Three months into blogging.

Wondering what’s up with the New Blog? We’re going to cover things Jane did on her blog during the third month of blogging + actionable tips you can do for your own blog!

The New Blog launched on August 10th, 2015. This post is documenting the blog’s third month from October 1oth – November 10th. I refer to the New Blog’s author as Jane.

Jane’s accomplishments with the New Blog during its third month.

Last month, the main goals for the New Blog were:

• Work on Jane’s newsletter list.
• Work on building a connection with other bloggers.
• Improve photography.

Jane did a great job working towards these goals. At the end of the month, Jane launched her first subscriber freebie. She gained 35 followers in 6 days. The total number of new subscribers for the month was 40, so we know a lot of subscribers came from her freebie. Awesome.

Jane worked on building connections with other bloggers by sharing a lot more content from other like-minded bloggers on Facebook and Twitter. She was also able to connect one on one with two of her favorite bloggers (who also happen to be “big” bloggers).

A few other things Jane did for the New Blog:

• Joined a few new group Pinterest Boards – one that is doing REALLY well.
• Updated LinkedIn account to include the New Blog
• Applied to be a member of SocialFabric, FitFluential and TapInfluence
• Reached out to two brands for potential partnership
• Created a media kit

One thing that Jane does really well is reaching out to other bloggers and brands. You can’t wait around for opportunities to come to you. You have to go for them yourself. Yes, sometimes it means rejection. You’ll never know unless you try though.

Traffic and Follower Report

Followers report after blogging three months.

• Twitter – 446 +46
• Pinterest – 806 +86
• Facebook – 409 +34
• Instagram – 655 +75
• Newsletter Subscribers – 164 +40

Pinterest and Instagram are really started to take off. I’m not surprised. Jane has worked really hard at improving her pics and those are both very visual platforms.

Traffic during the third month of blogging

Traffic Graph

The graph makes me happy for this month, because even though there are ups and downs, there is a steady climb upward.

Traffic Overview

The New Blog had a total of 3,409 sessions last month. Coming in at 4,220 sessions brings the overall traffic to a 23.78% increase in this month.

Top 10 Traffic Referrals

Hey Google Analytics, WHY can’t you bunch all of the Facebook referrals together? That would make me super happy. If you add them up, the New Blog’s Facebook traffic accounts for 831 sessions. The referrals are looking great. It’s hard to know for sure, but I think a good chunk of the direct traffic might be coming from Instagram.

I am also very happy to note the ORGANIC search traffic. 🙂 450 hits from google in the third month of blogging is pretty good.

Income and Expense Report

Expenses:

$15.00 – photo props, and can I tell you that Jane’s pictures are really starting to SHINE.

Income:

No income to report yet, but hopefully soon!

Total blogging expenses so far: $231.35

Goals for the fourth month

I only gave Jane one goal to work on for the fourth month of blogging and it applies to the time of year.

Work on creating epic posts for the New Year.

January is one of the BIGGEST traffic months for bloggers. Every single traffic and income report I read for last January reported higher than normal spikes.

The New Blog is a fitness, healthy recipe blog so I am expecting it to see the same type of results. Being a blogger is hard work, because it frequently means being busy when you really want to be partying/celebrating. I gave Jane the goal of working on posts for the new year in November because I wanted her to be able to enjoy the holidays without the stress of coming up with something amazing for your blog in January.

Takeaways to apply to your blog.

Create your own epic posts for January.

If I had been on top of things and published this last month, it would have been ample time for you to prep your epic posts too. Sorry about that. But, it is still not too late! Start thinking of posts you can publish starting December 28th – January 8^th that will capitalize on everyone’s New Year resolutions. People are going to be searching for help. Maybe it’s to learn how to sew, complete that home DIY project that’s been on the list forever, lose weight, etc.

Check out this list of New Year’s related blog posts ideas.

If you need to cut back on the amount of posts you publish from now until then, in order to prep these posts, do it. – it will be totally worth it in the long run.

Another idea: come up with a “challenge” to help people reach their New Year resolution (relating to your blog niche). It could be a free challenge that they join in exchange for their email address, or it could be a challenge that cost money to participate in.

Improve your photography

As mentioned earlier, Jane’s Pinterest and Instagram followers and traffic are really starting to take off. While she’s been doing a lot to promote herself on those platforms, I also think a lot of it has to do with how awesome her pictures are.

This is the hardest part for me, too. My blog doesn’t necessarily have pictures, but I am constantly working on improving my graphics.

Be Assertive

Is there a brand or a blogger you’d love to partner with? Reach out to them with an idea. Check out how to write the perfect pitch email.