This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclaimer for more information

Welcome to my April 2017 blog income and traffic report in my 8th month of blogging.

In this post, I will explain how I was able to make over $1700 and get over 35k page views in 30 days!

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclaimer for more information.

WHY I’M BLOGGING MY INCOME & TRAFFIC REPORTS

When I created this blog, it was to show people how to make money online through online jobs, online businesses, blogs, websites and so on. What better way to do that than to allow them to see me doing it right along with them, right?

1. I want to be able to document the growth of my blog.

2. I want people to see that it is possible to make money from their blogs and ultimately create a better life with more choices for themselves and their loved ones.

3. I love writing, so I will take the opportunity to write anything!

Plus it’s all the rave these days and everyone’s doing it! Just kidding! I’m not one to follow the crowd, but I am particularly interested in making money and sharing my experiences trying to do so online.

4. The main aim of my monthly blog income and traffic report is to help someone, somewhere, learn something from this, and create a better life for themselves by starting their own blog, if that’s what interests them, but they’ve been afraid to take the leap!

So, if you’re that someone who would like to create your own blog, I created a detailed, step by step guide on how to setup a blog in 30 minutes or less with SiteGround. If you use my link, you can receive a 60% discount and start blogging for just $3.95 per month (unbeatable value!!!). I recently learned that it is really possible to make money from a blog and I am determined to do this right and have a super successful blog. I would love for you to join me along the way!

I notice that many bloggers start income and traffic reports when their blog actually starts to make money, rather than when they first start their blog. I get this since:

1. Many bloggers start their blogs with no idea that they can even generate an income from it, or with no desire to even do so.

2. Some do not even know the concept of a blog income and traffic report when they first start out blogging.

But, I do, and I want to be different and share the progress of my blog from the very beginning rather than from when it starts to actually make progress.

 

I’M SHARING MY INCOME AND TRAFFIC REPORTS TO KEEP YOU AND ME MOTIVATED!

Here’s what I think

I suspect that many people who start blogging quit before really giving it a chance because they don’t seem to see much progress in terms of traffic and income in the first few months of blogging (month 1-3). Therefore, blogging seems useless to them.

Moreover, many people don’t see bloggers ‘like them’ who aren’t making much money and getting much traffic as yet. After all, the blogosphere is filled with income and traffic reports from bloggers who choose to share their income and traffic reports when they ‘look better’

There is absolutely nothing wrong with that at all. But this blog is about helping the newbies, like me, see full, unedited progress and pitfalls from day one.

I share this in the hope that it will keep newbies motivated and let them see that they aren’t doing anything wrong, they are merely learning and progressing at a typical pace.

Also, if you’re not yet a blogger, I hope my income and traffic reports, as well as all my other juicy articles for newbie bloggers, will help you build up the courage to start your own profitable blog as you see that anything is possible with it no matter what your stats are in the beginning. It will get better, way better, if you do the right things consistently.

A FEW HIGHLIGHTS FROM APRIL

Traffic was not at it’s best because I took a loooonng break in the middle of May. Can you tell? My income and traffic report which I normally post on 1st of each month is an entire week late!

I was completely burned out and overwhelmed and decided to forgo strictly manually pinning (which has given me my best results so far) and I reintroduced Tailwind to schedule! Traffic suffered due to this!

I had to do it guys! It was either that or no pinning at all (and I could not stomach that thought since that would leave me close to no traffic)…So Tailwind pulled me through until I felt ready to get back to blogging and manual pinning.

I’m still using the strategies outlined in this course. It’s mainly focused on manually pinning and various strategies you can use to improve your traffic with the manual pinning method. If you want to give it a try it costs $47. Click this link to purchase it.

I finally got Mediavine ads on my blog towards the end of April!

 

Overall April was a good month

This blog was launched on September 1st, 2016 and this is my 8th blog income and traffic report.

To be fair, it was one of the most ‘overwhelming’ months I’ve had since launching my blog. My overwhelm didn’t come from blogging, but from other personal issues that began to affect my work, mainly creating a little set back in my traffic and resulting in me having a host of unanswered, unopened emails in my inbox and a lot of tasks left unfulfilled:-(

If you would like to see the progress of smartnancials.com over the past 7 months, check out the links below.

• September 2016 income and traffic report ($51.29 )

• October 2016 income and traffic report ($145.89)

• November 2016 income and traffic report ($245.36)

• December 2016 income and traffic report ($334.51)

• January 2017 income and traffic report ($763.67)

• February 2017 income and traffic report ($626.36)

 

• March 2017 income and traffic report ($1505.27)

 

Wanna start your own blog?

Without further ado, here’s how my blog did in April

 

These Were My Goals For April 2017 – Was I successful Or Not?

 

GOAL #1: Get 60,000 Page Views In April

Failed!

My goal was to get 60,000 page views in April and I didn’t even come close! I actually got 38,000 page views.

I know exactly why ( since I reintroduced scheduled pinning for a few weeks as explained above) but I’m still bummed about it.

Anyways, this month will be spent sticking to the strategies in this e-book to I can make better progress as previously demonstrated in my previous traffic report. Click Here to get the ebook to help grow your traffic.

GOAL #2: Engage more in my facebook group and grow it

Partly Succesful!

My little fb group keeps growing! It now has over 1200 members (with close to 1000 waiting to be approved!).

However, I was not as active in the group as I would like.

GOAL #3: Earn $1700+ in April

Successful!

INCOME

Google Adsense: $191.44

MediaVine Ads (added to my blog on April 29th at 4:31 pm) $29.49

Web hosting Affiliate: $450.00

Flex Offers: $626.36

Maxbounty: $258.50

Jaxxy Affiliate: $20.00

Shareasale: $1.00

CPA Leads: $5.50

Pinteresting Strategies: $144.00

Bookscouter: $0.15

 

TOTAL INCOME: $1726.44

 

EXPENSES

Web Hosting: $17.00

Tailwind: $0.00 (paid for through Tailwind credit)

Misc. Blog Expenses (Printing and such): $10.00

TOTAL EXPENSES: $27.00

 

Net income: $1699.44

 

GOAL #4: Publish 4 blog posts (each 1500 + words)

Successful!

 

GOAL #5: Get 200 More Email Subscribers

Failed!

I was able to get 130 new subscribers in April. I’m now using the sumo me smart bar which seems to be helping me get more email subscribers.

 

GOAL #6: Get 300 more Pinterest followers.

Failed

I got 115 more Pinterest followers in April. I am now at 1303 Pinterest followers. I didn’t even dent this goal! 🙂

 

GOAL #8: Complete and publish my Advertise with me page

Failed

I did not get a chance to work on this beyond what I had already done in March 2017. This is something I need to work on ASAP in  May.

 

This is how the month of April went for my blog. How did you blog progress April? Link your income reports below so I can check it out!

Link your income reports below so I can check it out!

 

TWO SIGNIFICANT TAKEAWAYS I WANT TO LEAVE YOU WITH:

1. Traffic is an essential component to building a successful blog

Before increasing my traffic, my income was not very good. Since I’ve been able to more than double my traffic these past two months, I have seen a significant increase in my income.

The easiest way I’ve been able to get lots of traffic to this blog each month is via Pinterest.

To be fair, I’ve used Pinterest to gain traffic from very early on in my blog journey, but I’ve only learned how to leverage its power a few months ago after using the information in this course.

The awesome blogger who created it shares the strategies she has used to grow her blog from 0-200,000 page views in a few months

I highly recommend it if you want to learn how she did it and how you can too! Click this link to get Pinteresting Strategies for only $47.00

 

2. One Important Tip To Increase Your Income

Try to have a mix of both high paying affiliate programs and low/lower paying affiliate programs throughout your blog.

This strategy has helped significantly in improving my monthly income.

Here’s why:

The affiliate programs that pay out anywhere from $0.60 to $5 per sign up, convert really well for me. This is simply because it’s very easy for someone to sign up for something that will benefit them, without having to pull out their credit card and PAY for it. And, although these affiliate program payouts seem very low, you will find that they quickly add up at the end of each month.

This is simply because it’s very easy for someone to sign up for something that will benefit them, without having to pull out their credit card and PAY for it. And, although these affiliate program payouts seem very low, you will find that they quickly add up at the end of each month.

Here are three affiliate networks I use to find affiliate programs that have low payouts but are free to join, which makes them appealing to my blog visitors. They can help boost your blogging income so try them out!

They can help boost your blogging income so try them out!

 

Awin.com

Maxbounty.com

Flex Offers.com

 

 

Blog goals for May 2017!

1. Get 45,000 page views by the last day of May 2017.

2. Engage more in my facebook group and grow it to 1000+ members + find a good moderator to help out with the group. If you want to help with this feel free to reach out to me via the contact form on this page.

4. Earn $2000 this month.

5. Publish 4 blog posts (each 1500 + words).

6. Get 200 more email subscribers.

7. Get 300 more Pinterest followers.

8. Complete and publish my ‘Advertise with me’ page. Three people have reached out to me about advertising on my blog so I’m guessing it’s time to have a place where they can see terms and such for their benefit.

Will I achieve these goals at the end of May? Stick around to find out how I’m doing!!

Also, if you have any questions at all, leave a comment and I will help out! 🙂

I would love to know your plans for your blog this month! Share with me in the comments below!

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Learning Material That I Highly Recommend

 

Pinteresting Strategies: This e-book helped me increase my page views drastically. My blog went from 12,000 page views to 56,000 page views in a few months!

Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing: This course is a must for anyone interested in making money online through affiliate marketing. I’ve learned so much about affiliate marketing just from this course and I have been able to grow my blog’s income from $1700 to $3000 exactly 1 month after getting the e-course and implementing some of its strategies.

Pinterest Traffic Avalanche: This e-course walks you through absolutely everything you need to know about succeeding on Pinterest. It’s super in depth and will teach you some amazing Pinterest strategies that you won’t find anywhere else. This course is especially great for helping you create the best pins which in return, help you get loads of traffic from Pinterest.