Behind The Screen: October 2015 Report

Well, Hello November! Let’s talk all things blogging and statistics for the month of October!

I know a lot of people who read blogs are bloggers so it’s always great to get an insight into how other bloggers operate. For those of you reading who are not bloggers you get a behind the screen insight into what bloggers get up to and how you play a part in helping us to continue to do what we love! 

Statistics; October 2015 

Google Analytics

October 1st – October 31st
Google Analytics (GA) statistics seem to be the benchmark for blog statistics so I moved away from trusting what Blogger says and use these statistics. I realised this month that I probably could learn to use GA a little better so that is something I will look into in the near future!


October vs September


Users 2,029 vs 1,866  (-163) 
Page Views 3,866 vs 3,865  (-1) 


After a bigger fall in stats last month, I had hoped for an increase or to stay steady as a worse case scenario; but again this month there has been a decrease. I’m not wholly sure that this is down to posting less but who knows?! But my social media stats were the silver lining on this cloud…


FB page likes – 679 vs 691 (+12) 
IG followers – 1121 vs 1163  (+42) 
Pinterest followers – 531 vs 563 (+32) 
Twitter followers – 2531 vs 2605 (+74) 
BlogLovin’ followers – 238 vs 243 (+5) 


Amazon Associates
– 1st October – 31st October
– £0.56


This month again,  I didn’t do anything different with Amazon. Last month I found the best way of sharing amazon links was via twitter when I am shopping myself and just sharing what I am buying / loving! This month I got approx 158 click throughs and 2 products purchased.


Affiliate Windows
– £4.18

I’ve been working on sharing links as authentically as I can over the past couple of months as well as when REALLY GOOD offers come through! Last month there seemed to be a lot more great deals which accounts for the higher click through rate even though this month saw two purchases as opposed to just one last month. As I shared before, purchases are down to whether people want to shop or not and that’s not really something I can personally affect.


Affiliate Window (AW) also have a facility where you add an opportunity for brands and then they reach out to you if they are interested. I tried to use it to organise a mini advent calendar for November but I feel the timescales are now too short to make it as big as I wanted. I did hear from a couple of brands and I guess I really should chase them up if I want this to work!


If you’re interested in joining an affiliate scheme it costs about £5 to join AW but you can make that back really quickly (if you try!).


Other Advertising
– 1st October – 31st October
– £3.21
– unpaid


Kayla Itsines Affiliate Program
– $A0


I’m still considering leaving this programme as it’s not actively contributing to my blog goals and is a lot of work for no return. However, I really want to give the programme a proper go before I pack it in! I anticipate that I could attempt the 3 month program at some point in the New Year so stay tuned to see if / when that happens!


Collaborative & Sponsored Posts
– £75


Last month I made the decision to increase and standardise my fee for such posts. I anticipated that it would mean a reduced income to start with but I’m happy with that. I was approached twice this month for sharing infographics that I would have found useful however only one agreed the fee. One per month is enough anyway; I don’t want KISE to be full of infographics even if I do think they are useful!


I used the money for this and my other work and consulting income (below) to pay for some products to test trade for my new business venture! 


Other work and consulting
– £35


I did some writing for an external blog this month. The post didn’t take me very long to write and I had agreed the fee a few months ago so couldn’t very well ask for more. I’m able to say yes or no when I’m offered a piece so I can prioritise other work if need be. 

Costs / Outgoings
– iCloud storage upgrade – £0.79
– PayPal fee’s
– Blogfest ticket – £79.84


Thank You – While You’re Here
I just want to say Thank You to those of you who popped me a vote in the MyProtein Fitness Blogger Awards! I didn’t win, but I’m very proud to have been shortlisted amongst a fabulous group of bloggers some of whom I would even class as friends! Congratulations to everyone else shortlisted and to each and every one of the category winners! 

What Worked Well Last Month


I cut down my posts from 4/week to 3/week. The aim is to have more quality content which adds value to those who read it! It’s meant I’ve said no to posting about a lot of things when I have been approached and caused me to not over commit to things I then cannot do. 


I just cleaned up my PR & Features page! I got busy on my free trial of Canva for Work and created some “on brand” graphics to get the page looking more sleek and tidy! I did a quick google search on my blog too to update my features list! 

What I Did New Last Month


I went out on a little Street Style shoot with a couple of my London Bloggers crew! I’ve been using some of the shots on social media and in blog posts! All of them were taken on my Olympus PEN E – PL7. Here’s another one of my favourite shots from the afternoon: 

Jacket (Topshop) || Scarf (lululemon) || Bag (Grafea at ASOS)

I bought myself a ticket to Mumsnet Blogfest for later this month! 


I rearranged my Pinterest a little. All this time my boards have just been in alphabetical order; they now are in order of relevance to my blog with my most personal (but still public) boards found lower down. 


I created my first official VLOG – you can catch it { here } 


I added quick links for following on social media platforms at the end of posts. I’m unable to tell if this has any direct affect on my social media stats but I like having the ease of accessibility to connect with me on other platforms right there at the end of each post. 


What I Will Try Next Month 

I never got around to this last month; I’m looking to bring back my Sport’n Style posts but with great photography and styling this time 🙂 I’m going to use the next month to think about how I want these posts to look and for style inspiration. 


On the photography side of things, I kinda fell out of the swing of taking photos so I want to get back on the case! I need to ensure I arrive early at events, don’t feel shy during and don’t need to rush off afterwards. 


I’m considering creating some content around Black Friday and Cyber Monday; I have so many products hanging around which I could use as a giveaway, I just need to finance the postage of it all. 

Posts On Blogging You Have To Read: 
– 6 Quick Tips For Sharing Affiliate Links


Goals For The Next Month


GOAL – share one workout on the blog with images and ‘pin-able’ title image (carried over from last month)


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

Do you have blog goals that you are working towards?! Have you blogged about blogging?! Share your posts with me too! 

Elle