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December was by far the best month for traffic so far on Eclectically Ema. The income report side is not quite as good, but the traffic I received over the Christmas period blew me out of the water.
As December drew to a close, it made me think about what was and wasn’t working on the blog, how to save myself time and how to effectively plan and write my content ahead of time because I am writing week by week and that is not the most efficient way to write or to try to grow a blog.
My decision was to space out my income report to quarterly instead of monthly because although Eclectically Ema is growing day by day, it is still slow. So it just makes sense really. Plus, in the week I release my income report at the moment, I have another two posts and my newsletter in the same week.
The second thing I realised was that my Eco posts are not what you guys want to read. I am still fully committed to reducing the plastic waste in my household and shopping more locally, these posts just do not grab readers like some of my more popular posts about pregnancy.
The third (which I had only just realised yesterday) is that I need to have a consistent theme each month. This means that each month will be focusing on a particular subject. Throughout the month, I will write posts for you to enjoy centred around a certain theme, with links and referrals back to pregnancy, parenting and being a WAHM (work at home mum). By doing this it will help me to create more consistent content quicker, that will give you value when you read it.
What is an income report?
An Income report for bloggers are posts about the previous month on our blogs. We talk about any income we may have generated through product sales, affiliate sales or online courses we provide. We may talk about how we did this and what was successful and what wasn’t.
We also talk about our traffic for the past month. This can provide insight into the strategies that a blog uses to gain traffic. We will talk about what worked and didn’t work for us that particular month within the income report.
An income report is there to offer some behind the scenes insight into the blogging world. Many people think it is a get rich quick or easy route out. Blogging requires a lot of dedication, motivation and perseverance. The income report holds bloggers accountable for what they have or have not done, it provides motivation for the following month, even if the previous one has been dreadful or out of this world. It also means that the income report can show the rest of the world that you can be a blogger and you can be successful, for actually very little start-up cost.
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Goals From December
Increase page views to 7000 through pin scheduling and my fabulously loyal email list.
I did this alright!! I’ll talkabout this when I talk about my traffic for the month, but I was so happy when I checked at the end of December. This was helped by it being Christmas time and having established my Christmas countdown posts. Thank you, everyone!
Evaluate my pin design and descriptions.
I have been trying to carry on using images that have a lot of white space. I have also been using images that hint or relate to the subject that is being discussed within the post. Although imagery plays a bit part in pin design, I have also been paying attention to my headlines and how I highlight the most important parts e.g. what I want people to see first and grab their attention.
Start brainstorming ideas for my first product launch.
This I have started. I have also asked in my January newsletter for my subscribers to let me know what they would like to read more of and what type of product would be the most beneficial to them. If you would like to share with me any ideas you have, or something that you feel would really benefit you, then please let me know in the comments below.
As for what I have been thinking….it’s a secret! No, no I’m only joking. Originally I wanted to make a digital product that would be at a lower price than a physical one. I was seriously struggling with the topic and what could be included. This then led me to think of what other things I really enjoy to create. Art is another one of my passions, and I go through phases with what I create. My last creations made me think of opening an Etsy shop with digital artwork that is available to download and print off at home. My main focus had been for nursery’s, however, the images I have created would suit any room.
Setting up an Etsy shop takes time and patience, so this is going to be my goal for this year. Set up and have an Etsy shop running efficiently while still finding time to create new artworks for the shop (and new content for the blog of course!). By following this path, it allows me to continue to do two things I absolutely LOVE. Blogging and art. Focusing on home decor within the shop also allows for different products to be added at a later date, for example, my other half Nick makes one-off pieces of furniture at times that are awesome!
What worked/didn’t work for me this month
Writing
Since returning to my normal posting schedule, writing has been a lot easier. I wanted to make sure that December on the blog was taken care of and I could slow down, relax and enjoy the time with my family. This was easier to do than I first thought. This was because, while I recovering my c-section I had decided to make notes about posts that I wanted to write. Mainly during the many nights feeds. This proved incredibly helpful because two of my posts already had the bones and I just needed to put them into coherent sentences that weren’t fueled by sleep deprivation.
What didn’t work for this month was the rollout of Gutenberg when WordPress updated!
If you don’t know what Gutenberg is, then it is a brand new editor for writing content that replaced the classic editor on WordPress. Gutenberg is a block editor that you can drag and drop into place. Honestly, I thought that this would be easier, sleeker and time-saving.
Oh, boy was I wrong! I know it takes time to get used to learn new things, but it just really was not a good time to try to learn something new. Especially when I was working to a very unmovable deadline, Christmas.
For now, I have used a plugin to revert back to the classic editor until I have the proper time to learn Gutenberg.
Social Media
Instagram worked very well for December. I gained a good amount of followers and also made sure that I had consistency with the aesthetic of my feed. I was able to do this easily by posting twice a day. These were revealing what I had in my Soap and Glory advent calendar each day. I also posted about my Elf on the Shelf each day in the run-up to Christmas. This showed that posting consistently twice a day worked for my account. I found that the key to being able to consistently post is to make sure you have images to post in advance or have something you do daily that you post to Instagram.
Email List
Due to my Ultimate Christmas Planner being available for download, my email list grew by 17 in December. This is the same growth as November, I expect the growth to slow down in the new year because my Christmas Planner will be out of season. This is something I need to address so that my email list can continue to grow throughout the year and not just at certain times.
December Posts
What is Affiliate Marketing for Bloggers?
Income and Traffic Report | November 2018
What to Expect After a C-Section.
Why I’m not Making a New Years Resolution now I’m a Mum of Two.
The Fourth Trimester Transition.
Most popular posts in December
Christmas Gifts for Someone Who has Everything.– 1604 Pageviews
10 Gifts for New Dads and Dads To Be.– 1496 Pageviews
15 Best Christmas Messages to write for cards at Christmas.– 1169 Pageviews
Christmas Gifts for Parents | From Not on the Highstreet.– 630 Pageviews
21 Gifts for Pregnant Women.-593 Pageviews
I wasn’t surprised to see that 4 of my most popular posts throughout the years busiest shopping month were gift guides and gift round-up posts. I hope that these posts helped my readers with their Christmas shopping. I was surprised, however, that my top 5 posts of the month made up over half of my entire pageviews for December.
Traffic Report
Google Analytics
This was another record cracking month for page views.9343 Pageviews in December, that’s just crazy for me to even think about! My bounce rate was lower this month as well, which in all honesty is the stat that I really care about. This basically shows how many of my pageviews were people interacting with the page and not just clicking straight off, that is why I calculate the number of pageviews against the bounce rate. This makes my actual page views 718.7….how I can have 0.7 of a pageview I will never know…Even though my actual page views are a lot lower than 9343, it is still approximately 290 more than November. So there is growth there.
You can see towards the end of the month, that my stats take a bit of a dive. These are the days after Christmas and in the run-up to New years eve. I expected this drop because people are busy with their family’s and enjoying quality time together. I am expecting this to recover slowly, although not to the extent that it has this month.
Next month I am hoping for an increase in traffic pre-Christmas season, so approximately September/October. This would mean an increase from approximately 300 pageviews a month, this I am sure I can do and if I can’t, then I am doing something drastically wrong!!
My Pinterest impressions were high this month compared to others. Just like my Google Analytics graph, there is also a dip around Christmas, however, my Pinterest impressions jump straight back up at approximately 28th December. I had re-evaluated my pin design for all my pins this month and went with 3 main pin templates. This is so I can try to understand the type of pin that gains high impressions, as well as a high save, and click-through rate.
When looking at the monthly viewer’s graph this is only the second income report that I have seen any significant movement of the line. In November I saw a huge increase in my monthly viewers. This increase continued. At this moment in time, I can only put this down to making my pins more consistent with keeping colours on brand, using white space and so on. I have also been making sure to pack my descriptions full of keywords.
Income Report
It’s now been a month that I have been part of the Amazon affiliate network and I’m not surprised that I haven’t made any affiliate sales through this. Unfortunately, my posts were not suitable for amazons products, so I plan to create some content in January around some amazon products to try to drive some sales.
I did earn some affiliate income from my other two networks though, which I was very pleased about. Please remember that I track affiliate income as I earn it, NOT as it is paid out. Some bloggers track income as it is paid out, but I choose to do it the other way.
AWIN: £3.68
Rakuten: £1.17
Total: £4.85
Although this is slightly lower than November’s income, I’m just happy that I managed to earn some income from two of my affiliate networks that I am a part of. I now just have to work hard to generate some income through Amazon this month.
Outgoings
I had no outgoings this month, as my hosting, tailwind and my Pinterest course (which I am yet to finish) has been paid upfront.
Scheduling made SUPER easy
Tailwind is an amazing scheduling tool. I know that I certainly couldn’t pin as much if I were to do it manually. I also wouldn’t know what the best times to pin for my individual audience was. Tailwind does all this for you!
Use my link below to sign up to Tailwind, you’ll get 100 free spins, plus a $15 credit when you upgrade to the plus plan.
That’s the equivalent of a free month on the plus plan! That’s what I am currently on!
Another bonus is that when you sign up for the plus plan, you can use Smart Loop. This loops your pins you select. Awesome for that evergreen content and it means you can set it and forget (for a while anyway).
Summary
Another good month for the blog really. My traffic was awesome, I earned some affiliate income and started to learn about what pins were engaging readers enough to click-through to the blog. In January I plan to use Amazon affiliates a whole bunch more to try to earn some more income through them. I also revealed that I will be starting an Etsy shop focusing on home decor and interiors. Plus, the income report I love writing so much will move to quarterly instead of monthly. WHEW!that’s a lot in one month.
Goals for January-April
- Crack 10,000 pageviews for at least one month
- Get my bounce rate below 90% consistently
- Start to set up my Etsy shop with the artworks I have already created.
- Gain 15 more subscribers.
These are all very attainable goals if I put my mind to it. To do this I am going to use my
EPIC BLOG: One-Year Editorial Plannerby ReginaAnaejionu. Super helpful! You definitely need to check it out if you are thinking of starting to blog, or blog right now. It has everything we need in it!
See the next income report in April.
