Hi, hello! And welcome to my first ever Income Report for my food blog. I have considered doing Income Report for Baking with Granny for a long time now but haven’t really been sure where to start. So, why not start at the beginning?
In theory, it would have made sense to start as soon as I started making money from blogging but I didn’t, so these first few Income Reports will done with historical data, which will also give the benefit of hindight. For my first few Income Reports, I will be providing information on an annual basis. Following these, I hope to continue sharing data, information and tips on a more regular basis – likely quarterly or monthly, time will tell.
I started Baking with Granny back at the end of 2015 and despite thinking my first income reports should be for 2016 and 2017, it seemed a bit silly & a fruitless exercise to share these years, given my blog didn’t start making any notable income until 2018.
Interestingly enough, it was also 2018 that I became a single Mum, having left fulltime employment the year before, to put all my focus in making Baking with Granny a success.
Let’s start with why I want to start sharing these Income & Traffic Reports…
Reasons for sharing my food blogs income & traffic reports:
1. Sharing Knowledge. I’ve been in the blogging game for a long time and have some good knowledge of what does and doesn’t work. I want to offer an insight to those who are starting out, or even just thinking about whether this food blogging gig is something they’d like to dive into. I know from my own experience, seeing other bloggers Income Reports can be very insightful, either giving you something to strive for, or as a way to steal some tips to try & implement on your own blog. Information is power and all that jazz!
2. UK Blogger Income & Traffic Report. I’ve struggled to find other food bloggers based in the UK that share this info. And believe me, I’ve tried searching all manner of “food blog income report UK”, “UK food blogger traffic and income report”, “blog income report UK”… As helpful as it can be to see income and traffic reports from elsewhere in the world, it can be hard to translate that information to your own blog when your traffic is mostly UK based.
3. Wider Understanding. One of the first questions you are asked as a food blogger is, “how do you make your money?” Well, these income reports will hopefully answer that.
4. Accountability & Motivation. I already do track income, as being self-employed I do my own tax return. But the hope is in sharing this information that I will have a better understanding of areas that are doing particularly well, or where things could be making improvements. Hopefully this will also motivate me to keep striving for more too.
Next up, what to expect from these Income & Traffic reports:
First, I will share what my traffic was for that period. These will be listed in Pageviews, Sessions and Users, with the data being collected from Google Analytics. I will also share some info on the traffic sources.
Second, I will share what my income was for that period. This will be broken down into the different sources of income, and this does change as time goes by. This will be my gross income for that period.
Third, I will share what my expenses are for that period. This is where I will share my net income for the period too.
Finally, throughout and where appropriate, I will share any other important information that influenced the income, traffic or expenses for that period.
Traffic Report for 2018
Pageviews: 843,400
Sessions: 624,920
Users: 435,489
(Databox offers a good explanation as to what the difference between Pageviews, Sessions & Users is).
Something that is really frustrating to look back on my Traffic for 2018 is the fact I could have been applying to Mediavine (who also had a lower threshold in 2018) and earning from my blog. I wasn’t.
There was A LOT going on back in 2018, most notably I became a single Mum in January, having left an abusive relationship. I also filed for bankruptcy, thanks to the debts I had occured due to financial abuse. So despite money being a big focus, the blogs potential to earn was somewhat overlooked.
With all that came with that, Mediavine just wasn’t on my radar yet. And in fact, it would be a further 2 years before I would end up on Mediavine.
Traffic Sources for 2018
Organic: 73.3%
Pinterest: 15%
Direct: 9%
Referral: 1%
Facebook: 0.7%
Other: 1%
The majority of my traffic came from Organic Search (ie. Google, or your search engine of choice), which is unsurprising as it’s always been my number one focus when it comes to creating content.
What I do find interesting on reflection is just how much traffic I had from Pinterest, with the majority of the Social traffic coming from there. And very little from other social media platforms.
2018 was a different time for Pinterest and it did still give me a decent chunk of traffic. Now in 2023, it’s a very different story!
Income for 2018
Gourmet Ads: £1,023.61
Newspaper Feature: £1,000
Sponsored Content: £273.04
TOTAL: £2,296.65
Unfortunately, I no longer have access to my Gourmet Ads account to breakdown the figures of my income via them. But basically it was from some ads they would place on my website. It was by no means enough to live off but I always hoped it would cover my expenses and leave a bit of pocket money, until I could get into a more fruitful Ad provider.
Th newspaper feature was a 5-day recipe feature I did with national newspaper here in Scotland. Unfortunately, the publishing of it fell on the week of the Beast from the East – an unfortunate timing, seeing as newspapers weren’t able to get from press to shops! It was a lot of work but a great experience.
The sponsored content was a recipe creation I did for one brands website, and an Instagram post for another.
Expenses for 2018
Website Hosting: £43.08
New Camera: £297.48
Convertkit: £415.31
SocialOomph: £140.17
Plugins: £21.67
TOTAL: £917.71
Expenses in 2018 were minimal. This doesn’t include ingredients and utilities, which I would include in my tax return, but in 2018 I wasn’t quite as on top of these.
Other expenses would change & increase over time but website hosting & Convertkit would remain on my list through the years
NET Income for 2018
Gross Income: £2,296.65
Expenses: £917.71
TOTAL INCOME: £1,378.94
For my first year of earning from Baking with Granny, I was incredibly pleased (yes, really!). The fact I had made anything gave me the motivation to keep going.
Sure, it only worked out at a little over £100 a month, but it was the proof I needed that I could make money from blogging. Even with all the other stress that was happening in my every day life.
If only I had known what 2019 and 2020 would bring…
Future Income Reports:
Food Blog Income Report 2019
