I’m running a little behind on publishing September’s Transparency Report obviously. Every time I sat down to write it, something seemingly more ‘important’ would come up, like planning our huge website update, interviewing and hiring, or a client project deliverable.
With October almost over and not having published September’s report, I needed to take action or I’d find myself in the position of having to publish two reports back-to-back.
Anyway, best not dilly dally, here’s how we performed in September…
Website Traffic for September 2017
The snapshot of our Google Analytics ‘Audience Overview’ for September:
The data breakdown from the above Google Analytics screen shot is as follows:
- Sessions: 33,518
- Users: 27,200 (unique visitors)
- Page Views: 49,833
- Avg. Session Duration: 00:01:28
- Bounce Rate: 78.52%
Traffic Analysis
As expected, after running our huge 7th birthday giveaway in August which helped us reach the magical 30,000 visitors we couldn’t achieve the same level of results in September because we had no ‘carrot’ (giveaway) to attract visitors. Still, we managed to attract 27,000 visitors to our sustainability site, a pretty good result considering that this time last year we only managed to attract just 8,000 visitors!
Anyway, the learning lesson for people who wish to run giveaways to increase their email database numbers? Giveaways are great for promotion and a temporary traffic boost but shouldn’t be relied upon for consistent, loyal readers. That comes down to providing value. Plus too many giveaways can cheapen a brand, don’t you think?
Worth noting that our performance across all other key Google Analytics metrics was stable.
Income
So here’s how much EWP earned in September ($AUD):
- Google Adsense: $35.95
- Amazon Associates: $164.03
- Skimlinks: $140.61
- Linkshare: $12.60
- Share-A-Sale: $16.22
- Other Affiliate Programs: $0.00
- Sponsored Post/Paid Guest Posts: $1,564.11
- Patreon Pledges/Reader Donations: $328.40
Total Income: $2,261.92
Please note: There may be exchange rate discrepancies when I convert USD to AUD as I calculate what has been earned in the month rather than what has been paid in the month. Also, exchange rates used by each platform may vary.
Expenses
Here are the business expenses and costs* we incurred for September
- Software: $23.33
- People: $1,960.21
Total Expenses: $1,983.54
*Note: Rough estimates as the operating costs are divided between our other businesses as well.
Income Analysis
Net income in August was $278.38 which is nothing to write home about but then having achieved yet another $2k revenue month, means my confidence in our business model is growing. And when you compare our current earnings performance to the same month last year, you can see that we’ve tripled our revenue which is a great sign since we’re really only in our second proper year of business.
Our largest single expense item is team and contract wages but since I am committed to paying people (and not exploiting them), this will remain unchanged for now. My role is to make sure that our revenue expands enough to cover wages and eventually pay me a salary (it’s true, I don’t take a salary in this business, but I know I will eventually so I’m not too worried).
Now our Patreon supporters and reader donations continue to come through which I am thankful for as it makes up about 15% of total revenue. I think reader support will continue to play a key role in the growth of Eco Warrior Princess and this belief was confirmed this month when we had several readers reach out to let us know they’d love to donate one-off payments (rather than the monthly payments Patreon encourages). These reader messages affirm that what we’re doing is of value to our audience. In addition, our website update will include donation and payment capabilities which I suspect will help to boost reader contributions and improve our bottom line. I seriously cannot wait until our new website is launched – it’s going to be amazing!
Email Subscriber Stats
Moving on to email subscriptions for the month of September:
- New Subscribers: 73
- Existing Subscribers: 7,241
- Total Subscribers: 7,314
Our email subscriber list is growing at a slow and steady rate. I’m ok with this. Increasing our email subscribers was not a focus in September. This time last year our subscriber count was hovering around 1,800 so I am happy with where we are at this point.
Overall thoughts
We’ve undergone some huge changes in the last several months which continued right through September.
We got rid of our office months ago to move HQ back to our solar-powered home and have put those funds towards hiring and paying a growing team of writers. In September we hired even more capable and talented writers and the team is now 15 strong. This is the team that I feel is capable of strengthening Eco Warrior Princess to help it evolve from a blog to a global media brand that is tackling the issues that matter and redefining what it means to live green.
Our new look website will reflect this rebrand from blog to media business and will include features and functions that we’ve never had on the site before. Did I mention it’s going to look amazing?!
Another key area of focus is videos which we will produce more frequently as I think it will help to communicate our green message to an even wider, more diverse audience.
Lastly, I am still working on a strategy to attract larger sponsors as these relationships will play a crucial role in business growth. Relationship building and closing big-dollar deals like the ones I’m aiming for takes time, but I am confident it will happen. In fact, we’re in partnership with a conscious travel company and if all goes as expected, the deal will be the most profitable since launching EWP as a lone activist blogger all those years ago. And I’m certain that there are more where this deal came from! That’s my hope anyway, but then again, I am the optimistic type 🙂
Curious to know what happens next? Keen to follow along on our eco-conscious business journey? Make sure to subscribe so you never miss a thing!
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. Or if you’re keen to work with us, make sure to download our media kit here.
Click here for a running tally of our gross income.
Now over to you: Are you an eco blogger or run a conscious business? Have you broken even yet or are you finding it difficult to make sales? Are you having to supplement your passion project with a part-time or full-time job? We’d love to hear your story so please leave a comment below.
If you’re a newbie ethical fashion or green blogger looking for more blogging tips, you’ll love our blogger resources. You can access them here.
