It feels truly astounding how quickly time flies, as another month has concluded, and it’s already time to unveil my latest monthly income report – in fact, it’s slightly overdue! It scarcely seems possible that just over 30 days have passed since I was diligently crafting the previous report from a cozy coffee shop in Georgetown. The pace of life, particularly in the dynamic world of blogging, can be quite breathtaking.
For those who followed my personal journey last month, you’ll know that September and October presented significant challenges in my life. During this period, the blog naturally took a backseat as I prioritized spending invaluable time with my family. However, with time, life gradually finds a new rhythm, and I’m thrilled to report that I am now fully immersed back into the vibrant and demanding routine of blogging.
Despite this necessary hiatus and reduced focus on the blog, September delivered some truly remarkable milestones. It brought forth my highest-ever number of monthly pageviews, soaring past 110,000, alongside a record-breaking monthly ad revenue. There was even one day in late September where my ad earnings alone hit an impressive $50. Reaching $50 in a single day through advertising feels incredibly tangible – it’s a sum that, if consistent, could cover significant monthly expenses like a mortgage, making the reality of blogging as a sustainable income stream deeply resonate with me.
As always, I extend my heartfelt gratitude to each one of you for your unwavering support, encouraging words, and for consistently returning to Food With Feeling. And to those who are discovering my blog for the first time, a very warm welcome! Your engagement makes all of this possible, and I am genuinely appreciative of our growing community.
Now, let’s dive into the detailed insights of this month’s performance!
Unveiling September’s Stellar Traffic Performance
Understanding blog traffic is paramount for growth and monetization. This section breaks down the key metrics that defined September’s exceptional performance.
Traffic Overview: Reaching New Heights
As highlighted, September was an absolutely monumental month for Food With Feeling, marking my highest-ever traffic achievement. The blog successfully garnered over 110,000 monthly pageviews from a substantial 71,000 unique visitors. This significant surge, particularly during a period of reduced active content creation due to personal circumstances, underscores the power of building a robust foundation of evergreen content and effective SEO strategies. It demonstrates that consistent effort over time can lead to sustained growth, even when life inevitably demands our attention elsewhere. This milestone is not just a number; it’s a testament to the blog’s increasing reach and the value it provides to its audience.
New vs. Returning Visitors: Balancing Reach and Loyalty
This month’s report shows a consistent balance between new and returning visitors, with percentages holding nearly steady compared to previous periods. While attracting new readers is vital for expanding our audience base, the stability of returning visitors indicates a strong sense of community and content loyalty. It signifies that existing readers find consistent value in what I share, prompting them to revisit the blog regularly. This balance is crucial for sustainable growth, as loyal readers often have higher engagement rates, spend more time on site, and are more likely to convert into subscribers or customers. Maintaining this healthy ratio is a key goal for fostering both broad appeal and dedicated readership. For now, I’m content with this steady metric, as it suggests a healthy equilibrium in audience acquisition and retention strategies.
Top Ten Traffic Sources: The Power of Organic Search
Consistently, my top three traffic sources have remained unchanged, a trend that is not only reassuring but also precisely what I strive for. This stability is a direct reflection of the strategic efforts I’ve invested in improving my blog’s Search Engine Optimization (SEO) over the past year. Seeing these efforts consistently pay off is incredibly rewarding. Organic Google traffic, in particular, maintained its position as my number one traffic source for the month, demonstrating the enduring power of strong SEO. What’s even more encouraging is that its contribution rose from 30% to a remarkable 35% of my total monthly traffic. This upward trend underscores the importance of a well-executed SEO strategy for any blogger aiming for sustainable growth and reduced reliance on volatile social media channels.
Achieving such strong organic search results involves a multifaceted approach: diligent keyword research to identify what readers are searching for, creating high-quality, comprehensive content that genuinely answers those queries, optimizing on-page elements like headings and meta descriptions, ensuring mobile responsiveness, and maintaining a fast site speed. It’s about building authority and trust with search engines through consistent delivery of valuable content. This significant increase in organic traffic serves as a powerful reminder that hard work, patience, and consistency in SEO truly yield long-term benefits, providing a stable and scalable foundation for audience engagement and monetization. It’s an area every blogger should prioritize for sustainable success.
Income Report: Monetizing Passion into Profit*
Transparency is key in these reports. Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you if you make a purchase. Rest assured, all products and services listed are ones I personally use on a regular basis and wholeheartedly recommend. Should you have any questions about my experiences with them, please don’t hesitate to reach out via email.
- Mediavine: $924.50
Mediavine represents my primary advertising partner. Their optimized ad placements and high-quality ad network are instrumental in converting my pageviews into significant revenue. This figure reflects earnings solely from display advertising across my blog posts. The surge in traffic directly correlated with this impressive ad revenue, demonstrating the strong link between audience engagement and monetization through advertising platforms. - Freelance Writing: $255
Diversifying income streams is a smart strategy for bloggers. This amount comes from freelance writing projects, leveraging my expertise in food content creation to work with other brands and publications. It’s a valuable way to supplement blog income and build professional relationships within the industry. - Sponsored Post: $0
While I had no sponsored posts this month, this category represents potential earnings from collaborations with brands to create dedicated content. Sponsored posts are an excellent way to generate high-value income, and I actively pursue opportunities that align authentically with my brand and audience. - Food Blogger Pro: $17.40
This affiliate income is generated through a dedicated post I wrote, enthusiastically encouraging aspiring and established food bloggers to join Food Blogger Pro. It’s a platform I personally endorse for its comprehensive resources and community support in scaling a food blog. - Food Photography School: $0
Although no earnings this month, this affiliate link is tied to a helpful post offering tips and tricks for improving food photography. Recommending tools and courses that genuinely elevate a blogger’s craft is part of providing valuable content to my audience. - Greater Than Gatsby: $67.08
This consistent income stream comes from several articles I’ve published detailing how I achieve my signature photo editing style using Greater Than Gatsby Actions & Presets. It’s a perfect example of how sharing genuine product recommendations can lead to passive income. - Amazon: $70.60
Earnings from Amazon come from various affiliate links strategically placed throughout my blog posts. These links direct readers to products I recommend, such as kitchen tools, photography equipment, or ingredients, offering convenience to my audience while generating a small commission for me. - Click It Up A Notch Ebook: $0
This particular affiliate opportunity stems from a valuable post dedicated to teaching DSLR manual mode to beginners. While not generating income this month, such evergreen content continues to offer potential earnings over time.
*It’s important to note that these figures do not include any income generated from my separate food photography and videography business, which operates independently from the blog’s direct monetization.
Total Gross Income for September: $1334.58
Expenses: Investing in Blog Growth
Running a successful blog, like any business, involves strategic investments. Here’s a breakdown of my monthly expenses, demonstrating where resources are allocated to support and enhance Food With Feeling.
- WP Engine Hosting: $122.34
High-quality hosting is non-negotiable for a growing blog. WP Engine provides robust, reliable, and fast hosting, which is critical for site performance, user experience, and SEO. Investing in premium hosting ensures my site can handle increased traffic without compromising speed or stability. - Food: $200 (estimated)
This is an ongoing estimated expense for ingredients and supplies used in recipe development and testing for blog content. With the recent increase in client video projects, differentiating between blog-specific food costs and client project costs has become a bit complex, as all are paid from my business account. I am actively working on refining my accounting system to provide a more precise breakdown in future reports, ensuring clearer financial insights. - Props: $0
This month, there were no new purchases for photography props. Often, these are one-time or infrequent investments, though they are crucial for maintaining fresh and engaging visual content. - Adobe Lightroom/ Photoshop + Premiere: $10.91 + $19.99
These subscriptions are essential for all aspects of content creation. Lightroom and Photoshop are indispensable for professional-grade photo editing, ensuring my food photography is visually appealing and aligns with my brand aesthetic. Premiere Pro is vital for editing the growing volume of video content, both for the blog and for client projects. - Mailchimp Premium: $20
An email list is one of the most powerful assets for a blogger. Mailchimp Premium allows me to effectively manage my subscriber list, create engaging newsletters, and nurture a direct relationship with my audience, driving repeat traffic and strengthening community ties. - The Blog Village: $25
Investing in ongoing education and community is crucial for staying updated and motivated. The Blog Village is a valuable resource for learning new strategies, troubleshooting challenges, and connecting with fellow bloggers, contributing to continuous professional development.
Total Expenses for September: $398.24
What I Focused on in September: Nurturing a Super Side Hustle
While my blog has always been my passion, I’ve recently channeled significant energy into a venture that, until now, I haven’t widely discussed on Food With Feeling: client recipe videos. Over the past few months, this exciting new endeavor has blossomed into a thriving side hustle, providing both creative fulfillment and a valuable additional income stream. My journey into this niche began in August when I reached out to a prominent blogger whom I deeply admire. Knowing she had recently assembled a team for her own recipe video production, I sought her invaluable advice: did she believe there was a broader market for outsourcing recipe video creation among other bloggers?
My exploration into this idea was driven by several key observations and passions: 1) I genuinely adore creating recipe videos. The process feels less like work and more like an immensely enjoyable creative outlet. 2) I believe I’ve developed a natural aptitude for video production and have become quite proficient in the craft, if I do say so myself. 3) The prospect of producing high-quality recipe videos can be incredibly daunting for many bloggers, especially those without prior experience or the right equipment. 4) Video content is rapidly becoming an indispensable component of the digital food media landscape, almost a necessity for sustained growth and audience engagement. 5) To make this endeavor professionally worthwhile, I would need to charge a fair rate for my time and expertise. This meant strategically targeting established bloggers who already possessed sufficient blog income to invest in professional video services.
With these considerations firmly in mind, I composed that pivotal email to the aforementioned blogger, largely seeking guidance and validation for my nascent idea. To my pleasant surprise, she not only concurred with many of my assessments but also, within a mere four days, provided several invaluable referrals for video projects! The rapid, positive response was truly exhilarating. As of today, I am regularly collaborating with approximately five different bloggers, consistently creating engaging recipe videos for their platforms, with several more expressing keen interest in my services.
So, what does this burgeoning success signify for Food With Feeling? Does it mean I’m abandoning my beloved blog to pursue video production full-time? Absolutely not! I view these client recipe videos as a highly enjoyable and strategically valuable SIDE HUSTLE. This supplementary income source has already enabled me to invest in upgrading my equipment, including a sophisticated new lighting setup, which directly benefits both my client work and my own blog’s video content. Furthermore, I’m planning to acquire a couple of new lenses in the near future (specifically eyeing a 28mm and a 100mm macro) and an HD monitor, all of which will further streamline my video production workflow and enhance quality.
For any blogger whose ultimate ambition is to transform their blog into a FULL-TIME endeavor, never underestimate the power and potential of strategic side hustles that can help bridge the financial gap and fund necessary growth. These ventures not only provide additional capital but also diversify your skill set and network. I recently found immense inspiration and actionable advice from THIS PODCAST from the Food Blogger Pro team, which delves into effective strategies for monetizing your side hustles. I highly recommend giving it a listen!
P.S. If you’re a fellow blogger or brand interested in collaborating to create high-quality, “Tasty-style” recipe videos that captivate your audience, please don’t hesitate to reach out! I’d be thrilled to discuss how I can help elevate your content strategy. 😀
A Heartfelt Thanks to YOU: Giving Back Through Community
It is genuinely thanks to your continued visits, engagement, and support of my blog that I am able to pursue endeavors beyond personal gain. This month, I am incredibly proud to announce that, once again, I have been able to sponsor a young girl in Haiti. This initiative is part of my ongoing commitment to donate 10% of all earnings generated directly from my blog. This opportunity to give back, even in a small way for now, fills me with immense gratitude and reinforces the purpose behind my work. Your readership directly contributes to making a tangible difference in someone’s life, and for that, I am eternally thankful to our wonderful community.