Read what I did wrong and what I am changing so I never make such a small amount again. I am pumped to keep it real with you so that you know what it actually looks like to grow a blog.
MY SECOND INCOME REPORT!
Back today with my second income report in my fourth month blogging woot woot! I am so excited to share today because June was a super interesting month and I learned tons! I made a ton of changes and the growth that I am seeing this month (July) has been insane. So stay tuned to hear all about that! Plus I think that making an income report for 16 cents is hilarious.
Read : FIRST INCOME REPORT: HOW I MADE $ 153.31 IN 3 MONTHS
This post may contain affiliate links which means that if you purchase something through one of my links, I make a small commission. Thank you for supporting this blog! Read my full disclosure policy here.
WHY AM I SHARING MY INCOME REPORT?
Well because that’s just what you do as a blogger obviously lol.
But actually its for two reasons:
- I want to encourage someone who is thinking about starting a blog by showing them what the process will look like (from making zero income to full time income)
- I want to share what is working for me with other bloggers so that we can all grow together.
I have read 100s of income reports and it has motivated me to know what is possible and how to do it.
AS EARNED OR AS PAID OUT?
I will be sharing as things are earned not when they were paid out. With most programs/companies, there’s a 30 to 60 day payout time. If I waited until it was actually paid out, it wouldn’t properly reflect what I needed to do to get the sale. Hopefully my blog will look completely different in two months and there will be more money coming in.
WHAT WORKED FOR ME IN JUNE
Writing about holiday stuff worked really well for me this month. Everyone always says that no matter your niche, you should work holiday stuff into your blog posts whenever possible. I had my largest days in all of June the few days leading up to Father’s day with the few Father’s day posts that I had written.
I also took a new pinterest marketing course in June. I think I had the basics of pinterest marketing down but I knew that I had more to learn because things weren’t growing as fast as they should be. I am happy to announce that this course changed EVERYTHING for me! Second best course that I have taken in order to build my blog and I have taken a lot of courses at this point. (this course is the number one best course I have ever taken and recommend it to all beginners who want to monetize their blogs)
Update: my traffic exploded after taking this course on Pinterest marketing. If you are serious about growing a blog then it is an absolute must. I went from 3K sessions in June to 28K sessions in July! See my blog post where I talk about it all!
FOCUS ON LEARNING ONE THING AT A TIME
I feel like this needs to be said every single time because it is so important. Do not attempt to start a blog and every social media platform at the same time. Focus on one thing at a time and then grow from there slowly! Learn to do one thing really well rather than trying to learn 5 different things at once. If you try to learn too much at once, you will never actually learn any of them. You will probably burn out and give up before anything actually happens.
All I focus on right now is Pinterest. When I first started it was literally just learning how to write a blog post. Just take it one thing at a time!
MY NUMBER ONE GOAL WITH MY BLOG AT THE MOMENT
My number one goal with my blog at the moment is to get into the ad network called Mediavine. The payout is really high and it would be incredible passive income for my family and me.
My hope is that this will happen in July or August at the latest! Which is so incredibly exciting, I have a hard time falling asleep at night!
WHAT DIDN’T WORK FOR ME IN JUNE?
My attempts on Pinterest before taking this course. I knew the basics but I didn’t understand how Pinterest actually worked. Before this course I had no clue how to look up which pins were bringing in my traffic through google analytics and I never checked my notifications on Pinterest. Which meant that I was missing valuable information!
You won’t see the impact of this move in this income report (it will show up in July where so far my traffic has exploded) but I stopped trying to write about everything. When I niched down, it became so much easier to market on pinterest. I like looking at Boho decor and food posts but I don’t actually like writing them. I also love reading travel posts but hate writing them too as it turns out.
I highly recommend you writing about a ton of things when you first start to learn what you like and don’t like because people can tell when you are having fun writing blog posts and your traffic will increase!
TRAFFIC REPORT
This is where I get real vulnerable and start sharing the numbers. Here is how my traffic has looked from June 1st to June 30th.
As you can see I had a big (to me) jump for father’s day but otherwise I stayed around the 50 to 90 mark each day.
I am proud that this is the highest month to date so at least each month it grows. I’m even more pumped that July has already way surpassed that but I’ll tell you all about at in my next income report!
FIRST INCOME REPORT
Affiliates* – $0 USD
Media.net – $0.16 USD
*AFFILIATES
BLUEHOST
The hosting that I use to run this blog. Since I plan on making money through my blog, hosting is extremely important. I don’t have to worry about someone else randomly shutting down my website or the speeds slowing down unexpectedly. Plus anytime that I have had a question about switching security settings, domain problems or anything else like that, someone in the chat has been there to help me out instantly. I have nothing but positive things to say about Bluehost and my experience with them!
AMAZON AFFILIATES
Everyone is already buying everything on Amazon anyway, you may as well make a little extra money in the process! I love the fact that I can link to products that I use around the house, help someone find an awesome product that they might not know existed and I make a little something for my hard work. We live in a cool world!
CREATE YOUR DREAM BLOG
The #1 course that I recommend to everyone! She goes into every single aspect of setting up a blog that you are proud of. I would not have actually started my blog without his course. Some of the highlights in this course:
- How to create a blog from scratch. She records her computer screen as she starts a new blog. How she picks the name, all the technical stuff of setting up the blog, picking a theme (which is actually a lot complex than I originally imagined) and designing a blog that looks beautiful (also extremely complex and irritating when you are trying to do it by yourself).
- How to write a good blog post
- Grow your blog with social media (Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Tailwind)
- Why you should grow your email list
- How to shoot and edit video on a phone
- How to monetize a blog! The most important and hardest thing to find real information on online.
Literally hours and hours of incredible information!
GET PAID TO PIN
How you can leverage Pinterest to make money even if you don’t have a blog. Very concise and helpful when I was first getting started. She also includes a giant list of Group boards that you can apply to join which saved me so much time searching them out!
GOALS FOR JUNE
As I am writing this we are already two weeks into June but here goes on my goals anyway:
- Achieve 10 000 sessions – Currently have 1.1k
FAIL! I got 3,566 session in June lol.
- Become a member of 50 Group Boards – Currently at 9
I joined 17 and I should keep joining them because I feel like it has actually helped!
- Write 8 new posts in June – Currently have two
Oh shoot! I was just shy with 7 new posts.
- Start growing email list
Fail! Maybe I’ll start next month lol!
GOALS FOR JULY
- 25 000 sessions
- Earn $50 on Amazon
- Write 25 new posts
- Become a member of 30 Group Boards
- Think about starting email list and create some freebies
TIPS FOR NEW BLOGGERS
- Get hosting! I only use and recommend Bluehost and highly suggest that you start your blog with them as well.
- Write A LOT of content! Experiment with new niches but you will not know what is working and what isn’t working unless you write a ton.
- INVEST IN GOOD COURSES! The two courses I recommend are : Lisa and Carly’s courses (I have taken others and feel like they were a waste of money. These two courses are game changers. They will put you ahead months if not years.
- Give yourself time to learn one thing at a time. The people you look up to and admire have been doing this for ages. They took it one step at a time when they were just starting out too.
I HOPE YOU ENJOYED MY SECOND INCOME REPORT!
The goal is to document my journey to encourage and inspire others to start their own blog. I also know that it will be fun to look back at one day and remember what it took to build a successful blog.
WHAT ABOUT YOU?
I would love to hear where you are at in your blogging journey!
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FIRST INCOME REPORT: HOW I MADE $ 153.31 IN 3 MONTHS
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