Alright, friends, I’m going to be honest and say that I’m a teensy bit nervous to start posting these. See, I still consider myself a fairly tiny blogger, and I don’t make much money at all from this blog alone. The thing is, I remember when I was a REALLY tiny blogger with a few hundred page views all month. I remember looking at blog income reports from people making huge amounts of money from their blogs and while they were inspirational, they could also be discouraging. Many of them didn’t start posting blog traffic and income reports until they were making thousands each month. I decided I wanted to be different.
I’ve recently been sharing more about how to start a blog and grow blog traffic because I’ve had bloggers that are newer or with smaller audiences than mine asking about it, and I want to give them some realistic numbers. This blog traffic and income report won’t have anyone deciding to quit their day job and build a blog, but it just might inspire a mama who wants to bring in some money to help with bills or a newer blogger wondering if they need ten billion page views to make any money. So here goes.
Blog Traffic and Income Report, December 2015
Blog Traffic
My traffic in December was the highest that it’s ever been. Part of that is a new promotion strategy that I’ve been trying out, part of it is likely because of the holidays, and part of it is because a large special needs Facebook page shared my Bible Verses for Special Needs Moms post.
Blog Traffic:
- Page views: 5,578
- Users: 3,531
My most popular posts:
- Bible Verses for Special Needs Moms
- Yes, I Say He’s Autistic (and other reasons I’m an unpopular autism mama)
- Hosting an Autism Friendly Christmas
My top referrers:
- Direct
What Worked, and What I’m Changing:
Like I mentioned above, I started a new promotion strategy for each of my posts, and it seems to be working so far! I’ll be posting the specifics of how I promote each post soon, I promise! I also re-started my newsletter which has helped a bit with traffic as well. I wrote two posts for The Mighty (and they ended up being two of my three most popular posts this month) so I will definitely be continuing to contribute there. Some of the things I plan to change are posting more often, aiming for four posts a week per minimum, and adding some guest posts and contributors to my site. Side note, want to be a contributor or submit a guest post? Send me an email!
Blog Income $19.07
Income Sources:
- Adsense Ads: $6.12
- Amazon Affiliates: $12.95
- Sponsored Posts: $0
What Worked, What I’m Changing:
Amazon affiliates worked well in November and December because everyone is spending for the holidays. I definitely need to work on my affiliates, though. I am always forgetting to put affiliate links into posts, and I rarely post them on Facebook. My adsense revenue did pretty well in December, but my ads were all turned off towards the end of December, so I lost out on a lot of revenue! This month I’ve changed my ads and started using media.net which I like a LOT better so far. The ads don’t feel as intrusive, and I think I’ll make a lot more with them. There was about a ten day lapse between adsense and media.net, so we’ll see what happens to income in January!
Goals for January
For blog traffic, my goal is simply to stay over 5,000 page views. With the share from the large page and the holidays, I’m still not certain if the higher traffic will stick around. I want January to give me a base line so that I can make some more goals for continued growth. I am also continuing to work on my work at home mom eBook and working with a blog friend of mine to start offering a few printables and printable packs. I also have a goal to write at least one post for The Mighty, and one for another website.
Well, I did it. Here’s my very first blog traffic and income report. I don’t make much, but my site pays for its monthly hosting and I can get a coffee or two! Plus, this does not include any Young Living Essential Oils income or freelance writing income, which both have come about as a direct result from this blog. I know that there are probably some people laughing at me for sharing numbers this small, but I hope that it inspired someone who is just starting their blog!
If you loved this post, you might also like…
I’m not laughing at all Kaylene, I love that you’ve done this!
I do similar on my site and my numbers are way behind yours even, but, one day…
Thanks so much.
Adam
Oh Adam I’m so glad that you found this helpful! Like I said, I was really hesitant, so thank you for encouraging me to be brave and post again next month!
Thank you for sharing this! It’s great to see someone else (with similar stats as my own) showing what’s working for them and what isn’t….if you ever want to chat privately and compare notes and brainstorm ideas, let me know :)
Oh thank you Erin! I know that looking at the bloggers with huge numbers is really encouraging (who wouldn’t want to make thousands each month?) but I wanted to show people what it looks like to get there. Also, I’d love to chat! I’m always looking for bloggers that are around my size to brainstorm with!
You are officially a professional blogger. :D
Whyyyyy thank you! Won’t be long until I’m making tons, right? :) :)
Little by little. :) I have no doubt you will report much different numbers in a year! :)
You’re so sweet! Thanks for the encouragement, friend! :)
I love these small blog income reports. They give realistic standards to set when just starting out. I have been blogging for a few months and just relaunched my website with the goal of actually engaging with my audience and maybe making a little money as well. Those large reports can be so disheartening when they appeal as if that’s how the blogger started out.
I really appreciate this post! It is such an inspiration to see what you have accomplished here and the autism awareness and normalcy you are spreading. I am the mother of an autistic daughter, age 6, and started my own blog about a year ago. I have been trying to figure out how to monetize it and have been stuck. I just can’t seem to get enough traffic to do sponsored posts, and I’m not sure I want to do adds. The main reason I want to monetize my blog is so I can stop my other part-time job and focus on my three kids, and the blog which I am passionate about. This post gives me hope so thank you!