Traffic and Income Report – March 2016 – $5,040

Trevor here, dropping in to present the March 2016 income report.

WE HAVE LAUNCHED! I’m excited to say we had our private launch of The Blog Village on April 9th and already have an incredible group of bloggers on board!

If you haven’t been following along, The Blog Village is a site where we help bloggers of any kind to create, grow and monetize their blogs.

Feedback has been amazing and we’re looking forward to everyone else that signs up during our private launch period where we’re offering the greatest deal we’ll ever offer! Get in while you can before we close enrollment before our big public launch this summer.

Okay, on with the income report!

If you haven’t read one of our income reports before, you may be scratching your head. This is where we embrace our inner Jerry Maguire… no… not “You had me at hello”, the other one… “Show me the MONEY!” As always, the food will return shortly. If the idea of sharing income and learning how to make a living online isn’t interesting to you, then grab some chips, whip up this delicious Pico de Gallo and a new recipe will be coming Monday!

Here’s a brief introduction to these traffic and income reports…

If you’ve stopped by our about us page, you know that Jennifer and I started this blog seventeen months ago with the hopes of it earning an income for Jennifer. I’ve since quit my job and we’re taking a calculated risk that we can make this blog both of our full-time jobs.

Without income reports like this, we never would have known it was even possible to take that leap. Our hope is that, for those interested, these reports can help to show what worked for us, the mistakes we made and that it is possible to make an income online doing something that you love if you work hard and stick with it.

None of these reports on their own tell the story of how to create, grow and monetize a blog. Think of each one as a chapter in a book that continues to be written. To get the full picture, I suggest looking at our traffic and income reports page where you can click into individual reports, like this one, to see the slow steady growth and get the details.

Okay, enough with the backstory, let’s get on to the report…

Blog traffic and the stock market.

Blogging and investing your money are actually really similar. Instead of money though, you’re investing time and energy (and… well… some money).

If you invest wisely over time your investment will grow.

It may dip or spike at times, but if you hold steady, continue investing your time and energy, over time it will grow in value without a doubt.

Most people understand that when it comes to money, but it’s more difficult when you’re in the trenches trying to grow your blog. Like the stock market, we’d prefer the line to perpetually go up and to the right, but that’s not usually the way it works.

The down and to the right moments are when it’s most important to remind yourself that you’re running a marathon and the only runners that have a chance of winning are the ones that stay in the race!

Taxes

It’s obviously a little late for an entire section on tax tips, because hopefully… hopefully, you’re all done with your 2015 taxes. Instead of tips for your taxes this year, I want to talk about some tips for next year. Why? Because doing taxes is always a dreaded task that can actually be really easy. Here are my three tips to make your taxes easy next year:

Get Ready Every Month

If you spend 1-2 hours one day each month during the year getting organized, when you reach next Feb/Mar and need to get everything together it will SO much easier. Pick one morning or evening and get your receipts together, record any income that you earned and get organized!

The Magic Tax Bin

Okay, there’s nothing magical about it other than it’s a bin that during the month anything that needs to tracked, recorded, organized, saved etc. for our business we toss it in. Out of sight, out of mind until our one day of the month we deal with it. If you want to get real fancy, you can digitize, scan, OCR, cloudify it… but, in the end we find that it’s just quicker to wait, record it and then put it in an envelope for the month.

The BIG Secret!

Put away a little money each month… and it only takes a little… and have someone who knows a whole lot more about taxes than you ever will do them for you. No, that’s not cheating. That’s the best money we spend all year.

I’ve had the most amazing company doing our taxes now for a long time and they are amazing. If you’re ever looking for the best of the best to help you with your taxes or other accounting needs, go here: http://woodcpasltd.com/ and thank me later.

The Power of Video

You may have noticed in the social media section of The Breakdown above that we gained over eleven thousand Facebook followers (likes) in March. That is entirely due to the viral power of video online.

Our fast-motion overhead Stuffed Pizza Rolls video was shared on Facebook and went viral. Over the course of 10 days it was viewed over 1.1 million times and shared over 65,000 times resulting in not only traffic to the site, but a lot of new eyes on our Facebook page.

The great part about these types of videos is that they’re completely accessible to anyone.

If you have a phone that was made in the last few years, you most likely have an HD video camera that produces great results. I have an in-depth blog post discussing fast-motion assembly videos over on The Blog Village blog if you want some more detail on what we use and tips on how to shoot them.

Or… if you were wondering… yes, we have nearly six hours of videos walking you through how to shoot and edit videos for members of The Blog Village 🙂 shameless plug complete.

It’s definitely something I suggest experimenting with. It’s always good to be on the early side of these trends so you’re not playing catch-up later.

Often times, you’ll work with a brand or PR agency and then, that’s it. You wait and hope they might contact you again to work on another project.

Don’t. Do. That.

Instead of sitting around waiting, be proactive.

Blogging is all about relationships and if you find a brand or PR agency that you enjoy working with, nurture that relationship.

Reach out if you haven’t heard anything in a few months, let them know how much you enjoyed working with them and express your interest in working together again if a project that fits comes up. If you happen to have had any recipe ideas that would be great with their product or maybe you used their product in a non-sponsored post, let them know about it.

Keep it short, sweet and get back on their radar.

Sometimes something will come of it, sometimes it won’t. Either way, you’ll be on their mind when something comes up in the future.

So, next time you wrap up a project, say Thanks! Great working with you! Then hop over to your calendar, go three months out and put a reminder to contact them.

That’s it for March’s income report, I’ll see you next month!

As always, if you have questions leave a comment below, I read and answer each and every one!