Income Report – December, 2020
Let’s end 2020 with a bang, and what better way than with our Income Report?
Ok, let’s be honest. We end every month with our Income Report because we freaking love these things. It’s a chance to reflect on all the passive income, active income, and progress we’ve made on Wallet Squirrel!
What We Accomplished in December!
- Our Domain Authority jumped up to 56! This is a big deal as it’s Google’s way of saying Wallet Squirrel is legit and knows their stuff!
- Refreshed a few articles
- LOTS of emails
I can’t say December was a super busy month because Adam and I primarily spent it with our families. It’s really hard to balance writing articles while getting quality family time in. So we choose family and regret nothing.
What Our Website Traffic Looks Like
Since we shot up in our Domain Authority, our traffic has also jumped. This is reflected in our visitors, page views, and advertising revenue. We’re hoping to better take advantage of this in 2021.
If any of you are shocked that we share our real traffic numbers, it’s understandable. Most people say they’re big shots but never show their actual visitors. We enjoy sharing this because it fits our whole mentality of being transparent to our readers.
How Much Money We Made in December
For the month of December, our income came in at $343.99. We would have broken $500 again had it not been for one vendor payment being delayed. No worries, it just means our January, 2021 revenue will be epic!
We have an extensive section on ways to make money where we’ve written in-depth about everything we try, but here are the highlights from income we made in December.
- Google AdSense – we make money when people see or click (extra money) on website banner ads
- Affiliate Marketing – we earn a commission if someone buys a product through a link on your website
- Blue Host Affiliate – an affiliate link for website hosting we use.
- Online Surveys – we earn money from participating in online surveys like Swagbucks.
- Stock Photography – we earn money whenever one of our photos sells online.
- Interest Checking/Saving Account – we earn interest on the money in our checking and savings accounts.
- Cash Back Credit Card – we earn extra money via 2% cashback from using our credit card.
- Lending Club – we earn interest from peer-to-peer lending.
- Dividends – we earn dividends from the stocks we own.
Monthly Expenses for November
We talk a lot about our blog (how to start a blog) because we continue to find it as one of the best ways to make money, but it’s also relatively inexpensive to run.
Monthly Expenses – $235
- Bluehost ($36) – hosting service
- Sitelock ($8) – extra security add-on from Bluehost
- Domain Name ($2) – so we can reserve the domain name WalletSquirrel.com.
- Bloom ($7) – our creative email signup forms.
- Tailwind ($14) – our super awesome Pinterest marketing tool.
- Money Mix Insiders ($166) – Great mastermind group for finance bloggers + Moz Membership
What’s Next for January, 2021
Lots of planning in January. I love the Elon Musk quote “how do I accomplish my 10-year plan in 6 months?”. So I’ve been busy planning out 10 years of Wallet Squirrel, what it can become, and how to get there. Then focusing on how we can do that all in 6 months.
I’m super excited about this plan!
Wallet Squirrel is a personal finance blog by best friends Andrew & Adam on how money works, building side-hustles, and the benefits of cleverly investing the profits. Featured on MSN Money, AOL Finance, and more!
Going strong you fellas! More power!
Wallet –
The SEO stats are just awesome. Fricken love what you are doing and accomplishing here.
-Lanny
Hey Andrew,
I see you’re still bringing in side hustle dough. Glad to see you’re still hanging in there. Anything I can do to help? 🙂
Thanks Alexis, we’re super excited to see how we continue to grow in 2021!
I’m super glad you like them. It’s a bit nerve-wracking sharing these details. It’s like co-workers sharing how much everyone gets paid. Kind of a vulnerable feeling. Hopefully, it helps other bloggers though!
-Andrew
Hey DNN! I’m always excited to hear from you. I remember subscribing to your YouTube channel a bit ago. How are the videos coming?
-Andrew
Congrats on your jump in domain authority! That’s huge and I’m sure it will pay dividends over the coming months.