My First Month Blogging Income Report: September 2020
In my first month blogging income report, I explain what it’s like to be a small blog. Included are my expenses, income earned, and goals for this month and next.
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Why I’m writing Blogging Income Reports
For a while, I contemplated if I would begin these blog income reports now. I ended up deciding to start writing income reports to keep myself accountable and have a structured way to keep track of my goals.
Prior to starting this new blogging process, I read many blogging income reports that I found using Pinterest and was encouraged by the reports that showed small growth. As a new blogger, I recognize that I shouldn’t expect my posts to go viral, or my traffic to explode overnight. So when reading the small blog income reports, it helped to me to assess what a more attainable goal might look like as a new blogger.
I hope that these small blog income reports can be helpful for new bloggers, too!
In my blog income reports, I’ll be including only the income and expenses earned within the specific month. So if I spend money on a year-long subscription, I will be including the whole subscription during the month spent. If I earn money this month, even if I won’t receive it for three months, I’m going to be including this month’s earnings. I believe that this is the best way to keep track of expenses for now and best explain how the blogging process works.
What worked and what didn’t
While I started my blog in August, the first full month was completed this past week in September. Those first few weeks in August I was just doing whatever I could with whatever time that I had. To be honest, it seemed like there were too many things to do and not enough time!
Once September started, I had somewhat of a plan which I believe was helpful in getting started!
In September, I focused on developing a consistent posting schedule, establishing a social media presence, and creating an email list. As far as important blog tasks go, I’d say content and advertising are likely the most important, so that’s where I focused.
What Didn’t Work
At first, I thought my social media strategy for Pinterest was going well; however, I decided to recategorize many of my Pinterest boards, so that they would be more geared toward blog promotion and Pinterest SEO. While I think this will be a positive down the road, for right now, I think that it messed me up because every time I reorganized a board, Pinterest re-pinned all of my pins.
All of a sudden, my Pinterest account pinned 200 pins on non-toxic home or self care or yoga!
While I know that reorganizing my pins and updating boards will be beneficial, I think that Pinterest looked at me as a little spammy for a while. I’ve recently been using Tailwind to schedule my posts to Pinterest as well. While I don’t yet know if it’s helped drive traffic, I do like the ability to see when most of my followers are online! Tailwind has also been helpful because the program makes it so easy to schedule my own posts – what a time saver!
Overall, I’m happy with my posting schedule, and progress in learning how to optimize my social media posts on Pinterest, even if I did get a bit off track halfway through the month.
This Month’s New Posts
This month on average, I wrote two posts per week. The last week of September was a little hectic. I had some other responsibilities arrive, but I don’t anticipate this to become the normal. Overall, my most popular posts pertained to financial health, and I found that most of my post ideas addressed social, emotional, and financial wellness. Next month, I would like to continue this two-post-per-week schedule and believe that this will be doable for me to consistently continue. I would also like to focus on providing physical and spiritual wellness resources.
- Five Steps to Make Your Budget Work for You
- How to be Prepared for Your First Counseling Session
- Three Reasons to Choose Movement Instead of Your Workout Routine
- How to Cultivate the No-Debt Mindset for Financial Freedom
- Twelve Holistic Ideas to Create Your Ideal Self Care Routine
- Divorce Checklist: Five Steps to Maintain Emotional Stability While Getting Through the Change
Blogging Traffic Report
This month, I received over 140 views, and almost 50 visitors. As a small blog, I believe that to be a good turn out! Next month, I’d like to find some ways to increase the number of visitors and views.
While there are some days when I had zero visitors, I’m happy with my consistent (albeit low) visitors throughout the week.
As far as Pinterest goes, I was able to increase engagement by 263%!
The spikes in engagement and impressions in the beginning of September were directly due to my financial post How to Cultivate the No-Debt Mindset for Financial Freedom going viral. Shortly after is when I attempted to optimize my interest boards. You’ll see my traffic has stayed somewhat steady, but correlates directly to when I posted on the blog.
Income Report
This month, I made zero income. Zip. Zilch. Nada.
That’s why this income report is for you, new bloggers! If you’re in your first month of blogging, don’t give up!
I did apply to the Amazon Affiliates program this month. While I’ve received a few clicks, I haven’t made any sales. Right now, I’m hoping to make the sales requirement by 90 days to keep my account active! I don’t really care how much money it generates now, as I believe that the potential is greater long-term.
Even though I didn’t earn anything in September, I am going to keep going and improving my strategies and I hope to have something to report again in October!
Expense Report
I also did not have any expenses in September.
This month was my trial run to see if I could keep up with posting blogs and promoting them. Because I think this month went well over all, I am looking into purchasing my own domain and web host next month, but will attempt to grow until that point.
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Resources I Used This Month
Canva
Canva is so simple to use, and I’ve been able to create some neat graphics this month. It’s very easy to create both Pinterest and Facebook size graphics, and I was able to use Canva to help design my newsletters too.
Tailwind
I’ve started using Tailwind in the past two weeks and have seen how easy it is to schedule and create pins for Pinterest. I’m not convinced that it will help me raise my traffic yet, but I’m going to keep using it throughout the next month and then decide if I’ll purchase.
If you’re interested in using Tailwind, you can use my link and get your first 100 pins for free!
Mailchimp
Finally, the last service that I’ve used this month is Mailchimp. I’ve created both my welcome email and weekly newsletter through them and it was SO SIMPLE. Creating a campaign was just a matter of dragging and dropping the elements that I wanted into my emails.
If you’d like to see the materials I’ve created using Mailchimp, you can sign up for my newsletter down below. Don’t worry, you can unsubscribe immediately afterward using the link at the bottom of the emails!
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September Goals
- Increase newsletter audience to 50 subscribers by the end of October
- Increase monthly Pinterest views to 20k, followers to 300, and engagement by 50% by the end of October
- Get ahead on blog posts by one week by the end of October
- Create a Welcome schedule for new newsletter clients with unique content by the end of October
- Start Facebook marketing strategy by the end of October
Next Month
Hopefully, when I write next month’s blogging income report, I’ll have some income to report for you all. At the very least, I’ve made tangible goals and will be able to concretely assess my progress. Thanks for taking the time to check out my progress.
I hope that this zero-income small blog report has been encouraging for those of you in the same or similar positions. Don’t give up just yet!
Are you a small blog or just started blogging? Let me know what tips you have for growing traffic, engagement, and sales.
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Disclaimer: Although I am a mental health professional, I am not YOUR mental health professional. The information provided on this website is for educational and informational purposes only and using this website does not establish a counselor-client relationship, or constitute provision of mental health services. I am not responsible for any damages resulting from your use of the content on this site, as the information provided does not substitute for collaboration with a health professional. Please consult with your health professional before making changes to your health regimen.
This was an interesting post. I myself wouldn’t monetise my blog, so I’m always interested in how things are for bloggers who do. Thanks for your candour, and wishing you all the best on this journey, Caroline!
Thanks for your interest, Stuart. Best of luck to you as well!