May Blog Income and Traffic Report
Hello! This is becoming one of my favorite times of month because it’s allowing me to reflect on what went well and make plans for the future.
As a beginning blogger, I searched for the secrets of growing my blog’s traffic. I found many bigger bloggers who published blogger income reports but I couldn’t find any information about how they started nor how they even reached a bazillion page views a month. I plan to someday be one of those bloggers. But for now, here’s how I’m faring. To read it from the beginning, find my previous reports on my Blogging Resources Page.
This month, I focused on three things:
- Creating a consistent style for Whimsicle
- Re-creating my viral posts
- Advertising on Facebook
Creating a Consistent Style
I mentioned in my April Blog Income and Traffic report that I enrolled in Elite Blog Academy. I’m loving it and I’m seeing huge improvements in my site because of it.
This month, I overhauled the hero images of 40 posts to make them more marketable and visually appealing. First, I made a list of all my quality content that performed well in the past. Then, I redid the images for these posts. I rebranded the hero images with the three fonts I’ve chosen to represent Whimsicle found in PicMonkey (affiliate link). I also re-edited some of my old photos to brighten them up and re-crop.
Canva was my lifesaver in this process! If I didn’t have a good hero image, I purchased one from Canva. You can see an example of the changes I made from the two hero images below.
The one on the left is cute, but it’s a tad dark and the text isn’t consistent with the rest of site. I replaced it with a stock image and my fonts. The picture on the right is brighter, cropped closer and overall more visually appealing.
Yep, I did this with close to 40 pictures. Blogging is work.
Re-creating viral posts
In my previous blogging reports, I shared that I found that my posts about kids activities in the Phoenix area performed extremely well. I replicated this kind of post with “30 Affordable Activities in Phoenix this Summer.” See how it did below.
Facebook Ads
When I saw the response to “30 Affordable Activities in Phoenix in Summer”, I decided to purchase a Facebook ad to promote it further mostly because this post is monetized with my POGO Pass affiliate link. I wanted more people to visit my site and buy a POGO pass. I set my budget at $5 a day. Facebook only charges you if people respond to your call to action. For me, this was clicking the ad to view the post.
POGO Pass sales did increase this month. The ad also attracted 120 new Facebook fans this month which is huge for me.
Pageviews
Now that you know all the work I’ve put in, here’s the result in page views.
Two other major events happened in May:
One of my posts, What Real Moms Look Like, was picked up by a larger site, Mind Body Green. They ran the full post with a link back to Whimsicle in my author profile. I experienced working with an editor and modifying some parts of the article for publication to a larger audience. I loved it!
In terms of traffic back to my site, I received 122 referrals from the Mind Body Green site. While that might not seem like a large number, those 122 stuck around. They viewed an average of 3 pages per person. I also noticed an increase in my social media followers during that time.
I attended the Disney Parks Social Media Moms Celebration at the beginning of the month. This led to LOTS of new connections with other well established bloggers whom I’ve started following through social media as well. Watching these successful women work is incredibly inspiring and gives me a ton of new ideas on how to up my game.
Income
(Quick Note: A few of the links listed below are affiliate links. I recommend every service that I link to.)
Total Revenue: 526.49
- BlogHer: $28.76
- Google Adsense: $7.73
- Sponsored Posts: $350
- POGO Pass: $140
Total Expenses: $89.77
- PO Box rental at UPS Store: $15.30
- CoSchedule Plugin: $10
- 3D Ebook cover for Email Subscriber opt-in: 4.95
- Canva for images: $11
- Walmart (shop for Social Fabric): $16.94
- Frys (ingredients for recipe posts): $14.62
- Facebook Ad: $16.96
- Blue Host Web Hosting: Paid by year
Total Profit: 436.72
Strategy Moving Forward
Based on my coursework in Elite Blog Academy, I am focusing on three major areas in June:
- Facebook Marketing – Promoting my old posts and promoting more consistently
- Pinterest Marketing – Pinning old posts and growing my followers
- Blog series – Bringing in new readers by hosting a blog series the last two weeks of June called “Dollar Store Days of Summer”
Let me tell you, my Facebook and Pinterest Marketing plans are working incredibly well! But, that’s a story for next month.
What else do you want to know? I’m open for questions!
Thinking of becoming a blogger? I have some resources to help you out:
Recommended Posts
Wow! JoAnn, that’s awesome! I would love to know where you get your sponsored posts from. Or maybe they all just contact you? I am nervous to start with sponsored posts. I have signed up with Sverve, Izea, and Massive Sway but still haven’t done any. Any advice?
It’s about Social Fabric Amanda!! That’s really the only place I get them. I will message you the application link 🙂
Super intresting about your FB ads… maybe I need to consider it.
I love how you streamlined your fonts. That’s something I’ve been wanting to do- I even have my fonts picked out already!
I love it because creating hero images is so much faster. No decisions on what fonts to use 🙂
May I make a few suggestions on how to increase your income?
1) Monetize these income posts with a few blogger related affiliates BlueHost, A Small Orange, Go Daddy, Share A Sale, and more. Come ask me if you want a few more suggestions:-) This post would have been perfect to mention Pic Monkey with an affiliate link when talking about redoing graphics.
2) Sell something – an eBook, a direct sales product that fits with the theme of your site, handmade goods from your family, blog consulting services, etc… If those affiliate ads on the right aren’t producing anything, time to change them out for something else.
Be careful with too many sponsored posts per month.
Quick question: How did you find the POGO pass affiliate? I live in Boise and would love to find something similar.
Blessings!
Picmonkey has an affiliate link!?! What!! Going to sign up now. I am a member of Share a Sale, which programs do you recommend on there?
Working on the eBook as we speak 🙂
I’ve found that with sponsored posts too. I’m only going for ones I’m passionate about now. Stuff I would write about without being paid.
As for POGO pass, they reached out to me. It’s a big thing here in Phoenix. POGO pass is plastered in every family venue and on billboards off the freeway. A lot of Phoenix bloggers are affiliates for them. They are expanding to Texas, but I’m not aware of any other locations yet.
Thanks for the tips April!
You are welcome. Pic Monkey is on Share A Sale. I would also recommend sharing, Share A Sale, they pay $1 per lead for new affiliates to join and it would fit in here in your discussions of monetizing a blog.
My favorite affiliate network is Moms Affiliate. If I may, this is my affiliate link to them: sharedwithlove.com/l/2m3v472rgo4
They are just like they sound, very “mom focused” products. I use them more than Share A Sale (which is probably second).
Great work, JoAnn! It’s so impressive to hard work pay off! I’d love for you to join us at our monthly blog growth link up. It’s not a typical link party, just a group of us who share our monthly stats and support each other.
That sounds awesome Stacey! Where can I find it?
You can check it out here: http://creatingmyhappiness.com/category/grow-my-blog-challenge/monthly-updates/
The next post will go up August 7th and is open all month.