Photo Credit: altitudesummit.com
Welcome to the fifth blog income and stats recap of MMYW! While I hadn’t disclosed income from Reach Financial Independence so far, I am adding it here since the whole blogging thing is considered one endeavor. For example, my VA has been working on both sites for the past months. MMYW is now five months old, how time flies!
Check previous income and stats recaps:
Expenses
MMYW
Virtual assistant and staff writing: $562. The VA works 20 hours per week. I wouldn’t have hired her just to take care of RFI but that is a welcome help with the extra work on MMYW, which is why all her salary goes to MMYW.
I bought a ton of posts too for the months to come.
Total $562
RFI
Total $0. Love those months…
SUPER SECRET WEBSITE
Hosting $86. That was a 3 year deal on Hostgator’s Black Friday sale, apparently I can host unlimited domains under that package so I will move my land development’s website there to freeload, although the entire cost goes to my third blog.
Staff writing $25. I am writing most posts myself at the moment but will buy some to have in queue, my priority remains on RFI and MMYW.
EXPENSES TOTAL $673. Wow, super expensive month, the most expensive so far.
Income
RFI
$2,232. This is a mix of Adsense, affiliate sales, and direct advertising, plus a little income I got from my ad referral network’s commissions. Contact me if you are interested in joining the ad network!
I took a hit in November, I though ad deals would pour in to close the year’s budget, but it has been way less than expected, and very little work for the ad network as well.
MMYW
$465. Still waiting for that PR update, that apparently won’t happen this year, and maybe never. It is hard to change the ad reps’ mindset and have them consider the other metrics for advertising. I guess I won’t be making my goal of $3,000 by the end of December! But that is the first month the income takes off and efforts are finally starting to pay off. Because I spent so much buying staff posts that will last well into the first quarter of 2014, MMYW actually lost money this month, but it is not the way things are normally.
Super secret website
If you read my post last month, you know I bought another PF website! I won’t disclose the URL or the sales price just yet, I started managing it on the 1st of December, but moved it a bit with my contacts during the last week of November, in hopes to start making back the sales price as soon as possible. My goal, as I explained in the post about closing the deal, is to make my money back in 6 months. The online world is a risky business and you never know when the rules will change. Anyway, during the last week of November I closed… 10% of the purchase price in deals! And another 5% is agreed but not implemented yet.
It is great to see that my contacts enjoyed the site and were happy to close deals on it as well, although I know it won’t be like this every month, but seeing an investment that gets you back 10% during the first week of ownership is really good news.
I also had to buy hosting for this site, and a few fiverr gigs to optimize its speed and tweak a few things. My VA is working on it a lot, so I think next month her salary will be allocated mostly to the super secret website.
TOTAL $2,697 + 10% of super secret website’s purchase price.
After Costs Total
$2,024. Almost a miracle with all the expenses this month to get over $2,000. Hopefully December will be awesome!
10% of blogging income will go to sponsor young girls’ education in my village, my education fund now has $404 from July and $253 from August, $297 from September, $357 from October, $269 from November. Total: $1,580. One of my awesome readers also pledged to match my donations up to $2,000 so we have over $3,000 now!!
The school year ended on November 30th and I offered a full ride to the best two students to go to boarding school (instead of sending one to a cheaper trade school for a year instead of three). So I am committed to those two kids for the next three years! That will set me back more than the $3,000 I collected but the school bills monthly and I am hoping to grow those blogs even more to easily cover tuition and board. More on that later, in the meanwhile, if you would like to help the village’s school too, please get in touch, we are going to buy uniforms, shoes and supplies for the younger kids who can’t afford them (teachers won’t let you attend classes if you don’t have shoes).
Blog stats for RFI
Still a slight decrease in pageviews but that is what I should expect when spending the past two months on holidays in Europe and not working on my blog. Overall still a good month.
And, last minute news, RFI is now a PR4!!
| Oct 31st | Nov 30th | |
| PageRank | 3 | 3 |
| MozRank | 5.34 | 5.35 |
| Domain Authority | 47 | 47 |
| Alexa Rank | 27,702 | 32,328 |
| Twitter Followers | 3,869 | 3,948 |
| RSS subscribers | 857 | 912 |
| FB fans | 1,465 | 1,457 |
| Pageviews | 47,439 | 49,224 |
| Unique | 21,062 | 23,862 |
| SEO traffic % | 48.5% | 51.2% |
Blog stats for MMYW
Because MMYW started one year after RFI, I will compare the stats I can find. Back in July 2012, I was blogging in a cave, waiting for the world to come and find me.
Whoohoo we broke 10,000 pageviews! I got my search traffic back which is great news.
In November 2012, RFI jumped from PR0 to PR3, MMYW is still stuck as a PR0 since Google hasn’t updated in almost a year. Sigh.
And, last minute news, MMYW is now a PR3!!
| Oct 31st | Nov 30th | RFI nov 30th 2012 | |
| PageRank | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| MozRank | 4.92 | 5.16 | ? |
| Domain Authority | 39 | 40 | ? |
| Alexa Rank | 49,203 | 55,473 | 1M |
| Twitter Followers | 1,557 | 1,612 | 250 |
| RSS subscribers | 225 | 257 | 50 |
| FB fans | 76 | 2,232 | 15 |
| Pageviews | 8,472 | 11,704 | 4,350 |
| Unique | 4,856 | 6,971 | 1,375 |
| SEO traffic % | 45.15% | 64.6% | 12.3% |
Sorry about the lack of information on RFI, some info is not available in retrospect. But so far, MMYW is doing way better.
Super secret website
Super secret website is almost 2 years old. Here are the starting stats when I bought it. I think I may have lost the feed subscribers in the server migration but I need to double check that… My analytics are only 3 days old so I’ll start reporting next month.
| Nov 30th | |
| PageRank | 3 |
| MozRank | 5.25 |
| Domain Authority | 43 |
| Alexa Rank | 265,407 |
| Twitter Followers | 5,680 |
| RSS subscribers | Need to check |
| FB fans | 1,460 |
| Pageviews | |
| Unique | |
| SEO traffic % |
How did your blog grow in the past month? Happy with the results?
This post was featured on the Aspiring Blogger, Financial Planning, thank you!
Congrats on your progress! I am a newbie blogger trying to get out of the cave 🙂 so it’s helpful to read someone else’s stats and know where I could possibly be in a year or more!
Dee @ Color Me Frugal recently posted…Start 2014 With Cash Giveaway
Thanks Dee, I have to say I stopped doing that many efforts as before since summer, but once you are a bit established, it gets much easier to stay where you are.
That’s great that you still made $2k with all those expenses Pauline. And thanks again for posting these stats! It encourages me to see how mine compare with your original RFI numbers, maybe in a couple of years I’ll catch up to you. 🙂
FI Pilgrim recently posted…Never Forget To Pay A Bill Again – A Manilla Review
Best of luck! We are lucky to be in a niche where there is plenty of space for everyone.
Great job on your income, Pauline! I can’t wait to hear about the secret website =)
Holly@ClubThrifty recently posted…Squashing Vacation Envy
I haven’t really reviewed my blog statistics the past month or even two months except to give advertisers updates if requested. I think despite the lack of a PR update you are still well-positioned for the future by getting MMYW established. I really should have started my second site months ago for the sheer value that Google gives sites that are older and that have more pages/posts. I need to read up on your posts about virtual assistants…that seems like such a great rate for the work they do. Yours is always commenting on my site and it definitely makes me happy!
DC @ Young Adult Money recently posted…Online Shopping Alternatives to Amazon
Yes, she does a great job, and her comments are good compared to the usual “great content” ones. I bought a few domains and I don’t know if they are aging even though the site is not active? hopefully they are!
Absolutely awesome! Great going there Pauline! How do you keep up with so many blogs?!
Moneycone recently posted…10 Questions You Must Answer To Stay On Top Of Your Portfolio
I don’t know! haha I have let them be while I was traveling and am trying to take over now, with a never ending todo list. I’ll try to schedule 2-3 weeks of posts so I can concentrate on other things.
As always, I am impressed by how well your sites are doing! Way to go! That’s also great that you’ve got 2 students selected for the bursaries!
My stats are amazing this month, the best ever, but it is because of Christmas and I anticipate they will plummet again in January.
Anne @ Unique Gifter recently posted…Christmas Stocking Fillers for Travellers
Glad to hear about the traffic bump, you should try reddit for your best seasonal posts, if they go viral it can get a lot of traffic.
That’s great, Pauline. I have been kicking the idea of monetization around for a while, but uncertainty is keeping me back. I like reading about other’s online income — these kind of posts provide new motivation.
Done by Forty recently posted…Why I Cannot Watch Extreme Cheapskates
uncertainty about what? there isn’t much to lose.
Nice work as always Pauline, especially when you’ve not been putting as much time into it. November was a good month overall for FR and starting to think of looking seriously at a second site now that I have my VAs up and running, which should help out a lot. Congrats on the PR bump!
John S @ Frugal Rules recently posted…Has Holiday Gift Giving at the Office Gotten Out of Control
VAs plural wow you are stepping up your game!
Nice work! It was nice to see that PR update finally come through and to get a PR3.
Matt Becker recently posted…Understanding the Difference Between Group and Individual Disability Insurance Policies
Well done Matt! hard work paid off.
I got my PR and it was 2 🙁 Boo. I am going to try and work on that. Let me know if you have any recommendations! My blog is growing steadily, but I want to grow more, and do freelance writing. I am excited to hear about your super secret website.
Dear Debt recently posted…Dear Debt Letter from Little Miss Money
2 is still good! though I have a hard time getting ads for PR2 with the ad network. Anyway, you need to get your name out there, and as much exposure as possible, lmk if you would like to guest post on my sites 🙂
Now that you’ve got a PR3 and PR4 website, you’ll probably be getting emails for deals all the time! Honestly starting a second and third website was probably one of the better blogging investments I think you (and I) could have made.
MMD recently posted…Using a 72t Distribution to Get Early Access to My Retirement Savings
great investment indeed, I hope they will fare great now!
Looks like a great month overall, especially considering that you were on vacation! Looking forward to the unveiling of your super secret website and I’m glad to hear the change over is going smoothly. 🙂
Shannon @ The Heavy Purse recently posted…Create a Magical Christmas through Family Traditions
Oh, I wrote that post a few days back, in the meanwhile I have had a server nightmare but that looks all fixed and back to smooth… so far.
Thanks for sharing Pauline. As a newbie I enjoy reading about other’s progress and learning more about the blogging world.
Practical Cents recently posted…My Frugal Christmas Tree
Thanks for the update. BATB took a google PR hit and I went from 4 to 3, but I hear this isn’t as big of a deal as it used to be. Everything else stayed pretty much the same. I’ll be curious to see how my new site grows over the next year! Keep up the good work Pauline!
Budget and the Beach recently posted…Finding The Right Car for Your Road Trip
Thanks lady! Sorry to hear about your hit, and yes, I saw a few sites going from 5 to 4 as well and just shrugging it off. I am sure your sites will do great next year.
Congrats on another good month, and best of luck with the new purchase. Looking forward to reading more about it at some point in the future 🙂
Ray @ Squirrelers recently posted…Will You Define Retirement On Your Own Terms?
Pauline,
Awesome job! I know the income is a little down from what you were hoping, but that it still a nice haul.
I recently found that my blog http://www.moneyahoy.com got a PR4! How would I go about approaching advertisers to put ads up on my site? I have zero experience with this and wondering if you have any contacts or tidbits you’d be willing to share.
-Thanks!
Derek
MoneyAhoy recently posted…How To Change Your Own Oil
Congrats Derek, that is awesome! Advertisers usually get to you when they have a campaign that would fit your site. You can look online for web marketing agencies but I have done it and the return has been quite low. I would increase my presence by guest posting, etc. in hopes to get noticed by them.
Pauline,
OK – I’ll take a wait and see approach 🙂 When the time is right, I’m sure I’ll hear something from one of them.
I’ll also try expanding out into the guest posting arena.
Thanks for the tips!!!
MoneyAhoy recently posted…Selling Pokemon Cards on Ebay
So cool to see what you are able to with this blog in a few short months! Keeps me motivated to keep working at it.
Liz recently posted…Write Effective Goals for the New Year
I think that is so amazing that you are doing so much for the school. Giving the gift of education is how to break the cycle of poverty. Great job continuing your international online empire while on vacation for 2 months!
Kim@Eyesonthedollar recently posted…Pros and Cons of Being a Caregiver
Love to read these Pauline, great job. I especially like the fact that you are giving back 10% of your earnings to fund education in your village, that is fabulous! Maybe you can even teach them how to build a website and be as productive as you, congrats!!
Jim recently posted…Get Hundreds Of Facebook Fans With The ‘Like Box’
haha I think there are two guys with laptops in the village… The school had a computer room but they are all broken. My neighbor got a donation from the US of old computers but importing them would be as costly as buying new ones. It is crazy how the bureaucracy can prevent you from moving forward.
I love your commitment to schooling in your village. You are truly inspirational!
Terry @EasyFinancialTips recently posted…5 Awesome and Inexpensive Gift Ideas for Your Significant Other
Thank you Terry!
This is a good tip particularly to those fresh to the blogosphere.
Short but very accurate information… Thanks for sharing this one.
A must read post!
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