Yesterday I published a round-up post for the total blog traffic in 2014. It turns out my blog has attracted more than 40,000 unique visitors last year.
Today I decided to wrap up a blog income report for the whole of 2014.
I have been publishing my blog online income reports starting in January 2014, so by today, I have 12 reports for the previous twelve months.
In total, my blog in 2014 has earned $3,334.2, what is around $277.85 per month or $9.13 in a day.
Blog Income Report 2014
As you can see from the above chart - first months of 2014 (January, February, March, April, and May) are not even visible on this chart. Starting August there is a significant growth in the online income.
Here is why - starting January, I implemented only Google AdSense on my blog to monetize it, and income stayed low while I added Amazon Associates starting the month of August.
| Month | USD |
| January 2014 | 8.37 |
| February 2014 | 9.6 |
| March 2014 | 5.51 |
| April 2014 | 7.86 |
| May 2014 | 6.01 |
| June 2014 | 16.49 |
| July 2014 | 21.41 |
| August 2014 | 95.03 |
| September 2014 | 287.25 |
| October 2014 | 142.81 |
| November 2014 | 704 |
| December 2014 | 2,029.67 |
Blog online income report 2014
The best month in terms of online income in 2014 was December, when my blog earned pretty serious $2,029.67.
The worst month in 2014 was March with really modest $5.51.
In overall, the year of 2014 was full of surprises, but was closed in steady growth (at least I hope so, and hope that growth will continue in 2015 as well)
What monetization channels I have used in 2014
In total, I have used 4 or 5 channels to monetize my blog - Google Adsense, Booking.com, Amazon Associates, Amazon CPM, and some other affiliate programs.
By now, the most successful channel turned out is Amazon Associates, followed by Google Adsense and Amazon CPM equally. I dropped Booking.com affiliate program after I found the hotel industry is a way too competitive.
Expenses
Doing my monthly income reports I have never included expenses section, what might give not a fully transparent picture of what's really happening each month. I promise I will include expenses section in future reports.
Speaking of expenses in 2014 - I have used some Facebook Ads to drive traffic or buy likes and of course, I had to pay monthly hosting payments.
I guess total "investment" in Facebook's ads are about $200.00 while I know for sure - I'm paying for my Linode VPS $40.00 each month. During this summer I got a Linode Promo code, and it saved me another $100.00.
So in total:
- Facebook Ads: = $200.00
- Linode VPS:$380.00
- Total: $580
Goals for 2015
Though I have been monetizing my blog for already 1 year - I still feel like a newbie at this thing. I have no idea were 2015 actually will lead me in, but I have some goals for it.
In total, I would like to reach $15,000 by the end of 2015. In average it's $1,250 each month or $41.09 every day. By writing these lines these numbers sound pretty high for me, but actually I don't think they are impossible.
I'm looking to diversify my online income sources as well, though Amazon, for now, seems a "gold miner" - I believe there are more options to discover and add as a potential income stream.
I will keep Google AdSense on my blog, and who knows, maybe in 2015 I will figure out how to get more than $40.00 per month from it (I did setup a goal about a year ago)