How I Made $3,226.89 in 5th Month of Blogging

It is the most exciting time of the month where I share all my the and downs of my blogging journey with all of you.

This update is all the more special because this is the last update for this year and many exciting things happened this month.

This year is quite special to me; I started this blog from just an idea to making it live back in July. It still feels surreal to me, but thanks to all of you, I am so inspired to make it helpful and full of resources.

It was again a great month regarding traffic, income and writing more useful content.

Though I set some high targets for this month, I am totally happy I almost reached my goals.

There are two reasons I share my blog update and income report: first, to be accountable, and second, to show you no matter how young your blog is, you can make money from it.

Last month, the traffic was over 70,000 page views, and I was aiming for 100,000 for this month.

Here is what happened this month:

TRAFFIC

I am at 85,000 page views. I did not reach my goal, but I’m still happy to see a good increase. There has been a decrease in the bounce rate and an increase in returning visitors. I am still working on writing longer posts, which might reduce the bounce rate further.

There are some posts that are doing great on Pinterest:

rev.com Review: Make Money from Home as a Captioner (26K shares)
How to Make Money without a Job – 27 Legit Ways in 2023 (9.8K shares)
23 Profitable Hobbies That Make Money in 2023 (8.5K shares)
32 Online Jobs That Pay $15 an Hour or More in 2023(1.3K shares)
How to Become a Virtual Assistant and Make $35–$50/HR (Without Any Experience) (1K shares)

With Pinterest becoming my primary traffic source, I am working on making more changes to my pins and descriptions.

Here are my past month updates:

How I Got over 16,000 Page Views in the First Month of Blogging
Month Two Traffic Update: How I Got over 25,000 Page Views with a New Blog
Month 3 Blog Update: 50,000 Page Views and My First Income Report
How I Made $2,347.17 in 4th Month of Blogging

SUBSCRIBERS

My list has gone up to 500. I could not be happier, but the thing I am really looking forward to is that I will be offering a freebie to my readers next month.

PINTEREST

I am at 1.9K followers, and that’s a gain of 500 since last month. Pinterest had some glitches last month which slowed my traffic a bit but not significantly.

I started pinning manually last month, and it has worked for me. I still use BoardBooster and Tailwind for their amazing automation capabilities like looping and analytics.

I definitely cannot do without Tailwind’s analytics.

FACEBOOK

My page likes are growing and are now at 778. What I like about it is the strategies that I am using are surely working. I have been testing the times I post at and the type of posts I do.

TWITTER

I intend to work on Twitter in the new year. It does not get much traffic for me, so I usually don’t spend much time on it. But I would like to see some growth soon.

INSTAGRAM

I have again neglected Instagram. I just post my blog posts on this platform. I need to work on a strategy to get traffic from Instagram as well. 

INCOME REPORT

Affiliate Income

Survey Affiliates (iGain, MaxBounty, Panthera Network) – $2,177.67
30 Days or Less to Virtual Assistant Success – $120
Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing – $78.80
Strategies Worth Sharing – $16
Udemy – $12
Amazon – $11.89
Indeed – $0.76
BookScouter – $1.05
Grammarly – $1.20

Ads – $807.52

Expenses

BoardBooster – $5
Grum – $10

NET INCOME – $3,211.89

I am super thrilled with the steady growth in income. One thing I am looking into is diversifying the sources of revenue. It is always a good strategy to make money from different sources rather than putting all your eggs in one basket.  

Things I did

I have started reading more about different aspects of blogging after buying the Genius Blogger’s Toolkit last month.

I am also trying to implement all the tips in the Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing course. Michelle is a pro when it comes to affiliate marketing, and the proof is most of my income is from affiliates.

I also joined many big group boards on Pinterest.  

What I learned

Tracking and analyzing your traffic and income sources is a critical step in the blogging journey. If you know where most of your traffic/revenue is coming from, you can work more on strategies to increase them.

That is the main reason I still use Tailwind. It has the most powerful analytics.

What’s Next?

I am very excited for 2017 as January marks the completion of six months of blogging for me. There are many things that I have learned and much more to learn and achieve.

With my new freebie ready, I will be working on increasing my list in the new year. I am also planning on making some changes to my newsletter.

Traffic

Reaching 100K page views would be great in the new year when the blog has been live for six months.

Income

I never set a target for income, so any increase would be great, but I will work on diversifying the sources of revenue.

Subscribers

Hitting 500 subscribers has been great, and I am going to work on increasing that number.

For new bloggers, the whole blogging thing can be feel like much to handle when it comes to some aspects of getting traffic, making money, and increasing followers.

But it can be a smooth process if you implement the right strategies. Here are some resources that helped me to reach this stage. I highly recommend them, and they can be quite helpful—no matter what stage of blogging you are at.

Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing – This is by far the best course I have ever taken, and it has helped me with many aspects of affiliate marketing. This course is a must for anyone who is serious about making money from their blog.

Pinteresting Strategies – Carly’s Pinterest strategies helped me to exponentially grow my traffic and, in turn, my income. I have tested them and they definitely work.

Traffic Transformation – I love Lena’s eBook for the fact that she dives into getting traffic from less frequently used platforms like StumbleUpon.  

Strategies Worth Sharing – This is an an eBook I bought even before starting my blog, and it helped me to reach 700+ likes on Facebook. With Facebook being the second biggest referral for traffic for many bloggers, you need to invest in this eBook to grow your traffic.

Bluehost – I have had a great experience with Bluehost. Blogging is a great side hustle, and if you are waiting to start a money-making blog on a budget, then Bluehost is the way to go.

I am super happy finishing this year with so much growth. It has been an incredible year for me with regards to my blog reaching many milestones.

Here’s to the New Year and new goals!!!

About Sireesha Narumanchi

Hi, I am Sireesha, and thank you for stopping by to get to know me. I am a work-at-home mom, a side hustler, and a firm believer in making "working from home" a success for everyone. I have worked in a remote job for over 11 years and tried many side gigs. I have been featured on many popular websites like Forbes, Business Insider, American Express, QuickBooks, The Muse, Moneyish, Virtual Vocations, Spark Hire, Bustle, Fairygodboss, Side Hustle School, Payoneer, Jobbatical, and Skillcrush.Read more...

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