Blogging Tips · November 5, 2017

Income and Traffic Report – October 2017

Welcome to my second ever income and traffic report. If you missed my first traffic report, you can check it out here. I was incredibly nervous to hit the publish button on my first report, but after I did, I was thrilled with the positive and encouraging feedback from my sweet readers. Before I get into this report I want to share a bit about why I want to post monthly income and traffic reports.

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WHY POST INCOME AND TRAFFIC REPORTS?

Back in February 2017 I quit my full time marketing job so that I could be home with my new baby. I immediately knew that I wanted to do some type of side hustle that was incredibly flexible, had the potential of earning money, and that would be a creative outlet for me. I did research on different things I could do – from picking up a part time, work-from-home gig to starting a consulting business – and everything in between. I finally landed on starting a blog. Income and traffic reports were a large part in my decision making process.

When I was on Pinterest one day, I saw a pin that said how someone had earned over $100K a month…yes, a MONTH, blogging. I was in awe. How could someone earn that kind of money with a blog? So, I looked a little deeper and did a lot of research. I realized that I could begin a money-making blog doing what I love to do and what I am already doing anyway – creating a beautiful and thriving home on a budget. I wanted to share my passion with other like-minded creatives and create a community where I could teach, learn, and ultimately help others create a home they love through DIY projects and decorating. That’s how this little blog was born.

Some bloggers post monthly income and traffic reports, while many others don’t. It’s a personal choice, and I understand completely why a blogger would choose not to.

I am choosing to post income and traffic reports as a way to pay it forward. I also want to give bloggers in the home decor/DIY niche a place to reference. There are not an abundant amount of bloggers in this niche who post income and traffic reports. I am living proof that you can make money if you’re a blogger in this niche – even if your blog is only eight months old!

WHAT’S BEEN HAPPENING ON THE BLOG?

October was a growing and learning month for me. I did not earn quite as much as I did in September, but I’m ok with that. I spent much of the month doing two important things: switching my email provider to ConvertKit and launching my first free email course for folks who want to start a blog. Both of those tasks were time consuming but well worth it in terms of blog investment.

The main reason I made the switch to ConvertKit was because I outgrew MailChimp after having created my first e-course: Start a Blog Crash Course. I had already created a free resource library with an accompanying opt-in form. MailChimp only allows you to have one opt-in form per list, and I had used mine on the free resource library. I needed another opt-in form that would push subscribers to my list, and this is something MailChimp does not offer. If you’re a blogger and are interested in switching to ConvertKit, you can read about my experience with the email provider.

My new, 7-day email course took a lot of time to develop because I wanted to make sure I jam-packed it with useful information. I decided to create a course that outlines more than just the basics. I help new bloggers lay the proper foundation so they can begin earning money. If you’re interested in starting a blog, you can enroll in my free e-course or check out this quick tutorial to start a blog immediately.

TRAFFIC REPORT

Overall I am happy with my traffic stats in October. While I did not see as much traffic as September, I am not too worried because I had an outlier – a post went viral that month that helped skyrocket my September traffic. It’s tough to compare month over month traffic when you have something like that happen. I took a look at my traffic patterns from August compared to October to give me an idea of my traffic trend, and I’m still seeing an overall increase.

Here’s my traffic for October:

Here’s a breakdown of my top-viewed posts:

  1. The Best Neutral Fall Decor
  2. 40 Fabulous Fall Finds Under $40
  3. Rustic Porch Decor for Fall Lovers

During the actual month of October, I published nine posts:

This was quite an increase from September. During September, I published just five blog posts. Interestingly enough, my top-viewed posts from above were all published in August. It will be telling to see which posts are my top viewed ones during November.

INCOME REPORT

INCOME

  • Amazon Associates – $173.58
  • Google Adsense – $59.04
  • Other Affiliates – $1.85

Total Income: $234.47

EXPENSES

Total Expenses: $38.99

NET PROFIT – $195.48

Some earnings during the month don’t get paid out until a later date, but I think this is the best way to track it for now.

Not surprisingly, Amazon Associates was my largest income source for the second consecutive month. Google Adsense was my second largest income source and increased quite a bit from September. In September, I made just $3.41 from Google Adsense. I planned to add more Google Adsense ads to my site in October, which I did, though I tried not to overdo it for fear of creating a bad user experience. I plan to increase ads just a bit more for November.

To compare month over month income, I saw a decrease of $226.66. I earned $461.13 during September largely due to these three tactics. I continued pushing the same traffic strategy in October but I didn’t see as many pageviews as in September because none of my posts went viral. In September one of my posts went viral on Pinterest generating over 5K pageviews alone. My overall pageviews hit over 18K in September and decreased to over 10K in October.

My decrease in traffic led to a decrease in income. My plan for November is to increase my month over month traffic by 50%, which will help me increase my income as well. I am currently strategizing the best ways to do that, so stay tuned!