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Welcome! July 2018 was a pretty average month for Frugal Nesting, but a challenging one for me personally.
Traffic stabilized in July with ebbs and flows in the expected range. It was nice to not have any surprises like we had last month!
The summer slump doesn’t seem to have impacted us, with that one-week exception back in June. Traffic has been going strong for us this summer – knock on wood.
I’m curious what things will look like for us heading into fall and winter. I will be comfortable if things stay on the same trajectory but would love to see traffic pick up even more.
I’d love to start hitting 30,000 pageviews per month sooner than later. My search engine traffic seems to be picking up, which is really awesome!
Now on to the good stuff…let’s talk about money, honey!
Why Publish An Income Report?
Well, there are a number of reasons, including:
- It’s a great excuse for me to sit down each month to see what is working, what is not, and where I landed for the month.
- I love reading other people’s income reports. I find them fascinating, but they are getting harder to find. So why not make my own?
- It can be helpful for newer bloggers to see one example like this from a smaller blog.
- And it will be fun to see the change over time.
July 2018 Blogging Income Update
Before expenses, I earned $352.49 blogging in July 2018.
We’re heading in the right direction, being up $62.30 over last month. But still down from the glory days of May!
$300 is really the baseline that I’m gauging success on these days. So $350+ is good in my book.
I still cannot believe that it’s possible to make money like this from a blog. Can you? It’s just crazy to me!
Anyway, I’m very curious to see what the next few months hold income wise. August has started off really well so far. If it continues, we could end up getting close to May. Wouldn’t that be fun?!?!
July 2018 Online Income Breakdown – 352.49
- Affiliate Income – $129.46 total:
- Milkology Affiliate Income – $70.49
- Amazon Affiliate Income – $58.97
- Misc. Affiliate Income – $0
- Mediavine Display Advertising – $223.03
Total: $352.49
How Are Things Going at Frugal Nesting?
Frugal Nesting is consistent and holding its own. Thank goodness for that, because life has really done a number on us this month.
I transitioned from June to July in Petoskey, MI celebrating the 20+ year romance of two of my very best friends. It was a beautiful reunion with friends + family. And so great to see such great friends *finally* get married!
Unfortunately, right around that same time, we received some pretty devastating news about my father. He was being moved from rehab care to hospice care after time in the ICU following an accident at home.
So after the wedding, I came back to Seattle to get our affairs in order at home and work, then was off to the Midwest again to see him one last time. If you’ve ever had to do something like that you will understand how surreal of an experience it is.
He waited until he was able to see all of his siblings and both of us kids before moving on. Late Friday morning he passed peacefully with my Aunt by his side. Just as she had been both literally and figuratively for the past few years.
I almost forgot to prepare this post because the past few days have just been a blur. But I needed something to do while the plumber fixes our kitchen sink. So here it is.
Recent Updates
I’m still so thrilled that I switched from what I consider to be the best beginner host, Bluehost, to Siteground recently. I really needed a more robust option to handle our growth. My goal is to hit 50,000 monthly pageviews before the end of 2018 and I need to be ready for that volume.
I’m also still in love with our recent facelift! We went from a free WordPress theme (Adelle) to the Genesis framework using the Captivating child theme by Restored316.
We also moved our mailing list from MailChimp to MailerLite. I’ve got my first automation set up and recently sent out my first biweekly newsletter with MailerLite. Success!
All of those big updates were the result of me working my way through Elite Blog Academy (EBA) by Ruth Soukup. It’s truly THE best option for building a successful blog from the ground up. Get on the mailing list now if you’re not already!
Most of those changes were begun in May and some implementation over June + July. July was just a strange month with so many things going on in our world. I was kind of treading water, but we made it through. Let’s see what August has in store…
Traffic
In July 2018 we had a total of 25,998 page views, which is 3,052 more than the 22,946 that we had in June. Not too bad considering everything that’s been going on and summer! It’s even higher than May!
I like to include a year over year screenshot to show the progress. Progress is really the only metric that means anything, particularly for smaller blogs.
Sessions and bounce rate definitely need some work, but overall trending well above last year for users and pageviews. Lookin’ good!!
It’s remarkable how significant the growth has been year over year. Looking at that gives me renewed inspiration + motivation!
And if the traffic doesn’t do it, the increase in income is even better. I only made $19.70 in July 2017 – less than $20!
Most Popular New Posts from July 2018
June 2018 Small Blog Income Report
14 Back To School Hacks To Maintain Your Sanity
10 Tips For A Profitable Garage Sale
Why Would A Mom Blogger Invest In Cryptocurrency?
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Don’t forget to check out all of my favorite things on my recommendations pages for the best things to make your life easier whether it’s parenting, budgeting, family living or blog related. Thanks again for visiting…I hope to see you again!!
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