Welcome to my 4TH Month blog Income report & growth. I have made these blogger income reports from day one, not just for you guys to read and hopefully gain something from, but also for myself so I can look back and see the areas I need to concentrate on.
When I started out with this blog I was looking at other blog income reports and came across Michelle Schroeder-Gardner. She runs a great Personal Finance blog called Making sense of Cents. You can find her blog Income report here
However as amazing as Michelle has done with her blog and as much as it gives me motivation, I was looking for blog growth & income reports from beginners to see how it was going to be at the beginning of my blogging journey. It turned out there wasn’t that many. The ones I did find were a good mix of honesty, hard work, mistakes, and learning.
So to that end, I’m am going to try and be as transparent as possible so as you readers out there see not only my successes but also my failures.
Also if your new to this blog and would like to read any of my other blog Income reports then you can find all those reports here.
Also If you would like to subscribe and see these reports as soon as I publish them then you can do that here or on the main menu from the dropdown.
Some of my posts may contain affiliate links. This simply means if you purchase something after clicking one of the links I may receive a commission at no extra cost to yourself. Many thanks for the continued support.
New Month:
Where the hell did June go? I wrote a few articles, was busy at work and planned a 10-year anniversary trip to Italy with my wife and that’s it. I have no idea what happened to the rest of June. It was only on the 1st July that I realized I needed to write my next Income report.
So how did June go, Well apart from bloody quickly it was ok. Articles got written, SEO was performed. I managed to move up both my DA ranking and Page rank so that was a result and I made more money than last May so in reflection it wasn’t a bad month. Oh and I almost forgot I got awarded the sunshine blogger award not once but twice. How did I forget that? If you are not sure what that is then go and have a look at the article here.
Articles:
As usual, I managed to keep to my one article per week. This is an ok schedule for me at the moment and I’m not struggling or burnt out, which I quite possibly would be should I write more often.
My SEO techniques are becoming better and hopefully, a couple more articles should start ranking on Google in the coming months.
Traffic:
So my traffic has been up and down all month. I went back to promoting my blog on a bloggers website and it did quite well but to be fair its not organic traffic so it doesn’t give a fair and real representation of my site. Therefore I have stopped using it.
This will see a drop in traffic but I’m not too bothered at the moment. It will just make me work harder in terms of promotion elsewhere and work harder on my SEO.
I think the graph above shows the up and down nature of my traffic at the moment. The bounce rate and session duration I’m happy with at the moment and hopefully can improve upon this month.
Social Media:
Twitter:
Exactly the same amount of followers as last month as I don’t really use twitter at the moment as I feel it would draw my attention away from other platforms that I’m doing well on.
Facebook:
So my little band of loyal Facebook followers has exploded a bit. Last month we were on 28. This month we have shot up to 52, Nearly double in one month. This is crazy.
At the moment all I do is put links up to my latest Articles although I hope in a few months to be able to send people in my group the latest money saving deals and great Personal finance offers that will benefit all those in my group. P.S shout out to the top member in my group Jane @breakupmakeupwakeup.com. She is always giving me support and has a relationship site which I find hilarious. I’m not sure it is always meant to be but her writing is very blunt and funny. Check it out.
Email:
So last month we were on 10 Subscribers, This month we are on 14. I keep saying I must work harder at my email subscriptions and every month I don’t push for that and I let myself down. However, 4 extra subscribers without promoting my blog is a bonus I suppose. I really must work harder at that this month. 🙂
Pinterest:
This is where I work hardest although not seeing a great deal of success at the moment. I seem to be able to attract followers but not unique views or good amounts of impressions.
Above shows that it is up and down all month, sometimes at 1k impressions other times at 5k. Not sure why to be honest or how to improve it.
I have however increased my followers from 501 last month to 643 so an increase of 142 in June. Not bad, I will take that. My average daily impressions and average daily viewers have increased but everything else has dipped a little. I still need that one pin to go viral which I’m sure will happen at some point.
Changes Made:
I didn’t make a lot of changes in June. What I have been doing though is going back and starting to add SEO techniques to some of my older articles although still have around 7 or 8 articles to complete. I have also started reading other peoples blogs in the same niche as mine to see what I’m competing against.
I have joined Awin which is an affiliate company and have joined the Fiverr Program which is great because as an aspiring blogger I will need their services at some point as I’m sure some of you reading this will also.
I’m still pending on Etsy affiliation and have an article out soon about how to make money selling on Etsy. Look out for that one.
Income:
I always feel a little disheartened when I come to this section as it never seems a big amount. However, I have earned $1.26. Again such a small amount but compared to May it is more than double. If someone told me that I would earn double again next month then I would take that.
So I am pleased but also a little underwhelmed I guess because I would love to bring you all bigger numbers… Those numbers will come though.
Also no affiliate sales as of yet but I’m not expecting any for a couple more months or until my traffic increases. Once my SEO starts to take effect then hopefully that traffic will steadily rise.
Goals:
My Goals for June were as follows.
Hit 7000 total views on my Blog. (Fail) I hit 6972 So damn close.
Reach 65000 unique monthly views on Pinterest (Fail) At the moment I seem stuck around the 45-50k mark
Gain a total of 35 members in my Facebook group. (Success) In fact, I nearly doubled this and am now at 52. YAY.
Grow email subscribers to 15 (Fail) So damn close again, I’m at 14.
Gain 650 total followers on Pinterest (Fail) Come on this isn’t even funny anymore I’m at 643. I feel I should get an award for most targets nearly hit!!
Sort out Amazon account so it works properly and payment details get added (Fail) I completely forgot about this target. Must do this in July.
Add more affiliates and try and learn more about how to be successful with it. (Success) Well, I added one more affiliate and am pending on another, I also know exactly what affiliate course I will be taking when I earn a bit more money from my blog. If anyone wants to know that let me know in the comments and I will share.
So I only succeeded with 2 of my goals but I’m happy as long as I succeed with one. The goals are there to help motivate me And to be fair I came real close with 3 more of them.
Goals For This Month
I’m away in Italy for a few days so I need to keep my goals realistic this month. However, they still need to help me push so here goes.
Hit 9000 Total views on my blog.
Reach 65000 total unique views on Pinterest.
Hit 75 members on my facebook group and look at Freebies I could potentially offer my members to help increase them.
Grow Email Subscribers to 20. This is the one I want to hit in July. No messing I need to get people signed up. (P.S if you enjoyed this blog income report then feel free to subscribe for great money saving and making tips.)
Reach 800 followers on Pinterest.
Sort out the Bloody Amazon Affiliate account and add payment details.
Chase up my Pending Affiliate on Awin.
Look at creating a printable PDF to help subscribers with organizing their finances. Nothing too fancy just simple yet effective.
That’s my goals for July and hopefully I can reach some of them.
AFFILIATES:
Below are some of the Affiliates I’m associated with and I’m going to be a little shameless here and plug them. If you are wondering though I only work with affiliates that I trust and that have products that I either use now or have used in the past. I wouldn’t risk upsetting any on my loyal readers by vouching for shoddy companies.
So if these monthly blog income reports are piquing your enthusiasm and you are looking to start a blog then I would suggest using self-hosting. It gives you far better control over your blog and means you can monetize it should you wish to do so.
The guys over at Siteground can help you out with super cheap monthly hosting. Also, any time I have had a problem they have sorted it out within 30 minutes and guided me through live chat, etc. Their service is top notch.
Once your site is up and running and you are looking to make it look a little bit more professional then head over to WP Engine and pick out a Studiopress Genesis Theme. The theme I’m running is called Foodie Pro and has some really cool features. The below link will get you some great looking themes for your new or indeed old site.
If you have been reading some of my blog articles about side hustles and Matched betting in particular and you are looking to earn a few hundred pounds extra per month for very little effort then head over and check out the guys at Profitaccumulator. Very friendly and professional with free trials to show you how it all works. Give it a go and it will be the easiest cash you have ever earned.
So that is June’s Blog income report and growth all finished. I’m looking forward to a strong July and oh did I mention lots of strong Italian sun/Beer. Have a great July everyone.
This is such a refreshing and helpful post to read, I’m a new blogger (just started almost 2 weeks ago) so it’s nice to find some realistic reports that aren’t from people who have 100s of thousands of page views and earn 10k a month. Keep up the good work and good luck with your July goals!
Thanks Valentina. Yes it is worth mentioning that blogging is damn hard work and the bigger bloggers dont always mention this. Good luck to you. Its a long journey but one im sure you will find rewarding
I always enjoy reading your income reports because they’re mich more relatable to me than the ones from the bloggers making five and six figures a month. I published my first one this month, only there was no income to report, lol. But my pageviews and other metrics just keep going up so hopefully it’ll happen soon!
Thanks Rebecca. I dont think i have read your one yet but income or not its great to see other bloggers goals and accomplishments so i will check it out this evening.
Wow, Italy! I hope you have a great time. I enjoyed reading your income and goals report. Thanks for being so transparent. I’ve never published a report for mine, mainly because I’m focused on growing my follower list, not making money. Your honest report makes me think a report for mine might be a good idea. Thanks again for all of the information, and good luck with your future goals.
I loved your article on your income report. As a new blogger, 2 months in, it helps to know that small goals will help us in the end. I haven’t started to monetize my blog yet and it’s on my list for August. I’m still struggling to post consistently. There is so much to learn at the beginning and it’s good to know I’m not the only one working hard not making any money just working on building. Thanks for your honest reports.
Thanks Kathy. Yes it is hard work and that is why so many blogs fail. If you know that from the start and are prepared to take your time and work hard you should succeed. Everyone started somewhere and learnt as they went.
I love your realistic blog posts on this topic! The transparency in your posts promotes trust. (I hate those posts from other bloggers that say things like “How I grew from zero to half a million clicks per month in 6 months.” Those kinds are not encouraging, and they are probably fake.) Seeing your down-to-earth and realistic progress makes me want to keep pressing on.
Well im glad it makes you feel like that Christy that was the main aim. I hope it also shows that setting goals can make you work harder than perhaps you normally might.
Thank you so much for sharing your income report. Making money from blogging takes time, effort and consistent hard work. When I see other’s bloggers income report I feel inspired, but I am aware that is not going to happen in one day. But it will happen eventually 🙂 . $ 1.26 is only the beggining! Keep going!
I love reading the real income reports from beginner bloggers waaay more than ones that make a fortune. You sound like you are definitely on track for success!
Thanks Sasha that means a lot and i prefer reading about the hard work that goes into them not the ones where they allegedly made £1000 a month within the first 3 months.
I love reading blogger income/progress reports and really appreciate your honesty! Be proud of your accomplishments and that everything is moving in the right direction for growth! I wouldn’t worry as much about your Pinterest impressions, and focus more on the clicks to pins that you created! After all, the whole point is to get traffic to your website. Impressions just means it showed up in someone’s feed. Could just be scrolling past it without clicking, which is not what you want, obviously! Impressions will give you an idea as to how well your SEO for your pins is tho! So don’t ignore it altogether. If you aren’t getting the amount of clicks you’d like, create new pins for your posts 🙂
Thanks Cara. Maybe i will add the clicks i get in next months report. Appreciate the feedback.
It’s great to see how a blog builds an income from scratch. It’s not easy and certainly far more realistic that it makes nothing or next to nothing for a good few months. I look forward to seeing how you build it.
There are so many elements to learn with blogging and each post is competing with the other 4 million posted every day.
I’ve had a slow start myself, but the traffic trend is up and I’m determined to keep going.
All the best
Thanks for the comment. Yes, I like to provide an honest report and show new bloggers not to expect too much, I think that is the main reason why a lot of them quit before the end of their first year. Nice to see a new face in the same niche as mine. I shall head over to your site in a bit and take a look.