- GIRL PLANTED LIFESTYLE • Blog Income Reports
New Blogger Income Report Month 1
Bri Alli, here and I am a plant-based food blogger. I am excited and nervous to share my new blogger income report with you. Sharing an income report and all of my monthly goals from the very beginning of this new journey is vital in my success, as seeing growth is such a powerful, mindful practice. Never having blogged intentionally before, in order to create a passive-income stream for myself, it’s terrifying to share this side of my business and be so vulnerable.
As a Professional Content Creator, I have had huge entrepreneurial success, but I’ve never sat down to strategically blog. Seeing this site and my blog goals grow as time continues is super motivating. I am doing this, so here goes nothing.
Blogging Income Report For New Beginner Bloggers. An in-depth, honest look at the nitty gritty details that make up the front end and back end of a website that uses a blog as a tool to earn an income. Strategic, intentional blogging can lead to many incredible passive and residual income streams and is the perfect job for stay at home mom’s like me. New Blogger Income Report And Goals can be motivating and inspiring.
THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS, WHICH MEANS I’LL RECEIVE A COMMISSION IF YOU PURCHASE THROUGH MY LINK, AT NO EXTRA COST TO YOU. PLEASE READ FULL DISCLOSURE HERE.
Table of Contents
Why I'm Sharing My Income Reports With You
Several months ago I stumbled upon A Sassy Spoon’s Food Blog Income Report and was inspired by her hard work, dedication and success. Definitely take a peek at Jamie’s food blog because her income reports are great resources. The main takeaway from Jamie’s income reports, for me, was the post itself. Because she took the time to talk about expenses and income streams, goals, traffic and even taxes, I could get a really good idea of what a food blogging business looked like. Thanks, Jamie!
After finding A Sassy Spoon, I started searching for brand spankin’ new blogger income reports and sadly, only found people pushing their affiliate links with “buy this and buy that in order to start a blog.” I kept looking and perhaps I simply haven’t found a great source yet, but if I’m out there wanting to find a newer blogger who shares the journey from beginning to end, someone else might be searching for this type of income report, too. I volunteer as tribute!
Putting together an income report is time consuming because there’s so much that goes into one. It is however, a fantastic way to track progress and to celebrate each and every step of the business blogging journey. Especially as a new blogger, it is a strategic way to hold myself accountable and to hit goals, big and small.
Wildly competitive with my own self, having been paid 5 figures on a single brand collaboration with my magazine, makes me determined to do the same with this website, too. If I did it once, I can certainly do it again.
Most importantly though, my hope is to pay it forward one day with my collection of written income reports.
Professional Background & Success As A Magazine Creator/Owner
I Got Paid 5 Figures To Create This Last Issue Of Stylish Milk.
SM Magazine was the most difficult, most challenging and most inspiring thing I’ve created in my professional career, to date. Covid ended a second contract for me, which was soul-crushing. Devastation feelings came to pass eventually, but come to find out, this canceled contract was a blessing in disguise.
My four children needed me more than ever, especially my autistic son, who requires 24/7 care.
Closing the Stylish Milk doors for good was a tough decision because I poured my heart and soul into that business. It was also a lot of time away from my children, who were all very young.
Everything you see, I did as a creator or delegated as a leader. The format and design are custom made by me. A lot of the images and the text inside, the ads you see, the illustrations found throughout, the days and weeks of planning, the editing and copy corrections are mine.
I make an appearance in this issue, along with my daughter and two youngest sons. I loved creating this last magazine issue so very much.
Proud of what I dreamed up, created and built, I’m officially ready to do it again; as a blogger this time.
A Commitment To Myself To Never Give Up
How I Learned About Intentional Blogging
Serendipitously, I stumbled across two incredibly kind and knowledgable individuals a few months back, who are sharing experiences and the like, generously. They are teaching useful, real, honest blogging and how to utilize a WordPress website as a full-time income producing tool. I’m incredibly grateful to have found them and have started saving up to buy their courses and programs. I have been burnt before, thinking I was learning from someone who I could trust, only to be disappointed. The content, usually hundreds of dollars in price, was just written fluff that wasn’t helpful at all. Before I share their names with you, I’m doing my due diligence and will definitely shout ’em out once I know they will be helpful to us both.
After spending hours soaking in their advice, I came to realize that blogging was a lot like building my magazine – it was simply a different format and medium. Blogging professionally could actually be a REAL fit for me as a seasoned content creator, if I do it correctly. I am so happy I didn’t give up on the idea of blogging years ago, before my magazine days.
What Made Me Say Yes To Blogging Professionally
Several things made me say yes to becoming a professional food blogger; Researching what it takes to brand, structure and launch a successful blog that ultimately creates a passive-income stream was one.
Learning how to utilize a blog as a marketing tool and how to set realistic blogging goals for myself were big factors in this decision as well. Having experience as a content creator helped a bunch.
Writing something that could potentially help a like-minded person as well as keep myself on track to better health, was super appealing.
As a result of all of the above, I know that I will reach my goals and see success from blogging. I couldn’t NOT say yes, ya know?
Blogging Goals For A New Blogger, Month One
- Goal #1: Invest in myself, my business and my dreams by starting this blog and getting the items I need to start making content.
- Goal #2: Write and publish SIX blog posts my first month.
- Goal #3: Choose a niche within the food blogging topic category.
- Goal #4: Set 3 money-related goals.
- Goal #5: Find and apply to a few affiliate programs that align with my blogging brand and my personal experiences.
- Goal #6: Start adding affiliate links to my posts from the beginning.
There is a check mark next to each and every one of those six goals I set for myself in month one of blogging because each one was a success!
The goal I’m most excited about and proud of myself for, is the number of published blog posts. I exceeded 6 posts and published 10 really great, keyword rich articles. I ended up publishing seven recipe posts, two resource posts and one product unboxing and review post. Wow!
My first goal was by far, the most terrifying.
I knew that I’d be in the red, as far as “profit” goes, before even buying a single blog-related-item. Investing in myself was expensive and it is only the beginning. Running a blogging business and having experience as a creator, meant my investment would be larger, than if I had started a blog first and figured it all out as I went along. There’s nothing wrong with that, by the way. As long as you START creating, you’re making an investment in yourself and you should celebrate! My circumstances are a bit different, that’s all.
Goal number three was a little challenging for me.
As far as choosing a niche inside of the food blogging topic category, which is CRAZY BIG and competitive already, I knew I needed to break down my initial plan into something that would reach a specific kind of person. So I did succeed in that by choosing to stick with all plant-based recipes. There’s a little more I can do to get super specific within the plant-based food subcategory, so a goal in month two is to keep breaking my niche down even further, into a micro niche.
Numbers four, five and six are all related.
Setting three specific financial goals for this blog was freakin’ fun. Sharing only the smallest financial goal (out of the 3) with you now; I custom designed the cutest backyard shed. It has 13 windows and is going to be my tiny studio in the very near future. I have been making monthly payments on it (for a year now) and my balance due is around $4k. Paying that baby off, using the funds I make from this blog is a great goal to have. Affiliate income will be a small step in reaching all three of my money goals and I’m so excited to be a part of Amazon Affiliates and The Siteground team.
Blogging is a whole new ball game and I'm a brand new player. I'm here to PLAY, y'all.
A List Of Blogging Expenses - New Blogger Income Report - Month One
Click on any of the text below for specific recommendations/links.
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Studio Props & Food $200.00
I am averaging here, based on what ingredients I used for my first several blog recipes posted. I purchased a few props, like these incredible flat plates. In the future months, I'll be shopping for food separately from our family meals, so I can keep those receipts.
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Siteground Website Hosting $134.28
Annual Package and 1 Year Dedicated IP Address for GirlPlanted.com - Annual purchases save money, however, monthly payments are also available if you're on a budget when you first get started. I love Siteground!
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Go Daddy URL $2.22
Full Domain Protection Upgrade. I had already purchased this URL for a 1-yr plan so I didn't have any extra url related expenses this month.
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Apps $154.97
Carb Manager Pro Annual Life Lapse Pro Annual Splice Annual Afterlight Annual Buddy Premium Annual
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Legal Documents $157.00
Legal Bundle For Website. ESSENTIAL. I wrote an article on this and why you need to legally protect your blog.
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Wordpress Theme $71.00
I have purchased many themes over the year for myself and for my graphic design clients. I highly recommend Envato.
Total Expenses: $719.47
Total Income: $0.00
Month One Food Blog Income Report Notes
- Don’t let these numbers scare you away or discourage you from starting a blog, friend. I’m new to blogging strategically, but I am not new to running a business or content creating. Purchasing annual subscriptions from the beginning, as I had already done my research and would be using everything I bought daily, saved me money in the long-run. I could have easily set up monthly payment plans, if I was on a budget and I’m betting you can as well.
- No, I did not invest in any WordPress plugins (yet), as I’m just getting started and want to wait until I see organic traffic on my site, to invest in those.
- Saving up to purchase incredible blogging as a business, courses, is a top priority. Continued learning is really important to me and my business blueprint, but I’m not ready for that yet.
- I am a huge advocate for buying a professional wordpress theme instead of using a free theme. Investing in a great theme from the very beginning will save you time and a major headache later on. Trust me on this one, as an experienced graphic and web designer, you don’t want to be scrambling to get a new theme put together after you have a ton of content on your blog that needs converted into a new design.
- Canva Pro is an upcoming expense. I signed up for a 30 day free-trial so that will definitely be in month two’s expense list because it is one of THE best tools for bloggers who utilize Pinterest as a search engine and I find it incredibly valuable.
- Finally, the most important purchase outside of my website template, were these documents made by a lawyer, to protect my blog legally. I wrote an article about this if you want to read it, but I can’t stress enough, the importance of having the correct policies and disclosures on your website.
- Am I upset about being in the red? Of course not. I’m celebrating all these incredible victories! I’m confident, I’ll see GREEN soon.
Need Reliable, Affordable Website Hosting?
Throughout the years as a graphics artist and website designer I have worked with many blogging platforms and hosting services. Let me tell you, WordPress is IT for me, hands down, when utilizing a blog for passive-income-making-goals and Siteground is who I personally use for hosting.
Ease of use, included professional email addresses, incredible customer service, website-hacking-preventions, safety and privacy features and the ability to have many websites under one account, are some of my favorite things. I’ll be writing a specific resource post soon, but you have to check them out, if you’re considering starting a blog.
Website Traffic For Month One
I did not have any specific goals regarding this milestone in the first month, as I wanted to put all my focus on learning SEO, keyword searching and researching. How to properly set myself up to rank on google and other search engines is a continued top priority for this blog. In order to do this, I had to focus on creating great content, but also dedicate all other available hours to learning the nitty gritty nerdy stuff, which I love by the way. I did not set up my analytics at first either, making these numbers inaccurate. I did however, make the executive decision to skip traffic this month and focus on it for month two’s income report.
What I Have Learned Blogging - Month One
A vast amount of new things are floating around my head right now and it’s a great feeling! How to properly structure a blog post to make it easier for google to index my site and searching for keywords that have higher traffic, but lower competition are some huge new lessons learned. Paying for keyword search tools can be a waste of money for someone starting out (so glad I didn’t buy a subscription to one of those). Building a solid foundation for my blog and actively working on that daily is hard work, but exciting to me.
Perhaps the greatest reminder this first month is that I can successfully juggle being a mom of four, being a caregiver to my autistic son, being a wife, taking care of the household chores AND finding the time to work on my health while pursuing my entrepreneurial dreams.
Basically what I tell myself and my children often, holds true in this scenario as well; We can do difficult, impossible things, darling.
Blogging Goals For Month Two
- Goal #1: 1000 New Visitors On My Website
- Goal #2: 15,000 Monthly Views On Pinterest
- Goal #3: 10k Impressions, 500 Engagements, 100 Engaged Audience On Pinterest
- Goal #4: Publish 6 Recipe Posts, 10 Resource Posts and 2 Unboxing/Review Posts
- Goal #5: Make My First Affiliate Sale
- Goal #6: Break My Brand Down Even More, Into A Micro-Niche
By using specific numbers, I can start creating content that will help me reach my month two goals.
Reading the analytics for both the blog and my Pinterest account is a priority because it’s what will bring me success in the near future. Jumping into this complex topic feels a bit daunting at the moment, but I’m not shying away from it. The numbers I’ve used above will aid in me learning even more about SEO, keyword research and keyword competition analysis. Breaking down my brand even further, into a micro-niche will be a challenge and I know I have to do define my content further, in order to see success in such a competitive topic (food blogging).
A big question I’ll need to ask myself and answer is “HOW can I be different from all the other plant-based food bloggers, WHO do I want to help and WHAT can I specifically do to help that person?”
Needless to say, my new blogger income report and month two goals look much different than month one’s.
Read This Next: 3 Legal Documents Every Blogger Needs For Their New Blog
The very first thing I did as a new blogger is set up my legalities. This is a huge MUST, that shouldn’t be overlooked or put on the back-burner. Here’s what I did and used to make Girl Planted legal.
Pin It!
If you found this blog income report helpful, save it to your favorite Pinterest board to access later. I can’t wait to see how month two turns out. Wish me luck!
xo, Bri
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