April Blogger Income Report

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, the origin story.

I have good news!  This month, I am in the black with a profit of $92.91.

Compared with last month, you know this a step in the right direction.

In this post, I’ll show you which posts brought in more traffic, divulge my income sources and expenses and discuss my general strategy moving forward.

Pageviews

Last month I had a huge viral post which resulted in over 3,000 pageviews in one day.  I knew that April would not be as high as March.  However, I am very happy with that 9,965 number because it is almost twice of what I was seeing in February.

Two posts did very well for me this month.  After my Spring Break Activities post hit big in March, my strategy is to do one local post a month focusing on activities that families can do with kids.  This month, I compiled a list of Kid Friendly Restaurants that adults also enjoy.  I shared this on all the local Facebook groups that I belong to and even though it didn’t hit 3,000 that first day, it performed well.

The second high performing post, How to Create a Small Wardrobe, came together rather quickly. I knew my readers liked reading my Stitch Fix posts and I was playing with the idea of creating a minimalist wardrobe.  I just didn’t know to structure it.  Then, I saw a post from Dallas City Mom’s Blog explode on Facebook.  The author threw out all of her clothing and created a “capsule wardrobe”.

I thought a capsule wardrobe was a brilliant idea.  I knew I had to get my post up fast when the topic was still relevant.  So, I sorted through all my clothes, took pictures that afternoon and had the post go live the following morning.  Although it didn’t quite have viral appeal, its been a steady source of traffic since it was published.

Income

Total Revenue: $667.90

• Blog Her: $14.71
• Google Adsense: $3.19
• Sponsored Posts: $630
• Pogo Pass Affiliate: $20

Expenses: 547.99

• Ticket to Blended Conference: $123.99
• Elite Blog Academy: $324.00
• PO Box rental at UPS Store: $15.30
• CoSchedule Plugin: $10
• Other Expenses: $100 (I bought something for the blog and my friend gave me a killer deal)

Total Profit: $92.91

Even though it shows that I earned $630 in sponsored posts.  The work I did on those posts appeared on the blog in February, March and April.  I just happened to get lucky and have all that money enter my bank account this month.

As for expenses, I’ve shifted my focus to education and connections as a blogger.  I heard so many wonderful things about the Elite Blog Academy that I signed up.  So far, you might notice that I have organized my top menu so that you can find posts more easily. I’ve also ditched the pink chevron background and the entire blog has a more cohesive look in terms of text styles and colors.  This a Before picture.   

I’m loving how the blog looks now.  I think it looks cleaner and more professional. I am counting on that to improve my readership down the road.

I also attended Mom 2.0 conference in April.  It was fantastic.  Not only did I learn from many big name bloggers, but I got to meet and form relationships with many brands. I will let you know which ones work out!

Strategy moving forward

• I plan to keep writing a local themed post every month to attract local readers.  These seem to be winners lately so I’m brainstorming other things families in the Phoenix area might find useful.
• I’m also planing to write more minimal style posts – things that moms can do to look awesome but ultimately make life easier.  Easy is good.
• I’m continuing the Elite Blog Academy coursework as it leads me through making improvements to the blog.

So, no real money yet, but everything is looking up.  I’m still trying to grow my traffic and playing with different strategies to do so.

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:

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