October 2022 Income Report - How I Made $12,295.62 On My Blogs This Month

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It’s time for another income report!!

To be honest, this was a really scary income report to put together!

Putting your income out there for the world to see feels so vulnerable and scary. Especially when it starts getting higher than you imagined it would.

I don’t ever want to come across as bragging or trying to show off.

BUT I need to keep in mind that 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 6 Year Blogging Journey

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 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 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!

October Blogging Income Report

After a few months in the $6-7k range, my blogs FINALLY crossed the $10k threshold in October.

Here’s what my blogging income has looked like each month since I started:

October 2022 Income Sources

In October 2022 I made $12,295.62 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.

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

Affiliates: $100.60

Ezoic Ads: $142.56

Total for By Leah Claire: $243.16

Secret Lifestyle Blog #1:

Affiliates: $2,784
Mediavine Ads: $9,003.73

Total for my secret lifestyle blog #1: $11,787.73

Secret Lifestyle Blog #2:

Affiliates: $2.76
Ezoic Ads: $261.97

Total for secret lifestyle blog #2: $264.73

TOTAL: $12,295.62

You may have noticed that I stopped including digital products, reels bonuses, and sponsorships in my income reports. I really want people to know that you can make a significant income online without any type of social media following!

All of this income comes from my actual websites, not from Instagram or TikTok.

What Happened In October?

As you can see from previous income reports, this is the highest income that I’ve had by far!

So what did I do differently this month?

Honestly, nothing too exciting! My lifestyle blog is very seasonal and always does well in October.

I just added a ton of extra fall content to help boost it even further. I started publishing fall posts back in early summer so that they’d have plenty of time to rank on Google and Pinterest.

It also helps that October is the start of Q4, which is the most magical time of year in the blogging world. During the last quarter of the year, companies increase their ad spending a lot so publisher’s ad rates go up.

My rates haven’t gone up a ton yet, but they’re definitely a bit higher than they were in September.

My Blogging Ebook

A few months ago I released 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 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 thousands of dollars 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.

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 very low.

Here are the big expenses from October:

Hosting: $54.85

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.

Once you start getting hundreds of thousands of page views a month, you can switch to a better host like BigScoots.

Canva Pro: $12.99

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: $611.78

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 have found some incredible writers on Fiverr, but there are definitely a lot of low-quality ones there too so it’s hit or miss.

Ahrefs: $209.95

I upgraded to the standard plan of Ahrefs to do a lot of my keyword research. Keyword research is SO important when it comes to ranking your articles on Google.

RankIQ: $49

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

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 who aren’t professional SEOs. You can use my link to get 50% off the monthly subscription price.

Total Blogging Expenses For September: $938.57

This brings my total profit for the month of October to $11,357.05. Not too bad for a side hustle!

Income Predictions For The Year

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)~~ $1674 earned in January

February: ~~Extremely low income month (hoping for $500)~~ $630.30 earned in February
March: ~~Average income (around $1000 this month)~~ $992.54 earned in March
April: ~~Average income ($1000 this month)~~ I earned $3,454.86 in April

May: ~~Higher income month ($3000 this month)~~ I earned over $7000 in May
June: ~~High income month ($3000 this month)~~ I more than doubled this prediction!
July: ~~High income month ($5000 this month)~~ I earned $7,780.66 in July

August: ~~High income month ($3000 this month)~~ I earned $7,569 in August
September: ~~I think $1500 this month~~ $6119 earned in September
October: ~~Very high income month (would love to hit $8000)~~ Can’t believe it but I surpassed this prediction by more than $4k!

November: I think I’ll hit around $3000 in November
December: Very high income month (a $7000 month I think)

If the rest of the year goes as predicted, I’ll make more than $60,000 just on blogging! That would be amazing considering it’s just my side hustle right now.

Blogging Goals

How Did I Do On October’s Goals?

I REALLY want to hit $10,000 on my blogs in October. So proud of hitting this goal!! It felt so out of reach for so long.
Publish 15 posts across all of my sites – I managed to get 17 posts up across my three sites
~~Start writing an outline for my course~~ – Unfortunately I didn’t start on this yet. But I do have big plans for this course in 2023! Sign up for my email list if you want to be first to know when my course launches.

My November Blogging Goals

Make $6000 across my blogs this month. November definitely tends to be a bit slower for me so I think this is a good goal to shoot for.
Publish 15 posts across all of my sites. I’m focusing a lot on updating old content, so I want to keep my publishing goal kind of low for this month.
Build out another blogging freebie and continue to grow my email list. I want to provide as much free education as possible surrounding blogging. Hopefully I can put together another high-value freebie this month.

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!

October 2022 Income Report – How I Made $12,295.62 On My Blogs This Month

My 6 Year Blogging Journey

Learn How To Build A Blogging Business