January 2017 Income Report

It is already February, people! Can you believe it? Man, January went by quick. I have been doing a lot of work on the blog and also behind the scenes, but this income report may be a bit of a let down.  Trust me, if it’s disappointing to you, it’s about 100 times more so for me. If you are curious how I did in my first four months of blogging, you can check out my first income report.

It seems there are two major schools of thought concerning blogging as a way to earn an income.  One is that people don’t really think blogging can bring in any kind of money, and that’s it’s just an outlet for people who like to write. Two, people believe you might be able to make some money (but probably not much), but they think it must be pretty easy because so many people do it.  They don’t really understand how much work goes into it.

What You Will Learn

With this post, I’m going to explain what I WAS doing in my first four months, and what I DID do in January to switch it up.  I will also explain why some things didn’t quite pan out the way I had hoped, and what I plan on doing in the upcoming months.

My Initial Gameplan

When I started seriously blogging in September 2016, I had two main objections.  My biggest goal was simply to get content on the blog.  I wanted to get a solid base of posts written, but I found I had a really hard time thinking of topics.  I strongly believe it’s because I didn’t have a blog niche picked out yet.  So, pretty much, each blog post that I published was just to increase my content and it was totally generic.

My second goal was to start the process of monetization.  You can read more about it in my first income report, but I did the easiest, fastest thing I could do – I became an Amazon affiliate.  I’m pretty sure Amazon doesn’t turn anyone away, so long as you follow all their rules!  Each of the articles I wrote in my first four months had affiliate links in them, and I DID actually make a little bit of money.

One thing I discovered which was hugely disappointing was that, although I had a few legitimate sales, I didn’t earn any fees for them.  This is because I had family members use my links, and you can’t earn commissions for orders by anyone who shares your home address or surname (possibly even your hometown, but at this point, that’s just a theory).

My January Analytics

The more I learn about blogging, the more I realize all the mistakes I’ve been making.  I really am learning all this as I go instead of educating myself before jumping in the water.  I’m more of a jump-off-the-cliff-and-build-the-plane-on-the-way-down kind of girl. I guess I’m a risk taker.  But with blogging, it’s a fairly cheap business start-up so it’s not as risky as a brick-and-mortar setup.

So back to all the mistakes I’ve made..

Literally just yesterday, I signed up for Google Analytics.  It’s kind of ridiculous how I didn’t know to do this, but I totally didn’t.  I already had Jetpack installed on WordPress, which was quite helpful – showing me how many page views I was getting each day, but Google Analytics goes into more depth and shows you which of your posts are more popular and from where they are being referred. Of course, I don’t know this first-hand because I have no information yet on my Google Analytics, but it’s what I understand!

So although I don’t have anything from Google to show you, I CAN show you the information I do have available to me now.  Here is a screenshot for January…

As you can see, it’s pretty pathetic.  I had one really good day, on January 19th, but that still only brought in 53 pageviews.  My goal in January was to get even more content out there.  In my first four months, I had published a total of just six posts. *dying robot sound effect*  So in January, I planned on doing about two per week.  Totally. Didn’t. Happen.  However, I did average one per week.  Not terrible, but not great either.

Here are the posts I published in January:

• Hello 2017!
• 3 Tips to Make Your Diet Doable
• My First Income Report {Sept.-Dec. 2016}
• Chromebook for Bloggers
• Project Life: Getting Started

Did Momma Wren Make an Income?

Nope. Nada. Zilch. Needless to say, I’m super depressed that I didn’t make any money this month.  Like I said, my main goal this month was to get content on my blog, but I also made the decision that I wouldn’t ever publish anything without some way to bring in even a little income.  So, each post in January has at least one affiliate link.  On the plus side, I did get my first comment this month.  It was an exciting moment for me!

A FEW WORDS ABOUT AFFILIATE LINKS:  Some people just hate affiliate links.  They won’t click on them to save their life, or they just think it’s downright unethical for a blogger to include them on their blog.  Here’s the thing, blogging takes a lot of time and it’s a legit job.  In the beginning, many bloggers make such little money, it seems like this venture isn’t even worth it.  Those that stick it out, however, are the ones that reap the rewards.

Affiliate links are just a way for bloggers to suggest certain items or programs that they believe in, and if you click on the link, and purchase whatever you’re directed to, the blogger (affiliate) gets a very small commission.  The best part? It doesn’t cost you any additional money.  People who blog are doing it to supplement their income, wanting to stay home with their babies, or just enjoy writing and decide to make some money while doing it.  Affiliate links help a blogger supplement their income.  So be kind, and help a blogger out! *smile*

What Am I Working On Now?

This month, I have some big goals.  Getting content is always high up on my list, but I’m only planning on doing 1 or 2 posts a week.  The rest of my time is going to be spent on the following:

1. Increasing traffic to my blog using Pinterest
2. Upping my page views (resulting from #1)
3. Starting a new business Instagram account
4. Cleaning up my Pinterest boards and adding killer keywords and descriptions

I recently purchased two AMAZING e-books that I’m currently working my way through. It’s going to completely change my life – my blogging life!  Carly Hurst from Carly on Purpose has written this fantastic guide called Pinterest Strategies.  In her book, you increase your blog traffic using a unique technique she has developed with Pinterest.  I have already changed SO MUCH of what I was doing that I’m wishing I’d found this guide like a year ago!

The other e-book is called 17 Strategies I Used to Increase my Page Views.  It’s written by Lena Gott from What Mommy Does and it’s a treasure trove of ideas, action plans, and just huge nuggets of wisdom.  Again, I wish I had found this eons ago.  I would probably have way more that 53 pageview by now! *wink*

In summary, I’m a little disappointed that Momma Wren didn’t earn an income this month, but I’m super hopeful for the upcoming months.  I firmly believe the work I do in the next few weeks could drastically change the direction for my blog, for the better.  Anybody else have a slow month? Please leave some encouragement in the comments below!