Last updated on April 10th, 2019 at 06:16 am
Wow May is over and Summer is officially in full-swing and it’s time for another blog growth stats for May 2017 report.
Now that Summer has arrived, it means that I will be spending more time outside, especially, since we bought kayaks. We had our first kayak experience on Memorial Day and it was a blast. We’ll definitely be taking the kayaks again soon.
Today, I wanted to share my blog growth stats for May 2017. I want to be as transparent as possible to show you what I’m doing to grow my blog. My hope is that you can use this post to help you grow your own blog.
If you’re new here, then you may not realize that I wasted several months NOT promoting my blog. However, for the past 3 months, I’ve been promoting my blog as best as I know how.
I figured one of the best ways to help you grow your blog is to show you exactly what I’m doing to grow mine.
So now that you know I am NOT a traffic expert, let’s get busy and see how my blog did last month.
A Quick Look at My Blog Analytics
The only way that I know how to show you the growth of my blog is to share the stats with a snapshot of my Analytics dashboard for the month.
As you can see, my blog page views went down from where they were in April. The great news is that May was the month that I earned the most email subscribers since I’ve started focusing on my email list.
Related: My Blog Growth Stats from April 2017
No, I didn’t get thousands of subscribers for the month….I got 15 new subscribers in May. I know some of you may be laughing at me because of how slow my blog is growing.
Yes I would love for my blog to grow faster, but at least I’ve been seeing growth for the last 3 months. So in my opinion, that’s good.
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Blog Growth Stats for May 2017
Unfortunately, my page views went down from last month’s blog traffic report. One of the reasons that my page views went down is that I am no longer commenting on 10 blogs every month. When I picked up Ryan Biddulph’s Build An Empire Through Blog Commenting, I was making it a point to comment on 10 blogs every month.
That schedule was very hard to maintain and to tell you the truth, I wasn’t having fun trying to comment on 10 blogs. I found myself stressing out whenever I didn’t comment on 10 blogs.
So today, I still comment on blogs everyday. However, I am not attaching a number on a number of comments that I leave. Instead, I choose to focus on the quality of comments.
This has definitely made it easier for me to maintain my daily blog commenting schedule. I am not sure if my page views dropped because I stopped commenting on so many blogs?
I am NOT going to go back to commenting on a specific number of blogs on a daily basis.
Guest Posting Opportunities for May
As you know, I am starting to get more involved with guest posting because I don’t want to focus 100% on just one traffic source. In the month of May, I had one guest post go live.
That’s the only guest post that got published in the month of May. I know, I really need to put guest posting into overdrive. I seem to have issues finding blogs that accept guest posts.
I’ve started using SEO Spyglass to help me find guest post opportunities. This tool allows you to find the backlinks of other bloggers.
While I really don’t care about building backlinks, because I don’t want this site penalized like my last one. I am just using SEO Spyglass to help me find blogs that accept guest posts. Then I’ll go out and start building a relationship with the blogger before asking for the guest post opportunity.
I’ve already used that tool to reach out to a few blogs in hopes of being able to land some more guest posts? We’ll see how that goes.
If you want to get started with guest posting, here’s a list of 50 blogs that accept guest posts. I actually reached out to one of the blogs on that list for a possible guest posting opportunity.
I haven’t heard anything back from them yet, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
Reaching Out For More Guest Post Opportunities
As you know, I spend time every morning commenting on blogs in order to network with other bloggers. Because of comments, I was able to get another guest posting opportunity that will be published in June.
I reached out to Candis from Smart Mom Blogger for a guest posting opportunity. Guess what, she said yes. Here is my new guest post that just got published yesterday.
So basically, last month in May, I reached out to 3 people for guest posting opportunities. That’s not a lot, but I am pretty happy that I did reach out to some bloggers.
Using Facebook to Grow My Blog
Last month, I told you that Facebook is the biggest traffic referrer to my blog. The funny thing, is that my Facebook page only has 11 likes. To tell you the truth, I have no clue how to grow my Facebook page, that’s why I invested in this course.
I want to learn how to improve my Facebook marketing, especially, since it’s the biggest traffic referrer for my blog.
How I Am Using Facebook
Actually, all I am doing is using Facebook Groups. I’ve created a spreadsheet that shows me which groups have share days. On share days, you can promote your freebie, posts or anything that you want on the wall.
So every day of the week, I go through this spreadsheet and post my blog on the wall. Now, I know what you’re thinking. All I’m doing is spamming the group.
That’s how I felt at first. This is why I make it a point to interact with the groups as well. This way I won’t feel like I am just dropping my link and running.
Now I can’t say that using this method will work for your blog, however, it has definitely worked for my blog. Check out a screenshot of how my blog is growing due to social networks.
I know that I am still NOT rocking social media. If you know anything about me, social media is completely new to me. This is the first time I’ve used it to help me grow my blog.
In the past, I focused 100% on SEO. Thanks to this traffic eBook, it opened up my eyes to creating traffic from multiple places, this way I won’t have to worry about Google for traffic.
My Pinterest Update
Last month, I said I was going to improve my Pinterest strategy to see if I can get more traffic from it. Well, unfortunately, I really didn’t have a lot of extra time last month.
With my freelancing business, it’s important for me to spend times on things that are important for my blog. This is the reason I’ve set up some blog duties that way I know what I should be working on. This has helped me organize my day, so I can be more productive.
One of the things I did with my Pinterest strategy is I re-did a couple of my images. I wanted to see if by re-doing my images, I would get more click-throughs and traffic to my blog.
So, what I did was create 2 new images for my 7 Day WordPress Course, after all, my goal is to get more email subscribers. I was blown away by just by creating new images, I got more shares and click-throughs.
My Result
I created this image and was amazed at how quickly it got shares and re-pins. Now I know what you’re thinking, re-pins and shares don’t matter.
Our goal is to use Pinterest to get people off the site and onto our site and hopefully on our email list. Well, the great news is that even though my page views were smaller last month, I did get more subscribers.
So that’s awesome….
As you can see Pinterest isn’t really working that great for me like it is for other bloggers. Sure it’s bringing me some traffic, but not a whole lot.
So instead of putting a lot of attention on Pinterest, I am focusing on guest posting. I’m going to continue creating pins for Pinterest, after all, it is working. If I can get to the point where my blog is getting traffic from multiple sources, that would be awesome!
I just won’t be putting a ton of my effort into it. Instead, I am choosing to put more effort into Facebook, as that is where most of my traffic is coming from.
YouTube Videos Created
As you know, I have a YouTube channel for this blog. I upload a new YouTube video every other Wednesday. When I first started this blog, I was trying to do a video every week.
However, that quickly stopped after I realized how much work it was to grow my blog. Since my blog has been seeing faster growth than my YouTube channel, I figured I would put more emphasis on my blog.
I love creating videos and just like my blog, I batch my videos. I currently have 5 videos created so I don’t have to worry about creating new videos for a while.
Last Month I Created 2 Videos
It seems to be taking forever for my channel to grow. Just like my blog, it’s definitely a lot of hard work. The truth is that I am not marketing my YouTube channel.
I just create my videos and I’ll put them on my blog. As of this writing, I have 32 subscribers on my channel. I know that I should focus on promoting my channel. As I mentioned, since I am a one-woman band, I can only do so much.
Even though I don’t get a lot of traffic from my channel, I really enjoy creating the videos. Since I create a lot of WordPress tutorials, it’s easy to create videos that consist of walk-through over the shoulder tutorials.
SO HOW MUCH DID MY BLOG GROW
We all want our blog to grow. Nothing is more depressing working hard on our blog only to see that we’re not seeing the results we want.
Your growth stats may be different than mine. The main goal of my blog is to grow my email list. There are certain things that I pay attention to every month to see if my blog is improving or not.
While I love getting email subscribers, the truth is that I want to provide awesome content that helps my readers. After all, what good is my content and blog if it isn’t helping anyone.
How I Monitor My Blog Growth
I have a spreadsheet on Google Drive that helps me keep track of my blog numbers every month. Unfortunately, I didn’t start paying attention to my stats until 2 months ago. But then I also waited until 2 months ago to really start promoting my blog.
Do yourself a favor and start promoting your blog right out the gate. Otherwise, it’s going to take you a lot longer to start seeing traffic.
So let’s dive into my blog growth numbers.
April Blog Growth Numbers
- Email Subscribers (new opt-ins for the month): 12
- Overall List Size: 30
- Twitter Followers: 682
- Facebook Followers: 8
- YouTube Subscribers: 26
- Pinterest Followers: 211
- Page Views: 4,944
I included my April blog growth numbers, so you can see how my blog grew in May. Without knowing the numbers, you won’t be able to tell whether or not my blog actually grew.
May Blog Growth Numbers
- Email Subscribers (new opt-ins for the month): 15
- Overall List Size: 45
- Twitter Followers: 795
- Facebook Followers: 11
- YouTube Subscribers: 32
- Pinterest Followers: 286
- Page Views: 3100
As you can see, my blog is growing at a slow pace. All the numbers are climbing, of course, it’s taking forever. When I started blogging, I knew that it was going to take a lot of hard work.
I don’t mind the hard work, and it’s definitely nice to see that my blog is growing and I am not 100% reliant on Google. Oh and I also finally made my first affiliate sale with my blog. Yeah….finally!
As I mentioned, I won’t be discussing income on my blog, so that’s the only time I’ll tell you about making affiliate sales. I’m just excited because while I do offer my limited WordPress services on my blog. My goal is to get to the point where most of my income comes from digital products and affiliate marketing.
I am trying to move away from trading hours for dollars. I want my income to be more passive.
My Top 3 Blog Posts for May
One of the things that I love looking at is my top blog posts for the month. At the end of the ever month, I’ll go back and see if I can improve them and maybe sprinkle some affiliate links in the post.
I won’t go crazy with affiliate links, however, if the posts are popular and are getting traffic. There’s no reason why I shouldn’t try to monetize the post.
You definitely should be trying to monetize your top trafficked blog posts.
TOOLS FOR SUCCESS
These are the tools that I use in my business and couldn’t imagine trying to run a blog without them.
Tailwind: This tool helps me automate my Pinterest efforts. My favorite part of Tailwind are the Tribes. They are kind of like Groups, but anyone can join without having to wait days for a response. I’ve recently started using Board Booster to help me with the looping feature.
So I don’t really know how much of a positive or negative effect it’ll have on my account?
SiteGround: I am on the GrowBig plan and I love it. If you’re looking for a reliable hosting account for beginners, I highly recommend this hosting account. You can easily start for just $5.95 per month. Although, I recommend paying for 2 years in advance. This will give you enough time to grow your blog and start making money before another hosting bill rolls around.
Related: Start Your Blog With SiteGround
GetResponse: I use this email service to build my subscribers. It makes it easy to send out my 7 day WordPress course as soon as someone signs up.
ShareSale: This is the affiliate program that I work with for most of the products that I promote on my blog. I make it a point to only promote the products that I use and love.
Social Warfare: This social sharing plugin has made it easy for me to get people to share the images and content I want shared. I started off with Monarch, which is another good one. However, my favorite is the Social Warfare plugin.
Thrive Leads: An amazing plugin that allows you to add opt-in boxes quickly and easily. It integrates with pretty much all the popular auto-responders.
Thrive Content Builder: I used this plugin to create the opt-in lead magnet page for my 7 Day WordPress course.
Genesis Framework: I am using the Daily Dish Pro child theme for my blog and I use the Genesis Framework as my choice for this blog. The Framework does have a bit of a learning curve, but I love it. If you want something quick and easy, you can go with Divi or Beaver Builder.
I’ve used both of those page builders for clients. They are easy to learn and you don’t have to know any code.
Blog Goals for June
I have a ton of goals, but it’s virtually impossible to do them all, especially with my freelancing business. Unfortunately, I am a one-woman show and do everything myself.
I know you’re thinking I should pay for a VA. However, I find it hard to pay for someone to work on my blog, when it really isn’t earning any money yet.
So instead, I will focus on growing my own blog by myself. Yes, it will take longer, but I just don’t want to invest in outsourcing yet.
Since I am growing the blog by myself, it’s important to set realistic short-term goals, otherwise, I won’t reach them.
Now before I can set my goals for this month, let’s see if I reached my goals from last month.
My Goals from Last Month
- Continue blog commenting and networking with other bloggers. I’ve never really been a great networker and I am working on improving that. (Yes I did this)
- Write more content based off of my popular blog posts. If I take the time to piggy back off my successful posts, that should mean more traffic and hopefully, more subscribers. (No I really didn’t do this)
- Keep learning more about how to use Facebook and improve my Facebook marketing. (I purchased this course)
- Spend time trying to improve my Pinterest marketing strategy (I improved some of my images, I won’t be focusing this month on Pinterest)
- Increase my subscribers from 30 – 60 (that’s double of what I have right now) (goal not met)
- Focus more on my email subscribers and actually start building a relationship with them. (yes I did this)
This Month’s Goals
Since I was shy of reaching my subscribers for last month, I am going to set another number that may be impossible for me to reach. I figure I came close to reaching it, why not shoot for the stars.
- Continue blog commenting as a way to network with bloggers.
- Start the Facebook Course I purchased, and see if I can improve my Facebook Marketing efforts.
- Reach out and try to get more guest posting opportunities
- Double my email subscribers from last month..so my goal is 30 subscribers.
Since I am focusing on Facebook this month, I think I’ll leave Pinterest alone. I can’t be everywhere at once, otherwise, I won’t get anything accomplished at all.
Why My Page Views Went Down
I am not really sure why my page views went down from April. I guess maybe because it’s summertime and many people are outside enjoying life. Maybe it’s because I am not commenting on as many blogs as I used to?
The great thing is that even though my pageviews went down, I still managed to grow my subscribers. We all want to get more page views, but the important thing to look at, is are your blog numbers growing?
If so, then I wouldn’t stress page views very much. Just keep doing what you’re doing and eventually, your page views will grow.
That’s more important than focusing on subscribers. I know that if I can keep providing valuable content for my readers, eventually, they’ll become a fan.
Final Take Away
I hope you enjoyed this my blog growth stats for May 2017. As you can see, I am still learning how to grow a blog. Growing a blog has never been easy for me. Instead, the techie side of blogging seems to come easier for me.
However, with a lot of hard work and consistent effort, your blog will start to grow.
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It seems like it’s taking forever for my blog to grow. But what can I expect when I didn’t actually start promoting it until March 2017. The one thing you should take away from all of this, start promoting your blog as soon as possible.
Don’t make the same mistake I made and wait for people to find your blog.
So tell me, what promotional method are you focusing on to grow your blog?
Thank you! I am honestly happy to come across your post! I find myself at a standstill with my blog and driving traffic to it. Your post has answered the questions I had ????????.
Can’t wait to implement them.
Again, thank you so much ????.
Hi Jattu,
So glad that you found my blog post helpful. Yeah starting a blog is the easy part. The techie part seems to come easier for me.
The hard part comes when you’re trying to promote it and build your tribe. It’s NOT so easy for me, it’s all just a learning process.
Let me know which parts you implement from my post and how it goes. I’d love to hear about your results.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by and comment, have a great day 🙂
Susan
Wow Susan, what a gold mine of info for your latest stat report!
My goal for June 2017 is to comment on 30 blogs this month. I hope I don’t get burnt out, but thought I’d give it a try since I’ve seen it work for others.
I hadn’t heard of SEOSpyglass, I will definitely check it out since my goal is to do a guest post at some point this month. Thanks for the heads up!
Yesterday I decided to start re-doing some of my pins to see if I received more clickthroughs. I’m glad your redesign has worked for you! Now I have some motivation to get started.
Thx for sharing what worked for you this month. 🙂
-Krista
Hi Krista,
Yeah, blog commenting has definitely worked for me. You can’t think of it in terms of traffic. I go about it in helping me build relationships with other bloggers.
I have been able to get some guest posting opportunities using this method.
SEO Spyglass is great and if you do download the 30 day trial, make sure you use it as much as possible. I am not sure how much information they give you with the free trial as I have the paid version.
Good luck with your blog commenting and I have no doubt that you’ll be able to comment on 30 blogs. You’ve already made one, just 29 more to go.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by and comment, have a great day 🙂
Susan
Hey Susan,
It is quite interesting to read through your report 🙂 I highly appreciate how you are so transparent with your numbers – not many bloggers will share the numbers when they are starting out and don’t have big enough numbers to boast.
And I am sure you are going on the right path with reaching out and connecting. I am so glad to have your guest post published at my blog!
All the best with your goals for June 🙂
Cheers,
Jane.
Hi Jane,
Thanks for taking the time to stop by, yeah, my numbers are NOT big. However, we all start out at 0. So in my opinion, it’s okay to share my numbers.
I am hoping that my process can help someone along the way.
I do appreciate you letting me guest post on your blog and I hope you have a great day 🙂
Thanks again for stopping by.
Susan
Thanks Susan.
Thanks Your Amazing Support For New Blogger and showing blog statics and numbers to encourage new blogger .
Hi Nekitha,
You’re welcome, I am glad that you liked it.
By sharing my numbers, I am keeping myself accountable on working hard to grow my blog.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by and comment, have a great day 🙂
Susan
Hi Susan
thank you very much indeed for the great post and all the useful information you have given.
Personally, I think a blog should grow slowly but steady as this implies that you got the “right” audience for you blog. I have just started my blog in February this year and it continues to grow and that what matters most. Currently, my daily visitor numbers are around at 150 daily and I am really happy with this result.
Sometimes, I got really frustrated to see my visitor numbers by 15 daily but it is worth to continue in my eyes and have the stamina to carry on – no matter what.
It is true that commenting on other blog get you a wider reach but on the other hand it is more importantly to speak and chat to other bloggers in and outside your niche in order to gain some ideas. Having said that, this is sometimes pretty hard to accomplish – especially here in Germany 🙂 (Everybody things “oh that’s mine blog I will not link to another…) But that assumption is just wrong and so I continue to build relationships outside Germany too – as it is sometimes easier to connect. That is also the reason my blog is bi-lingual to get also more readers from other countries to my blog.
Giveaways are great to get more visitors and readers for the long term. My ideas was just to write to some developers of apps which I am using myself and was able to get some partnerships accomplished. This took a long time but it is worth it too. The deal is that I will link them in my articles every time they get mentioned in return I get either licences for free for my raffles and Specials and / or discounts on reviewing their products. With one of my partners I got a pretty close relationship and get information upfront – so I can use it for my readers before the updates hits the market.
Building relationships are the most important thing to do for a blog and I think it is worth to send some emails to companies if they are willing to get mentioned and linked. 🙂
Have a great weekend.
Hi Stefanie,
Wow great comment and thanks for the taking the time to write it. Great job on growing your blog to 150 visitors per day. You’re definitely right about slow and steady, that’s what I keep telling myself.
I understand about getting frustrated sometimes, I do that as well.
That’s too bad that people feel like they can’t link to another blog in Germany. However, glad to hear that you didn’t let this stop you from reaching out to other bloggers in other countries.
Definitely sounds like you’ve got the networking thing down very well. I may have to start putting some of your techniques to use to help me network better.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by and commenting, I hope you have a great day 🙂
Susan
Nice and valuable information in this blog Susan
this information is very helpful for new bloggers like me.
keep going
Hi Praveen,
So glad that you are liking the information that I share.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by and comment, have a great day 🙂
Susan
I really enjoyed reading your update Susan. May I suggest that you continue to focus on Pinterest? We’re talking free organic traffic here! 🙂
It took around one year before I saw substantial results from Pinterest. It’s definitely not an overnight success platform. However, once your content starts to catch on, you’ll see results for months or even years to come!
Hi Tiffany,
Thanks for taking the time to stop by and comment. I am still going to be focusing on Pinterest, my traffic is starting to pick up. Maybe, I wasn’t giving it enough time? I have been known to be impatient.
Great to know that it took you a year before you saw success. I am working on improving some of the images for my most popular posts. Your comment definitely made me feel better about my slow progress.
Thanks for the comment Tiffany, have a great day 🙂
Susan
Hi Susan,
It is quite interesting to read through your report ???? I highly appreciate your work. Thanks. Keep the good work.
Hi Latiful,
I am glad that you enjoyed my report. It’s definitely been a lot of work trying to grow my blog, stay tuned as I plan on sharing what I am doing each and every month.
Have a great day 🙂
Susan
Hey Susan,
Coming over to you from Donna’s blog and I am glad I did.
I see the effort you are putting into your blog’s growth and my respects are in order. I must admit that I’ve been writing for clients but never bothered to write for myself.
For the last 3-4 months, however, I’ve been blogging regularly and I do see an increase in traffic gradually.
That guy Ryan, he was the one who taught me to go out and network so we have that in common there. We are also growing together (same pace, minus the susbcribers).
I needed to build my email list and I never focused on that (although I believed in it and would preach it to clients all the time).
It was only a couple of days ago that I started with the efforts of list building and it’s an overwhelm, I tell you.
I am glad I am here and looking at your work, I am inspired to do more of what works.
Great going Susan. I am with you on this Journey.
Hi Ash,
Welcome to my blog, so glad that you took the time out to come visit me. Feeling honored.
Glad to hear that you started your blog. I understand about doing work for clients and NOT doing enough for ourselves. I’ve been in that boat as well.
Ryan is awesome and I have been using his methods for the last 2-3 months. It’s a lot of work, but I am starting to slowly see some growth. It definitely, doesn’t happen overnight.
As for subscribers, I know what you mean. Growing them is slow, I by no means have a huge number. It’s good to know that you’ve started focusing on your email list.
I have no doubt that you will see the results you’re looking for.
Thanks again for stopping by and I hope you have a great day 🙂
Susan
Hey Susan,
The honor thing is mutual 🙂 It’s a blessing that I can even leave a comment here. The world feels so much smaller than it is, thanks to this.
Last week, when I first decided to grow my subscriber base, I just happened to have that “marketer panic syndrome”. I was like, “Where are the results? We just set up the opt-in form, right?”
Then, sense kicked in and I told myself what I tell my clients. It’s not going to happen overnight. I just happened to realize how hard blogging is, how long it takes for a website to start bring in the results.
But then, most people forget just “how much harder” it is to do it the way everyone would do before the Internet came along.
As you can see already, I am a regular, Susan 🙂
Ash
Hi Ash,
You’re right, it does take quite a bit of time to grow an email list. I am still learning a lot and it’s progressing slowly. Wouldn’t it be great if we got results overnight.
Yes blogging is hard work, however, if we don’t quit, we’ll see the success we’re striving for.
Thanks for being a regular, I appreciate you taking the time to stop by and visit.
Have a great day 🙂
Susan
Hey Susan,
All I am doing is stopping by and visit. But look at you 🙂
Blogging, commenting, trying to get on pinterest, and I am guessing you are already on twitter and facebook 🙂
Keep up the great work, Susan 🙂
Hi Ash,
Thanks for taking the time to stop by and visit.
I am on Facebook, although, I am still learning how to use it for my business.
Thanks for the compliment, have a great day 🙂
Susan
oh thanks for publishing this report , It really gonna help to newbie.
Hi Harsh,
Welcome to my blog, feel free to have a look around or let me know if you need something. I’ll help you out as best as I can.
Hopefully, my blog growth stat report helps you out, that’s the goal.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by and comment, have a great day 🙂
Susan