Per my blog post about taking a summer vacation from blogging, I promised to share how much I made in the month of July and would donate $100 for every $1,000 made.
Nordstrom Anniversary Sale: Results
If you follow a few bloggers, you may realize the month of July is a big one for affiliate revenue. The Nordstrom Anniversary Sale is a HUGE money maker; I can make more money off this sale than all affiliate sales for November and December combined. Last year, I wrote three blog posts and shared dozens of individual picks in blog posts, social shares, and newsletters. I also made a concerted effort to link to Nordstrom any way possible in blog posts before and after the sale for "last click wins" (read this post about how blogs make money to understand what I mean). I made quadruple in 2018 what I made in 2019 for Nordstrom affiliate revenue.
Because of this result, I will likely promote the Nordstrom Sale in the future, but as always I'm going to only share what I think is truly worthy of your hard-earned money. I will share styling tips, honest reviews if I own or have tried the item, and have a good selection of price points and sizes.
Amazon Prime Day: Results
The other moneymaker for July is Amazon Prime Day. Last year I worked all weekend going through these ridiculous workbooks at 3pt font without any useable filtering tools or product descriptions to find the best deals, come to find the morning of Prime Day few of the deals in that workbook were valid. But I updated the post, did dozens of individual posts on social for my picks, had a newsletter, and more to push the special event. Last year I made almost double at Amazon what I did this year.
Honestly, even if I was sharing sales this summer, I wouldn't have shared Prime Day not only because it's not really lucrative for my blog, but because Amazon workers were on strike. Also, I'm not too thrilled with their relationship with the DHS. Next year I likely will use Prime Day as a day to promote other sales around the 'net taking place (there were some pretty good ones this year and I bet they'll be even better next year).
Sponsored Content: Results
Ouch, I received some pretty cool opportunities that I declined. A couple of companies I have relationships with said they'd check back in come September which was pretty cool of them. I'm actually glad I said no, it allowed me to go on our two-week family vacation without having to do any work or have anything looming when I got back.
I did do a free promotion for Universal Standard on Instagram; they did a sample sale with 50% of the profits going to Planned Parenthood and I wanted to support it. I didn't receive even affiliate revenue for it as they gave me a custom URL for tracking clicks.
I did accept a paid guest-blogging project that will not take place on my blog or social media and I have no requirement to promote or share it. I photographed it and wrote the copy yesterday and it will go live the end of the month. I will share it when it's published because I am proud of my work, not because I was paid to do so.
I went to cabi Scoop during the month of July and wrote a recap. I wasn't paid to go on the trip, and I wrote the recap because I always share my travels. I have a trip next week with Soma; it too is an unpaid trip and there are no requirements for me to share or write about it. However, I will because I think it's going to be fun.
In general, most brands were really chill about my summer vacation and some even congratulated me on the decision. It was so freeing to copy my "summer vacation" spiel and paste it into reply emails and to know I didn't have to check my inbox every hour while on vacation. If August is like July, I think I'll plan to do a similar vacation every summer. But I will PLAN, so I have saved up to cover what I will lose from the break.
July Ad and Affiliate Income Recap
No surprise, this was the lowest income month of all year, a close second behind February which is notoriously low and I plan in advance for how dry it is. I didn't plan for this summer vacation from sponsored content so this was a bit painful. My saving grace was ad revenue, which was quite good as my traffic on the site was up 27.45% from last year (see the screenshot above from Google Analytics, comparing July 2018 to July 2019).
Please understand I am sharing the gross profit from the month of July. This is before taxes, business expenses, and insurance. With the gross income made from affiliate and ad revenue, I was able to donate $800 to the charity of your choice.
July Charitable Donation
I opened this survey at 6 am ET on Saturday, August 3rd. By 9:30 pm last night, I received 1,447 responses. The overwhelming winner was Planned Parenthood.
The charity in 2nd place was Kids in Need of Defense (KIND); I will include that charity in August's list of possible recipients, along with four new charities. With the domestic terrorist shootings that have taken place recently, many of you have already requested August's charity list to include organizations that support gun control. I definitely want to include such organizations; continue to share your favorite charities and I will use them to create the list. The past couple of years have been terrifying, upsetting, and eye-opening. It's easy to go numb from it all. We cannot ignore what is going on. I must admit, it has felt at times a bit ridiculous to have this job with the current state of this country. But fashion is a form of armor, and right now we all need every tool possible to gather strength to get through tragedy, fight for what is right, and protect those we love. I love being able to provide a contribution to organizations who are fighting for our freedoms, protecting the vulnerable, and making positive change.
I will continue this tradition past my summer vacation - each month I will offer charities for you to vote on and will donate a portion of my profits to it. I'm thrilled this has received such a positive response and love to have you as a part of the process. Thank you so much for your support, I am so honored that such a amazing community of people visit Wardrobe Oxygen, participate on social media, and support this endeavor. I know this summer is a bit light on content, but I plan after Labor Day to get back into the swing and provide the best content possible. As always, let me know what you'd like to see, what questions you have, and how I can make Wardrobe Oxygen the best for you!
