I share my income reports to give you a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to run Midwest Foodie as a full-time job that supports a family of three! It also gives me a chance to share with you what I'm working on and the new things I'm trying.
If you're new here, be sure to start at the beginning with my first income report to see how this blog got started!
MY LATEST VIDEOS
Let’s take a look at the stats for October, November, and December 2022! These traffic totals do not include web story traffic.
TRAFFIC
OCTOBER 2022
| Pageviews | 809,447 |
| Sessions | 659,001 |
| Users | 484,090 |
NOVEMBER 2022
| Pageviews | 791,689 |
| Sessions | 646,622 |
| Users | 473,981 |
DECEMBER 2022
| Pageviews | 909,965 |
| Sessions | 750,064 |
| Users | 560,247 |
TRAFFIC SOURCES
OCTOBER 2022
NOVEMBER 2022
DECEMBER 2022
4TH QUARTER INCOME TOTAL: $95,907
OCTOBER 2022
| AdThrive | $26,271 |
| Amazon Associates | $412 |
| Pinterest E-Book + Vegan E-Book | $194 |
| Affiliate Income | $689 |
| Total Income | $27,566 |
NOVEMBER 2022
| AdThrive | $30,640 |
| Amazon Associates | $406 |
| Pinterest E-Book + Vegan E-Book | $102 |
| Affiliate Income | $660 |
| Total Income | $31,808 |
DECEMBER 2022
| AdThrive | $31,567 |
| Amazon Associates | $489 |
| Pinterest E-Book + Vegan E-Book | $5 |
| Affiliate Income | $3,662 |
| Total Income | $35,723 |
MONTHLY RPM/RPS
| Oct | Nov | Dec | |
| RPS | $39.86 | $47.39 | $42.09 |
| RPM | $32.46 | $38.70 | $34.69 |
TOTAL EXPENSES $10,312
MONTHLY RECURRING EXPENSES $2,588
Microsoft One Drive: $6
Akismet: $30
Nerdpress: $366
Peach Perfect Financials: $717
Lightroom: $32
SendOwl: $27
ConvertKit: $297
Gsuite: $36
Agathon: $240
Canva: $30
Tailwind: $30
KeySearch: $42
Gusto: $135
Groceries: $600
OTHER EXPENSES $7,724
Content Writer: $372
Ahrefs: $199
Tasty Links: $49
Microsoft 360: $74
TopHat Rank: $5,200
TopHat Social: $1,800
Keywords Everywhere: $30
DONATION $1,000
- Our 4th quarter donation went to The Naturally Beautiful Project. Here's a description of their mission from their site: "Our vision to expand the educational component of our program is now closer than ever. We have moved the Naturally Beautiful Project into a larger facility with more classroom space for our hands-on curriculum."
PROFIT $84,595
TAXES
Please note that this “profit” does not take into account the taxes I will have to pay on it. It’s easy to look at these numbers and think the profits from blogging are great (which they are!) but it’s also important to remember that there are a lot of monthly expenses that go into blogging, and then taxes come along, and take about 30% of anything you have leftover!
EXPENSES BREAKDOWN
- TopHat Rank: I worked with TopHat Rank for a couple of months doing the Managed Blog Growth SEO Plan. Honestly, with the time off, I have not had a chance to really dive into the material that they've given me. I'm planning to tackle it during the first quarter of this year.
- TopHat Content: I also used their content planning service, but as stated above, haven't had a chance to really look into in depth.
WHAT I'VE BEEN UP TO
- Time Off: This year was unlike any of the last 5 years around the holidays for me! We traveled to Denver for the week of Thanksgiving and then shortly after that we moved so I ended up taking about 6 weeks off - just responding to emails, approving comments, and I think I published 2 new recipes that had been done already. The fact that this time off coincided with the holidays was GLORIOUS. Soaking up time with family and friends, sleeping in, binge-watching Netflix, and just having some serious downtime was much needed. And it's not something that I've allowed myself to do in the past so I was pleasantly surprised by how relaxing it was!
- AdThrive: As you can see, most of my income comes from ads which is why I am so thankful for AdThrive! This form of "passive" income allowed me to take 6 weeks off this year (plus allllllllll the other vacays and weekdays/weekends that I've taken off throughout the year) while still making consistent money. I am grateful every single day.
- Updating Content: Going into the new year I'm planning to update a lot of my old content while I continue to publish some new recipes as well. This will mean overall fewer new recipes in 2023 but hopefully, the updates will translate to more traffic.
GOALS
- I hit a really huge goal this year which was to make $300k in one year! I ended the year at $300,794. I am really trying to soak up the moment and be proud of my hard work, but as usual, I am already thinking about my goals for 2023 and dreaming of what the future holds!
- If you're working towards blogging full time I hope that my income reports can give you the confidence to know that if I can do this - YOU can do this. I am not special. I don't have the best recipes on the internet. I still get bad reviews and burn croutons almost every single time I make them. But the consistency and dedication to my blog have paid off and it's really fulfilling to see dreams become a reality!
PINTEREST UPDATES
- This year, Pinterest brought me over 2.2 million pageviews, folks! Pinterest is not dead. And I wouldn't listen to anyone who says it is! My Pinterest pageviews did not come from doing the latest and greatest thing suggested by that random person in an FB group. They came from consistent pinning and high-quality content that readers are searching for. If I can do this, you can do this!
- There's always lots of chatter in different blogging groups about Pinterest and to be honest, I don't listen to much of it! Pinterest is still bringing me a decent amount of traffic and for years my strategy has stayed the same. It's all about consistency. I'm still pinning consistently, using the strategy outlined in my e-book and I'm still using Tailwind so that I don't have to waste time manually pinning.
- If you still haven't jumped into Pinterest, I highly recommend that you spend some time in 2023 doing so! Pinterest users are looking for recipes, finding recipes, and using recipes. So why shouldn't they be finding your recipes?!
If you're looking for the tried and true strategy that has gotten me where I am today, be sure to check out my Pinterest e-book! More details below!
MY PINTEREST E-BOOK
- This e-book will help you develop a quick, easy, and simple Pinterest strategy that will drive consistent traffic to your site in JUST 20 MINUTES A WEEK!
- This e-book is ideal for those who prefer to work at their own pace. This is not a Pinterest course. It's not going to take you days or weeks to work through.
- It's loaded with screenshots and images to help clarify the concepts that you're learning and is geared toward those who already have a basic understanding of Pinterest, Tailwind, and Canva.
As always, thank you for reading! None of this would be possible without you 🙂 And don't forget to check out my previous income reports for more behind-the-scenes info!
Courtney
Gosh I love reading these! So proud of you and it's so inspiring to see. Thanks for sharing with us!
Emmeline
Congrats on reaching those big goals! You are killing it!
And thank you for the motivational boost. Really needed that right now!