August Income Report: My Third Month Blogging

WELCOME TO WELL AND WEALTHY’S THIRD MONTH’S INCOME REPORT FOR JULY 2017

Wow three months blogging!

I’m not going to lie this month was a massive struggle but I’ve heard that the third month is the month most bloggers are likely to quit. That makes sense as the initial excitement has worn off but you’re not yet seeing those incredible results that you feel like everyone else is achieving.

But I’m not going anywhere!!! I will keep hustling because I know that consistency and perseverance can only pay off in the end!

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Oh yeah, and I made money again this month so GET IN.

Okay on with the income report…

SO WHY AM I WRITING AN INCOME REPORT?

This blog is all about education and my journey from quitting the 9 to 5 to reaching financial independence.  I want to help you guys and I figured the best way to do that is to be honest with you. Particularly about what I’m doing that works, and what I’m doing that clearly doesn’t.

The best way to detail all that out is an income report. I am planning on doing ‘Net Worth Updates’ as well so that way you will see (hopefully) exactly how I’m making money through blogging and then how I’m managing my money, including my budget and investments. But in fairness, that’s a few months off!

Now if you haven’t previously seen an income report before your probably a little confused as to why someone would basically reveal all their business’s finances to the world. But that’s what I love about blogging. It’s an entire industry obsessed with being transparent and helping one another succeed. The income reports are not released to brag, they are there to help everyone see exactly how you make money blogging.

HOW WILL THESE INCOME REPORTS BE STRUCTURED?

They will all loosely follow the plan below:

• Any major updates
• Number of posts completed this month
• Pageviews including most popular posts
• Social media stats
• Email Subscribers
• Income
• Expenses
• Profit/Loss
• What worked and what didn’t this month?
• Month Action Plan and Goals

I reserve the right to change this order at a later date if it would clearly make more sense written differently haha. Also if you think I am missing a vital stat that you would really love to see me track then please comment on this post.

MAJOR UPDATES:

As I said earlier this month was a struggle and a half!

This has in turn led me to evaluate the types of goals I’m setting and create new goals more in line with my mission to blog authentically.

So this will be the first month I put those new goals into action!

POSTS COMPLETED THIS MONTH:

• July Income Report: My Second Month Blogging

• Ultimate Debt Payoff Story: How One Family Paid Off Over $111,000 Of Debt In Only 4.5 Years.

• How To Setup Google Analytics On WordPress For The Beginner Blogger

• How To Create An Email Opt In Quiz To Grow Your Subscriber List!

• Why Blogging Authentically Is The Most Important Thing!

PAGEVIEWS:

Pageviews over August 2017: 2,758

Sessions: 1,970

Bounce Rate: 75.23%

Average Session Duration: 01:16

So my goal this month was to hit 3,000 pageviews, which I unfortunately didn’t reach. I was trying out something new on Pinterest and it just didn’t work. Oh well at least I know what not to do!

Bounce rate has increased again and this is something I want to focus on over the coming months.

Looking at the graph showing Well and Wealthy’s pageviews since I launched on 1^st June we can see that pageviews are increasing over time, but there is quite a lot of peaks and troughs!

TRAFFIC ACQUISITION:

Again social media was main my traffic driver. However direct traffic has increased by over 50 sessions since last month, which is awesome as it mean people have remembered my blog and are coming to it of their own accord.

Pinterest still bringing home the bacon! Now to just really master Pinterest!

SOCIAL MEDIA:

Whilst I plan to focus far less on all my social media accounts apart from Pinterest I still think it’s really important to track the numbers in case any patterns arise.

PINTEREST:

As I mentioned earlier I tried out something new on Pinterest that just didn’t work great for me, but at least I know what doesn’t work.

Followers: 192

(Increase of 48)

Here is my Pinterest account overview. Still unsure if the numbers related to the last week or the last 30 days…

Plenty of decreases, which I’m totally not surprised at due to trying something out that didn’t work so well.

Here is my reach, so the average number of people who see what I pin (85,917) and the average number of people engaged with my pins (2,794). An incredible increase considering the average monthly viewers last month was 47,051…

And here are the views that pins from Well and Wealthy get. Increased from last month but not hugely.

This graph shows the number of repins (or saves) that pins from Well and Wealthy get on Pinterest. A decrease from 31 average daily saves to 23.

This graph shows how many times pins from Well and Wealthy are clicked taking people to the site. Average daily clicks have increased from 26 per day to 42, yay!!!

FACEBOOK:

I’m really not focusing on Facebook right now, just keeping it ticking over.

Likes/Followers: 128

(Increase of 10)

Reach: 1,456

(Increase of 931)

INSTAGRAM:

As with Facebook I plan to just let Instagram continue to tick over while I master Pinterest. Then I will master Facebook, and finally I will give Instagram some love. However I do get a steady follow growth so its definitely worth keeping it going because in the many months it will be until I actually have time to focus I could have many hundreds of followers!

Followers: 193

(Increase of 47)

Total Posts Published: 98

Total Number of Likes: 1,200

Average Number of Likes per Post: 42.66

Total Number of Comments: 79

Average Number of Comments per Post: 2.72

EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:

I released two new freebies this month, my Blogging Focus Quiz and you can read why this was a flop here. Plus I created a 12 Month Blogging Goal Breakdown swipe file and mini course, which was good but the goals are no longer in line with my authentic blogging mission so I have taken it down (you can still find it if you know the link…). However I do intend to revamp that and re-release it at a later date in the future with goals that promote authenticity! Yay!

Plus of course my original awesome freebie, The Ultimate List of FREEBIES For Bloggers, is still bringing me a steady stream of subscribers. It’s a list of over 100 different free courses, eBooks, worksheet, cheatsheets, resource libraries and challenges from 50 plus TOP bloggers, so if you haven’t already, sign up now!

Subscribers: 229

(Increased by 79)

Campaign Opens: 26.20%

Campaign Clicks: 3.16%

Automation Opens: 39.80% (Just the Ultimate Freebies automation)

Automation Clicks: 11.90% (Just the Ultimate Freebies automation)

Subscribers deleted: 45

Current Subscribers: 185

(That’s a new one right!)

So in the spirit of blogging authentically I am trying to wean myself off worrying about vanity metrics, like subscriber numbers, and instead focused on engagement of my tribe. Therefore on the 22/08/17 I sent out an email to everyone on my list who had never opened any of my emails saying:

Don’t want to be friends anymore?

Hi! 

So according to my email system you have never opened an email from me. It’s totally okay if you aren’t into these emails and I understand how hectic your inbox can get!

Therefore I will remove you from my subscriber list on the1st September 2017 if I don’t hear from you.

If you actually really want to stay on my subscribers list then please reply back to this email and let me know!

And of course if you ever want to subscribe again in the future that’s totally okay, just head to the blog and find an email subscriber box!

Sammy x

No one replied to the emails so I have deleted the peeps that I sent it to. I don’t want to clutter up their inbox and now I will only be emailing people who wish to engage with me, it’s a win for everyone!

EMAILS I SENT:

My weekly ‘campaigns’ were as follows:

• One letting everyone know that my July 2017 income report was published
• One about doing one basic thing to create epic blog content
• One talking about my mini epiphany
• One detailing a non-negotiable action to have to be doing with your affiliate links

I emailed every week without fail so I’m super please about that!

LOOKING FOR MY MOST RECENT INCOME REPORT?

As of May 2018 all my latest income reports are shared exclusively with my subscribers! Sign up below if you want a behind-the-scenes look at how I make a full-time income from home, online!

INCOME:

More income to report! Oh yeahhhhh!!!!

I’ve also decided to only include the affiliate programmes I’m actually receiving money from because I am part of so many now that it’s getting a bit ridiculous to list them all below. Yeah I know I’m missing out on potential affiliate sales but you know what I would rather you get a better reading experience!

INCOME EARNED IN AUGUST:

SiteGround (Hosting): £30.00

How To Make Your First Affiliate Sale In 24 Hours Using Pinterest from House of Brazen: £7.34 ($10.00)

Google AdSense: £6.67

Total Income Earned in July: £44.02

Total Income Earned Since Launch: £172.89

***Want to start making money from you very own blog? Then you need my tutorial on How To Set Up A Professional Blog for Profit!***

Sure it was less than last month, but as I don’t currently have an income earning strategy in place I’m pretty darn happy with that!

INCOME ACTUALLY RECEIVED:

Once again more of my SiteGround sale review periods were extended. Sign.

Still that’s how selling anything works, refunds happen, people don’t always pay and technical hitches happen. It’s all part of being an entrepreneur and running your own business!

So the money that actually hit my bank account this month is: £28.78

It’s more than last month so WINNER WINNER!

EXPENSES:

AUGUST EXPENSES:

BoardBooster: £7.94 ($10.00)

Pinteresting Strategies: £21.59 ($32.00 but I had a discount) (EEEK I’m so excited to put this into action, people seem to get such amazing results from it!)

Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing: £136.12 ($169.00) (I won’t be seriously working on this until October/November but there was a discount so…)

August Expenses Total = £165.65

PREVIOUS EXPENSES:

Hosting with SiteGround 24 months: £101.94

Divi Theme from Elegant Themes 12 months: £90.15 ($106.80)

Haute Chocolate Stock Photo Membership 6 months: £105.26 ($125.00)

Scan my Post PO Box 12 months: £15.00

Tailwind Pinterest Scheduler 12 months: £73.80 ($89.00)

Traffic Transformation eBook: £42.04 ($50.00)

How To Make Your First Affiliate Sale In 24 Hours Using Pinterest: £19.92 ($25.00)

BoardBooster: £8.01 ($10.00)

The Core Affiliate Strategy: £36.72 ($46.00)

How to Blog for Profit Without Selling Your Soul: £14.74

Income Journey eBook and Email Bundle: £63.73 ($80.00)

Total Expenses Since Launching = £729.62

PROFIT/LOSS:

Currently at an overall loss of: £693.50

SO WHAT WORKED AND WHAT DIDN’T THIS MONTH?

Pinterest did not go to plan this month. Basically Tailwind invited me to try a new feature of theirs and I can’t lie it was pretty good it just wasn’t good for my blog! So pageviews and everything was down compared with what I expected!

I was also super tight on time this month as I was away on holiday for the first week and had friends stay for a good proportion of the last week.

However on the plus side I am now implementing Carly, from Mommy on Purpose’s Pinteresting Strategies YAY so hopefully I can look forward so getting a few more lovely readers.

I also had my mini epiphany and am now all about blogging authentically!

LASTS MONTH’S TO-DO LIST:

• Go through all previous blog posts and re-proof read (it’s been pointed out that I have a problem with your and you’re… sorry!!!) DONE

• Complete the free Google Analytics training DONE

• Makeover my homepage DONE

• Create my main blogging freebie and email welcome series NOPE (have put this on the backburner for now)

• Implement some quizzes for email sign ups DONE

• Join more group boards DONE

• Check my pins have the correct URL DONE (loads of them didn’t and I’ve sorted as best I can)

• Work on my Pinterest theory DONE (But my theory didn’t work soooo)

• Consider creating my own Pinterest group boards STILL CONSIDERING

• Keep an eye on my Pinterest traffic and consider investing in Pinteresting Strategies if it doesn’t pick up DONE

SEPTEMBERS BLOGGING TO-DO LIST:

I want to spend a lot of time creating content this month while giving Carly’s Pinteresting Strategies a real chance to shine.

• Create 16 blog posts (this should take me to the New Year)

• Continue to implement Carly’s Pinteresting Strategies

These two are my main two priorities, everything else comes after and is just a bonus if I mange to get them done!

• Sort SSL thing (ahh techy stuff somebody help me!)

• Create better interlinks in posts

• Make menu clearer

• Place popular posts in sidebar

• Sort out my headers so they advertise my Ultimate List of Bogging FREEBIES  (rather than pop-ups!)

• Set up Blog Audits sales page

• Add some new boards to my Pinterest account

• Create a system for joining new group boards

• Look into site speed (I have a feeling it’s a bit slow)

• Consider buying and installing Post Gopher

• Change all my affiliate links so they are no follow

GOALS:

Completely new goal setting system this month, but first let’s just see how last months goals went.

Pageviews:

Level 1 Goal – 3,000

Level 2 Goal – 5,000

Email Subscribers:

Level 1 Goal – 300

Level 2 Goal – 500

Pinterest Followers:

Level 1 Goal – 220

Level 2 Goal – 400

I didn’t reach any of my Level 1 goals, let alone my Level 2 goals. Like I said earlier this month was a dud, I just plain struggled to make progress. But I’m looking forward to the next month as there is no point in dwelling on the negatives!

SEPTEMBER GOALS:

I am continuing with my two goal levels. Level 1 Goals will be realistic and attainable while Level 2 Goals will be what I really want it to be but much more difficult to attain! However I’m not entirely sure how well I will be able to improve these figures hence why the goals may seem very low.

Engaged Pageviews Percentage:

(Number of people who visit my site but also join my subscriber list as these are people wanting to be part of the Well and Wealthy tribe)

August – 2.9%

Level 1 Goal – 3.2%

Level 2 Goal – 3.8%

Bounce Rate:

August – 75.23%

Level 1 Goal – 75.00%

Level 2 Goal – 73.00%

Pinterest Click Through Rate:

August – 42 (average daily clicks)

Level 1 Goal – 50

Level 2 Goal – 80

Pinterest Reach:

August – 85,917 (average monthly viewers)

Level 1 Goal – 90,000

Level 2 Goal – 115,000

You will notice I have only included goals for the aspects of the blog I am currently focused on. That’s because I don’t want to get distracted by other things I could be doing on the blog.

As always comment below with any thoughts, questions and especially if you can think of anything that would improve the site for you or that you want me to write about!

LOOKING FOR MY MOST RECENT INCOME REPORT?

As of May all my latest income reports are shared exclusively with my subscribers! Sign up below if you want a behind-the-scenes look at how I make a full-time income from home, online!

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