When I read Business of Fashion’s 10 Commandments of New Consumerism and noticed that transparency was first on the list, I gave myself a pat on the back.
These blog transparency reports are on par with current business trends and that puts Eco Warrior Princess at the forefront of ethical blogging practices.
Anyway enough self-congratulating, let’s get down to the numbers…
Website Traffic for September 2016
Here’s the Google Analytics snapshot for September:
The data breakdown for the month (as shown in the above image) is as follows:
- Sessions: 10,343
- Users: 8,162 (the number of unique visitors the site had)
- Page Views: 17,624
- Avg. Session Duration: 00:02:04
- Bounce Rate: 73.13%
Traffic Analysis
You will notice in the image above that for four days early in the month, we had hosting issues and thus were unable to capture data. Four days of lost data skews the monthly results. It could explain why our bounce rate increased and our traffic visitors and sessions remained stagnant.
Frustrating when these things happen but nothing I can do except to move onwards and upwards!
Income
Here’s the total income the blog earned (but not necessarily paid) for the month of September (in Australian Dollars):
- Google Adsense: $14.44
- Boody Affiliate: $35.53
- Sponsored Post: $350.00
- Patreon Pledges/Reader Donations: $231.16
Total Income: $631.13
This is by no means a stellar performance for a blog that’s been around for six years but compared to our August income of $2.49 is a massive improvement. Please also keep in mind there may be some exchange rate discrepancy when converting Patreon pledges from USD to AUD.
Income Analysis
Eco Warrior Princess is a blog about sustainability, but it needs to be financially sustainable too. I had a cathartic moment a few months ago after a meltdown caused by working long unsustainable hours in my other business to support the demands of Eco Warrior Princess.
I realised that if I wanted to avoid burnout then I would have to be open to monetisation. If I am to sustain our blogging activities, pay fair wages and keep the content free, blog sponsorship and advertising is a necessary evil.
I had been reluctant to participate in affiliate marketing because of my concern about promoting materialism. Since sharing my dilemma, I have received much encouragement from readers who support our need for affiliate relationships.
So in September we partnered with Boody an Australian-based ethical brand that makes affordable clothing. We agreed to this affiliate partnership for September only, and although it wasn’t a substantial amount of money, some earnings is better than nothing. We also published a sponsored post for our friends at Purple Mango.
And although we don’t have full control over the type of ads displayed, we did earn some money from Google Adsense too.
But by far the biggest contributor to the increase in earnings was… our readers! Thank you, thank you, thank you! When reader Nicole Robertson suggested we create a Patreon page to ask fans to make a pledge and show their support, I didn’t expect that we would receive anything at all. In less than two months, we’ve had 16 people make pledges in support of the work we’re doing. Although far from covering total expenses, has at least helped to cover a portion of team wages.
Still pinching myself that you care enough to donate! Thank you so much!
Email Subscriber Stats
We use Mailchimp for fuss-free email communication because keeping in touch with readers is essential if we want the sustainability movement to grow. Total number of email subscribers for September:
- New Subscribers: 166
- Existing Subscribers: 1,667
- Total Subscribers: 1,833
We are currently running a giveaway promotion which is helping to attract new subscribers.
Overall thoughts
I’m thrilled at the progress we’ve made so far and particularly with the success of our Patreon page. I no longer feel the huge financial burden to cover the site running costs on my own as seeing the number of pledges we’ve received in such a short period of time has given me hope that we will eventually cover all expenses.
And I’m hoping in the near future, I might finally draw a wage too!
If you value our work and want to keep Eco Warrior Princess as ad-free as possible, perhaps you can spare US$1 a month and pledge your support on Patreon if you haven’t already?
Now over to you: If you’re an ethical blogger or run an ethical business, how are you showing your commitment to transparency? Feel free to leave a comment below!
Click here for a running tally of our gross income.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. The monies collected helps us to continue providing free content to our readers and allows us to pay fair wages. For more information, click here.
