Blog Stats & Income Report: December 2016
6:00:00 PM
A couple months ago, I decided that I was going to start tracking all of my blog stats, social media followers, income, and expenses. I've seen a lot of big bloggers do this and I've been inspired to do the same, especially by Melissa Griffin. I mean did you see her report from September 2016? She made over $170k!
Obviously my numbers will be no where near hers, but they're still worth keeping track of! I know sometimes it can get overwhelming to see bloggers making thousands of dollars, so I thought it was important to show what it looks like for me. I only launched this blog in January 2016, so I still have a lot to learn, but I'm glad I can share it with you!
Actually, I'm more than glad, I'm super excited! I have been watching my numbers and waiting for the month to be over, so I can finally compare everything. Usually my husband is the math guy, but I can't wait to calculate everything!
Traffic Report
December Traffic
- Pageviews: 955 (+ 173.64%)
- Unique Visitors: 557 (+ 1,014%)
- Sessions: 673 (+ 325.95%)
- Duration: 1:10 (- 69.16 %)
- Bounce Rate: 76.82% (+ 1247.72%)
- New Sessions: 79.79% (+ 157.39%)
After getting hacked last month, I decided to figure out how to best take control over my Google Analytics account! Unfortunately though, I hadn't realized that my tracking code had also stopped working. So, I was unable to track my traffic from December 3rd until December 15th, which is why my numbers are so low. However, between my Google Analytics account and my Google Adsense account, I can estimate that my actual pageviews would have been closer to1,850 for the month of December.
On the bright side though, I figured out exactly how to protect my Google Analytics account from future spam! You can read all about it in my recent post, "5 Changes You Need to Make to Your Google Analytics Account Right Now!"
On the bright side though, I figured out exactly how to protect my Google Analytics account from future spam! You can read all about it in my recent post, "5 Changes You Need to Make to Your Google Analytics Account Right Now!"
December Traffic Sources
- Social: 52.70% (+ 278.59%)
- Pinterest: 44.57% (N/M)
- Facebook: 39.59% (N/M)
- Instagram: 0.88% (N/M)
- Twitter: 8.80% (N/M)
- Blogger: 5.87% (N/M)
- Google+: 0% (0%)
- Direct: 14.22% (N/M)
- Referral: 17.93% (-69.21%)
- Organic: 15.15% (-45.60%)
Again, due to the technical difficulties, my December traffic sources are a little off as well. However, I was able to track some data and it looks to be accurate based on the 15 or so odd days that I was able to get data for. However, since the last month's data was skewed as well, many of the percentages increased from zero. Unfortunately though, the mathematical equation that I use to determine percentage increased cannot be calculated from zero. So, for those calculations, I included the notation "N/M" otherwise known as "not meaningful."
Social Media Report
December Social Media Growth
- Instagram: 1,264 (+ 5.95%)
- Twitter: 1,536 (+ 8.09%)
- Pinterest: 1,133 (+ 18.27%)
- Bloglovin': 290 (+ 6.62%)
- Facebook: 139 (+ 54.44%)
- Google+: 36 (+ 24.14%)
- Email Subscribers: 51 (+ 24.39%)
My percentages definitely look better this month! Towards the end of November, I made time to sit down and plan out (almost) all of my social media posts for the entire month of December! And it definitely paid off! I've made so much progress with my social media accounts and I can't wait to see how they do next month!
Profit & Loss Report
December Income
- Freelance: $47
- Affiliate Programs: $44.74
- Ads: $1.27
- Miscellaneous: $16.47
- Products:
- Influenster Box: Free ($52 + includes shipping)
- Book: Free ($18.99 + includes shipping)
- Total Income: $109.48 + $70.99 worth of free products
I've gotta admit, I definitely could have done better this time around. I planned tons of material for Holiday Gift Guides and the holiday season in general, but I never got around to posting them. So, I lost out on a lot of potential affiliate income. Nevertheless, I still think it was a pretty good month!
December Expenses
- Storenvy: $9
- Adobe *: $32.39
- ConvertKit *: $29
- Blog Boss Babes *: $37
- BoardBooster *: $5
- Pinterest Ad *: $20
- Total Expenses: $132.39
(Anything with an '*' next to it is an affiliate link)
Total Profit: - $22.91 + $70.99 worth of free products
This month, I decided to upgrade my BoardBooster account from the free trial to the lowest paying gig. I now get 500 pins a month for $5 and it's pretty awesome! Just actively using this tool has helped grow my Pinterest following by 18.27% and of course that translates into traffic as well! In addition to that, I also decided to try out the Pinterest ad system. My goal was to spend $5 total, but I soon realized that I accidentally selected the option to spend $5/day. Luckily, I was able to catch that in time. So my monthly blog expenses did go up a little bit, but it's nothing I can't handle!
Here's to hoping I earn even more next month! With the help of you guys, I'm able to turn my dream into my business :) You guys are awesome!
Post Report
December Posts
- Number of Posts Published: 11
- Most Popular Posts:
- Book Review: On the Way to Simple* (Published December 2016)
- Product Review: Journal the Word Bible + Giveaway!* (Published December 2016)
- Clothing Haul (Published April 2016)
- Blog Stats & Income Report: November 2016 (Published December 2016)
- Product Review: Oska Pulse + Coupon Code* (Published December 2016)
As you guys might have noticed, I haven't been following my blogging schedule 100%. I've been sick on and off for the last few weeks and it's really taken a toll on me. However, I did try to spend a couple days catching up! So, I was able to publish a lot of my unfinished blog posts and ended up with 11 posts instead of my original three!
Goal Report
Last Month's Goals:
- Finish secret project
- Publish at least 18 blog posts
- Hit 5k total followers/subscribers
- Write at least 3 guest blog posts
This Month's Goals:
- Finish at least 3 future blog posts
- Collaborate with other bloggers
- Hit 5K total followers/subscribers
- Reach 2.5K pageviews
Sadly, this month's goal report is pretty disappointing. I haven't exactly been able to follow up with my goals this month. My secret project is taking much longer than anticipated, mostly because I keep adding things to it. And I definitely didn't publish 18 blog posts this month, but I can say that I wrote at least that many since I've got a head start on my 2017 posts! As for my social media goal, I was hundreds of followers away from 5K; but I think with some continued work and some social media threads, I'll be able to make it happen in 2017! Oh and those guest posts, they certainly didn't happen haha.
Overall though, I'm still proud of myself. Whether or not I accomplished the things on this list, I still managed to accomplish a lot. I outlined all of my goals for 2017, planned the content for both of my blogs for all of 2017, and did a bunch more! I'm truly excited to see what 2017 brings!
How was your December? Tell me in the comments!
* This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I'll receive some type of compensation. However, this adds no additional cost or inconvenience to you. For more information, you can read our full disclosure here. *
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2 comments
I love that you are doing these income reports! It is fun watching your blog grow! Thanks for being a great blogger and writing about so many things!
ReplyDeleteThank you! You're always so sweet! 💖 I'd love to be making a little bit more, but I try to be as transparent as I can be with all of my readers! It's important that they, and other bloggers, know that not every blogger comes out of the gate making thousands of dollars. One day though, I hope that I am!
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