It’s that time of the month again (no, not that time of the month lol!) where we publish our key metrics and earnings. We’re all busy people, so let’s get stuck into it…
Website Traffic for November 2016
Here’s what our Google Analytics numbers look like for the month of November:
The data breakdown is as follows:
- Sessions: 16,079
- Users: 13,144 (unique visitors to the site)
- Page Views: 26,210
- Avg. Session Duration: 00:01:56
- Bounce Rate: 72.08%
Traffic Analysis
When we compare the Google Analytics figures against those of October, we can see that across the board, all metrics have improved. For example, there was an increase of 17.07% in unique users and a 14.88% increase in the number of sessions (the period of time a user actively engages with the site).
The average session duration also increased by 6 seconds meaning that people are remaining on the website longer. The bounce rate also improved dropping from 74.36% to 72.08%, a good sign as it means that when a visitor lands on a page, the page is relevant and they are interacting with the site rather than jumping right off.
Now looking back at the graph above, you’ll notice that there was a huge website traffic spike towards the end of November. The increase in website visitors was the result of publishing our ethical Christmas gift guide on November 28, a post that continues to receive high numbers of visitors despite being a week old.
Income
Now for the part you’re probably most interested in. Just how much money did the website make? Drum roll please…
The total income the Eco Warrior Princess website earned (not necessarily paid) in November (in $AUD) is:
- Google Adsense: $15.76
- Sponsored Post/Paid Guest Posts: $449.10
- Patreon Pledges/Reader Donations: $236.52
Total Income: $701.38
Remember that there may be some exchange rate discrepancy when converting USD to AUD.
Income Analysis
First the good news.
We’ve been able to recover some ground after we lost a huge monthly donation from a Patreon supporter who pledged USD $100 per month. I was initially upset about this if you recall last month’s transparency report, but I got over it. Now that we’ve received more financial donations, I feel like I can finally continue our work without focussing so heavily on monetisation activities like advertising and sponsored content.
Now for the bad news. Since we began publishing transparency reports back in July, there was steady growth in earnings. But in November earnings fell. Our October income was $961.90 and we only managed to earn $701.38 in November. There could be several explanations for this:
- I took a trip to Melbourne for a week so wasn’t accepting more sponsored work until I had returned to the office;
- My partner’s business is about to launch and I have been assisting with marketing strategy which has meant that the time usually allocated to Eco Warrior Princess business was diverted to other short term priorities;
- Our admin officer Ted who is responsible for liaising with potential advertisers has reported an increase in the number of businesses who have “zero marketing budget” to spend. Whether this is due to an increased in Christmas marketing expenses or not remains a mystery to us at this point.
Now as you may recall, last month we also signed up for affiliate marketing accounts with sites such as shareasale.com but we haven’t made a cent from those sites as yet. In 2017, expect an increased effort to push affiliate sales of ethical products we love.
If Eco Warrior Princess is to be a sustainable business in its own right and where I can actually draw a proper wage, I will need to rethink my position on advertising and affiliate sales. This is of course how many blogs and magazines generate the income to keep operating. To keep content free, they need to pay for their operations through advertising.
Now for a sustainability blog like ours you can see how the consumerist message conflicts with our sustainability message. But we’re left with no other choice. To be in business, one needs to make money. Now Patreon is a godsend and we’re blessed to have financial donations from readers, but it’s not enough unfortunately. So we will continue to work with and promote ethical brands that meet our high ethical standards and disclose whenever we do. That’s a promise.
Email Subscriber Stats
Our total number of email subscribers for November:
- New Subscribers: 68
- Existing Subscribers: 2,797
- Total Subscribers: 2,865
While a positive indication, it is a poor result compared to previous months. Why has our email subscription rate stalled?
Because the giveaway we ran wasn’t as good as previous ones.
We ran a giveaway to win tickets to the Australian premiere of National Geographic’s Year of Living Dangerously, but the contest itself wasn’t enough to attract more subscribers for two reasons:
- It was a last minute contest so even if people wanted to attend, many of them couldn’t because they’d already made other plans; and
- Since Eco Warrior Princess readership is made up of a global audience and the premiere was held in Melbourne (Australia) this ruled out most people unless they resided in that location.
Overall thoughts
While November wasn’t as big as I would have hoped, it’s nothing to be upset or ashamed about. It’s getting to the festive season and people are busy, and particularly those running ethical businesses who make the decisions about advertising and sponsorship.
I’m hoping that the final month of the year will be our biggest but with a week down, I’m not too sure. This month has started slowly. And since December is typically a sluggish month for most industries other than retail, I won’t hold my breath. I might just start on business strategy for 2017. Best make use of the quiet time right?
If you value our work perhaps you can spare US$1 a month to support us in our mission to be the change and spread the sustainability message far and wide? We also have some rad rewards for our pledgees. Head to our Patreon page for more details.
Now over to you: Are you running a sustainable fashion business? Or are you an eco fashion blogger hoping to make a full time blogging income? How are you going? What are some of the challenges you’re facing? We’d love to hear your story so please leave a comment below.
Click here for a running tally of our gross earnings.
