June 2015 Traffic and Income Report

June 2015 Income Report | JustAGirlandHerBlog.com
May 2015 Income Report | JustAGirlAndHerBlog.com

Hello, sweet friends! It’s hard to believe it’s already income report time again! As you are reading this, I am on my way to the Haven blogging conference in Atlanta, Georgia to hang out with some of my bloggy besties and meet some new friends too! If you’d like to see what I’m up to, be sure to follow along on Instagram! {And if you’ll be at Haven, be sure to find me and say “hi!” I’d LOVE to meet you!}

June was a pretty big month for this little old blog of ours– the biggest ever, in fact. That is due in large part to the relaunch of our eBook, Building a Framework: The Ultimate Blogging Handbook.

As much as I love writing and publishing eBooks, launching is always a little nerve-wracking for me because there’s not really a way to predict how it will go. It could totally flop. It could be just kind of “meh.” Or it could go really well. I was absolutely blown away by the enthusiastic response to the re-launch, and I am so incredibly thankful to each and every one of you for your support!

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We’ll talk about the launch a little more later in the post, but first, here’s Donnie with the numbers!

Income

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.

Total Income: $26,041

Expenses

  • Framework Affiliate Payouts – $2,320
  • PayPal Transaction Fees – $406
  • Stripe Transaction Fees – $250
  • MailChimp – $240
  • Contest Payments – $225
  • Virtual Assistant – $180
  • Tailwind – $110
  • Instapage – $92
  • Synthesis Hosting – $67
  • Wistia – $62
  • Gumroad Transaction Fees – $52
  • ConvertKit – $49
  • SendOwl – $24
  • BoardBooster – $20
  • CloudFlare – $20
  • Co-Working Space – $15
  • Zapier – $15
  • Crashplan – $14
  • Adobe Creative Cloud – $11
  • Buffer – $10
  • Media Temple – $10
  • CoSchedule – $8
  • Fizzle.co – $0 (usually $35)
Total Expenses: $4,200

June 2015 Net Profit: $21,841

Income Analysis

donnie

It’s the middle of July and Abby and I still feel like we’re recovering from the June 10th launch of the new edition of Building a Framework. I’m not sure why the re-launch seemed like so much work this time, after all, Abby and I are both doing this full time now and we’ve launched other products in the past. After thinking about this for a few weeks I’ve come up with a few reasons why this launch seemed harder/more challenging:

1. Higher expectations. This is our big product launch of the year and because Abby and I work together full-time on the blog with no other income sources we felt some increased pressure to make the product a success.

2. Just finished another launch. It seems like yesterday that we launched The Paperless Home. For that product I took the lead both in content creation and marketing. I jumped right into the Building a Framework launch less than a week after the Paperless launch. It would’ve been nice to have a longer period of just normal blogging type work and not triple the work with another launch.

3. Video creation and editing. This is an entirely different animal than creating just a PDF eBook. It’s a lot of work and the learning curve is steep.

4. Technical challenges. Looking back on my post Anatomy of an eBook Launch where I outline the steps and thought process for launching an eBook, it now looks very basic to me. I need to put together an updated step-by-step guide where I outline our course creation and marketing process. It seemed like this time around there were lots of technical challenges to think through related to video hosting, affiliate programs, payment processing, course up-sells, private Facebook group, landing page creation, multiple email service providers, automation series, etc. It was a lot.

Now that my whining is out of the way, I just want to say how incredible it feels to launch and sell a product. I don’t think it will ever get old! Abby and I are so grateful to be able spend our time creating things that are helpful and useful to others. It’s even better when the product is well received and we start hearing success stories from our customers.

June 2015 Income Report | JustAGirlandHerBlog.com

May 2015 Income Report | JustAGirlAndHerBlog.com

I have to say a big huge THANK YOU to the Building a Framework affiliates and Facebook group for their tremendous help with this launch! All of your hard work, helpful feedback, and continual encouragement and support really meant so much and were a big part of why this relaunch was a success. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again– blogging is best done in community!!

And speaking of the Facebook group, it was one of the more recent additions to the collection of Framework resources, and I have to say that is most definitely one of my favorites. Everyone is so helpful with contributing feedback and cheering each other on. Mastermind groups have formed from it. Blog collaborations are happening all the time between the members. Everyone is always pitching in to share their knowledge about technical issues, social media, newsletter setup– everything! If you have purchased the Advanced or Master package of Building a Framework but haven’t joined the group yet, c’mon over! We’d love to have you! And if you want to get in on the fun, snag your copy of the Advanced or Master package of Framework to get in on the action!

June 2015 Income Report | JustAGirlandHerBlog.com

Three Legs of Blog Income

  1. Affiliate Income – $6,251
  2. Ad Revenue – $1,115
  3. Product Sales –$18,675

Top Posts of June 2015

  1. How to Make Pretty Labels in Microsoft Word + FREE Printable
  2. 10 Simple Habits that Will Help You Stay Organized
  3. Our Secret Weapon for Saving Money: The 2015 Budget Binder
  4. Our Home Binder: A Tour {with FREE printables!}
  5. How I Organized My Whole Life

Traffic Report

donnie

No exact traffic numbers to report this month. I made a mistake while I was fiddling with the Google Analytics tracking code one day, so the numbers were a bit skewed! All that to say that there were no major changes in traffic, either up or down, this month. You can look at some of our past income reports to see our historical traffic numbers.

Email Subscriber Statistics

  • 2,376 New Subscribers
  • 26,659 Total Subscribers

During the lead up to the launch of Building a Framework I started transitioning email services from MailChimp over to ConvertKit. Why? Advanced automation and form building capabilities. The pricing is similar to MailChimp but with ConvertKit it is so easy to create multiple targeted post-level forms on your blog and customize the look with CSS.

June 2015 Income Report | JustAGirlandHerBlog.com

{ConvertKit form on Abby’s site}

But for launching a product or eBook, the most important features are the email course building and automation rules. ConvertKit made this simple to set up. It just has functionality that MailChimp does not. This makes sense too, as ConvertKit was created by Nathan Barry, a developer and designer who also creates and sells products on his blog with email marketing.

Here are a few peeks into Abby’s ConvertKit account…

June 2015 Income Report | JustAGirlandHerBlog.com

June 2015 Income Report | JustAGirlandHerBlog.com

Some of this may look confusing, but if you have a creative email marketing mind, you can do almost anything with ConvertKit without pulling out your hair and trying to make it work with MailChimp. Don’t get me wrong, MailChimp is a great email service and we happily used them for years, but for product launches and advanced email marketing it doesn’t get any easier and intuitive than ConvertKit. Honestly, as a new blogger, after buying hosting, Genesis Framework, and a child theme, a ConvertKit account is the best money you can spend.

If Abby will have me I’ll write an extensive post outlining ConvertKit features/advantages and how we use them. Since that type of post won’t appeal to everyone, likely we’ll bury the page on this blog but I’ll make sure to email all of the Framework purchasers once I’m done.

RPM

RPM is a metric to track revenue per thousand pageviews. This is a measure of the overall effectiveness of a blog and is a handy benchmark for comparing blogs even if they have vastly different traffic numbers. I first learned about this metric from Bjork of Pinch of Yum.

As I mentioned above, my Google Analytics pageview tracking was messed up in June (may fault) so I’ll base my “RPM” number on JetPack stats.

June 2015 RPM: $75.48

So to recap…

Gross Income: $26,041
Net Income: $21,841

Click here to see a running tally of all past income reports.


May 2015 Income Report | JustAGirlAndHerBlog.com

I have to admit, when Donnie told me the numbers for June, my jaw almost hit the floor. Never in a million years did I think we’d be full-time bloggers, but I could not have dreamt up a more fun and exciting “job” that Donnie and I get to do together– pinch me! I know blogging isn’t for everybody, but I also know that there are so many people out there who have been considering starting a blog but just don’t know where to start. I would love to invite you to sign up for our 7 Days to Start a Blog challenge, which will walk you through those first crucial steps of getting your blog up and running. Don’t worry if you don’t have any background in blogging yet– I knew nothing when I started! Just take that first baby step. Then the second one and the third. And before you know it, you’ll be blogging! {I have to warn you, though: it’s addicting! 😉 }

Thank you, thank you, thank you for your support of Just a Girl and Her Blog. Your sweet comments and words of encouragement mean more than you know! Have a wonderful week!

You can see our other income reports here:

28 Comments

  1. Lutetia Flaviae says:

    Congratulations!! That’s so inspiring!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Thank you so much, Lutetia! <3

      ~Abby =)

  2. Kara Benz says:

    Congrats on an amazing month, you two!

    It is so inspiring to see your progress every month and gives me hope that with all the hard work I’m putting in, my monthly income reports will someday have pretty pretty numbers like yours!

    Thank you SO much for all you do! 🙂

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Thank you so much, Kara! Keep hustling– you can do it!!

      ~Abby =)

  3. Christina @ Embracing Simple says:

    Congratulations on an amazing June! It’s truly an inspiration to see the progress you’ve made in such a short period of time 🙂 Thank you for sharing your journey with us!!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Thank you so much, Christina! That really means a lot! Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

      ~Abby =)

  4. Emily, Our house now a home says:

    Congratulations in the successfull re-launch! I have to say that this income total shocked me. This is beyond a full income you have made. I am pretty surey first job did not make that much all year. You are amazing, and give me such a insight to what me and my blog could become. Thank you! Have fun at Haven. I wish I was going. Next year I going for sure.

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Thank you so much, Emily! It kind of shocked me too, lol. And yes, I would LOVE to meet you at Haven next year!! Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

      ~Abby =)

  5. WOW!! Congratulations!! You two rock!!! What an awesome way to make a living together – very encouraging!!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Thank you so much, Sarah! That really means so much! Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

      ~Abby =)

  6. Congratulations on such an amazing month – you guys are totally inspiring!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Thank you so much, Nicola! Have a wonderful weekend!

      ~Abby =)

  7. Georgia @ Silver Spiral Studio says:

    Congratulations on your success!! Thanks for continuing to share these.

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Thank you so much, Georgia! Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

      ~Abby =)

  8. Rosa @ Cat Lady Confidential says:

    Congratulations! These income reports are so inspiring and so informative also.

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Thank you so much, Rosa!! Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

      ~Abby =)

  9. Beth Anne says:

    WOOHOO!!!!! I’m fist-pumping and cheering over here! Seriously you two!! Way to go! And Donnie, pretty please do a full post/tutorial on ConvertKit. I’m intrigued. We’ve got some more auto-responder series coming up so I’d love to see how it all works.

    One quick question: Do you have to know CSS to be able to change the style on ConvertKit’s forms or do they have some sort of easy form builder you can use?

    Also, I love your RPM metric. That is a great way to measure revenue. I think Sarah and I need to start doing that. I get impatient sometimes, but when I think about our RPM, I think we’re doing great. We just need to up those visitors, pageviews, and podcast downloads 🙂

    1. Thanks Beth Anne!

      ConvertKit has a standard form that can be embedded anywhere in WordPress with a single line of JavaScript. Besides changing colors, text, and opt-in incentive image, you have to use CSS to make other changes. All of the forms we’ve used so far have been made with their builder and no custom CSS. I’m planning on matching the form to Abby’s blog with CSS but I think it will be super easy. It’s done right in the ConvertKit APp.

  10. Congrats! You two seem to be doing it all the right way! I’m inspired to keep plugging and make an income just like you. Keep up the great work!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Thank you so much, Jen! That really means a lot! Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

      ~Abby =)

  11. Nisha Kotecha says:

    Congrats on an awesome blog! The income and traffic reports are so inspiring. Abby, would it be possible to briefly say how you first started getting traffic to your blog and what main advice you would give to people looking to grow their traffic? Thanks, Nisha

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Hi, Nisha! I tell my whole blogging story, including how I first built my traffic, in my eBook, Building a Framework. The short version is that I worked really hard to create content that would meet peoples’ needs, built relationships with other bloggers, built my social media by finding people to follow and interacting with them, and grew my email list by offering an optin that my readers would love. So the really big things for growing traffic would be quality content, relationships with other bloggers, and growing your email list. I know this sounds overly simplified, but it literally took a book to truly explain it all in detail! 🙂 Have a wonderful weekend!

      ~Abby =)

  12. Alexander says:

    Holy Cow! That is a huge jump from last month. I love your income reports and it is very inspiring. I’ve added you to The Ultimate List of Blogger Income Reports and you just went up to #4 on the list because of your huge June month.

    Congrats!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Thank you so much for including us, Alexander! It’s such an honor to be on such an incredible list of bloggers! Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

      ~Abby =)

  13. WOW! What an amazing month for you. I love how you analyzed why the launch was so crazy, and I totally understand #1 about the higher expectations. I’ve been feeling super stressed about my next launch in September, but I couldn’t figure out why because everything is going relatively well and I’m not really behind. I finally realized it’s because I feel a lot more pressure since my husband has joined me and our business is our primary source of income and because I’ve invested way more (time and money) into this product than anything I have before.

    Also, I’m growing to hate video! The video component has had me in literal tears on more than one occasion. I even thought about dropping it, but I’m committed to make it happen, because that part important to me, and will hopefully help my product stand out from the crowd.

    I have Madmimi and Mailchimp going now as I’m switching over to Mailchimp and it’s definitely more work. I would love to see a detailed post about convertkit, although I don’t see myself going through a switch again anytime soon.

  14. Yoh guys… Every time I read an income report I’m just SO proud!! Donnie, please please write a ConvertKit post?!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Aww, thank you, friend! And yes, I’ll get on his case about that ConvertKit post! 😉

      ~Abby =)

  15. Stephanie @ Mommyzoid says:

    Your income reports are always sooo inspiring! Love to see how much you two have grown in such a short time span. Love it! You go, girl 😀

    Stephanie @ Mommyzoid

Comments are closed.