March 2016

Page Views: 72,634 (more than double February)

Unique Visitors: 20,585 (holding steady from February)

It takes money to make money! March was an expensive month for Maman Loup’s Den because I bit the bullet and finally bought a beautiful, mobile-friendly theme! As you can see, my site looks significantly more professional and sleek. Plus, it looks great on mobile devices. My theme is from Pretty Darn Cute Designs (affiliate link). I was able to get my site reworked in one stressful evening. I’ve been tweaking it every since; there’s a definite learning curve, working with such a responsive theme. I truly have zero coding or web design training, so I do what I do by trial and error. The other major expense this month was my accountant. If you’re looking for an awesome, Calgary-based small business accountant, I would totally recommend her, so just contact me for a referral. 

In terms of the high amount of page views for February, I attribute that to the variety of giveaways I participated in and organized. You wonder why bloggers offer daily entries on giveaways? This is why!

Income:

Affiliate Sales:

I am an affiliate for two Canadian cloth diaper shops and also for Well.ca. This income comes from people clicking through my on-site links (or social media posts) and making a purchase. This month I also received commission for referring someone to my web-hosting provider, Green Geeks!

Bumbini: $0

Lagoon Baby: $10.38

Well.ca: $20.93

GreenGeeks: $50 USD ($65 CAD)

Total: $96.31

On-site Advertising:

My ads are supplied by SheBlogs Canada and by Media.net. I earn this income based on a fraction of a penny per page view. I also sell advertising at a monthly rate, and currently have two businesses that advertise monthly.

SheBlogs:  $67.84

Media.net: $37.79 USD/ $49 CAD (Slight increase)

Monthly ads: $80

Total: $196.84

Sponsored Posts:

This month I had four sponsored posts requiring various levels of social media syndication. My favourite one was for Werthers Original. I got to eat a lot of candy.

Total: $390 

Giveaways:

I charge a fee for running most giveaways. I ran three such Facebook giveaways this month.

Facebook giveaways: $150 

Grand Total: $833.15

Note that I do at times accept product in exchange for a review. I do not count this in my income report because I cannot pay bills or buy household goods with a product. This month, I reviewed Huddie Buddies Slippers (on my feet as I type this), the Guzzie & Guss Tiblit High Chair, the MiaMily Hipster, Super Undies and an outfit for Little Miss Cub from Marlee Jeans. Approximate total retail value, $450.

Blog expenses:

It takes money (and time) to make money. These are my monthly blog expenses. For many services, you save when paying for a year or more in advance, so I’ve calculated a monthly rate when applicable. I’ve used an affiliate link for any services that offer this perk!

This month I participated in three  giveaways in which each blogger chips in: $22

I paid a guest blogger to contribute a post this month: $100

I purchased the Genesis Framework and a new theme from Pretty Darn Cute Design: $135

Accountant for 2015: $300

McAfee Anti-Virus software:  $2.91

Vault Press Website Back Up Plug in: $6.23

Web hosting by Green Geeks (3 year subscription): $8.33

PicMonkey Image Editing: $3.91

Freshbooks accounting software: $22

InLinkz Linky service: $1.67

Mad Mimi Newsletter Service: $38.69 

Drop Box subscription: $9.08

Co-Schedule social media scheduler: $3.34*

Total Expenses: $653

 

March 2016 left me with just $180 profit from my blog

Final thoughts:

In terms of direct blogging expenses and income, I was almost  in the red. I’m actually pleased that I broke even! Luckily, I only pay my accountant to do my taxes once a year, and the money spent on a new theme should prove to be a good investment. That said, If I were paying for daycare for my children, I’d be in big trouble. My hours doing social media for my three clients (not included in this report) kept my head above water. I worked really hard in March, mostly for posts and promotions that went live in April,so stay tuned for that report next month!

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