Monthly Blog Stats & Helpful Hints #27

Welcome!  Its time for another blog stats and helpful hints post. Just picking up a few helpful hints I hope will make a difference in our blogs growth in the future and keeping them in a Pinterest blogging board for future reference.

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Over the past couple years of blogging, I have learned several things about blogging. Just a few hints have made blogging life either easier or better.  I would like to share a few of my favorites with you:

1. When I first started back blogging full time, I realized the blogging world had really changed.  So, as I do with any project, it was time to do some researching.  One of the books that I reference back to a lot is called [easyazon_link identifier=”B00N4FMLYG” locale=”US” tag=”mylifabu-20 “]To Blog For Profit: Without Selling Your Soul[/easyazon_link].  This book changed how I looked at blogging.  A must read especially if you are new to blogging.
2. One thing I was trying to do was not spend money.  Its impossible and my blog suffered for it.  There are several ways to save money, but not when it comes to your blogs security and the way it runs.  I decided to bite the bullet and have a professional take a look at my sick blog.  I contacted MaAnna at BlogAid and had her do an audit of my site.  What a difference it made.  My site ran much smoother after she cleaned up files, she checked and correctly my security issues, she set up my backup system, we discussed all the plugins I was using and how it looked to readers.  If you have a site which isn’t running like it should, contact MaAnna and let her take a look.  The audit was well worth the money I spent.
3. Since the site audit and performing much smoother, my stats started slowly going up and Google was finally happy.  Soon sponsorship offers started coming in. After using several sponsor companies, my favorite one is still Linqia.  I receive offers often, the payout is fast, you can choose your opps and customer service is great.  Most of their posts offer Giveaways which really bring in readers. Linqia consistently sends offers, where the other sponsorship companies may send something every few months.
4. Presentation is key on a blog.  Nice pictures really draw the reader to your blog and with your social media.  My camera of choice is [easyazon_link identifier=”B016VCJCSG” locale=”US” tag=”mylifabu-20 “]Canon Rebel T5[/easyazon_link].  I updated from my first DSLR Canon Rebel T3.  I do look for deals when it comes to buying any type of electronics.  My favorite lens is [easyazon_link identifier=”B00AXZZ034″ locale=”US” tag=”mylifabu-20 “]Sigma 17-70mm[/easyazon_link].  I had my camera for over a year before I switched to a new lens.  I waited until I earned enough money with my blog to purchase one. Remember, any item you buy to use for your blog is tax deductible. But there are other options for pictures. I purchase stock pictures from Creative Market.  They have bundles of stock pictures often for really low prices of less than $30.  Start receiving their emails where you can see the latest bundles sales and coupons.  They also have blog templates and blog photo bundles.  I’m addicted to this place.
5. My favorite plugin to use is called Duplicate and Merge Posts.  What a time saver this plugin is for any blog and I’ve used it about 2 years now.  You can clone a post you use over and over ( I do this with linky posts and did with this post) and just edit what is needed. Read the details on how to use this plugin in this post. *IMPORTANT: PLEASE BACKUP YOUR BLOG BEFORE USING ANY NEW PLUGIN*
6. I have to admit, I don’t have many email subscribers and I only use Feedburner.  I know.  I need to get into the new century when it comes to email systems.  I recently read about MailMunch and how it was helping bloggers double their email subscribers.  I kind of rolled my eyes.  But, just a few days later, I was trolling around and visiting some of my favorite bloggers and noticed a couple of them were using MailMunch.  I thought I would give it a try and see what happens.  I have been kicking myself ever since.  I kid you not!!  My subscription rate has doubled.  I do use the Free version and have the bar at the top of the page.  It integrates with several of the popular Email Providers and even though I still use Feedburner, I just copy and paste the email subscribers to my email list.  I personally am wanting to change to another Email Provider next year.  You will have to use the MailMunch plugin for WordPress.  Be sure to backup before uploading this plugin.

I hope my favs of the blogging world will help you too!!  One more item I learned. Stick with it!!  It does take a couple of years to get established and known in the blogging community.  Go to other blogs and leave comments.  And most of all……..Have Fun!!!

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Main goal reach right now is to keep 10,000 views monthly!

I recently hit 20,000+ views!!!  

I did a post for Social Fabric and the sponsor company liked my post so much, they allowed Social Fabric to run Facebook ads featuring my post. The ads ran for a week.  I had no idea the views, subscriptions and likes I would receive from that.  The bonus of that post was my hubby received a nice drill.  You can see that post here.

Now on to my stats from March through July 2016:

Total income for 2014 = $780.12 

Total income from 2015 = $1275.85 

INCOME
Google Adsense –  $120.39
Media Net –  $9.54
Izea – $135 = $135
Tapinfluence -$0
BlogHer – $25 = $130
Linqia – $880.80 = $1572.00
Social Fabric – $190 = $190
Influence Central – $550 = $550
Total for 2016 = $2706.93

Monthly user visits:  8873
Unique monthly visitors:7607
Monthly page views: 20,943
Average page views per visit: 2.36

RANKINGS & SOCIAL MEDIA
Pinterest: 2414
Facebook: 1608
Twitter: 1966
Google+: 1785
Instagram: 1723

If you have any questions about any of the items discussed, please let me know and be sure to check out my past posts for Blog Stats & Helpful Hints.

How are your goals coming along so far?

Keep on bloggin!

Tammy

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