I cannot believe that I am putting myself out there in this way by sharing this.
Even though this is something that I would normally do behind closed doors, I figured that in order to be transparent and also to keep myself accountable, I would go ahead and share my goals and my results on a regular basis.
I started this blog as a way to inspire my fellow moms of just what is possible when you say no to fear and self doubt and get intentional about sharing your story. I believe that we all have great potential to make an impact online through the content that we create. I am committed to sharing anything and everything that will help YOU succeed in your journey to content creation.
One of the things that I found most helpful in my early days as a blogger were income reports. They really helped me to cut out the noise and really understand what to focus on. I was able to piece together how bloggers in different industries made money in an attempt to recreate that for myself and my blog. This is not an attempt to brag or show off. It is more an opportunity for people to see what is within the realm of possibility.
My plan is to share quarterly reports where I am transparent about my goals, what went right, what went wrong. I will also reflect on what I can do to improve. This is an important exercise to do for any venture that you are on- I am just choosing to share mine here. You are welcome to follow along.
A LITTLE BACK STORY- MY BLOGGING HISTORY
This is not my first time at the rodeo guys.
Let me start by telling you a little bit about me and my blogging history. I started my first ‘serious’ blog back in 2015 so it has been almost exactly 5 years to the date that I started the blog. I say serious because sometimes in university I started a blog. I published a few posts but struggled so much with confidence and self-doubt that I did not tell anyone about it.
The blog that I started in 2015 was a lifestyle blog for me to just write down my thoughts and share all of the different things that I find interesting. I was posting about everything from fashion, beauty, and also some faith and inspirational type content.
Those were the main things that I wanted to post about.
I started the blog on a wordpress.com website, then moved to wix for about a year before finally deciding to start taking blogging seriously and moving to wordpress.org.
I was working full-time and blogging at the time so I would blog here and there. I was not consistent at all I knew nothing about SEO, social media marketing or digital marketing.
All I knew when I started was that I wanted to share my thoughts.
Fast forward to 2017 when I decided to level up my blog a little bit. I worked my butt off to get the blog on wordpress.org but I will tell you all about the mistakes I made in another post.
I was able to post consistently for about 6 months. I was also collaborating with other bloggers and getting my name out there in the community, but eventually started to experience burnout. I got pregnant, and I had to put a pause on blogging for a time period while I got my personal life in order.
I got back to blogging in 2020 and I decided to do something that I had never done before.
I decided to invest in myself.
The courses and mentorship that I have gone through in the past few months have really given me a lot more insight into the blogging world. I have done the deep work of trying to understand my purpose and positioning. I have also reflected on exactly who my ideal audience is and how best I can serve them.
This brings me to where I am today. Instead of continuing on my old blog, I decided to rebrand and create an entirely new website. My goal is to use this platform to share my journey with you guys. I want to help other busy moms lean into their purpose and create meaningful content so that they can start to build their online presence, stand out as an authority in their niche and make an impact.
As a time-strapped mama and entrepreneur also working a 9-5 job, I understand that there is a need to come up with strategies to make content creation a little more streamlined and intentional.
I want you to know that it is possible. With the right support, building your online presence does not have to be stressful. I have been there, and I am here to hold your hand and provide resources and strategies to make the process more streamlined.
I want to provide the tips and tools that I’m learning along the way so you’re going to see a lot from me on productivity because that’s something that I’ve had to study in order to post consistently and in order to create content that’s good.
Why I am Tracking My Progress
I think in life, it is important to plan, set goals and also track your progress. Without this, how else do you know how far you have come and how far till you reach your goal?
Like I mentioned earlier, this is something that I would do anyway. I am just choosing to share my progress as a way to keep me accountable and I hope that you guys will follow this journey with me. In a year from now, maybe we can look back and see how we all do.
Some Examples Of Income Reports From Other Bloggers
If this is your first time reading income reports, here is a list of some of my favourite income reports from other bloggers in their first 3 months of blogging.
- This blogger made $93 and had 15204 pageviews in her first month of blogging.
- This blogger earned $135 within the first 2 weeks of blogging
I am not comparing my blog to these as I recognize that my approach will be slightly different. I share these only to show you what is truly possible when you work hard and are intentional about blogging.
My Investments
I’ve invested in myself the past few months I’ve spent so much time reading and taking courses and learning all about blogging.
I will be outlining the courses that I took. While you can definitely start.a blog without spending money on courses, just remember that it takes money to make money.
The Blog Monetization Course
This was the first course that I took. It is a really good summary of blogging it runs down how to start a blog the right way and the different ways that you can make money blogging. Most importantly, it covers the most expensive mistakes that bloggers make. Believe it or not, I realized that I was making a lot of them.
Like I mentioned before, I have been doing this for five years and I’ve me $20 which is not bad because when I started my goal was just to share my thoughts and I wasn’t necessarily looking to monetize. However, if you are looking to start a blog that makes money, I would highly recommend that you invest in yourself and you take a good blogging course.
Pinterest With Ell
I had been following Ell for a number of years and have watched as her blog exploded. We started blogging around the same time, but as hers took off, mine didn’t. I needed to know her secrets- lol. So I studied and researched and found out that Pinterest is really the unsung hero when it comes to increasing your blog traffic.
The only problem was I knew nothing about Pinterest and how to use it strategically.
Pinterest with Ell is a great course to learn all about Pinterest. The great thing about it is that she updates the course periodically, so as Pinterest algorithm changes, you will always have the most up to date information.
Before I started this blog, I was curious to try out the Pinterest strategy that I learned from this course on my previous blog. You can look at my numbers.
This is just to show you that it works. And truth be told, since I decided to relaunch my blog, I haven’t been giving these strategies my all. I am really excited to see what happens when I am actually able to implement her strategies properly on this blog.
This course is also one of the most cost friendly Pinterest courses on the market.
If you are interested in growing your blog traffic and do not know where to start, I would recommend giving this course a try.
THE REPORT- Q2
*All prices are in USD*
Income 1st & 2nd Quarter of 2020 : $0- haha
Expenses 1st & 2nd Quarter of 2020:
- Tailwind $119
- Pinterest with Ell by Ell Duclos $39
- The Blog Monetization Course by HerPaperRoute $197
- Affiliate Marketing for Bloggers by Kimi Kinsey $
- Hosting / Domain (Bluehost) $
This month, being my first month of blogging obviously had significant expenses, but I am so excited to be starting this journey and to be sharing my experiences with you guys.
My Goals
I think it’s important and I think I think it’s important to set talk about money and it’s important to set goals around money because if you don’t say goals you’re basically just hoping for things to work out and that’s something that I learned in my first round of blogging.
Ps…I have a free goal-setting worksheet for you to download if you would like to set goals in for your life or business just download this worksheet.
How do I plan to earn income in Q3 2020?
- Ads- I have not yet decided if I want to run ads on my site. I know that this is an easy way to earn passive income. However, I am also aware that ads can cause some people to not want to stay on my site. As I am just starting out, I would like to build my online presence.
- Affiliate Links- I have signed up to a number of affiliate programs. For more information on affiliate marketing and how it works, you can check out this course.
- Freelance writing- I offer this as a service on my blog. This is for people who just do not have the time to write their own content.
- 1: 1 Coaching- I offer this as a service. This is really for people who feel stuck when it comes to content creation. I will help you to identify your niche and help you to stand out as an expert in your niche. I will also work with you. to plan, create and share your content to optimize your brand.
My focus this month will be on creating content and engaging with my audience. I do not have a monetary goal for this month because I understand that it takes time for my efforts to materialize.
My goal is also to stay consistent with my blog posts. I will post at least once weekly and share 1 youtube video in a blog format every week.
(By the way, guys check out my Youtube channel if you prefer to watch this type of content instead of reading it- LOL)
My goals to have 1000 monthly page views. I plan to do this by writing SEO friendly posts and by optimizing my Pinterest using the strategies learned from the course.
EVALUATE
I will be evaluating my progress QUARTERLY, so stay tuned to see if I was able to meet any of my goals! I will also share my insight into what worked and what didn’t work.
If you would like to be stay informed, subscribe to my mailing list where I will be sending bi-weekly newsletters highlighting all the recent posts as well as some other goodies.
