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Hey there everyone!
As some of you may know I started this little bloggy right at the beginning of last year (2016) with yarn in hand, creativity abounding, and no expectations.
It’s been exactly 1 year since then and BOY have things changed.
Below is a breakdown of my current traffic and income here on the blog, and some factors that led me here.
Now, you may be asking yourself “Why on EARTH would she put her income and numbers out there for all the world to see? Isn’t that part of the secret sauce?”
Nope! I started this blog a short while ago and have found great success (considering how long I’ve been working on it).
I want to encourage others to blog too!
Actually I put together my 3 Easy Steps to starting your own DIY blog HERE!
In the crochet niche of the internet, I’ve found one thing to be true – lots of people crochet, but not very many are publishing new patterns and putting out content.
There is a very small group of crochet bloggers out there (spend any time on Pinterest and you’ll quickly name several) dominating the market.
And this job is not hard to do!
Let me repeat that. THIS JOB IS NOT HARD TO DO.
It took me about half an hour to set up my blog initially and although I’ve made many adjustments along the way, my blog has been earning me good money with a really basic setup.
Now what do I mean by “good money”?
January 2017 Income
- Mediavine:$1,677.28
- AdThrive: $451.91
- Sponsored Content: $2,150
- Sponsored video: $1,000
- Sponsored blog posts: $1,150
- Youtube: $206.99
- Amazon Associates: $4.78
- Bluehost: $1,170
- Beautiful Dawn Designs Affiliate: $124.50
- Etsy Pattern Sales: $679.18
- MadMimi: $42
- Adobe Creative Cloud: $9.99
- Etsy Seller Fees: $61.89
- Supplies for blog posts: $50
- Tailwind: $119.88
*Keep in mind that not all of this money is mine forever. I am the sole proprietor of my business and will pay taxes, am responsible for my own health insurance, and other expenses that a traditional job would supply. That’s still a lot of dough for playing with yarn though!
Januaury 2017 Traffic
Some screenshots from google analytics:
Pageviews for the month of January:
Top ten traffic sources:
- My third full month with Mediavine and my earnings there continue to get better and better – however this month I switched, yet again, to another ad network. My RPM (rate per mille, what you get paid for ever 1000 pageviews, roughly) at Mediavine was much better than Adsense (who my ads were run by until October of last year) but I still saw room for improvement.
- I had talked to several other bloggers who are with AdThrive & they RAVED about it. So I talked to the folks over at AdThrive and they said that if I got accepted to their program (they’re hella exclusive) then I could expect to see a good sized increase in RPM. That’s amazing because it means I put in the same amount of work gaining similar traffic as I have been, but make more moolah. Yes!
- I’ve been with these guys for a week now and I’m really happy. They did all the work getting me switched over, and have been really helpful with any questions I’ve had.
- OH. And on the 1st of Feb. I got an email from one of the dudes at AdThrive that said- “January 1-25 (before AdThrive), you were earning $4.91 for every 1,000 pageviews on your blog (which means you had a $4.91 RPM). Now, after we installed your new optimized ads, you’re earning $7.70 for every 1,000 pageviews (RPM). That means you are now making 57% more money for every single pageview with the exact same ad setup!” HELL YES.
- I’ve worked on YouTube videos lots more this month and it’s starting to pay off already – 2,686 more subscribers and about $60 more than last month – wahoo!
- More videos to come – make sure you’re subscribed to my channel!
- Sponsored content was really great this month (Super grateful to them, thanks guys!). But it won’t be as bananas in the coming months. Let’s look at this more closely:
- The holidays are HUGE for bloggers (or so I’ve read, remember – this is still my first year blogging!). Quarter 4 is the quarter when big companies spend the most money on advertising. So I was still finishing up some of the opportunities for sponsorships and collaborations that were lasting from the holidays. I expect for my sponsorship relationships to seriously be pulling back on how much they are commissioning from me in the first quarter of the year. (For instance, I only have one commissioned project on the books so far for February – whereas I had half a dozen or so for January).
- Those page view counts!!! C’mon, I just want to break 400,000 already. AND I WAS SO CLOSE.
- I’m really surprised that my traffic continued to increase, if only a little bit, from December. I expected a big dip here from the holiday drop off but much to my excitement, we even creeped up a bit! Wahoo!
- Who knows what’s to come in the next few months. I could continue to increase pageview numbers to infinity and beyond, or the weather will get warmer, nobody will think about yarn, and I’ll wither away. Time will tell.
- Almost no money from Amazon Associates this month, but as a lot of my projects have been sponsored, I don’t link to separate affiliate items on Amazon. So that’s understandable. I haven’t posted anything with their links in a while, but I don’t usually make lots of money there anyway.
- Bluehost and Beautiful Dawn Designs have continued to do well – I’m so glad you guys are taking what I write to heart and starting those blogs! If you haven’t started your blog yet, need I say more?? Click here to get started!
- Expenses were low this month, without spending much money on reinvestment in my blog, and a lot of my supplies being donated or sent for free via sponsorship collabs. I bought some craft store supplies here and there, and invested in Tailwind (a Pinterest scheduling app so that I can spend more time making, less time pinning.) A fairly light month as far as spending, which is perfect for me!
What do you want to see from my blog in 2017? I have so many ideas up my sleeve, it’s hard not to start them all at once! Leave me a suggestion in the comments below.
If you want to quit that dead-end job and make amazing money blogging at home, check out my
FREE START A BLOG GUIDE!
Jen says
This is awesome! Very helpful 🙂
Sarah Sullivan says
Hi Ashleigh
I finally went live with blog and website this week and saw my FB likes treble (still double figures buts that ok, considering I haven’t released any patterns yet, small steps). I have been reading all if your reports and they are super helpful, you really should give yourself a massive pat on the back for getting this business off the ground and profitable so quickly. I don’t think you will see a dip in traffic, I think because you have been so broad in your marketing and attracted through Pinterest a worldwide following, it’s always cold somewhere in the world! And I think a lot of hobbyists stick to one thing that they like doing i.e. Baby blankets, cowls, shawls etc. And do them year round.
Massive good luck for 2017, I am intending going to the CGOA conference in July to learn all I can from the. Crochet designers I admire (I live in the U.K.), it would be great to meet if we got the chance.
Regards
Sarah
Ashleigh says
Thank you SO MUCH for your sweet words, Sarah! It’s been a complete joy and privilege to build my business and I wouldn’t trade it for the world! I wish you luck in your new blog, I’m sure I’ll see big things from you soon 🙂 On CGOA, I’m not sure yet if I’m going. I hope to, and maybe I’ll see you there!
patty says
how do I get the free pattern offered when I subscribed? Thanks
Ashleigh says
You should get an email within 24 hours with the free welcome email and pattern – be sure to check your spam filters!
Deb Car says
Thank you so much for your words of encouragement. I get so overwhelmed by all of this stuff to do but nearing 60 yrs old, I think I’ll just keep trying.
Sincerely, Deb
Ashleigh says
It can definitely be overwhelming for any age, but it’s just like learning a new language – with enough practice and dedication, one day it will just click 🙂
Mary says
Wow! These numbers are amazing! Go girl! I just started a crochet blog a little over two weeks ago. I wanted to wait a month before I started with an ad agency. Any suggestions? I heard Sovrn was good when just starting out. It’s all a bit confusing. What are your recommendations for affiliates? Anyway, just also wnated to so that I love your blog! You are such an inspiration!
Ashleigh says
Hi Mary, thanks so much! I haven’t used Sovrn myself but I’ve heard good things about it. I do recommend you go ahead and monetize however you can even when you don’t have much of a following – every little bit helps! I monetized halfway through my second month and didn’t receive my first check until 3 full months later but I’m glad I monetized early because I know that Adsense had a threshold – you have to earn over $100 before they pay out (and your earnings carry over from month to month). So if you don’t monetize because you’re waiting for traffic, you may be leaving some money on the table! And as far as affiliates, I got my feet wet with Amazon and haven’t diversified into much else other than Blue Host and Beautiful Dawn Designs once I felt proficient enough in blogging to make recommendations and offer advice 😉 I think Amazon Associates was a great place to start – the interface is easy to use and you can be an affiliate for almost any product in the world! Good luck!
Rose says
You’re doing great, Ashleigh! Tiffany over at Beautiful Dawn Designs has been a great help to me.