Hey, Welcome back to our blog it’s great to see you again. Today’s topic is going to explain my first month of blogging in Detail plus my first income report.
The number one question is did I make any money in the first month or was it all just payout read on to find out? š
To get started off on the right foot I must explain that this is my second blog. I started the first one in the health niche on April 14th, 2020.
This post may contain affiliate links which means if you click through and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission. The price you pay will not be affected.
Wealthy Affiliate
Perhaps I should explain what happened before April. 14th March 2020 I signed up and joined Wealthy Affiliate through their Free Offer.
I started the training in the OEC certification that taught me how to build a website and a ton of other blog-related must-haves. As a free member, I was able to complete the first 10 lessons out of 50.
These lessons were so exciting and moreish that I just had to continue so I took the first month’s reduced offer of just $19.
I bought a domain through the platform and continued to learn SEO from the get-go, Phew that has been a lifesaver I read so many blogs where the blogger says they wished they had learned it from the start.
In May they had a Black Friday offer where I went Premium for a year at a very reduced price that I’m Grandfathered into and that included another domain this time for free.
Blogging is a slow burn and I knew it would take time to earn any commissions. Fast forward 4 months and I got my first commission of $45.48 from a product review.
As a first commission that’s pretty decent.
I had set a goal to get the first commission within a year so as not to put any undue pressure on myself.
when that commission came through it was a pleasant surprise.
I continued following the training and watching the live webinars every week as well as being active in the community of over 1 million very helpful bloggers who answer your questions 24/7.
There is a live chat feature where you can ask questions and get instant help.
Wealthy Affiliate has been around for 16 years and has that many years of past tutorials to go through if you so desire.
I continued with the first blog until December 2020. Then I decided I had had enough of that niche and got a new domain (mistakes bloggers make . com) this domain was free as it’s included in the membership.
This Blog Was Born
6th December 2020 I registered the domain mistakesbloggersmake.com I won’t forget the date as it’s our youngest daughters birthday š
The aim of this blog was and still is to give as much advice as possible to new bloggers that are just getting started. To not make the mistakes I made with the first one.
Although it was a great learning curve.
There is just so much to learn that the buzz word is usually overwhelming!
Now that this blog is classed as in the MMO niche ( make money online) I have been going through the other training in Wealthy Affiliate called the Bootcamp, this shows you how to become an affiliate marketer amongst other wonderful lessons.
Both of the training camps are task-based and that ensures that you take action!
The first 10 lessons of the boot camp training are also available to free members out of 70 lessons.
On a side note if you sign a new member up to Wealthy Affiliate even as a free member yourself you still get PAID a commission when they upgrade!
That is very unusual you normally need to be a paid member but not here.
You can also build your website and maintain it as a free member using a free site Rubix domain.
The First Month Progress Report
Things I did differently with This blog:
The biggest difference was joining Pinterest to market the blog from day 1 as opposed to just relying on SEO.
My first month’s figures 8th December Till 8th January for Pinterest:
The dip in traffic Jan 1-5 was when my account got caught in the spam filters and was suspended for 4 days š I did get it back but it was very upsetting.
In the first month, I wrote a total of 16 blog posts that equates to one every other day, all of the posts are over 1,000 words and a few at 2,000 words + one at over 4,000 words.
I also wrote an about me page.
Included in Wealthy Affiliate’s Training platform there are FREE Templates for your Affiliate Disclosure, Privacy policy, and Cookie Policy. If you need to be GDPR compliant there is also training on how to set that up.
My Typical Day As A Blogger
I am so not a morning person, However, one of our daughters and the middle grandchild who will be 4 in March live with us so getting up early and doing the school run is the norm now and has been since July 2020.
Monday get up at 07.30 drink coffee get showered take Mia to school at 08.30 back in the house for 09.15 traffic depending.
Make second coffee sit at the computer and either start to write a blog post or make some pins for Pinterest continue with this process to 10.00 am.
My day job is working from home doing telesales part-time from 10 am until 1 pm then off to the school and get Mia for 1.30.
Home again at 13.50 to try to continue with either the blog post or the Pinterest scheduling, the Pinterest strategy that I’m using that is working brilliantly is called Scheduling Shortcuts [Hacks for the New Pinterest Algorithm]
It works for both manual and scheduled pinning which in my experience is very unusual for a course.
Mia’s mum works in a restaurant so she can be home at any time of the day or night!
Sometimes Mia will sit and watch something for a while and I can get things done at other times we are in the pool or playing games or out walking to keep her entertained.
Dinner is generally as close to 6 pm as possible we take it in turns to cook. Shower Mia then bed for her at 7 pm.
Back on the computer, either doing some training, researching for a blog post, keyword research, writing a post, or doing something on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, or Wealthy Affiliate until 10 pm then I sometimes watch TV for a couple of hours with my husband then bed around 11.30 – midnight.
Other evenings are spent finishing blog posts and I can still be found there at Midnight or even later!
This process is pretty much the same Monday-Friday.
I generally average out at 1 blog post published every other day. Month 1 I Got 16 published, the about me page, and all of the legal pages added.
Then between 3-5 pins were made for each post and scheduled using Tailwind and manual pinning methods.
The Weekend Blogging Schedule
The weekend is when I try to get as much done as possible or at least that was the way previously.
Our schedule all changed when Courtney started in the restaurant 2 weeks ago. Previous to that she was working from home and was entertaining Mia so we could all get our various activities completed unimpeded.
Saturday usually started with a layin until 10 am. Coffee, shower straight onto the computer stop at 1 pm for lunch put some washing on then back on the computer peg out the washing when finished put another load on back on the computer until 5.30 cook dinner washup back on the computer till 10 pm watch tv bed at midnight.
If behind schedule stay on the computer till the task is finished been known to still be there at 3 am.
Sunday Rinse and repeat except for the husband always cooks the Sunday roast!
Fit in cleaning the house or delegating who is doing which chore as and when is necessary.
My Final Thoughts
Blogging is extremely exhausting work and there is always something to do or to be learning.
I love it and would not change anything for the world!
Well except for the day job!
Oh nearly Forgot I’m using the Pinterest approved scheduler Tailwind to do the pinning when my audience is online which as I’m in Europe is in the early hours of the morning for me. I would love there to be 48 hours in a day but unfortunately, that’s not the case.
With Tailwind you get a free month’s trial which I took up from a popular blogger’s post and then I liked it so much I decided to keep it.
In my first month of blogging, I got a subscriber that upgraded to the paid version of Tailwind which meant I got my first commission of $15.00.
As an added bonus once you receive 5 referrals you will get a $25.00 Amazon voucher.
I’m really looking forward to sharing my second month of blogging with you because Two Awesome events happened, watch this space!
If you enjoyed this post then don’t forget to pin me!
I love the way you introduce readers to the online world. Your honesty shines out and encourages the reader to read on and certainly to believe what you are saying.
It was refreshing to hear that your first effort didn’t go anywhere but that you didn’t give up.
All in all a great blog to keep us all encouraged, motivated and keeping going.
Thanks and keep up the good work.
Thank you for the valuable comment!
Hello there! This has been an interesting read. It’s really great that you were able to share a glimpse of your experience with affiliate marketing. I am glad to hear that this path has not been easy and does feel exhausting (at least I don’t feel like I am the only one). Thanks for that encouragement and motivational booster. Hope more success comes your way!
Thank you for the comment, yes it can be exhausting you are not alone!
Hi Lisa! Thank you very much for sharing your own journey in the affiliate marketing land. It’s encouraging to read about your first sale. And also how this site we’re now reading, was born. I like your site a lot!
Online businesses are here to stay and you have encouraged me to hop on this wagon.
I’m very pleased to hear that Paolo.