This is our traffic and Income Report April 2018 edition. I started these reports as a way to keep myself on track for a very specific goal. Getting to 500k page views a month by December 2018.
These reports serve as a diary for me to look back over the month and see what worked, what didn't and what needs to change. It also serves as a place for anyone else trying to grow a food blog to learn from the mistakes that we've made and to experiment for themselves with the things that have worked for us.
Let's jump right into the numbers.
It's all growth
April was better than March... only slightly. But at this stage of the experiment, any growth is a triumph. I also only posted once a week for the month of April, too. One of those posts being the March Income Report. So, in reality, I wasn't expecting to see a huge gain there at all.
Wise Investments
In February of this year, I decided that in order to reach my goal I was going to have to make some changes and invest wisely in my blog. 500k page views a month by December is a very tall order.
Doable, but not doable alone.
I made a list of all the places that I could invest in my blog in order to help it grow. On that list was a new custom web design or a fancy new logo. Maybe some branding help from Cook It Media.
All of these things are great investments that I intend to make in the future. But, I took a "what's best next" approach. What is the ONE thing that I can do next that will make the biggest difference? So, I decided to book an SEO Audit with Casey Markee of Media Wyse. It was a very wise decision!
Income
MediaVine Ad Network: $163.53
Amazon: $0.80
Freelance Jobs: $528.36
Total- $692.69
Stretch Goals
Since my goal for this year is really about increasing page views, I knew that I had to get in front of as many people as I possibly could. My strategy was to make a list of the blogs that I love reading, but that aren't in the food blog niche and to reach out to them about contributing. That way I'm working with complementary businesses, not competing ones. I thought it allowed me to bring the most value to the table in terms of adding to the blog's offering as well as being useful to readers.
I'm proud to say that I'm now a contributor to Coco Kelley and do 3-4 posts a month for the blog. It has definitely resulted in more page views and gaining new readers.
My second stretch goal was to do something that was out of my comfort zone. I don't cater much for freelance jobs, because my kitchen just isn't really equipped for it. But I said yes to Bea, because she's awesome and because I thought it would be a great reason to spend some time in the company of other amazing creative women.
And it was so motivating and inspirational.
Getting to know the Numbers
My goal for April, May, and June is to get to know the analytics and numbers of Salted Mint. What's are the top performing blog posts? What's popular on Pinterest? What kind of content should I be creating next? These are all questions I'll get to the bottom of over the summer so that I can really hit the ground running come September when blog action usually starts to get really busy.
Some other Income Reports you may like to read
Sewrella
Sarah Titus
40 Aprons
Thanks so much for reading along. If you've got any questions drop them in the comments and I'll be glad to answer.
See you next month!
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