Mommy Money

Blogging Income Report for May | Making Mommy Money Online


Blogging Income Report for A Cotton Kandi Life. Blogging Incomes. How to make Money Online. Mom Blogger Incomes WAHM Income Report. How to make money Blogging. Blogging Money Reports.Sometimes the hardest part about being a self-employed, small business owner is self-evaluation. At some point you have to step back and ask, “Are my customers ‘getting’ it?” Or, am I even ‘getting’ it? Am I even properly pitching what I’m trying to sell? Does my blog send the message or convey the service I’m trying to offer?

Nope. No it doesn’t {didn’t}

If you’re just joining in on this monthly income report series, my goal for 2016 is to expand this blog into a financial contributor so that I can stay home more and learn with my Hooligans.

I write 2 blogs, this mom blog {You’re here! Thanks!} and another blog for my career as a Wedding & Event Coordinator, which you can find HERE. This report is a combination of the two blogs. Truth be told, it IS wedding season right now, so I am busy with my in person clients {really busy} so blogging is taking a back seat for the next few months. I’m actually heading out the door for a rehearsal right now! #ALLSummerFridays


Please join me by subscribing below as this Newbie Blogger fumbles her way through each Ah-Ha moment and forehead slap…perhaps I’ll save you a month or two on your own blog! 
To get the full rundown on my 2016 Game Plan visit my original Mommy Money on the Internet Post HERE.

The punch line for the year is to:

Build the Internet into a bigger financial contributor
Year Goal: $4,750
{2015 = $1,923.80}

May enters…

Under Construction

After my mind-blow about Niche Narrowing in April I put on a hardhat and basically took a wrecking ball to my blog. I worked on it every single day yet I produced barely any new content {only 3 posts the whole month} I focused on rebuilding the blog’s roots instead.

How could I present my readers with opportunities that might turn them into customers? Ideally, I would present such a beautiful, easy opportunity that a reader would want to voluntarily become a customer.

I did not bust out a bunch of new posts about “selling stuff” {gross} that isn’t what my blog is about. Instead I started rebuilding it from the ground up. I addressed the foundation of my blog to make the structure stronger as a whole.

I looked at my blog now as a Department Store. You can choose any Department Store you like but I’m going to think of mine as Target {because who doesn’t like Target… It’s Mom-Disneyland}

You walk into a Department Store with the mindset to buy one thing, or perhaps nothing at all. However, it is all laid out so nicely in front of you that you cannot help but wander through each aisle of every department, because hey, you never know what you might find. They do not have a person standing out front of every aisle campaigning, “Buy this! Buy this!” no-no, you would skitter by in a hurry. Instead they have organized everything beautifully and shown you how you too can master this look successfully in your own home with ease.

You want to be like Target now.

So you buy the whole shelf; the whole manikin outfit. No pressure, just awesome role modeling. And now that you’re all excited you hit up each department in hopes of the same victory you just won inside your cart…

[Great story Kandice… how does this have anything to do with your blog?]

My blog has departments. They’re called PAGES.

Up until June they sucked. They were wasted billboard space of drab former post lists, self promotional, humble brags that did not convey any successful messages to onlookers. They really provided no help whatsoever. Truly, who wants to stop into my blog and read a whole page about my kids? Nobody.

As a customer coming in to shop my store {blog} you really couldn’t navigate the aisles much less find the department you wanted to start in. No clear path. No subliminal marketing circle {like Target has} where you find joy around every new corner… they even start you out strong, high on adrenalin with the $1 Section {all this is $1?!? You’re kidding!} Once the seal is broken on your empty cart things start flying in there. All they have to do is get you to put one thing in there and then you’re hooked!

My blog was not welcoming, enticing or organized to promote said product tossing into a cart. The milk was next to the athletic shoes… total confusion.

So the changes I made in May include:

Page Demolition- I added new, marketable “Department” style pages. {Many are still under construction but they will be awesome soon!} Using the information I learned in April about my Niche I now know where to go and what my readers really want and need from me. I deleted ridiculous pages that had zero marketability and took up space. These pages had very little views according to my stats and didn’t even link to blog posts. {Products in the Department}

Department & Product Marketing- [Read as Page & Posts] I went back through my blog and redid some of them. I have great content back in there! I have old posts that are really good and not being seen. You aren’t going to sell the product if it’s hanging out back in the store room. Dust those babies off and put them out on a shelf in your department! Be sure to display it in the correct department. I updated images to be more Pinterest ready. And guess what… that same old content is now being repinned! {Thank you group boards and Tailwind!} For having produced no new content I am sure seeing a lot of new traffic!

Packaging & Branding- While I was going through my old posts I edited their formats to be more synchronized. When you buy something from a brand, everyone knows where it came from right? When you come across A Cotton Kandi Life pins, you should recognize the packaging right? You perk up when you spot a logo you like…. I know you do! I tried to re-edit my Pinterest images to all have the same fonts, positioning of text and colors.

Consistency- I created a blog post template in Word which I now run all old and new content through. I even included the exact same footer code at the bottom so it is a copy/paste quick key to make all my posts have the same ending note. Nearly every post {if pertinent} now has a place at the bottom where readers can subscribe and keep reading my blog with a “Related Article” I’ve gained over 30 Subscribers this month! And did I mention no new content?

Considering my blog was basically coasting through the month, not being promoted at all I think we did pretty well! Here are this month’s results:


Sales Goals

Tradesy: May Report: $352.44 This is where I sell my wedding supplies. You can sell your clothing and maternity clothes too. Not to mention buy pre-loved items at great costs! Join and start selling your stuff too. Here’s a $20 credit off your first purchase just for you!

Etsy: The Vintage Event– May Report: $230.83 Goal surpassed! I sell my vintage and digital downloads here.

Etsy: Cotton N Kandi– May Report: $30.00 … This is the Brand for the Mom Blog where I sell my homeschool ideas, downloads, and crochet. Let it rain Rainbow Rice! The hats aren’t selling in the summer, but I ran out of food coloring twice this month selling Rainbow Rice! Who runs out of food coloring?! {Me!}

Online Sales Earnings 2016 Goal: $4,500
= $375 per month needed
May = $613.27
Over the monthly Sale Goals {again!}

Blogging Goals

A Cotton Kandi Life: Income Report

Adsense May: $7.39 {the most I’ve ever made}

Affiliate Earnings…
Amazon: $37.50
Ebates: $14.32- It’s free money when you shop so you might as well sign up too! Join Ebates today… Here’s $10 for joining!
ShareASale- $41.64 This falls under the Blogger category of “Why didn’t I do this sooner?!” I joined this affiliate program, applied to a few great companies I love and low and behold I’m making referral income by simply promoting brands I love.
Blog Earnings 2016 Goal: $200 – $250
=$16.66 – $20.83 per month
May = $100.85

As stated in my original post I believe in order to accomplish a larger blog income I must continually work at increasing my Internet presence and “impact” which is calculated by the Klout App. Klout measures your internet REACH and how many people you’re influencing.

My current Klout Stats:

 

Klout Score 77 or higher- Currently at 58

Instagram Following: Jan 1, 2016 I was at 351
                May Report: I now have 1134 followers!
Green-Eyed Girl’s Wedding Instagram: I have 161 followers!
Facebook {Green-Eyed Girl}: Increase following to 600- Jan 1 at 485
                May Report: 549 Followers {+14}
Facebook {A Cotton Kandi Life}: Increase following to 600- Jan 1 at 287
                May Report: 417 Followers {+23}
Google+ {Blog Community}: Increase following to 100- Jan at 80
May Report: 108 Followers {+2}
Twitter: Increase to 200- Jan 1 at 182
May Report: 462 Followers {+65}
Pinterest: May Report: 738 {+29} I have joined a few more group boards and the addition of the Tailwind App is still improving things tremendously!

In Closing

May = $714.12
{$339.12 OVER my $375 monthly goal}
To date I’ve made
Jan = $354
Feb = $324.17
March = $716.48
April = $830.68
May = $714.12
= $2,939.45 in the first 5 Months of 2016

That averages my monthly income to $587.89 which beats my monthly goal of $375 game plan to reach my yearly goal.

I’ll be posting a monthly progress report so do check back in!

To catch up on my progress or follow along from start to finish here are the links:

Original Goals: 2016 Making Mommy Money Online Goals

January Report $354.00- I Have No Idea What I’m Doing

February Report $324.17- The Funnel and Affiliates

March Report $716.48- Monetizing Myself

April Report $830.68- Narrowing my Niche


Like what you read?

Hi There! I’m Kandice
Wife, WAHM and mother to 2 Hooligan boys, sharing my Sweet & Sticky Story of Motherhood.
Life changes after 2 Toddlers {obviously} so now I’m sharing how I turn those every day #MomProblems into a Story of #MomWinning by building new Small Systems, Organizing Mom Routines and Making Mommy Money Online by Blogging.





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