Full P&L for a content site portfolio, 2026 — the costs people never mention

Nobody posts the cost side. Here is mine for the last 12 months across 11 sites.

Revenue: $184,200

Costs:
Writers: $61,400
Editors: $18,900
Links and PR: $22,000
Hosting and tools: $9,600
VA and admin: $14,400
Accounting and legal: $4,200
Total: $130,500

Net: $53,700 on a business that looks like a $184k business in every screenshot anyone posts.

Margin is 29%. Every "I made $15k last month" post you read is a revenue number. Ask about the second number.

Thank you for posting the only number that matters. 29% is also about where I land, for what it is worth.

The writer line being a third of revenue is the thing beginners cannot picture. Content is not free, it is your biggest bill.

Paid media margins are worse, for anyone wondering. I run high teens in a good year.

Genuinely changed how I am thinking about this. I was calculating my goal off revenue numbers from forum screenshots.

Ecom is worse again once you add COGS and returns. Everyone posts revenue because revenue is the flattering number.

As one of the people on the "writers" line of somebody's P&L, I appreciate seeing it written down honestly.

To be clear I am happy with 29%. I just want the number to be in the forum somewhere so beginners are not planning off revenue.

Pinned. This is the standard the Making Money section should hold itself to.