Why did I start publishing my monthly income reports?
Blogging is never about talking the talk.
That’s what politics are for.
It is my goal for these reports to show that walking the walk and actually bringing in income from our online ventures is possible and within reach for all of us, whatever the niche.
As you’ll see, traffic and perceived popularity doesn’t always automatically translate into cash.
I’ll show you my traffic stats, let you know what I’ve done in the previous month to improve them, what worked and didn’t work, and how much went into my bank account in terms of earnings as well as left it in terms of expenses.
Personal Recap
Let me start by saying this: I was absolutely overwhelmed by all the support I got from you in the past couple of months!
Genuine interest.
Emails, prayers – YOU have provided me with the kind of emotional safety net I never knew I had.
THANK YOU.
Month of January was very challenging in many ways:
- 2 weeks of flu for me and my daughter,
- constant job searches and interviews for my husband,
- our house is currently for sale, so we have to keep it neat and clean and get out at any given moment for showings,
- having very little “quite time” to work on the business.
However, having faith that everything will work out at the end, we are moving into February hopeful and refreshed, with a possible job offer and 2 offers on the house.
Business Recap
Despite of all personal challenges, January was still a pretty good month business-wise.
- Posts were still getting published and read.
- You still showed me you were alive and kicking by leaving me great comments on those posts.
- Traffic Generation Cafe still got a lot of love in social media – thank you for taking your time to share my posts!
- Many bloggers added my feed to their respective Twitter RSS feeders, so my new blog posts are getting retweeted automatically when I publish new content.
If you haven’t thought of doing that yet, but would like to, here’s my feed for you to add to your Hootsuite, Marketmesuite, Twitterfeed, or whatever else you are using:
That way your followers will get great fresh content delivered by you, and I’ll get some social media love!
Also, January was a busy month of tweaking my design to serve you better.
“Making more with less” has become my new motto.
Quite a few things have changed, thanks to my awesome designer, Ian Belanger from IMGraphicDesigns.com (whether your project is big or small, make sure to give him a shout when you need help with it) and Derek Halpern from SocialTriggers.com stepping in and giving me tons of actionable advice on how to increase my website conversion rates and my bottom line.
January Traffic at a Glance
Let’s take a look at my January Google Analytics traffic snapshot and compare it to December traffic:
Looks like, while the quantity of traffic went up, the quality went down.
Not good…
Let’s see what sources brought me most of the traffic that doesn’t like to stick around:
WOW.
For some reason, my direct traffic (for the most part, these are people who type the URL directly into their browser address bar, i.e. they already know my site) went through the roof, while my search engine and referral traffic are way down.
I sort of don’t know where to go with this, quite honestly.
Especially, considering that 80% of the direct traffic are new visits.
Ideas? Let me know in comments.
And by the way, my highest January traffic day was January 3 (over 1,700 visits) – the day I published my December income report.
Thumbs Up to These Blogs
I really appreciate everyone who mentioned me in any shape or form last month.
These five blogs were my top blogging referral traffic sources.
1. Kikolani.com – Kristi Hines doesn’t need introduction. If you’d been a blogger for even five minutes, you would’ve seen her posts all over the web.
She’s always been very generous with her mentions of Traffic Generation Cafe on her blog and ended up being my top traffic source from blogs in January.
2. Nick’s Traffic Tricks – what’s the point of driving traffic to your competitor’s site, you may ask?
Give and you shall receive – one way or another.
Thank you, Nick!
3. Kim Roach’s BuzzBlogger – Kim does know how to create buzz, I’ll tell you that much!
She mentioned my blog once (as far as I know) months ago, and the traffic from that post keeps dripping in.
Better get on her good side!
4. SteveScottSite.com – Steve and I have know each other for a long time; just about since I started Traffic Generation Cafe.
It’s good to know he still likes me and even sends traffic my way.
I am trying to recruit him to write occasionally for Traffic Generation Cafe; I think you’d love the kind of in-depth to-the-point posts he writes.
No way out now, Steve!
5. BasicBlogTips.com - Ms. Ileane Smith always brings a smile to my face; she just has that kind of personality.
Definitely a great way to set yourself apart from the sea of other bloggers, don’t you think?
Much appreciated, Ileane!
What are my plans to increase my traffic in February?
More SEO Traffic
Just like I did in December, I think I need to be continue working on my SEO traffic, especially to the posts that review internet marketing tools I use and love.
However, as I was searching for such reviews, I realized that in 19 months of Traffic Generation Cafe existence, I reviewed only 8 paid products!
For someone who draws most of my income from affiliate marketing that’s abysmal.
I suppose there’s always that fear of turning away some readers by doing too many reviews – I am sure you are familiar with the feeling.
On the other hand, if you are looking into purchasing a product that you believe might help your business, wouldn’t you rather get an opinion from a blogger you trust?
I know I would.
So, I need to find more great products that will help us to run our businesses more efficiently and increase our bottom lines.
If you have any suggestions of such products to consider, let me know in the comments.
Oh yes, back to SEO traffic… lol
So far, in the month of January, I was able to improve my rankings for most of my reviews, including my internet marketing tools page.
Most of them are on the first page now for their respective keywords, but I still have a lot of work to do.
In case you are wondering, here are some things I do to improve my rankings:
1. On-page Factors
First, I always make sure that the post I want to rank mentions my target keywords in the SEO title, meta description, heading tags especially H1 (which should be your post title) and H2/H3.
If you have no idea how to do any of this, make sure you get hold of my free SEO report.
If you already have it, READ it.
2. Build more links
Much of SEO rankings come down to how many and what quality links you have pointing to the post you want to rank.
I am a busy gal, so I heavily rely on the following 2 tools to help me with rankings:
It’s been a great tool as far as helping me rank for my keywords – some of my posts rank just from CommentLuv Premium links.
There’s a trick to it though and you can find out more about my CommentLuv link building strategy in this post:
How to Milk CommentLuv for All It’s Worth
- Article Samurai
I’ve been also using Article Samurai from the makers of Market Samurai to build in-content links with targeted anchor text.
In case you don’t know what it is, it’s a private blog network comprised of about 50,000 blogs that are ready to drip-feed your submitted articles to the network and let Google naturally discover those links – just the way Google likes it.
Unfortunately, Article Samurai is closed to new members, so here are your two alternatives:
1. Fiverr – there are several gigs on Fiverr that offer to submit your articles to Article Samurai network. I wouldn’t shy away from this option.
2. Build My Rank – this is another quality network I’d recommend for link building. Requires more work (you can submit only unique articles, no spun content), but is well worth it because of the link quality.
Moving on…
My January Bottom Line
Let’s get on with the best part.
By the way, as I write this post I have no idea how much I made, so I am in anticipation as much as you are.
Note: these are all paid earnings, meaning I might’ve actually made those sales in the previous month, but got paid for them in January.
January Income
Here are my income sources for January:
1. Affiliate marketing
- Market Samurai – $447.36
- TweetAdder – $302.50
- Income Blogging Guide – $207.71
- Ryan Deiss’s Digital Marketer’s Lab – $202.70
- CommentLuv – $82.00
- Aweber – $32.40
- Kristi Johnson: Blog Post Promotion – $30
- Thirsty Affiliates – $29.50
- WPSubscribers Plugin – $21.12
- Media Pass – $6.47
- TransformX Consortium (misc products) – $5.53
********
Subtotal: $1367.29
Considering that most of my affiliate earnings last month came from huge promotions of CommentLuv Premium, this amount is not bad.
2. Consulting
- $650
I used to be much more active with offering consulting through my blog, but have recently decided to cut down on it to focus on more passive income streams.
I still pick up an occasional client or two, but don’t actively seek them out.
3. Paid Advertisement
- Banner Ads – $575
4. Misc
FamousBloggers blogging contest (don’t ask me why I didn’t win it – it’s a sore point):
- $100
*****
TOTAL: $2692.29
Difference from December:
-$1091.62
Again, the big difference comes from the absence of CommentLuv Premium income.
Still pays the mortgage….
January Expenses
After I published last month’s report, many of you asked “What about your expenses?”
Fair question.
Here’s a list of my expenses:
- SEMRush.com (my favorite SEO tool) – $49.95
- Aweber -$49
- Pippity (a pop-up that sounded great, but caused a lot of mess – will ask for a refund) – $37
- Fiverr.com (outsource tedious tasks I don’t have time for) – $35
- Blogengage.com (RSS subscription service – testing to see if it brings any traffic) – $29.95
- GoDaddy (new domain registration) – $23.65
- Hostgator (hosting) – $9.95
FINAL JANUARY INCOME: $2457.29
How Much Do I Work?
Another good question that came up last month.
Since last November, my husband and daughter have been hanging around the house a lot more than they normally would.
That translated into hectic work schedule for me – or no schedule at all, I should say.
I’d be lucky to get 3-4 hours per day in.
With that little time, I have to prioritize and here is my priority list:
- Write content for TGC.
- Tweak the blog to maximize conversions.
- Work on traffic (social media, SEO, blog comments).
- Respond to emails and comments.
Marketing Takeaway
There’s no such thing as free bacon.
Making money blogging is entirely possible, as I was surprised to learn from my own experience.
Just takes time, determination, and a lot of work.
Photo by Samat Nurmatov
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{ 161 comments… read them below or add one }
Ana – you never cease to amaze me. The level of transparency is unprecedented in showing how much you made and where it came from and the amount of time spent. Very impressive.
Charles Ogwyn invites you to read: What can Internet marketing do for you?
Nothing is worth doing half way, right, Charles? lol
Ana,
As a new blogger your report gives me hope that I one day can too generate some income from my blog. Thanks for being transparent with your audience. It’s extremely inspiring.
Jonathan
You are very welcome, Jonathan.
Just got back from your blog. When you said “new” you meant new! lol
Hey Ana, hope the move goes well for you guys!? Anyway, looks like you had a good month, and that’s a good thing considering the current economic conditions.
Thanks, Harry – we are getting ready to move around March 15.
well this income is the Success of your effort, I used to visit your blog everyday to find some new strategies and I have tried out your “tumblr link building” method really it works, keep rocking.. love to earn like you and this blog trafficgenerationcafe.com helps me to work for that..
Happy to be of help, Caroline.
Great numbers Ana … Your post always inspire me. This time I got inspired to go for a deep search at fiverr to find some gigs who can submit my articles to article samurai
Have fun with it, Salman!
Great! I admit that adsense doesn’t work well with every sub niche of internet marketing niche, but it wouldn’t hurt to give a try for a month or so to see what happens.Anyway, thanks for sharing.
It always comes down to testing, doesn’t it?
Good on you Ana! By providing value and building up credibility and trust on this blog, you have earn yourself nice affiliate income! I’m currently focusing on building up a few more niche sites to add into my portfolio for affiliate marketing. 1-2 sites per month will be on track
Ming invites you to read: ArticleRanks Review
I wish I had the time to build some niche sites, Ming; that could be a great income stream!
Oh THANKS Anna! JUST what I needed! ANOTHER awesome blog to follow and learn from.
Sheesh. We have things to do you know. How are we supposed to get anything done when you’re always giving us new and amazing resources? ; )
Seriously, this was a great post. And (shame on me) I’d never been to BuzzBlogger. First thing I find? A post on hitting 1,000+ visitors a day. Since my husband will be out of work soon and is supposed to be driving traffic, that will be an awesome post to direct him to. : )
Thanks for everything you do for us readers, including sharing your success with us so we have something to think about on those days when nothing seems to be going right.
– Lindsey
Lindsey Rainwater invites you to read: Dedication is All You Really Need
LOL, Lindsey – you are very welcome.
Traffic is out there, we just need to figure out how to get it to OUR sites.
Ana,
I love your site. I usually come check it out 2-3 times a week. But out of all your posts your income reports are my favorite. Not because it shows that you can make money. But because as bloggers we tend to strive for perfection, and don’t always give us the credit that we deserve. I take comfort looking at your bounce rate, and time on page and realize that I might not be getting the traffic that I want, my numbers aren’t far off from someone with blog, that is of the quality as yours. So thanks for transparency that is tough to find online.
You are so very welcome, Derek, and that was my hope exactly when I started publishing these reports.
Ana, you have very solid Affiliate income that I admire and try to build up. I think your blog traffic and branding is the key.
Meanwhile, I have been learning a lot from you and hope I could build up my blog traffic.
Most of my income is coming from Amazon Affiliate and Google Adsense. I’m trying to build a few more on monthly basis.
Thanks for all the great tips!
Kent invites you to read: MMO Monthly Report January 2012
Thank you, Kent.
I’ve never tried either AdSense or Amazon; I don’t think they work very well for IM niche.
Ana,
First of all, great idea on publishing these earning reports. Lots of great stuff to learn from you.
Second, regarding ad sense, I would give it a try. Since I started using adsense, I have added around $2000 extra a month to my income and that is a big difference.
Now, I admit that adsense doesn’t work well with every sub niche of internet marketing niche, but it wouldn’t hurt to give a try for A month or so to see what happens.
Either way, great work and I truly wish you continued success. you have been a great help to many of us.
satrap invites you to read: 60 Ways to Make Money Without a Job
Do you make most of your AdSense income with your main blog, Satrap, or niche sites?
$2000 is certainly nothing to sneeze at.
Hi Ana great read, it’s interesting to see how other people work. Surely you must spend more than 3 or 4 hours a day just replying to all of these comments!
With the blog networks there are quite a few of these. I published a review of 4 of them here http://awebsitedesigner.com.au/generating-traffic/using-blog-networks-for-seo/ one being BMR. I’d also add to that list LinkVana which is more expensive but also had some cool features like it provides a simple screen where you can belt out comments on random blogs on their network all from the one screen, you can get quite a few links this way much quicker than writing individual articles and less content duplication.
I’d also add http://www.linkauthority.com/ which has just been released by the same people who run Article Ranks which like AR is free if you submit a blog to their network (not your main one, secondary ones you don’t actively use for blogging).
Anyway thanks again for the detailed info and stay in touch.
Dan invites you to read: How we built a website for a top 3 iPhone developer
Thanks for the additional resources, Dan – always great to know what works for other bloggers.
Great post as always Ana:)
It’s interesting as I too am not writing enough reviews, I think I have about 3 or 4 which is crazy when you think how we make our income online.
Keep up the awesome work, I love your transparency and how you write:)
I am trying to break the trend!
(But still haven’t written one stinking review. lol)
Ah – that makes sense. Thanks Ana.
Danielle McGaw invites you to read: Freelance Writers – Are You Using Google+ Yet?
Ana, I love your style of writing. So relaxed, honest and upfront. You sound like a lovely person to know.
Wishing your family the best.
And not to bring up a sore point, but why didn’t you win that Famous Bloggers contest?
Thank you, Elisabeth – your compliment is much appreciated.
I didn’t win that contest because I refused to play “who can write the most posts about our sponsors and forget about the quality of your post or how much traffic/comments you drove to it” game.
Hi Ana,
This is amazing information. It is really eye opening to see what works for you and why. Thank you so much for sharing!
I definitely need to get more serious about affiliate marketing!
Stacy
Stacy invites you to read: Interview with Brankica Underwood from Blog Like a Star
You are very welcome, Stacy!
Thanks for sharing all this great info Ana. I find it fascinating to read these reports.
I don’t know if I just missed it but how come the drop from CommentLuv earnings? This is what happens when I delete my emails so fast. And it is likely something important!
Because CL was all the rage in the fall with all kinds of incentives and bonuses and active promotions.
That’s done with now and most people who want to have it have it. Now I get an occasional sale here and there.
Wow!! This is really huge. How I wish I could have those numbers one day
Herbert invites you to read: Pin Something Interesting with Pinterest
Any why not?
I guess its not my time yet
good stuff Anna – congratulations on getting better and a steady income. refreshing to see the dollars coming from passive activity
i am glad that you also disclosed expenses and time/effort. many would simply say hey i made $25,000 this month! but net income is what really matters. at the same time, one also wants to put things in perspective by understanding how much effort goes into generating that kind of income.
again, congratulations. good stuff
Thanks so very much, Sunil.
I have a feeling that your income is way ahead of me. lol
Ana . . . Do more product reviews – with your affiliate links. I’m sure most of us who read your blog trust you explicitly and would love to see what you think about all the new programs that come online. New and old ones.
So write away and make more money.
lol, John – will do.
Great breakdown of monthly income and traffic. It’s weird; you and I experienced almost the same exact numbers in traffic growth and current total visitors. But you’re kicking my butt in time on page and bounce rate. {This is being detailed in tomorrow’s post.}
Anyway…thanks for the mention. Glad to have sent some traffic your way. I’ll DEFINITELY write a regular traffic post. Just want to finish my own blog redesign and new lead magnet first.
Well; good luck with everything that’s going on with you and your family. Talk soon…
Steve invites you to read: The Most Important Post You Will EVER Read
GIRLS RULE!
Hi Ana,
I see your taking a trick out of Pat Flynn’s book. Great idea. I love reading these type of posts. I don’t think it is a coincidence that your highest traffic day was when you posted your December income report.
You mentioned one of your focuses is improving conversions. I am assuming to help you do this you use some sort of heat map tool. If not, or you are not familiar with heat maps, check out this link. It explains how to use heat maps and includes a link to a free heat map tool.
http://www.profitworks.ca/blog/304-increase-business-sales-by-using-a-free-website-heat-map-tool
Chris R. Keller from Profitworks invites you to read: Effective Email Templates – Does Putting Images On The Left Or Right Side Improve Results
Thanks for the link, Chris; will check it out!
Ana,
Once again I enjoyed your income report. I think the first time I ever visited your blog was on your last income report!
Anywase, you gave me a lot to think about and implement in this last month, so I just wanted to say I appreciate it! Your blog has done wonders for me and I’m glad to recommend it to anyone I talk to. Wishing you the best for February!
I so appreciate your encouragement, Bellaisa!
Hi Ana,
Always go to see how others are really doing and also inspiring to see your results. I am registered on a fair old amount of blogs but this is one of the only ones I ever comment on.
Again thanks for sharing, now it’s time to crack on over at my site and continue to grow our business.
Thanks for taking your time to let me know, Wayne – I truly appreciate it.
Anna
your income report is looking excellent, keep working hard and keep doing the great work
Kenny Fabre invites you to read: Blog Commenting Technique Be the First one to Comment on the most Popular Blogs in your Niche Market by using these tools for Massive Website Traffic
Thank you, Kenny.
Wow Ana, that is a good revenue stream you have built. Good to see the growth. I recently published my income report and had some good responses.
Eddie Gear invites you to read: Free Tools To Help You Become A Successful EBook Author
It feels good to be accountable, Eddie – to yourself and others.
Hi Anna,
I haven’t posted in a while, but I wanted to say your new site design is awesome! I love it! As for your traffic spiking on January 3rd – it would be interesting to see if you can start seeing seasonal patterns in the blog traffic now that you are already into your second year. After the holidays, everyone is excited on refocusing their projects, etc.
Your comments on product reviews are awesome! I don’t think you could ever have enough “Top 10 products I use” on your blog.
I also wanted to wish you good luck with your new move – I feel this move will open many new opportunities for you somehow! Sounds exciting!
Thanks so much, Dave – I love the new look as well.
More focused efforts – that’s my new resolution for this blog.
Thanks for sharing your income reports Ana – they are good inspiration for budding blog builders and – I have a similar direct traffic stat – odd because I’m unsure of how the users are getting the url but I’m not complaining!
Traffic is traffic – wherever it comes from!
Hey Ana! Congrats for your evolution! It’s interesting how the lowest traffic days from past was the highest traffic days from the recent month. Did you plan it or it just happened?
That’s one thing I learned about traffic, Jack – it doesn’t matter when you publish posts or do your promotions, readers will come when it’s convenient for them. lol
That is interesting Ana, any idea why is happening? Seems a bit weird:)
Hi Ana,
Thanks for sharing all your’s blog’s stats (you cannot find many bloggers who actually share all these valuable information with their readers).
It’s really impressive that around 50% of your traffic is direct traffic (and I though mine 25% was too much) a reason for that (since 80% are new visitors) might be that other people are sharing your articles thru email or thru their email lists (I know I have done that
) since they are of great value.
I am sure that trafficgenerationcafe.com will continue growing every day so keep posting…
Kostas invites you to read: Start Up Businesses: How To Plan Your SEO Strategy
Well, thank you for sharing my blog, Kostas – always MUCH appreciated.
I have a feeling there was something wrong with GA; these numbers are just way out of whack to explain.
Ana,
It’s very brave of you to publish your income and in such detail but I’m sure it will help and inspire many to persevere and accomplish great things. This post must have answered the question that many people are always trying to find out about blogging – the income that might be earned from it.
I’m sure with all the work you’re investing in this that there’ll be another zero on the end of those figures before too long!
That would be great, Ewan – thanks for coming by!
Hi Anna,
Thanks again for some great info, and insights on it.
It’s great to see how much money can be made with certain amounts of traffic, and exactly how you’re doing it, but I’m always curious about how much of an advantage the ‘making money online’ niche has over others. I wonder if you know of any case studies similar to yours on blogs that don’t make money by telling people how to make money online.
Your big earners are Market Samurai and Tweed Adder, both big internet marketing tools. The IM niche has a vast choice of these types of affiliate programmes, presumably because people want to spend money on being told how to make money. I wonder if you would think about writing an article on how to find affiliate schemes in different niches, or just about how to figure out how to monitise a niche – for example in a hobby you just happen to have been writing about for years, but only now are thinking about monetizing the site.
I’d be really interested in your perspective on this.
Thanks again,
Colin
That’s something I’ve been pondering about, Colin – doing some research on niche monetization.
Many of my readers ask me similar questions; something to think about…
Excellent, I think it’d be really useful, and it’s something that’s a lot less common around the net, so you could find another niche for yourself!
Look forward to seeing what you come up with.
Cheers,
Colin
Well Ana probably the drop in traffic has been due to those Google updates and will surely raise again after a while. That’s bothering but this is how things go with G.
Sorry about the pippity thing, sometimes it happens, probably they haven’t tested it enough. I’m gld to have found Fiverr thanks to you, I haven’t used it yet but it’s surely a wonderful tool. And I’m happy to see that CrankyAds are going well too. I have a deep trust in it being a great way to earn for bloggers in bloggers’ interest.
Glad you’re going well with your blog, and happier that I always find sound information on it. One of the reasons why now I have ten times the traffic I had on 2011.
Thank you, Andrea!
In the end, as long as my traffic levels remained the same or better, I am happy.
I really need to get back to building my blog. I have been spending a lot of time on web design contracts, which I enjoy, but of course it creates zero residual/passive income. You’re an inspiration as always, Ana.
That was my problem exactly with consulting, Jonathan.
I made good money, but had to work for every penny of it, plus constantly looking for new clients.
A bold and brave move considering how much some Internet marketers overstate their earnings. I do hope you make tons more this month.
LOL, John – that would be sweeeeet!
Ana, you have earned that income because you researched the keywords and then went and built a blog that has high search ranking. Now you can place ads on your blog and increase your income. Thanks for sharing all the tips about what has worked and what needs improvement.
I have never posted my earnings before in a blog post but decided it was something to share because there are millions of people out of work or underemployed. What I like is waking up to commissions in my account. Residual income has kept me going for 5 years and making money while I sleep is the reward for writing blog posts in the past.
Danielle Parsons invites you to read: Detox Cash Earnings
And that’s a great feeling, Danielle – so glad you stuck around to actually reap the benefits! Too many online marketers quit way too quickly.
And thank you!
Ana! Appreciate your hard work and honest disclosures. I can’t imagine how you manage to keep your fingers crossed even at the time of shifting and allied domestic problems. Wish you more good luck at your new place.
Thank you, Sreekumar.
I suppose when we are put in a situation when we don’t have a choice but move forward…
Ana! Great to hear you are doing so well! Those Google stats are sometimes perplexing! Just BLOG ON!
Will do, Dave.
And thanks for so much recent (and past) link love!
Well, that beats me by a mile. In January, I made $12.15 on affiliate fees and $2.90 on ads, $15.05 total. Way to go, Ana!
I was there not too long ago, Astro!
That’s encouraging, Ana. Except you’re . . . you! You deserve so much more for all the help and encouragement you give your readers. We love you and, knowing your drive to experiment, I’m sure you will hit upon a formula to make a fortune from your devoted followers. Try Amazon. Everybody, even blogger nerds, buys stuff from them.
Nice improvement between your December income report and this January report. Love Kikolani too.
Obinna invites you to read: Win Free Facebook Ads Credits For Your Facebook Fanpage
Thanks, Obinna!
Always love when someone does this. It motivates me to continue on. Thanks for sharing!
It can be done, Val!
Bravo! Delighted to see you keeping this going. And looking forward to watching your numbers up and down as they grow and grow long-term.
Your blog is useful and humorous so I have no doubt that we’ll all be cheering you on as you roll toward a 100k year… sooner than you think:)
Congratulations and best wishes in your move. The few times I’ve been in San Francisco were all memorable — great city.
Enjoy!
blessings,
Cynthia
Cynthia Ann Leighton invites you to read: 25 Ways How to Use List Building in Making the Sale
And we’ll definitely need every penny of it in San Francisco, Cynthia. lol
Thank you so much!
Keep up the fantastic work, Ana. I pray that it all works out well for you, your business, your move and your family. I’ll say a special prayer for you tonight. I know how stressful moving is. I still feel pangs of the anxiety I went through during our last move. And this was about 18 months ago. Never, again. I say.
Anne invites you to read: How To Write An Article Online – 3
Every word is much appreciated, Anne.
I never thought we’d be moving again, but here we go again!
Good luck on the move Ana. You provide very valuable content so I sm not surprised those just getting to knowyou, will soon like and trust. I have always found you no fluff and direct to the point, with no fancy car and house crap. You are so down to earth and personable too , not surprising someone like Kim Roach would mention you. I’ll do a post soon on my whatsmyspin.com blog for you and add you to my link list
Rob Metras invites you to read: Content Must Deliver Value
Very kind of you, Rob, and thanks for sticking with me!
Here is the post .
http://www.whatsmyspin.com/internet-marketing-explained/search-engine-domination/
Rob Metras invites you to read: 7 Steps To Complete Search Engine Domination by Ana Hoffman
Thanks for the link, Rob, and thanks for adding me to your blogroll; I am honored!
Hi Anna,
This is the first time I’ve read your monthly income report and its fantastic that you share that.
I had a question regarding fiverr, what do you use it for with respect to TGC?
Wishing you even more success
Regards,
Sanjay Shetty
I use Fiverr mostly for some tedious link building tasks, Sanjay.
Hey Anna,
Nice way you show your fair source of income and compare with last month.But the way not bad keep it up hope this year give more boost to your blog income.
Not bad at all Ana…
I honestly believe you’re just getting started and not far away from the $20,000+/month pay days. I’ve noticed you’ve been improving the blog’s design and conversions this past month.
I’m officially jealous of your design and coming from me – that’s a good thing. I sort of hated your old design… shhhh.
Work on your search engine traffic if you want my advice. Write more reviews, think if you just did a full month of reviews and managed to review just 10 products – then ranked page 1 for all the product names…
I wouldn’t be surprised if you could get at least 5 more market samurai incomes. Cool stuff.
Well, thank you, Jamie – on all points.
It’s neat seeing how other people are generating their income, looks like I need to diversify. Thanks for posting it, hope next month picks up for you.
P.S. I’m sorry this is off topic but I’ve got to say… you look good in the header image… but that thank you for commenting pic drove me crazy. Love the tooth!
LOL, Peter – always great to meet someone with a good sense of humor.
Your income report is still great dream for me, even it has been decreased from the previous month. Congrats and hoping you will do better in the next month, Ana.
Trung Nguyen invites you to read: Why and How to Build a Blog Plan
Thanks you, Trung; hope you get there soon as well.
I’ll let you know next month, Alan.
Well, we can’t wait to heart your story.
Trung Nguyen invites you to read: 15 Best Ebooks Every Blogger Should Read
Hey Ana,
I have no problem with you doing more reviews. Especially if you are using a product or service and are giving your honest feedback and results. I think that helps us all out.
Was thinking maybe your direct traffic is from people who might have bookmarked your site on their browser. If they clear their browser history and cache regularly that could explain the new visits. Or maybe people are clicking a link from a document.
Either way the percentage of your direct traffic is still a lot. Considering most of your posts are so resourceful and helpful, I would think it would get you way more search traffic.
Thanks for sharing your report. I know you will have a kick-butt month in Feb.
Samuel invites you to read: Web Marketing Predictions For Your Small Business In 2012
I think I might do a couple of reviews in the near future, Samuel.
I think it was the rise of direct traffic that pushed my SE and referral traffic numbers down, not that I got less of that kind of traffic this year.
Wrong link provided: In January expenses “Aweber” link (you have provided link to ‘thesis-awesome’)
Surprised to see TGC’s monthly income decreasing than last month. Thanks for providing your expenses, working hours Ana.
God bless you for always being here to cheer and to guide
Rahul kuntala invites you to read: 31 Days to Build A Better Blog: Is It Worth Your Money?
Thanks for letting me know, Rahul!
No surprise: last month I heavily promoted CommentLuv Premium, so that income is gone this month.
For many years all you ever used to see in affiliate marketing were screenshots from click bank accounts, etc. Building belief in your readers is a big deal. Everyone wants to make money online, it isn’t until they believe it is possible that it will happen.
Kudos Ana! Onward and Upward in February,
Ron
P.S. All the best on selling your home!
Trust and transparency is everything, Ron – I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Thanks for coming by!
Absolutely fantastic post, Ana.
Nice to see a run down of a site showing all the relevant details.
The fact that you included your expenses and hours spent working on your site, makes it much easier to understand your sites overall performance.
Considering you have so much on your plate at present, yet you still managed to do quite well with your site in spite of this, is very inspiring.
Hope your Hubby finds work soon and you get that house of yours sold off pronto(For the price you desire, of course) so you can get your full focus back onto your site.
Much appreciated, Daniel!
You are such an inspiration, Ana! I’ve learned nice words from this post – Walking the walk and Making more with less
I hope I can always apply this in my online endeavors. Your earnings for January are amazing, even if you only work for 3-4 hours a day. Now that’s making more with less! I’m also a user of Article Samurai and it’s been a big help to us., especially their SEO Competition tool.
Good luck on your efforts, Ana. May this year be another fruitful year for you.
Thank you so much, Sheena!
Great recap, and thanks for the mention Ana!
Kristi Hines invites you to read: 45 Resources on Google Search Plus Your World
Thanks for coming by, Kristi, and thank YOU!
Hi Ana,
I really enjoy the details of your reports, and although I’m impressed with how much your earning, I know you’ll be earning a lot more fairly soon. Your potential is huge.
Keep writing about how much you work, and how you work (methods of productivity). I’m learning a lot from you.
Jens P. Berget invites you to read: 20 Minutes of Writing
Productivity is definitely on my writing agenda, Jens.
Thanks for coming by.
Thanks for posting this. My new blog is only about 2 months old but my bounce and time rate stats are about equal with yours. I’ve already had some $$ trickle in which is very reassuring. Too many bloggers don’t post their stats….maybe because they aren’t worth discussing.
Congrats to your success.
Welcome to Traffic Generation Cafe, Hooker.
I can see why people like your blog – it’s opinionated and engaging. Bound to cause people to agree or disagree.
I’m not yet ready to monetize my blog, but seeing your monthly numbers really helps orient me and ground me in reality. Thanks for sharing the information in such a forthright manner!
It certainly makes sense to develop your readership first, Doug, before trying to make money off occasional visitors.
Thanks for coming by!
There are so many blog on the Internet that write about making a living blogging, but the funny thing is most of them aren’t making any money at all. LOL
But you are actually doing it!
Keep up the great work Ana!
Gerald Weber invites you to read: Pinterest drives more traffic to sites than 100 million Google+ users
You are so right, Gerald – always makes me laugh when I stumble upon these blogs.
Thank you!
hey Ana, thanks for sharing your traffic stats. It seems like you are doing pretty well, all things considered. hope the home life settles down for you, but thanks for showing real stats.
Most people are out there inflating what they make thinking that it will harm them if they are real. they don’t realize that the fake numbers they throw out there do more to lose trust than to build it.
James invites you to read: 5 Blog Guest Posting Tips To Ensure You Get The Most Traffic
Exaggerating the numbers is the worst we can do, James. We don’t have to disclose them if we don’t feel comfortable, but lying?
I am with you. Many bloggers get into blogging thinking they’ll make millions because of such claims.
Hey Ana,
Thanks again for mentioning my services. I really appreciate all of your help in getting my new business off the ground.
I found a pretty good free popup plugin called WP Super Popup if you are looking for a good one to test. It allows you to enter any HTML code into it. You can set it to only show to visitors once, if you want. There are many other options also.
If you want to try to it, let me know and I’ll install and set it up for you.
Thanks Ana,
Ian Belanger invites you to read: IM Graphic Designs ReDesigns The Traffic Generation Cafe Blog
The reason I liked the idea of Pippity was because it had an option of popping up only AFTER someone read a post.
Thanks for the suggestion; I’ll check it out!
The numbers look great Ana
Although I’m well aware about potential traffic sources a blog could receive, but your “direct traffic” and “referring sites” numbers are amazing! And the best part is they’re all targeted traffic. That reminds me about the power of networking in any niche
I don’t know if I can apply the theory to my situation but I will try my best.
And I also believe that you’re going down the right path. Things will only get better!
Have a nice day Ana!
Yes, networking is a powerful tool, Duy – that’s what kept my blog going for the past year and a half.
Ana, this is awesome! I’d love to see a paid eBook from you. I think the income from the affiliate sales alone (not to mention your own sales) would set your passive income stream into orbit. You are an excellent writer and I’m sure you’d have a ton of excited affiliates (raises hand) to help you promote it.
P.S. That stat about the direct visits is very weird. It would be different if they were mostly repeat vids because they would likely be people who are just checking on something and leaving. But new visits? Very odd.
Thanks, Lisa!
My work on the link building guide came to a screeching halt with all these changes we are going through; hopefully, I’ll be able to get back to it soon.
Ana,
You seriously only pay 9.95 with Hostgator and aren’t on a VPS…
I think I’m getting jacked by Dreamhost…
Thanks for the “behind the curtain” look at what you have going on. It really helps to put my own presence into perspective.
Ryan H.
I know, right? So far Hostgator doesn’t “strongly encourage” me to switch, and I am not ready to pay up.
Hey Ana. Awesome report and I always enjoy reading them.
I am a bit surprised you are recommending Article Samurai since I remember you mentioned previously that you weren’t a fan of Unique Article Wizard before. If you didn’t know already, Article Samurai uses the UAW network as one of it’s sources of blogs.
Also, regarding your direct traffic increase. I’m guessing it is the fact that Google is now hiding the referrer information for logged in users that is distorting your traffic stats. I was just reading a relevant post on the topic today:
http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2143123/How-to-Understand-Your-Google-Not-Provided-Traffic
Chris Fong invites you to read: 5 Traffic Sources That Helped Me Reach 10,000 Visitors A Month
Always appreciate your link building input, Chris.
I had no idea Article Samurai used UAW network! I know you’ve done a review of UAW, but never bothered to read it since I didn’t like it to begin with. lol
So what’s your take? Did they clean up their network like they said they would?
Also, I did consider the “not provided” stats influencing my direct traffic. However, those stats are still listed under SE traffic in GA, so that wouldn’t be it.
My bad about the direct traffic stats. I should have looked at my own stats first before I wrote that.
Yeah, UAW is not really one of my favorite blog networks anymore. Blogs are still really low quality. And I don’t think it helps that now they have all these Article Samurai users submitting to the same sites as well.
Chris invites you to read: 7 Reasons Why Clicky Is Better Than Google Analytics
Without going back to all your studies again (they are great, by the way), which one is your favorite network, Chris?
At this time, I would probably say that Authority Link Network is probably my favorite network.
Chris invites you to read: How I Recovered From The Google Panda Update
Thanks, Chris.
Ana, this report just blows me away. I can’t tell you how helpful it is to see the numbers the way you do and then understand how you’re analyzing next steps.
What really amazes me as a newbie is that you’re doing all of this work in 3-4 hours a day. I’m still at the stage that everything I do is a major learning curve. I installed a nice piece of software that I got off the warriors forum to use with Facebook to host my own landing pages and tabs. Now I find I really need my own dedicated SSL. I constantly feel like I’m going 3 steps forward and 4 backwards.
I’ll stop being a cry baby. It’s just good to know I might get there one day. The articles of yours I like the best are the more personal one, like this, where you share your own story.
Thank you, Susan
I think it takes a lot of practice of getting more done with less time, Susan.
When we are still new to business (and actually still happens to me from time to time), we get pulled into 10 different directions. Seems like everybody is telling us “You need this!”, “Work on this!”.
Truth is you need to pick one thing and get it done.
Then move onto the next.
I’ll do a post on how my average day goes to show how I am managing.
And thank you. I don’t always share any personal stuff, but do realize that it’s good to be human. lol
Good morning Anna!
Thank you for being so transparent as to what works and doesn’t work for you. Have a great weekend!
Thanks for coming by, Domingo!
Great information. I have about the same traffic, but not nearly as productive. I’ll be watching you.
I’ve been focused on channeling my traffic more productively in the past couple of months, Jacqui, and it’s paying off.
Hey Ana, It’s great to see you’re still keeping things going here despite how hectic your life is right now.
I grabbed a premium hootsuite subscription last week, loving it so far – already pulling in feeds from your RSS here at TGC.
I noticed you add pippity plugin a while back, but I was wondering what mess did it actually cause?
Cheers!
Adam
Adam James invites you to read: Premium WordPress Plugins? Here Are 14 Of The Best
Thanks for adding my feed, Adam!
The problem with Pippity was that for many of my readers, the X button was too high up and they couldn’t see it to close it. So they simply weren’t able to get rid of the popup.
I wrote to Pippity a week ago, but never heard back from them.
No problem at all!
Woah, no wonder you removed it, that would be so annoying – major fall out but an easy fix. Not a good sign that Pippity haven’t replied, disappointing really because Pippity looked pretty cool.
Adam James invites you to read: Need a WordPress Backup Plugin? Here Are 5 Awesome Options
Hey Anna,
Glad to see your have made a great progress in your online business income, really amazing stuff, I was so sure that your hard work will pay off well!
That’s only the start for a big journey.
By the way, I sent you a greeting card at the New Year, not sure if you got it!
Good job!
Hesham invites you to read: Thesis Theme Review: Why I Give it 3 out of 5
Much appreciated, Hesham.
No, I didn’t get the card, but thanks for letting me know about.
Also, I sent you an email to beta-test your new Thesis plugin for reviews.
OMG… I had to take a long deep breath before writing this comment, Ana.
What I can say? Blinking my eyes, right now.
Good Job. That’s it.
I’m learning from you.
One more thing I can say, your cafe’s reports are motivating for me.
Abhi Balani invites you to read: Good Blogger And A Good Blog: What Are The Signs?
Glad to hear that, Abhi – that’s the goal!
Hi Ana,
Awesome January 2012 and excellent growth Ana.Now your 3-4 daily hardworking is converting into cash and I hope you will get more success .Your stats are interesting and 46% direct traffic, that means Traffic Generation Cafe has been very popular and people is loving it.
Bhupendra invites you to read: 5 Ways to Make Money Online With Your Website
Indeed, Bhupendra; thanks for coming by!
Hi Ana, good to know that you smile when you see me coming! I do the same when I see you. Anytime someone asks me about getting traffic, I send them here
I think it’s great the way you are “telling all” with these income reports and inspiring us to keep going! I’m learning a lot from you each time I visit and this time I’m even picking up some pointers on the best way to give a shout out to your blogging friends.
Thanks!
Ileane invites you to read: The Three C’s Needed for Your Blogging Success
Thanks so much for always keeping me in mind, Ileane, and always a pleasure!
Awesome report Ana! By far affiliate marketing is doing the best for you, which seems to be a very common trend. I like that you’ve added a twist to the income report by also contrasting how much time you are working to generate your income. I really shows people the possibilities of an online marketeering lifestyle.
Thanks, Richard!
Looks pretty good Ana and you are right about the “hit” CL had between the two months. Your stats are interesting and it is surprising, I have to admit. Your direct traffic is sky rocketing and even mind boggling that 80% are new visits. Perhaps you should “create” a static page and make the most of it. I don’t know, this is far fetched
DiTesco invites you to read: What Are The Best Affiliate Networks To Work With?
I wish I had the time to stop and mull it over, Francisco. lol
I’ll write it off this month and see what happens in February.