July 2016 Travel Blog Income Report (And Traffic, Too)
July is the month where I should give up…
Back in January, I set specific goals for the year. By July, I wanted to hit 10k a month in traffic. By October, I wanted to cover the mortgage plus fulltime childcare with income from my blog and writing.
My first goal has reached its deadline, and I failed. I’m off by over 2k hits. To add insult to injury, I also had my lowest income of the year in July – making the goal of covering the mortgage plus fulltime childcare look impossible.
Yet, it gets worse. On the afternoon of Friday, July 9, I was hard at work in the home office when the garage door opened. My wife wasn’t expected home for another two hours. Instinctively, I knew what happened. She was laid off. It was a move we’ve been expecting since she went back to work from maternity leave only to find her position given away. The company waited until any FMLA protection window was over and laid her off. Her department is now full of only men. I guess her company doesn’t want to deal with those pesky things called moms…
I could go on about the injustice and lack of ethics of her old company, but I won’t. The point is that she was the breadwinner. With her out of work, it looks like my dream should finally come to end.
Yet, for some reason, I feel renewed. Call it insane, but I’m not ready to toss in the towel. The following reasons are keeping me going:
- I landed four major contracts / opportunities right as the rug was pulled out from under us. All of those will come to fruition in August or later.
- The summer is a slow time for blogs. People are on vacation or outside playing Pokemon. Most bloggers I know are experiencing similar drops.
- My course development is coming along very well. The survey results from the beta were very positive. I truly believe my course (plus one of the above-mentioned deals I closed) will push my income and traffic to the levels I set out.
- My wife is wickedly smart and a hard worker. I’m confident she will come out of this with a raise and promotion at a company that is nowhere near as toxic as her old employer.
In other happenings for July, Deacon made his television debut! He went Charlotte Today with me as a prop for a segment on tips for taking a road trip with a baby. I think he did amazing! What do you think?
Travel-wise, the month was slow. We had a beach vacation planned but postponed it due to Shannan losing her job. Never fear, as we made it up in August, and it was amazing!
Travel Blog Income Report
I only made $678 in July from my blog and freelance writing.
Honestly, I feel like I got sucker-punched, and I’m on the ground gasping for air. I have no excuses nor any idea what happened other than I slowed down development of my course, 15 Steps to Sponsored Blog Travel.
The beta is done and the feedback was all positive. I could have released it as is but felt there was still room for improvement. The marketing plan wasn’t exactly solid, either. I actually have Shannan helping with the launch as her project management and product develop expertise is exactly what I need right now. I’m hoping to launch the course in mid-Sept with pre-sells starting in August.
If you’re interested in learning more about 15 Steps to Sponsored Blog travel, please provide your email address below:
Business Operating Expenses
My business operating expenses were relatively normal with the exception of a $200 write-off. I miscalculated a “bonus” from a freelance client for article shares. Also, July marks the last month I will employ a virtual assistant until my wife goes back to work. With our income down, I could no longer justify the expense. It’s a shame because my virtual assistant was awesome. However, I’m now doing her roles while I shift some more technical stuff over to Shannan.
Traffic Report
Even though I didn’t hit my monthly traffic goal in July, it was my second highest month of the year at 7,524 hits. I oddly interpret this as a positive sign.
I also interpret my top blog posts for July as a positive sign. As always during the summer, my What to Wear in Europe post sits at the top. The rest of the posts are either from July or related to beer travel. This is exactly what I want to see in my top five posts as I am a craft beer travel blog and I want to make sure my current posts are relevant.
- What to Wear in Europe this Summer
- Daytrip to Shelby to Visit Bridges Barbecue Lodge and Newgrass Brewing
- 48 Hours in Asheville, North Carolina: A Self-Guided Brewery Tour
- 21 Essential Trips for a Successful Road Trip with a Baby
- A Craft Beer Lovers Aruba Beer Guide
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July is almost always the lowest income month for bloggers. It’s the first month of the third quarter and that’s slow for marketing all around. Thankfully, it’s august now and things should keep building through december. 🙂 good news! Congrats on deacon’s tv debut! Looks awesome!
I’m still waiting on Deacon’s child acting contract. He dropped that toy right on cue… Call me crazy, but I continue to remain optimistic that things will pick up!
Sorry to hear about your wife losing her job. It’s unfortunate how workers, especially moms, are often treated in this country. Best of luck to all of you in the future, I enjoy reading your blog.
Thank you. I feel terrible for my wife. She dedicated eight years to that company only to be treated like rubbish in the end. Her department is now an all boys club.
It’s another reason why I detest corporate America.
Hi Bryan,
I am sorry to hear about your wife’s layoff. Sucks how this things are handled in capitalist economies. I am sure she will find something much better!!! Keep going! Usually September things always go up in opportunities for freelance contracts as well as blog traffic! Not sure if you have spent much time on Pinterest? It’s my strongest traffic driver of all Social Media channels with little time spent. It not only helps me keep traffic improving with the least effort compared to all other channels but also gave me a major peak in July (where I mainly traveled and hardly blogged anything new)
I am crossing my fingers for great new things coming your way!
Thanks for the nice note, Synke! I have been doing more and more on Pinterest. I’d hate to see where my traffic would be without Pinterest. I plan to keep plugging away there. Any tips you can offer?
You got this B! I actually see a ton of opportunity that’s about to unfold for your family – can’t wait to see where y’all end up at year end. Keep plugging away – you got this!
Thanks for your continued vote of confidence, Gina! You are definitely an inspiration to all of us.
Hang in there buddy. Look at it this way, with the wife home hopefully you can allocate a bit more time to freelance opportunities. Plus, you know once she gets back to work she’ll most probably be making more. Most significant salary increases always come when jumping from one employer to another, not transitioning within the same company. Worst case scenario you get to spend some extra time with that cute little dude! He looks scrumptious!
Thanks for the note. I have definitely put her to work…
She gets multiple calls a day for interviews. She’ll bounce back. I just hope to keep her around enough to finish up a few projects I assigned to her….
Really sorry to hear about your wife Bryan – it’s heartbreaking. I don’t understand how this company can get away with what they did legally; this would not be the case in the UK and many other countries.
Onwards and upwards for her and I’m sure her future is bright 🙂
Thank you for the kind sentiments. Her future is very bright.
Funny you should mention that it would be illegal in the UK… The company is a UK based company. I guess they try to skirt regs in their own country by taking advantage of lax employment laws in other countries. You should see how they treat employees in their Lithuania and Mexico offices. Absolutely disgraceful.
To add further insult to injury, the owner is Danish – a country that prides itself social programs for families.