We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post, and as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Please see my full disclosure for more information.
Hi everyone, and welcome to my first Blog Report and Life Update of 2018. Mid-way through last year, I started publishing these blog reports as a way to set myself achievable blogging goals and to help other bloggers looking for a source of inspiration and advice for their own blogs.
Later, I started including a life update – as readers of this blog will know, I spent almost all of 2017 travelling, and plan to continue to see as much of the world as I can in 2018, so these updates are a great way of summarising where I’ve been and where I’m heading!
Despite these posts going down really well, I didn’t keep up with these reports as much as I wanted to, so I’m committed to schedule these in every month in 2018!
You can check out my last blog report and life update here – it’s pretty cool seeing how far everything has come!
To see how things on the blog have gone in January 2018, and for a little peek into my life this month, keep on reading!
Why do a Blog Report?
Reading the blog and income reports of other blogger’s is extremely motivating for me – and in fact was a big reason I decided to finally commit to blogging rather than just stick two posts online and forget all about it!
I love seeing how bloggers went from 0 followers and making pennies, to growing an engaged audience and even making a full-time living with their blog.
When you’re just starting out, it can seem impossible to ever reach the same level as more experienced bloggers, but to me, these blog reports are a fantastic way of showing that we all started somewhere and that we can all see enormous growth with enough time, determination, and hard work. Slowly, these blog reports are convincing me that actually, I’m becoming one of those bloggers (again, slowly!).
This time a year ago, The Wallet Moth had one article published and zero readers. I hadn’t even told my family I’d started blogging yet. Now, this site has grown beyond anything I imagined.
If my monthly reports can inspire even one person as much as others have inspired me, my work will be done.
If you’re thinking about starting a blog, check out my step-by-step tutorial here. I haven’t regretted starting this site up for one second!
Why a Life Update?
To catch anyone new here up: at the beginning of 2017, I quit my job, started a freelance business (and this blog), and started travelling Asia with my boyfriend who also managed to wrangle a freelance job with his old employer. Although I’m back in the UK for now, we plan to have a life of working on the road for as long as possible.
So, we’re bonafide digital nomads. Working, travelling, and in my case, blogging from the road. It’s not all glamour, but I have to admit, life is pretty great right now!
I get a lot of questions about where I am in the world, what we’ve been doing, and I hope these life updates can provide an interesting insight into real life on the road.
January 2018: Blog Report
Overall
December was a bit of a rough month for me, and I only managed to publish one article in the entire month. Thankfully, I started 2018 with renewed vigour and managed to publish two articles every single week.
I’ve also created a freebie library to accumulate all the free printables and ebooks I had scattered across the site and released a free blogging course that details exactly how I’ve sky-rocket my traffic and started making an income from my blog in one year – so you could say it’s been a pretty productive month!
All in all, January has been a wonderful month for my blog. I started this site the same time last year with around 250 page views for the month, and just a year on I received over 125,000 page views in this month alone.
I have dedicated followers and new blogger friends from accounts I started from scratch, and I earn money – not to mention praise and support – from something I built, all by myself. I don’t think people say this about themselves enough, but I’m really proud of myself.
Stats
This month produced my highest number of users and page view to date. One post went so viral that I had over 15,000 page views in a single day and needless to say I was running around the house as it updated every hour!
While I would be over the moon if my page views stay this high consistently in 2018, I do think this month was a bit of a fluke and don’t expect my numbers to stay quite so high next month. The majority of that traffic came from one post, and while I’ve done a good job at getting many of those visitors to subscribe, I know that I can’t ride the viral wave forever and numbers will drop.
My plan? To keep going. To keep publishing great quality content that people actually want to read. This month has shown me that when something is popular, it’s really popular – so you’ve just got to put your finger on the pulse and traffic will follow.
I also just want to say to any new blogger or anyone who’s thinking about starting blogging: my blog is just one year old and I never dreamed I would be getting this type of traffic ever, let alone just a year on.
I am not special, or lucky. I’ve just worked really, really hard. The amount of time I have poured into this site out of pure passion for my subject and for this website is insane. If you want to create a successful blog, you just have to start and keep going. That’s it.
In my last blog report in July, I spoke about how excited I was to reach 1,000 views after a few months of blogging. This time last year, I had about 250 page views for the month. Every single view gives me a thrill of excitement and cheesy as it sounds, you are all so valued.
The form you have selected does not exist.
Social Media
I may manage social media for other companies, but I am not great at this aspect of blogging for my own ‘brand’.
The truth is, I’m a lurker. I love Instagram, but I would always scroll and smile at photos, occasionally like them, and that’s it.
Getting into the mindset that I need to be out there for my blog, and not just on Instagram but also on Twitter and Facebook at the least, has been challenging. I’m not a natural sharer – and people aren’t inclined to follow someone who posts sporadically.
With that said, my social media following is steadily growing, but I think I should be doing better.
I’ve been focusing on Instagram a lot more since that’s the platform that I personally use the most – so by that logic, my audience should be there too. If you would like to support me by giving me a follow on any of my platforms, I’ll place my links below – I would be very grateful for a friendly hello from any of you!
This Month’s Blog Goals:
I find setting goals for myself each month really helpful, both when it comes to blogging and for the rest of my life.
If you struggle to motivate yourself, I’d really recommend trying it! My blogging-related goals for this month include:
- Maintain 30k Sessions per Month
- Increase my Instagram following to 700
- Increase my Facebook page likes to 300
- Get 2 guest posts on other sites
- Run a giveaway competition
January Articles
There’s a lot of fluctuation between bloggers on the best times to post, and how frequently to post on your blog.
Personally, I find that two longer posts per week (Tuesdays and Thursdays!) works best for me. I like to put a lot into my posts and provide as much information as possible, so posting twice per week as opposed to the more popular three times weekly works better for me.
These are all the posts I published in January:
Chiang Mai: Digital Nomad Travel Guide
MoneyMagpie Marketplace Review
Coming Home: From Digital Nomad to Working from Home
How to Win Freelance Jobs – And Why You’re Not Right Now
How to Make Money Without a Job
Get Your Budget into Shape in 2018
How to Declutter Your Wardrobe & Create a Capsule Closet
20 Frugal Living Tips to Try in 2018
Key Blogging Lessons:
-
Posting consistently
In May, I created an editorial calendar and planned my posts for the next month. I’ve continued this each month and it has made me so much better at getting blog posts written, edited, formatted and scheduled in advance.
Having a plan has allowed me to take the time to write far better quality blog posts with time and research put into them, which has definitely helped my traffic! A consistent posting schedule will bring in the traffic, but quality posts are what will actually engage people – and that’s the main aim.
-
Pinterest
If you’ve heard other bloggers harp on about Pinterest before, there’s a reason for that: it is amazing at driving traffic to your site.
Over this year, I have gotten a lot better at designing pins and knowing how to get the most out of this brilliant platform. Recently, I also started using BoardBooster as well as Tailwind, and those two services together have blown my traffic up.
Pinterest is my biggest referrer of traffic by far, and it takes me barely any time each week to set up and go. I’ve got a huge post on my exact tactics coming out soon so be sure to subscribe to the site so you don’t miss it!
-
Courses & Freebies
This month I created a freebie library to store all the free printables, templates and e-books I’ve created over the past year. You can now access the library and find all these resources in one place! If you’d like to get access and check out what’s on offer, click HERE.
I also launched a free blogging course this month. It’s a 6-day email course that covers everything from setting up a blog to writing great posts, building your traffic, and making an income with your blog.
Whether you’re starting from scratch or are a newer blogger looking for some advice, I really hope this course helps you out (oh yeah, and it’s free!). Sign up here to get the first email straight to your inbox today.
January 2018: Life Update
I’ve now been back in the UK for over a month. I’m staying with my family and it is wonderful to catch up after almost a year apart – before Pete and I started travelling, I lived 2 hours away so we haven’t all spent this much time together in a very long time!
Coming back to the UK in December was not part of our original plan. As some of you may have seen, a back injury that just wasn’t healing forced me to make the decision to return early and leave Pete to travel for the remainder of the time we had planned – we’ve now reunited for 2 weeks in Tenerife soon before returning to the UK and figuring out our next steps.
Dealing with a back injury this severe has been really difficult for me.
I can now move around without pain, but if I try to work out or do anything too strenuous, the pain returns immediately, so I’m wary of doing anything and everything right now. Of course, I’m extremely fortunate that not being able to exercise as much as I am used to is the worst of my problems compared to those of others, but it is still a frustrating time.
Due to being pretty incapacitated, this month has been mainly about working, blogging, and catching up with friends while I can. I’ve especially loved earning back the love of our family dogs after so long away – and I think I’ve achieved my goal there!
Coming Up:
As I mentioned, in February I’m joining my boyfriend in Tenerife. After close to 2 months apart after 10 months living in each other’s pockets, it’s a long overdue reunion. We had planned to climb every day, but given the tenuous condition of my back, we’ve instead agreed to enjoy some quiet walks and lots of beach time on the island.
I also can’t wait to get out of the cold for a bit! In Asia, I was excited for jumpers and socks again, but as soon as I got into the UK I was over it!
In terms of the blog, I’m brimming with plans and ideas for 2018.
I want to organise tonnes more giveaways for you guys, start working on some more materials – potentially with a price-tag this time so you know there’s value in there, and I’m slowly getting a lot more ahead on my posting schedule (almost a month ahead, in fact!).
I’ve received more messages than ever this month with readers thanking me for my posts and telling me how much they’ve enjoyed my blog, and I can’t even explain how happy seeing messages like those make me.
If there’s any specific topic that you’d love me to cover, please let me know!
The form you have selected does not exist.
RichestManInLondon (@RichestManInLDN) says
Looking forward to your pinterest post!
Also, wishing you a speedy recovery 🙂
Sharon says
You covered so much last year, can’t wait to see what you are up to this year.
Cheers Sharon…
The Wallet Moth says
Thank you Sharon!