Income report - Q3 2023

As far as I'm concerned, the summer went very well: I managed to go on vacation for almost a month (Croatia, Greece and Spain were my destinations) and it was all possible because I'm my own boss. It has great advantages, let's face it, but it also has great disadvantages (which you might not see at first glance).

It was also this summer that I was accepted by Mediavine, after 9 months of extremely intense work.

Yes, in the beginning I knew nothing about blogging and was exhausted trying to figure out how to make money with this blog. Then I found Cheryl Malik from 40aprons.com who became my coach, and things really took off.

What I did in Q3

Translation: Marie Food Tips goes bilingual

I have to tell you something: blogging can help you make a good living in France, but you'll have to make stratospheric numbers... On the other hand, the market is very uncompetitive and there's plenty of room here for bloggers.

Let's talk money: if you earn 800€/month here, you can earn 2000-3000€/month (maybe even more) in the US with the same number of sessions and visitors. But the market is much more competitive and saturated, so you'll need a solid strategy.

So I decided, just a few days after being accepted at Mediavine, to translate the whole blog and above all, from September onwards, to focus my keyword research on American (and no longer French) keywords.

The idea here is to expand my audience and, above all, increase my RPM. Some French bloggers have also understood this, like Fadela from sweetlycakes.com or Géraldine from lacuisinedegeraldine.fr.

I'm still in the middle of translation so I haven't been able to start posting, so I guess you'll have to wait for the Q4 income report to get my take on it (and even then, it'll only be a very short while).

Updates

Publishing new content is great! But updating your content is also crucial to a successful strategy.

And it wasn't until the beginning of July that I started thinking about it. I used to publish my articles and recipes, and then leave them in a corner, never touching them again. But it's much easier to rank on page 1 with content that Google already knows and that has been around for several months (or even years).

And it saves you time and energy: there's no need to develop a new recipe and make lots of tests, because it's already done!

So my strategy was to update my articles, in addition to those I was creating. Sometimes I'd add the articles to be updated to my editorial calendar because they fit in there, and sometimes I'd update them without mentioning them, just for Google's sake.

The 100,000

Unfortunately, I'm not talking about €100,000 in sales...but 100,000 followers on Instagram!

It was a very big milestone for me, which I passed on June 22, 2023. And I have the impression that once I'd taken that step, something really changed: since then, my requests for collaboration with quality brands have really exploded!

Let me remind you that I only work with brands that I really love and use on a daily basis. And by the way, I reject about ¾ of all requests, to offer you only the best, the "crème de la crème".

And that's one of the reasons why you'll see a very clear difference in income between my Q2 (my Q2 income report is here) and my Q3.

Hire a Pinterest VA

And yes, you read that right! As I've always said: you have to spend money to make money.

It may sound counter-productive, but it's not at all: delegating tasks where you don't personally add value allows you to concentrate on the tasks you enjoy and to which you really bring something in.

So I've decided to hire what's known as a Pinterest Virtual Assistant (Pinterest VA), who will take care of all the editorial strategy for my US Pinterest account.

Because in the US, if Pinterest is well used and content is optimized, it can bring in a HUGE amount of traffic (which is not really the case here in France). And with Artificial Intelligence on the way, I think it's important to diversify your traffic sources.

It was during August and September that I started looking for my VA, and I finally found her at the end of September. She will start in mid-November.

Recipes

I've been working very hard this quarter, because I find it quite difficult to combine the creation of content on social networks with the work here on the blog: in general, what works on socials works less well here, and vice versa. So I needed to find the right balance!

• Recipes created for the blog: 23
• Recipes created for social networks: 21
• Updating old recipes: 10

And 54 recipes in 3 months, that's a lot of work! For each recipe, you need to make :

• Keyword research and recipe development/writing,
• Grocery shopping,
• Recipe testing,
• Mooboards and photo shoot sketches,
• Writing the post and now translating it in English,
• Shooting the video
• Process shots (you'll only see them on recent recipes),
• The photo shoot of the recipe,
• Editing of the videos with voice-over,
• Scheduling publications on the networks (Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Tik Tok),
• Preparation of the newsletter.

Now that I have to translate the recipes into a second language, each recipe represents around 15 hours' work, making 67.5 hours' work per week for this quarter.

Believe me, I've had to give up many weekends and Netflix nights…

My traffic summary

It hasn't even been a year since I started being 1000% serious with this blog (I started my coaching with Cheryl Malik mid-October 2022). But she taught me not to compare months to months, or even quarters to quarters.

Why? Because I do a lot of seasonal content! So a zucchini recipe that works well in summer won't work in mid-December. And that's okay! Because it will be back the following summer.

All this to say that since I haven't even had a year of stable, serious traffic, it's still impossible for me to make comparisons.

What I do know is that most bloggers say that income is often lower in July and August (and sometimes in January), but it all depends on your niche and your audience.

For example: January is often the month when people want to eat healthy after the excesses of the holidays, so if you have a healthy blog, that won't be a problem. Otherwise, you risk seeing a drop in RPM or even traffic to your site this month.

July

• Sessions : 96019
• Page views : 133788
• RPM* (French**): $4.68

August

• Sessions: 159853
• Page views : 220693
• RPM (French): $4.91

September

• Sessions: 151190
• Page views : 209821
• RPM (French): $6.54

*Never compare your RPM to that of another blogger: everyone's RPM is different and depends on so many things!

**At this time, I was only blogging in French. And yes, here the RPM are super super low compared to American's!

Top 3 most popular recipes in Q3

1. Best edible cookie dough
2. Easy homemade focaccia (without sourdough)
3. Creamy shrimp Alfredo Linguine

My traffic sources

Google is still my number one source of traffic, and that's how you know a blog is doing well.

• Google: 72.9%
• Direct: 15.6%
• Pinterest: 6.9%
• Other: 4.5%

The devices used

Unsurprisingly, the smartphone comes out on top by far.

• Smartphone : 86.7%
• Desktop: 10.5%
• Tablet: 2.8%

My total income for Q3 2023: €15832

Let's get down to business! For the moment, I have "only" three different sources of income, but my goal is to have 5 or 6, so I won't be dependent.

Don't put all your eggs in one basket, it's important to keep that in mind.

• Content for brands on my social networks (influence): €8609
• Content I create for brands (for their social networks): €5123
• The blog with Google AdSense and Mediavine: €2,100.

Total for Q3 2023: €15832.

My total expenses for Q3 2023: €5063.69

Monthly expenses

• OVH: €7.5/month.
• Shine (my professional bank): €9.5/month.
• Adobe Premiere Rush (for video editing): €11.99/month.
• Adobe Photoshop + Lightroom (for photo retouching): €11.99/month.
• Keysearch (for keyword research): €13/month.
• Clariti (for updates and article tracking): €40/month.
• Meta Verified (to access their customer service): €16.99/month.
• Grocery shopping: €500/month.
• RankIQ (to target the right American keywords): €49/month.

Annual expenses

These are still included in the quarterly expenses.

• Food Blogger Pro : $396/year (or $350/year if you take the annual lump-sum option).
• UNUM: €66/year.
• WP Recipe Maker : €100/year.
• Tasty Pin : $29/year.
• Google domain: €12/year.
• Feast Plugin : €253/year.
• WP Rocket : €50/year.
• ShortPixel : €50/year.
• Flodesk 420/year.
• Nord VPN (to connect to the US and see what's happening on the American Google): €72/year.

Other expenses

• Email List Academy : €455,50.
• Digital Empire : €89.
• Food Blogger Business School (which I don't necessarily recommend): €475.25
• Tokina 100 mm lens: 469€.
• Pastry And Travel backdrops: 228€.
• Amazon products: €50
• Coaching call with Casey Rooney from getonmyplate.com: €340
• Errer Backdrops Fund: €165

Total Q3 2023: €5063.

Q3 total earnings: €10769

This €10,769 does not include taxes: so it's not what's in my pocket at the end of Q3.

What's next

Other delicious recipes

I'm slowly preparing for Q4, which is the busiest period for food bloggers, with all the Christmas content.

You'll also find delicious pumpkin recipes, "fireplace & Netflix movie" recipes and, above all, easy, gourmet dishes, as always here!

Advent Calendar

Last year, I made an "Advent calendar": I published a new recipe every day in December, until the 24th.

I'm going to do it again this year, because you loved the concept, but I'll stop at December 22 this time. Because let's be honest, your menus are already decided at that point, so there's no point in bringing out new recipes.

Keep updating

I'm going to keep updating my articles, because I'm sure it can be a really profitable strategy. In any case, it's worth the try!

Focusing my strategy on American traffic

I know it's going to be harder than what I'm used to here. I'm going to have to be even more demanding with the quality of my content and photos, but I finally feel capable of doing it (bye bye imposter syndrome!).

It will probably take more time, work and energy, but I'm sure it will pay off. And it's important to keep the "big picture" in mind, to take a long-term view over several months (even if, I grant you, it's not always obvious, far from it!).

Important - keep in mind

• Look back - when things aren't going well (and it's bound to happen to you, because it's human), look at how far you've come in the last few weeks, months or years. And think about your progress.
• Don't compare yourself - I know it's easier said than done, but everyone is different. Everyone creates their content differently, everyone has their own strategy, their own photo style, their own way of writing articles, their own incomes, etc....
• Don't put all your eggs in one basket - think about the different sources of income you might have. And little by little, month after month, year after year, put them in place. In my opinion, having only one source of income is flawed and even dangerous.
• Content is often seasonal - don't panic and update your stuffed tomato recipe in February because you feel it's no longer working. People simply don't make many stuffed tomatoes in February, because it's not the season and it's not what they are craving for.
• Discuss, exchange - don't hesitate to contact other bloggers to exchange ideas with them. It's super nourishing and it's always interesting to have exchanges around professional subjects.
• Ask for help - if you feel like you need help, don't worry, it's normal! Been there, done that, and asking for help has saved me months (if not years) compared to what I could have done on my own. Look for a "food blogger coach" (I have 2-3 great ones to recommend, if you need one) or someone who can help you with your specific problem.

I hope that reading this income report has been helpful or enjoyable. If you have any questions or would like to discuss the subject, please don't hesitate to send me an e-mail. I'm always happy to discuss with you: mariefoodtips@gmail.com.