Blog Income Report: February 2017
Welcome to my blog income and traffic report for the month of February 2017.
The day I published my first traffic and income report, I knew I was committing myself to do this every month. The truth, it keeps me focused. I enjoy recapping each month since it helps me see and analyze every little detail in both: traffic and income.
Click here to read my previous blogging income reports.
February 2017 – Traffic Report
February’s traffic was good but not amazing. My biggest fear about writing traffic and income reports was sharing those months where there was a decrease in my stats, instead of improvements. And in February, I didn’t do too well. But I guess it is all a learning curve.
- Total Pageviews: 51,740
Acquisition Overview
My top 3 channels were: social, direct, and organic. Last month, my third acquisition channel was ‘referral’. So, I am glad to see some organic traffic this month. I have been working hard on my SEO techniques.
1. Social – 65.2%: of all social media platforms, Pinterest is my #1 referrer. I have been using the scheduling tool Tailwind since February 2016. Tailwind allows me to schedule my pins months in advance. That frees up a lot of my time, and I can concentrate more on writing content. I am signed up to their yearly plan, with unlimited monthly pins.
Takeaway: I know that I could definitely drive more traffic with Pinterest. Since I switched to Tailwind’s yearly plan recently (a week ago), I have yet to see how the unlimited pins make an impact on my traffic. I am still not sure if I am using the tool 100% to my advantage.
I am looking into purchasing a Pinterest strategy course, however, I need to concentrate on writing more content to share, otherwise, the investment will be worthless. Also, since I am taking EBA 3.0 again this year, I think I will be able to unlock some premiums once I reach certain Units in the course.
Side Note: EBA 3.0 is short for Elite Blog Academy. I took this course last year, and as an alumnus, I get to take it all over again. This year is bigger and improved! The academy opens only once a year, and they just closed! But if you are interested in signing up for this life-changing course, I recommend you join the waiting list and sign up for amazing free blogging resources
2. Direct – 17.3%: this is traffic that can come from many sources that Google can’t quite pinpoint. These are mostly clicks on links in my newsletters, readers that have bookmarked my website (or a post), shortened URLs ( I mostly use them for social media), and even clicks from mobile apps like Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, these do not pass referrer information.
Takeaway: sending out newsletters boosts your traffic. On February 6th, I switched from Mailchimp to ConvertKit. This change was definitely good. I have been able to send out more newsletters with less hassle. I am having fun learning (ha, I am such a geek!) about visitors’ conversion, creating segments, and tagging my readers with the help of link triggers. Since I am on my second month of using ConvertKit, I am still polishing and refining my lists, forms, and schedule.
3. Organic – 8.3%: well, this was a pleasant surprise! I believe that organic traffic is the best kind of traffic you can get. Don’t get me wrong; I love Pinterest’s traffic!! But organic traffic is exactly that. It’s organic; it happens naturally. That means that some of my most popular articles are ranking high on Google search.
Although I can not pinpoint the keywords people are using, due to Google’s ‘not provided’ keyword, I can see which is the post that is ranking high by adding the secondary dimension ‘landing page’ on my GA.
The top 3 landing pages were:
- Twinkle Twinkle Little Star Baby Shower
- DIY Wood Covers for Wire Shelving
- My 10 Must-Have Craft Tools and Supplies → this was a shocker! I published this article a year ago and honestly, it has not brought me much traffic. I did a quick search of the terms ‘must have craft tools’ today, and it ranked #1.
Takeaway: I have learned many lessons from all different kind of posts I’ve written. I ALWAYS go back and read those that have been shared over and over again. Here is what I learned from these three particular posts:
– A detailed tutorial always ranks well. This applies to both, the Twinkle Twinkle Baby Shower and the DIY Wood Covers articles. Tip: Go the extra mile, take amazing pictures, and link to all possible resources for your readers to recreate the project (hello, passive income!)
– SEO SEO SEO. All I know about SEO I learned thanks to the Elite Blog Academy. Before I joined, I thought I knew not all, but enough about SEO. Wrong!
Traffic February 2017: 51,740 pageviews
How I Made $653.16 in February 2017
On February my blog’s income came from 3 sources: ad networks, affiliate sales, and direct sales. I did not earn any income through sponsored campaigns (private advertisers). This is a major factor that can make it or break for me at the moment. Just two sponsored campaigns could have doubled my income.
While I do not intend, nor expect all my income to come through sponsored campaigns, I rely on these until I get my mind straight and launch a product of my own. Here is the breakdown:
1. Ad Networks
- Monumetric – $175.62
Once I reached 50K monthly pageviews, I was able to join Monumetric (f.k.a The Blogger Network). I dropped Google AdSense, and I am happy with Monumetric. Not only they take care of all the ads and tags on my site, but I also get paid twice a month.
My RPM on February was $3.39, over $1.00 higher compared to my RPM on January of $2.12. – I am a little confused (as I write this) because I certainly thought that my RPM was directly proportional to my pageviews. I have yet to find out the answer to my question: how to increase my RPM.
Takeaway: I will start looking into resources that can help me increase my RPM. Solid bloggers have an average RPM of $10, which means that 100K pageviews alone can bring $1,000 just in Ad Network income.
2. Affiliate Sales
A big part of my income this month was thanks to my affiliation to Bluehost. Bluehost is my web hosting company, I recommend their services to all those who want to start a blog.
- Bluehost – $225.00
- Share-A-Sale – $76.94
- Amazon Associates: $49.06
- CJ (fka Commission Junction): $65
- Others: $15.00
Takeaway: the affiliate sales area is definitely one of my weakest. Mostly because I don’t like to sound like a sellout. I don’t look for the opportunity to insert an affiliate link, I find the opportunity once I write that awesome blog post where I can share links to the products I use. I also like to show (in pictures) that I actually own the product and use it! I wrote the post 10 Clever Ideas to Organize the Kitchen a couple of weeks ago, and I already see in my Amazon Associates stats that people are purchasing these products. I firmly believe it’s happening because of my credibility.
3. Direct Sales
On May of 2016, I opened an online shop on my blog, and I am slowly adding new products when my ideas and projects become solid. My number one seller is my footprints in the sand poem, thanks to this amazing DIY post which has been ranking really high on Google, Pinterest, and Hometalk.
- Products – $47.00
If you are interested in learning how to create original printables for sale or just for fun, I highly recommend this very user-friendly software for PC only. I promise you will be able to draw and design in a week or less. (Here is the link to the downloadable version. No shipping. Just download, install, and start using it immediately.)
Takeaway: My two viral posts with paid printables (this and this) have made me the most sales. With that in mind, I need to increase the number of products in my shop and tie them in with a relatable post (or vice-versa). I have not taken enough time to do this, mostly because I am also busy creating custom orders that come through my Etsy shop.
Total Blog Earnings February: $653.16
And this concludes my February’s blog income and traffic report. Hope you can take my experience and put any of my tactics into practice, to help you grow your traffic and income too! See you next time!
Happy Blogging!
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