My First Blogging Income Report – December 2019

Welcome to my first blogging income report!

You guys, this is so exciting! I have read income reports so many times from other amazing bloggers and I decided that it’s finally my turn to write one. I know I don’t blog much about blogging but I figured this may be helpful for those who are interested in starting their own blog. 

What is a blogging income report?

A blogging income report is where bloggers break down how much money they made for the month, how much traffic they got along with goals for the next month.

Why am I writing an income report?

I am writing an income report to show you that earning money can be possible with a blog. Until a few years ago I didn’t even realize blogging could make you money. Then, I stumbled across a blog that talked about income reports and my world changed.

Remember that the chances of making a ton of money right off the bat is nearly impossible and it’s not a “get rich quick” thing. It is a slow process that takes a lot of time and effort and there are only a few bloggers that make thousands every month on their third month of blogging. Seriously, my income isn’t anything at that level.

However, it helps pay for gas, a hair cut here and there, and supports my wine and oily habits 😉 

Please keep in mind that I didn’t start this blog to make money and that is still not my main focus. My main focus is to give my readers quality content that can help them in their everyday lives. However, the extra money is definitely nice.

How can you start a blog? 

Starting a self-hosting blog is actually incredibly easy! I talk all about it in this blog post here and it only costs $3.95/month if you click here! Seriously, it’s been one of the best decisions of my life.

December 2019 Blog Income Report:

So, welcome to my very first income report. I haven’t decided if I want to write these monthly or every once in a while (again, the money isn’t my main focus) however, I wanted to share with you how I’ve started making a profit with Lifestyle with Leah.

Where to begin?

December was a crazy month. I didn’t get to focus so much on blog posts as I did on creating my 30 Day Clean Eating Challenge and my new shop on the website! Right now the shop contains two printable wellness planners but keep an eye out as I will be adding a lot more items!

Now onto numbers – 

(Keep in mind, the income I am reporting on has been earned and deposited into my bank account. Most of the money I made was made earlier in the year but took time to be deposited into the bank. A lot of the income I made in December will not be deposited into my bank account until 60-90 days later.)

DECEMBER 2019 BLOG STATS

• Email Subscribers: 2,129
• Page Views: 20,618
• Sessions: 15,855

DECEMBER 2019 SOCIAL MEDIA STATS

• Pinterest Monthly Views and Followers: 1.4 Million Views / 1,339 Followers
• Facebook Followers: 74
• Instagram Followers: 416

My traffic increased a lot in December (by over 4,000 page views) which mainly has to do with my Holiday Gift Guides and they are growing in popularity on Pinterest.

I get a ton of traffic from Pinterest. Like, the majority of people who view my site come from Pinterest (especially this month) which you can see below.

My Pinterest strategy is pretty simple. I make sure to manually pin at least 5x a day and use Tailwind to manage my Pinterest schedule and manually pin 5x a day instead of having to manually pin all day long.

Using Tailwind has been a lifesaver. It is a Pinterest scheduler app that has saved me hours of work every month. it also tracks the best time for engagement with your audience. How cool is that?

Get the Tailwind app here receive a month free!

I don’t focus much on Instagram or Facebook yet but soon I will start to work on Instagram.

Also, a lot of my growth has to do with the blogging course I decided to dive into last March called Elite Blogging Academy.

This course is hosted by Ruth Soukup and she teaches you step by step on how to grow your blog. Just keep in mind, this course is a big investment but incredibly worth it. I am only halfway through the course and have seen so many changes to my blog!

The month of February was high for me only because one of my posts went viral on Pinterest.

DECEMBER 2019 INCOME REPORT

• Amazon Associates: $19.19 
• My Store: $2.99
• Monumetric Ads: $61.64
• Sponsored Posts: $150.00

TOTAL: $233.82

DECEMBER 2019 BLOG EXPENSE REPORT:

• MailChimp: $49.99

TOTAL: $49.99

TOTAL MONEY EARNED IN DECEMBER 2019: $183.83

As I said, the income is nothing crazy, however, I used to get excited when I was making a dollar a day off of Adsense! Now I am making over $150 per month and I love to blog so it’s a win-win for me!

The fourth quarter for bloggers is typically where people earn the most money (October-December) therefore, biggest income months so far will be February and March.  

MY TOP 5 POSTS THIS MONTH:

1. How to Make Confetti Cake Pops (8,122 views)
2. Holiday Gift Guide for Her – 25 Gifts Under $25 (2,224 views)
3. Potty Training Sticker Chart (Free Printable) (794 views)
4. A Q&A on Breast Implants (351 views)
5. Luna’s First Birthday, “Donut Grow Up!” (170 views)

JANUARY 2020 BLOG STAT GOALS:

• Email Subscribers: 2,500
• Page Views: 20,000
• Sessions: 15,000

JANUARY 2020 SOCIAL MEDIA GOALS:

• Pinterest Monthly Views and Followers: 1.5 Million Views / 1,500 Followers
• Facebook Followers: 80
• Instagram Followers: 450

*Not sure how easy these goals will be since December is one of my blog’s biggest months but I love to set goals!

JANUARY 2020 BLOG GOALS

• Write 1 blog post a week
• Keep my page views and sessions as close to December as possible
• Keep interacting on Instagram stories and post to Instagram once every 2 days

Thanks for reading my first income report! 

Want to learn more?

I have a whole page dedicated to my blogging resources here!