This is the 47th income report as part of the zero backlink experiment.
Every month I will publish a post like this one that shows you how this blog is progressing and everything I have done across the month to get it there.
These reports will help me track my own progress while teaching you what to do and more importantly what not to do.
What I Have Done In August
After a crazy month moving house last month, I was happy to settle back into a normal pattern of life this month.
One of the biggest struggles at the moment is training for Ironman, not only does it take up a huge amount of time but it leaves me drained and uninspired.
I’m sure as training continues that effect will lessen and I will have more available energy, but for the here and now – the training & eating is taking its toll.
Plus I am up to 4 poo’s per day now.
Cleaning Up The Blog
I’ve spent most of this month on blog maintenance fixing things like broken links, missing alt tags, duplicate meta data and all that fun stuff.
The last time I did a complete audit like this was around 14 months ago and it’s amazing just how messy things can get without you noticing.
I used DeepCrawl for this which is without doubt the most comprehensive crawler on the market.
Honestly it was amazing what kind of things it dug up – everything from missing titles to duplicate H1 tags but it also revealed a huge amount of duplicate content coming from the forums.
This led me down the path of adding noindex tags to 6,508 pages on the blog & submitting them all to the URL removes tool in Google Search Console.
As you can see above, there is some huge movement in the number of pages Google are now indexing on the blog and I’m expecting that to drop even further.
This should also have an impact on organic search traffic, whether that will be positive or negative remains to be seen but early signs are looking good-
Of course this is only a top level view of things and the dust needs to settle for another few weeks yet.
Naturally I will follow up with a dedicated post that drills down into more detail but basically I just ran an audit with DeepCrawl and fixed everything it told me to fix.
You could also do the same with Screaming Frog BUT that doesn’t cover all of your bases, for example it won’t flag up duplicate content like DeepCrawl does. So if you are going to do it, do it right.
New Featured Images
If you have spent any time on this blog you have probably noticed that I am a really sucky graphics designers.
So in an effort to improve the visual appeal of the blog I had a few different featured image templates mocked up for you guys to vote on.
Thank you to all 862 people that took the time to vote. Your opinion is critical to my decision making!
From all of your votes there is one image in particular that seems to have caught your attention the most-
The problem is that you guys are so awesome, that you all started sending me other concepts & ideas to choose from.
And if you know anything about marketing, then you’ll know that the paradox of choice makes you anxious and less likely to take action.
Right now I am slap bang in the middle of that feeling, I mean look at some of these other awesome concepts I have received since sending out the survey-
So now I really don’t know what to and I’m wondering if I actually need to go a step further with a full branding design review.
Stuck between a rock and a hard place – any ideas?
Content Creation
I published a total of 6 posts this month which is 1 more than last month.
First we looked at 7 ways to get traffic to your blog today – if you just implement 1 of those strategies you will see an increase in traffic.
Then we look at my simple 2 step SEO process that delivers crazy results – in fact I was re-applying step 1 to this blog this month with my DeepCrawl fixes earlier in the post.
Next we looked at how to sell your Amazon affiliate website for $190,000. The post tells the story of the site and how it was eventually sold for a huge lump sum.
Other than those we just had the regular income report roundup feature and this months edition of the very best of internet marketing.
Crunching The Numbers
So let’s get our hands dirty and take a look at what my lack of attention to the blog has done to the important metrics.
Visitor Statistics
Last month traffic increased to 54,642 (1,762/day) which has increased further this month to 58,775 (1,896/day)
Most Popular Content
The most popular post on the blog this month was the classic post that’s shows you how to make money on Fiverr.
That was very closely followed by the simple 2 step SEO process & how to create a profitable membership site guides.
Top Traffic Sources
Not much has changed in the top traffic sources this month other than how much traffic they sent. There was a drop off from Facebook as I heavily reduced ad costs this month.
Search Engine Traffic
Search engine traffic increased nicely this month growing from 39,615 (1,278/day) to 47,541 (1,533/day).
YouTube Views
I lost all of my historical YouTube views because of changes I made to the branding – so I keep track of them separately.
YouTube views showed a small drop this month from 17,969 views to 16,799 views this month.
However the total minutes watched metric increase from 77,266 to 78,154!
Social Shares
My social analytics plugin seems to have broken at some point in the past month so I am seeking an alternative right now
Subscribers
The most important metric on the entire blog – earning a subscription from someone is the ultimate form of commitment and conversion.
This month brought 1,755 new subscribers which is huge drop from last months 3,498. This is because of the giveaway I ran last month which inflated the numbers.
There are now a total of 145,125 subscribers across all of the various channels!
- E-mail – 1,255 (1,227 last month) / Total: 79,380
- Twitter – 322 (748 last month) / Total: 13,597
- YouTube – 164 (726 last month) / Total: 12,323
- Facebook – 169 (716 last month) / Total: 21,508
- Google+ – -5 (9 last month) / Total: 17,877
- RSS – -150 (72 last month) / Total: 440
Unable to post graphs at the moment – will update asap
Income Report
Here are the numbers you really want to see-
Affiliate Earnings
- 48HoursLogo – $10.00 (case study)
- 99CentArticles – $37.31
- ActiveCampaign – $1.80
- Ahrefs – $357.34 (my Ahrefs review)
- Aweber – $150.60 (tutorial)
- Blog Advertising – $907.36 (Advertise)
- Blue Chip Backlinks – $100.00
- Bluehost – $840.00 (discount coupon)
- BuyProxies – $22.50
- BuzzBundle – $65.67 (review)
- CheapWindowsVPS – $0.85 (discount coupon)
- CMS Commander – $9.61
- Drip Revolution – $156.47 (discount coupon)
- FCS Networker – $203.63 (discount coupon)
- FreshDrop – $18.08
- GetResponse – $157.10 (review)
- Gleam – $25.00
- GSA Captcha Breaker – $544.96 (review / discount coupon)
- GSA Search Engine Ranker – $284.38 (review / discount coupon)
- GSA SEO Indexer – $70.80 (case study)
- Hostgator – $200.00
- HQ Biz In A Box – $21.60
- JustHost – $240.00 (start a blog / discount coupon)
- Kontent Machine – $394.10 (review)
- LeadPages – $62.40
- LinkEmperor – $263.69 (review)
- LongTailPro – $1,228.30 (my Long Tail Pro review / discount coupon)
- MyThemeShop – $144.90 (review)
- MTTB – $44.10
- OneHourIndexing – $424.12 (case study)
- OptinMonster – $3.42
- PandaBot – $101.40 (case study)
- PowerupHosting – $27.74 (discount coupon)
- PrivateInternetAccess – $90.00
- ProxyHub – $4.73 (discount coupon)
- Rank Tracker – $00.04
- RankWYZ – $6.60
- Raven Tools – $0.27 (best backlink checker case study)
- SEMRush – $765.90 (my SEMRush review)
- SENuke – $44.10 (tutorial)
- SEO Content Machine – $51.38 (discount coupon)
- SEO Dominators Club – $14.99 (discount coupon)
- SEO Powersuite – $191.74 (see my SEO Powersuite review)
- SERocket – $363.60 (tutorial / discount coupon)
- SERP Book – $18.72
- SERPed – $1,352.90 (review)
- Social Locker Pro – $13.18
- SociSynd – $18.04
- StableHost – $25.00
- TheBestSpinner – $341.50 (The Best Spinner review / discount coupon)
- ThirstyAffiliates – $25.05 (discount coupon)
- Traffic Planet Hosting (now called WPX Hosting) – $420.00 (Case Study / WPX Hosting review)
- TweetAttacksPro – $50.80 (discount coupon)
- Ultimate Demon – $123.58 (review / discount coupon)
- URLProfiler – $157.94 (discount coupon)
- VideoMakerFX – $67.20 (how to make money on Fiverr case study)
- WordAI – $59.95
Expenses
- Traffic Planet Hosting (now called WPX Hosting) – $49.99 (Case Study / WPX Hosting review)
- DeepCrawl – $49.00
- Survey Monkey – $34.55
- Facebook Advertising – $774.82 (Case Study)
Consultation Earnings
I separate out my SEO consultant earnings from the affiliate earnings. The blog drives affiliate sales directly and whilst it does generate SEO consultation leads these are separate projects in their own right.
I didn’t take on any consultation work this month which resulted in a juicy zero dollars!
Other Income
I’m working on another project right now that is part of the blog but not something I’m ready to talk about publicly yet or maybe ever.
I will declare the income here though as it wouldn’t be possible without the blog and ‘technically’ it is affiliate income.
Last month showed a huge drop off during the summer season but that has recovered from $6,417.57 last month to a comfortable $11,267.91 this month around as predicted!
Earnings Total
- Affiliate Income – $11,326.54
- Consultation Income – $00.00
- Other Income – $11,267.91
- Expenses – $908.36
Grand Total: $21,686.09 / £16,336.65 ($13,551.28 / £10,267.29 last month)
Unable to post graphs at the moment – will update asap
Signing Off
The blog was showing huge signs of decay for a range of metrics last month so it’s nice to see things swing back the other direction.
Now that Summer is officially over I am expecting to see an upward swing in all metrics over the coming couples of months before we hit December.
I planted a lot of seeds this month, not just from the site audit perspective but I’ve also got some killer content prepared and ready to launch on Monday or Tuesday next week.
However, I do have a friend arriving here in a couple of weeks for a vacation which is guaranteed to keep me distracted so I may not achieve everything I want to.
Either way last month the blog felt like a sinking ship in terms of performance and just how much work I had to catch up on and now we are sailing on smooth seas again.
So with that said, I am going to hit publish on this post then plan all of my goals and work for the month ahead!
Thank you to everyone that has helped me reach my goals – I couldn’t do it without you, the reader!
62 Responses
Very transparent and clear report.. nice work matthew!!!
No worrys!
Hey Matthew,
Here you are only working for affiliate earning. But why you don’t applying Adsense on this blog. You have good number of viewers than you can make more money with GA.
So is there any reason behind this ??
I don’t like Adsense
Wow you generate so many money there. I hope i will reach level as you now.
There is no such thing as hope!
Oneday i gonna reach this level. Need more time to build networking.
Hi Mathew,
Very good earning and very inspirational for newbie bloggers like me. I am following all your posts to get best in my life. each time when i land in your blog, i close watch your all the work , your seo etc. I expect i can be little like you.
Best Regards
shajeer
Keep up the good fight Shajeer!
Wonderful. your income reports give more ideas and inspirations to me.
Thanks a lot.
No problem Vijay!
The Best Part For Me Is:
Affiliate Earnings > Rank Tracker – $00.04 :D
And
Facebook Advertising – $774.82
Thanks For Sharing Each And Every Part Of Your Earnings.
PS: 8 Tabs Are Left To Read.. :P
Why are those the best bits haha
Hi, Matthew you inspired me alot from your blog posts and now This Income report. Will soon Join the race ;)
Why wait :)
Bro awesome Report. Really i inspired from the way you explain about things. You explain each and every thing step by step, so everyone can easily learn!
Thanks Jon :)
Hello Mathew, i notice a significant drop in your Bluehost earnings compared to the last time i came to this blog (which was a while back). What is the cause for that?
I think they had a promo on at some point
Good to see your earning is back to track.
Is there any impact on visitors by recent ongoing Google core algo update?
Which update are you talking about? Penguin 4?
Yes, and the core algo update.
You have been my inspiration for many years now, I usually read your articles monthly to be inspired regarding my internet business.
Thank you very much!
No problem =D
Hello
Quick question about the renting advertising banners. Are those banners google friendly and if they are how can i find someone to rent them?
Thanks
You can find all the details here https://www.matthewwoodward.co.uk/advertise-on-the-blog/ and they are Google friendly yes
Honestly, am glad for you. Including everything you’re sharing here, thanks Matt for this income report, hopefully, i will be able to make it big time like you do.
No such thing as hope, just hard work and determination
This is wonderful Mathew. You make most of your money from affiliate. I really good, You also make alot from blog advertising. Is it that you are advertising other people’s Products or banner on your blog or how do you do that. Please can you tell me how?
Thanks for this wonderful Income report. This will show alot of people who want to make money as stay at home the best way to do it. Thanks
That is from this approach https://www.matthewwoodward.co.uk/blogging/make-money/banner-ads/
Errrr….thanks for sharing the number of bowel movements you have :)
Every time I come here I’m amazed at the number of different income sources you have. It must be such a nice feeling knowing that some of them could tank and you’d still be doing well. Something to consider!
I hope the training gets better. Please do keep us informed on the pooping front…
Thanks, but this is a 2 way street and you didn’t share your bowel numbers.
The iron man challenge is something I’ve always fancied. The best I’ve done is the English C2C ride, completed in 8 hours.. Butting swimming and running really aren’t my forté
The best of luck to you
What kind of distance was that ride?
104 miles from Sunderland to Dalton-in-Furness. Then 121 miles the next day back (I took the scenic route back). https://www.strava.com/activities/56476219
I’m not half as fit now, although I still trek about when I make the time
Wow that is a crazy crazy ride, I should stop moaning about Ironman hahaha :P
Why don’t you hire a graphic designer?
I will :)
Hey Matthew, Wonderful to see this numbers month on month so will join the race soon :)
I have a place for you when you are ready :)
Who do you use for email marketing?
Please take a look at https://www.matthewwoodward.co.uk/blogging/email/email-marketing-part-1/
still impressive numbers! Just giving that deepcrawl a go right now – good stuff!
Yeah it’s a great tool!
The second batch of designs is sick. Definitely go with one of those. I’d say the Black background, but either works.
Thanks for your feedback Adam, I like them as well :)
You earn money only with affiliate marketing? Its recommended change adsense for Affiliate Earnings? Sorry my english is bad. Regards From Mexico
Yes I prefer affiliate stuff, but there is no reason you cannot do both!
Your material is always top shelf as far as I’m concerned. I appreciate your efforts and honesty. Thank you for another great post.
Thanks Rob!
Hey Matthew, its great to see good numbers again from your side. I have best wishes for you ahead.
Thanks Ali!
Great as usual Matt…
But there is a little error in this post that I notice, I clicked your “simple 2 steps SEO” and it goes to “make money on fiverr” tutorial.
I wonder whether those 2 tutorials are in the same place?
Ooooh good spot, fixed it thanks :)
The best part which I like about your posts is man you don’t leave any part you cover each and everything completely :) Btw amazing growth bro
Thanks Sankey, and technically this isn’t growth – it’s just getting back to normal :)
So glad to see things are back on track!
For the designs I absolutely prefer the second batch. Looks much more professional IMHO. A clean look is important for Pinterest clickthroughs too, I think.
And it may be my maternal instincts here but is everything ok with your bowels? It certainly is the first time I saw a poo frequency report in a revenue report.
I’m going to start working on my August report tomorrow too. Fingers crossed for a positive trend.
Hahahaha I’m heavy loading on the calories right now =D
So you think the user submitted ones are better than the ones that went to the vote? Maybe I need a new vote!
Good luck with you report, I’ll read it tomorrow!
Thanks! I just posted it –
http://www.yeys.com/355/august-2016-traffic-revenue-report/
As someone also training for a big race, it really doesn’t get easier. Runs get longer, work-outs harder, more bruises, more scratches, etc, etc. But, that is what it takes. For me, hopefully it will have been enough to make the finish line. If for some reason, I DNF, then at least I am in the best shape of my life.
Don’t get me wrong, I love it (most days), but it has not become easier.
cd :O)
I suppose it will be easier when I finish and slam back some honey JD!
Now, you are talking!!! I can’t do alcohol, but I’ll raise a glass of lemonade with you.
cd :O)