Hey all! I’m back with another income and traffic report to share with you today. I started doing income reports as a way to be more transparent about my online business and hopefully shed some light on ways that you can grow your own business, too.
In most other fields of work, you have the opportunity to “Google” what a typical salary is for that type of career. You can also choose a university major directly related to your line of work. But if you’re an online entrepreneur? You’re faced with a guessing game. You’re left to wonder how much money you can actually make online and what strategies you can use to get there. With these monthly income and traffic reports, I hope to answer some of your questions and nudge your own business or blog in a direction that brings you the most benefits. Let’s get to it!
Now, imagine Nicholas Cage riding up to us on a motorcycle with the sun setting in the background. He whips off his aviator sunglasses 😎 and says only one thing:
August, you’re one crazy SOB.
Did that give you a good mental image? I sure hope so, because that’s exactly how I felt about last month. Prior to August, I was working one-on-one with clients as a web designer and blog coach. In July, I decided to completely stop taking on new clients in order to finish up and launch my first e-course, Pinfinite Growth. I had no idea how the launch would go and I found myself pinching pennies, skipping Starbucks, and saving as much as possible, because I assumed August would be my slowest month in business and I’d need to live off of canned soup and leftover dog kibble to survive. Something like that. 😉
But crazy surprises are nice right?
Instead of confirming my fears, last month was the most profitable and imaginative month I’ve ever had in business. *Insert crazy dance moves here.* It also confirmed to me that I’m on the right track in my business (and if we’re getting extra mushy…in my life, too!).
I talked all about my e-course launch right here, including the different marketing strategies that I found to be the most successful. I also wrote a detailed post about how I earn several thousand dollars from affiliate commissions each month.
So, in this post, I’ll be sharing the numbers and explaining my income and traffic, which I hope will help you, too. Also, I decided to stop drinking coffee starting today, so it’s highly possible that the rest of this will be complete gibberish. 😀 #youvebeenwarned.
August Income
- Pinfinite Growth E-Course Sales: $13,516
- Web Design Clients: $2,740
- Affiliate Commissions: $3,018
- Google Adsense: $240
Total Income: $19,514
August Expenses
- Credit Card/PayPal Transaction Fees: $516
- Independent Contractors + Contributors: $290
- LeadPages (Annual Payment): $281
- Headshots: $250
- Wistia (Annual Payment): $240
- Zippy Courses: $199
- Bluehost Webhosting: $104
- KingSumo Giveaways: $99
- Amanda Genther’s Irresistible Sales Pages Course: $97
- By Regina’s Self-Published Book Workshop: $97
- CAOC E-Course Installment Payment: $97
- Mailchimp: $75
- Logitech HD Webcam* (on Amazon): $74
- Facebook Ads: $62
- Passionfruit Ads Membership: $50
- Freshbooks* Invoicing Software: $30
- GoDaddy: $26
- Edgar Social Media Scheduler: $25
- BoardBooster*: $23
- Google Apps*: $13
Total Expenses: $2,648 (Anything with an * next to it is an affiliate link)
Net Profit: $16,866
On Pre-selling My Course
My e-course, Pinfinite Growth, officially launched for pre-sale orders on August 10th. It wasn’t until August 24th that the course was actually released. Comparatively, I made around $11,000 during the presale period (August 10th-23rd), and around $3,000 after the course was launched and until the end of August. Sales picked up quite a lot in September, but I’ll get to that next month. 😉
I wasn’t sure about preselling my course, but now I can absolutely see the benefits and will likely do it for future launches, too. It’s also very motivating to have a hard deadline when the course needs to be finished. A big reason why my presale earnings are much larger is because I marketed my course much more during that time, with consistent emails and a webinar. Now, sales are still coming in pretty regularly and I’m planning to keep the course evergreen (meaning it will always be available). Since I’m not really “launching” the course anymore (read: not stressed out of my mind 😉 ), I plan to create a sales funnel, which will show people the benefits of the course and provide free trainings in an automated system.
On Quitting Client Work
It’s a little bit strange to have my schedule completely flipped over, but so, totally awesome. Last week, I was able to take three days off of work for a vacation, which resulted in no casualties, a tremendously slimmer inbox upon returning home, and less of those desperate pangs of “must.check.email!” I’m still finishing up a couple projects, but nearly everything is finished and I have a partner who is helping me tidy the final ends.
Now that I’m not working with clients, I’ve found it a little difficult to get back into the swing of things. It reminds me of when I first started my web design business and had no idea how to productively structure my day, so I’d jump between tasks every 10 minutes and calm my confused brain with a healthy dose of Twitter. I have a bit more business prowess now, so I’m not quite as useless as I was back in the day, but it still has taken some getting used to. One thing that has motivated me? It’s going to sound really simple. You ready? I force myself to get busy. Sometimes all it seems to take is a stern pep talk and just getting to work. Who knew? 😉
This month’s expenses
Since my revenue for the month was increasing, I decided to switch as many of my monthly fees over to annual payments. Usually when you pay annually, you receive a bit of a discount. I always hesitated to do so in the past, both because I wasn’t sure if I’d use those products for an entire year and because they were larger up-front fees. But as a business owner, I always recommend that if you have a good month of income, you should make the types of investments that matter. It’s nice to watch your bank account grow, but it’s even nicer to eliminate monthly fees or up-level your business with a tool or service that will push you further.
I also enrolled in a couple new courses. One is by Amanda Genther and it’s about how to create great sales pages. The other is by Regina, and it’s about creating a self-published book. I honestly didn’t make it too far into these courses yet, but I know they will both be awesome. Sometimes I buy courses that I know I’ll need one day, even if I don’t need them right now.
I also purchased headshots! 😯 I’ve never gotten professional headshots before, but I felt like it was something that my business was missing as my current photos are kind of grainy and I don’t really feel like they include my personality. I’m actually getting the headshots taken this weekend — gasp! — so hopefully I’ll have something to show next month. 🙂
Traffic Report
Traffic Overview
Users: +14% (Also the first time I received more than 100,000 unique visitors in a month! Woo!)
Pageviews: +8.5%
Top Sources of Traffic for the Month
Not too long ago, I privatized 150 old blog posts which now feel irrelevant to this blog’s main mission and audience. Those posts received a lot of traffic, but it didn’t feel worth it to me if they’d read one post and then leave, confused. So, while my traffic did increase a bit in August, I expect it to level out or decrease in September while it works on compensating for all those missing posts.
I hope you found this report useful, friend! Thanks for stickin’ with me.
Got any questions? Comments? Insights? I’m all ears! Let’s chat down below.
September 21st, 2015 at 1:52 pm
LOVE reading these posts, and really love how you keep it real. Money can be an awkward thing to talk about, so these kinds of posts are hard to come by. Thank you for sharing, Melyssa!
xo,
Natalie | Natalie Was Here
September 22nd, 2015 at 9:36 pm
It can definitely be a little awkward, but I’m really glad you enjoy these posts! Thanks so much, Natalie!
September 21st, 2015 at 2:20 pm
this is awesome, Melyssa! I love reading these kinds of posts as they really inspire me to move in a more concrete direction with my blog.
September 22nd, 2015 at 9:37 pm
Thanks so much, Nicole! I’m so glad this is helpful to you! 🙂
September 21st, 2015 at 2:24 pm
Brilliant, girl, congratulations! This is definitely where I want to be in a couple of years. 🙂
September 22nd, 2015 at 9:37 pm
Thanks so much, Jordanna!!
September 21st, 2015 at 2:26 pm
This is what I aspire to be. Takes time to make a blog a business. Sometimes, it’s just daunting. Blogging is hard but I get the energy back when I see posts such as these. Congrats!
September 22nd, 2015 at 9:38 pm
Thank you so much for your comment, Maritza! It does take a little time, but you can definitely do it too! 🙂
September 21st, 2015 at 2:42 pm
Killin’ it girl! good work! 😉
September 22nd, 2015 at 9:38 pm
Thanks Dana! 🙂
September 21st, 2015 at 3:02 pm
What @dana_fox:disqus said below…you are killing it!
And for anyone reading this comment and wondering if they should join Pinfinite Growth, DO IT RIGHT NOW. You will not regret it. I’ve had seriously incredible results, and it was well worth the investment.
http://www.theblissfulmind.com
September 22nd, 2015 at 9:13 am
Thank you for this comment! Helpful to me 🙂
September 22nd, 2015 at 9:40 pm
Thanks so much for the support, Catherine! I’m so happy you’ve found the course beneficial!
September 21st, 2015 at 3:36 pm
Amazing. You are so inspiring!!! <3
September 22nd, 2015 at 9:40 pm
Thank you, Elise! 🙂
September 21st, 2015 at 4:09 pm
Incredibly impressive – woo! I just made my first $60 off my blog….hahahaha.
Sarah Noel | http://www.sarahsmirks.com
September 22nd, 2015 at 9:40 pm
Woohooo!!! That’s so awesome Sarah! Go you!!
September 21st, 2015 at 6:22 pm
This is totally exciting!!!! AHHHH!!!!! And I have been debating about deleting/making private some of my old blog posts that are no longer on niche-one of them is STILL my best performing post, but I agree, they are looking at one post and leaving
September 22nd, 2015 at 9:48 pm
Definitely! I think it brings better results overall. Thanks for your comment, Hayli!
September 21st, 2015 at 6:24 pm
Congrats on hitting 100,000+ unique visitors! That’s awesome 🙂
September 22nd, 2015 at 9:48 pm
Thank you Monica! 🙂
September 21st, 2015 at 8:56 pm
Oh girl! You are a rock star!!!!
September 22nd, 2015 at 9:48 pm
Thanks Elizabeth!! 🙂
September 22nd, 2015 at 4:34 am
I am so impressed at your business skills and growth! I am still quite a small blog but love to read your posts to gain inspiration and hope to someday be half as successful as you!
Rae | Love from Berlin
September 22nd, 2015 at 9:49 pm
Thank you Rae! I am so happy you found this helpful. Keep going, girl!
September 22nd, 2015 at 5:07 am
This is really amazing to see – I love it when bloggers are transparent, especially, as Rae said, when you’re a teeny-tiny blog in the extra-large blogosphere. Although I don’t necessarily need to make money from my blog (or want to) the readership would be lovely!
Erin | comadiary
September 22nd, 2015 at 9:50 pm
Thank you Erin! I’m glad you are enjoying reading these updates!
September 22nd, 2015 at 6:23 am
The Logitech cam is the BEST. I also got one recently -great investment. It’s on sale for $49 on Amazon now (how is it that I ALWAYS miss the sales? hahaha)
September 22nd, 2015 at 9:35 pm
Ah, those sales always seem to come right after a purchase has been made at regular price! Haha 🙂
September 22nd, 2015 at 6:29 am
I’m so happy for you, friend! You did great and I’m glad you aren’t having to pinch pennies.
How long are you giving up coffee for? I did that once, for a month =)
September 24th, 2015 at 8:15 pm
Thank you so much, Beka! 🙂 I’m giving it up indefinitely for the time being. It’s been a few days so far and I’m actually really enjoying the shift already. 😀
September 22nd, 2015 at 6:43 am
I love how you’re so transparent about this online business stuff! It’s so helpful!
September 22nd, 2015 at 9:34 pm
Thank you! I’m really glad you find this helpful! 🙂
September 22nd, 2015 at 8:42 am
Love this report, Melyssa! I took Regina’s book course, too, and SO glad I did. I’m not all the way through it yet, either, but I’ve already had a ton of questions answered. Congratulations on your course success — I seriously can’t wait to see what you develop next.
September 22nd, 2015 at 9:30 pm
Thanks Erika! How great that you’re working through Regina’s course, it’s awesome!! 🙂
September 22nd, 2015 at 10:28 am
Good for you, Melyssa! I’m so happy to hear you took a vacation and said that no one died. It can be really important for us to take those little hiatus trips to help us refocus and relax. Proud of all you are doing!
September 22nd, 2015 at 9:29 pm
Absolutely! Thanks so much, Kayla!
September 22nd, 2015 at 10:55 am
This is awesome! I’m so happy to hear how well your course went! I really want to purchase Zippy Courses (because I want to start providing style + thrifting courses) but don’t yet have the income for it! How do you like it?
Your Pinterest + Search traffic…AMAZING!
September 24th, 2015 at 8:14 pm
Thank you so much Tiffany! <3 To be honest, I have had a lot of problems with Zippy Courses. T_T I'm actually looking for a new platform to switch to at the moment!
September 22nd, 2015 at 11:41 am
This is great! I’m always so grateful to bloggers who share these stats with their readers. It’s really helpful to me as a blogger starting out to see the ways others have grown their business. Congratulations!
September 22nd, 2015 at 9:28 pm
Thank you for your thoughtful comment! I’m glad you find all of this helpful!
September 22nd, 2015 at 1:47 pm
Congratulations, Melyssa! What an accomplishment, and great tips on marketing and running the e-course. Very helpful!
September 22nd, 2015 at 9:27 pm
Thank you Lindsay! I’m so happy you found this helpful 🙂
September 22nd, 2015 at 3:39 pm
YAY what awesome news!!! I’m so excited for you. 😀 I’m currently in the process of planning some coaching services + courses for a January launch and I’m secretly crapping my pants with thoughts like, “What if no one buys them and it’s just CRICKETS?!?” Hahaha. Love the inspiration!
xoxo
Allison
http://www.wonderlass.com
September 22nd, 2015 at 9:27 pm
Thanks Allison! So exciting that you’re working on coaching services, I’m certain it’s going to be awesome!
September 23rd, 2015 at 6:24 am
Also can I please just say that I wish you lived in Kansas City? I feel like we could totally nerd out as blogging + biz buddies. 😛
September 24th, 2015 at 8:13 pm
We so would!! 😉
September 23rd, 2015 at 6:59 am
OMG that sounds like me! I am working on style courses to launch…scary..
September 24th, 2015 at 8:18 am
Tiffany we are going to GET IT DONE and kick some serious butt!!!! 😀
September 22nd, 2015 at 7:45 pm
Love this report (as always!) Congrats on 100K UVMs! 🙂
September 22nd, 2015 at 9:26 pm
Thanks so much, Lexi!! 🙂
September 23rd, 2015 at 1:16 am
That’s really awesome, Mel. You’re growing your blogging business so fast. I wish I was that fast, too.
September 24th, 2015 at 8:16 pm
I wish I could say it was fast, but I started my blog in February 2013, so it’s been over 2.5 years now. 🙂 It’s been a wonderful journey though!
September 23rd, 2015 at 11:14 am
Ah! This is so exciting for you! It’s amazing when things line up like this. I’m looking forward to seeing your headshots! 🙂
September 24th, 2015 at 8:17 pm
Thank you so much, Stacia! I’m excited to share them (once I actually take them) 😉
September 23rd, 2015 at 4:51 pm
Congrats on your amazing month! Seriously you inspire me to put more work into my own blog 🙂
September 24th, 2015 at 8:17 pm
That’s so sweet, Astrid. Thank you so much for the love. <3
September 23rd, 2015 at 10:02 pm
Wow you pull such amazing numbers! You’re inspiring!
Morgan | theradwife.blogspot.com
September 24th, 2015 at 8:17 pm
Thank you Morgan. So sweet of you. 🙂
September 23rd, 2015 at 11:48 pm
Well done Melyssa! Super, super great to read about how wonderfully Pinfinte Growth worked out for you in August. Proud 😉
September 24th, 2015 at 8:17 pm
Thank you Sarah! You are the sweetest. 🙂
September 24th, 2015 at 12:11 am
Hey Melyssa. I just saw your tweet “Some people feel averse to pop-ups, but they can be done tastefully and they have a high conversion rate.” and I felt like I had to tell you something. Your pop-up is buggy and quite frankly annoying as hell. I’ve already signed up since I really like your content but I’m still being interrupted by the pop-ups. Sometimes I cant even close them down again and I need to leave your site. I understand the whole reason behind pop-ups but I don’t understand it when you are just bugging people who are already signed up! (I’ve triple checked my com btw, in 4 different browsers, it’s not on my side). Anyway, that was too long for a tweet but you seem like a really cool person and I figured you might like to know 😉
September 24th, 2015 at 8:18 pm
Thank you Jane! I really appreciate you letting me know. I haven’t experienced that issue on my side. The pop up is set to only show once and then not show up again (if someone Xs out of it) for 45 days. Which browser are you using?
September 25th, 2015 at 3:56 pm
Hi, just wanted to chime in that your pop up comes up every time I’m on your site, no matter where I view it from, either chrome on the computer or safari on my phone or iPad. it doesn’t really bother me, but it does seem too often when I also am signed up for your list already 🙂 So maybe there is a bug or something?
September 28th, 2015 at 10:05 am
It’s the same in both vhrome, safari, firefox and oprah. I’ve checked it has nothing to do with my cookies as well. I get them every time I go to a new site even tho I’m already signed up.
September 24th, 2015 at 7:10 am
So happy to see you’re doing so well! Your ecourses look amazing! x
http://www.kotrynabass.com
September 24th, 2015 at 8:18 pm
Thank you so much, Kotryna. I appreciate that. 🙂
September 24th, 2015 at 3:09 pm
Wow that’s awesome congrats!
September 24th, 2015 at 8:19 pm
Thank you so much, Aimee! 🙂
September 25th, 2015 at 4:01 pm
Woohoo! This is so awesome and encouraging, as I’m considering “quitting” one to one services and just creating products and agency services. No need to have 10k months keep me from higher 🙂 Thanks for sharing.
September 25th, 2015 at 11:47 pm
Thanks for your support, Kimber Lee! Good luck getting into creating products!! 🙂
September 28th, 2015 at 8:48 am
Hi Melyssa,
congrats on such a successful month! I too am in the process of putting together some e-courses, and saw you’ve signed up/paid for both Zippy Courses (which I’m about to buy), and CAOC E-course..can I ask why you purchased both, and if there’s one that you prefer? Thanks!
September 30th, 2015 at 11:02 am
Hi Ane! Zippy Courses and CAOC are actually a bit different. CAOC is an e-course that teaches you a strategy to create and market your e-course. It doesn’t really show you how to set everything up. It’s more about developing and launching your product idea. Zippy Courses is a membership plugin that allows you to create an e-course website where students login. Hope that helps! Best of luck with your course. 🙂
September 30th, 2015 at 1:08 pm
Makes perfect sense thanks for your time!!
September 28th, 2015 at 1:05 pm
IM SO PROUD OF YOU!!! Great job Melyssa!
September 30th, 2015 at 11:04 am
Thank you so much, Amanda!! You are too sweet, thanks so much for all your support!
September 30th, 2015 at 10:59 am
I’m curious about the choice to privatize vs. delete? Did that have an impact on your SEO in some way? Or did you just not want to get rid of them entirely. I love reading your reports every month, especially as you’re transitioning business models. It’s seriously so informative and enlightening! <3
October 2nd, 2015 at 9:30 am
Good question, Torie! So I should have been a little more descriptive in my response. I privatized them by redirecting their links to my homepage. So if anyone tries to view those old posts, they’ll just go straight to TNC.com. I did it that way because, like you said, it’s bad for SEO to have a bunch of broken links on your site, so I didn’t want people to see 401 pages if they tried visiting those old pages. Hope that helps, Torie! 🙂
October 1st, 2015 at 5:13 pm
That’s awesome Melyssa! Thanks for sharing 🙂 I’m working my way through your course now.
October 1st, 2015 at 11:11 pm
Woohoo! That’s awesome! Thanks so much for taking the course, I hope you’re enjoying it 🙂
October 9th, 2015 at 7:56 am
This is bad ass! Love it. Congrats lady!!! xx Larisa @ weheartbeauty.com
October 9th, 2015 at 10:17 am
Thank you, Larisa! 🙂
October 24th, 2015 at 8:27 pm
I just love how transparent you are Melyssa and how you take the time to share these precious details about your business. It is so helpful and is allowing me to get clarity about my own business and set the right expectations for myself and my blog the Red Fairy Project. Thank you so much for all of this and I will keep reading you with such gratitude and interest. Geneviève from Montréal 🙂
October 26th, 2015 at 7:50 pm
Aw, thank you so much for your sweet words! I am so glad you’ve found this helpful! Thank you so much for taking the time to read TNC 🙂