There’s a lot of self-evaluation when it comes to blogging, and I think that’s how you get the most out of your blog. I don’t necessarily like doing it, but I feel like it’s necessary to do. My blog income, traffic stats, and goals report is more for me than it is for you. But I like to share it anyway because it might be of some help if you’re thinking of starting a blog.
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Why I blog
Before we get into the numbers, I just want to give you a brief overview of the blog if you’re new around here. I started Toot’s Mom is Tired to share parenting tips and life hacks for new moms. Toot was born at the beginning of a baby boom among my friends. It seemed like everyone I knew announced that they were pregnant right after I did.
Since Toot is the oldest of this new generation, I had to go through every milestone first. And I figured I might as well pass on any useful information to my friends that I had learned so they could be prepared for what was coming up.
So that’s how the idea of a blog was born. I randomly came across a post about blogging on Pinterest and found out you can make money from blogging! I thought, “Ok, why not give it a shot?” Instead of just relaying parenting tips to my circle of friends on Facebook, I can put it out there for everyone who is interested and maybe make a few bucks, too.
Turns out, you can actually make a living off of blogging! So that’s my overall goal. I’ve always loved writing, and now I get paid to do it!
Why I do blog income reports
Comparison is a tricky thing. You shouldn’t compare your blog stats to mine exactly. Every blog is different and every blogger puts in a different amount of work, has different skills, has different content, and tries different techniques. Not to mention sheer luck. So I don’t really post these for you to compare them to yours.
I post blog income reports to inspire other bloggers and to give helpful tips to what worked for me. Maybe what worked for me will help you, but maybe it won’t. So don’t feel discouraged if you aren’t making any money. Try new techniques!
You should also know that I’m not a top blogger. There are other bloggers making more than me, and some that have been blogging for a shorter amount of time make more money. It’s not an exact science.
So this post is for informational purposes only, and I hope it will help you! I also have all of my blogging tips in my How to Blog free email course!
Income
Ads: $11
Sponsored Content: $138
Affiliates: $77
- Zazzle: $41 (Please note that I’ve been on Zazzle for years so this isn’t specific to my blog. I’m including it because I have had a lot of traffic from my Ultimate Guide to Earning Extra Money with Zazzle post.)
- Amazon: $9
- Ebates: $11
- ShareASale: $8*
- Impact Radius: $8*
*I haven’t hit the payout threshold for these so they are still pending
(side note: I also made $13 on InboxDollars, but that’s not really blog related. That’s just me watching videos and doing surveys. Yay!)
Expenses
ConvertKit: $29
I pay yearly for a lot of things like Tailwind and hosting.
Totals for March
Income: $226
Expenses: $29
Net Income: $197
How much traffic did I get in March?
Sessions: 15,233
Users: 14,538
Pageviews: 17,245
Where did it come from?
Social: 85%
Direct: 10%
Organic Search: 5%
Referral: 1%
Top Posts for March
- 9 Prizes for Baby Shower Games
- 10 Things I Miss About Being Pregnant
- Realistic Toddler Meal Ideas for Busy Moms
- 15 Things I Definitely Do NOT Miss About Being Pregnant
- 21 Easter Basket Ideas for Toddlers
What Worked
This year I decided to take the plunge into Elite Blog Academy. So far it has been the best investment I’ve made and I’m still in the very beginning of it. There’s so much information, and the way Ruth teaches is phenomenal. She really gives you the tools that you need to work through it yourself.
I gained more traffic from Pinterest because I redid the descriptions of my boards to include a bunch of keywords. They’re showing up better in search results now. Plus, I’ve gained like 250 followers in such a short time!
I’ve also been using ConvertKit more! My subscriber count is growing, and I need to put more work into that. I love using sequences and scheduling out emails.
Related article: The Secret to Increasing Your Pageviews with Pinterest
What Didn’t Work
Well, me again. I dropped down to one post a week, and I need to get back up to two again. I’m working on it. Guest posters gave me some more time to get ahead.
Also, I found out that I write better (and have more energy to write) in the morning rather than after Toot goes to bed. So I’ve been going to bed early and waking up early. You may be wondering why I’m saying this in the didn’t work section. Because, friend, I am terrible at waking up early. I have all of these good intentions of waking up at 5:00 am, but I end up just snoozing my alarm until 7:00 or until Toot wakes up. Basically, I need to actually get up and write in the morning.
I get distracted easily by social media and other little things. You know how you open Facebook and think “I’ll just check this notification really quick,” and get sucked down a rabbit hole? Suddenly it’s an hour later and I’m looking up a guy that was mean to me in sixth grade and oh, look. He got married last week. Of course his wife is hot. And nothing gets done. I should probably find a way to block Facebook for certain periods of time. But I’d probably just end up on some other corner of the internet looking up trivia about the chick who played Piper on Charmed or something.
Goals for March
- Get ahead on posts by at least a week. – Pass, kind of.
- Write more in my How to Blog course. – Pass!
- Continue with EBA, one unit per week. – Fail... well, I didn’t realize that Unit 2 was a huge one that normally takes people a month to do.
Goals for April
- Finish Unit 2 of EBA.
- Write more in my ConvertKit sequences.
- Do at least one sponsored post.
I try not to do traffic or monetary goals because those aren’t actionable. They’re just results of actions. I have to write down what I’m going to do to achieve those goals in order to actually do what I need to do.
What about you? What are your goals?
Let me know in the comments below!
Payton says
Your traffic break down! Wow! I have no idea how some bloggers ‘just don’t do Pinterest’ it’s crazy not to!
Funso says
Thanks a lot for being explicit. I am a newbie to blogging. I am a mother to three boys the last 2 are twins. The name of my blog is Gisting Arena and it’s on Facebook.
Ronak says
Thanks for this very honest, useful and down to earth article. You also pin perfectly one of the biggest obstacle to achieving our goals: ourselves – we get caught up in life and motherhood and sometimes cannot do everything. But we can try 🙂