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December 2022 Income Report – How I Made $16,955 Blogging This Month

It’s time for the last blogging income report of 2022!

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.

December 2022 blogging income report

In case this is your first time seeing my income reports, I first just want to share WHY I even post my income publicly.

Because the point is never to come across as bragging or trying to show off. I started sharing my income reports when there wasn’t much to even brag about lol (read my first one here).

The reason I share these is because income reports were the whole reason I started blogging in the first place. If I never saw what was possible with blogging, I never would have started and I wouldn’t be where I am today.

So hopefully these income reports will serve as inspiration for you to pursue that semi-passive income stream you’ve been wanting to start. Whether it’s blogging or doing something else!

Also, keep in mind that what you’re seeing now is a product of LOTS of hard work with very little pay at the beginning. If you’re just starting out, these numbers may seem pretty far off to you.

But just know that if you stick with it, it WILL start to pay off. There’s a quote that goes something like “the harder you work, the luckier you become”.

My previous income reports will show you that it hasn’t always been smooth sailing. You can see my past income reports here:

My Blogging Journey Through The Years

My blogging journey has been filled with ups and downs, but what has always kept me going is seeing other bloggers’ progress. An income report from a fellow blogger is actually what got me started on this journey in the first place.

If you’re new here, my blogging journey actually started about 6 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 their 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 2.5 years after launching this brand new website, I’m making thousands of dollars per month just off of blogging alone. I’ve also launched two new blogs and have hired on some part-time writers.

Reading income reports from other bloggers was SO 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 Blogging Income Report

As you can tell from the chart, my blogging income increased quite a bit in December.

The end of the year tends to be a big time in the blogging world. RPMs (ad rates) are up and people are shopping for the holidays.

However, this year was a bit different than usual. I’m in several blogging groups and people have been reporting very low RPMs for December 2022. The economy is most likely to blame, so I’m interested to see how this year will compare to next year!

Anyways, here’s what my blogging income has looked like each month since I started:

December 2022 Income Sources

In December 2022 I made $16,955.44 from my blogs. However, it’s worth noting 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. Some of this money won’t even hit my account until July of 2023!

As I mentioned before, I also set aside 30% for taxes and around 30% for business expenses.

Here is exactly where that money came from:

By Leah Claire

  • Travel Affiliates (Amazon, Hotels, Travel Insurance, etc.): $73.59
  • Blogging Affiliates (Hosting, Blogging Themes, Etc.): $4,361.43
  • Ezoic Ads: $392.37
  • Profitable Blogging Ebook Sales: $1,695.65

Total for By Leah Claire: $6,523.04

Secret Lifestyle Blog #1:

  • Affiliates: $5,958.27
  • Mediavine Ads: $4,324.62

Total for my secret lifestyle blog #1: $10,282.89

Secret Lifestyle Blog #2:

  • Affiliates: $94.32
  • Ezoic Ads: $55.19

Total for secret lifestyle blog #2: $149.51

TOTAL: $16,955.44

In previous months I tried not to include any money gained from social media. I wanted to make it really clear that you can make a lot of money blogging without having to build a social media following.

However, in December I had a TikTok go super viral which brought in some extra income. Because people were clicking over to my blog and joining my email list, it would get a bit messy if I tried to separate money earned from social media this month.

But just so there’s no confusion, I don’t use any sort of social media apart from Pinterest for my two lifestyle blogs. So over $10k of my income this month came without any sort of social media presence!

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    What Happened In December?

    December was a big month for my blogs for two reasons.

    The first reason was that it’s the holidays and people do lots of shopping! My lifestyle blogs have some shopping guides on them that perform really well during this season. That’s why my affiliate sales were so high this month.

    The second reason was the viral TikTok I mentioned. This caused a huge jump in ebook sales and affiliate sales on some blogging products.

    My Blogging Ebook

    If you’re interested in making money blogging, I highly recommend checking out my Beginner’s Guide To Profitable Blogging Ebook!

    In this book, I share my exact strategies for starting and growing a money-making blog in 2023.

    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 thousands of dollars per month.

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

    See all of the details here.

    Blogging Expenses

    Now that I’m running my blog like a business, my blogging expenses are getting a bit complicated.

    I pay for hosting, SEO tools, and I pay some writers to help with content. I still write about 95% of the articles on my sites though, so my content expenses are pretty low.

    Here are the big expenses from December:

    Hosting

    I now use BigScoots on my main website because it gets a ton of traffic. However, I don’t recommend it for beginners because it’s a lot more expensive.

    If you’re just starting out, I would recommend using BlueHost. They’re SO affordable (only $2.95 per month with my link) and they have great customer service.

    I used BlueHost for the first year and a half of blogging and I had very positive experiences with them.

    Once you start getting hundreds of thousands of page views a month, you can switch to a better host like BigScoots that is more equipped to handle large sites.

    Canva Pro

    I use Canva Pro for sizing all of my blog images, creating graphics for Pinterest, and creating digital products like my ebook.

    I also use their premium stock photo library all the time on my lifestyle blogs.

    Honestly though, the free version is incredible if you’re just starting out and can’t afford to upgrade.

    Content

    I outsource a few articles every month across my websites. While I do like to write most of the content myself, I find that it really helps me to have a few quality writers take some of the burden off.

    I didn’t hire out for much content in December, so this expense was fairly low.

    RankIQ

    RankIQ is my all-time favorite tool for finding blogging keywords. They do all of the keyword research for you and provide you with low-competition keywords that you can rank for in Google.

    I like to use RankIQ to fill in the gaps on my keyword research. They often suggest keywords that I never would have thought of or been able to find myself.

    This tool is super affordable and my top recommendation for new bloggers. You can use my link to get 50% off the monthly subscription price.

    Income Predictions For 2022

    I wanted to make some predictions for what my blogging income will be this year. It’ll be interesting to look back on these predictions and see if I’m right about them.

    It’s safe to say that this year exceeded expectations! I only had one month where my actual income was less than what I predicted.

    I’m going to be writing a whole blog post reflecting on my 2022 blogging progress and setting goals for 2023, so make sure you stay tuned for that!

    I hope this income report helped inspire you to start your own blog. Blogging has seriously changed my life and my financial situation and I want the same for you!

    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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