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My third month of blogging has been relatively similar to the previous two months.
Not too much has changed in regards to traffic and earnings, although I have written some new content this month.
This blog report tells you what I’ve been up to recently on the blog, how it is performing and any future plans or updates which I may have in store for you…
Page Contents
- Why I Create Blog Income Reports
- New Blog Posts Published – 5 New Posts
- Traffic In My Third Month Blogging – 34 Users
- SEO & Google Search Console Impressions – 94 Impressions
- Social Media Reach After My Third Month Blogging
- Email Subscribers – 8 Subscribers
- Blog Income: Why Did I Earn £0 This Month?
- My Plans For Next Month, Etc.
Why I Create Blog Income Reports
I personally believe in transparency and honesty!
While it may seem weird to publish these details on the internet for all to see, it is a small trade-off to make in exchange for being more honest and transparent with my readers.
It also shows you what it’s like to build up a blogging business and the ins and outs of what needs to be done. It is also a great way to keep you updating on everything going on at Photoaspire.
I Want To Be Transparent & Accountable To You, My Readers
First of all, transparency!
I want to show you the behind-the-scenes of my blogging and how this blog is growing over time.
Many people (maybe including yourself) believe it is very difficult, if not impossible, to make a decent amount of money online. This is because of all the scams they have seen and all of the ads that promise you the world, such as “drop shipping courses” or “affiliate marketing” etc.
These scams prey on people desperate to make a quick buck, taking their hard-earned cash off them and giving them nothing in return.
The cold, hard truth – It takes time! A lot of time!
Yes, you CAN earn money blogging online but you’ll need to put the work in. It’s not all reclining in a chair by the pool and drinking cocktails.
Like all good things in life, you need to put a considerable amount of time and effort in if you want to see results.
Rome wasn’t built in a day!
I am not blogging to sell you a pipe dream or to give you unrealistic expectations.
I am blogging to help you out with your photography. To give you realistic results and to provide you with the best value possible.
I want my tutorials and blog posts to help you out and to help you take better pictures with your camera. By doing this, I am then able to help you, the reader, better with any photography issues you may have.
I also believe in accountability and being held accountable for your actions.
By doing this income report, I can track what you guys like reading and which articles you felt were most helpful.
This can help me to improve my current articles and to write better, more targeted articles in the future.
PS: I LOVE hearing feedback from you all. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me. You can contact me via the contact us page.
Writing this income report also keeps me focused and disciplined. Checking up on my blog stats every month helps me to see what and where I need to improve this site and how I can do this.
It is great for motivation and helps me to stay on track with my blog.
To Track My Progress Over Time As I Develop This Blog
Part of the reason for writing this blog income report is to track my progress over time, over the long term.
I want to see how things are going and (fingers crossed) I see growth month on month.
I want to track, double-check and make sure that the new content being produced and the work being put into this blog is getting me results.
More pageviews, more subscribers to my email list, more affiliate sales etc…
These are the “benchmarks” I am using to make sure that I am doing the right tasks to ensure my blog grows.
Being able to see how far I have come on in the future is also another reason for writing up this income report.
I am treating these reports as sort of an “archive” if you must, so I can look back on these reports in the future and see how the website has grown and developed ever since. I am a big fan of keeping track of how things are going and having an archive of reports will come in handy in a few years when I can see how the website has grown over time.
It’s always good to stay organised and have all my traffic, data and earnings etc. in one place!
To Show That Earning Money Via Blogging Is Possible, With Consistent Hard Work & Effort
Yes, I am blogging for money, too.
Come on! Who doesn’t like earning money?
While the money won’t start rolling in overnight, you can definitely make money online with a little time and effort. And this is what I am trying to prove with this income report.
Like with most things worth having in life, you need to work for it.
Making money off a blog is just the same.
You CAN earn money with a blog but you need to work on it consistently. New blog posts, new emails, new Pinterest pins and so on…
It’s not just “set and forget”. If you don’t take action and put the work in, you won’t see any results.
While in some months I may earn £0, others might be over £1,000. The income is not guaranteed and can fluctuate monthly, depending on the circumstances.
You just need to keep sticking at it and adapt over time to improve your content. If you do this, you will eventually start to earn money.
None Of This Is For Bragging
Last but definitely not least, I wanted to clarify this.
None of this is for bragging.
Not for showing off, not for rubbing it in anyone’s face or for comparing myself to others.
All of this is to show you what is possible. It is my way of giving you a sneak peek behind the scenes of what goes on at Photoraspire. I am just a normal person blogging about photography and I am writing articles to help you out because I believe other photographers should be able to shoot amazing pictures as well.
I hope this blog report inspires you, motivates you and gives you a better understanding of what blogging as a photographer is like.
Now, without further ado, let’s take a deep dive into how I got on in my third month of blogging!
New Blog Posts Published – 5 New Posts
This month I published a grand total of… FIVE POSTS
I am really happy with this number and I felt like I got some really important posts written this month.
I paid more attention to article formatting and I have been working hard to create more posts for Pinterest.
This month, these were the articles I published:
Next month I am going to continue to write more posts and I am aiming to build up consistency with my blogging. I will also go over older posts and start adding improvements to them. This is to make the content more relevant for you and to boost my SEO reach.
If you have any ideas or suggestions for future photography-related blog posts, don’t hesitate to contact me. I love receiving reader feedback and it helps me to ensure my content is working better for you guys.
Traffic In My Third Month Blogging – 34 Users
Traffic is sadly not growing as quickly as I thought it would be.
I personally think this is the most difficult part of blogging! Getting traffic can be very painful indeed and is not something that starts happening overnight!
While it is much, much easier to get the design of the website nailed down and to start pumping out content, traffic takes time and requires a lot of patience.
This month, I received 59 users on my website. This is equivalent to roughly 2 users/day.
While this is nowhere as high as some other bloggers, some of which are receiving over 3,000 users/day, I am very happy with this result.
It proves to me that I am starting to receive some traffic on my pages and this shows that developing decent traffic to my blog will be possible with some time and patience.
It is important to consider however that traffic is not yet CONSISTENT.
For me, the number of visitors I receive each day fluctuates dramatically.
Some days I receive up to 20 visitors, other days I receive ZILCH!
This is why it is important to not rely on one traffic source when starting out. You can only go so far by sharing your posts in Facebook group threads (something I would recommend avoiding altogether).
SEO also takes a little time to start kicking in. This is why I am currently using Pinterest as my main traffic driver, at least until my organic traffic starts improving.
My Pinterest page for this site is username: photoaspireblog. Or, you can click here if you want to go directly to the page.
Please do take a minute to explore the profile and do consider following me and repinning my pins if you find any of them relevant to you.
Getting Traffic Via Pinterest – 4K Impressions, No Clicks Yet
Pinterest is a great platform for all things inspiration and creativity!
But what you might not have realised is that Pinterest can be a goldmine for traffic.
While I’m waiting for SEO to kick in, I’ve been pinning onto Pinterest regularly to start building up a stream of consistent traffic.
Although I have started to see some impressions on my pins this month, it can take longer to start seeing Clicks through to your website.
Again, just like with SEO, it takes some time for Pinterest to start sending you traffic. It will take less time for Pinterest to start sending me traffic, however.
I am very excited to see what potential Pinterest will bring. Hopefully, it generates decent traffic in the photography niche, although I am aware that the health & fitness, creativity and blogging niches are far more successful on Pinterest.
I have also gained 8 followers since joining Pinterest, which shows that people are engaging with my content and are enjoying it, therefore they want to follow me and see more of my content in the future.
SEO & Google Search Console Impressions – 94 Impressions
Although SEO traffic is very low at the moment (I’m in the early stages of building it up), I am keeping track of it with a tool called Google Search Console.
Google Search Console is an ideal way to track if your SEO efforts are paying off. This useful website tracks your domain and shows you what keywords you’re ranking for on Google and how many times people are seeing your links.
This month, I received 94 impressions on Google. Not that many impressions, however, it is good to see my website is ranking for some keywords and is being indexed on Google.
Impressions track how many people scroll past your link on Google but don’t click on it whilst Clicks track how many people see your link on Google and then click on it, going through to read your blog post.
Social Media Reach After My Third Month Blogging
Although Pinterest is the exception to this rule, I have not been focusing on social media that much.
This is because I know that traffic will not be consistent and it takes a lot of effort just to gain a slither of traffic from say, Facebook or Twitter.
As a result of this, I’m sticking to Pinterest and SEO for the lion’s share of my website traffic for now. It’s better to master 1-2 sources of traffic rather than be average at 3-4 sources of traffic.
Why I’m Not Sharing My Posts On Facebook, Quora Etc.
Sharing posts on social media is not ideal for a few reasons.
Firstly, the ROI (Return On Investment) you get for it is very low. For sharing a few posts on Facebook, you’ll probably end up with 20-50 visitors at most.
Secondly, the visitors will not be engaging with your content. When you share your posts with a traffic group or a Facebook Group thread, all of the other participants will be doing the exact same thing.
They’ll be sharing their content, clicking on your page and then exiting the page as soon as possible.
They have no interest in your niche and don’t want to engage with the content or subscribe to your email list etc.
This means the views you get from sharing posts in various social media groups are nothing more than vanity metrics.
While social media may seem like a great way to get “Instant” traffic, it is not ideal for a long-term strategy, unless you have a large following of dedicated fans. Therefore, I will be sticking primarily to Pinterest and SEO for the bulk of my traffic, until I start developing a large social media following for this website.
Email Subscribers – 8 Subscribers
Having a base of email subscribers is another one of my key aims.
Almost every decent blogger who is pulling in a consistent income has one of these bad boys, and for good reason.
Email subscribers are some of your biggest fans, and they are the people who will come back and back again to read your new blog posts regularly.
They’re not like your typical users who have read one of your articles and then leaves your site, never to be seen again. They trust you and they want you to continue providing valuable posts for them on a regular basis.
This means that I now have 8 close fans who want more from Photoaspire! I am very happy about this and it shows that my content is performing well (hopefully, anyway).
While I have launched my two opt-ins, I haven’t received lots and lots of subscribers yet. Opt-ins are the free offers you get (like a guide or a checklist), whenever you sign-up to an email list.
Gone are the days of the generic “Join my newsletter” popups. Now you must provide value upfront if you want to gain that coveted email subscriber.
Thanks to my opt-ins, I have gained one new email subscriber this month, bringing me to a grand total of 8 email subscribers. HOORAY!
Email subscribers are VERY difficult to get, so getting another subscriber means a lot to me.
Getting more email subscribers will come with time and as my traffic increases, so will the number of email subscribers. What I will do in the meantime is make sure my opt-in freebie is relevant and valuable to my audience.
I will also look at adding content upgrades to some of my blog posts, meaning more posts will come with bonuses to help you improve your photography.
Blog Income: Why Did I Earn £0 This Month?
Blog monetisation has probably been at the bottom of my priorities at the moment.
For me personally, the most important thing to do is to write as much content as possible. Don’t worry about the traffic until I have the content nailed down.
No traffic means no income and it is best to write more articles until you start to have a steady influx of traffic.
This is for a few important reasons:
- Firstly, you want visitors to have content to read and consume when they visit your blog (the last thing you want is a blank homepage).
- Secondly, It helps you to understand what type of content resonates with your readers. If your website is boring or your readers are not engaging with your content, this means you probably need to switch up your blog posts and write some new content (or at least rewrite your previous posts).
As a result of this, I have not yet actively put any work into affiliate marketing and I haven’t been approved for Google AdSense yet.
This is something I will improve on at a later date but the most important thing for me to do now is to get my head down and pump out those blog posts.
Amazon Affiliates – £0 Earned
I haven’t actively added any affiliate links to any of my posts!
I have been focusing my spare time on writing up new blog posts. I then plan to add in the affiliate links at a later stage.
When I start focusing on monetisation more, I will look at new ways to incorporate affiliate links into my posts. This will be done by writing up reviews, guides, product comparisons and tutorials on how to use certain photography products.
Google AdSense – £0 Earned
I am currently in the process of sorting out Google AdSense, however, I am making sure I have enough content and that the content is all relevant and written to a high standard.
In the future, I aim to get into a more premium ad network, which results in a higher RPM and more earnings. This could potentially be Mediavine, Ezoic etc.
I also want to ensure that any ads placed do not harm the website experience. While earning a little money on the side is handy, the last thing I want to do is plaster my whole site in obtrusive ads which lead to people clicking off the site.
My Plans For Next Month, Etc.
Just like this month, I am going to stick to writing more content and refining my content. I will also look at researching more Pinterest pin designs and nailing that down, too.
I will also look at more photography techniques and ideas that I could write about to help you improve your photography, although suggestions from you guys are always welcomed.
Other tasks I will focus on this month include:
- Getting More Traffic to My Website
- Posting More Pins On Pinterest
- Reaching Out To Other Bloggers
- Adding Affiliate Links To Posts
Thanks for taking the time to read this income report and see you in the next one 🙂
Photoaspire
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