Why Write an Income Report?
When I started blogging, I knew that I wanted to write some form of income report, goal report, or something along those lines. When starting my blog, I found that these articles were very helpful and insightful. I actually enjoyed the income reports that were more like “How I made $232 from my blog this month” rather than the six-figure ones. They seemed more my speed and grounded in reality.
I plan on being completely transparent. If I make $0 or $500, I’ll let you know. I’ll also let you know what worked and what didn’t.
The Resources I Use to Blog
Pinterest for Blog Promotion
My traffic was growing, and doing great. That is until Pinterest decided to change its algorithm. When the algorithm changed, I had a few days of literally FOUR visitors.
They came out at first stating that group boards have a lot less weight or importance. I have read blogs and watched several videos on the new algorithm, but nothing really helped me. Until I found PotPieGirl and her Pin Signals e-book. I implemented a few of her ideas that very day, and had immediate traffic boosts!
I also previously downloaded Tailwind for the free month trial, and I was impressed. I loved the idea of being able to know there was pinning/blog work being done for me while I was at my full-time job. I went ahead and invested in the paid version of Tailwind, and it is nice to have that automation going for me.
I am still manually pinning, too. I have read different things in favor of manual pinning and in favor of automation. I think I am going to combine them for now. It seems to be working.
I’ll keep everyone informed on any new strategies I develop.
Google Adsense
I turned it off for a bit. It was placing ads where I didn’t want them. I tried to just turn off a few ads in the middle of my text, and couldn’t figure it out. So, I just turned it off.
I have since turned it back on. I’m no smarter at it. It’s still placing ads wherever it wants. (Told you, complete honesty here!)
When reading or watching blogging resources, there are so many different opinions on ads. I’ve heard don’t do it because it detracts, but I’ve also heard to let the viewers get used to seeing ads from the beginning. I plan to monetize with ads and have a strategy and end goal, so at the moment, they will stay.
Affiliate Marketing
This is where I’ve made all of my profit as a new blogger.
If you are interested in being an affiliate marketer, I would suggest the course Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing. Michelle makes a LOT of money through affiliate marketing and has made this brilliant course to share with others. I have learned so much from this, and I continually go back and reread or study her course. If you spend no other money on your blog, I’d spend it here.
I personally like ShareaSale and FlexOffers as far as the affiliate programs. I have found them to be the most user-friendly, and there are plenty of options for merchants you can find that go along with your own personal blog and style.
Email List Building
I’m still learning more about Mail Chimp on a daily basis. I chose Mail Chimp because it’s free up to 2000 subscribers. This is the best way for me to be frugal starting out.
List of purchases I’ve made this month:
- Picmonkey, to make Pinterest pins and images mostly. I plan to pay monthly until I’m financially able to do a bulk purchase. I feel like my pins are getting better and better, and I’m considering doing a tutorial to help a new blogger do their first pin using Picmonkey.
- Tailwind – for automated pinning
- BC Stack – This was a limited time bundle of courses for one low price.
- Ready, Set, Blog! for Traffic course
I officially feel like I have a course on everything I want to learn. I am done purchasing any courses *for now*. The BC Stack provided me with a ton of great options, so I have plenty of things to work through for some time.
Speaking of the BC Stack, it introduced me to the blogger, PotPieGirl. This girl knows her blogging stuff. I LOVE her Pin Signals e-book. I was able to immediately implement her methods, and see a 400% increase in my Pinterest. Seriously. It was worth the cost of the BC Stack ALONE. I took one post from 4 views to 268 views in one day with ONE pin.
I purchased my Bluehost site hosting for a year when I started, so I won’t count that into my money spent this month as I paid up for a year at the time.
Future Purchasing Plans:
The next thing I plan to purchase is a paid theme for the site. I don’t know when I’ll do this yet.
Related Posts:
May 2108 – What I’ve Learned in a Month of Blogging
Money Made in July 2018
Without further ado, let’s get to the part you are curious about. My grand total of money made in July 2018 is $1.60.
No, it’s not a lot. I’d said I would be honest, and totally transparent.
If you aren’t a blogger, you are probably laughing at such a small total. If you are a blogger, you know this isn’t an easy gig, and three months in is progress! No, it’s not paying my bills. Heck, it’s not paying my hosting. What it IS doing is giving me encouragement and the desire to keep blogging and keep going. It helps me not doubt myself.
My Top 3 Most Popular Posts in July:
How To Improve Your Writing – From Students to Bloggers
13 Ways to Make Extra Money for Christmas – All Year Round
The One Simple Trick I Use to Get My Son Eating Vegetables
FREE Blogging Resources I Suggest:
I have learned THE MOST from the following bloggers, who offer great free resources, as well as some even better-paid classes:
Pete, with Do You Even Blog? He interviews the best of the best podcasters and covers a variety of topics on blogging. I would also highly recommend his FREE New Blogger Bootcamp.
Let’s review my July blogging goals, and see where I got with those:
Blogging goals for July:
- Make 5 affiliate sales. FAILED I made one.
- Finish my free e-course. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED If you are interested in my 4-week weight loss kickstart challenge, you can go HERE and sign up! It is a GREAT way to get started when you aren’t sure where to start with your weight loss journey.
- Continue to add Pinterest group boards (goal is to be part of 30 by the end of the month) FAILED, but because I quit trying with the new algorithm. I do think I need to pick this back up.
- Add 5 more email subscribers (I have four now) (If you’d like to help me fulfill my wish, you can subscribe in the sidebar!) MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! I actually have 19 email subscribers.
I’ll be honest, looking back on July – I can tell I was ALL OVER THE PLACE. I think I need to do more dedicated attention to different things. I think the Pinterest algorithm change and the few days of only 4 visitors just messed with my head and got me off focus.
Thoughts for the Future
Everyone in the blogging world seems to make their own courses, books, and products. I have thought and thought about this and where it could fit into my talents and knowledge.
Before I went back to college for health care, I had a degree in the visual arts. My concentration was in photography. We kind of laugh about it because you would never know it. My husband takes all the photos on our vacations. I was the old school, stand around in the darkroom, kind of girl. Once digital took off, I backed out. However, I miss it. Even though I still don’t love technology, I have gotten my head around the beauty of digital.
My thoughts for the future includes stock photos. I am considering practicing, embracing my old craft while bringing it into this century.
The biggest learning curve for me will be figuring out the software programs that edit the photos. That’s why I backed away from digital to begin with! However, I feel optimistic that I have the ability and talent for this.
Goals for August:
- Make 5 affiliate sales. (This will be a recurring goal until that happens.)
- Have 1000 unique visitors to the blog. (I had a little over 800 this month.)
- Continue to add Pinterest group boards (goal is to be part of 40 by the end of the month).
I hope you enjoyed my round up of my month, trying to figure it all out while juggling the rest of my life. Do you have any pro tips to share? Funny stories? Disaster stories? Share them!
(By the way, I set up an easy step by step guide of setting up your own blog, so you won’t have to suffer like I did. Do as I say, not as I did!!! I want this to be easier for you than it was for me!)
I’ve also been kind of all over the place with my blog, but I’m slowly starting to feel like I have an idea of what I’m doing and what I need to focus on. Your tips were very useful! I bookmarked this page, so I can refer back to the resources you mentioned.
Thanks Cynthia! Most of my knowledge comes from other bloggers and learning together!
Wow! Loved this one! Great going
I appreciate your honesty in this post, and how realistic your goals are! I have the somewhat unique advantage of providing services via my blog as well, so all of the money I’ve made has been able to come through them. As of now, I haven’t made any money at all through ads or affiliate sales so I can definitely relate to you there. Once I’m finally able to make even the smallest amount of profit that way I am probably going to be as excited as you are! To me, that will serve as proof that it’s not a waste of time. Our blogs are still in their early days, so we can’t give up! I definitely think you ought to play around with the idea of creating stock photos.
I appreciate your honesty in this post, and how realistic your goals are! I have the somewhat unique advantage of providing services via my blog as well, so all of the money I’ve made has been able to come through them. As of now, I haven’t made any money at all through ads or affiliate sales so I can definitely relate to you there. Once I’m finally able to make even the smallest amount of profit that way I am probably going to be as excited as you are! To me, that will serve as proof that it’s not a waste of time. Our blogs are still in their early days, so we can’t give up! I definitely think you ought to play around with the idea of creating stock photos.
Thanks so much, Jennifer! I have some plans for experimenting with that stock photography as soon as school starts back up! I’m headed over to your blog now!
As a new blogger myself, I really like your transparency. Not everyone is an over night success story and I appreciate you documenting your struggles as well as your triumphs.
Heather, Thanks so much for your comment! I think documenting our struggles is important as well. I have noticed a lot of the blogs that claim to make money in the first month, are often NOT the bloggers’ first blog so they already know what they need for success.
Such an honest post!!! It sets real expectations for us rookie bloggers, I just started this month. You mostly see income reports for people making lots of money, and while encouraging it is also misleading. You are on the right track and thanks for helping other bloggers out with your honesty.