August Traffic & Income Report
So I'm going to do something a little scary here. I'm going to post my traffic and income reports each month. I'm doing this for myself (so I can keep track of all of this) and also for you. I know what it feels like to be small and think that you're so far behind everyone else. You can easily find traffic reports from people with thousands of followers, but it's hard to relate when you're just starting out.
Just for context: I started working on Lemon and the Sea full time in March 2015 and switched from WordPress to Squarespace in May. I haven't been tracking my traffic until now, but I started out with zero followers (my mom doesn't even follow me) and I've been growing ever since. It's been slow, but I can see progress. Also, I'm making an income from some freelance clients that I had before starting Lemon and the Sea, so that income is included, but didn't start with this website.
Website Visitors
According to Google Analytics, I had 2,926 pageviews this month from 701 visitors. The total bounce rate was 61%.
Of the 1,001 sessions on my site, 456 came from referrals, 296 from social media, 223 came directly to my site, and 27 found me through a search.
Top Posts & Pages
My most visited page this month was my home page, with 29%. My top post was 3 Easy Ways to Improve Your Branding, which was also my first video post.
Newsletter
My newsletter subscribers increased significantly this month, from 7 to 56. The average open rate is 71%.
What I Did: I launched and promoted my first online course: DIY Stock Images + Graphics. I had a great response to this and it helped grow my list significantly.
Social Media
Twitter: 128 followers
Instagram: 68 followers
Facebook: 37 page likes
Income & Expenses
August 2015 Earnings:
Freelance Clients: $924
Project Clients: $0
Affiliate Links: $0
Total Income: $946
August 2015 Expenses:
Office Supplies: $39 for business cards and other office supplies
MailChimp: $10
Squarespace: $72 to move from the Personal to the Professional plan
Total Expenses: $121
Total Profit: $825 (before taxes)
What I Learned
Growing your blog and website can be slow. At times, I would be disappointed with the response I was getting, especially when I was comparing myself to bloggers who were doing much better than I was. But, it's important to remember that I just started and I'm growing slowly. I see an increase in interest and followers every time I put out useful content or spend time connecting with people on social media.
My business is slowly growing and I'm excited to see where it goes!
