September 2021 Income Report – How I Made $512.44 On My Blogs This Month
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My September 2021 income report will show you exactly how I made $512.44 on my blogs.
September 2021 Income Report
To be honest, I’m not too excited to share this income report. My earnings were much lower in September than I anticipated. But I want these income reports to provide a full picture of my progress and the ups and downs of blogging. Some months will just be significantly lower than others.
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:
September 2021 Income Report
In September 2021 I made $512.44 from my blogs. Here is exactly where that money came from:
Secret Lifestyle Blog:
- Affiliates: $224.09
- Ads: $288.35
By Leah Claire
- Affiliates: $0
- Ads: $0
TOTAL: $512.44
September Traffic Breakdown
Secret Lifestyle Blog:
- September 2021 Pageviews: 86,385 (36,132 sessions)
- Pinterest Followers: 2,400
- Email List Subscribers: 247
By Leah Claire:
- September 2021 Pageviews: 541 (368 sessions)
- Pinterest Followers: 375
- 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 $5 per month with my link) and the customer support is incredible.
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 will probably cancel this in a month or two.
TOTAL EXPENSES: $78.93
What Worked This Month?
Although revenue decreased, I was able to increase my page views from Google which is a huge win.
In August I had 2.35k clicks from google and I increased that to 3.68k clicks in September. 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?
I REALLY want to hit $2000 in September.Obviously this didn’t happen. I’m not sure why revenue decreased so much but I think it’ll go back up in October.Publish 4 blog posts on By Leah Claire.I published 3 blog posts on By Leah Claire last month. I’m pretty happy with that number considering it was such a busy month.Publish 6 blog posts on my secret lifestyle blog.I was able to publish 5 posts on this blog which is still pretty good!
My goals may have been a little bit too ambitious for September considering I got married at the beginning of October. September ended up being a lot more wedding stuff than I anticipated so my blogging kind of went on the back burner for a bit.
My October Blogging Goals
- I would love to hit $1200 in October. I have a few fall themed posts on the secret lifestyle blog that always gain a lot of traction. I think I could realistically hit $1200 this month.
- Publish 2 blog posts on By Leah Claire. With my wedding and honeymoon this month, I haven’t had any time for blogging. I think I could realistically publish 2 blog posts for the rest of the month.
- Publish 1 blog post on my secret lifestyle blog. Again, not much time to dedicate to the blogs this month. Hoping I can get up one more blog post before the start of the holiday season.
I hope this income report will inspire you to start your own blog.
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!
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!
