This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure.
Here is the monthly Food Blog Income Report for March 2019 - follow along with me to see how I'm growing my blog into a business!
How is this year going by so fast?? I cannot believe we are already in April. Quarter one just flew by. It's crazy.
That said, it's been a pretty awesome year so far, blog-wise. I've see a lot of traffic growth and am feeling much more confident in my work now that I "know what I'm doing." Seriously though, do you ever really know what you're doing?
At least I feel like I have a plan. There are goals, schedules, content calendars, etc. etc. I feel like the blog is actually becoming more a real business with every month that goes by.
Who knows, maybe by the end of 2019 I'll even be able to pay myself a salary...we'll see what happens!
Why I Started Went Here 8 This
To be candid, the reason I started my blog was to make money.
Don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE food blogging. Creating new recipes, photographing them and getting to share them with the world is a passion of mine. I want everyone to be enjoying their food as much as I do!
That said, food blogging is HARD work, especially while working a full time job. It really only leaves me with early mornings, evenings and weekends to work on the blog.
Learn How To Start a Food Blog and Make Money
I have always had the goal of retiring early from my day job. But in order to make that happen, I needed to start generating some income on the side, and what better way than to start my own business?
I'm here to tell you that you can do it. If I can do it, you can do it.
I'm not going to sugar coat anything in these blog income reports. I'm in the red again in February. That's because I live by the philosophy that you have to spend money to make money.
Yes, you can start a blog for a minimal amount of money. But in my opinion, if you want to see serious growth you:
1) need to spend SOME money. Not all the money, but you will need to make some investments in your business; and
2) be willing to work harder than you've ever worked before. Food blogging is competitive. But there definitely is a lot of money to be made.
These income reports are going to show you how much money I really make, before and after expenses. (but before taxes)
I started Went Here 8 This in October 2016, but didn't have a CLUE what I was doing until mid way through 2018. I have used a lot of resources to include attending blogger conferences, joining Food Blogger Pro and reading as much as I can in Facebook groups and other media to learn everything I can about making this blog a successful business.
March 2019 Blog Traffic:
March was a pretty decent month. I definitely saw traffic spikes around mid-March, either due to St. Patrick's Day (this Instant Pot Corned Beef went wild) or Google's algorithm change. My page views were definitive up quite a bit for the month, and I believe a lot of that was the algorithm change. Thank you Google.
Traffic overview:
My total page views for February were 72,554.
My traffic for February 2019 came from the following top 5 sources:
- Organic: 49%
- Social: 38%
- Pinterest: 76%
- Facebook: 22%
- Twitter: 1%
- YouTube: 1%
- Direct: 10%
- Referral: 2%
- Email/Other: 1%
One of my goals for 2019 is to improve my link building so I am able to get more traffic from other sites, as well as look better in the eyes of Google. If you want to learn more about link building, check out this presentation given by Casey Markee.
March 2019 Income Report
I had made small amounts on my blog for the past 6 months, but only averaging around $50/month. In December 2018, I qualified for Mediavine (an ad network) and that has become a game changer.
In March 2019, my blog income and expenses were as follows:
- On page advertising (Mediavine): $1,162.83, with an average RPM of $21.41.
- Amazon Affiliate Marketing: $103.01
TOTAL INCOME: $1,265.84
My total expenses for March 2019 were $1,455.45; this includes CA business tax of $818.40. (note some of the below links are affiliate links - I earn a small commission if you buy through these).
Monthly Expenses:
- Hosting (Cloudways): $12.80. Good hosting is a must. If you're on Bluehost, you're going to want to switch now. Cloudways is a great option to make sure your site is always up, and also helps site speed, which is extremely important.
- WordPress Support Plan: $113.00. I use Nerdpress to manage all the technical/security aspects of my website. Because me and tech do not get along. It's better if we have space.
- Imagify Image Compression: $4.99. If you're not compressing your images, you need to be. This is a great plugin that doesn't affect the quality of you images too much.
- Food Blogger Pro Membership: $23.25. Learn more about Food Blogger Pro.
- Social Warfare Pro: $2.42. A lot of people have jumped ship on this plugin for social sharing due to security issues, but I keep holding on....
- Tailwind: $19.98. An absolute must for scheduling Pins on Pinterest. I also use it to schedule Instagram posts.
- Link in Profile: $9.99. Includes an option on Instagram for people to click on a link to bring them to this site.
- Lightroom CC: $9.99. I use Lightroom for ALL my photo editing.
- Askimet: $3.00. I use this to protect my blog from spam.
- Virtual Assistant Services: $300.00. I have a Facebook VA because I DESPISE Facebook.
Total Regular Monthly Expenses: $499.42
One Time Expenses for March:
- California Annual Business Tax: $818.40.
- E-book development and cookbooks: $137.63
TOTAL EXPENSES FOR FEBRUARY: $1,455.45
So for the month of February 2019, I am showing a loss of $189.61. Guys, we're almost there. Next month, I predict a PROFIT!!
**Note: many of the above expenses I pay yearly to get a discount, but have annualized them so you can see what the monthly expenses come out to.
I did not include food expense in the above. I do deduct food expenses on my taxes so if you want to know what I spent, its $152.64. We do, however, eat all the food I make for the blog.
Want to know what the best plugins are? Check out this post for the Top 10 Essential WordPress Plugins for Food Blogs.
**In December, I signed up for a WordPress support plan with Andrew Wilder from Nerdpress. My site speed has increased immensely, which I fully believe results in higher traffic. If you're not tech oriented, I highly recommend checking out one of his support plans.
What Am I Doing for Next Month?
In January, I had an SEO audit with Casey Markee which is the best thing I have done for my blog yet. I highly recommend his services if you want to grow your blog. You can find him over at MEDIAWYSE.
So, for the rest of the year, I will be working hard to improve the SEO on all current and older blog posts. SO. MUCH. WORK. You'll get to see the outcome of this in the coming months income reports so make sure you check back next month to see how it's going! Sign up to get regular email updates from Went Here 8 This:
Want to Make Money Blogging?
Just get started. Seriously. Dive in and learn everything you can possibly can and get that blog up and running. Hopefully this income report will inspire you to do so.
Because like I said, I knew NOTHING when I started. And if I can do it, you can do it.
Learn How To Start and Blog and Make Money
Harshad
These numbers are quite inspiring, Danielle!
I'm still waiting to make the first dollar from my food blog, but I guess it's all about the consistency. I hope I can achieve similar success in the future.
Thanks for sharing the detailed report.
Danielle
It's definitely about consistency...and patience LOL! I'm sure you're on your way to your first dollar!
Kay
Hi there,
This is very inspiring! Just curious, when did you start your blog? Thanks!
Danielle
Thanks Kay! I started at the end of October 2016, however, did not really start to take it seriously until the beginning of 2018.
Bindu Thomas
It is really important to track our monthly expenses. Thank you.
Danielle
I totally agree!
Rose Ann Sales
Great blog content. I love reading about blogs especially when it's a food blog, and I agree, you have to spend some money to make more money.
Danielle
Totally! Thanks for stopping by Rose!
Sophia Damasceno
It was actually very helpful to read this. I have just started monetizing and I have learned so many new strategies every single day.
Danielle
I'm glad you found it helpful! It's a constant learning curve every day for sure 🙂
Nina Cochingco
I agree, food blog or vlog is a great and practical niche and of course you have to spend on it.
Danielle
Definitely!
Lieze Neven
This looks amazing!
I want to try Mediavine but I read somewhere you need at least 25K sessions so I need to work a bit harder haha
Danielle
They do require 25K sessions. You'll get there!! Once you do it's a real game changer.
Agnes Vazhure
It is really important to track our month expenses. To find out where we are spending so much or if there is a rise in price.
Danielle
I totally agree! That is one of the reasons I started doing this 🙂
Alexandra Cook
Great article. This is a topic I know I need to learn more about and you really helped me understand some good ways to get started with my own income report. Thank you.
Danielle
You're welcome Alexandra!
kumamonjeng
It is so interesting to read about this post. You even have details reports of where the traffics are from. Very good write up and I learn so much from the food blogging industry. I totally agreed that blogging is more time consuming than your 9-5 job and you also work harder than a normal job. But it is very fulfilling.
Danielle
Thanks I'm glad you enjoyed it! Blogging is very fulfilling, and while time consuming, I love it 🙂
Jeannette (Jay Joy)
Why I Started Went Here 8 This is a great name for a food blog! Thank you so much for the information. It is really interesting getting into the world if blog entrepreneurship. If you are in the negative this month, how do you make it? I mean Ar you working full time as well still?
Danielle
I'm glad you enjoyed the information! I do work a full time job as well. The blog is kinda like my second full time job that doesn't pay me yet LOL!
Ashli Ferguson
wow teach me your tips!!! That's amazing!!
Danielle
Thanks Ashli!
Joanna
It's good to keep track of your expenses and your income every month. I am working hard on my website to get approved to Mediavine as well. I am almost there, hopefully next month I'll reach the required target.
Danielle
Mediavine was really a game changer. Good Luck Joanna!
Arun
Thank you for sharing your journey. I am new to this, and yet not earning. So your post was really helpful to understand things. And good luck.
Danielle
You're welcome Arun. Good luck on your journey, we can do this!
Ritu Sharma
Wow what an informative post, It will be helpful inform a newbie blogger to get the insight about monetary benefits.
Danielle
Thanks Ritu!
Danang Sutani
Very good! I think it can be a motivation to increase passive income ...nice share sista 😊👍
Danielle
Thanks 🙂
brie
I always love posts like these because they are very beneficial to new bloggers like yourself,. Here's to making a profit next month!
Danielle
Here's to it!
Payal Tyagi
Really informative and gave me great insight about monetary benefits and expenses of blogging. Good work, and all the best for your future months earnings.
Danielle
I'm glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Dara Nicole Yuper
Its really good to audit your expenses within a week or month to know where you spent your money.
Danielle
Very true!