April 2021 – Monthly Income Report

White Hat Blogging is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, in addition, I am an independent Jasper Affiliate, not an employee. I receive referral payments from Jasper and possibly other affiliates.

This month started with Conversion.AI becoming a solid tool I now pair with Frase to help build post outlines and to help me write more consistently. I tend to get stuck and freeze many times when writing and Conversion.AI has changed this for me greatly.

This month I spent a decent amount of time trying to learn more about PSI as related to Core Web Vitals when paired with ads, and I have had some successes and some failures which I will try to expand on this month in posts to help others out as June rolls closer. (Oh yeah, Google pushed this back)

In addition to all the other work I have been doing I was able to move up to the next tier in Ezoic Premium which costs $110 per month, as I always say once you move up tiers always take the Elite level to get the most chances as to premium ads placed as they pay out massively higher.

Pairing with my own writing I do outsource content to specific writers from Fiverr. I will say this method can work well if you find writers you trust at a good cost, in addition I have started using Contentful.One as a secondary source of content generation as they can create in bulk similar to BuySellText.

April 2021 At a Glance

I have begun the cleaning process, stripping away sites that I had limited care to write on anymore or that show zero signs of life and to more effectively double down on the three growing sites while starting a fresh site based on the soon to release (May 3rd) new Income School Blogging Course.

The switch from the old electronics site to a more open niche has caused some slight losses in traffic initially but I feel it will help me grow the site much better now and be able to become a resource for a much longer period than the old domain would ever allow.

Why Create Income Reports?

I can say that I don’t necessarily “enjoy” making these as they take a solid chunk of the day to gather and align but they are very nice when I go look back historically and can see where I was along with my thoughts back at that point.

I started doing these income reports to show month on month growth and to provide some motivation to show that websites can be a solid income over time but that it isn’t a get rich quick scheme by any means.

Should you choose that you want to make websites for a living to earn income you need to be realistic that the work you do now will have a CHANCE to pay off in a year or more.

That being said there is not another way to build an income that allows you the freedom with time that a blogger can achieve, this is my why and it is the reason I work continually to improve my skills and my niche sites.

If you are an absolute beginner I would suggest joining the Income School Project 24, it can help you when you have no clue to get solid footing for a really good cost.

If you aren’t sold on them then you can look at good detailed affiliate marketing class and many others which are available from MoneyLab.co.

Overall Content Generation Breakdown

Now that I am pruning sites and selling sites, I think I will just refer to them by name and not with “site 1” as I think this is a more honest approach to labelling since “Site 1” doesn’t get double the time of other sites so the moniker isn’t very true.

I retired the “AI” only concept as it is true you can’t write all the content using AI only so I thought it muddled the waters as to what AI can do and instead am working on moving onto a P24 site following their new training model instead.

• Fitness – 2 posts
• Diet – 0 posts (Sold)
• Gardening 2 – 1 post
• Outdoor 1 – 10 posts
• Outdoor 2 – 1 post
• Electronics 1 – 10 posts
• Backyard – 0 posts
• White Hat Blogging (This Site) – 3 posts
• Hobby – 5 posts
• Travel – 4 posts

• YouTube – 2 Videos

Total Posts for the month: 36

Monthly Income Breakdown

Monthly Expense Breakdown

My Niche Site Updates

Building out these reports is meant to help out if there is more detail that would be helpful please let me know as I will always be apt to add more content in this area when it makes sense and supports more knowledge.

Fitness Niche Site

This one is definitely a longer slog as ranking is slower but it is moving forward much more now as we age in more of the old content and this month was nearly a 100% traffic increase versus last month which was a welcome change.

I have found GA4 to be less “on point” to traffic numbers versus the UA code so while the UA continues I will convert to using that data instead as I feel it better shows actual traffic on the site and GA4 tends to miss traffic at times.

I still feel this site has the best chance to be near evergreen and can easily become an authority site based on name alone, it is just going to be a real 3-5 year project to knock down the other sites while maximizing this site.

Monthly Traffic

I’m very happy with the traffic increase from last month, a growth of nearly 90% is impressive in any niche site and signs that things are heading in the right direction.

Unlike most, I don’t care to focus on bounce rate as it really doesn’t matter unless they are bouncing back into the SERP again like I failed to answer them fully.

SERP Rankings

This month has seen some actual movement on my key terms along with movement on some additional LSI keywords which I think helped start traffic moving to the site with more velocity.

Search Console

Watching this graph on a month to month is painful, but I have picked up some from Google and other SERPS so hoping thats a sign of things to come from Google.

Plan For Next Month

I failed to make pins for my posts last month but have already made three yesterday, now the goal will be to work through the backlog of posts and generate multiple pins for each.

Content wise my goal this month is to get 8 more posts created to keep the ball moving but also allow me the time. to focus on making around 300 pins (total dread, I get why people outsource this!).

Diet Niche Site

This site started back in Q1 2020 as a competition within a Facebook Group to take a new domain and get content out and ranking, whoever made the most revenue in 90 days would be the winner.

I jammed out content over those first 90 days and slowly lost interest in the grind that comes with diet sites if I wasn’t going. togo heavily into recipes so I just let it idle and built a Facebook Group.

Today that site sold for full listing in less than 2 hours for over $5k, while I would love to keep and work on sites this is one that has shown me the pure potential of a site when you decide to put in the effort and rank yourself while building traffic organically.

In the end each post at the end will pay me $100ish dollars not counting the ad and affiliate income in-between and this proves how lucrative this can be when you put your faith behind it and your heart.

Monthly Traffic

Traffic has been fairly steady the entire time even while not posting consistently, sometimes all you need is to hit the right content that people actually search for and you will get amazing results.

SERP Rankings

Well as goodbye stats go I am pleased with the results achieved with under 50 posts on a site I really worked hard on for 90 days, hope this inspires you to get working and publishing as publishing is what moves the needle.

A final shot of where the traffic ranked as the side sold off to another owner.

Search Console

This site never went lower than a 8.9% CTR for its entire lifetime and was pretty rock solid for its lifetime.

Plan For Next Month

None, site is sold and will be removed.

Gardening Niche Site

This niche has traffic and now I just need to focus and make sure to post consistently as multiple sites feature ads on AdThrive so multiple sites are supported over 100k pageviews per month, time to forcefully take a part of that pie.

Now that I have retired some and sold off others I can make sure that my focus goes where it is needed, with sites like this to begin the overall growth and begin their time in the sun!

Monthly Traffic

As this site is still super young (3 months) I am very happy with a month over month increase at near 100%, next up will be to continue writing and maybe migrate to GeneratePress Pro for the easy CWV score increase prior to June.

SERP Rankings

We are still in early days on this blog and the Google dance keeps content moving up and down near constantly, I am not worried about any content loss in placements but it is a sign to watch for and evaluate if it keeps occurring.

Search Console

As with all young sites I expect position to be low and CTR to be a bit wild as it is tested on different search terms which may or may not fit.

Plan For Next Month

My goal will be to get at least 8 posts added to this each month which would work out to two per week, I don’t have the ability to outsource like some of these bigger players so I need to be more consistent and focused on a long term growth goal.

8 posts per month comes in just under 100 a year which would be perfect to help growth over time while not wasting effort, focus on winning each one instead of a scattershot approach.

Outdoor Niche Site 1

I am almost to the point to start building the YouTube channel to help move this site up, that website is able to be linked to help provide people more information on topics inside YouTube.

The only issues I see at this point on the site is that I have a limited variety of ways to support visitors during the down season which is a point of concern for me currently and looking to address in the coming month or two.

Monthly Traffic

This site is interesting, outdoors can be tough but I am continuing to push content and work on ranking and gaining snippets. Out of all my sites this was the one I worried would be hit by the Google Product update as it was ranking well for the reviews prior but now Google drops their boxes up top.

SERP Rankings

I have to dig into what I lost from the top 3 this month as the traffic didn’t greatly decrease from the loss, I am working to recheck all content for snippets and to increase overall content into the top 100 and preferably into the top 10.

Search Console

I am happy with this site as the average CTR continues to grow over time while more content ranks and overall is moving towards the 3k+ clicks from Google, content to work on is related to off season to manage and keep people around.

Plan For Next Month

I found more cracks in the niche that I am working to fill with content, some of the previous ones have led to 1000+ visits during parts of the year so while they may show 0 search volume they can be homeruns if you get the right ones.

Focusing on my knowledge within the niche helps me choose which I feel are the right ones that beginners would ask in a place like Google which has helped me target and qualify my choices.

My blog side I would like to continue with 8 posts per month and begin to create with 1 YouTube video this month as my bottom goal and hopefully 2 videos if I can find time in the area.

Outdoor Niche Site 2

This is a “mega site” or really has the bones to be it just requires some hard core dedication to building content only for the niche though as you can make each category its own “mini niche” site and it would be an amazing website.

I keep working to add content and have pared away other sites to allow myself the time to start working on these other sites that can yield far better results over time instead of focusing on the little stuff.

Monthly Traffic

As you can see there is solid traffic here and there have been periods of months without adding more content, starting today I am ending this and doubling down to build this site and get it to the level I believe it should always have approached.

SERP Rankings

Nearly all targeted keywords are ranking in the. top100, this is good as 15 posts not in the top 100 are posted in the last 60 days so I wouldn’t expect them to be there yet which means I have maybe one or two failed post with 8 months or longer aged and not within the top 100.

Search Console

The CTR is continuing to grow and more and more impressions and clicks shows that this site is moving in the right direction and needs dire focus and attention I haven’t been providing it.

Plan For Next Month

I am going to continue to pump content and my goal will be 8 posts per month (sounding like a broken record now more and more) but this is a right mix as it allows for 2 posts per week and a continually growing site and to start rebuilding lost momentum.

Electronics Niche Site 1

The migration went super well and I was able to get a load of content added to this site fast to help start moving it into the other areas that have been opened by changing the domain and opening it up more.

I am going to continue to post and build on this site, I am not targeting reviews as much as information based content and providing an Amalinks Pro table at the end with options from Amazon in case they are thinking about it.

These next posts are all about establishing credit in the new areas and is going to be more like an initial site 30 posts with depth and details along with quick answers to questions.

Monthly Traffic

Much of this “big gain” is just the reality of the migration and not really bigger as none of the new content has had significant time to rank and really move the needle.

SERP Rankings

Definitely a nice sign after a domain migration and that nearly nothing lost any placements along with newer content appears to be moving much more reliably towards the top as I had hoped, now this site can get to 100-200 posts and hold as an authority without issue.

Golden Days Ahead!

Search Console

Search console is all over the place but adding in content and the shift from another domain has me just not worrying about this until I get some more content in and I begin to see newer content begin to rank.

Plan For Next Month

I am working on adding 4 posts per month on this site as it has aged to nearly 24 months at this point it will be good to see how fast these other topics can rank and if they bring in more traffic as I was capped at my previous sub niche.

Backyard Niche Site

This niche is into the main season now so anything I post won’t help me this year, instead I am spending this month looking for posts that will work for the off season over the winter and find some good products to offer.

I am interested in finding some info products to offer and have found a few options that aren’t publicly available but do provide a 50% affiliate payment that I will be pursuing to help me to diversify the monetization.

Monthly Traffic

I actually hadn’t instituted GA onto this site prior to this month but to align all my content I made sure to install as we move into these outdoor backyard times this site should continue to do well.

SERP Rankings

I have been slow on writing content for this site, slower than I wanted but the results and making the top 3 and top 10 shows me that it is definitely worth the time and effort to continue building out content.

Search Console

Moving into spring you can see this is starting to jump up much more which makes sense when I look at the domain performance last year, thankfully I have doubled the content and am getting nearly triple the results from last year!

Plan For Next Month

This month I am in search mode to try and find content that can keep this site gaining traffic during the offseason and not have the huge dropoff it had last year moving into Autumn and Winter.

I hope to add 4 posts to this site this month based on high performing EPMV content found with Ezoics Big Data Analytics, this allows all pageviews to give good income as I have found some topics can pay $30+ per thousand views.

White Hat Blogging – This Site

I love the idea of blogging for an income, while many are focused on methods that are definitely questionable I focus hard on repeatable manners to get results. This blog is a place where I can drop these ideas off to hopefully help the next person get faster results than I did, check out my blog here!

I am growing and the YouTube channel is just edging over 900 subscribers, I hope this trend continues and I can reach monetization as YouTube monetization in this niche can pay very well with AdSense.

Monthly Traffic

Building traffic to this site is not coming easy but I am starting to find cracks within even the “blogging” niche which should help me grow my site out and provide me a platform to continue growing on.

SERP Rankings

Blogging and Affiliate Marketing is a tough nut to crack, as the below shows you about this site getting the needle to move without link building is NOT an easy process.

I do what I do here though to help people and I believe over time Google will come to understand this. andhelp with the rankings eventually!

Search Console

Meh, I am there and I am gaining clicks is about all this month shows me. Glad to be closing in on a 3% CTR but need to up impressions and work on content that helps people to start getting content shares and links the old fashion and legit way.

Plan For Next Month

I have a focus hard on pushing YouTube to 1000 views but have 4-5 ideas for posts that I have started building headings for on here that I hope to finish as I can write these while relaxing as I find these relaxing and easy to write and not exhausting.

For YouTube I am starting to build out all the needed content to support making a niche website, currently covering Google Analytics and building an account and getting it added to your niche website, I will be continuing this over this month to offer an answer to anyones needs in video format.

Hobby Niche Site

This site is perfect for outsourcing and will be the one I continue publishing to through a outsourcing project, this site has plenty of short posts as competition at 5-800 words so outsourcing 1000 word posts and then finishing them should give plenty of perfectly rankable content.

Monthly Traffic

SERP Rankings

Site is still in super early days and is definitely slower to build and rank than others I have started it isn’t a deterrent and just one where more time and TLC s needed.

Search Console

Plan For Next Month

Just continue to hit the gas pedal on the new site and get to 30 posts, I am already monetizing with Amazon Affiliate and hope to see traffic pick up and then clicks. Have 100 post ideas already outlined now to fill in headings and begin to build the content and post it as fast as I can to get to the 100 posts line.

Travel Niche Site

This site is actually really fun to write about since we travelled there in 2014 it has been a family fantasy to be able to travel back again, unfortunately it comes at quite an expense that I am unwilling to go into debt to accomplish.

The entire goal here is to convince my wife she can write on this and that it is viable to make money from writing well for others online about your experiences or your want to experience.

Monthly Traffic

SERP Rankings

Search Console

Plan For Next Month

Just continue to hit the gas pedal on the new site and get to 30 posts, then just continue to layer on levels of interesting content as well as adding on some layers of affiliate offers once you can see and evaluate traffic coming in.

Overall Lessons from April

I am definitely at about my comfort level around 35-45 posts per month while not burning myself out, so now my focus is to find and stay within that realm with the main goal being at least 1 post per day and not trying to put out numbers for numbers sake.

I would argue thats always been and will continue to be my problem, I definitely get lured in more frequently than others and I have severe ADHD tendencies where focusing on one site would more than likely lead me to quitting.

This definitely makes me more of a slow burner though versus others who are generating this same amount of content but on a single site, if you don’t know in almost all cases the single site will get so much more velocity from full on consistency.

I would also say while many will build a list of posts for their first ten, twenty, or thirty posts I would suggest building your list to 100 posts and then you spend your time writing that list of 100 first before going back to searching for post topics, this will ensure your focus gets results to keep you publishing.

Did I Meet my March Goals?

Im pretty happy with my 36 posts given working on selling a website and adapting into a Conversion.AI assisted posting schedule, I actually saved a good chunk of my income by not outsourcing as much content as the last month which is a net win.

I will lose about $70 in ad revenue with the loss of the diet site which may force me back into the previous tier for income but only time will tell as I will really need my other sites to pick up the steam.

I still feel I am solidly on pace to hit my $2000 a month goal by December 2021 if I can keep building and adding in value there is nothing that should hold me back from attaining this goal.

I still feel that the key to all new sites is to get content on them, honestly the faster the better, if you can get 30 posts per month up on a site then do it and you will be amazed how that 360 posts is acting by the end of the year.

I am pleasantly happy with how this month actually turned out and I am hoping to continue the trend and push these sites to 200-250 posts each and establish YouTube channels to supplement them.

What Are my Goals for May?

As income continues to grow over this year I have some business plans I need to clean up like a business account, LLC, and the workings to become a more legit business, I am planning to read more and start the planning this month.

My goals this month are about 8 posts per site along with starting on a YouTube channel for the outdoor site and continuing to push the WHB YouTube to 1000 subs and beyond, I am hoping to turn that into another income source that will help me power content generation.

As I build more and more I am looking at writing a max of 200 posts on a site and once I reach that point it becomes revamp and add to existing content to grow it without it becoming unmanageable. Instead climbing up the tiers to aim at higher and more volume gathering keywords.

I continue to look at options to run alongside Amazon, not avoiding it but supplementing it as Amazon is a limited time benefit to affiliate marketers and many would do good to remember that as rates continue to bleed out.

Instead find offers from high quality sites in your niche (and ask sites that don’t publicly offer any as you may be surprised). Then make sure to offer this alongside the cruddy Amazon links as a fallback and you will see your affiliate slowly climb.

My goal this month on that side is to focus on rewriting my links to Amazon to showcase the non-Amazon link and the benefits they provide, then also provide an Amazon option. Something like:

I love this new widget from widgeters inc who provide amazing help and knowledge on use of the gadget, otherwise check out similar items from Amazon.

Hoping that this approach can get me more of the 10% affiliate income instead of the 3-4% from Amazon, or maybe getting a click and affiliate commission from both sites.

From there, here’s a quick recap on some of the most valuable resources and things I recommend you check out. They’ve helped me in my journey and I think they’ll be valuable in yours.

• Conversion.AI – This is your personal writing assistant, offerring you more information and helping prompt you in writing make magical and informative content.
• Project 24 – A welcome change from the competition, focused for all with a purely content first approach, hands-down an awesome course for building a niche site or an online business that focuses on content.
• Ezoic – Once you’ve got your website and some content, think about these guys. They’re doing some amazing things – and have helped me earn several thousand dollars (in ad revenue) that I’d not have earned otherwise.
• LinkWhisper – Honestly without this plugin managing links within my content would be incredibly difficult, honestly one of the easiest things to re-up each year and highly suggest it.
• Cloudways – As hosting goes choosing Cloudways with a VULTR HF server is the fastest you will ever see a backend run, no more waiting for the new post to load it is as close to desktop speeds as you can probably find.

Josh Koop