Who’da thunk it?  With a blink of an eye a “quarter” has gone by!  Serena on the GO officially launched April 28, 2017.  Within 7 days I’d received over 3000 page views (read about it here), and within 3 months I’d received over 20,000 page views (read about that here).  Get a hold of this…most of those page views occurred while I was unplugged in Maui for 16 days…thanks to Pinterest and BoardBooster!

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links.  Clicks may result in me earning a commission.

Let’s get something out of the way.  Some love income reports, other’s don’t.  If you’ve been following me much you’ll know I don’t care what others do, and I try to care very little about what others think (you can read about that here!)  Truth be told, if it hadn’t been for discovering income reports on Pinterest prior to my blogging days it’s unlikely I would have started my own blog at all. With that said, I’m hopeful that by posting my own reports, those coming behind me will find motivation and inspiration to start their blogging journey!

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Income reports (along with Social Media & Blog Traffic Reports) keep hope alive!  They serve as a kick-butt accountability and tracking tool (to ourselves) and they give insight into what is possible for others!  What better motivation is there than real life results?  None that I can think of.

When I started Serena on the GO it was done to teach others how to fly for free (as in, get free airfare!)  I’m a huge travel addict; once I’d learned to fly for free I wanted to teach others how.  I did that, successfully.  However, along my 1^st quarter journey I found myself struggling to produce awesome travel related contact.  While I love writing, I wasn’t finding passion or joy in writing about travel, and I’m not keen on photographs (Achilles heel, ya’ll.) Following my heart and gut instincts to transition out of travel blogging has paid off two-fold; not only am I happy, my readers are providing marvelous feedback! If you stick it out with me you’ll be in for more about business, motivation, passion-pursuing and mentoring; topics I’m endlessly giddy talking about!

Highest Performing 1^st Quarter Posts:

• MAKE MONEY ONLINE USING AFFILIATE MARKETING; HOW MY BLOG EARNED OVER $200 IN MY FIRST 3 WEEKS LIVE & HOW A BLOGGER MAKES OVER $100K MONTHLY BLOGGING!
• HOW I GOT 3000 PAGE VIEWS IN MY FIRST “LIVE” WEEK OF WORDPRESS BLOGGING!
• SO YOU WANT TO LEARN HOW TO FLY FREE? YOU’RE IN THE PERFECT PLACE! START HERE!
• BLOGGING FOR INCOME!

How Bout’ That Blog Traffic:

Wow!  Blog Traffic has been incredible!  However, during my 3-month journey I learned that many struggle with blog traffic to the point of giving up or quitting, so I set out to find ways to help my fellow bloggers drive traffic to their sites.  If blog traffic is a challenge for you please visit my posts HERE and HERE to find out how I drove over 20,000 page views between my April 28^th launch and July.

Using BoardBooster to schedule Pinterest activity has been beyond-words rewarding for my traffic.  I’ve always been a HUGE fan of Pinterest, but I never realized how beneficial it would be for my blog.  Using BoardBooster to schedule my pins has been the source of 80% of my blog traffic.   I started with a free trial and quickly realized the $10.00 a month was worth its weight in gold (your 1^st 100 pins each month are free!)  BoardBooster has increased my Pinterest followers by 335 in just 90 days, and increased my monthly engagement to 65,587!  Insane, right!

If Pinterest is new to you, or you’re not quit getting it I highly recommend Become a Pinterest VA Today. This course will walk you through everything you’ll need to get your Pinterest performing for you and driving traffic to your blog.

 

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Social Media and Current Stats:

Participation in Facebook Groups has also played a huge role in driving traffic to my blog. When I started blogging I didn’t realize the importance social media played.  Since I’ve never had Instagram or Twitter I had to push myself out of my comfort zone and get involved.  While I’m still learning at snail’s pace, I feel like I’m starting to get the hang of both.

Having Convertkit to capture and connect with subscribers from the “get-go” has been awesome. Many times bloggers report they wish they had started gaining subscribers from the start.  Subscribers are your loyal readers; the ones that will keep coming back for more and that will give you honest feedback and direction.  They are also who will purchase your products and become your affiliates.

I’ve had to contact my host, Bluehost, twice with plug-in issues that caused my comments to act up.  Bluehost customer service was top notch and they had everything working perfectly in moments.

Here’s where I’m at, as of July 28, 2017:

• Blogger Hangout Facebook Group:  275 Members
• Blog traffic:  20,232 Page Views
• Pinterest followers:  383
• Twitter followers:  74
• Serena on the GO Facebook page:  320 “Likes”
• Instagram followers:  186
• E-mail subscribers:  392
• Started Elite Blog Academy 3.0:  Currently on Module 1

Goals for 2^nd Quarter:  

• Increase Blogger Hangout Facebook Group to 700 members
• Increase blog traffic to 20,000 monthly page views
• Grow Pinterest followers to 600
• Expand Twitter following to 150
• Grow Serena on the GO Facebook page to 600 “likes”
• Inflate Instagram to 500 followers
• Gain 300 new e-mail subscribers
• Publish weekly round-up posts
• Complete Elite Blog Academy 3.0
• Earn $600.00 in affiliate income

Let’s Talk About MONEY! 

While income alone wasn’t my sole objective when I started blogging, it certainly played a role in my “big picture”.  I wanted to be able to eventually monetize so that I could quit my day job and replace my income.  Just weeks into being “live” I heard about Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing and decided that was an investment I could justify; thank God I did.  Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing walked me through money making stuff that was totally foreign to me!

Within a week of implementing steps from the course I had earned my first affiliate marketing commission!

My 1^st quarter expenses were high; this is because I’m a true believer in investing in my business so that it rewards me like a business.  Naturally, I won’t incur these same costs every month. Please don’t think that you need to incur these costs to have a great blog…you don’t!

Expenses:

Bluehost $154.08– This is where I “host” my blog, and they come highly recommend from me!  If you’re just starting out or thinking about switching your host, please go with a self-hosted WordPress site hosted by Bluehost. I paid for a 36 month subscription up front which included site hosting, domain registration and site security. For me, paying upfront was just easier and one less thing I have to remember a year from now; you don’t have to do this.

Convertkit $58.00 ($29.00 a month) – ConvertKit is my e-mail service provider; it allows me to easily collect leads, embed subscription forms into my posts, and send pretty e-mails to my readers.  I’m partial to ConvertKit because I live in Boise (they are here!), but honestly, they are the best in the business and you’ll find that most well-known, successful bloggers use ConvertKit.

BoardBooster $15.00 – Oh, BoardBooster, my heart.  BoardBooster is a Pinterest scheduling tool that allows you to “set it and forget it”.  I have BoardBooster scheduled to release my own pins from my Pinterest boards into Pinterest Group Boards daily, based on the Group Board rules.  BoardBooster gets ALL the credit for 6000 page views while I was unplugged in Maui for 16 days!

Studio Mommy Theme $45.00 – I knew from research that I wanted a blog “theme” that wasn’t free. I learned that a paid theme looks professional and provides more freedom to be creative and monetize.  I’m forever thankful that I found Studio Mommy on Etsy; her work is gorgeous and her customer service is banging! If you’re ever in need of a theme you should look at her work. Wow, just wow.

BellBerry Lane Logo $147.00 – So, I actually ended up with 2 different logos that were hand created by Kristin from Bellberry Lane.  When my blog was revolving around travel she had created an adorable travel related logo, then I asked her to change it for me to represent my transition to mentoring and blogging.

Canva $119.40 – Canva is another service I paid for the entire year upfront.  It was easier, and I think I saved some money that way.  Canva is another “must have” in my book.  It’s the SIMPLEST way of making Pinterest optimized images and graphics for your blog post.  If your computer or photograph challenged like me, Canva is your answer.

Elite Blogging Academy $797.00 – Crazy, I know. Worth it? Absolutely.  EBA is intense, and I’m so excited to work through it.  Ruth Soukup from Living Well Spending Less is a blogging genius and this is her course.  EBA is a well-known course for serious bloggers looking to take their blogging business to a completely new level.  I was ready. So I jumped.  I’ll keep you posted how it goes! If EBA is a course you’re interested In I highly recommend getting on the waiting list now!

Income:

Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing taught me how to use affiliate marketing in my blog.  In the last 3 months I’ve made a total of $584.22.  This income came from offering links to courses such as Become a Pinterest VA Today and through vendor sites such as ShareASale and Flexoffers.

In light of being transparent, it’s tough to break this income down because I have my affiliate vendors set not pay out until I reach $100.00.  Since my income is coming from different vendors they haven’t all paid out yet.  I’m ONLY reporting $584.22 that I’ve actually received in my bank account through Paypal.

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I’d love to hear if you have started a blog! What has worked? What hasn’t? Blogging is not easy!  If you’re willing to put the hard work in and keep trucking away you’ll reap big rewards, but it won’t come quick or overnight.

Happy Blogging Friends!

Serena