Well I’m a few days late on putting together my November blog report, but I promise I have a good reason! My sweet baby Nora turns 6 weeks old on Wednesday and has been keeping my hands full! Her older sister has officially entered what my husband calls “the tornado phase” of toddlerhood and is also keeping me on my toes each day!
To be honest, I didn’t do much blogging at all in November. I told myself I would take 3 months off from Blogging once Nora was born, but I couldn’t stay away! I missed it too much!
I created a few quick posts to document some aspects of the newborn phase but besides that, I’ve been just soaking up every minute I can with my little babes! With that being said, I’m pretty stoked to report that November was by BEST MONTH EVER. Record page views and record income! Woo-hoo! Let’s dig into how it happened.
Big Increase in Pageviews- 312,426 total!
I’ve been waiting all year for November and December. Last year I was a brand new blogger at this time but I still got a taste of how much the holiday season can bring a boost to your blog. Since I knew that I would be away during this important time, I had my Tailwind schedule stacked and ready to do the work for me. More details on my schedule here.
If you have read Pinning for Pageviews, you know I am all about using that Pinterest algorithm in my favor. You also know that I have a few theories as to what makes a pin go viral. I put one of them to the test big time this past month and sure enough, it worked! I had 3 brand new pins get repined over 5,000 times in the less than 30 days! This definitely helped bring in some more pageviews and get my pins in front of my niche!
As I mentioned earlier, I didn’t to much in terms of publishing this month. I created 3 new posts and scheduled them out for December and posted one MEGA post for November. This post has been the fastest growing post I have ever had on Swaddles n’ Bottles. It has been viewed hundreds of times since day 1 of pinning it on Pinterest. This post covers a topic that is a common challenge for my target audience. It took me a long time to put it together. It included a ton of photos, links and just general info to help out these new mamas.
This post shows that it really is quality over quantity when it comes to blogging. It only takes one post to really boost your numbers!
SEO
2017 has been the year of SEO work. I really want to diversify my traffic to come from places OTHER than Pinterest. I am not quite where I want to be yet, but we’re getting there! . Just 10 months ago, I was only bringing in 300 pageviews a month from search engine traffic. In November, I brought in over 46,000!
If you are looking for some insight as to how to kick start your SEO, you can check out this blog post. It’s a good starting point, but know that another one is coming! I’ve been digging even deeper into what can be done and I am putting it all together for you! Stay tuned for that…
Income
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate Marketing is the bread and butter of my little ol’ blog. I love promoting products I am using every day in my home while raising my babies.
You can download my entire affiliate marketing strategy here.
Here’s the breakdown of my Affiliate Marketing numbers:
Amazon: $4,186.32
Other Small Affiliates (Share-A-Sale and Awin)- $383.52
Total: 4,569.84
Ads
If you’ve been following along with my other income report, you know that I am part of the AdThrive Network and am beyond pleased with their services. The past three months have been a steady increase in income and I hope to say the same for December! Total ad income was $3,265!
EBook Sales
Pinning for Pageviews and mastering Affiliate marketing are continuing to reach new bloggers and help them meet their goals! Total eBook income: $343
Sponsored Posts
In other exciting news- I landed my first sponsored post with a HUGE company. Now, I have collaborated with companies in the past for free products for both myself and an extra for a giveaway, but I have never charged for a post on my site or my social media accounts. To be honest, I shied away from these type of posts for so long because I didn’t know how to approach the companies when it came to charging money. But I finally locked it down and am so happy to be working with an awesome brand that is used HIGHLY in my household!
The income from this collaboration will not come in until January so I am not counting it this month!
I took the photos for the post this past week and have sent them off for approval. I am really hoping they love them sooo much that this could lead to a lasting relationship to help them promote more products.
What is even more exciting- the same day I sent off the photos, a second paid opportunity found its way to my inbox! I have been working a lot on my Instagram presence of the past year with a goal of getting to this point- having my social media accounts brining in income each month! I know I have a lot of work ahead of me to continue to build it to where I want it to be, but it is exciting that the ball has started rolling in the right direction!
Next blog post: copies of my pitch emails, media kit examples and how I am growing my Instagram account and engagement!
Blog Coaching
As always, if you are looking for guidance when it comes to meeting your blog goals, I would highly recommend checking out the eBooks. If you are looking for something more tailored towards your unique challenges, then check out the one-on-one blog coaching page. Please note that I do not take on more than 3 blog coaching clients at a time to ensure I can give them and their blogs all the love and attention they deserve 🙂