Another month update and I have so many things to share with you all. Last month, I had seen a decrease of page views because of less traffic from Pinterest (My biggest traffic referral).
Blogging requires a constant learning and implementing things which can help you greatly to grow your business.
I did some experimenting last month with my pin timings, publishing more posts than usual and many more things.
This is my 8th-month blog update, and it still feels surreal to me that I took the step to start a blog eight months ago. But that’s the best decision I have ever made.
The whole blogging community, learning and the income have amazed me.
The two reasons I share my blog update and income report, first to be accountable and then to show you no matter how young your blog is, you can make money from it.
Let’s get into the update now,
TRAFFIC
My traffic dip continued last month due to low traffic from Pinterest, but I believe it’s getting better slowly. One good thing that happened is, my bounce rate is going down, and my returning visitors are growing. I am thankful to all of my readers and I hope to give more meaningful content.
I have heard many things about StumbleUpon, like the traffic from it can have high bounce rate etc, but in spite of that, I am getting good traffic right from the first month of my blog. Many of my posts are doing good on this social media and I will continue to explore how I can be better at promoting on StumbleUpon.
The pins which are still viral on Pinterest and get me traffic are,
Make Money From Home As A Captioner (45.3k shares)
How to Make $1000 A Month Online Without A Job (24.6k shares)
9 Online Jobs Paying Upto $15 An Hour (6.2k shares)
Secret to Making Money with Survey Panels (2k shares)
12 Legitimate Part-Time Online Jobs (3.7k shares)
How to Start a Blog to Make Money – A Step-by-Step Guide to Starting a Blog (1.8k shares)
The posts which have been doing good and which got published last month,
Work from Home As a Bookkeeper
29 Ways to Make Extra Money Without Any Expertise
How to Make Money Blogging – A Beginner’s Guide
Below are my past month updates:
How I Got over 16,000 Page Views in the First Month of Blogging
Month Two Traffic Update: How I Got Over 25,000 Page Views With A New Blog
Month 3 Blog Update: 50,000 Page Views and My First Income Report
How I Made $2,347.17 in 4th Month of Blogging
How I Made $3,226.89 in 5th Month of Blogging
How I Earned $5,126.59 in 6th Month of Blogging
How I Made $4,051.07 in One Month of Blogging
SUBSCRIBERS
My list is growing at a good pace, and I am so happy that both my freebies are getting good reviews. I have around 950 subscribers now, and it is growing every day. I get around 8 to 15 subscribers every day and hoping to reach more readers this month.
Though the traffic has been a bit flat from Pinterest, my followers count has been increasing steadily. My followers have gone up to 4.9k. This is really great as I am reaching more readers on Pinterest.
I mostly use tips from Pinteresting Strategies, and I also work on tips from the bonus section of Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing course. These Pinterest tips are one of the most valuable bonuses this course has.
I am experimenting with Facebook ads and it is working out well. I focus on Facebook after Pinterest as it gets me around 20% of my monthly traffic. I love the tips in Strategies Worth Sharing, I owe a larger part of my Facebook growth to this eBook.
The slowest growth I see in all of my social media is on Twitter. As I always say, for now I want to focus more on the platforms which are getting good traffic for my blog. My focus on Twitter might go up later in this year.
I have seen slow and steady growth on this social media channel (not in thousands!!). I finally crossed 100 followers. I posted consistently last month on this platform, just one post every day and I have seen the results. I plan on working more on Instagram this month.
Now for the Income report,
Last month, my income went down a bit, and I earned $3000, and a majority of it was from affiliate marketing and some revenue from ads.
INCOME REPORT
Affiliate Income
Survey Affiliates (iGain, Maxbounty, Panthera Network) – $1,779.19
Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing – $199.60
Bluehost -$65
30 Days or Less to Virtual Assistant Success –$42
Strategies Worth Sharing – $40
Pinteresting Strategies – $28.80
Bookscouter – $25.35
Rakuten – $25
Grammarly – $20.80
Traffic Transformation – $20
Amazon – $10.35
The Art of Shipping: How to Package and Ship Items for eBay – $7.80
Indeed – $6.12
5 Ways to get FREE Items to Resell for Profit – $5.60
Ads – $727.33
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EXPENSES
Boardbooster – $15
Grum – $18
NET INCOME – $2,969.64
This month was the lowest revenue for my blog. One thing that is working is, I am getting more income from other sources. I wanted to diversify my income instead of getting most of it from one source.
Another thing I am happy about is, even though my traffic was low, my ad income didn’t go down much. I started with Mediavine three months ago and I am quite happy with them. I love their interface and they have very good support.
Things I Did
Last month, I did many changes like, pinning at different timings, and it seems to be working. I also started making more than one pin for a post; I know many bloggers who make 4 to 5 pins for a single post.
I also started publishing more posts per week. I usually post two posts, and I increased it to 3 posts per week.
I started working on SEO last month, and I see a slow rise in organic traffic. I know that SEO takes time and I am still learning a lot. You can find a LOT of great SEO tips on Brian Clark’s Backlinko.
What I Learned
Regarding social media channels, one thing I learned is consistency. It is really critical, and timings matter a lot. I finally found out at what times my pins are getting seen the most.
With Instagram, I post just once every day. The growth of followers through Instagram is great and I believe that consistent posting will go a long way.
What’s Next
I am still planning on posting 3 posts every week on the blog, and I will continue to publish the side hustle interviews which many of my readers are finding very useful.
I am also planning to make an ‘Advertise’ page along with my media kit. This is important to get into sponsored opportunities. I have been putting this off for a very long time and will be working on it.
Traffic
This month, I might be getting good traffic numbers, and I am going to work to increase the page views to over 100,000. I am excited to work towards this target.
Income
I never aim for a target income, but this month I will try to push my income numbers. This month already started with good conversions, so hopefully I might see good numbers.
Subscribers
I will surely work towards crossing 1000 subscribers and the way my opt-ins are working; I am hopeful that I will reach this target.
As a new blogger, the whole blogging thing can be too much to handle when it comes to some aspects of getting traffic, making money, increasing followers.
But it can be a smooth process if you implement the right strategies.
Here are some resources which helped me to reach this stage, I highly recommend them, and they can be quite helpful no matter at what stage of blogging you are.
Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing – This is by far the best course I had ever taken, and it has helped me in many aspects of affiliate marketing. This course is a must for anyone who is serious about making money from a blog.
Pinteresting Strategies – Carly’s Pinterest strategies helped me grow my traffic exponentially and in turn my income. I have tested them, and they work.
Traffic Transformation – I love Lena’s eBook for the fact that she dives into the areas of getting traffic from less frequently used platforms like Stumbleupon and Google+. Â
Strategies Worth Sharing – An eBook which I bought even before starting my blog, and it helped me to reach 700+ likes on Facebook. With Facebook being the second biggest referral for traffic for many bloggers, you need to invest in this to grow your traffic.
Bluehost – I have had a great experience with Bluehost. Blogging is a great side hustle, and if you are waiting to start a money-making blog on a budget, then Bluehost is the way to go.
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How was your month update? I would love to see your income reports.
Wow, you continue to amaze me! I’ve never seen a blogger do so well right off the bat! How much prework did you do before your blog went live?
Hey Catherine,
Thank you for commenting!! Most of my prework was content writing (draft posts) which went on for 3 months before the blog went live.