Hey everybody! Bjork here. I’m known as “Lindsay’s husband” ’round these parts.
A fun fact to start things off: Today’s post marks one year since Lindsay and I first started to experiment with creating an income from her blog. The August total from that first income report was $21.97! Kind of unbelievable. You can check out that first post here.
My hope for these monthly reports is that you will learn at least one thing that will help your blog grow.
First, the numbers.
The Breakdown:
- BlogHer – $1,297.85
- Tasty Food Photography – $1,047.53
- Google AdSense – $602.23
- Bluehost – $455
- VigLink – $412
- Freelance Food Work – $150
- Thesis Theme – $57.42
- Elegant Themes – $39
- BuySellAds – $35.50
- Amazon Affiliate – $5.63
Grand Total: $4,102.16
If you’re interested in learning more about some of the ways that you can monetize a food blog, we encourage you to download this free ebook, “16 Ways to Monetize Your Food Blog,” from our sister site, Food Blogger Pro!
A few notes on the income report above.
The BlogHer income is higher than usually as we experimented with some different types of sponsored ads. We were both a bit hesitant, but we liked the brand (Odwalla), so we decided to give it a try just to see what it was like. As a reader of Pinch of Yum, I’m curious what your thoughts are on sponsored posts. We’d love to have you share in the comments section below.
Also, you’ll notice a new item in the list called BuySellAds. BuySellAds is an advertising marketplace. After getting accepted you can list an ad space on your site and advertisers can purchase the ad spot at the price you set. You can check out Pinch of Yum’s BuySellAds page if you’re curious as to what it looks like.
Speaking of advertising…
We’ve put together what I think to be the best advertising setup we’ve had so far on Pinch of Yum. Here’s a video of how we have the advertising setup right now. The video includes information on how we are backfilling the BlogHer and BuySellAds ad spots.
Traffic
Here are the screenshots of the Pinch of Yum Google Analytics for the month of August.
Tips and Takeaways
Google Analytics
Next time you’re checking Google Analytics look at the Browser and OS category. This will show you the most popular browsers that people are using to view your blog.
Every browser will render your blog a little bit differently (color, size, spacing…), so be sure to always check to see what your most recent post looks like for the top used browsers. As you can see, the most popular browser for Pinch of Yum readers is Safari. Although I personally use Chrome, I do my best to use Safari occasional to check and make sure that everything looks okay.
Clean Pinning
On the majority of Pinch of Yum posts we include this little “Pin It” button that I created:
This button is a little bit different than the button at the end of a post because it allows the reader to pick which image they want to pin. The only problem was that whenever it was clicked every single image on the page was showing up as an option to pin.
The solution?
This code: nopin = “nopin”
If you ever have an image that you don’t want be pinned, for instance, something in your sidebar, then just add the above code to your image’s HTML code. Here’s a quick video showing you how to do that.
Google Authorship Image
Have you setup your Google Authorship Image yet? If you haven’t, I’d suggest doing so.
I don’t really have any hard evidence on this one, but I’d bet a freshly picked mango that people are more likely to click on a link that has someone’s face associated with it.
Here’s an example from when I googled Smores Bars:
I’m not sure who Amanda is, but I would imagine that seeing her picture underneath the link would make my subconscious brain a little bit more likely to click her link.
Here’s the easy step-by-step.
- Open a Google+ account (if you haven’t already).
- In Google+, add your blog URL in the “contributes to” section.
- Install the Google+ Author plugin (or one like it).
- In the WordPress backend, add your Google+ URL.
Thanks!
Each month I have a list of about 300 things that I want to share with you. Even when I cut my list down and only post about a few things, it can start to get wordy! Thanks for reading all the way through – I hope you found it interesting and maybe even helpful.
If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments or shoot me an email – bjork (at) pinchofyum (dot) com.
Wow, this is so very helpful! Thank you for sharing!
Thanks for the tips. A shame males cant use Blogher
Hey Matt – are you sure? I think I remember reading on BlogHer that it’s possible for men to apply.
I absolutely love Bjork’s monthly updates, thank you both so much for being so selfless and writing these posts to help out us fledgling bloggers!
Woohoo! The answer to my BlogHer backfill ads questions. Thanks Bjork! Will sign up with them immediately. 🙂 Loved the video. Thanks again for these posts.
I have been reading Pinch of Yum for a couple of months now and I am so glad I found it! Both of you guys are just great! From the recipes to the how-to info, this is a great blog and has inspired me to start my own. I certainly hope to one day have the success of pinch of yum. Keep up the great work guys.
Thanks so much for your posts. I always look forward to your income reports & always make some sort of change after reading them.
As always, just blown away by your successes and congrats! And these posts are always chock full of great tips from the Pinterest code (thanks for sharing) to the making sure to check and see what browser most of your readership uses. I am surprised that Firefox is 3rd behind Chrome and Safari – learn something new every day!
“I’m not sure who Amanda is…” <— Actually I do know who she is! She was the group leader of an online cooking club I was in for awhile and a super sweet gal and a great cook!
Ha! That’s awesome. Small world… 🙂
I’m with Becca…I find it amazing that you guys are willing to tell other bloggers your tips and tricks. Very considerate, very selfless, and very helpful. I applaud you and congratulate you for doing so well!!
Wow….thank you so much for the info!!! I just recently came across your site and I’m so glad I did. I recently purchased the Food Photography which was very informative. I love how simple Lindsey makes it seem. Off to check our blogher.
Thanks for picking up the book Julie!
I love the reports! They are so helpful, and it’s great how willing you are to share the information. It makes me love Pinch of Yum even more than I already did 🙂
I love learning from you guys! Thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing all of this!! You rock!
Jen
Thanks so much for sharing your blogging secrets! They help so much : )
Can’t agree more with the other posters how incredibly generous it is of you two to share your blogging knowledge! Thank you! I’m going to see how I can use some of these tips to tweak my husband’s small business website!!!
Thanks again 🙂
Money bores me, but what YOU two DO with it thrills and amazes me! You’re humble, generous, and transparent… and the Cebu kids benefit as a result. I love you guys!
You’re the best Jakky! 🙂 Hope all is well @ EDG.
This is very impressive! I have been reading you for some time, and I am so glad you are well-rewarded for your hard work! (I work a full-time as a teacher… my point is… working 40 hours plus spending all of my free time grading and lesson planning: means my monthly take-home is still less than the $4,000 you reported. … So you’re doing quite well for yourselves! And hopefully you have less headaches. Keep up the good work!)
Elizabeth – Teachers are incredible. I have so much respect for you. My mom, dad, and (of course) Lindsay are all teachers. I’ve seen how much selfless work goes into the professional. I’m convinced that it’s one of the most important jobs there is.
Thanks for making our world a better place!
The numbers keep getting better, very inspiring!
Thank you for posting these once a month updates. I honestly don’t read the other posts about food (although I probably should my husband may like it). 🙂 However I do stop in once a month just to read the blog income reports specifically. I’m so jealous that you guys have been monetizing your website for a year and are making this amount of money. I’ve been monetizing for 6 months and I’m not even close to making what you guys have made your first month. Keep up the good work (and the tips/tricks)!
This is always so helpful! Do you do anything with VigLink to encourage more links? I’m not sure my posts offer enough content that they can use.
Good question Jen. I’ve contacted VigLink before and they were really great to work with. I even scheduled a half-hour phone chat with their community support manager. It was great to chat with her and get a better idea of how to use Viglink. I’d suggest starting there.
I just want to stress again how incredibly helpful your posts have been for me. I learn something new every month!
Thank you so much for what you share with us. There are a lot “how to” posts and blogs dedicated to monetizing the blog but you share stuff that most of them don’t. Maybe your biggest advantage is that you share things as you learn about them and not after years of experience trying to remember what was important or difficult.
I am really looking forward to your next report and wish you all best of luck!
P.s. your bounce rate is quite high, are you ok with that?
Thanks for the kind words.
Great observation regarding bounce rate. It’s a stat we’d love to improve, as the number is high. I’ll make sure to include it in a monthly report if we make any changes that result in lowering it.
Congratulations guys! You always share the information, which most of the bloggers don’t share. I installed “limit login attempts” plugin, as you suggested in the last post, and I was surprised (shocked actually ) to find that some @#$% even tried to hack my very small blog. Thanks you so much Bjork, you actually saved my blog!
Glad I could help. 🙂
This post is so so helpful. I started following Pinch of Yum about a month ago and this is the first one of your income update posts. I would really love to make blogging my job. Thank you so much for sharing. I sue i will be emailing for help soon.
Wow well done!
Thank you for all the wonderful tips. I learn so much from your monthly posts.
An even bigger thank you because I made $19 from your e-book this month too!
Claire! That makes me so happy. It’s so fun to send out the payments for the eBook every month. Thanks for being an affiliate!
ps I just checked my limit login attempts (that I added after you told us about it) and I’ve had 47 lock outs!
One person even tried to use my web designer business name as a use name. Sneaky!
I always love these posts, but an especially huge thank you for sharing your “pin it” button!! I’ve been looking for one that works like that, you’re the best!
You bet Anna! Let me know if you have any trouble getting it setup.