September Traffic & Income Report
This is my second income report published on the blog and it's really interesting to me to see how things change. I made more money with my first few design clients, but my overall traffic was lower. I'm okay with that because even though less people are visiting the site, they are staying longer and checking out more stuff.
I recently changed the layout of my home page and added a few more options, so I'm interested to see how that affects my stats next month.
I've also recently launched Inspired Online and will be hosting my first live interview this week! And, when you see this post, I will have just hosted my first webinar with Stephanie Shar of The Loudmouth Lifestyle.
Website Visitors
According to Google Analytics, I had 2,317 pageviews this month (down by 609) from 519 visitors (down by 182). The total bounce rate was 51%. Basically, less people were visiting my site, but the ones who were stayed longer and explored more.
Of the 860 sessions on my site, 207 came from referrals, 299 from social media, 329 came directly to my site, and 12 found me through a search. This means that more people are coming to me directly and through social media than last month!
Top Posts & Pages
My most visited page this month was my home page, with 37%. My top post was a tie between my August Traffic & Income Report and my post about the website I created for Sydney Troxler.
Newsletter
My newsletter subscribers increased some this month, from 56 to 86. The average open rate is 60% and the average click rate is 13%, both of which are above the industry average.
Social Media
Twitter: 214 followers (increased by 86)
Instagram: 95 followers (increased by 27)
Facebook: 43 page likes (increased by 6)
Pinterest: 84 followers
Income & Expenses
September 2015 Earnings:
Freelance Clients: $924
Project Clients: $300
Affiliate Links: $0
Total Income: $1,124
September 2015 Expenses:
Office Supplies: $0
MailChimp: $10
Calendly: $10
Tithe: $142.40
Total Expenses: $162.40
Total Profit: $961.60 (before taxes)
Why I'm Tithing
When I was in a 9 to 5, figuring out tithing was easy: I would tithe twice a month when I got paid and the amount rarely changed. (Just so you know, tithing means giving 10% of your increase to the church.) When I transitioned into running my own business, it wasn't so easy because income can vary so much and there are a lot of different opinions on how to tithe. After some research and prayer, I've decided to tithe on the amount I bill each month, before taxes or expenses.
What I Learned
It's all about engagement! The more I interact online (both in Facebook groups and on Twitter), the more followers I gain. And those followers are usually the people that I'm trying to reach and connect with. I'm planning on working on my Pinterest strategy, since it can be such a powerful platform, so I'm excited to see how that goes!
