Maddie 
I can't believe I'm writing my FIRST EVER blogging income report!
A little bit of background
I started The Barbell Way in June 2021 (the summer after I graduated high school) with little knowledge of how much work it would actually take to monetize my blog.
I thought I could just write about the things that interest me and then everything else would just fall into place. I soon found out that this was NOT the case whatsoever.
For example, when I was very new to blogging, I decided to apply to the Amazon affiliate program, but I had only managed to make two sales within the few months I had to meet the three sale requirement. So, I was kicked from the program and felt defeated. However, I didn't give up.
In March 2022, I began blogging consistently. Over the summer I took a few blogging courses from By Sophia Lee (I highly recommend), and I saw DRAMATIC increases in my website traffic! I went from less than 100 monthly page views to over 1,000.
I then took it upon myself to create a Pinterest strategy, a content calendar, and to learn ALLLL about SEO. When I started blogging, I didn't even know what SEO (search engine optimization) was. But it's something you MUST learn in order to be successful in blogging.
Recently, I've been seriously slacking on my blog posts–I didn't post a single new one this month, last month, or the month before. But, I plan on being consistent again in January, after my finals are all over and my stress is back to a manageable level (I am currently a sophomore in college).
So, why am I sharing this information?
It's HARD to make money in college. I am a full time student, I work for my university, AND I spent 10-15 hours a week at the gym. So, it's definitely difficult to make time for my blog–but I know in the end it'll be more than worth it.
College isn't cheap, my lifestyle isn't cheap, and let's be honest: I love to spend money. So, I wanted to find something I could do to ultimately make some extra cash on the side.
Blogging is perfect because I can do it anytime, anywhere. It may be time consuming to get your feet off the ground, but it's awesome in the sense that you get to create your own schedule. Plus, I want to be a business owner someday, and blogging may be a great first step into that career.
Another reason I wanted to give blogging a shot is because I had read about just HOW MUCH money everyday people were making from their websites. Some people make five figures a month! I also love to write, so the blog thing seemed like a must.
But overall, I have a burning passion for the very subject of The Barbell Way: health and fitness. After all, I am a personal trainer. I thought I could share my passion with others and hopefully aid them in navigating through their own health journeys.
And finally, to answer the above question directly, I'm writing income reports to track my blogging progress and to show others that if I (a 19 year old, broke college student) can do this, you can too.
November 2022 business report - stats
Site Visitors: 945 (+65% from last month)
Page Views: 1,386 (+79% from last month)
Email List Subscribers: 110
Pinterest Followers: 57
November 2022 business report - income
Amazon: $1.30 (Affiliate)
*I recently applied for Google Adsense, so hopefully I am accepted into that next month. As of now, the Amazon affiliate program is my only means of monetization.
TOTAL: $1.30
Okay, let's be real...$1.30 isn't a whole lot of money–it definitely won't get me far in today's economy (LOL). But, I'm sharing it with you because it's SOMETHING. I've worked so hard and have put in soooo many hours, so I'm proud that my efforts are finally starting to pay off. I want to share my monetization progress from the very beginning, and I know it's only up from here.
My most popular posts this month
Summary of what I did in November
What I plan to do next month
In December I need to push through my finals and go home to my family for holiday break. I may go back and do some updating on old blog posts, but I don't plan on writing many new posts.
