Blog Income and Traffic Report Month 3: How I got 11,000 page views (and finally made a profit!) in my 3rd month of blogging - Real Mom Recs

Blog Income and Traffic Report Month 3: How I got 11,000 page views (and finally made a profit!) in my 3rd month of blogging

RealMomRecs Month 3 Blogging Income and Traffic Report

So you want to read my blog income and traffic report?

June wrapped up my 3rd month of blogging and I’m finally feeling like I have a little, tiny, bite-size amount of “cred” in the blog-o-sphere.

I no longer feel like I’m fumbling around in the dark when it comes to blogging.  (And this shows in my numbers compared to Month 1 and Month 2.)

Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links, which means if you click one of the product links, I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Why do I write income reports?

First of all, I want to write these because I love reading other people’s!  It is fascinating to me to see how other people have grown their blogs.  Not just income, but also page views, visitors, and social media following.  I am always super impressed to see how someone can start out so small and then start gaining traction and then BOOM– it takes off!  Reading other blogger’s income reports has been hugely motivating for me.

Secondly, I’m a numbers girl.  I enjoy seeing data in tables and on graphs.  It makes something creative and subjective (writing) into something measurable.

The last reason I have for writing and sharing income reports is to force myself to look at my progress each month.  Blogging can be a frustrating endeavor and I want to make sure I look back and celebrate my successes.  Seeing my growth will also allow me to create realistic, manageable goals for the next 30 days.

Month 3 Revenue

My revenue was not as high this month as it was last month, but I was really focused on getting more traffic and followers. I have recently added a couple new affiliates that I will devote a little more attention to next month.

Google Adsense: $13.13

Affiliate income: $9.28

Sponsored posts: One of my main goals for July is to land one

Total revenue: $22.41

Month 3 Expenses

Zip, nada, zilch! If there is one thing I’m good at, it’s NOT BUYING STUFF 😆

That said, I do see my blog as an investment and I’m considering paying for a course next month if I find something that I think is worth the expense.

Total expenses: $0

Month 3 Net Income: $22.41

Finally in the green! Boom baby!

via GIPHY

 

How I did on my goals for this month:

Income: Anything positive CHECK! It may only be enough to buy a few coffees but it’s my first positive month!

Page views: 10,000 CHECK! 11,052, a number I’m very proud of considering I’m so new

Bounce rate: Still needs work, but I have gotten ideas for plugins that can help

Comments on my blog: 100 CHECK! 111 comments for June

Pinterest followers: 250 MAJOR CHECK! 696 followers as of June 30

Twitter followers: 1500 FAIL! 1205, but if I had to fail at any goals this month I’m glad it’s this one.

Get on Instagram and get 200 followers: CHECK! Started Instagram and I’m up to 503 followers. 

Progress on my other goals for June:

Figure out Tailwind to save me time on Pinterest: Half fail. I started doing Tribes on Tailwind but haven’t worked out any automated pinning schedule, which I really need to do.

Continue guest posting and featuring guest writers on my blog: CHECK! I wrote a little excerpt for the Twin Kid Project about Why I Read. It was exciting to see my name and words on someone else’s site!

I also featured two more guest writers as part of my Ask Me Anything series.

I have gotten great feedback on this series. I think the openness and honesty really resonates with a lot of people. Look for several more posts to be added to the series in July!

Make board covers for my Pinterest boards and get them looking good: Half check. I did clean up my Pinterest boards a bit, and added board covers, but I’m not completely thrilled with them so will probably start over.

Get more email subscribers: Half check. I have been getting email subscribers, even though I have not focused on this at all. Since I don’t have a good newsletter tool yet I haven’t done much with them. I even realized some of my new posts were never sent to to my email list which is a huge FACEPALM! 

How I reached my traffic goal: Most popular posts of June

My greatest success this month was getting over 11,000 page views. These were my three most popular posts which brought a sizable chunk of that:

RealMomRecs: 6 Useless Phrases Parents Need to Stop Saying to their Kids

dark side of parenting what I wish I knew before having kids

How I reached my traffic goal: Sources of traffic

I had been telling everyone that Pinterest accounted for about 90% of my traffic, but after actually crunching the numbers I found that not to be true. Here is the actual breakdown of my traffic sources:

  • Pinterest: 64%
  • Stumbleupon: 9%
  • Facebook: 6%
  • Flipboard: 1%
  • Twitter: 1%
  • Online forums: 1%
  • Instagram: 1%
  • Link ups: 1%
  • Search engines: less than 1%

I realize that only adds up to 85% so I think the other 15% must be from my email list or direct traffic, but I’m not positive.  Add that one to the list of blogging mysteries.

The big takeaway from this is that I’m extremely reliant on social media. I really need to tap into search engines by improving my SEO (search engine optimization) skills. Which brings me to my next subject…

Goals for next month:

  • Up my SEO game (wait, to up my game means I should already have some game, right? So… start my SEO game? Get in the game? Why am I so old?!)
  • Land my first sponsored post
  • Continue to grow my Instagram
  • Write for a site that’s bigger than mine
  • 16,000 page views (Shoot for the moon, miss it and land among the stars, or something like that?)
  • A greater net profit than I made this month

I think that should be enough to keep me busy for July while I also work to keep 4 kids alive 😳

Reflections on my first 3 months

I need to be honest, this little site has truly changed my life these last few months. Being a stay at home is paradoxical: you are always busy, but somehow still bored. Even though I felt like I had no free time, I wanted something else in my life. I needed a purpose, a feeling of being valued, outside of being a Mom.

Blogging has fulfilled that for me.

When people ask what I do for work, I still tell them I’m just a Mom. But in my mind, I’m becoming something else. A writer, an “influencer”, I don’t know what to call it. But I do more than just Momming all the time, and it feels really good. If someday my blog actually makes an income, that would just be icing on the cake.

Have YOU ever thought about starting a blog?

If you can relate to the feeling I’m describing and want to start a blog yourself, I urge you to give it a try. Write about crafting, recipes, your 12 cats- whatever you enjoy. Do it for yourself.

Wondering where to start? If you’re concerned about the technicalities, it’s really not as hard as you think. I am not at all a “techie” and I started this site in one afternoon.

This is really all you need:

A hosting site: Bluehost, GoDaddy, HostGator, etc. Think of this as your plot of land in the web.

I went with Bluehost because I kept seeing it recommended everywhere and it does automatic backups, which I like because I’m the kind of person who would forget to do backups and lose months of work!

Your hosting site allows you to choose your domain name, so this is how you get a neat little URL with whatever cute name you come up with.

WordPress: Install WordPress, this is like building your house that will store all your content and you get to decorate it and make it look pretty.

Write your first post: Just dive in and don’t look back!

It really is that simple to start a new blog. (Promoting it and getting readers is another story for another post!)

Bloggers, what has your experience been like? Those considering blogging, what questions do you have?

Leave a comment (up at the top), I’d love to hear from you!

 

 

 

Author

Adoptive mom, biological mom, slacker mom, Disney mom, and above all things a REAL mom. Fan of blogging, sleeping, and pretending not to hear my kids fight.

11 comments

  1. Awesome work! 11,000 page views is fantastic for your 3rd month and it’s great that it’s not all from Pinterest. How did you grow your instagram and Twitter followed so quickly? I need to work in mine.

    1. A few good blogger groups on Facebook helped a lot, and on twitter following a lot of people and retweeting funny stuff I liked 👍

  2. Found my way here from your fabulous comment on my latest post http://elleblonde.com/blog/2017/07/05/income-reports/

    I absolutely love this post you’ve written and love how you’re growing your brand month on month! It’s so exciting when you see wins. I’ve loved reading this post and will certainly be checking back next month

    1. Thanks Laura! Your post was super helpful. And I love your blog name (my daughter’s name is Elle 🙂 )

  3. Congrats on earning income. Congrats on all of your progress. You’ll reach your other goals soon enough.

  4. Congrats! 11,000 pageviews in 3 months is very impressive!
    Hi! Stopping by from Mom Bloggers Club. Great blog!
    Have a nice day!

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