food blog income report

Blog Income Report August 2019

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Blog Income Report August 2019 : Find out how I made $1729.33 through my blog with various strategies. 

blog income report august 2019

As I write this I am 39 weeks pregnant, it’s Labor Day and there has been a mandatory evacuation in South Carolina for hurricane Dorian which we are not leaving for. August was a really weird month for me!  I worked my personal chef job for the first 3 weeks while blogging in between and I have been “off” since the 23rd on maternity leave. 

I spent a LOT of time on the blog this month but all of that work is going to show up sporadically through the next couple months.  In essence it didn’t really feel like I was doing much because my traffic and engagement was MUCH lower than previous months.  I admit to feeling a bit rushed and burnt out!

I’m hoping it will pick up again since people are cramming in last minute summer adventures and school starts in random parts of the month, but we shall see!

Blog Income Report August 2019

Here are some noteworthy things that happened in August:

  • I hit a wall with photography: I’m pretty unhappy with my photography as of late. I was looking through old posts to update and I found that some of my iphone photos were way better! I’m not sure if I’m just burnt out from rushing to get some recipes done or if I need to invest in more props and surfaces but it’s really frustrating.  My plan IS to invest in better stuff after the first couple months of newborn life.  I also am going to hire a professional to come over and show me exactly where I should be setting up my surfaces and what settings to use etc.  I don’t want to just be good at this, I want to be great because I really want to set myself apart and count on this skill for the future.  I’m hoping by taking some time off and using my camera to photography my baby that I will be re-inspired. 
  • Engagement is DOWN: I am aware that this is super ironic, especially since I am the first to take public social media breaks, but this one kind of bit me in the ass. Obviously instagram favors ACTIVITY and that is not what I was keeping up with at all.  When I made my return I had lost over 400 followers AND my engagement went down horribly.  I get the engagement of someone with 7k followers and I have 18.5k.  It’s hard to say if this matters or not. There are SO many others dealing with the same issue and I think it is largely to do with the fact that IG is making changes in order to push users to boost posts.  And since you could do it for $1 per day, so many others are doing it which proves them right. I’m going to keep on posting a mix of food and personal stuff regardless of what happens because it’s what I like doing, but it’s clear that most of my efforts need to be focused on the blog and SEO. 
  • I’m Addicted to My Phone: The above was so much more apparent to me because I became addicted to my phone again.  This time though, I am not beating myself up about it. I realized that I am going to be home A LOT in the next couple months with my baby and I have to be honest and say that being on my phone is going to be a part of me connecting to the outside world.  At first I was bitter about that, but I realized that there is nothing wrong with that.  After that short season, I WILL start having a routine again and I will be able to put my phone down more and focus more on life.  Until then, I am giving myself permission to give myself as much phone time as possible so long as it’s not messing with my brain. 
  • Ad Income Low:  Ok, so this is going to sound petty but my ad income this month was under $1000.  It was under by less than $20 but it kind of worried me. In my head I set a threshold of making a MINIMUM of $1000 on ads that really wanted to stick to for now on. This data is really interesting to me because now I see that summer really is way lower than usual, but I thought July was going to be worse.  I can’t wait to see what Q4 brings so I can plan for the future. 
  • And Speaking of The Future: I heard a powerful quote on a podcast that really stuck with me. If you can make $1000 a month doing something, you can make $10k a month doing that thing. It made me think about how much time I spend doing 4-5 different things “ok” instead of 1-2 really well.  I am ready to leave the scrappy start-up version of this blog behind and really start focusing on quality in all aspects.  I have a huge list of things I need to do when I am ready to turn this into a business that can support my share of the bills and more. I actually can’t wait to spend more quality time here and have some better valuable content in store.

A note on the metrics below: All of this is income that was MADE in August.  I don’t actually see all payment for this money for about 2-3 months depending on the company paying me. 

Blog Income Report August 2019 | Metrics

Food/Recipe posts that were created in August: 8+

Amazon Affiliate Income: $68.79

 Mediavine Income: $988.59

Recipe Development Projects Paid Out: $500

Virtual Assistant Work: $50

Brand Partnerships: $122.15

Hours spent working on the blog: 15-20 per week

Blog Income Report August 2019 Total: $1729.33

 

Valerie Skinner is a Whole30 approved personal chef & recipe developer that bridges the gap between healthy eating and busy lives by providing simple healthy meals and recipes for you and your family.Charleston Personal Chef Thyme and JOY

Lets Connect!

Check out my Podcast: Food Conversations

Email me: thymeandjoy@gmail.com

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Blog Income Report July 2019 | Food Blog Side Hustle

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Blog Income Report July 2019 : Find out how I made $1754.04 through my blog with various strategies. 

It’s officially August!  That means we made it through the biggest traffic slump of the year.  I’m not sure exactly when things are going to pick back up, but I know that it’s sometime in August. 

I’m incredibly happy to report that despite the slump month, I have made the highest amount of money ever in ad revenue income which is a big deal.

Hopefully this will mean that Q4 results will make an even better impact because extra money during maternity leave sounds good to me! 

Blog Income Report July 2019

Here are some noteworthy things that happened in July:

  • July Work Flow: July was such a strange month for me when it came to work. Most of my personal chef clients were on vacation which meant I had a LOT of time at home to work. As much as this felt like a blessing, it was actually really hard to motivate myself to get ahead in the game. I have types of “work from home” days.  One is when I am developing and photographing recipes.  I will usually shop in the morning then get to work on about 3 recipes which seems to be my max of late.  Once all the development, shooting and dishes are done I am pretty SPENT and need a good old third trimester nap. I’ve learned that doing any other administrative work for the rest of the day is a bad idea. The other type of work from home day is purely from the laptop.  This is the day where I save all my photo editing, post drafting, social media scheduling and client menus for the week.  I’ve learned that to be the most productive for this, I actually need to be OUTSIDE of the house in a coffee shop because I find that by the end of the week I need that separation.
  • Working In the Third Trimester: I can’t deny things are getting a lot harder to handle.  At this point, it’s not that I don’t have the TIME to work on things, it’s that I don’t have the energy. Not only that, but cooking in a kitchen my belly has been bumping into the sink and counter CONSTANTLY and it’s harder to bend over do get dishes done etc. I also recently realized that I maybe have been putting way too much pressure on myself (shocker). The work I am doing right now with little energy is half to keep up with the present and half to schedule out 2 months worth of content for maternity leave.  In essence, I am trying to do DOUBLE the blog work with half the energy and it isn’t always easy.  I wonder how this will change when baby does arrive as if he comes later than expected, I may just keep slowly working into the next month until he arrives so I have that cushion.  The reality is, I do have enough saved for maternity leave even if I do absolutely nothing leading up to it. However, the future of personal chef clients and a possible move out of Charleston in fall of next year have me thinking it’s probably a better idea to continue to work on passive income streams while I can. 
  • Amazon: My amazon affiliate commission last month was one of the highest I’ve seen, but it had to do with someone making large purchase of OTHER things after clicking on something from my website.  It got me thinking about the product people clicked on MOST and it was a spice blend that linked to the shop page of someone else where I was making ZERO commission. So, I found a similar blend on amazon, changed the links to affiliate links and I truly believe that is why this commission was similar as I didn’t actually have any huge purchases this month, not even on this years Amazon prime days. 
  • Post Boost on Facebook: I made an additional $40 one day in ad revenue because my chicken pot pie recipe got shared by a big Facebook account.  This made me think a LOT.  If my website got that amount of traffic each day, I would be making double what I am right now on ads.  Part of me wishes I was in a space to double down on the things that are really working for me (SEO Research) but at the same time I have to remember there will eventually be time to focus on these things and I have to be patient. 
  • Social Media Update: Speaking of the above, being in front of large numbers for more traffic and more money is kind of a double edged sword.  It takes a lot of work to put yourself out there these days to GET high metrics and sometimes that means being sucked into the world of social media which includes the good and the bad.  Even though I have been taking a huge break on social media by instead posting personal content on my youtube channel. However, I would be lying if I said I hadn’t downloaded the IG app back on my phone and I’ve been doing a little scrolling here and there. Truth is, I still don’t know where I stand.  It has become SO much harder to build a following and I have been steadily losing 75-120 followers a MONTH and when I found that out, it hit me hard.  In order to keep building I have to keep giving MORE of myself and I haven’t quite figured out a way to do that without the app using ME instead of the other way around. I’ve reconciled with the fact that I will be on my phone a LOT in the next couple months while I am home taking care of a newborn and that is going to mean I will be on social media a lot more either looking at others stuff or beginning to post again.  Idk . . . I’m still confused!!
  • Partnerships: I did not make any money from partnerships this month, but I also wasn’t on stories to even promote any.  I do plan on placing another Thrive Market order before baby gets here and I did partner with a new company that I am trying out their stuff and love it so far.  I don’t count on these things at all because they are very up and down, but it may be something to really consider in the future. 

As far as August, my plan is to continue to work on scheduling out the next 2-2.5 months by creating some new content as well as updating old content.  If I continue into September then great, and if not I am ready to see what this new chapter brings! 

A note on the metrics below: All of this is income that was MADE in July.  I don’t actually see all payment for this money for about 2-3 months depending on the company paying me. 

Blog Income Report July 2019 | Metrics

Food/Recipe posts that were created in June: 3

Amazon Affiliate Income: $103.93

 Mediavine Income: $1100.11

Recipe Development Projects Paid Out: $500

Virtual Assistant Work: $50

Brand Partnerships: $0

Hours spent working on the blog: 15-20 per week

Blog Income Report July 2019 Total: $1754.04

 

Valerie Skinner is a Whole30 approved personal chef & recipe developer that bridges the gap between healthy eating and busy lives by providing simple healthy meals and recipes for you and your family.Charleston Personal Chef Thyme and JOY

Lets Connect!

Check out my Podcast: Food Conversations

Email me: thymeandjoy@gmail.com

Follow me on Instagram

Join my community on Facebook

See what I’m pinning on Pinterest

 

Blog Income Report June 2019 | Food Blog Side Hustle

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Blog Income Report June 2019 : Find out how I made $1898.35 through my blog with various strategies. 

blog income report 2019

Ok, so here we are in June and I have racked in my highest amount of income EVER on this blog.  I am blown away at how just making those changes back in May have benefited me.  I know this is a BIG part of why the income is higher, but there were also other random factors contributing to this amount.

As I am writing this, it is fourth of July weekend.  I can remember last year exactly at this time.  Stats were going down BIG time because everyone is off AND because this year the holiday lands in the middle of the week, so most people are getting 4 days off instead of three.  

Do you think they are going to spend that time looking at blogs? ….. No. 

Blog Income Report June 2019

Here are some noteworthy things that happened in June:

  • Nerdy Spreadsheets: This month I decided to buckle down and make a nifty spreadsheet for the work I want to get accomplished before maternity leave and what I will do when I start up again.  The income gained has proved that this really is turning into it’s own business, so I need to treat it like one in order to keep it growing.  Let’s keep in mind that my first recorded income month 2 years ago was SEVEN DOLLARS!! I’ve put SO much work into this for very little return and I feel like I am just scratching the surface of what I can do.  My plan for then next 2 months while baby is still comfy in my belly is to completely schedule out September and October.  I will have one new recipe post each week that will be drafted in June and July and I am currently updating old posts which are taking forever. I am amazed at how terrible my SEO was then will hopefully see a return on the updates in the next 6 months are so.  I am still taking clients and working Whole Foods 2x a month and I am TIRED from being in the third trimester, so all this work is easier said than done, but at the same time, work is what gets me up in the morning and continuing to build a business has kept me active during this pregnancy. 
  • Amazon: Normally, my Amazon affiliate earnings are around the $30-$40 range each month.  This month I happened to have someone place a huge order where I received $38 in commission in one day in addition to my regular earnings. YOU CAN’T PREDICT THIS STUFF!!  While I would love to count on this happening a lot more, it really is about luck and also making sure you have valuable links everywhere to increase your chances of this. 
  • Recipe Videos: In June I took 2 recipes that I was getting a decent amount of traffic from and created recipe videos for them.  The 3 ingredient nutella brownie and crispy air fryer potato videos took a couple hours to film, edit and upload but as of right now they have made a total of $7 in income at this point. Investing in making a video for recipes that are climbing up the rankings does pay off, especially over time! I also want to point out that I shot these videos on a $10 tripod with my iphone.  It seriously does not need to be fancy to make it work! 
  • Thrive Partnership:  As some of you may know, I take on VERY LITTLE partnerships.  One partnership that made the cut was Thrive Market.  They don’t force me to post anything, but when I do I simply link my deal of 30 days free and 25% off first order.  I honestly don’t expect much out of partnerships as I think it is an unstable way to make money and I share naturally and don’t push it, so whatever comes in is icing on the cake for me. Over the last 2 months this partnership specifically earned me $240! 
  • Social Media Update: My post about why I stopped fighting social media algorithms gained a lot of attention. It has been quite a few weeks since I’ve taken all social media off my phone and only use it on my laptop.  There was one night I slipped up and scrolled too much and got upset at 2 things I saw.  It was amazing to see I was back in that cycle of low level constant anxiety after that. It made me think about truly how much social media used to use ME instead of me using IT. One thing I have realized is that there are things that I am missing out on by not engaging with others like I used to.  But, I have accepted this as a small price to pay for having a piece of my life back that has allowed me to create better content and REST before a huge life change. I’m much more on the JOMO spectrum these days (Joy of Missing Out). 
  • All content in one hub: Again, just because I am not on IG stories, it doesn’t mean that I am not sharing those personal pieces of my life that others have come to enjoy.  I share regularly on my Youtube channel and also through podcasting.  I enjoy these mediums so much more than the quick dopamine hits that come from sharing on IG.  It has made me a much better person. I thought about how strange it is to have this website as a hub for so many different types of content.  You can’t really niche this website which may hurt in the long run. But right now, Thyme and JOY is my personal brand. It’s my business, my lifestyle and how I share my random crafts with the world.  Maybe one day something will stick and will spin off into something else, but for now I am actually ok with spinning all of these plates. 
  • July Downfall: As I mentioned above, July is probably the worst month for blog traffic of all time. I had such a great month in June and it sucks that the momentum probably won’t continue to pick up speed until late August or September.  I have to be ok with that and remember that all business is seasonal!  Taking the time now to prepare for later will help my numbers grow. 

A note on the metrics below: All of this is income that was MADE in June.  I don’t actually see all payment for this money for about 2-3 months depending on the company paying me. 

Blog Income Report June 2019 | Metrics

Food/Recipe posts that were created in June: 12

Amazon Affiliate Income: $73.90

 Mediavine Income: $1034.45

Recipe Development Projects Paid Out: $500

Virtual Assistant Work: $50

Brand Partnerships: $240

Hours spent working on the blog: 15-20 per week

Blog Income Report June 2019 Total: $1898.35

 

Valerie Skinner is a Whole30 approved personal chef & recipe developer that bridges the gap between healthy eating and busy lives by providing simple healthy meals and recipes for you and your family.Charleston Personal Chef Thyme and JOY

Lets Connect!

Check out my Podcast: Food Conversations

Email me: thymeandjoy@gmail.com

Follow me on Instagram

Join my community on Facebook

See what I’m pinning on Pinterest