This is the 17th 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 December
I really tried my hardest to wind down in December and take as much time away from the computer as possible. Which didn’t really go to plan.
Either way it has being an interesting month to end the year on and after breaking my personal goal last month I’m excited to see what has happened this month!
You have no idea how hung over I am right now.
Content Creation
I published 6 posts throughout December including my first live talk at Boston SEO.
At long last I was able to launch my free SEO software (more details below) which seems to have gone down pretty well!
As 2014 drew closer I published the first part of my monster will change in 2014.
I also published the December best of internet marketing & income report roundup posts.
Blog Features
The blog had a number of features this past month including this analysis of my writing & a closer look at my email strategies.
I shared some tips on monetisation and was thanked by Eric.
I also gave an interview with BloggingCage.
I was also listed in the LWB Top 100 & Charles Floates best of 2013 content round up.
UK Blog Awards Nominee
I was kindly nominated for the UK Blog Awards which is one of the biggest awards of its type in the UK.
Looking through the other nominees the competition is pretty fierce to say the least!
Spoke At Boston SEO
The Boston SEO meet up has being running for 7 years and they invited me to speak at their December event.
Everything went without a hitch but behind the scenes it was a very different story. I was due to talk at 00:15am local time, but by that point I had already being working for 18 hours that day.
Combine that with the small problem that I hadn’t actually prepared anything & only had a few hours to put it all together in my brain dead state of mind.
As we pushed into my 19th hour of work for the day I took live fire questions from the audience – that was rough. Mostly answered with my head on the desk ^^
No one noticed though so it was all good! Check out the recording right here!
Launched Free Software
I launched my free SEO software at long last!
This was originally created as a private tool for me to save huge amounts of time when replicating competitor backlink profiles.
It takes advantage of one of the oldest tricks in the book and is so simple in nature many people overlook its value.
It took nearly a year to get it to a standard good enough for public release.
When a tool is private you don’t have to worry about installers, system compatibility, ease of use, customisable options, license checks or any of that! It just has to work most of the time!
Oh and then there’s setting up the backend, the website, the graphics, the launch, the videos and everything else.
All in all there was a lot more to it than I first thought. It is great to see people using it creatively though!
Launch Stats
The launch went pretty well although there were a couple of technical hiccups needing an emergency update to the software.
In total there were-
- Over 10,000 unique visitors
- 4,943 downloads/email opt ins
You’ll have to wait for the end of the report to see how sales of the upsell went ;)
Thank you to everyone that helped with the launch and if you would like to give away the software to your audience, sign up here.
I’ll be using all of this experience/data to produce a highly detailed product creation & launch case study for you all. I have some interesting stuff behind the scenes to share!
Going To Affiliate Summit
Affiliate Summit is the biggest conference of its type in the world and I recently won their best affiliate blog award.
Brian Littleton is the CEO of ShareASale.com who is one of the main sponsors of the conference.
He very kindly reached out to me and offered to pay for my flights & tickets to attend! I certainly wasn’t expecting generosity like that so extra thanks go out to Brian for making it happen.
So because of Brian’s kindness I will be attending Affiliate Summit in Vegas next month.
If you are attending and want to hook up please let me know!
I’ll be making an appearance at the ShareASale super heroes vs super villains party, the Affiliate Ball with Cyprus Hill & Affiliate Nation with Warren G.
This is without doubt, the biggest internet marketing party in the world!
Crunching The Numbers
So let’s get our hands dirty and take a look at what my hard work has done for me this month.
Visitor Statistics
Traffic has grown from 31,509 (1,050/day) up to 34,036 (1,097/day) – not a huge increase but I’ll take it!
Most Popular Content
My how to start a blog and make money & SEO in 2014 posts dominate this month.
And the Ecommerce SEO post is still going strong.
Great to see the launch of my SEO tool and YouTube marketing series sneak in as well!
Top Traffic Sources
Google remains the dominant traffic driver again with some nice bursts from a range of social media sources.
Even Charles managed to claw into the top 10 this month! Thanks man!
Search Engine Traffic
Search traffic sat at 26,874 (895 per day) last month with a steady increase to 29,573 (953 per day) this month.
Good to see the site doing well throughout the flurry of Google updates recently! Google is playing nicely.
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.
Last month save 20,015 views which has increased to 29,125 this month!
The main YouTube metric I like to track though is minutes watched which increased to 118,755 from last month’s 107,060.
That means 2.5 people are watching 1 of my videos every second of every day!
Social Shares
The blog has seen a total of 30,667 shares across Facebook, Twitter and Google+ this month compared to 26,847 last month.
- Google+ – 6,460 (5,178 last month)
- Twitter – 14,227 (12,875 last month)
- Facebook – 9,980 (8,794 last month)
My Forum Statistics
There were 745 new users, 63 new topics and 146 new replies on the forum this month.
If you haven’t joined the forum yet, get involved!
I’ll personally answer any internet marketing questions you have!
- Users: 4,347 (3,602 last month)
- Topics: 904 (841 last month)
- Posts: 3,135 (2,989 last month)
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 3,330 new subscribers across various channels which is up from last month’s 1,506.
There are now a total of 19,090 subscribers across all of the different channels.
- E-mail – 2,263 (313 last month) / Total: 9,256
- Twitter – 196 (210 last month) / Total: 2,413
- YouTube – 388 (315 last month) / Total: 2,920
- Facebook – 203 (144 last month) / Total: 1,267
- Google+ – 464 (300 last month) / Total: 2,705
- RSS – -184 (224 last month) / Total: 529
Forum Promotion Posts
With everything going on this month I haven’t had much time to kick back on forums for some promotion work.
- TrafficPlanet – 1 posts (252 visits)
- WarriorForum – 0 posts (168 visits)
- BlackHatWorld – 0 posts (799 visits)
Income Report
Here are the numbers you really want to see-
Affiliate Earnings
- 48HoursLogo – $60.00 (case study)
- 99CentArticles – $21.31
- Ahrefs – $194.57 (my Ahrefs review)
- AuthorHreview – $91.74 (review)
- Aweber – $11.40 (tutorial)
- Blog Advertising – $634.00 (Advertise)
- BlueHost – $130.00 (discount coupon)
- BuyProxies – $83.00
- BuzzBundle – $1,222.30 (review)
- CodeCanyon – $33.60
- Gravity Forms – $50.55
- GSA Search Engine Ranker – $293.86 (review / discount coupon)
- GSA SEO Indexer – $7.00 (case study)
- Inspyder Backlink Monitor – $257.79 (best backlink checker case study)
- JustHost – $120.00 (start a blog / discount coupon)
- Kontent Machine – $1,843.84 (review)
- LeadPlayer – $138.10
- Licorne AIO – $340.00 (my tutorial)
- LinkEmperor – $501.45 (review)
- Market Samurai – $82.56 (tutorial)
- PrettyLink Pro – $14.80 (discount coupon)
- Proxy Hub – $3.10 (discount coupon)
- RankCracker – $6,811.64
- Rank WYZ – $6.00
- ScrapeBrokers – $244.92
- SENuke – $126.30 (tutorial)
- SEO Powersuite – $725.42 (see my SEO Powersuite review)
- SESlingShot – $50.00 (review)
- TheBestSpinner – $246.00 (The Best Spinner review / discount coupon)
- Thirsty Affiliates – $32.18 (discount coupon)
- Ultimate Demon – $1,683.16 (review / discount coupon)
- WordAI – $57.13
- WP-Answers – $32.70
- WP Engine – $349.50 (review)
Expenses
- WPEngine (hosting) – $99.00 (Case Study / WPX Hosting review)
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.
This month I didn’t take on any consultation work.
Earnings Total
- Affiliate Income – $16,499.92
- Consultation Income – $00.00
- Expenses – $99.00
Grand Total: $16,400.92 / £9,920.70 ($11,407.36 / £6,960.37 last month)
After struggling to break the $10,000 barrier for so long this month has posted a huge 43% increase on last month!
Signing Off
Although I was trying to wind down for the festive period December has certainly being an interesting month.
I have seen nice growth in all areas and even managed to shatter my $15,000 target after taking me over a year to break a $10,000 month.
I have some interesting case studies coming up in the new year along with the rest of my YouTube marketing series.
Thanks for spending 2013 with me!
I would like to personally thank each and every one of you for joining me on this journey.
110 Responses
i like this post
Thanks Mudassir
This is very very inspirational.
Thanks Jack :)
Initial few days are the most difficult for a blogger. I am no different. Earning money online seems not as easy as it may sound. However, whenever I see bloggers like you, I feel motivated to take this less traveled path and be successful. Thanks a lot for sharing these numbers. I hope I will also share my earning report soon and make you comment on my blog. Have a great time.
That is usually because people are focused on making money rather than just focusing on things like getting their first 100 subscribers.
Congrats Matt for all you have written in 2013 and all the best for 2014 :)
You know it’s 2015 now right? :P
Great going
Thanks Shawn :)
Thank you for feasting us with your experiences in 2013 and hope to get more from your knowledge in 2014.
Really good Income ,and its inspiring us a lot ,i am a New fan of your posts :D
Thanks :)
Hi,
Haha the north west isn’t so bad :P Except the cold, its real cold lol
Drop me an email!
Hi Matt, not sure if my last comment went through so i’ll try again. First of all congratulations on smashing your $10k target it is well deserved i’ve been following your blog for the past year and aside from your tutorials its good to see how you have progressed profit wise. Your hard work has definitely paid off. I’m going to PM you in a minute to ask your advice on something, hopefully you get the chance to reply.
Cheers Chris!
There are many subtle nuances regarding this point that need to be thought about. A businessman I know said the problem with the UK is that even when you step off the merrygoround you’re still on it. He left the UK, for the most part, because of lifestyle. He now spends his time with a better balance. Who wouldn’t want to walk on a Caribbean beach every day, as he does now?
I agree that capitalism is the best economic system available but you are probably already aware that many dream of buying their way out of it. This is the key point. You need funds to buy your way out and retain the same lifestyle. Being a monk doesn’t suit everyone.
And it’s in this regard that I completely support Matthew. It’s the intelligent choice to make use of capitalism in whatever way best suits you. Criticising friends doesn’t mean they are no longer your friends, it simply means you recognise their flaws. I don’t think many argue against the efficiency of capitalism, but as you grow wiser things tend to become less black and white.
Capitalism trains your brain to want more stuff. Stuff, while nice, will not fix the inherent dichotomy of capitalism. Want more stuff, can’t afford more stuff. Some times it’s nice to take time out and live without the schism for a while. After a time spent in a culture that values people over things, your priorities change.
When the pro’s of living in an intensely competitive environment out way the cons of moving to a culture with a more relaxed way of being, it’s time to leave. Not for ever, wandering feet like to wander, but for just enough time to truly absorb a new culture. Life is about expanding your horizons and learning. It seems like Matthew likes to push himself beyond his comfort zone, which is probably why he’s successful, and a move to a new country is simply part of this.
And as for the passive income to move pretty much anywhere you want, isn’t this the dot.com dream?
I for one can’t criticise Matthews decision at all. It’s what many want the dot.com lifestyle for. I have my concerns, which I’ve shared privately, but in the end a person has to use a value judgement as to how they prioritise their life and Matthew has made his decision. Moving overseas is not an easy choice to make and I congratulate Matthew for following his dreams.
The community here is a positive one and I appreciate how supportive most have been of Matthew’s decision. It just goes to show what a strong and positive following he has. :-)
Thats true, even if I leave the UK the government keeps a tight grip from a business/tax perspective.
I’m lucly to be in the position where I can have the best of both worlds. Working online allows me to compete in a capitalist environment without living in one.
So it makes sense for me to take advanage of that.
It’s funny what you say about pushing myself out of my comfort zone. A lot of people have asked me if I’m worried about moving, its a big thing to do, what are you going to do about x,y,z, but what if this happens etc etc
But to me it was an easy stress free decision and the worst that can happen is I get a flight home. I don’t seem to have that same worry/but/what if thought process that stops people taking action.
I’m catching up on emails today so will be interested to see what you say :)
Thanks for taking the time to feedback :)
Can’t say that I disagree with any of that – take a look at this TED talk http://www.ted.com/talks/paul_piff_does_money_make_you_mean.html
Hi,
Yes I know that, it does have some positives. But the negatives far outweigh the positives after experiencing other cultures and over the last 10-20 years it seems the capitalist machine produces more negative than ever before.
Amazing work Matt! I’m a new follower and loving your work. Very inspirational!
One question though, you are giving away for free RankCracker (thanks so much), but you say you have earned nearly 7k usd from it it in December. How did you do this?
Kind regards,
Dan
Download it and find out :)
Hi mattheww, this is my first time visiting your blog, Im so happy that I can study about marketing on your blog.
By the ways, congratulation on your affiliate income. Can’t wait for 2014 income.
Thanks Andy!
Hey, this is really inspiring stuff.
It’s really hard to find Internet Marketing people who are really honest about their personal marketing activities’ outcome. Thanks for sharing that…
Carlos.
No worrys hope it helps you out some what :)
I sure will :) You could also ask the guys at http://mytanfeet.com/ – I’m sure they will produce it for you ;)
Hi,
Great to hear you are having great success :)
I know the acoupletravelers.com team are loving thailand as a place to form a temporary base due to the low cost of living.
Renting at first with a view to buy :)
Now this is some damn fine work – the income report article, the income itself and the whole kaboodle on this site – it just keeps getting better! I feel so inadequate now.. ;)
Hope it inspires you to move forward :)
Can’t deny that it does – gotta step up my game on BankofHome this year.. been too busy with other projects to focus on it but that has to change!
More importantly though your site is great inspiration for newbies who are hard to convince of the potential in this business.. I’ve been pushing a friend (currently on the dole) to get into it and sent him here.. needless to say he was impressed and inspired.. hopefully he finally takes action soon and eventually gets off the rock & roll. I’m sure there are many like him.
Well sometimes you can lead a horse to water…
Amazing stuff!
Looking forward to many more personal updates of your new income!
Peace
nabil
I publish them on the 1st of every month – even if I am dieing from hangover :)
Bloody hell Matt, not bad. I wish I had your client-getting skills! Seems to be the hardest part of SEO nowadays.
Well the only way I get clients is through the blog :) I dont actually advertise anywhere that I take on clients although I’m not taking anyone on for the foreseeable future.
How do you keep track of your income & expenses?
I want to start tracking my income/expenses but I don’t know how to start.
Well you have to keep track of that for business/tax reasons anyway.
But in essence, when you spend money. Add it to the expenses spreadsheet. When you get paid money, add it to the income spreadsheet.
Again, you doing a great job! Consistency is the key :) keep it up.
MUCH easier said than done :)
Hi,
Nice numbers there. :) You definitely deserve it. Congratulations!
Also I have a question, which plugin are you using for the inpost subscribe form?
Regards,
Andor Nagy
Thanks :)
No plugin, thats just raw html/css I copy into the post editor manually
You’ve made a killing this month haven’t you. Well done. Read that you also provide consultations. What type of consultations?
Thanks Shalu – it depends really and I’m very selective about who I take on =\
In as much as the I am always impressed with the income and expenses figure of your income reports, I think I am much more fascinated with time and effort you take in highlighting the action steps taken in the course of the month.
Your income reports have always been one of the best I access online because of the practical details.
I would only conclude by saying: congratulation to the success of your launches and I wish to expect better details in 2014! Thanks Mathew for this DETAILED report!
In kingged.com, this post was bookmarked for Internet marketers and bloggers, I have also left the above comment where this post was found.
Sunday – kingged.com contributor
http://kingged.com/monthly-income-growth-traffic-report-december-2013/
Thanks for the share :)
Thanks Josh!
Thank you Andrew – we’ll see what happens, I might miss it all =D
Thank you Justin!
Thanks Ryley :)
Just went to look for your income report but not published yet, are you going to beat me? :(
You can find articles like that about any country, I know 2 family’s personally that would state the opposite. Although I have noticed as a british person I get treated better than an american. But I have also noticed how a lot of americans (not all, but a lot) I have met on my travels treat people when they are abroad.
After a year of travelling to find where I want to live, no where struck me like rica :)
I’m wondering what tool do you use to get those numbers of total shares on social networks. Should be useful to track how we’re doing on social network ;)
ps: Congratulations on your new achievement.
Hi,
Its part of https://www.matthewwoodward.co.uk/get/topsocialshareposts/
Thanks Lewis!
Hi Ron,
Yeah I agree – money is important don’t get me wrong, but as long as I have enough to pay my bills each month and spend time with friends thats all I need.
Probably why I start to slack off after having a good month, I lose the hunger for profit!
Capitalism can’t exist without consumerism, they do have their benefits – just not for most people.
Yeah Yeison from http://www.mytanfeet.com/ taught me a lot about quality of life :)
Let me know if your there when I’m there!
Thanks Munir!
Thanks Roland – I assume your local market has some offline requirements?
Are you in the UK?
I’m in the USA. I hope you find yourself some good Ticas! ;)
Hahaha chica tica!
Yeah got that booked up the day they released tickets, catch you there :)
Hi,
Yeah its a big step but the way I looked at it, is the the worst thing that can happen is I get a flight home.
mi espanol es pobre pero la practica diaria – I had to use Google translate for yours but gracias :)
Keep fighting the good fight mate!
I don’t really have political views, I just want to make the best use of the time I have!
Congrats Matt for all you have written in 2013 and all the best for 2014 :)
Thanks Michael
Congrats on breaking the big mark Matt! Seems like 2013 was definitely a fruitful one for you.
Hoping to see you with more new ventures and posts in 2014! :)
-Pratik.
Thank you Pratik!
Thanks for sharing your insights and info.
I hope to learn from you.
Keep up the good work.
No worrys :)
Hey Matt, happy new year. I’m glad you broke the $15k barrier :D it’s so exciting when you realize that this is just a new beginning :D wishing you all the best in 2014!
Thanks Stefan ^^
Great month Matt and terrific content. My question is about your expenses in your business. You show only $99 for hosting but don’t you have any monthly subscriptions such as Ahrefs etc?
The income/expenses are only reflected from this blog. However I am missing like $10 from an Aweber subscription which I forgot to include as the cost is absorbed by another website but a reader pointed out I should include that here.
congratulations Matt,this post motivate me more. Im just start build my site.I have all the contents ready to post,but i scared of what people might think of it. I spent more times editing articles.
Well if people don’t tell you that you suck/are good – how will you get better? People that tell you precisely why you suck are critical to success
Voted for you. Good luck.
Thanks Sagar, much appreciated!
I am just excited to see this momentum with your blog.
Thank you for feasting us with your experiences in 2013 and hope to get more from your knowledge in 2014.
Happy new year!
Lets see if I can keep it up, probably not :P
Happy New Year!
Am a part time blogger and I got stumbled with your income report. I have no words to write. Thanks for sharing your experience and stats with us.
No worrys :)
Are we live?
I hope so ^^
Matt,
Good stuff as usual, I’m becoming a big fan. As a hobbyist in this online your stuff saves me sooo many hours of research and I truly appreciate what you do! Although you have said before, all the countless hours you spend for “us” and yourself seem to be really panning out. Really glad I subscribed.
If you get a chance, go visit Tamarindo. I loved surfing there so much I went twice on my honeymoon! I would love to see a few posts from you on a few topics.
Small scale affiliate niche site campaigns
Silo architecture
Set up of VPS for tools and outsourcing
Pura Vida
Hi Eric,
Thanks for your kind words.
I’ll be living about 20 minutes from Tamarindo :) Really nice place but just a bit to touristy for my personal liking :)
I should cover each of those in my upcoming series :)
Awesome post. And such a great report. The best yet. My husbands family is from Costa Rico so I completely understand the allure. Congrats! After having a business website for over 7 years I plan to launch a personal website this year. Thanks for being an inspiration!
Thanks Myra – good luck with your ventures in the new year :)
How’s your Spanish Matt?
mejorando cada dia!
Hey Mathew
You are a real inspiration to me !
Thanks a lot
Thanks Paul! I hope it translates into something awesome
WoW Great Income.
Thannks Abhay!
Not yet, but soon :)
Thanks Steve, the cost of living is about 33% of what it cost sme now :)
Actually the cost of living is about a third compared to the UK!
hmmmmm….once again forgot to mention…..Happy New Year mate….Sent you an email before too….may be u didn’t checked :D
Thanks, Happy new year to yourself as well! I’ve got a bunch of emails to catch up on :P
Gracias Yeison!
You deserve it Matthew!
I love the way you present your posts, so organized and precise.
Keep it up the great work!
Thanks Roberto!
Amazing stuff!
If only I could do the same with my blog… ;)
Thanks for sharing your stats with us!
Regards,
JR John
What is stopping you from doing that?
Hey Matthew,
Thanks for sharing and Happy New Year!
Oh man, you are really (and definitely) doing that well and yes, gratz for that! Love your tutorials and watched many of them multiple times. Even downloaded them to my devices.
Looking forward for more guides and tips. Take care of your health too and talk to you soon!
Regards.
Thanks for your continued support :)
As always Inspiring post, Congrats for breaking $15K mark Matt :-)
Thanks Ashwin!
Amazing job this month, Matt! You’re really crushing it now. (And thanks for linking to my roundup post.)
Now go drink a gallon of water and go back to bed…you need to get rid of that hangover.
Thanks Eric!