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2016 Blog Income Report

It’s been a while since I’ve posted a blog income report, but 2016 was a good year, so I figured I’d let you know how I did.

Alright so the last blog income report I posted was several months back where I shared my income for April- June of 2016. And then it looks like I took a six month break from these reports because there really aren’t enough hours in the day, ya know?!

But since I started prepping for tax season this past week, I finally got my shit together and took a look at this year’s numbers.

$15,476 – that’s what I made this year off of my blog. Crazy, right?

No I didn’t make six figures, but you know what?! I made $5,327 more than I did last year, and I’m really proud of  that.

For those of you who don’t know already, blogging isn’t my full time job. It’s totally a side-hustle right now. During the day I work at BlackDog doing creative stuff that I love, and on my off hours, I blog.

So an extra $15,000 this year from side hustling my ass off? I’ll take it!

Here’s the INCOME breakdown:

  • Affiliate Marketing: $878.24
  • Ad Revenue: $442.81
  • Sponsored Work: $14,155

TOTAL: $15,476.05

As you can see, the majority of my income is based off of sponsored campaigns and working brands on sponsored content. And as much as I love working with brands, I’m hoping to switch gears a little bit this year and find ways to generate a bit more passive income. I’ll be bumping up my focus on affiliate marketing and creating products of my own.

EXPENSES:

As far as expenses go, I still need to do a little more work to nail down the final number. But really guys, I don’t have a lot of expenses. Maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe that’s a bad thing. But I try to keep my overhead as small as possible.

I do pay for Tailwind though, because Pinterest is my thing and it’s really helped me grow my blog readership. I also bought a new desk from Target recently to set up my home office. Let’s see…what else?

I’ve been doing a lot of reading this year and these blogging books have been super helpful. And this past week, I splurged on a new Yeti microphone and light system because I’ve got some new projects coming up this year and I wanted to have the best quality equipment possible.

Other than that, expenses were kept pretty low. But I have a feeling that this year will be a little different and that in order to take my blog to the next level I’ll be  investing  in myself and the blog a bit more.

Pageviews:

A blogger’s page views is like a super secret thing, right? Well, here it is. I’m getting naked for you.

Full transparency – this year I averaged about 29,000 page views per month.

Why do I feel the need to tell you guys this? Because it’s important. Because most people think they need 100,000 page views a month in order to make money blogging and it’s just not true.

Does it take a lot of work? Hell to the yes. Would it be so much easier if I had 50 or 75 or 100,000 page views? Abso-freaking-lutely.

But considering that back in 2015 I was reporting about 3,000 page views a month, dude…I think I’m on the right track.

What’s next:

OMG this is where I get excited. Because 2017 is going to be freaking awesome. I’m also working on a new e-course about careers & finding your dream job and I can’t wait to tell you guys all about it! So if you want to be kept in the loop, SUBSCRIBE to my e-mail list and you’ll be the first to know as soon as it’s ready.

I also want to push myself this year and start a podcast. Yep, I said it. A podcast. So if you’ve got a cool story you want to share and would be interested in being interviewed as a guest on a future episode, e-mail me like, RIGHT NOW and let me know.

I’m also going to be working on increasing my social media following. Whether you’ve been blogging for a minute or 10 years, your social media following is super important. So if you want to help me with that (and I’ll love you forever if you do), connect with me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and/or Snapchat ?: @kcruz012!

Now tell me…how’d you do this year with your blog? Make any money? What was your biggest achievement? Increased page views? Increased social following? Let’s celebrate your wins here together! 

Know anyone who could use SOME career advice?

ORDER MY NEW BOOK!

Want the first 10 pages sent straight to your inbox? SUBSCRIBE HERE

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Books on blogging to help you take your blog to the next level:

Books to help you deal with your twenties:

Other stuff you might like:

*Affiliate links are included in this post.

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  3. Thanks so much for sharing! Loved hearing about Tailwind as I’m looking to increase my page views & think Pinterest is a great tool.

    Reply

  5. Wow, so impressive! Well done on earning such good money on the side! Do you have a post somewhere telling us how you managed to this? I personally got my first paid jobs this year, only made € 1800 from it but other than that I mostly spent my money on ads..

    Reply

  6. That’s great news and congratulations! I’m always so encouraged when I hear these income reports… and thanks for the reminder that I need to sit down and figure out my taxes!

    Reply

  9. I’m really glad that you DID share your pageviews! I am a VERY small blogger (much smaller than you), but it’s encouraging to know that I don’t have to have 100k views per month to make a good income. Shoot! I would gladly take half of what you make per month. haha. Thank you for the inspiration!

    Reply

  12. That is relly Impressive! I need to get my traffic up to 3000 per month! I only started back in May of 2016.

    Reply

  13. Thanks for being so honest + transparent, Kayla! Love getting a behind-the-scenes look into other blogger’s process and/or income reports. Very helpful for smaller bloggers to see exactly how things work…and how much time some things take. 🙂

    I guess my biggest achievement with my blog was to take it into another direction and start a new one, blogging about topics that I’m actually passionate about. I haven’t made money yet, but that’s definitely on my radar this year (as well as increasing page views and social media followers).

    Another achievement is that my new blog has been very well received on social media, so that’s really encouraging and only motivates me even more to produce high-quality content for my audience. 🙂

    http://www.tendrilwild.com/create-the-ultimate-girlsquad/

    Reply

  15. Love this breakdown and so appreciate your transparency.

    I’ve seen a shift in how I make money thanks to blogging and instagram has become a bigger part of my income whereas I used to focus on sponsored posts. I imagine this is because companies that are just dipping their feet into influencer marketing “get” social media a bit more.

    The other big shift for me that has allowed me to make more money is simply ASKING. I used to be so scared that if I asked for money and didn’t just take something for free I’d lose out on every opportunity. We alllllll gotta know our worth!

    And hugeeee congrats on upping your pagesviews like that!

    Kayla
    http://www.kaylainthecity.com

    Reply

  17. Ok, that is awesome! I would love to know your secrets concerning sponsored work, and pitching to companies (if you do). And girl, your page views are incredible. So much growth in what, less than 2 years?

    Reply

  22. This is so inspiring. I myself just started a blog, cheapchicgeek.com, that focuses on financial freedom but still live life Chic and fabulous! My recent blog post describes how millennials are struggling (on the struggle boat is how I actually describe it) to save for our financial future. This gives me hope that I too can earn income doing what I love and also to aid me in becoming debt free. Keep doing what you do girl. Here is the link to my latest post. I hope many other people can relate to these struggles too!! http://bit.ly/2k4xX4W

    Reply

  25. Wow that’s amazing. Well done Kayla! My career blog (www.iamicareer.com) is almost a year this May. Hope to be making some money out of it soon as well – Thanks for sharing!

    Reply

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