts: $0
- Direct Advertising: $100
- Adsense: $344.17
- Lijit Media: $101.19
- Content Ads: $294.39
- BlueHost: $1,260.00
- Skimlinks: $7.36
- Total: $2,691.65
- Equifax: $300.00
- Total: $300.00
Total Revenue for May: $16,617.85
Revenue Last Month: $23,094.31
- Difference: – $6,476.46
- April 2012: $9,000.03
- Total for 2012: $115,289.16
- Running Total 2013: $94,103.80
Monthly Fixed Expenses
Many of you have asked what our expenses are each month running our online business.
- Hosting Companies
- WPEngine: $250.00
- Liquid Web: $25.00
- Lunar Pages: $5.00
- Bluehost: $5.00
- AWeber: $130.00
- Article Writers: $225.00
- Unique Article Wizard: $67.00
- Virtual Assistant: $1,000.00
- SEMRush: $69.95
- Fiverr.com: $10.00
- Elance.com: $175.00
- TextBroker.com: $50.00
- Total: $2,011.95
This is a rough breakdown of our expenses that I’ll try to document each month as well as our gross income. For a closer look at many of the tools we use to run our online business check out our monster post 24 Blogging Tools To Grow Your Blog.
What Happened in May
Less traffic = less income. 🙁
Honestly, I’m not stressing because we’ve already been more than blessed this year so taking a small step back is definitely not a bad thing. It’s times like this when you have to sit back and realize how far we’ve grown in our blogs this year. In fact, if all things go right next month, we’ll be close to matching our entire 2012 income in the first half of 2013. That’s freaking outstanding!
Soldier of Finance Coming Soon
Another thing I need to remain positive about is that my book is getting closer to becoming a reality. Looks like September 9th is the official launch date – woop!
Here’s some advanced copies I got to forward to media people and other bloggers:
It’s taken me 4 1/2 years to get this book done. It’s surreal to finally hold it in my hands. 🙂
Dollars and Roses Podcast
Yes, we are really going to release this soon. We have 4 episodes completed with an awesome interview taking place tomorrow. Can’t wait to get this puppy done and sent off to iTunes for all of your listening enjoyment.
Until next month….
Thanks again for all your support!
I love reading these reports, thanks for taking the time to write them up 🙂
Thank you, Becca, for reading them. 🙂
Looks like June was good still. Great job. And your new book looks great!
These reports are so inspiring! I’m hoping by the time you publish June’s I will be off my butt and starting up my own blog.
@ Melissa You got about 4 weeks. Make it happen! 😉
Watch this video for some humorous inspiration: http://dollarsandroses.com/paralysis-by-analysis-get-off-your-butt-and-just-start/
Nice work you guys 🙂
Thanks Shaun!
Wow, thanks for being so transparent. I am excited to learn more and will be following you!
@ Gretchen Glad to have you on board!
Good job. You broke $100k! I’m getting there slowly 🙂
@Adrian Took us almost 5 years to get to this level so we’re definitely not on the fast track. Keep it up! 🙂
I’ve been a silent follower of these monthly reports for awhile now. Silent because, I’ll be honest, I can never quite figure out if they’re encouraging or depressing! Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s fantastic for both of you and wish you nothing but continued success. Just leaves me wondering where I’m doing it wrong. My numbers are right there where yours are and yet I probably see 1/10th of this each month. But tonight, for whatever reason, I’m going to use this as a motivator to get better at monetizing my site. Thank you so much for being so transparent… it really is helpful! And if you’re ever looking to mentor anybody, well… game on!
@Natalie We definitely don’t want to depress you! It takes time to figure out how to monetize well (which affiliate work best, which ad networks are more efficient, etc.) It’s constantly a trial and error thing too! Some things that you think will work awesome totally flop and other things that you think won’t amount to anything are your biggest money makers. That’s the cool thing about the online space…it’s always changing and slightly unpredictable! Our hope is that by posting how we are monetizing that you can try and implement some of the same strategies! Keep up the great work! Can’t wait to check out your site!
Hi Jeff,
Its exciting to see how well you have fared in May 2013. Your income report tells more on different ways in which blogging can be monetized. Moreover, I would really want to know if there has been any significant changes in income since the House of Rose moved to the Genesis theme.
I also left this comment in kingged.com where this post was shared.
http://www.kingged.com/may-2013-income-report/
House of Rose just switched over a few weeks ago…so there hasn’t been enough time to tell if the income was impacted. Most likely not because the ads are in the same place as before.
I’m new to this whole blogging thing but I’m curious how you find those numbers of pageviews, new visitors, return visitors, etc. Where do you get those charts or do you make them yourself???
We use google analytics to track our traffic!
Hi guys,
Wow, I love your sites! I am learning so much from you and I am excited to follow you!! 🙂 I send you lots of blessings!
With Love,
Dania Hernandez
Glad to have you Dania!
I am curious, and maybe you’ve mentioned it before, but about how many hours per week do you each put into blogging?
We are actually getting ready to post a vlog about this topic (next week or so)…but I (Mandy) work full time on blogging. I spend about 24 hrs per week on House of Rose and the rest of the time on other blogs we run. Hope that helps!
Thank you for sharing this info. Most bloggers are not open like this, leaving the rest of us wondering. Thank you so much.
Thanks for proving that busy parents with kids can still pull it off making money online. I’m a newbie in these things, and I happened to stumble upon your site via a Google search for “How To Advertise Your Niche Site”. I took some time to read your stuff and I must say I am impressed. You inspired me to keep learning and growing and maybe someday I can make as much money as the legendary Pat Flynn and given your awesome income streams, you as well. All the best in the future, and I bookmarked this blog for regular reading from now on. Keep up the good work!
Thanks Gerry!
I really enjoy your blog. I just recently started a blog of my own, but was also curious about getting enough traffic to earn any kind of income. Primarily, my blog is an outlet of expression, so money or not, I will still be utilizing it, but of course, who wouldn’t like a little extra money, right?
I noticed that you got a “makeover” in terms of your layout. That has been my struggle. Did you create your own layout or have it custom made for you? I absolutely hate these premade layouts offered by blog sites and want my blog to look more professional, so I’m just curious how y’all were able to make that happen. Any advice?
Morgan
Hi Morgan! With my new site design I paid someone to do a custom design for me. It’s the first time I have ever done a complete site redesign since I started blogging. There are tons of WordPress skins to choose from and it’s definitely cheaper if you do not do a custom look. There are still great ways to make it custom with the skins. Plus, you can hire someone to design it for you for much cheaper than a custom design. Jenn from http://www.munchkinland-designs.com did my logo and she is super helpful with design if you are looking for someone! 🙂
New here and new to blogging – love the report, it gives me real hope for the future and I so appreciate all the tips on how to generate revenue! Continued luck to you both!
Thanks Kim! Glad to have you here. 🙂
This is the first time I see a breakdown of income through blogging! THANKS! 🙂 I just started my mommy blog and the truth is I just actually wanted to share my mommy experiences. Never stressed myself in earning through my blog. But IF it would, then it’s gonna be great! I can finally quit my full time job and work at home! (Okay, maybe not that soon yet.) Thanks again! 🙂
Your welcome Timmy!
I have been wanting to start a blog for awhile now. Your site has inspired me! It is raining outside and I’m home with a cold so perfect time for me to dig into you and your wife’s blogs! Have a Blessed day!
I’ve noticed that the bulk of your income is coming from what you describe as “Main Niche Site Revenue,” Can you please explain exactly what this is?