Hey babes!!! I’m back with my second month blogging report & I’m kinda excited this time, ngl!
If you missed my previous one here’s my first month blogging report!
SO!!!! Before we dive into the numbers: I HAVE NEWS ⏤ I finally decided to take the leap & enroll in Foodtography School by Sarah Crawford!
Their Black Friday sale was POPPIN + a mini mental breakdown followed by a mini epiphany & a super positive dm interaction/exchange with Emma from Emma Duckworth Bakes finally pushed me enough to jump. And as NF says: if they ever push me I’m gonna SWING.
I just finished watching the intro + bonuses so I haven’t even started yet but I’m already in love with the course & the Lightroom bonus was a game changer!
Now let me shut the f*ck up & move onto the actual report lol.
Let’s start with a review:
🗒 NOVEMBER BLOGGING GOALS REVIEW
- 1000 pageviews/month (I’M SHAKING.) ✓SUCCESS: I reached 1073 pageviews.
- Get to 20k Pinterest monthly viewers while keeping my current CTR. X FAIL *BUT* I’m sitting at 16K (up by 40%) & my CTR is 0.95%!!! The average CTR for the food industry seems to be around 0.2% and last month mine was 0.45% so a 123% increase! My monhtly viewers didn’t go up because I slacked A LOT this month & that happened because I wasn’t happy with my strategy.
- 4 more links published. ✓SUCCESS: I got 7 new links published and that was a great boost!!
- Focus on building some relationships. ✓SORTA (lol): I mean I can’t say I have friends but I had really nice dm interactions with a few bloggers & they were SO sweet & helpful!
- Get accepted into 3-4 more group boards. X FAIL! My fault, I didn’t even try lol.
- Publish at least 2 new recipes every week (the Holiday season is in full swing!!). X FAIL I MISSED 1!!!!!! I’m SO frustrated because I only missed 1 post last week & that’s because I didn’t follow my editorial calendar.
Overall, I’m happy with my results but I really have to focus on my email list & come up with a better Pinterest strategy (sorry Carly). Instagram is on the backburner as well. No bueno.
Yea… there’s SO much to do!
📊 GOOGLE ANALYTICS
The numbers are in!!! 🥁
Okay SO ⏤ Sessions per User, Avg Session Duration & Bounce Rate are RED like Santa, they’re down (or up when it comes to bounce rate) BUT LOOK…
Pageviews are up 90%, Users are up 158% & Sessions are up 135%. Just gimme the Moscato & let me celebrate that.
Why this month I’m not so “eh” about my pageviews: I spent a ton of time researching case studies & realized that the majority of people that start a blog (aka randos) don’t get CRAZY results like those 1 in a million case studies where people get 10K overnight.
I mean, i KNEW that but I was still bummed out because I thought my numbers weren’t really that good. Doing more research (thank u reddit) helped me understand that my numbers are actually good.
I found case studies with numbers that were super similar to mine & people got a ton of compliments & great predictions so… thank you internet strangers that don’t even know I exist because all I do is lurk like a psycho, you just gave me a great mood boost.
Next.
📊 GOOGLE SEARCH CONSOLE
Here are some extra numbers from GSC ⏤ these prompted a mini epiphany/slight change of strategy so hear me out:
I’m loving my CTR but my impressions are LOW.
This made me understand that I’m targeting keywords that don’t have enough traffic to boost my impressions. The thing is: if I target keywords with better traffic I have less chance of getting my recipe in Google’s Top 10 (this happened btw, so I know it’s possible & it’s crazy af because I’m SO new to the game).
But if I target keywords with better traffic & somehow get enough backlinks to get a solid boost, I could technically skyrocket to Google’s Top 10 & *IF* I keep the same CTR but double/triple/whatever my impressions… I’LL (sorta) FLY lol.
The problem with that is: skyrocketing like that isn’t an exact science, you need quality backlinks, & my blog is super new so all my recipes are still dancing around quite a bit. In other words, there’s no guarantee.
On the other hand, if I keep targeting low traffic keywords I’ll get way less impressions BUT I know I’ll be featured in Google’s Top 10 just easy. Less risky but less rewarding.
I think this month I might change my strategy a bit & go a bit more risque (ay) & target keywords with higher traffic. You guys, it’s all trial & error.
📊 TRAFFIC
Anyone wants some pie charts??? Look at that pumpkin pie slice getting wider… love that.
I wanted to share these two pie charts because I wanted to show you how my organic traffic doubled & went from 9.7% to 18.9% in just 30 days. I’m SO grateful.
And it’s going really fast too!!! Just a few days ago on November 24 I posted my Healthy Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal recipe & on November 29 I started getting organic clicks ⏤ WHAT?!
🤍 YOUR NOVEMBER FAVORITES
I love seeing which posts get attention (aka what sticks) so, here are your November favorites! Keep in mind that some results are slightly “altered” by the boost I got from huge referrals:
- Chinese Eggplants With Spicy Garlic Sauce
- Chocolate Pretzel Tart
- Russian Chocolate Salami Dessert (Shokoladnaya Kolbasa)
- Autumn Corn Chowder With Roasted Pumpkin
- Vietnamese Fried Spring Rolls With Dipping Sauce (these are #1 on my Pinterest, people love them!!!)
- Best Apple Slab Pie With Icing
- Homemade Pumpkin Pie For Two (hello small gatherings <3)
- Savory Pumpkin Twists With Puff Pastry
- Spicy Honey Garlic Glazed Carrots
- Spicy Lebanese Potatoes (Batata Harra Recipe)
💰INCOME
Still nothing to see here. No I didn’t start monetizing. No ads, no affiliate links, yes I know I missed out on Black Friday deals & omg Christmas is literally around the corner.
I don’t wanna wait too long but I also feel like it’s still early for me to pump out affiliate links & display ads. Especially ads.
Sorry to disappoint. I still don’t have a 12 car garage & not even 6 cars, imagine that.
👆🏻DECEMBER BLOGGING GOALS
Accountability is great btw, I kinda love it, so here are my December goals:
- 1600 pageviews (I know, it might be too safe or oddly specific but I’m trying to do something, bear w me)
- 10 new posts.
- 10 links published.
- 20k monthly viewers on Pinterest.
- Join 3-4 group boards.
- Post every day on IG (stories/feed posts).
- Target high(er) traffic keywords.
- Complete Unit 01 & Unit 02 of Foodtography School & up my photography + editing game.
- Update my opt-in.
- Work on my email list (sequences).
- Try not to lose my sh*t.
I think that’s it.
That’s a LOT of stuff.
LET’S GET TO WORK!!!!! 💘
Ps: If you’re a fellow blogger, let me what are your blogging goals for next month OR let me know if I’m playing too safe with my blogging goals!
x Bianka
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