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December 2021 Income Report: How I Made $2610 On My Blogs This Month

This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission if you purchase through my link, at no extra cost to you.

My December 2021 income report will show you exactly how I made $2610.44 on my blogs this month.

It’s time for my December 2021 income report – and I had another record blogging income month!

December 2021 Income Report

Every single month, I share how much money my blogs are making me.

Why? Because income reports are what inspired me to take the plunge into blogging! My blogging journey has been filled with ups and downs but what’s always kept me going is seeing other bloggers’ progress.

You can see my past income reports here:

If you’re new here, my blogging journey actually started about 5 years ago. I created a travel blog in college as a space to share my travels. I knew that other bloggers were making an income online, but I never took the steps to learn how to properly set up a blog or monetize it.

(p.s. want to start a money making blog? I have a blog post that tells you how to do that!)

Of course, that first blog failed miserably. I put a ton of time and money into it but I never made a single penny and I’m pretty sure my dad was the only person who read it.

In the summer of 2020 I stumbled on an income report of a blogger who was making $30k PER MONTH on her blog. I decided to start a new lifestyle blog as an experiment and actually learn how to monetize it this time.

I taught myself everything I possibly could about SEO, affiliate marketing, and ad networks. And since I was blogging anonymously, I had so much freedom to play around and make mistakes with it.

Now, only a year after launching this brand new website, I’m making thousands of dollars per month just off of blogging alone.

Reading income reports from other bloggers was really helpful when I started out. Not only was it insanely inspiring, it also gave me a glimpse at where my stats needed to be before I could earn serious money with this website.

I’m sharing this income report to inspire you and show you that anyone can make money blogging!

December 2021 Income Sources

In December 2021 I made $2610.44 from my blogs. It’s important to know that that money won’t actually hit my bank account for a few months. Most programs have wait periods of 30-90 days before they deposit the money into your accounts. So this is just the money I earned, not the money I’ve received yet.

Here is exactly where that money came from:

Secret Lifestyle Blog:

  • Affiliates
    • Amazon: $1015.04
    • Skimlinks: $13.86
    • Other affiliate programs: $66.78
  • Ads
    • Mediavine: $1200.29

Total for my secret lifestyle blog: $2295.97

By Leah Claire

TOTAL: $2610.44

I’m absolutely thrilled with my December income! I finally hit that $2k month milestone that I’ve been shooting for for awhile now. However, it’s important to note that the holidays played a HUGE role in this number. I know my income will go way down in January and February.

My Blogging Ebook

I’m SO excited to announce that I’ve released my Beginner’s Guide To Profitable Blogging Ebook!

I’m sharing my exact strategies for starting and growing a money-making blog in 2022. You’ll learn how to set your blog up for success, how to find keywords that rank, how to get traffic from Pinterest and Google, and my monetization methods that bring in $1000-2000 per month.

PLUS you’ll get four bonuses that are worth over $65.

See all of the details here, and use code INCOMEREPORT to get $10 off.

December Traffic Breakdown

Secret Lifestyle Blog:

  • December 2021 Pageviews: 50,911 (+23,529)
  • Pinterest Followers: 2,919 (+77)
  • Email List Subscribers: 261 (+6)

By Leah Claire:

  • December 2021 Pageviews: 1,141 (+119)
  • Pinterest Followers: 394 (+0)
  • Email List Subscribers: 67 (+29)

Blogging Expenses

It doesn’t take very much money to start a blog but there are some minor expenses.

Bluehost: $6.95 Bluehost is the hosting platform I recommend for all new bloggers. It’s insanely cheap (under $3 per month with my link) and the customer support is incredible. I pay a little bit more because I run multiple blogs.

Tailwind: $9.99 I HIGHLY recommend Tailwind if you have a blog. It saves me so much time on scheduling pins and gets me a ton of Pinterest traffic every month.

Canva Pro: $12.99 I use Canva Pro for both of my blogs, Pinterest, Instagram, and even for my social media clients. The free version is great but I use lots of the features in the Pro version so it’s worth it to me.

RankIQ: $29 I’ve been using RankIQ for a few months now for good low-competition keywords. I’m absolutely thrilled with the results I’ve seen so far – pretty much every post I’ve written with their keywords is ranking highly on Google! I definitely recommend it for bloggers who don’t have the time to do their own keyword research.

TOTAL EXPENSES: $58.93

What Worked This Month?

The holidays played a HUGE role in how well my secret lifestyle blog did this month. I had a few gift guides ranking on page one of Google so that brought a ton of traffic and affiliate sales. I definitely recommend writing holiday posts at least 3 months before Christmas so that they have time to rank!

The holiday season is also great because there are huge bumps in RPM (the amount of ad money I make per 1000 page views).

Income Predictions For The Year

I’ve never done this before but I wanted to make some predictions for what my blogging income will be in the next 12 months. It’ll be interesting to look back on these predictions and see if I’m right about them.

  • January: Very low income (maybe $600 earned this month)
  • February: Extremely low income month (hoping for $500)
  • March and April: Things start picking up a bit (I’ll shoot for around $1000 per month)
  • May through August: High income months (hoping for at least $3000 per month, with one month hitting at least $5000)
  • September: A bit slower than the summer months but still decent (I think $1500 this month)
  • October: Very high income month (would love to hit $8000)
  • November: I think I’ll hit around $3000 in November
  • December: Very high income month (a $7000 month I think)

If the year goes as I’m predicting it, I’ll make over $35,000 just on blogging! That would be amazing considering it’s just my side hustle right now.

How Did I Do On My Goals?

  • Hit $1500 in December. I’m so happy to say that I crushed this goal! I made over $2600 in December.
  • Publish 3 blog posts on By Leah Claire. I only posted one blog post on By Leah Claire (my Guatemala Travel Tips). I spent a lot of time on the ebook this month so unfortunately I didn’t hit this goal.
  • Finish my blogging ebook. I’m going to count this one as a success because I was SO close to finishing lol. I put the final touches on it in the first few days of January though, and it’s available now!!
  • Publish 4 blog posts on my secret lifestyle blog. I don’t know how I did it but I actually published 7 new posts on my other blog! So so proud of this number considering it was the holidays and I was working on my ebook.

My January Blogging Goals

  • Hit $600 in January. January is a really low income month for bloggers, so I’d be happy hitting $600 this month.
  • Publish 3 blog posts on By Leah Claire. I have such a hard time getting content out on this blog, but I have SO much travel content I need to write so I’m going to try to focus on that this month.
  • Publish 8 blog posts on my secret lifestyle blog. I’m aiming for 2 blog posts per week for January and I think I’ll be able to handle that.
  • Release 2 new freebies on By Leah Claire. I really want to release more blogging freebies for you guys! I already have a few up on my blog but I definitely want to get more out.

When Will I Reveal My Secret Blog?

I’ve had quite a few questions about my secret blog and what it’s about. At this time, I’m not planning on ever releasing the name of the blog. I may reveal details about the niche if I ever decide to sell it.

I have considered starting a third blog from scratch to take you through the step-by-step process of starting and building a profitable blog. I don’t have the time right now to do that, but I’m definitely open to it if that’s something you guys want to see!

My Favorite Blogging Tools And Resources

Over the years I’ve been blogging, I’ve spent so much time and money on blogging tools and resources. Some of them have been total wastes, while others have completely transformed my business.

Here are my all-time favorite blogging tools and resources that I would 100% purchase again.

Tools:

  • Tailwind: I use Tailwind to schedule all of my pins on Pinterest. It saves me SO much time and energy on my Pinterest strategy. I recommend Tailwind for all bloggers and businesses that utilize Pinterest.
  • Bluehost: This is my hosting platform for my blog. If you’re looking to make money blogging, you absolutely need to have a self-hosted WordPress blog. Bluehost is super beginner-friendly and incredibly affordable for new bloggers. Use this link to get hosting for as low as $3 per month.

Courses:

  • Perfecting Pinterest: About 60% of my blog traffic (and income) comes from Pinterest. I’ve taken a few Pinterest courses over the years and this is by far my favorite. It’s also super affordable so you’ll definitely make your investment back if you put the work in!
  • Stupid Simple SEO: This is the SEO course I am currently working my way through. As much as I love my Pinterest traffic, organic traffic from Google is way more valuable and stable. This was a bigger investment but it’s definitely paid for itself with the results it’s gotten me!

I hope this income report will inspire you to start your own blog.

Do you have any questions about blogging? Feel free to send me an email at [email protected] and I’d be happy to help you!

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