If you’re thinking of starting a blog or niche website, you’re probably curious about how much it can potentially earn.
While every website is different, so too is every niche and site operator. The entire process of building a blog is incredibly nuanced.
There is NO framework that can guarantee absolute success, but this one mega course comes really close in my opinion.
With that said, I’ve created this blogging income report series to help track my personal journey. Your journey could be very different.
NOTE: This income report does NOT include any income from my Minted Empire brand (this blog, my newsletter, and my YouTube Channel). Minted Empire is something I do in my spare time, and any income I earn here usually ends up being reinvested into my niche sites.
Let’s dive in!
Overview of September 2022’s Performance
What a month! 3 Google Updates! (Helpful Content, Broad Core, and then a Product Update). Then there were some major global events that also contributed to drops in traffic.
Overall, considering how much was going on, I consider myself fortunate that my main sites were only slightly affected.
September, being at the end of Q3, tends to see a slight decrease in ad rates from display ads. Q4 tends to have the highest earnings of the year. Q1 tends to have the lowest earnings of the year.
This month saw an overall increase in earnings which was due to an increase in ad rates.
Site Breakdown
This income report covers 5 websites.
(If you don’t want to read the detailed breakdown for each site, you can skip ahead to the summary.)
Site 1: Performance Report
Started: June 2020
Niche: Hobby / Tech
Monetization: Display Ads (Ezoic) & Affiliate (mostly Amazon Associates)
| Month | New Posts | Total Posts | Pageviews | Ads $ | Affiliate $ | Total $ |
| Jun ’20 | 3 | 3 | 202 | – | – | – |
| Jul ’20 | – | 3 | 336 | – | – | – |
| Aug ’20 | 4 | 7 | 48 | – | – | – |
| Sep ’20 | – | 7 | 22 | – | – | – |
| Oct ’20 | – | 7 | 54 | – | – | – |
| Nov ’20 | 1 | 8 | 254 | – | – | – |
| Dec ’20 | 2 | 10 | 271 | – | – | – |
| Jan ’21 | 6 | 16 | 434 | $1 | – | $1 |
| Feb ’21 | 6 | 22 | 536 | $3 | – | $3 |
| Mar ’21 | 7 | 29 | 2,643 | $14 | $1 | $15 |
| Apr ’21 | 11 | 40 | 4,504 | $34 | $46 | $80 |
| May ’21 | 10 | 50 | 7,601 | $67 | $382 | $449 |
| Jun ’21 | 5 | 55 | 7,117 | $80 | $286 | $366 |
| Jul ’21 | 0 | 55 | 9,534 | $125 | $383 | $508 |
| Aug ’21 | 4 | 59 | 12,903 | $148 | $394 | $542 |
| Sep ’21 | 0 | 59 | 15,336 | $175 | $406 | $581 |
| Oct ’21 | 3 | 62 | 16,735 | $206 | $701 | $907 |
| Nov ’21 | 28 | 90 | 19,458 | $346 | $376 | $722 |
| Dec ’21 | 62 | 152 | 14,170 | $280 | $473 | $753 |
| Jan ’22 | 36 | 188 | 12,713 | $173 | $210 | $383 |
| Feb ’22 | 1 | 189 | 10,899 | $137 | $348 | $485 |
| Mar ’22 | – | 189 | 13,587 | $154 | $516 | $670 |
| Apr ’22 | 4 | 193 | 21,844 | $184 | $430 | $614 |
| May ’22 | 30 | 223 | 29,626 | $305 | $347 | $652 |
| Jun ’22 | 23 | 246 | 30,894 | $492 | $499 | $991 |
| Jul ’22 | 12 | 258 | 39,760 | $546 | $830 | $1,376 |
| Aug ’22 | 5 | 263 | 45,232 | $731 | $671 | $1,402 |
| Sep ’22 | 10 | 273 | 43,012 | $917 | $609 | $1,526 |
Site 1 has a start/stop history. After working on it for a few months in 2020, I didn’t see any traction (that’s normal), and I decided to pause working on it (I regret that now).
Site 1 is in an incredibly competitive niche dominated by massive global companies. I do have an interest in the niche, but knowing what I know now, I probably would have entered a less competitive space.
At the beginning of 2021, I decided to give Site 1 another shot, but I didn’t go all in because I was distracted by other sites and other shiny objects. In November 2021, I went fully in on Site 1.
Site 2:
Started: September 2020
Niche: Lifestyle
Monetization: Display Ads (Ezoic), Other Affiliate
| Month | New Posts | Total Posts | Pageviews | Ads $ | Affiliate $ | Total $ |
| Sep ’20 | 10 | 10 | 142 | – | – | – |
| Oct ’20 | 10 | 20 | 571 | $1 | – | $1 |
| Nov ’20 | – | 20 | 466 | $4 | – | $4 |
| Dec ’20 | – | 20 | 542 | $9 | $5 | $14 |
| Jan ’21 | 1 | 21 | 499 | $5 | $1 | $6 |
| Feb ’21 | 6 | 27 | 513 | $5 | $4 | $9 |
| Mar ’21 | 4 | 31 | 1,627 | $7 | $1 | $8 |
| Apr ’21 | – | 31 | 2,492 | $12 | $32 | $44 |
| May ’21 | 6 | 37 | 3,690 | $41 | $67 | $108 |
| Jun ’21 | 7 | 44 | 3,938 | $53 | $63 | $116 |
| Jul ’21 | 12 | 56 | 5,870 | $91 | $7 | $98 |
| Aug ’21 | 1 | 57 | 6,529 | $92 | $17 | $109 |
| Sep ’21 | – | 57 | 6,367 | $91 | $3 | $94 |
| Oct ’21 | – | 57 | 6,503 | $91 | $7 | $98 |
| Nov ’21 | – | 57 | 6,114 | $110 | $106 | $216 |
| Dec ’21 | – | 57 | 4,919 | $88 | – | $88 |
| Jan ’22 | – | 57 | 6,618 | $110 | $36 | $146 |
| Feb ’22 | 3 | 60 | 6,473 | $90 | $35 | $125 |
| Mar ’22 | 16 | 76 | 8,115 | $96 | $1 | $97 |
| Apr ’22 | 7 | 83 | 9,219 | $134 | $61 | $195 |
| May ’22 | 6 | 89 | 13,639 | $223 | $33 | $256 |
| Jun ’22 | 8 | 97 | 18,779 | $350 | $172 | $522 |
| Jul ’22 | 7 | 104 | 21,624 | $354 | $96 | $450 |
| Aug ’22 | 1 | 105 | 28,694 | $593 | $46 | $639 |
| Sep ’22 | 7 | 112 | 35,042 | $1,043 | $40 | $1,083 |
Site 3:
Started: December 2020
Niche: Pets
Monetization: Display Ads (Ezoic)
| Month | New Posts | Total Posts | Pageviews | Ads $ | Affiliate $ | Total $ |
| Dec ’20 | 16 | 16 | 42 | – | – | – |
| Jan ’21 | 14 | 30 | 271 | $1 | – | $1 |
| Feb ’21 | 20 | 50 | 665 | $6 | – | $6 |
| Mar ’21 | 12 | 62 | 1,672 | $5 | $1 | $6 |
| Apr ’21 | – | 62 | 2,200 | $10 | – | $10 |
| May ’21 | – | 62 | 2,946 | $32 | – | $32 |
| Jun ’21 | – | 62 | 4,276 | $50 | $4 | $54 |
| Jul ’21 | – | 62 | 5,216 | $73 | – | $73 |
| Aug ’21 | 16 | 78 | 4,402 | $53 | – | $53 |
| Sep ’21 | – | 78 | 4,450 | $49 | $3 | $52 |
| Oct ’21 | 18 | 96 | 4,203 | $46 | $3 | $49 |
| Nov ’21 | – | 96 | 3,751 | $65 | $2 | $67 |
| Dec ’21 | – | 96 | 5,474 | $90 | – | $90 |
| Jan ’22 | – | 96 | 5,933 | $72 | $3 | $75 |
| Feb ’22 | – | 96 | 5,579 | $61 | $1 | $62 |
| Mar ’22 | 6 | 102 | 5,760 | $66 | $1 | $67 |
| Apr ’22 | 7 | 109 | 5,867 | $70 | $3 | $73 |
| May ’22 | 12 | 121 | 6,186 | $73 | – | $73 |
| Jun ’22 | – | 121 | 9,116 | $117 | $1 | $118 |
| Jul ’22 | 5 | 126 | 12,247 | $162 | $2 | $164 |
| Aug ’22 | – | 126 | 9,244 | $126 | – | $126 |
| Sep ’22 | – | 126 | 9,625 | $263 | $2 | $265 |
Site 4:
Started: March 2021
Niche: Not disclosed!
Monetization: Display Ads (Ezoic)
| Month | New Posts | Total Posts | Pageviews | Ads $ | Affiliate $ | Total $ |
| Mar ’21 | 12 | 12 | 23 | – | – | – |
| Apr ’21 | 5 | 17 | 20 | – | – | – |
| May ’21 | 4 | 21 | 14 | – | – | – |
| Jun ’21 | – | 21 | 17 | – | – | – |
| Jul ’21 | – | 21 | 13 | – | – | – |
| Aug ’21 | 9 | 30 | 39 | – | – | – |
| Sep ’21 | 6 | 36 | 37 | – | – | – |
| Oct ’21 | – | 36 | 35 | – | – | – |
| Nov ’21 | – | 36 | 45 | – | – | – |
| Dec ’21 | – | 36 | 379 | – | – | – |
| Jan ’22 | – | 36 | 321 | – | – | – |
| Feb ’22 | – | 36 | 557 | – | $1 | $1 |
| Mar ’22 | – | 36 | 1,087 | – | – | – |
| Apr ’22 | – | 36 | 1,553 | $5 | – | $5 |
| May ’22 | 7 | 43 | 2,795 | $24 | – | $24 |
| Jun ’22 | 6 | 49 | 4,339 | $36 | $1 | $37 |
| Jul ’22 | 2 | 51 | 4,707 | $23 | – | $23 |
| Aug ’22 | 7 | 58 | 5,288 | $32 | – | $32 |
| Sep ’22 | 8 | 66 | 2,329 | $17 | – | $17 |
Traffic dropped on this site – I think it was hit by one of the updates. Will wait a while to see if it recovers. I might be selling it soon. It’s difficult to feel motivated to work on a site when you don’t have a passion for the niche.
Site 5:
Started: January 2022 (with some seed content posted during Summer 2021)
Niche: Not disclosed!
Monetization: Display Ads (Ezoic)
| Month | New Posts | Total Posts | Pageviews | Ads $ | Affiliate $ | Total $ |
| Summer ’21 | 46 | 46 | 6,654 (July to Dec ’21) | – | – | – |
| Jan ’22 | 42 | 88 | 1,849 | – | – | – |
| Feb ’22 | 106 | 194 | 2,178 | – | – | – |
| Mar ’22 | 27 | 221 | 3,063 | – | – | – |
| Apr ’22 | 7 | 228 | 4,559 | $91 | – | $91 |
| May ’22 | 19 | 247 | 5,704 | $154 | – | $154 |
| Jun ’22 | 39 | 286 | 7,469 | $244 | – | $244 |
| Jul ’22 | 32 | 318 | 12,675 | $348 | $56 | $404 |
| Aug ’22 | 23 | 341 | 23,562 | $568 | $49 | $616 |
| Sep ’22 | 28 | 369 | 24,240 | $766 | $49 | $815 |
Traffic was only very slightly up this month, but the ad rates went way up which I think is because my overall portfolio traffic (in Ezoic) hit a new Premium level.
Income Summary
Overall Earnings This Month By Niche Site
- Site 1: $1,527 (previous month $1,402)
- Site 2: $1,097 (previous month $639)
- Site 3: $266 (previous month $126)
- Site 4: $17 (previous month $32)
- Site 5: $815 (previous month $616)
Total Earnings From This Selection of Sites: $3,722 (previous month $2,815)
Niche Website Earnings by Source
- Ezoic Display Ads: $3,006 (previous month $2,050)
- Affiliate: $715 (previous month $765)
Outgoings
Running any website or blog involves having expenses. I could run extremely lean and just have my hosting costs if I wanted.
However, I’m playing the long game, and I don’t mind paying for tools/services that save me time and mental energy and make the blogging journey a little easier.
Breakdown of Expenses For This Month
Like many others in the industry, I don’t view content costs as an expense. Investing in good content is exactly that – an investment in the site. I’ll list my content costs separately below.
Here’s a quick breakdown of my running costs this month:
- Virtual Assistant (VA) (OnlineJobs.ph) : $73
- Team Content Order Management (Trello) : $54
- Plagiarism Checker (CopyLeaks) : $35
- Domain (NameCheap) : $10
- Hosting (CloudWays) : $36
- Site Management / Backups (ManageWP) : $13
- Theme (GeneratePress) : $5 ($59 paid annually)
- Plugin: (Link Whisper) : $14 (I have a 10 site license)
- Affiliate Link Checker (AMZ Watcher) : $17
- Premium fee for Ezoic : $575
- Social Media Scheduling (Metricool) : $12
- Graphics (Canva Pro) : $12
- Keyword Research (Ahrefs) : $99
- Rank Tracker (SERPRobot) : $10
Content Investment
I’ve built my own team of freelance writers. I manage them via Trello & Slack. I pay a maximum of 3 cents per word for the content they produce.
I’m very happy with the quality.
Content Investment in Current Month
- Site 1: $617
- Site 2: $239
- Site 3: $0
- Site 4: $363
- Site 5: $841
- TOTAL Estimated Content Investment this month: $2,060
Note: The content costs are estimated at 3 cents per word based on what was published within the month. The figure might change slightly when all of their invoices come in. This is a rough and ready estimate, but it’s probably reasonably close.
That’s the end of the income report.
See you next month!