Welcome to my August 2019 income report. Last month, I was able to generate side income earnings of $5,722.28, with a net profit of $4,777.49.

Overall, it was a decent month in terms of revenue growth. The total month-on-month revenue was up by 9.15% and the profits were up by 11.57%.

As always, before I reveal my side income earnings, let’s take a look at some of the key highlights of the month.

(To learn more about why I started maintaining monthly income reports, visit this page)

Content Creation — Latest (and Updated) Blog Posts, Videos, and Podcast Episodes

I published three blog posts last month, and if you haven’t read them yet, please do so by clicking on the links below:

• 10 Best TV Shows for Entrepreneurs – From Silicon Valley to Shark Tank to Billions, this article lists the 10 best shows for entrepreneurs.
• 5 Best AWeber Alternatives You Need to Consider – If you’re currently using AWeber as your default email marketing software, and for some reason, you’d like to switch to better alternatives out there, this is the article for you.
• The Ultimate Guide to SEMrush Traffic Analytics – I published an eBook on SEMrush’s Traffic Analytics tool in July 2019, and I decided to convert the same into a long-form post to reach a wider audience and generate some more awareness for this under-utilized, yet immensely useful tool within SEMrush.

Updated Blog Posts

I’m a huge believer in the concept of evergreen content. Hence, I keep revisiting my old posts in order to add new information and fix any existing loopholes. To that end, here are all the articles that were updated last month.

• Supermetrics Review: Reporting Automation Tool for SEO, PPC, and Analytics – Supermetrics introduced a new pricing structure last month. This review is updated accordingly, along with a few minor tweaks here and there.
• Shorby Review and Walkthrough: Drive Traffic from Instagram – The Shorby deal is back on AppSumo — this time in an all new avatar. The new and improved Shorby, dubbed Shorby 2.0, has introduced something called Smart Pages — which allows you to create custom backgrounds, animated Avatars, text blocks, GIFs, videos, and eye-catching design to take your Instagram link page’s performance to the next level. This review takes into account the new changes.

Podcast Episodes

Recorded and published a couple of new episodes of the Marketing Mantra podcast last month. Listen to these episodes on your preferred podcast player or click on the links below to listen to them on the Anchor app.

• Ep. #29 – 3 Effective Link Building Strategies (That Anyone Can Use) — with Matthew Woodward

In this episode, I’ll be joined by Matthew Woodward, a marketing thought leader who’s considered a leading authority in SEO. Matthew was a great influence on me back when I started my marketing blog. His in-depth articles and tutorials really helped me build my site’s authority and improve my search rankings.

His immensely popular award-winning internet marketing blog has over 180,000 subscribers and has generated over 4 million unique visits since he started blogging in 2012.

In this episode, we’ll be talking about SEO in general and link building in particular. Matthew will talk about the role of link building in the rapidly evolving SEO landscape and share 3 of his favourite link building strategies.

• Ep. #30 – This Month in Social Media [August 2019 Edition]

In episode 30 of the Marketing Mantra podcast, I’ll be discussing the top 3 social media news stories in August 2019.

From Tumblr getting sold to Autamattic Inc., the parent company of WordPress, for a fraction of what it was once worth, to Instagram suspending meme accounts with millions of followers, here are all the trending news stories in the world of social media marketing in the month of August.

Subscribe to the Marketing Mantra Podcast: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify

You can also listen to the podcast within the free 99signals mobile app. Download it now on your iOS or Android device and access all our articles, podcast, and videos on-the-go:

• Download 99signals for iOS
• Download 99signals for Android

Marketing Videos

I reviewed SocialBee, a social media management tool, last month. You can watch the video below:

• SocialBee Review & Walkthrough – A Great Alternative to Buffer & Hootsuite

In this SocialBee review and walkthrough, I’ll showcase some of the key features of this popular social media management tool and help you decide whether this is the right social media scheduler for your current needs.

2019 Goodreads Reading Challenge

Like last year, I’ve taken up a Goodreads reading challenge in 2019 and the challenge is once again the same — to finish reading 100 books by the end of 2019; 25 of which to be business books.

I was just able to read one business book last month: Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull. Rest of my reading hours were spent on reading Homo Deus, Yuval Hoah Harari’s excellent follow-up book to his bestseller Sapiens.

Ed Catmull’s Creativity, Inc. explores the subject of creativity in business, drawing from his rich experience as the co-founder and president of Pixar Animation Studios, where he produced such beloved animation films as Toy Story, Finding Nemo, WALL-E, Up, Inside Out, and many more.

To be honest, I was slightly underwhelmed by this book. It was fascinating to learn more about Pixar’s origins and Steve Jobs’ involvement in it, but I wanted the book to explore the secrets behind Pixar’s incredible storytelling capabilities. I was disappointed on that front, but having said that, Catmull does provide valuable insights into leadership and fostering a creative environment to produce the best work from his team.

(Side note: I’ve made a list of 79 best books for entrepreneurs. Be sure to check out this exhaustive list if you’re an avid book reader.)

Quotes I’m Pondering (Aug 1 – 31, 2019)

Inspired by Tim Ferriss’ Tribe of Mentors, you’ll find thought-provoking quotes in all my income reports.

These are the quotes that inspired me and changed my thinking in August. I hope you find them just as insightful as I did:

“Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.” — Oprah Winfrey (American talk show host and media executive)

“Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.” — Aldous Huxley (Writer & Philosopher)

August 2019 Income Report

Now let’s take a look at my earnings in August. As always, this report consists of my affiliate earnings, followed by other income, expenses, and net profit breakdown.

Affiliate Earnings

• SEMrush – $3,115.22 (review / eBook)
• AppSumo – $800.22 (latest deals)
• Serpstat – $79.95 (review)
• KWFinder – $155.19 (review)
• AppSumo Briefcase – $96.29 (review)
• SendinBlue – $665.01 (review)
• ConvertKit – $52.37 (review)
• Instapage – $23.7 (review)
• Venngage – $109 (review)
• PitchGround – $29.4 (latest deals)
• Book Like A Boss – $25
• Amazon Affiliate Earnings – $29

Total Affiliate Earnings: $5,231.15

Other Income

• Sponsored posts – $450 (click here for more details)
• Google AdSense – $41.13

Total Side Income Earnings: $5,722.28

Expenses

• Mailchimp (Recurring) – $50 (review)
• AppSumo Briefcase (Recurring) – $49 (review)
• Design Pickle (Recurring) – $399
• WPRocket – $49
• BunnyCDN – $5
• Google Ads – $99.20
• Facebook Ads – $103.10
• Ahrefs (Recurring) – $99 (review)
• Alexa (Recurring) – $19.99
• Buildfire (Recurring) – $59
• TubeBuddy (Recurring) – $4.50
• SoundCloud Pro (Recurring) – $8

Total expenses: $944.79

Net Profit Breakdown

• Affiliate earnings: $5,231.15
• Other income: $491.13
• Total expenses: (-$944.79)
• Net Profit: $4,777.49

That wraps up the income report for August 2019.

If you have any questions about this month’s income report, feel free to ask them in the comments section or connect with me via Twitter.

To get frequent updates on all things SEO, blogging, and social media, follow 99signals on these platforms below:

• Facebook
• YouTube
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Pinterest
• IGTV
• 99signals Mobile App (iTunes/App Store)
• 99signals Mobile App (Google Play Store)

If you’re interested to learn more about passive income, I reveal some of my affiliate marketing secrets in this article + webinar. Be sure to check it out!

The post How I Made $5,722.28 in August 2019: Monthly Blog Income Report appeared first on 99signals.

Welcome to my July 2019 income report. Last month, I was able to generate side income earnings of $5,242.48, with a net profit of $4,282.02.

The total month-on-month revenue was roughly the same (just a minuscule 2.5%) and the profits were up by 1.6%.

As always, before I reveal my side income earnings, let’s take a look at some of the key highlights of the month.

(To learn more about why I started maintaining monthly income reports, visit this page)

Content Creation — Latest (and Updated) Blog Posts, Videos, and Podcast Episodes

Here are 3 freshly minted posts from last month — one authored by me and two from guest contributors.

• 12 Clever Ways to Repurpose Content (and Get More Traffic) – Really proud of this article — lot of research went into the topic of repurposing posts and the 12 actionable tips presented in this article are the most effective techniques to generate traffic from your older blog posts.

Guest Contributions

• Google Updates in 2019 – A Quick Recap – Eric Gruboy, founder of Lightwalker.media, discusses the 3 major changes that were confirmed by Google, and breaks them down for you.
• Facebook Pixel: A Quick Guide to Installing and Using Facebook’s All-Purpose Tracking Tool – This post by James Miller, Biteable’s software and tech content writer, explains what exactly the Facebook pixel does for you and why you need it.

Updated Blog Posts

I’m a huge believer in the concept of evergreen content. Hence, I keep revisiting my old posts in order to add new information and fix any existing loopholes. To that end, here are all the articles that were updated in July.

• 7 Best Landing Page Builders to Increase Conversions – Addition of HubSpot landing pages in the listicle.
• Mailchimp Alternatives: 8 Best Mailchimp Alternatives in 2019 – The revised addition of this article includes “HubSpot” in the list of Mailchimp alternatives.

Podcast Episodes

Recorded and published a couple of new episodes of the Marketing Mantra podcast last month. Listen to these episodes on your preferred podcast player or click on the links below to listen to them on the Anchor app.

• Ep. #27 – Everything You Need to Know About Facebook’s Libra Cryptocurrency

In episode 27 of Marketing Mantra, I share my thoughts on Facebook’s new cryptocurrency, Libra, and how the social media giant aims to revolutionize the payment system with the new digital money.

• Ep. #28 – The Art of Paid Content Promotion — with Daniel Daines-Hutt

In this episode, I’ll be joined by Daniel Daines-Hutt from AmpMyContent. Dan is a self-confessed marketing nerd who teaches people  how to get more traffic and engagement for their existing content. His guide to paid content promotion was ranked among the Top 10 content of all time on Inbound.org (now Growth.org) and Growth Hackers.

The theme of this episode is “The Art of Paid Content Promotion.”  If you’re a marketer or blogger who’s looking for ways to leverage your existing content through paid channels like Facebook ads, you’re going to enjoy listening to this episode.

Subscribe to the Marketing Mantra Podcast: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify

You can also listen to the podcast within the free 99signals mobile app. Download it now on your iOS or Android device and access all our articles, podcast, and videos on-the-go:

• Download 99signals for iOS
• Download 99signals for Android

Marketing Videos

I published a couple of videos last month on our YouTube channel. You can watch both these videos below:

1. [AppSumo Deal Review] Influence Review & Walkthrough

In this Influence review and walkthrough, I’ll explain how you can use real-time social proof notifications to instantly boost your conversion rates and highlight some of the key features of Influence, a social proof notification tool that’s currently available at AppSumo for a heavily discounted price.

2. How to Use Facebook Ad Library to Optimize Your Facebook Ads

Facebook Ad Library is where you can see all the active and inactive ads on Facebook. It’s a great tool to uncover your competitors’ ad strategies and get valuable insights. Yet it doesn’t get the recognition it deserves and very few marketers are using it to generate ideas for their Facebook ad campaigns.

Watch this video to learn more about how to make the best use of this highly underrated Facebook Marketing tool.

Winning the July 2019 SEMrush Affiliate Program Contest

I also won the SEMrush Monthly Affiliate Marketing Contest for the eBook on SEMrush Traffic Analytics I published last month.

This is the fourth time I’m winning this contest, and I’m super happy that my SEMrush content is helping people make better use of their SEMrush subscription.

2019 Goodreads Reading Challenge

Like last year, I’ve taken up a Goodreads reading challenge in 2019 and the challenge is once again the same — to finish reading 100 books by the end of 2019; 25 of which to be business books.

In July, I managed to read these business books:

• Talk Like TED by Carmine Gallo
• Atomic Habits by James Clear

In Talk Like TED, Gallo reveals the presentations secrets of TED speakers and what makes them so compelling. I found this book vividly insightful and I would recommended it not just to people who’d like to improve their presentation and public speaking skills, but also to those who’d like to learn the secrets of creating highly engaging content.

I was under the impression that The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg was the best book I’d ever read on the psychology of habits. But James Clear changed my mind with his brilliant book Atomic Habits. In the book, Clear provides a four-step framework to create good habits and eliminate bad ones. It’s recommended reading for anyone who’d like actionable ideas on building good habits.

(Side note: I’ve made a list of 79 best books for entrepreneurs. Be sure to check out this exhaustive list if you’re an avid book reader.)

Quotes I’m Pondering (July 1 – 31, 2019)

Inspired by Tim Ferriss’ Tribe of Mentors, you’ll find thought-provoking quotes in all my income reports.

These are the quotes that inspired me and changed my thinking in July. I hope you find them just as insightful as I did:

“You can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.” — Rabindranath Tagore (Indian polymath, writer, and essayist)

“The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.” — Isaac Asimov (American science-fiction author)

July 2019 Income Report

Now let’s take a look at my earnings in July. As always, this report consists of my affiliate earnings, followed by other income, expenses, and net profit breakdown.

Affiliate Earnings

• SEMrush – $2,598.88 (review / eBook)
• AppSumo – $1251.14 (latest deals)
• AppSumo Briefcase – $28.99 (review)
• SendinBlue – $670 (review)
• ConvertKit – $46.37 (review)
• Instapage – $23.7 (review)
• Landingi – $23.4 (review)

Total Affiliate Earnings: $4,642.48

Other Income

• Sponsored posts – $600 (click here for more details)

Total Side Income Earnings: $5,242.48

Expenses

• Mailchimp (Recurring) – $50 (review)
• AppSumo Briefcase (Recurring) – $49 (review)
• Design Pickle (Recurring) – $399
• WP Rocket – $49
• BunnyCDN – $5
• Google Ads – $52.10
• Facebook Ads – $165.87
• Ahrefs (Recurring) – $99 (review)
• Alexa (Recurring) – $19.99
• Buildfire (Recurring) – $59
• TubeBuddy (Recurring) – $4.50
• SoundCloud Pro (Recurring) – $8

Total expenses: $960.46

Net Profit Breakdown

• Affiliate earnings: $4,642.48
• Other income: $600
• Total expenses: (-$960.46)
• Net Profit: $4,282.02

That wraps up the income report for July 2019.

If you have any questions about this month’s income report, feel free to ask them in the comments section or connect with me via Twitter.

To get frequent updates on all things SEO, blogging, and social media, follow 99signals on these platforms below:

• Facebook
• YouTube
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Pinterest
• IGTV
• 99signals Mobile App (iTunes/App Store)
• 99signals Mobile App (Google Play Store)

If you’re interested to learn more about passive income, I reveal some of my affiliate marketing secrets in this article + webinar. Be sure to check it out!

The post How I Made $5,242.48 in July 2019: Monthly Blog Income Report appeared first on 99signals.

The total month-on-month revenue was up by 13.85% and the profits were up by 5.04% (profits were lower because of new expenses as you’ll see below.)

Last month, there wasn’t much creative output, at least in terms of new blog posts.

This was mainly because we spent a lot of time travelling last month in the last two weeks of June. My wife and I took a short vacation to Hong Kong and Macau. We spent two wonderful days at Hong Kong Disneyland and had a truly magical time.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Sandeep Mallya (@sanmallya) on Jun 17, 2019 at 9:51pm PDT

Word of advice: If you’re going to Disneyland anytime soon — any Disneyland theme park around the world — be sure to buy two-day tickets because you’ll need two days to cover all the rides and attractions in this gigantic theme park. And if you’re going to Hong Kong Disneyland, don’t miss out on Mystic Manor. You can buy the tickets via Klook — an app for booking travel activities across Asia.

As always, before I reveal my side income earnings, let’s take a look at some of the key highlights of the month.

(To learn more about why I started maintaining monthly income reports, visit this page)

My New Investments: Design Pickle and Audio-Technica ATR2100 Microphone

Although you’ll find these two purchases in the expenses column for this month’s income report, they are nonetheless investments. With Design Pickle, the graphics on my blog will look much more professional and with the ATR2100 microphone, the sound quality of my podcast episodes and videos will be much better. So that’s why I consider them worthwhile investments.

I had been wrestling with the idea whether I should hire a dedicated graphic designer for quite some time. Then I accidentally stumbled upon Design Pickle after watching one of WPCrafter’s videos. Hat tip to Adam from WPCrafter for recommending this service. If you’re a WordPress user, I’d urge you to follow his channel on YouTube which is packed with reviews and walkthroughs of some of the most widely-used WordPress plugins and themes. Click here to subscribe to his channel.

Design Pickle is a leading flat-rate graphic design service. Their services start from $399/month. Once I signed up for their standard plan, I was assigned a dedicated graphic designer to take care of my design needs.

Until now, I was designing my graphics via tools like Canva, Venngage, and to a lesser extent, DesignBold. It was a chore and it took up a considerable amount of my time.

I’m currently using Design Pickle for designing blog post graphics, social media posts, infographics, and YouTube thumbnails.

It’s just been a few weeks since I started using their services, but for the time being, I’m satisfied with their work. Hopefully, they do a stellar job in the future as well.

Content Creation — Latest (and Updated) Blog Posts, Videos, and Podcast Episodes

Not a whole lot of new content published last month in terms of blog posts, but there were four new podcast episodes, two of them featuring special guests.

I also published an eBook on SEMrush Traffic Analytics — an add-on tool ($200/mo in addition to a regular SEMrush subscription) within the SEMrush marketing suite. Traffic Analytics is a competitive research tool that provides estimations of any website’s desktop and mobile traffic. If you’re an SEMrush user, be sure to download this guide by clicking on the link below:

Click here to download “The Ultimate Guide to SEMrush Traffic Analytics” for free

And if you’d like to try SEMrush Traffic Analytics for free, sign up for a one-week trial of SEMrush Pro + Traffic Analytics and see if it meets your needs.

This trial will give you access to all the features available with a regular SEMrush PRO subscription, plus additional access to all the tools within Traffic Analytics.

I also launched a new series on my podcast called the “Startup Culture Series” — which will be co-hosted by my wife and I and we’ll focus on case studies and share our views on startup best practices. You can find information on all these and more below:

New and Updated Blog Posts

Here are all the new and updated blog posts in June:

• Why is Link Building Expensive? (And Why You Should Still Do It) – In this post, guest contributor Dario Supan, content strategist and editor at Point Visible, argues why link building is crucial to your website growth despite the whole process being expensive.

I’m a huge believer in the concept of evergreen content. Hence, I keep revisiting my old posts in order to add new information and fix any existing loopholes. To that end, here are all the articles that were updated in June.

• SEMrush vs Moz: Which is the Best SEO Tool? — This is one of the oldest articles on my blog and I keep revisiting it from time to time to make a few tweaks here and there.
• 40 Infographic Submission Sites to Promote Your Infographic (and Get Backlinks) — A few of the infographic submission sites on this list no longer exist. As such, I had to replace them with sites that are still accepting infographics and are doing so in an efficient manner.

Podcast Episodes

One of the first tasks I assigned to my Design Pickle graphic designer was to design a new podcast cover image for Marketing Mantra. I now present to you my new podcast cover:

I like this one better than the previous one which more or less used a Snapchat Bitmoji.

There were a total of four episodes published this month. We had two special guests — Lucas Lee-Tyson from Growth Caves, who shared tips to grow your email list through Facebook ads, and Vlad Calus, co-founder of Planable, shared insights on how to audit your marketing team’s productivity.

• Ep. #23: Thoughts on Apple Shutting Down iTunes

In this episode, I share my thoughts on Apple’s decision to shut down iTunes and break it down into 3 standalone apps — Apple Music, Apple Podcasts, and Apple TV. Find out why Apple decided to pull the plug on one of its most iconic brands.

• Ep. #24: Startup Culture Series: The Unique Case of Zappos

In this new series, I’ll be joined by my co-host, Raksha Shenoy (my wife ) who has over a decade of experience in the HR space. She has worked with, and advised, interesting growth-stage startups and is passionate about the growth culture in startups.

In this episode, we talk about the unique work culture of Zappos. In particular, we’ll examine their practice of paying $2000 to new hires to quit and see if it’s a good tactic to retain the best hires.

To learn more about the Zappos culture, we highly recommend you grab a copy of Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.

• Ep. #25: How to Use Facebook Ads to Double Your Email List — with Lucas Lee-Tyson from Growth Cave

When it comes to advertising on social media, most marketers prefer Facebook ads as their platform of choice. Serving over 1 billion users every month, bloggers and business owners alike can achieve phenomenal growth by investing in Facebook ads. But did you know you could also use Facebook ads to grow your email list? That’s the topic I’ll be discussing with my special guest for this episode, Lucas Lee-Tyson.

Lucas is a Facebook ads consultant and serial entrepreneur. He is the founder of Growth Cave, a place where marketers and entrepreneurs alike can learn how to create and manage their own profitable Facebook ad campaigns.

• Ep. #26: How to Audit Your Marketing Team’s Productivity — with Vlad Calus from Planable

In this episode, I’ll be joined by Vlad Calus, co-founder of Planable — an incredible tool that I recommend — and he’ll talk about auditing your marketing team’s productivity and upgrading their results. He will also share his experience on how to succeed as an online entrepreneur, find your first customers, building your own marketing team from scratch, and outsourcing time-consuming tasks that value less.

If you’ve never heard of Planable, here’s a brief introduction: Planable is a social media collaboration tool for marketing teams, digital agencies and freelancers. With Planable, you can collaborate with your teammates and clients on content calendar in the most visual way. It’s used by more than 5000 brands worldwide, including Mini, BMW, Volkswagen, and SkyTeam.

Subscribe to the Marketing Mantra Podcast: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify

You can also listen to the podcast within the free 99signals mobile app. Download it now on your iOS or Android device and access all our articles, podcast, and videos on-the-go:

• Download 99signals for iOS
• Download 99signals for Android

Marketing Videos

Just one video uploaded on the 99signals YouTube channel last month. An AppSumo deal review and walkthrough of Clearout, an email marketing tool that allows you to remove invalid emails, catch-all emails, and duplicate emails from your list to reduce your bounce rate, protect your sender reputation, and overall cost.

FYI: The Clearout deal is still live at AppSumo. Click here to learn more

2019 Goodreads Reading Challenge

Like last year, I’ve taken up a Goodreads reading challenge in 2019 and the challenge is once again the same — to finish reading 100 books by the end of 2019; 25 of which to be business books.

In June, I read two business books:

• Smarter Faster Better by Charles Duhigg
• So Good They Can’t Ignore You by Cal Newport

I really enjoyed Duhigg’s last book, The Power of Habit, so I picked up Smarter Faster Better after reading rave reviews about it online. In Smarter Faster Better, Duhigg explores the science of productivity and explains why some individuals and companies are so much better than others at the things they do. The book contains numerous examples and draws heavily on the latest findings in neuroscience and psychology, and if you are seeking ways to be more productive, I highly recommend this book.

Cal Newport is another author whose work I thoroughly enjoy. Deep Work was a fascinating read and So Good They Can’t Ignore You is even better. In the book, Newport argues that when it comes to creating work you love, following your passion is not particularly useful advice. Drawing from real-life examples and cutting-edge science, he details the alternative strategies that work much better for developing a compelling career.

(Side note: Both these books have been added to my list of favorite books for entrepreneurs. Be sure to check out this exhaustive list if you’re an avid book reader.)

Quotes I’m Pondering (June 1 – 30, 2019)

Inspired by Tim Ferriss’ Tribe of Mentors, you’ll find thought-provoking quotes in all my income reports.

These are the quotes that inspired me and changed my thinking in June. I hope you find them just as insightful as I did:

“Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body.” — Seneca (Roman Stoic philosopher)

“The only thing that I see that is distinctly different about me is I’m not afraid to die on a treadmill. I will not be out-worked, period. You might have more talent than me, you might be smarter than me, you might be sexier than me, you might be all of those things you got it on me in nine categories. But if we get on the treadmill together, there’s two things: You’re getting off first, or I’m going to die.” — Will Smith (American actor, rapper, and media personality)

June 2019 Income Report

Now let’s take a look at my earnings in June. As always, this report consists of my affiliate earnings, followed by other income, expenses, and net profit breakdown.

Affiliate Earnings

• SEMrush – $2,685.67 (review / eBook)
• AppSumo – $525.84 (latest deals)
• AppSumo Briefcase – $101.53 (review)
• SendinBlue – $1,123.35 (review)
• Serpstat – $12.27(review)
• ConvertKit – $34.8 (review)
• KWFinder – $12 (review)
• Instapage – $62.4 (review)
• Shorby – $18 (review)
• Amazon Affiliate Program – $101.3

Total Affiliate Earnings: $4,677.16

Other Income

• Sponsored posts – $450 (click here for more details)

Total Side Income Earnings: $5,127.16

Expenses

• Mailchimp (Recurring) – $50 (review)
• AppSumo Briefcase (Recurring) – $49 (review)
• Design Pickle (Recurring) – $299 — 1st month 25% discount
• Google Ads – $107.28
• Facebook Ads – $75.95
• Ahrefs (Recurring) – $99 (review)
• Buffer Pro (Recurring) – $15
• Alexa (Recurring) – $19.99
• Buildfire (Recurring) – $59
• TubeBuddy (Recurring) – $4.50
• SoundCloud Pro (Recurring) – $8
• Audio-Technica ATR2100 USB Microphone – $101.67
• Wright WR 35 Microphone Stand – $5.80

Total expenses: $913.7

Net Profit Breakdown

• Affiliate earnings: $4,677.16
• Other income: $450
• Total expenses: (-$913.7)
• Net Profit: $4,213.46

That wraps up the income report for June 2019.

If you have any questions about this month’s income report, feel free to ask them in the comments section or connect with me via Twitter.

To get frequent updates on all things SEO, blogging, and social media, follow 99signals on these platforms below:

• Facebook
• YouTube
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Pinterest
• IGTV
• 99signals Mobile App (iTunes/App Store)
• 99signals Mobile App (Google Play Store)

If you’re interested to learn more about passive income, I reveal some of my affiliate marketing secrets in this article + webinar. Be sure to check it out!

The post How I Made $5,127.16 in June 2019: Monthly Blog Income Report appeared first on 99signals.

The total month-on-month revenue was up by 5.58% and the profits were up by 4.34%.

It’s a marginal improvement over last month’s affiliate earnings and net profit, but nowhere near close to the achievements in January.

As always, before I reveal my side income earnings, let’s take a look at some of the key highlights of the month.

(To learn more about why I started maintaining monthly income reports, visit this page)

Content Creation — Latest (and Updated) Blog Posts, Videos, and Podcast Episodes

Blog Posts

There were three new blog posts published in May:

• 10 Actionable Things You Can Do with SEMrush to Boost Your Traffic — If you’re an SEMrush subscriber, please consider checking out this post. I did a lot of research to identify the ten most useful things a marketer can do with SEMrush and I hope this article contains a few new tips and tricks you probably weren’t aware of.
• How to Find and Fix Broken Links with Broken Link Checker — I find broken links to be extremely annoying and I tend to fix them as and when they popup on my site. I use the Broken Link Checker WordPress plugin to do this and it’s a remarkably effective tool to identify and fix all those infuriating 404s on your site that Google hates so much. This article contains a video tutorial on Broken Link Checker; so do check it out if you’re looking for a quick and easy solution to broken links.
• Nofollow Links: Everything You Need to Know — This is a guest post from Mayur Kamath who’s also a regular contributor at my agency blog. It’s a must-read article for those who believe “nofollow links” are useless and have no impact on search rankings or traffic. This article might just change your mind!

Updated Blog Posts

I’m a huge believer in the concept of evergreen content. Hence, I keep revisiting my old posts in order to add new information and fix any existing loopholes. To that end, here are all the articles that were updated in May.

• 6 Best Landing Page Builders to Increase Conversions — Originally published on November 17, 2017. The latest update takes into account the changes in pricing of these landing page builders and the addition of TARS Chatbots which recently launched Conversational Landing Pages, wherein you can use chatbots instead of forms in your landing pages.
• 25 Best Marketing Subreddits (That You Should Join Today) — Originally published on Feb 26, 2017. An update to this article was long overdue. The new update takes into account the update in the number of active monthly users and number of members/redditors in each of these subreddits.

Podcast Episodes

Three new episodes of Marketing Mantra last month, including an interview with our very first guest on the show, Ilya Lyubimov from SEMrush.

• Ep. #20: How to Boost Your Affiliate Income (with Ilya Lyubimov from SEMrush) — Ilya is in charge of developing affiliate partnerships and launching new projects at SEMrush. He has been my affiliate manager for over a year, and he’s been one of the most proactive affiliate managers I’ve had the pleasure of working with. His ideas and recommendations have helped me skyrocket my affiliate income from SEMrush. In this episode, Ilya shares his views on the latest SEO trends and tells us what’s next for SEMrush. He also shares some really cool affiliate marketing tips; so be sure to take notes.
• Ep. #21: 3 Best WordPress Plugins To Double Your Site Traffic — Would you like to drive more traffic to your WordPress site? Then this episode is for you! WordPress is the most popular content management system (CMS) in the world. It powers over 30% of all websites on the internet. In this episode, I talk about 3 best (and 100% free) WordPress plugins you can use to generate more traffic for your website and boost user engagement.
• Ep. #22: A Facebook Marketing Secret No One Is Talking About — In this episode, I reveal a Facebook Marketing secret no one is talking about. Learn this secret to gain a competitive edge and craft an effective Facebook marketing strategy.

Subscribe to the Marketing Mantra Podcast: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify

You can also listen to the podcast within the free 99signals mobile app. Download it now on your iOS or Android device and access all our articles, podcast, and videos on-the-go:

• Download 99signals for iOS
• Download 99signals for Android

Marketing Videos

Just one tutorial video uploaded on our YouTube channel last month. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to do an AppSumo deal review and walkthrough in May.

2019 Goodreads Reading Challenge

Like last year, I’ve taken up a Goodreads reading challenge in 2019 and the challenge is once again the same — to finish reading 100 books by the end of 2019; 25 of which to be business books.

Read just one business book last month — 18 Minutes by Peter Bregman. The other books I read last month were mostly fiction.

18 Minutes is the perfect blend of a business book and a self-help guide. The author Peter Bregman offers you a clear view of yourself and your surroundings, and then provides you with a map to help you get where you want to go. I really liked the productive tips shared by Bregman in this book and I can’t wait to incorporate some of them to see if they have a lasting impact on my productivity.

Quotes I’m Pondering (May 1 – 31, 2019)

Inspired by Tim Ferriss’ Tribe of Mentors, you’ll find thought-provoking quotes in all my income reports.

These are the quotes that inspired me and changed my thinking in May. I hope you find them just as insightful as I did:

“The beginning is half of every action.” — Greek proverb

“Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.” — Henry David Thoreau (19th Century American essayist, poet, and philosopher)

May 2019 Income Report

Now let’s take a look at my earnings in May. As always, this report consists of my affiliate earnings, followed by other income, expenses, and net profit breakdown.

Affiliate Earnings

• SEMrush – $2,375.08 (review / eBook)
• AppSumo – $596.01 (latest deals)
• AppSumo Briefcase – $96.29 (review)
• SendinBlue – $683.37 (review)
• Serpstat – $40.78 (review)
• ConvertKit – $32.4 (review)
• KWFinder – $131.19 (review)
• AWeber – $40.8 (review)
• Instapage – $23.7 (review)
• Book Like A Boss – $10
• Nord VPN – $9.2

Total Affiliate Earnings: $4,103.32

Other Income

• Sponsored posts – $400 (click here for more details)

Total Side Income Earnings: $4,503.32

Expenses

• Mailchimp (Recurring) – $50 (review)
• AppSumo Briefcase (Recurring) – $49 (review)
• Google Ads – $107.28
• Facebook Ads – $75.95
• Ahrefs (Recurring) – $99 (review)
• Buffer Pro (Recurring) – $15
• Alexa (Recurring) – $19.99
• Buildfire (Recurring) – $54
• TubeBuddy (Recurring) – $4.50
• GoDaddy Hosting Renewal – $17.5
• Tubics (AppSumo Lifetime Deal) – $39

Total expenses: $492.22

Net Profit Breakdown

• Affiliate earnings: $4,103.32
• Other income: $400
• Total expenses: (-$492.22)
• Net Profit: $4,011.1

That wraps up the income report for May 2019.

If you have any questions about this month’s income report, feel free to ask them in the comments section or connect with me via Twitter.

To get frequent updates on all things SEO, blogging, and social media, follow 99signals on these platforms below:

• Facebook
• YouTube
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Pinterest
• IGTV
• 99signals Mobile App (iTunes/App Store)
• 99signals Mobile App (Google Play Store)

If you’re interested to learn more about passive income, I reveal some of my affiliate marketing secrets in this article + webinar. Be sure to check it out!

The post How I Made $4,503.32 in May 2019: Monthly Blog Income Report appeared first on 99signals.

The total month-on-month revenue was down by 15.89% and the profits were down by 19.06%.

As you can see from the numbers, this was a disappointing month in terms of affiliate income. This income report puts things in perspective and it’s time I took stock of things and focussed on creating fresh content for my affiliate partners with a lot more frequency.

Hoping to ramp up my affiliate efforts in the coming months.

As always, before I reveal my side income earnings, let’s take a look at some of the key highlights of the month.

(To learn more about why I started maintaining monthly income reports, visit this page)

Content Creation

In April, most of my time was spent compiling a list of all my favorite books. In the end, it became an exhaustive list, comprising of 79 books. These recommendations are for entrepreneurs from all walks of life. If you haven’t checked it out already, please click on the link below to see all my recommendations.

• Best Books for Entrepreneurs: 79 Books Every Entrepreneur Should Read

And then there was this Facebook ads quiz I designed with Outgrow. If you want to test your knowledge of Facebook ads, there’s no better quiz than this. Click on the link below to take the quiz.

• Facebook Ads Quiz: 15 Questions to Test Your Facebook Marketing Expertise

Marketing Mantra Podcast

Not much output here as well. Just the one episode of Marketing Mantra last month.

• Ep. #19 – Google+ is Back (But Probably Not the Way You Think)

Luckily, I have several episodes planned ahead in which I’ll be joined by special guests, including Vlad Calus, Co-founder of Planable, Lucas Lee-Tyson, Founder of Growth Cave, and Ilya Lyubimov, Affiliate Marketing Expert from SEMrush.

Subscribe to the Marketing Mantra Podcast: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify

You can also listen to the podcast within the free 99signals mobile app. Download it now on your iOS or Android device and access all our articles, podcast, and videos on-the-go:

• Download 99signals for iOS
• Download 99signals for Android

2019 Goodreads Reading Challenge

Like last year, I’ve taken up a Goodreads reading challenge in 2019 and the challenge is once again the same — to finish reading 100 books by the end of 2019; 25 of which to be business books.

Here are the two books I read in April 2019:

• The Big Short by Michael Lewis
• Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh

The film adaptation of The Big Short is one of my favorite movies of all time. It’s a movie I’d recommend to all entrepreneurs, business leaders, and marketers. Having loved the movie, I wanted to read the book it was based on. And I wasn’t disappointed. Michael Lewis is a brilliant author who’s able to hold your attention even while explaining complicated financial instruments like credit default swaps and collateralized debt obligation (CDO). If you’d like get a deeper understanding of the financial crisis of 2007-08 and get a glimpse of the main culprits behind the crisis, there’s no better book than The Big Short.

Delivering Happiness is part autobiography and part startup manual on how to run a successful business while keeping your culture and core values in the forefront. Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, reveals the many ups and downs he faced in his entrepreneurial journey and why he values culture over profitability. Zappos is a company known for its work culture and Tony offers illuminating insights into the importance of staying true to your core values while running a business.

Update: The Zappos culture was the main topic in episode 24 of our Marketing Mantra podcast. Click here to listen to this episode. 

For more book recommendations, check out this post.

Quotes I’m Pondering (Apr 1 – 30, 2019)

Inspired by Tim Ferriss’ Tribe of Mentors, you’ll find thought-provoking quotes in all my income reports.

These are the quotes that inspired me and changed my thinking in April. I hope you find them just as insightful as I did:

“We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful.” — Warren Buffet (American business magnate and investor)

“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.” — Lao Tzu (Ancient Chinese philosopher, author of Tao Te Ching)

April 2019 Income Report

Now let’s take a look at my earnings in April. As always, this report consists of my affiliate earnings, followed by other income, expenses, and net profit breakdown.

Affiliate Earnings

• SEMrush – $2,742.33 (review / eBook)
• AppSumo – $636.62 (latest deals)
• AppSumo Briefcase – $96.29 (review)
• SendinBlue – $223.97 (review)
• Serpstat – $58.99 (review)
• ConvertKit – $26.1 (review)
• KWFinder – $12 (review)
• AWeber – $40.8 (review)
• Instapage – $23.7 (review)
• KWFinder – $24 (review)
• Supermetrics – $25.01 (review)
• Book Like A Boss – $17.5

Total Affiliate Earnings: $3,915.31

Other Income

• Sponsored posts – $350 (click here for more details)

Total Side Income Earnings: $4,265.31

Expenses

• Mailchimp (Recurring) – $50 (review)
• AppSumo Briefcase (Recurring) – $49 (review)
• Google Ads – $38.45
• Facebook Ads – $91.31
• Ahrefs (Recurring) – $99 (review)
• Buffer Pro (Recurring) – $15
• Alexa Subscription (Recurring) – $19.99
• Buildfire (Recurring) – $54
• Tube Buddy – $4.50

Net Profit Breakdown

• Affiliate earnings: $3,915.31
• Other income: $350
• Total expenses: (-$421.25)
• Net Profit: $3,844.06

That wraps up the income report for April 2019.

If you have any questions about this month’s income report, feel free to ask them in the comments section or connect with me via Twitter.

To get frequent updates on all things SEO, blogging, and social media, follow 99signals on these platforms below:

• Facebook
• YouTube
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Pinterest
• IGTV
• 99signals Mobile App (iTunes/App Store)
• 99signals Mobile App (Google Play Store)

If you’re interested to learn more about passive income, I reveal some of my affiliate marketing secrets in this article + webinar. Be sure to check it out!

The post How I Earned $4,265.31 in Side Income Last Month [April 2019 Income Report] appeared first on 99signals.

The total month-on-month revenue was up by 15.65% and the profits were up by 14.54%. Overall, it was a great month in terms of affiliate revenue, but not so great in terms of fresh content created.

As always, before I reveal my side income earnings, let’s take a look at some of the key highlights of the month.

(To learn more about why I started maintaining monthly income reports, visit this page)

The Ultimate 99signals Marketing Kit Giveaway 2019 

Last month, we announced “The Ultimate 99signals Marketing Kit Giveaway 2019” where the grand prize winner has the chance to win the following goodies worth $149:

• Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products by Nir Eyal (eBook – Kindle version): Based on Nir Eyal’s years of research and practical experience, Hooked is a how-to guide for marketers and entrepreneurs on building better products.
• $25 AppSumo Gift Card: Use it to grab incredible marketing software deals at AppSumo.
• 2-week Access to SEMrush Guru Account ($99 value): Fix all your SEO errors and find profitable keywords in your niche with SEMrush‘s GURU account.
• Get featured in the 99signals’ Marketing Mantra podcast: Get all your SEO and marketing questions answered in the podcast.

If you’re reading this income report before April 8, 2019, then you can still enter the giveaway and stand a chance to win the above prizes. Click here to enter the contest now!

Content Creation

Not a whole lot of fresh content that I worked on last month. As I mentioned at the start of this report, it wasn’t a great month in terms of new content created. That said, the published articles are all long-form and in each case, there was an attempt to cover the subject matter in as much detail as possible.

Below are all the blog posts published in March 2019:

• Image SEO: 7 Actionable Tips to Supercharge Your Organic Traffic
• MobileMonkey Review: Facebook Messenger Chatbot Platform for Marketers

Marketing Mantra Podcast

Here are all the new podcast episodes published in March 2019. Don’t forget to listen to them on your preferred podcast listening app and let me know your thoughts on the same.

• Ep. #17 – A Rookie SEO Mistake that is Costing You Traffic (And How to Fix It)
• Ep. #18 – Instagram’s Latest Feature Transforms It Into a Shopping App

Subscribe to the Marketing Mantra Podcast: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify

You can also listen to the podcast within the free 99signals mobile app. Download it now on your iOS or Android device and access all our articles, podcast, and videos on-the-go:

• Download 99signals for iOS
• Download 99signals for Android

99signals YouTube Channel

I published one video review and walkthrough on YouTube last month — Book Like A Boss (BLAB). I’ve been using BLAB for over two years now; it’s my de facto online scheduling software and I recommend it highly to other entrepreneurs who’d like to stay on top of their schedules. So check out the walkthrough and let me know what you think.

AppSumo fan? You can check out the all the top AppSumo deals in April 2019 here.

If you’re a frequent reader of my blog, I’d urge you to please consider subscribing to the 99signals YouTube Channel as well. I try to upload at least two video reviews and walkthroughs each month in addition to other interesting marketing content.

2019 Goodreads Reading Challenge

The Challenge: Like last year, I’ve taken up a Goodreads reading challenge in 2019 and the challenge is once again the same — to finish reading 100 books by the end of 2019; 25 of which to be business books.

Here are the three business books I read in March 2019:

• Bad Blood by John Carreyrou
• iWoz by Steve Wozniack
• Mindset by Dr. Carol S. Dweck

Bad Blood is undoubtedly one of the best books I’ve ever read. It’s unputdownable. In the book, John Carreyrou, a Pulitzer prize-winning reporter from Wall Street Journal, tells the story of the rise and fall of Theranos, a healthcare startup founded by the enigmatic Elizabeth Holmes who claimed to have revolutionized the healthcare industry with a device that would make blood tests significantly faster and easier. The only problem? The technology didn’t work. For many years, Holmes deceived and misled investors and business partners before her fraudulent practices were finally exposed.

Incidentally, Carreyrou was the first reporter to investigate Theranos and its astonishing claims. In 2015, Wall Street Journal published several articles, questioning Theranos’ claims and techniques. In 2015, Theranos was valued at over $9 billion. A few months after Carreyrou’s article was published on WSJ, Theranos’ value plummeted to zero. The book is an absolute page-turner and serves as a cautionary tale to young entrepreneurs all over the world.

iWoz is an interesting account of Steve Wozniack’s life before and after he co-founded Apple with Steve Jobs. Woz, as he’s affectionately called, is often called the “Other Steve” and although he was instrumental to Apple’s success, especially in the early years, his legacy has largely been overshadowed by Steve Jobs. So it was really interesting to read about his escapades in his autobiography and get a different perspective into the fascinating journey of Apple.

Of all the books I’ve read in 2019, the concept explained in the book Mindset by Dr. Carol S. Dweck will stay with me the longest. In short, the book delves deeper into two mindsets that dominate our lives — fixed mindset and growth mindset. The fixed mindset limits our learning and makes us more concerned about how we’ll be judged by others. The growth mindset, on the other hand, is concerned with improving. Failure is not an indication of our potential. It’s a stepping stone to success and greater opportunities. While we are all a mixture of fixed and growth mindsets, it’s only when we truly embrace our growth mindset that we are empowered to take up new challenges, learn new things, and to confront obstacles.

Quotes I’m Pondering (Mar 1 – 31, 2019)

Inspired by Tim Ferriss’ Tribe of Mentors, you’ll find thought-provoking quotes in all my income reports.

These are the quotes that inspired me and changed my thinking in March. I hope you find them just as insightful as I did:

“Emptiness is the fasting of the mind.” — Zhuang Zhou (4th-century BC Chinese philosopher)

“Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” — Mark Twain (American writer and humorist)

March 2019 Income Report

Finally, we’ve arrived at the income report for March 2019. This report consists of my affiliate earnings, followed by other income, expenses, and net profit breakdown.

Affiliate Earnings

• SEMrush – $2,595.04 (review / eBook)
• AppSumo – $810.88 (latest deals)
• AppSumo Briefcase – $149.5 (review)
• SendinBlue – $899.18 (review)
• Serpstat – $64 (review)
• ConvertKit – $17.4 (review)
• KWFinder – $12 (review)
• AWeber – $35.1 (review)
• Instapage – $23.7 (review)
• KWFinder – $76.58 (review)

Total Affiliate Earnings: $4,671.38

Other Income

• Sponsored posts – $400 (click here for more details)

Total Side Income Earnings: $5071.38

Expenses

• Mailchimp (Recurring) – $50 (review)
• AppSumo Briefcase (Recurring) – $49 (review)
• Google Ads – $36.16
• Facebook Ads – $87.46
• Buffer Pro (Recurring) – $15
• Flickr Pro (Recurring) – $5.99
• Alexa Subscription (Recurring) – $19.99
• Buildfire (Recurring) – $54
• Tube Buddy – $4.50

Total Expenses: $322.10

Net Profit Breakdown

• Affiliate earnings: $4,671.38
• Other income: $400
• Total expenses: (-$322.10)
• Net Profit: $4,749.28

That wraps up the income report for March 2019.

If you have any questions about this month’s income report, feel free to ask them in the comments section or connect with me via Twitter.

To get frequent updates on all things SEO, blogging, and social media, follow 99signals on these platforms below:

• Facebook
• YouTube
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Pinterest
• IGTV
• 99signals Mobile App (iTunes/App Store)
• 99signals Mobile App (Google Play Store)

If you’re interested to learn more about passive income, I reveal some of my affiliate marketing secrets in this article + webinar. Be sure to check it out!

The post How I Earned $5,071.38 in Side Income Last Month [March 2019 Income Report] appeared first on 99signals.

January 2019 set a tough precedent in affiliate income for February. In terms of affiliate revenue and net profit, it was the best month I’ve ever had.

Let’s face it: February is not the best month for affiliate marketing. It’s the shortest month of the year. This affected my affiliated earnings to some extent. That said, the main reason for this steep fall in affiliate income was that most of my focus was diverted towards my agency, where I was able to acquire three new clients in the same week.

The first few days are always critical while servicing the new clients you’ve just acquired. Which is why I’m always hands-on with my new clients in the first two weeks. After that, I delegate a few tasks to my team. I’ve been blessed with a remarkable team who are always committed in achieving the best results for our clients. As such, I’ve no problem delegating important tasks to them.

This will enable me to redirect some of my focus back to blogging and affiliate marketing in March, and provide me with ample time honing the existing content on the blog and create new content.

Now let’s dive right in to last month’s income report.

As always, before I reveal my full income report and net profit breakdown for the month, here are a few important highlights from February.

(To learn more about why I started maintaining monthly income reports, visit this page)

Content Creation

It was a great honor to have Larry Kim, one of the best marketing influencers in the world and the founder of MobileMonkey, contribute an article to 99signals last month. He published a post on Facebook messenger ads which you can check out by clicking the link below:

• The Ultimate Guide to Facebook Messenger Ads

Below are all the blog posts published in February 2019. Did you read all of them? If not, please feel free to check them out now and let me know your thoughts in the comments section.

• 7 Marketing Lessons I Learned from “All Marketers Are Liars” by Seth Godin
• [Quiz] Can You Guess the Meaning of these #Hashtags?
• WebTextTool Review & Walkthrough: Level Up Your SEO in 2019

And here are the articles that were updated and refreshed last month:

• 21 Best Marketing Podcasts You Should Listen To
• ConvertKit Review: Email Marketing Software for Bloggers
• 5 Best Blogger Outreach Tools to Connect with Top Influencers
• SEO Tools Showdown: SEMrush vs Ahrefs vs Moz Pro vs SpyFu

Marketing Mantra Podcast

Last month, I was able to record and release 2 new episodes of Marketing Mantra, all of which are available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and other major podcast playing platforms.

Here are all the new episodes published in February:

• E16: DuckDuckGo Hits 1 Billion Monthly Searches (Should Google Be Concerned?)
• E15: The Number 1 Reason Why People Are Leaving Your Website (and Never Returning)

Subscribe to the Marketing Mantra Podcast: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify

You can also listen to the podcast within the free 99signals mobile app. Download it now on your iOS or Android device and access all our articles, podcast, and videos on-the-go:

• Download 99signals for iOS
• Download 99signals for Android

99signals YouTube Channel

I was able to publish just one new AppSumo video review and walkthrough on YouTube last month — WebTextTool. It’s one of the best deals AppSumo has ever offered — a deal that keeps recurring on their site because of how incredibly useful the tool is. You can check out the latest AppSumo deals here.

If you’re a frequent reader of my blog, I’d urge you to please consider subscribing to the 99signals YouTube Channel as well. I’m uploading at least two video reviews and walkthroughs each month in addition to other interesting marketing content.

2019 Goodreads Reading Challenge

I’ve taken up a new Goodreads reading challenge in 2019 and the challenge is once again the same — to finish reading 100 books by the end of 2019; 25 of which to be business books.

I read two business books in February — Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss and Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath.

If you’d like to improve your negotiation skills, there’s no better book than Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss. Chris Voss is a former international hostage negotiator for the FBI and in Never Split the Difference, he reveals the negotiation skills and tactics he used at the FBI in some of the toughest scenarios. In the book, Voss shares nine effective negotiation principles you too can use to become more persuasive in both your professional and personal life.

Made to Stick is a book recommended by lots of marketers, advertisers, and entrepreneurs. In the book, brothers Chip and Dan Heath provide a checklist that marketers can use make their messages sticky. The checklist consists of six principles (Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional, and Stories aka the SUCCESs checklist) and the book delves deeper into each of these principles, all of which play a pivotal role in making your messages sticky.

I was constantly taking notes while reading this book because I realized how important the checklist was and I didn’t ever want to forget the six principles. The Heath brothers do a great job explaining each principle with numerous examples and there are several case studies to drive home the importance of each principle.

Quotes I’m Pondering (Feb 1 – 28, 2019)

Inspired by Tim Ferriss’ Tribe of Mentors, you’ll find thought-provoking quotes in all my income reports.

These are the quotes that inspired me and changed my thinking last month. I hope you find them just as insightful as I did:

“One should use common words to say uncommon things.” — Arthur Schopenhauer (19th-century German philosopher)

“The beginning is half of every action.” — Greek proverb

“Life is a shipwreck, but we must not forget to sing in the life boats.” — Voltaire (18th- century French philosopher)

February 2019 Income Report

Here’s my income report for February 2019 — affiliate earnings, followed by other income, expenses, and net profit breakdown.

Affiliate Earnings

• SEMrush – $2,423.03 (review / eBook)
• AppSumo – $766.22 (latest deals)
• AppSumo Briefcase – $98.17 (review)
• Serpstat – $97 (review)
• ConvertKit – $32.4 (review)
• KWFinder – $12 (review)
• SendinBlue – $452.82 (review)
• AWeber – $29.4 (review)
• Instapage – $23.7 (review)

Total Affiliate Earnings: $3,934.74

Other Income

• Sponsored posts – $450 (click here for more details)

Total Side Income Earnings: $4,384.74

Expenses

• Mailchimp (Recurring) – $50 (review)
• AppSumo Briefcase (Recurring) – $49 (review)
• Google Ads – $26.19
• Facebook Ads – $33.51
• Buffer Pro (Recurring) – $15
• Flickr Pro (Recurring) – $5.99
• Alexa Subscription (Recurring) – $19.99
• Buildfire (Recurring) – $54

Total Expenses: $238.68

Net Profit Breakdown

• Affiliate earnings: $3,934.74
• Other income: $450
• Total expenses: (-$238.68)
• Net Profit: $4,146.06

That wraps the income report for February 2019.

If you have any questions about this month’s income report, feel free to ask them in the comments section or connect with me via Twitter.

To get frequent updates on all things SEO, blogging, and social media, follow 99signals on these platforms below:

• Facebook
• YouTube
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Pinterest
• IGTV
• 99signals Mobile App (iTunes/App Store)
• 99signals Mobile App (Google Play Store)

If you’re interested to learn more about passive income, I reveal some of my affiliate marketing secrets in this article + webinar. Be sure to check it out!

The post How I Earned $4,384.74 in Side Income Last Month [February 2019 Income Report] appeared first on 99signals.

This makes January my best month yet, both in terms of side income earnings and net profit.

As always, before I reveal my full income report and net profit breakdown for the month, here are a few important highlights from January.

(To learn more about why I started maintaining monthly income reports, visit this page)

Winning Silver Prize at the SEMrush Content Challenge 2018

In December 2018, SEMrush announced their special Content Challenge event. They usually conduct a monthly content challenge for their affiliate partners where the prize for the winner is $100, but the SEMrush Content Challenge 2018 was more like an annual event to end 2018 with a bang. The grand prize was $1000.

My submission for the contest, “The Ultimate Guide to Competitive Intelligence 2.0 Toolkit by SEMrush” ended up fetching the 2nd prize (silver prize) which means an extra $500 in my affiliate kitty in January. Cha-Ching!

This marks the third time I’ve won a content challenge from SEMrush – the first time was on July 2016 for the blog post “SEMrush vs Moz: Which is the Best SEO Tool?” and the second time was for the blog post “How to Use SEMrush to Amplify Your Content Marketing” in November 2017.

Thank you, SEMrush! It’s a massive privilege being your affiliate partner.

Content Creation

Here are all the blog posts published in January 2019. Did you read all of them? If not, then please feel free to check them out and let me know your thoughts in the comments section.

• The Only Marketing Toolkit You Will Ever Need
• The Ultimate Guide to Competitive Intelligence 2.0 Toolkit by SEMrush
• 7 Business Lessons I Learned from Rework by Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson
• UTM.io Review & Walkthrough – Build, Track, & Manage UTM Links

And here are the articles that were updated and refreshed for 2019:

• Serpstat Review: The Ultimate SEO & PPC Tool for Bloggers
• 8 Amazing SEO Tools You Must Try in 2019
• Link Building in 2019: 18 Proven Techniques to Get High Quality Backlinks

Marketing Mantra Podcast

Last month, I finally came close to achieving my objective of publishing one new podcast episode each week. I was able to record and release 5 new episodes of Marketing Mantra, all of which are available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and other major podcast playing platforms.

Here are all the new episodes published in January:

• E14: Is It Worth Spending Money on Bing Ads?
• E13: How to Recover from a Google Panda Penalty
• E12: Snapchat has the Happiest Users (according to Snapchat)
• E11: The One Instagram Tool You Have to Use to Drive Traffic and Conversions
• E10: How Long Should Your Blog Post Be?

Subscribe to the Marketing Mantra Podcast: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify

You can also listen to the podcast within the free 99signals mobile app. Download it now on your iOS or Android device and access all our articles, podcast, and videos on-the-go:

• Download 99signals for iOS
• Download 99signals for Android

99signals YouTube Channel

I published two AppSumo video reviews and walkthroughs on YouTube — UTM.io and AccuRanker. To learn more about these AppSumo lifetime deals, check out this article.

If you’re a frequent reader of my blog, I’d urge you to please consider subscribing to the 99signals YouTube Channel as well. I’m uploading at least two video reviews and walkthroughs each month in addition to other interesting marketing content.

2019 Goodreads Reading Challenge

I’ve taken up a new Goodreads reading challenge in 2019 and the challenge is once again the same — to finish reading 100 books by the end of 2019; 25 of which to be business books.

I read a few interesting business books in January, including All Marketers Are Liars by Seth Godin, Conspiracy by Ryan Holiday, and It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson.

My favorite among these was All Marketers Are Liars by Seth Godin. In the book, Godin makes a case for the importance of storytelling in marketing.

According to Godin, it’s not the product that a consumer buys, but the story behind the product. And all successful marketers tell engaging stories. It’s one of the most compelling business books I’ve ever read and it’s highly recommended to all marketers and entrepreneurs.

To learn more about my thoughts on the book, please check out this article — 7 Marketing Lessons I Learned from “All Marketers Are Liars” by Seth Godin.

Conspiracy recounts the tale of how the controversial media outlet Gawker Media was secretly taken down by billionaire investor Peter Thiel with the help of an unlikely ally, Terry Bollea, better known as the wrestling legend Hulk Hogan. This is the third Ryan Holiday book I’ve read, and I consider this to be his best work.

Like many, I was fascinated by the Gawker vs. Bollea trial in 2016 and was surprised by the verdict which eventually bankrupted the notorious publication Gawker. It was only at the end that the world became aware of Thiel’s involvement in the trial and how he had funded Hogan’s lawsuit.

In the book, Holiday explores how Thiel masterminded the whole scheme, his reasons for doing so, presents the whole facts of the case, and the events that caused Gawker’s destruction. Though the book is slightly biased towards Thiel, it’s an enjoyable read which is hard to put down.

It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work is more like a direct sequel to Fried and Hansson’s brilliant book Rework. I was slightly underwhelmed by the book, but that may have been because I consider Rework to be one of my favorite business books and my expectations before reading this book were too high.

Quotes I’m Pondering (Jan 1 – 31, 2019)

Inspired by Tim Ferriss’ Tribe of Mentors, you’ll find thought-provoking quotes in all my income reports.

These are the quotes that inspired me and changed my thinking in January. I hope you find them just as insightful as I did:

“It is vain to do with more what can be done with fewer.” — William of Occam (14th-century English philosopher and theologian)

“Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.” — Haruki Murakami (Japanese Writer, author of Kafka on the Shore and Norwegian Wood)

January 2019 Income Report

Here’s my income report for January 2019 — affiliate earnings, followed by other income, expenses, and net profit breakdown.

Affiliate Earnings

• SEMrush – $2402.09 (review / eBook)
• SEMrush Contest (Silver Prize) – $500
• AppSumo – $1473.98 (latest deals)
• AppSumo Briefcase – $149.5 (review)
• Serpstat – $214 (review)
• ConvertKit – $32.4 (review)
• KWFinder – $24 (review)
• SendinBlue – $706.03 (review)
• AWeber – $29.4 (review)
• Instapage – $23.7 (review)

Total Affiliate Earnings: $5,555.10

Other Income

• Sponsored posts – $550 (click here for more details)

Total Side Income Earnings: $6,105.10

Expenses

• Mailchimp (Recurring) – $50 (review)
• AppSumo Briefcase (Recurring) – $49 (review)
• Google Ads – $42.30
• Facebook Ads – $38.90
• Buffer Pro (Recurring) – $15
• Flickr Pro (Recurring) – $5.99
• Alexa Subscription (Recurring) – $19.99
• Buildfire (Recurring) – $54
• UTM.io AppSumo Lifetime Deal – $49 (review)
• Outgrow Calculators – $200 (6-month plan)
• GoDaddy Hosting Renewal – $36.18

Total Expenses: $560.36

Net Profit Breakdown

• Affiliate earnings: $5,555.10
• Other income: $550
• Total expenses: (-$560.36)
• Net Profit: $5,544.74

That wraps the income report for January 2019.

If you have any questions about this month’s income report, feel free to ask them in the comments section or connect with me via Twitter.

To get frequent updates on all things SEO, blogging, and social media, follow 99signals on these platforms below:

• Facebook
• YouTube
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Pinterest
• IGTV
• 99signals Mobile App (iTunes/App Store)
• 99signals Mobile App (Google Play Store)

If you’re interested to learn more about passive income, I reveal some of my affiliate marketing secrets in this article + webinar. Be sure to check it out!

The post How I Earned $6,105.10 in Side Income Last Month [January 2019 Income Report] appeared first on 99signals.

My total earnings were down by 18% which was to be expected. November was my best month this year in terms of affiliate earnings because of Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals offered by my affiliate partners. As such, it’d be unfair to compare this month’s earnings with last month’s.

When it comes to income reports, one of my new year resolutions is to publish them sooner. Normally, I publish these income reports in the 3rd or 4th week of each month. Going forward, I will publish them on or before 5th of each month.

As always, before I reveal my full income report and net profit breakdown for the month, here are a few important highlights from December.

(To learn more about why I started maintaining monthly income reports, visit this page)

Marketing Mantra Podcast

Just the one new episode last month — One Simple (Yet Super Effective) Way to Get More Twitter Followers.

When I launched the podcast in July 2018, I was planning to do a new episode each week. Sadly, due to time constraints, I wasn’t able to do that. Hopefully, 2019 will be different and I’d really like to record and publish a new podcast episode every week. So fingers crossed!

For now, Marketing Mantra has a total of 9 episodes. You can subscribe and listen to all the episodes of Marketing Mantra on any of these podcast platforms below:

Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Breaker | Radio Public | Spotify | Pocket Casts | Anchor | SoundCloud | Stitcher | Acast | TuneIn | PodBean | Overcast

2018 Goodreads Reading Challenge

At the start of 2018, I challenged myself to read 100 books this year — 25 of which were to be business books. The 2018 Goodreads Reading Challenge was the perfect way to track this audacious goal. My total tally of books read in 2018 was 70, way short of the goal. That said, I was able to meet the goal of reading 25 business books this year.

Of all the business books I read in 2018, here are my top 5:

1. The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
2. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin
3. #AskGaryVee by Gary Vaynerchuk
4. Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss
5. Side Hustle by Chris Guillebeau

I’m really glad I signed up for this challenge, despite falling short of my goal. Before this, I used to read 45-50 books a year on an average. As such, I’m glad I set a stretch reading goal for myself and ended up reading 70 books in 2018.

I’ve taken a similar pledge in 2019 as well, having already signed up for the 2019 Goodreads Reading Challenge — 100 books; 25 of which to be business books.

I really hope I’m able to beat the challenge this year.

How many books do you intend to read in 2019? Have you taken up the 2019 Goodreads Reading Challenge too? Let me know in the comments section.

Quotes I’m Pondering (Dec 1 – 31, 2018)

Inspired by Tim Ferriss’ Tribe of Mentors, you’ll find thought-provoking quotes in all my income reports.

These are the quotes that inspired me and changed my thinking in December. I hope you find them just as insightful as I did:

“A room without books is like a body without a soul.” — Marcus Tullius Cicero (Roman statesman and philosopher)

“Set aside a certain number of days, during which you shall be content with the scantiest and cheapest fare, with course and rough dress, saying to yourself the while: ‘Is this the condition that I feared?'” — Seneca (Roman Stoic philosopher)

“I can’t give you a sure-fire formula for success, but I can give you a formula for failure: try to please everybody all the time.” — Herbert Bayard Swope (American editor and journalist)

Income Report

Below are my affiliate earnings for December 2018, followed by other income, expenses, and net profit breakdown.

Affiliate Earnings

• SEMrush – $2135.14 (review / eBook)
• AppSumo – $1013.38 (latest deals)
• AppSumo Briefcase – $127.5 (review)
• Serpstat – $422.48 (review)
• ConvertKit – $32.4 (review)
• KWFinder – $24 (review)
• SendinBlue – $160 (review)
• AWeber – $29.4 (review)
• Instapage – $23.7 (review)

Total Affiliate Earnings: $3,968

Other Income

• Sponsored posts – $250 (click here for more details)

Total Side Income Earnings: $4,218

Expenses

• Mailchimp (Recurring) – $50
• AppSumo Briefcase (Recurring) – $49
• Google Ads – $26.61
• Facebook Ads – $24.20
• Buffer Pro (Recurring) – $15
• Flickr Pro (Recurring) – $5.99
• Alexa Subscription (Recurring) – $19.99
• Buildfire (Recurring) – $54

Total Expenses: $244.79

Net Profit Breakdown

• Affiliate earnings: $3,968
• Other income: $250
• Total expenses: (-$244.79)
• Net Profit: $3,973.21

That wraps up the last income report of 2018.

If you have any questions about this month’s income report, feel free to ask them in the comments section or connect with me via Twitter.

To get frequent updates on all things SEO, blogging, and social media, follow 99signals on these platforms below:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram
• YouTube
• Pinterest
• IGTV

If you’re interested to learn more about passive income, I reveal some of my affiliate marketing secrets in this article + webinar. Be sure to check it out!

The post Income Report for December 2018: How I Made $4,218 Last Month appeared first on 99signals.

Glad to announce that the total earnings were up by over 21% compared to last month, owing largely to deals and discounts offered by my affiliate partners on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. It’s the best month I’ve had until date in terms of affiliate earnings, slightly exceeding the earnings in September.

As always, before I reveal my full income report and net profit breakdown for the month, here are a few important highlights from November.

(To learn more about why I started maintaining monthly income reports, visit this page)

Content Creation

Not a whole lot of new content was created last month. Here are all the blog posts that were published in November:

• 10 Best Firefox Add-ons and Extensions for SEO — Despite facing stiff competition from Chrome, Firefox continues to be a popular web browser with a loyal user base. To that end, the article features 10 of the best SEO browser extensions you can add to your Firefox.
• Top 24 Apps and Tools for Social Media Marketers — Boost your social media marketing with these 24 apps and tools.
• 5 Best VPN Services for WordPress Users — Protect yourself from online security threats and cyber attacks by opting for a VPN service. This article features top 5 VPN services for WordPress users.

Switching from Sumo to OptinMonster

I’ve never been loyal to one product when it comes to lead generation optin software. When I first started this blog, I was using OptinMonster; then I switched over to Sumo, then to GetSiteControl, and then back to Sumo again. And now, I’m switching back to OptinMonster once again. So I’ve come a full circle.

I switched over to OptinMonster because I really like the design of the widgets and optin forms that the tool offers, and sadly, Sumo has not updated the design of their opt-in forms since I first signed up for the tool back in early 2017.

The one advantage Sumo had over OptinMonster and other lead-gen software was that their subscription plans included other useful apps such as Heat Maps, Highlighter, Live Chat, and Contact Form.

But strangely the company decided to deprecate these apps in November, so I no longer feel that the tool has an edge over OptinMonster. Furthermore, the company has shifted its focus to e-commerce business; so that seems to be the direction they are heading towards.

OptinMonster was also offering a nifty Black Friday deal, so I felt the time was right to switch over to them.

I’ve published in-depth reviews of both these tools at 99signals, so feel free to check them out if you’d like to learn more about their key features and limitations:

• Sumo Review
• OptinMonster Review

Marketing Mantra Podcast

I was able to record and publish two new episodes for the Marketing Mantra podcast last month.

• Ep. #7 – Top 5 Productivity Tools for Entrepreneurs
• Ep. #8 – The One SEO Tool You Aren’t Using (But Should)

 

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You can subscribe and listen to all the episodes of Marketing Mantra on any of these podcast platforms below:

Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Breaker | Radio Public | Spotify | Pocket Casts | Anchor | SoundCloud | Stitcher | Acast | TuneIn | PodBean | Overcast

2018 Goodreads Reading Challenge

As always, I spent a considerable amount of time reading business books last month. While I’m still reading Team of Rivals and Thrive (check last month’s report), I was able to read these four books as well:

• The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
• Linchpin by Seth Godin (read my review here)
• The Winning Way 2.0 by Anita Bhogle and Harsha Bhogle
• Screw It, Let’s Do It by Richard Branson

The Power of Habit is undoubtedly one of the best books I’ve read this year. In the book, Charles Duhigg gives us a deep understanding of how habits work, and explains ways in which we can form new habits and eliminate bad habits.

I’ve been a frequent reader of Seth Godin’s blog over the years and I find his insights on business and marketing really helpful. So I thought the logical next step would be to read one of his business books. I bought two of his bestsellers – All Marketers are Liars and Linchpin, and I was able to read Linchpin last month. Though Godin follows a non-linear approach in the book, I found the concept of linchpin immensely intriguing. To learn more about my thoughts on the book, please check out my review.

The Winning Way by Anita Bhogle and Harsha Bhogle was just a pleasure to read. I’m a massive fan of cricket and of Harsha Bhogle’s commentary. I believe there’s no cricket pundit in the world who understands and analyzes the game better than him. So it was really interesting to see him combine his knowledge of cricket with business and leadership, and reveal ways in which we can achieve success in a competitive business environment. Filled with amusing anecdotes and sports analogies (mostly cricket), The Winning Way is a compelling read.

Screw It, Let’s Do It is one of the shortest business books I’ve ever read. It took me less than an hour to finish reading it. In the book, Richard Branson offers lessons and advice for aspiring entrepreneurs while sharing a few examples from his life and adventures as the founder of the Virgin Group.

Quotes I’m Pondering (Nov 1 – 30, 2018)

Inspired by Tim Ferriss’ Tribe of Mentors, you’ll find thought-provoking quotes in all my income reports.

These are the quotes that inspired me and changed my thinking in November. I hope you find them just as insightful as I did:

“The essence of knowledge is, having it, to use it.” — Confucius (Chinese philosopher)

“There are many things of which a wise man might wish to be ignorant.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson (American essayist and philosopher)

“I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living.” — Dr. Seuss (American author, political cartoonist, and animator)

Income Report

Finally, we’ve arrived at the income report for November 2018. Below are my affiliate earnings, followed by other income, monthly expenses, and net profit breakdown.

Affiliate Earnings

• SEMrush – $2136.57 (review / eBook)
• AppSumo – $967.1 (latest deals)
• AppSumo Briefcase – $202.71 (review)
• Long Tail Pro – $101.55
• OptinMonster – $130.39 (review)
• Serpstat – $528.85 (review)
• ConvertKit – $203.1 (review)
• KWFinder – $42 (review)
• SendinBlue – $159.32 (review)
• TARS – $59.4
• Landingi – $23.4
• AWeber – $58.8 (review)
• Instapage – $47.4 (review)
• Ninja Outreach – $40
• BlueHost – $65 (review)
• Venngage – $24 (review)
• Namecheap – $6.07
• WPForms – $6.32
• Sumo – $50.7 (review)
• NordVPN – $4.6

Total Affiliate Earnings: $4773.28

Other Income

• Sponsored posts – $375 (click here for more details)

Expenses

• Mailchimp (Recurring) – $50
• AppSumo Briefcase (Recurring) – $49
• Google Ads – $37.46
• Facebook Ads – $62.73
• Flickr Pro (Recurring) – $5.99
• Alexa Subscription (Recurring) – $19.99
• Buildfire (Recurring) – $54
• OptinMonster Pro Yearly – $226.20

Total Expenses: $505.37

Net Profit Breakdown

• Affiliate earnings: $4773.28
• Other income: $375
• Total expenses: (-$505.37)
• Net Profit: $4642.91

That sums up this month’s income report.

If you have any questions about this month’s income report, feel free to ask them in the comments section or connect with me via Twitter.

To get frequent updates on all things SEO, blogging, and social media, follow 99signals on these platforms below:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram
• YouTube
• Pinterest
• IGTV

If you’re interested to learn more about passive income, I reveal some of my affiliate marketing secrets in this article + webinar. Be sure to check it out!

The post Income Report for November 2018: How I Made $5148.28 Last Month appeared first on 99signals.