March 2022 Valerie & Valise Income Report

After a six-month break, I’m back to publishing these income reports! I’ve had some requests for them, which I know is just y’all being nosy about my income – but it’s cool. I understand that having benchmarks to compare your strategy and success is important, which is why I want to continue to share these reports. There aren’t many bloggers doing that (my friend Amanda is one of the few others I know), and we all need it to help understand how our industry is growing and maturing.

To kick things off in these reports, I’ve stripped down what I was reporting (less personal stuff, now that these are published on Site School) and keep them short and data-heavy. I hope you still find them interesting, and am always happy to answer any questions in the comments!

TL;DR:

• Travel: 🛫🛬🛫🛬
• Blogging: 👩🏻‍💻
• Income: 👍

This month’s photos were taken on my various trips this month.

Travel in TK

At the two-year anniversary of the start of the pandemic, I’m both surprised and pleased that I am finally back to traveling regularly, including for work and fun.

• Destinations Visited: 3
  • Death Valley, CA – with my friend Marissa on our annual national park trip
  • Minneapolis, MN – with friends from college
  • Jordan (multiple destinations) – a trial run for my tour
• Flights Taken: 8
• Days on the Road: 14 out of 31 (45%)

As the numbers suggest, I think it’s safe to say that “travel is back!” at least for me and my business. Spending so much time on the road is definitely something I need to build up the endurance for again.

Blogging in March

Spring is the time of year when my traffic increases heading into the summer Alaska travel season; as such, I fully expected my traffic to grow month over month. I was quite surprised to see it not grow year over year though. 2022 is shaping up to be a weird year for traffic and travel demand, and I’m not totally sure why.

• Pageviews: 168,418 (↑32% from February 2022, ↓7% from March 2021)
• Traffic Breakdown:
  • Organic: 78%
  • Direct: 13%
  • Social: 8%
  • Email: <1%
  • Referral: <1%
• Most Popular New Post: The 27 Best Things to Do in Anchorage (According to a Local!) (mostly due to Discover traffic!)

New Posts I Published in March 2022

Even with several trips, I got back to publishing more frequently in March. Here are the new posts I published:

1. One Day in Vegas: The 10 Best Things to Do in a Single Day
2. The 27 Best Things to Do in Anchorage (According to a Local!)
3. Where to Eat in Anchorage, Alaska: A Local’s Guide to 30+ Places
4. Where to Eat in Denali: A Local’s Guide to 10 Great Restaurants
5. Vallarta Adventures Review: The Best Cruise Excursion in Puerto Vallarta
6. California Missions Road Trip: 21 Historic Sites in 7 Days

The to-do list of topics never gets shorter, but I’m happy to publish some of these posts that have been on my list for a while.

Business in March

Despite traffic not growing as much as I might have hoped last month, my income was more than strong enough to make up for it. I can’t compare year over year due to some bookkeeping changes we’ve made, but I can say that my overall income is stronger this year than it was last year.

One area of concern I have is regarding my affiliate income. Again, it’s hard to compare due to the way I was tracking last year but the fact that my income is now so reliant on advertising makes me nervous – it suggests I need to focus on re-diversifying my income again.

March 2022 Income Report

• Advertising income: 79%
• Affiliate income: 15%
• Product income: 6%

Total income for March 2022: ~$11,600 (↑36% from February 2022)

tRPM: ~$69 (↑4% from February) (What is tRPM and why does it matter?)

Months I’ve been blogging on V&V: 102 (Repeat after me: no site is an overnight success.)

Upcoming in April

2022 has already been a busy travel year, and it’s not slowing down! Here’s what I have planned in April:

• An Eastern Cascades road trip in Washington
• Attending TBEX Tri-Cities to speak about SEO
• Attending TravelCon in Memphis to speak about SEO again

It’ll be a big month for work travel, and I’m looking forward to getting back home to start writing and sharing stories from all my recent adventures.

Overall, I’m quite happy with how V&V is performing – but there’s always room to improve! I look forward to spending the rest of 2022 preparing for 2023 and another banner season. Have any questions about this month’s recap? Let me know in the comments.