October 2021 Blogging Income Report: $1282.48 Earned

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My October 2021 income report will show you exactly how I made $1282.48 on my blogs.

October was my best income month blogging yet – and I barely worked on the blogs at all! Between my wedding, honeymoon, and traveling through Mexico, I really only worked on my blogs for a few hours in October.

This is one of the reasons I love blogging so much. Once you put the work in to write the blog posts, the income that follows is completely passive.

October 2021 Income Report

First of all – why am I even sharing my income with you?

My blogging journey has been filled with so many ups and downs but one thing that has always kept me motivated is seeing other bloggers’ progress.

My journey actually started 5 years ago. I created a travel blog in college and spent years (and lots of money) on it and never made a single penny. Looking back, I realize my first blog failed because I never took the steps to learn how to properly monetize it.

Flash forward to the summer of 2020 and I started seeing income reports from other bloggers show up on Pinterest and Youtube. I found people my age and younger who were making $10k, $20k, and even $75k+ PER MONTH with their blogs.

I decided to start a new lifestyle blog and learn how to actually monetize it. 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 $500-1000 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!

Past Income Reports:

October 2021 Income Sources

In October 2021 I made $1282.48 from my blogs. Here is exactly where that money came from:

Secret Lifestyle Blog:

Amazon Affiliates: $757.01
Skimlinks: $1.74

Other Affiliate Programs: $51.60
Ads: $472.13

By Leah Claire

Affiliates: $0
Ads: $0

TOTAL: $1282.48

October Traffic Breakdown

Secret Lifestyle Blog:

October 2021 Pageviews: 192,636 (81,182 sessions)
Pinterest Followers: 2,737

Email List Subscribers: 251

By Leah Claire:

October 2021 Pageviews: 729 (435 sessions)

Pinterest Followers: 393
Email List Subscribers: 374

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 (HIGHLY recommend Tailwind if you have a blog)

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: $49 I’ve been trying out RankIQ for a few months to stock up on low competition, high volume keywords. I may cancel this in a month or two but right now I’m really loving it.

TOTAL EXPENSES: $78.93

What Worked This Month?

Google search traffic keeps on increasing, which I’m so thrilled about.

In August I had 2.35k clicks from google and I increased that to 3.68k clicks in September. In October, search traffic exploded to 8.92k clicks.

As much as I love Pinterest, organic traffic is much more valuable and stable. I credit a lot of my SEO success to the Stupid Simple SEO course. I haven’t even made it through the course but it’s already been so helpful for growing my organic traffic.

How Did I Do On My Goals?

October was an INSANELY busy month for me. I got married, went on my honeymoon, and then traveled around Mexico for 10 days.

I honestly wasn’t sure if I would reach my goals in October but I’m proud to say that I achieved 2 out of 3 goals.

I would love to hit $1200 in October. I’m so proud that I surpassed this goal!
~~Publish 2 blog posts on By Leah Claire.~~ I published 1 blog post on By Leah Claire this month. It was a comprehensive guide on how to start a money making blog, which you can read here.

Publish 1 blog post on my secret lifestyle blog. I published 2 new blog posts on my secret lifestyle blog last month!

My November Blogging Goals

Hit $650 in November. I’m setting my income goal pretty low because I honestly have no clue how much I’ll make this month. October is a huge month on my lifestyle blog because I have a few Halloween posts that rank really well. I think November will be slower but I may still have some traction with other holiday posts.
Publish 3 blog posts on By Leah Claire. I really want to get some Mexico posts up on the blog for you guys while the trip is still fresh on my mind.

Publish 5 blog posts on my secret lifestyle blog. Because I didn’t get much done on the blogs in October, I really want to push out lots of content in November.
Get at least 2 brand deals on Instagram. Brand deals honestly aren’t my favorite way of making money because the income is very sporadic. However, I’m doing a big trip at the end of the month and I’d love to shoot some sponsored content while I’m there.

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.

Blogging is SUCH a competitive field already, and I don’t want to give away too much and encourage copycats.

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 80% 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!

October 2021 Blogging Income Report: $1282.48 Earned