Hey friends! I hope you all had an awesome holiday and have bellies full of shortbread cookies and gingerbread and every other delicious Christmas treat!

If this is your first time here for one of my food blog income reports, it's the once a month time that I set the camera down, step out of my kitchen, and share with you the behind the scenes details about what it is like to run a blog.

I always start with a breakdown of the blog income and expenses. Before I started blogging I had no idea that a person could earn money from posting recipes on a little thing they call a blog. I didn't start blogging for money – which is a good thing because it's taken me YEARS to build up to where the blog is now. Six years to be exact, and most of those years the money earned was very minimal. The first month I recorded what TEM earned it was a grand total of $15.37, and that wasn't including expenses. Had I factored costs in, I probably would have been in the red.

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But this month is a special month. A really big, important, exciting month for the blog and myself. You see, three years ago, I set a goal. I picked a number I wanted to reach and made it so high that I had no idea how I'd ever achieve it. I saw other bloggers who had made those numbers, but it was 20+ times more than what TEM was making.

This month is so special because TEM not only reached that goal, it exceeded it. I'm feeling all kinds of excited, but even more than excited, I'm feeling thankful. Thankful to YOU. It is because of you that I am able to do what a love. So as we're closing out 2017 and moving into the year ahead, I want to say a giant thank you for being here and being a part of this blog. I truly appreciate every time you visit, comment, write an email, or cook a recipe. It means the world to me.

Let's start this report with the numbers the way I usually do. After that, let's chat about goal setting and the little thing that makes all the difference when you're working towards your goal.

INCOME

• Adthrive – $7,551
• Viglink – $94.05
• Sponsored posts: $3,760

Total Income: $11,405.05

EXPENSES

• SiteGround – $90 – My much loved hosting company
• MadMini– $89 – What I use to send my email newsletters
• Tailwind – $10 – Pinterest scheduler – LOVE them!
• Vaultpress – $5 – Backs up all TEMs files.
• Teachable – $29 – Hosts my course Oh My Blog 
• Adobe Premiere Pro – $19.99 – What I use for video editing.
• CrashPlan – $5.99
• CloudFlare – $20
• OptinMonster – $16.58 – what I use for my newsletter signup forms
• Support staff – $50.00

Total Expenses: $335.56

TOTAL PROFIT: $11,069.49

Note: The income reported here is in USD. Although I am Canadian the majority of the income I earn through TEM, and my expenses, are in American dollars.

RPM is a handy formula to calculate how much money your blog is earning. The acronym stands for Revenue Per Mille, or revenue per thousand pageviews.

Total Profit ÷ Total Pageviews x 1000 = RPM

Using this formula we can calculate The Endless Meal’s RPMs:

$11,069.49÷ 421,914  x 1000 = $26.24

TRAFFIC OVERVIEW

Reaching your goals

Be clear. 

I know it sounds obvious, but in order to reach a goal, you need to set one. It's easy to go about blogging life with a general goal of “I want to grow my blog.” But what does that really mean? Here's the hard answer: it means nothing. It's true.

The reason an undefined goal doesn't mean anything is because you'll never know when you achieve it. If growth is your goal and you gain one follower, technically you've met your goal. But I bet one new follower isn't what you really had in mind.

Be crystal clear about your goal. Use numbers. My blog will earn xx amount. Or my blog will have xx pageviews in a month. Or I will have xx email subscribers. You want to know when you've reached your goal.

Set em high.

My own personal belief is that there's no point in setting a goal you know you can easily achieve. What's the fun in that? Set your goal high enough that it will be a challenge getting there. When you achieve it, you'll have something to really celebrate. (Not going to lie, there were a few empty negroni glasses after I tallied this month's report.)

Once you've set your goal

I believe there is one thing that you need to do to reach your goal. Just one. Want to know what it is?

Always improve. Make your blog better every day. Learn something new every day. If you do this, you will meet your goal. It is the ability to constantly and consistently improve that will lead you to your goal.

As a food blogger, there are million-ish different areas you can improve. It can feel overwhelming to think about them all at once. But what's really important is the daily learning/ growth/ improvements. If you're working towards making your blog the best it can be, it will get there. You will reach your goal.

The past six years:

One question I've been asked a few times is, “how has your blog traffic grown over the years?” I get the curiosity. I wonder the same about other blogs! Some bloggers experience a sharp spike in growth right from the start. But I'll be honest, most don't. I didn't. In most cases, blog traffic grows slowly over years. It takes work and dedication and a (whole lot of) patience.

But more than anything, it takes that constant and consistent dedication to improvement.

I'd love to hear from you! What are some of your blog goals?

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Kristen Stevens

Hi, I'm Kristen! I LOVE everything to do with food: making it, taking pictures of it, and (the best part) eating it. ♡♡♡

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