Hello and welcome back to another Income Report for my UK food blog. 2020 was certainly a year to remember, for many, many reasons!
2020 was also the third year in which I had made an income as a food blogger, but the first I had really made any sort of “liveable” income. This was of course in part due to finally being part of Mediavine!
If you’ve read my Income Reports for 2018 and 2019, you’ll know that I could have/should have signed up to Mediavine in the years prior to 2020, but life was a little crazy and I overlooked it. In terms of years to finally get around to it, 2020 was certainly a good one!
The ads went live on Baking with Granny in April 2020, right around the time everyone was suddenly stuck at home and discovering a love for baking. Almost instantly I was making over £1,000/month! Which in comparison to what I made monthly with Gourmet Ads, was just an insane amount.
And we all know a good amount of traffic to your blog has a snowball affect, so I consider myself very fortunate to have been at the stage I was with my blog in 2020, as it’s set me in good stead for all the years that ahve followed
Finally, all the work I had been doing the past few years to make a career out of food blogging were finally paying off. Meanwhile, the world was on fire… And my ex – who had previously bankrupt me – was now dragging us through the family courts (expensive), so despite the increase of earning, it would be a while before I could really start to invest some of it back into my blog.
It wasn’t all bad in 2020 though. Pandemic and court aside, it was also the year we moved out the city, got engaged, and got married!
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 2020
Pageviews: 3,277,944
Sessions: 2,455,230
Users: 1,653,032
(Databox offers a good explanation as to what the difference between Pageviews, Sessions & Users is).
Spot the point in the year when the world went into Lockdown and we were all stuck at home, baking! 2020 was certainly a year to remember and as a food blogger, I’m not sure there will ever be another year quite comparable.
Traffic Sources for 2020
Organic: 76.2%
Direct: 11.8%
Pinterest: 6.9%
Facebook: 1.1%
Referral: 0.8%
Other: 3.2%
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. But in terms of numbers compared to 2019, I had over a million more people visit via Organic Search. Proof at putting in the work with SEO to rank well on Google, pays off!
Direct traffic also overtook Pinterest for the first time. 2020 is probably around the time Pinterest started to see it’s decline (in being a traffic driver to websites anyway). But I also had a couple of recipes featured on well-ranking websites, and started back up with Convertkit again – both contributing to an increase in Direct Traffic.
Facebook traffic remained much the same, as did referrals.
Income for 2020
Gourmet Ads: £219.03
Mediavine: £10,205.21
Amazon Affiliates: £324.03
TOTAL: £10,748.27
In 2020 I finally said goodbye to Gourmet Ads and hello Mediavine! Like I said in my 2018 Income Report & my 2019 Income Report, I could have (and should have) applied to Mediavine long before 2020. Hindsight is great but the reality was that those previous years were personally tough and 2020 was the first year I really had the time and mental capacity to grow Baking with Granny to a real income source.
Alongside the Mediavine switch – which clearly was a great move! – I also started using Amazon Affiliates (now known as Amazon Associates). This is a really difficult way to gain any substantial income, but it’s low effort and I have always considered anything from it as a bonus.
Expenses for 2020
Website Hosting: £52.58
Convertkit: £1,302.82
Ingredients & Supplies: £29.90
TOTAL: £1,385.30
With life finally settling down at the start of 2020 (ha!), I decided to get back on Convertkit and keeep growing my email subscribers. For thosse that don’t know, the more subscribers you have, the more you pay. So although my Convertkit expenses may be on the higher side, it’s not neccessarily a bad thing!
And unlike 2019, I completely fell off the wagon when it came to tracking my ingredient spends. Grocery shopping in 2020 was traumatic enough, without complicating it with separate lists and receipts.
NET Income for 2020
Gross Income: £10,748.27
Expenses: £1,385.30
TOTAL INCOME: £9,362.97
My first year earning with Mediavine was certainly a year to remember! The income increase was of course fantastic, especially in comparison to what I had made in 2018 and 2019. But 2021 has even more in store for me.
Past Income Reports:
Food Blog Income Report 2018
Food Blog Income Report 2019
