Food Blog Income Report – 4th Quarter 2024
Dive into my 4th quarter income report to learn all about my profit, expenses, and traffic, and find out what I’m currently up to! I share my income reports to give you a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to run Midwest Foodie as a flexible career that brings in a multi-six-figure income! I hope to legitimize food blogging as a viable career and show you that it’s possible to live your dream!
If you’re new here, start with my previous income reports to see how I built this site from the ground up in 2017!
Let’s take a look at the stats for October, November, and December of 2024!
Traffic
October 2024
| Pageviews | 1,091,042 |
| Sessions | 821,827 |
November 2024
| Pageviews | 1,093,409 |
| Sessions | 788,841 |
December 2024
| Pageviews | 1,092,586 |
| Sessions | 786,139 |
Traffic Sources
October 2024
November 2024
December 2024
4th Quarter Income Total: $206,037
October 2024
| Mediavine | $11,610 |
| Raptive | $54,972 |
| Amazon Associates | $324 |
| Pinterest E-Book | $388 |
| Total Income | $67,294 |
November 2024
| Raptive | $75,299 |
| Amazon Associates | $245 |
| Pinterest E-Book | $291 |
| Total Income | $75,835 |
December 2024
| Raptive | $61,216 |
| Amazon Associates | $449 |
| Pinterest E-Book | $946 |
| Consultations | $297 |
| Total Income | $62,908 |
Monthly RPM/RPS (Raptive Only)
| Month | Oct | Nov | Dec |
| RPM | $82.45 | $94.86 | $81.35 |
Total Expenses $10,782
Monthly Recurring Expenses $1,263
Peach Perfect Financials: $747
Deep Roots Hosting: $240
Microsoft One Drive: $6
Lightroom: $32
SendOwl: $27
Gsuite: $43
Gusto: $135
Siftr: $33
Other Expenses $9,519
Groceries: $757
Canva: $120
Nutrifox: $89
Props: $262
Akismet: $119
NerdPress: $2,855
Photographer: $5,009
Photography Course: $308
Profit $195,255
Taxes
- Please note that this “profit” does not consider the taxes I will pay.
- For example, my 4th quarter estimated taxes due in January are almost $20,000 on top of another $27,000 that I had to pay in December!
- 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 taxes come along and take about 20-30%.
- I prepare for this by putting away 20% of my income throughout the quarter. That way when quarterly taxes are due the money is already set aside!
Expenses Breakdown
- Canva. I love to use Canva for all of my pin templates! I have a few different homemade templates that I use and I love how easy it is to switch out the photos and update the text! I believe in keeping it super easy and uncomplicated when it comes to making Pinterest pins. Simplicity is a big part of my Pinterest strategy in general!
- NerdPress. I upgraded to the next tier of NerdPress – the Inner Peace plan. I ask a lot of questions each month so the Inner Peace plan makes the most sense for me. Switching to the next tier also prompted a little audit of my plugins and my site in general which was helpful. I cannot recommend NerdPress enough!
- Nutrifox. I use WP Tasty Recipes, and Nutrifox is the easiest way for me to insert nutrition facts into my recipe cards. I love that they have different templates for the nutrition facts also!
- Photography Course. I purchased the Inspiration Invigoration Virtual Workshop. I have not had a chance to dive into this course yet so I can’t speak to the value of it, but I am very excited to check it out! I’m planning to review it over the next couple of months and report back!
What I’ve Been Up To
- Raptive. I switched from Mediavine to Raptive during the second week of October! Their RPM guarantee was too good to pass up and the timing of starting the guarantee during Q4 and then finishing it at the end of Q1 seemed perfect! So far, I’m loving it. I’ll re-evaluate during Q2 and Q3 and see how things are going and go from there! I have nothing bad to say about Mediavine. I switched purely for the RPM guarantee and have really enjoyed working with both companies!
- RPM Guarantee. The Raptive RPM guarantee means that you’re guaranteed a certain average RPM each month. In October I was under the guarantee by $0.25 so they added an additional $168 to my monthly revenue. In November I was under the guarantee by $.01 so they added an additional $9 to my revenue. And in December I was over the guarantee by $1.20 which was awesome! If you go over the guarantee you just get to keep that additional revenue. I’m pretty impressed with how spot-on their estimates were.
- Consultations. I’ve started offering 1:1 blogging consultations! It’s been so fun to connect with other bloggers. If you want an hour to chat with me, book your session today by emailing me or reaching out on Instagram! You’ll have an hour to ask any blogging-related questions and I’ll also review your Pinterest page as well. Also included in the consultation is my Pinterest e-book – for free! Consults are $297/hour and I do have some limited availability for recurring monthly appointments if you want more of a regular touch base.
My Pinterest E-Book
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!
- This e-book will help you develop a quick, easy, and simple Pinterest strategy to drive consistent traffic to your site in JUST 20-30 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!
More to Come!
Also! Stay tuned for an upcoming post later this month where I’ll share more details about how I made $500,000 from blogging this year! I’ll get more in-depth about what my goals were for the year, whether I reached them or not, and things that I attribute to having a successful year!
