4 months, contentment questing, blog, report, blogging

4 Months of Contentment Questing: Blog Report

 

Hello friends! Wow! 4 months have come and gone since I started blogging.  Like parenting, it seems like yesterday and forever ago all at the same time. Ha!  My 2-month blog report was highlighted by information overload.  My 3-month blog report, I decided to start investing a little in myself and what I am doing, and I am continuing that in my 4-month blog report.  It is paying off and I am starting to feel like my little Contentment Questing snowball has finally started running down the hill.   Blogging is a marathon, not a sprint, is what I have read everywhere and it seems to be true so far. Keep reading to find out all the details of how it is going in my 4th month of blogging and the exciting things that are starting to happen.

4 months, blog, report, contentment questing

(This post contains affiliate links.  If you click on them and make a purchase, then I will get a small commission at no cost to you. Thank you for your support! For more information, please see my disclosure.)

Priorities and Posting Frequency Changes: How it’s working

In my 3 months of Contentment Questing blog report, I wrote about the place that blogging has in my life.  I love it!  The longer I blog the more things I am learning and the more passionate about it I become.  However, like everything, It has to stay in its place. My priorities are God first, then my family, followed by some self-care for me, and then the blog.   Following this guideline is working out really well for me.

This 4th  month has included Spring Break for the kids and some hospital time for an elderly family member that I help to care for. (Who is supposed to be coming home today, Praise the Lord!)  Both of those have taken some time away from the blog, but I would not have it any other say. I am so incredibly glad that I cut down to posting only once a week. I feel like I am able to give you some high-quality posts and I have time to educate myself more.  I have also had time to go through most of my old blog posts and rework them a bit to improve their readability and how high they rank in search engines.  I have about 8 more to go on the reworking.

My Goals for Month and the results

My goals for this month were:

  • Bust 500+ page views
  • Promote my posts more with some videos on Facebook, and perhaps try integrating them into some of my blog posts.
  • I would love some additional sign-ups on my mailing list!
  • Continue consistent pinning on Pinterest
  • Research affiliate marketing and graphic design

 

Page views:

I installed Google Analytics, which I REALLY like.  It gives me some much more detailed data.  I wanted to bust 500 page views: at 1157, BOOM! I am feeling like I blew this one out of the WATER!  Another thing that I am SUPER excited about is the bounce rate. It is at 4.29%, which is down 94%! That is incredible!  Bounce rate is where someone clicks your page, and then immediately navigates away.   Not only am I getting more visits, people are staying longer!  In the picture below, you will notice that it actually shows me the past 32 days, but if you subtract the 28 views from Feb 24, and 25th, that still leaves me with 1129 page views!

google analytics, blog, blogging, 4 months, 1k

Promote Posts with Videos

I have done 2 more Facebook videos, but I have not integrated them into any of my posts.  This is one thing that I ran short on time with.  However, my Facebook page is up to 94 Likes and Follows!  (It was 75 last month) One of my posts even had a 100 person reach with is a record for me!  I am getting close to that 100 mark!  In all honesty, Facebook is something that has suffered from lack of attention with the other personal things going on this month that I mentioned before, so I am incredibly happy with the growth!

Additional Sign Ups on my Mailing list

This one still needs some work.  It was not a total bust because I think I am up to 6 email subscribers now.  I need to figure out a better freebie.  Suggestions, anyone?  What would you like to see?

Continue Consistent Pinning On Pinterest

I have definitely done this! I have decided to go mostly with manual pinning because I just like it better for some reason.  I will use tailwind as a supplement on the weekend or if I am super busy or on vacation.  The manual pinning seems to be working for me.  My Pinterest reach has gone up to 36.1K!  That blows my mind.  Last month it was 24.2k.  My engagement total is 1.1k.  I’m pretty proud of that too. As of now, Pinterest is my #1 source of traffic for my blog.  As of now, I have 177 Pinterest Followers, up from 146 last month.

4 month, pinterest, data, contentment questing, blog, blog report

Pinterest, data, engaged, analytics, blog, blog report, blogging

Research affiliate Marketing and Design

I decided to back up a bit and make sure that I was not missing anything on my basic set up.  I purchased my first course, which is the Blog By Number course by Suzi Whitford.  It is amazing!  Had I purchased it earlier, it would have saved me SO much time!  If you are looking for a course to help you set up your blog, I recommend this one. It comes with free stock images and her ebook, which should really be more classified as a textbook.

(If you are interested, but do not want to invest in the full course, she does have a free course with good advice and a ton of awesome freebies that I took first!)

This goal is still on the books for next month, as is finishing the course.  I just wanted to make sure that I had not skipped any vital step beforehand, since monetizing the blog is one of the last steps.  I have not made any money from affiliate marketing, and I do have less than 90 days left to sell something on Amazon, but I feel like it is getting closer.  I feel like I am starting to figure things out and like it is all starting to come together, which is a great feeling!

Goals for Next Month

Before, notice how my goals were not that measurable? That was a mistake.  I was discouraged because I was not meeting them.  I am a bit of a perfectionist and these blog reports are all out there for everyone to see, and I was embarrassed that I had not met my goals, so last month, I set vague ones.  That is not a good way to go with goals.  Goals should be measurable, and attainable in a time frame.  So, here are my goals for my 5th month of Contentment Questing:

  • I want to have at least 1200 page views in my next blog report. I think that is totally do-able, and hopefully, I will blow this one out of the water.  It’s hard to believe that last month I didn’t make 500 and this month it was over 1000.  Blogging is odd because it seems when you first start out, you have very slow growth and those wheels start turning ever so slowly.  Then, after a few months, it seems like the progress come in exponential amounts.  It really is an emotional rollercoaster!
  • I want my Facebook page to have 105 Likes and Follows or more!
  • I want to do at least 2 more Facebook videos to promote my posts
  • Pinterest -I want to have 200 followers by next month
  • Pinterest – I want my reach to be 40k+ (Pinterest kind of comes in spurts, as you can see from the data. I’m pretty stunned by where it is at, so 40k just seems like a dream right now.)
  • Finish the Blog by number course and implement changes
  • Add an additional freebie to my freebie library.

 

Changes in the Coming Month

I am not entirely happy with the theme and design that I have right now.  I plan on making some changes and trying out one or more new ones and playing around with the customizations.  This will mean that the website is going to go through some cosmetic changes that will hopefully be for the better.  Please have patience, and I would love some feedback on what you like, what does not seem like it is working, and what kind of freebies you would find useful.  I want to add an additional freebie to my freebie library this month.

Something else, that I find a bit scary, but that I would like to do is to make a pitch to Arkansas State Parks.  We have been having fun exploring some of the state parks already and look forward to more over the summer.  I want to pitch to them to see if they would be interested in sponsoring a blog post or posts featuring them.  I love the state parks because they are cheap wholesome activities to do with the family.  They are very kid-friendly and pet-friendly.  I guess the worst that can happen is that AR State Parks says “no” and I won’t be any worse off.  Wish me luck!

Conclusion

This has been the most amazing month of blogging so far.  My Facebook is nearly up to 100 Likes/Follows.  My Pinterest followers are up to 177, and my reach is 36.1k!  My page views are up as well to over 1000 this month!  I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am about that!  Blogging starts slow, but the growth is amazing once it starts happening and I am hoping that I am finally reaching that point!  This has been a busy month for me personally so that makes the growth even more mind-blowing!

I have tons of ideas for blog posts and I can’t wait to share them with you!  I am so thankful for you, my readers.  Let me know what you like and what’s helpful.  What I need most right now is some feedback!  Thank you for Contentment Questing with me!  The journey just keeps getting better and better!

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