How I Made $25.66 My Fifth Month Blogging

Welp, ladies and gentlemen we did it! We made it five months in as a new blogger. I now get to discuss How I Made $25.66 My Fifth Month Blogging. My baby blog has grown by leaps and bounds over the past few months. I for one can say that I am extremely proud of myself. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of my consistent viewers who make it their job to support me each and every day. Thank you for all of your love and support. I could not do what I do without you, seriously. 💞💞

**This page contains affiliate links to products I recommend. If you purchase something from this page, I may receive a small percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you**

As you can see from my blog title this month is not like any other months that I’ve had in the past…well except for my first month of course. This month I actually made less money than I have in the last three months. OK now, trust me I knew that this day would come eventually, I just didn’t know it would be my fifth month blogging. 👀👀 So let’s just jump right in it, shall we?

Let’s Catch Up

Per usual my life get’s a tad bit hectic in the end of spring/early summer months. There is so much personal stuff happening around me that blogging has not been top priority. And guess what? That’s OK! You know why? Because I’m human, and although some bloggers would like to make it seem as if blogging is life, you actually have to live a little in order to have something great to write about. But hey, what do I know? I’ve only been doing this for five months!! #datpart

Prior Income Reports

• 1st Month – How I Made 91 Cents In My First Month Blogging
• 2nd Month – How I made $42 My Second Month Blogging
• 3rd Month – How I Made $44.82 My Third Month Blogging
• 4th Month – How I Made $59.65 My Fourth Month Blogging

The Ugly Truth

The ugly truth is, I hate that I’m not continuously making more and more money every month. I also hate that I can’t read more honest post like this that speak to you like… “Hey, you! Are you having a bad blogging month? Well guess what? It’s OK! We all have them”. Then the blogger goes on and says what went wrong that month and how they plan on making a major change to fix it going forward.

But guess what ladies and gentlemen?! Most bloggers don’t want to share failures. Only their wins! Why do you think that is? 🤔🤨 Like really? Why aren’t there MORE post on the things that went wrong or is going wrong versus everything that’s going right??? How can we fix our problems if we feel like we’re the ONLY one failing at it. 🤷‍♀️ #foodforthought

This is the VERY reason why I love writing these income reports. For one, it’s very therapeutic. Two, it’s liberating, and three it’s hella honest. I give it to you raw and unfiltered and from my comments my readers (ie. you) really do appreciate it. I want to break down what actually worked this month and what didn’t.

What Worked and What Didn’t

Sooooo what worked and what didn’t? Ha! That’s easy one….ME! I am the common denominator when it comes to this topic! I can honestly say that I went with the flow this month. I didn’t bang out as many post as I usually do and I didn’t advertise as much as I should have to get my new post out into the universe. But let me share with you what I did do and how it turned out.

Facebook

I utilize facebook strictly for my facebook page vnewtondesigns and for my amazing facebook groups for bloggers. Now in the past I used my facebook groups heavily like every single day I was promoting my material. I went from posting in groups everyday to posting in them every other day or better yet only when I had new material to share.

I know some of you are probably asking why Vee? Simply put, I got tired of my bounce rate looking ridiculous. Because although these facebook groups are a GREAT way to get your material out, make new friends, and get fresh eyes on your post, they also KILL your bounce rate. If you are totally lost on what a bounce rate is look at this income report which explains it all.

So with that being said, I decided to experiment with my facebook groups this month and fall back from posting as much. I needed to know if it was Facebook users alone skyrocketing my bounce rate or were other social media platforms contributing. With all that being said, Facebook still works for me!

Pinterest

As some of you may have guessed, I’m still in love with Pinterest.💞💖 Pinterest is actually still my NUMBER ONE contributor when it comes to views. I legit can post nothing new, promote no where on social media and still get double digit views from Pinterest. I love it when a platform continuously shows me love, even when it has been neglected by me. 😫 Sorry Pinterest!

That’s right, I have even neglected Pinterest a little this month. 😣 But thanks to Tailwind I still look like a rockstar. The thing that I’ve been hearing a lot about Pinterest lately is people’s views have been plummeting. For no rhyme nor reason views across the board have been down.

A lot of questions were floating around in some of the groups that I’m in and no one had a concrete answer as to why this may be happening. And although views does not show a reflection of how great your content is, it still looks good when you have higher numbers than norm. Right now I’m hovering around 300,000. Trust and believe it fluctuates from day to day but I try to not focus on that number because that is not the end all be all of your Pinterest page. So if your views a low do not let that discourage you, you are still an amazing blogger! Just keep pinning! So HELL YES to Pinterest once again this month!

Instagram

Next up is Instagram. Now per usual I’m going to keep it 1,000 with you. If I posted 5 pictures this month I posted a lot. See, me and Instagram have a love hate relationship. I get about a legit 1% of views from Instagram, and I’ve been on my business account for almost a year and still have made no progress in getting my amazing friends on Instagram to translate into numbers for my blog.

I have posted 10-20 times in a month, I’ve also posted 5-10 in a month and it really does not matter the amount of pictures I post on Instagram, I have come to the conclusion that instagram is only good for double tapping and keeping it moving. Which is totally fine, hell I do it all the time. I had to realize the hard way that Instagram is for “quickies” ONLY!

So I try not to spend too much time promoting new material on their because of said reason. The support is just not there, period, point, blank. Now I am in no way trying to discourage you from using Instagram as a means to promote your material but what I am saying is do not be disappointed in the results you yield from that platform. I say all this to say…Instagram did not work for me this month! Periodt!

Twitter

Twitter and I are slowly becoming best friends. At first my girl Morgan had to talk me into it, but now I see the light. It’s not only easy to link twitter to my new blog post, but it is also easy to share my fellow bloggers post. Anyone who follows me knows that most of my post are from other bloggers. 🤷‍♀️ What can I say? Sharing is caring, right? If you would like to follow me you can do so here. I will say that Twitter is slowly working for me, so I think I’ll keep it around a tad bit longer.

Tumblr

Now I’m not going to feed you ANY lies here. I’m going to tell you the whole truth and nothing but the truth! I have no idea how to really use Tumblr and trying to figure it out is not on my to-do list in any shape or fashion. But what I will say is I still use it as a form of promotion. You just never know when it will bring you your 1,000 views. But with that being said, Tumblr did not help me at all this month.

The Secret Tribe

My lovely Secret Tribe! How I miss thee. I haven’t shown this group much love lately either and I truly feel terrible about it, because I have some amazing people in this tribe who deserves sooo much love and attention. So ladies and gentlemen of The Secret Tribe look out! Love from all angles are coming your way. 💖💞💖😘

The great thing about this group is the support is so genuine. I don’t have to worry about my bounce rate being outrageous or my viewers not reading all of my material. The people in this group root for your success even when your in doubt. All you have to do is post your material and BOOM instant love! And when I say love I mean it, and from all angles. They show love from Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, shared blog post and so much more. If you ever want to check this group out click this link and tell them Vee sent you! 😉 You might as well take a peek, it’s FREE!

How To Still Succeed

Now although one of your goals might be to have a consistently upward moving blog, some months will always look better then others. It really depends on your niche and what you decide to post when you decide to post them. The best advice I can give any new blogger is to NEVER EVER give up. One bad month will not correlate to you never being a successful blogger.

Set goals for yourself and try your hardest to stick with them. Introduce your new material to friends, family and even on new platforms that you might not normally post to. Trust me it’s the sites you think you would never get any traction, are the ones that bring new eyes to your website.

I’ve said it before and it still stands true till today. Find your Blogging Community and Find you a GREAT Blogging Mentor! If you take nothing else from this post please take heed to those two very important points. Once you have both or at least one, use them to your advantage. Ask questions, go through blog ideas and slowly morph your blog into something everyone will be dying to read.

Although there are some major blogging niches out there you can definitely pick something more your vibe and still be very successful. You just have to find your audience and eventually your audience will find you. Just a little words of advice on some of the ways I still succeed even though I had a minor set back this month.

How I Made $25.66 My Fifth Month Blogging

Like I stated earlier, I struggled with making money this month. I don’t know if it was me not promoting my new material or if it was just the lack of effort all around but this month has motivated me to kick 🤐 for June. I’m gonna try and kick out as many blog post as possible. Granted I have some new job responsibilities so I might not make as many of my goals in June but it won’t be from lack of trying! Now it’s time for the break down!

Designer For Hire

This month I did not have any new clients which was VERY shocking because normally I have clients ready for fresh pins and/or Instagram post, but not this month. So while I had a little down time I was thinking of ways to revamp my Designer for Hire page and actually do more promoting.

Tailwind

Now last month I was able to make $15 off of people signing up and also purchasing Tailwind to help ease their efforts of posting on social media as frequently. This month I made no money from Tailwind but it is always a revolving door for signs ups every month. Which is why I consistently preach the benefits of this automated system that has made being a blogger so damn easy. Just to give you a quick run down I’m going to break down how Tailwind will change your life forever!!

Tailwind is the smartest way to manage your presence across the visual web (Pinterest & Instagram). Tailwind is an official partner of both Pinterest and Instagram and offers a complete suite of marketing tools including Smart Scheduling, Analytics & Monitoring, Content Discovery, Promotion, and more. Keep in mind a LOT of other scheduling apps and bots are NOT and OFFICIAL partner with Instagram and therefore their activity can severely damage your account. Tailwind is one THE only approved app that I’m aware of that will not get you in trouble with Instagram.

ShareASale

I usually don’t say too much about ShareASale because I typically don’t make any money from this affiliate. But Ironically the month that I REALLY needed to make a little money, 💥BOOM💥 this happens. So the great thing about being in affiliate programs is that they have extra incentives sometimes to help boost sales. Well this month they sent out an email to all Tailwind affiliates stating that if you wrote a post about their new feature on Instagram you would receive a $25 bonus for posing your first article. AND if your article is what they are looking for they will pay to promote your post for you Free of charge!

I mean seriously! How can you pass up the chance for Tailwind to actually promote your stuff??? PLUS you automatically get $25 for writing for first post for them. Sign me up PLEASE! Needless to say I happily wrote a very enticing post on Instagram Hacks with Tailwind. I was not only excited to write the post but I was also excited about sharing the new features. I knew this new feature would be LOVE to those who are already in love with Instagram and are addicted to new and exciting features. So in a nutshell that’s how I made a cool $25 on my post from my affiliate, Tailwind.

Previous Income Reports

• January 2019: 91 cents
• February 2019: $42
• March 2019: $44.82
• April 2019: $59.65

May Income Report Breakdown

ShareASale – $25

Google AdSense – 66 cents

TOTAL: $25.66

Traffic Breakdown

So in the month of May I have a total of 1,190 users. Out of the 1,190 people 1,129 were new to my website. Now out of the total of 1,190 users I was able to hit a total of 1,773 page views. Not bad for not putting in a lot of effort but it could be sooo much better.

Out of those 1,773 page views my users stayed at least 54 seconds. So per usual what that is telling me is that some of you guys are liking my stuff, while others visited and probably shared and post and left. As always, the goal is to have viewers/users stay on your page for at LEAST one minute in order to lower your bounce rate from other users who come to get cliff notes.

I do believe if your reader see consistency and the material you put out is good and supported with facts that relate to your readers not only will they stay and actually read it but they are more likely to come back for more. Hell they might even share your inspiring material to others. 😧🤷‍♀️

Google AdSense for the Month of May

A quick breakdown of what you are looking at right now. In the month of May I had 5 Google Ad clicks which amounted to $.66. Now keep in mind this is not money that has been paid out to me yet. With Google Adsense you have to reach $100 in order to receive payment. This is why the more exposure to your blog the better. You have a higher chance of getting paid for all your Google Ad Clicks.

My Blogging Schedule for May

My blogging schedule for May stayed the same. What I was actually able to put out was a whole other story. Have y’all ever heard the term “there is not enough time in a day?” Welp I lived for that term all month. As a new blogger it is soo VERY important to try and stick with your blogging schedule as much as possible. No one likes an inconsistent blogger, especially when your new.

But I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, LIFE happens and your readers will understand that you are not perfect. Now what they won’t understand is why you haven’t gave them any new material in weeks. If by chance something does happen in your personal life that takes you away from blogging for a while the best thing you can do is let your readers know.

There is no better support system than the people who do what you do and also the people who read what you do. Do you want to know why? Because they vibe with you. They continue to read your post because they can relate or they want to learn more about you or your expertise. Your blogging community will also give you the support you need to take a blog-cation and regroup, and guess what? They will be right there to support your blog when you return, you know why? Because that’s what we do! We stick together. 👩👨🧑👧👦🧒

Ok I’m off my soap box. I just wanted everyone to know that just because your goals are not being met does not mean you can’t be a successful blogger, nor does that mean your readers won’t support you. You are still going to shine as long as you don’t QUIT!

Blog Post

Per usual my goal for my Blog Post is to always post at least twice a month. I ended the month with 3 blog post! Someone give that woman an award!! 🏆

• How I Made $59.65 My Fourth Month Blogging
• Instagram Hacks with Tailwind
• Gift Ideas for Every Type of Man

Retail Rants

I set forth a new goal for myself to now write 2 retail rants a month and I held true to my new goal and exceeded expectations by writing 3 post. Granted it did work out for my every other week rant, but still, I outdid myself.

Motivational Quotes

So for the month of May, let’s just say I wasn’t that motivated. I did not create not one motivational quote the entire month. Sooo not cool, I definitely have to do way better in June!

Get The Looks For Less

So you can say the last REAL Get The Look For Less was back in April when I wrote about Spring Shoes You Need In Your Closet. I would like to think the post I did on Gift Ideas For Every Type Of Man could count in this category since it is dealing with items you can buy for any man but I won’t reach. I didn’t create any new post for this category. I know, I know, I suck! But look I’m working on a better me, so don’t judge me too much just yet!

Interior Design

I am NOT going to lie on this one! I have absolutely slacked my entire ass off on this category. I would just do away with the whole thing but I absolutely LOVE interior design. To be real, I have put decorating my house on the back burner since dealing with life, but things will pick back up shortly. Stay tuned!

Goals for June

I’m not going to sugar coat my goals for June, nor will I make them unrealistic. I want to make goals that I can actually obtain with my current lifestyle. And just in case you want to be nosey about my life right now I’m going to let you in on a few secrets.

1. I am temporarily working as a store manager at my part time gig.
2. I am dating 😧👀👀😎
3. I’m trying to get new and amazing things started for me with a few new ventures (TBD)

So I don’t want my day ones (ie. you guys) to think that I’m completely slacking because I have no life. I’m slacking because I have real life things going on and I’m spread a little thin this summer, but I will get back on my p’s and q’s if you can just stick with me on this roller coaster a tad bit longer.

Designs By Vee Goals

• Page Views: 3,000
• Blog Post: 2
• Retail Rants: 2
• Motivational Quotes: 2
• Get The Look For Less: 1
• Interior Design Post: 1

Social Media Goals

So if I slacked off on my blog post what the heck do you think happened to these social media goals?? 🤨😂 #nojudgementzone I plan on going hard in the next couple of months although I got a lot of major events in the month on June. Just keep me and Design By Vee in prayer 🙏🙌. We will need it to make this empire a success.

My Social Media Goals For June

• Get my Pinterest followers up to 400
• Facebook likes to 150
• Instagram followers to 1,500
• Twitter followers to 60
• Tumblr followers to 10

Affiliates Goals

All my goals for my affiliates will remain the same for June. I promise one of these days I’ll be able to change them. My baby blog is on it’s way to a major glow up, I can feel it!

ShareaSale
Make at least 5 affiliated sales

Google Adsense 
Make at least $5

Designer for Hire
Get 6 more clients for the month.

My Top Pin For The Month Of May

Before You Go

I want to close this post on some real motivational ish! You were born into greatness. You have some major potential and I need you to stick with all your goals and aspirations because one day it will all pay off for you. STAY THE COURSE and NEVER and I repeat NEVER give up on yourself. Not only are you already a BOSS you are actually fulfilling a dream that one day someone else can use to motivate them to push through any struggles they are currently going through.

So don’t keep pushing just for you, goals are never really meant to be selfish. Goals are meant to be shared amongst your peers to help elevate them to the next level they never thought they could ever be on. Crushing your goals is strictly for yourself though. It’s to prove to yourself that although you may have had a little doubt in your heart you pushed through so gracefully it was easy to wave to all your haters! You know those haters who knew you would fail? Show them how good success looks but pushing all the way through! YOU GOT THIS!!!!