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

The punch line for the year is to:

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!}

Blogging Goals

A Cotton Kandi Life: Income Report

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:

In Closing

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!

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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.

Follow on Instagram too!

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