Hi Guys!
Welcome to my second ever blog income report!
This month’s data represents income for my seventh month of blogging.
You can read my first income report, for my sixth-month blogging income here.
However, I not only report on income and traffic but perhaps more importantly, on what went right…and what went WRONG!
I’m therefore hoping that within these words you find a little inspiration, guidance and above all, REASSURANCE.
Reassurance that it’s okay to NOT make $5,000 each month within your first 6 months of blogging.
It does NOT mean there’s anything inherently wrong with you, your blog or your content.
Sure, there’ll always be outliers: those who see insanely fast results almost overnight.
But the majority of bloggers will reside somewhere inside the normal bell curve distribution (Gaussian distribution).
Why?
Because it takes time and patience to build a successful business, no matter the talent or the effort.
As Warren Buffet said:
“Time is the friend of a good business…the enemy of the poor.”
So with those words of inspiration from one of the wealthiest men on the planet, let’s see how I did for the month of January:
Xukkhini Income Report, February 2018
Ad Income: $1,121.51
Affiliate Income: $290.70
Page Views: 78,809
Blog Posts: 6
TOTAL INCOME: $1,412.21
I’m pleased to say that this was an improvement in ALL areas!
And one can’t really hope for more than that.
It would be great to think that this was the start of a trend of strong growth.
However, linear growth in business is RARE…bad times follow good times.
And as a blogger, it’s important to expect lean times.
But your resilience, when faced with adversity, is ultimately what will make you successful!
Blog Data Breakdown and Analysis
Page views were up by 66%.
And accordingly, so were ad revenue and affiliate sales.
Traffic is VITAL for online success. From the graph below, you can see a huge spike in traffic.
And notice how ad earnings track traffic volumes almost exactly.
My first attempts to gain traffic through Pinterest failed miserably!
Then I invested in Carly Campbell’s AMAZING ebook, Pinterest Strategies.
Once I put her advice into practice, it changed my Pinterest game for good and I saw an EXPLOSION in traffic.
Pinterest Strategies chronicles how Carly discovered the secrets to insane traffic growth through trial and error, experimentation and observations.
It’s a truly unique approach that uses a clever, but little-known system of manual pinning combined with data from Google Analytics.
And This last part is important. The system will only work if you have Google Analytics installed.
Pinterest Strategies helped me double my traffic in a matter of weeks – you can read my full review here.
See also: Blog Income Report, January 2018
Future Goals
Affiliate sales are going well, but the entrepreneur inside me craves to create my own digital product.
I have a LOT of ideas but nothing concrete yet.
Joining group boards is becoming increasingly difficult, not to mention time-consuming.
However, I won’t be fully satisfied until I’ve become a member of at least a few more Pinterest group boards.
What Has Worked For Me This Month
1. Creating Content Around Popular Pinterest Keywords
Rather writing about what I think is interesting, I’ve narrowed my focus to what is popular on Pinterest.
In a similar vein, future blog posts will be sub-topics of my most popular posts.
2. Updating and Improving my Email Sign Up Freebie
My original ‘lead magnet’ or freebie was pretty unprofessional.
It provided great content, but I was never happy with the way it looked.
I’ve since redesigned my freebie on Canva with professional pages and front cover.
It’s now a product which I can happily classify as an ebook and something which I feel proud to put my name behind.
It took a few days to update, but was well worth the effort.
What Has Not Worked
1. Developing Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI)!
I’ve often heard reports of how PC users can develop RSI and been leery of how this is possible.
But even, now as I’m typing I can feel the dull ache in my right wrist extensors.
I invested in an Apple Trackpad 2
This is a great piece of tech which I highly recommend. Not only does it enable me to work MUCH faster (especially when designing pins on Canva) but I can feel my wrist making a fast recovery.
But for DAYS I had to perform all operations including tying everything with my left hand!
2. Creating Too Many Pinterest Boards
I went through a spurt of creating super niched-down Pinterest boards.
All this hyperactivity achieved was to lower my engagement rate and repins, which is potentially harming my Pinterest profile standing!
The performance of these boards according to Tailwind analytics is dismal!
Therefore, I’ve marked them as ‘Secret’ boards and there ends my relationship with them.
This unnecessarily excessive amount of boards also contributed to clogging up my Tailwind scheduler, which, if you remember from my last income report, helped to effectively crash Tailwind!
Final Word
Remember folks: blogging is a long-term endeavor.
You CAN earn a HUGE income from blogging, in fact, the sky’s the limit, but it won’t happen overnight.
Therefore, I advise you to never blog just for the money.
Strive to be successful…and the money will follow.
You know, most people have this law backward:
They think that earning a lot of money makes you successful.
But the truth is, you can only earn a lot of money AFTER you’re successful (Earl Nightingale – “The Strangest Secret”. If you’ve not heard this iconic recording, listen to it here)
If you’ve been bitten by the blogging bug, check out my detailed, step-by-step guide to how to start a blog in minutes.
From creating your domain, to writing your first post, it includes EVERYTHING you need, without feeling lost or overwhelmed.
Once you’re set, go to my Resources page where you’ll find 50+ ultimate blogging resources vital to your blog’s success.
Remember to pin this post so you can always come back to it. The buttons are right here:
Wow great amount your blog made for february. Congrats and keep it up. Really love to read about your blog income report. Its inspire new blogger like me 🙂 thanks.
Thanks Lirik. That’s good to know. The main purpose of my blogging income reports is to inspire and educate. I wish you all the best and good luck with your site.