In November, I wrote 2 posts as well:<\/p>\n
- \n
- 6 Awesome Chrome Extensions to Save Money when Shopping<\/a>.<\/li>\n
- The Best Remote Job Ideas + my Thoughts on Digital Nomadism<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
I also spent some time with mild redesigns of this blog, editing a few old posts, and adding a new section on money saving tools<\/a> for some quick saving resources.<\/p>\n
All in all, I think November was a pretty strong month for content creation, and I even obtained 2 backlinks from some pretty highly ranked websites by guest posting and using HARO.<\/p>\n
Anyway, this income report is still a bit of an interesting one because I think it's time I change a few things\u00a0and get back to the fundamentals.<\/strong><\/p>\n
The month of November saw my first significant drop in traffic since August, marking 3 months of somewhat stagnant growth (and now a decline).<\/p>\n
Declining traffic also means declining revenue, but this is a symptom of a problem and not a cause. Traffic growth is my primary goal in nurturing WebMonkey, so the true question for this blogging income report is\u00a0how can I keep growing blog traffic?<\/strong><\/p>\n
I'll get to the traffic stats and some growth ideas in a moment, but first, onto the monthly blog revenue!<\/p>\n
Google AdSense Revenue from Blogging – $93.09<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"AdSense](\"https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/AdSense-Earnings.png\")
<\/p>\nI was always under the impression that webmasters were prohibited from sharing any Google AdSense screenshots or information, but apparently I\u00a0am\u00a0<\/em>allowed to at least show my monthly earnings.<\/p>\n
AdSense earnings are up compared to the month of October, which is awesome! Perhaps the Christmas shopping season has blessed me with some increased RPMs!<\/p>\n
I am excited to see AdSense creep back up. Plus, after reading a few other income reports from bloggers using AdSense, I think my blog is actually earning less advertisement revenue than other blogs in similar niches with the same amount of traffic.<\/p>\n
I've gone ahead and added new ad units to WebMonkey and modified my side bar and footer using some AdSense optimization tips<\/a> from WPBeginner.<\/p>\n
I've only added my new ad units as of December 8th, but we'll see how revenue is impacted for the rest of the month.<\/p>\n
Making Money on Medium – $25.80<\/strong><\/h2>\n
As per usual, it seems my Medium revenue fluctuates quite a bit each month, but I don't mind that too much. Medium is just a way for me to syndicate content from WebMonkey, and I'm happy with the income it brings in!<\/p>\n
![\"medium-payment-november\"](\"https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/medium-payment-november.png\")
<\/p>\nPlus, in more exciting news, my Medium efforts have finally crossed the $500 lifetime earnings mark!<\/p>\n
![\"medium-making-money\"](\"https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/medium-making-money.png\")
<\/p>\nI have certainly been tempted in the past to switch more of my attention to writing on Medium since the platform is so lucrative, but I will continue to refrain from doing so for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n
I really like writing on Medium<\/a>, and it is an interesting platform, but I want to build my own corner of the internet and I prefer the control I have on my own blog as supposed to being part of a larger network.<\/p>\n
Plus, in my eyes, the platform is gradually morphing into a very politically charged (and fairly one-sided) arena where civil discussion is becoming replaced by clickbait headlines and broad-stroke accusations.<\/p>\n
I subscribed to Medium and began writing on the platform to learn and share more about my experiences with side hustling, technology, and marketing.<\/p>\n
Lately, all I see in the featured stories feed or my suggested reading material is content that is\u00a0angry,\u00a0<\/strong>pessimistic,\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0black or white.<\/strong><\/p>\n
Anyway, I might write a post that goes deeper into my thoughts on Medium and why I think many authors on the platform should hold themselves to a higher standard than they currently are, but that might be a can of worms for another day…<\/p>\n
For now and the future, my focus is WebMonkey.<\/p>\n
Call it pride, or diversification of risk…But…<\/p>\n
![\"wolf](\"https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/wolf-of-wallstreet.jpg\")
<\/p>\nBlog on, bloggers! Blog on.<\/p>\n
Blogging Affiliate Income – $112<\/strong><\/h2>\n
I'm going to start categorizing my affiliate income under a single category rather than by unique affiliate source because I have now implemented a third affiliate stream on my blog and splitting them would be far too granular.<\/p>\n
Here is how my affiliate income turned out for the month of November:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Shopify referral income from my dropshipping guide<\/a>:\u00a0$116<\/strong>.<\/li>\n
- Amazon affiliate income: -$7.20 (lol).<\/li>\n
- FlexOffers affiliate income: $3.20!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Shopify referral income is certainly carrying the team for this month's income report, and I'm excited to see a few more people are giving dropshipping a test run!<\/p>\n
![\"Shopify-affiliate-income\"](\"https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Shopify-affiliate-income.png\")
<\/p>\nA few items were returned on Amazon resulting in the loss of $7.20, but that is absolutely alright with me. I'd rather have people shop through my Amazon affiliate links and actually enjoy whatever they end up buying than to regret it!<\/p>\n
And, finally, I earned $3.20 from a new affiliate network I have joined:\u00a0FlexOffers.<\/strong><\/p>\n
FlexOffers is an affiliate network that connects publishers to over 11,000 advertisers that offer products\/services in a wide range of niches like finance, travel, shopping, and more.<\/p>\n
![\"flexoffers](\"https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/flexoffers-affiliate-network.jpg\")
There are even more categories to choose from than these 6!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n FlexOffers was particularly interesting to me because, as it turns out, they have a lot of affiliate partnerships with companies I have already written about in posts like my gig economy job list<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Integrating affiliate offers into some of my existing content seemed like an obvious low-hanging fruit, so that was a nice find.<\/p>\n
Plus, FlexOffers also taught me about a few new money saving services and apps which I have started to use, like Paribus, and other apps I don't personally use but have since mentioned because I think they are neat.<\/p>\n
Anyway, 2 users signed up for Paribus through my affiliate link, which resulted in the $3.20 in income:<\/p>\n
![\"flexoffers](\"https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/flexoffers-affiliate-income.png\")
<\/p>\nA 1-2% conversion rate is pretty normal for a lot of affiliate programs, and I like the level of reporting FlexOffers provides their publishers (you can get pretty granular).<\/p>\n
I never want WebMonkey to turn into an affiliate shill, but affiliate income is part of my blog's income so I feel the need to report it. I'm going to continue to use FlexOffers to see where things go, but I will only recommend products\/service I use or ones that heavily relate to my content and might be useful for others!<\/p>\n
If you are a blogger and would like to signup for FlexOffers, I'd appreciate if you consider using my link<\/a> so I can earn some additional revenue on sales you make (taken from FlexOffer's portion of revenue, not yours!)<\/p>\n
All in all, November wrapped up nicely with\u00a0$231 in blog related income.<\/strong><\/p>\n
Thank you all for making it possible \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n
Blogging Traffic Report – November 2018<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Alright, time to dive into the root of my traffic growth problems. Hopefully, by showing my line of thinking, other bloggers out there who are struggling to generate organic traffic might learn how to best diagnose their own problems!<\/p>\n
Here is my traffic breakdown for November:<\/p>\n
![\"blogging-income-report\"](\"https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/blogging-income-report.png\")
<\/p>\nTotal page views were\u00a018,221<\/strong>, marking the second month in a row of decreased traffic.<\/p>\n
And, judging by the first week of December, this month will also be a lower traffic month. Take a look at my traffic snapshot over the past 30 days compared to the 30 days prior to that:<\/p>\n
![\"google-traffic-for-blog\"](\"https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/google-traffic-for-blog.png\")
<\/p>\nSessions are down 16.3%, which is a very considerable drop!<\/p>\n
So, what made August and September such strong months, and what has contributed to my declining traffic?<\/p>\n
Here is my two-pronged hypothesis:<\/p>\n
- \n
- I was favored by the Google Medic Update in August, and then hurt by Google algorithm changes in October and November.<\/li>\n
- I have strayed from my strengths in marketing.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Let's break down point 1<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
The Google Medic Update and Blog Traffic<\/strong><\/h2>\n
In August, Google unrolled an algorithm now called the Medic Update<\/a>, and this update really hurt the rankings of many medical websites or websites involved in YMYL topics (Your Money, Your Life).<\/p>\n
Thankfully, my website spiked in traffic throughout August because the Medic Update clearly put me on the winning side. Just check out how my search engine visibility spiked for August (courtesy of Serpstat.com<\/a> data):<\/p>\n
![\"keyword-trends\"](\"https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/keyword-trends.png\")
<\/p>\nNow, when I check my search engine visibility with Sistrix.com, another useful SEO tool, I have confirmed that I have had a massive drop in keyword visibility:<\/p>\n
![\"website](\"https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/website-keyword-visibility.png\")
<\/p>\nUsing the Google Update Tool Checker<\/a>\u00a0from Sistrix also shows that I benefited from the previous Google updates in August, but have lost out on ‘Medic Update 2:'<\/p>\n
![\"Google-update-results\"](\"https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Google-update-results.png\")
<\/p>\nNow, after doing some reading, it is pretty clear that Google has pushed additional updates to their algorithm<\/a> that are more than just a Medic rollback.<\/p>\n
- The Best Remote Job Ideas + my Thoughts on Digital Nomadism<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"quora](\"https:\/\/www.webmonkey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/quora-marketing-for-bloggers.png\")
<\/p>\n