Behind The Screen: April 2015 Report

There’ve been a few conversations floating around recently about blogs, affiliate links, being open, money being made and how many people read said blogs. It’s a pretty interesting topic as we all like to know the stuff that goes on “Behind The Screen” especially as we know how much life can be curated on social media.

So, I decided I would share my statistics around traffic and income maybe on a monthly or quarterly basis. Unless I have the time and energy to go through Jan – Mar, you won’t see that, but I am starting here in April of 2015!

Just to clarify, I never started a blog to make money; but if I’m going to stick at it, it feels like a natural progression. It would be amazing to fully support myself via the blog as it would give me all the time in the world to focus on the blog and get creative. However, the money I have made in the past usually goes back into the blog (i.e I paid for the new blog design through earnings from the blog).

Statisctics are all the rage! FML a spelling mistake I can’t fix!

Statistics; April 2015 

Google Analytics

March 30th – April 29th
It’s always confused me how Google Analytics (GA) statistics are so much lower then those that Blogger themselves provide when I log into the backroom of my blog. I’m happy to trust the GA stats though as it gives me something to work towards!

The spike on the 20th is due to the competition I ran to win a place at any UK Reebok Spartan Race.

FB page likes – 534
IG followers – 844
Pinterest followers – 485
Twitter followers – 2147

Amazon Associates
– 1st April to 29th April
– £3.48
– unpaid

I signed up to Amazon Affiliates (AF) around the middle of April. I think I read about it on a blog, and knowing how much I love Amazon, it made sense! I’m only promoting things that I would have shared anyway and affiliate links don’t cost the buyer anything!

Affiliate Windows
– £5.01
– unconfirmed

I’ve been on Affiliate Windows (AW) for maybe 6 – 8 months. Its an affiliate website which I *think* you need to be invited to. You can sign up for programmes with hundreds of different brands. Currently, I’ve signed up to MyProtein, Planet Organic, Simply Supplements and LessBounce. I had joined other programmes but I removed myself as I felt I couldn’t speak authentically about their products. I also didn’t have the time to actively use affiliate links so there was no point being signed up to too many!

Other Advertising
– last 28 days
– £2.07
– unpaid

This is the advertising that blogger provide. I think I signed up about 6 – 8 months ago. Originally, I had quite a few ads in my sidebar, then I realised that it wasn’t a case of the more the merrier so I removed them and kept just one. I also have adverts at the end of every other blog post and in my footer. I believe I make money based on how many people see a particular advert and sometimes on if a reader clicks an advert.

Kayla Itsines Affiliate Program
– $1
– unpaid

I joined this programme about 1 – 2 months ago. I only actively shared the links about one month ago.  I receive a payment based on if anyone purchases one of her programmes via my affiliate link, and if someone signs up for the 7 day trial again via my affiliate link.

Sponsored Posts
– £30
– paid

I posted one blog for which I charged. I tag any paid post with a “sponsored” tag. I probably use this tag on occasions I haven’t been paid so I will add it to my to do list to go back and check this!

Other work and consulting
– none

I’ve not done any paid external projects this month. The amount of emails that land in my inbox asking me to write posts (usually promoting a brand / website) in return for “sharing with their networks” – I know it’s a topic a few bloggers have ranted about. Basically people want you to “work” for free with no compensation whatsoever.

Costs / Outgoings
– iCloud storage upgrade; £0.79
– Domain renewal (2 years); £20.20
– £1.22 PayPal fee’s for receiving payment

This section covers money I have spent on my blog. I recently had to upgrade my iCloud storage to fit all of my pictures. It’s not a hefty cost; £0.79 per month. My domain was up for renewal in June / July. When I got the reminder, I thought I’d better just do it now incase I forgot.

What Worked Well Last Month
Skimming back on the affiliate schemes I’m signed up to – it takes time and commitment to actively get affiliate links out there. There’s no point overcommitting. I also don’t want my blog to just be full of affiliate links. I tag all posts containing affiliate links with “contains affiliate links”.

What I Did New This Month
– Signed up to Amazon Affiliates
– Added my most recent book purchase to sidebar of blog as an image with affiliate link
– Removed myself from some affiliate programs
– Added new tag for blog posts containing affiliate links
– Created the ‘Elle Loves…’ page and started new monthly series

What I Will Try Next Month
– I’d love to run one competition per month / per quarter depending on the prize
– Actively pin to pinterest from my blog more

Goals For Next Month
I’m not sure what goals I have for May as I’m so used to taking what I get! I have an external deadline for a project I am working on which will boost my income so that is exciting!

I’m also using my Daily Greatness Business Planner (DGBP) at the moment to really nail my vision, purpose, mission, values, objectives, goals, strategy, operations, USP and products. Once I have all this down as a one pager I think I will have a better understanding of where I see ‘keep it simpElle’ going in the future!

So maybe one goal will be to …

GOAL – complete the above in my DGBP by the middle of May 2015

….then

GOAL – meet project deadline of May 11th

So… anything I’ve missed that you’d be interested to know?! 


Do you have blog goals that you are working towards?! 

Elle 🙂