August was an amazing month for my blog. After a crazy first month in July, I set myself some pretty big blogging goals for August. And, spoiler alert (as if the post title didn’t give it away already) I smashed them. Well, all except one, but I’ll talk about that later.
So my goals for August (compared to July) were:
- Sessions – 1500 (1232)
- Page Views – 6000 (5226)
- DA – 13 (10)
- Facebook – 80 likes (41)
- Twitter – 700 followers (415)
- Instagram – 300 followers (159)
- Pinterest – 25 followers (14)
- Earnings – £100 (£0)
I felt like these goals were quite ambitious. I set them high, because I wanted to push myself to stay motivated. This is how I did…
Sessions
Page Views
DA
I once read that it would take about 6 months to get your DA into the teens. I suspected this was a conservative estimate and decided I wanted to do it in 2 months. At midnight on August 31st, my DA was 14.
Social Media
- Facebook – 113 likes
- Twitter – 1589 followers
- Instagram – 378 followers
- Pinterest – 101 followers
Before I wow you all with the amazing story of how I smashed my August blogging goals, I want talk about the one goal I haven’t mentioned yet.
I set myself the goal of making £100 from my blog. In my second month of blogging. I haven’t achieved that. I am, of course, disappointed, but I set that goal when I was pretty sure an opportunity was going to work out…. and then it didn’t. But it was a pretty ambitious goal to set myself, given that I hadn’t even been blogging for a full month when I set it. There are a few different opportunities that I’m exploring at the moment, so I’m confident that it won’t be long before the blog is bringing in some money. In the meantime, I’m completely overwhelmed by how well everything else is going so far.
So how did I smash my August blogging goals?
Honestly? Hard work. But I’m going to try to break it down a little bit more than that for you.
How did I increase traffic to my blog to reach my sessions and page views goals?
The answer to this one really is “hard work”. I increased my blogging schedule from 3 days a week to 4, for a start. This was only partially done with the aim of increasing traffic. Mostly, I wanted the freedom to blog about different topics without messing with what was already working for me. Adding a fourth post per week gave me that freedom. It also had the added bonus of bringing in extra traffic over the weekend, which was when my views were lowest during July.
I also got smarter about social media. I spent a lot of time promoting my posts on Twitter and engaging with other bloggers. This wasn’t just about getting other bloggers to visit my blog. The most wonderful thing about the blogging community is that people are really open and willing to share their tips on how to improve your blog. I have been soaking up those posts like a sponge.
In addition to Twitter, I continued using Facebook and Instagram, but Twitter is definitely the one that works best for me, in terms of day to day promotion. I get more traffic from Facebook, but all I do is share my posts to my blog page and my personal profile. I’m very lucky to have some wonderful friends who share them for me, too.
I also started putting more effort into Pinterest and it really made a big difference. Across the month, Pinterest was still my third biggest social media referral after Facebook and Twitter, but I really noticed an increase in the last week or so. And it only took me a few minutes per day. If you haven’t already, I’d really recommend making the most of Pinterest. One resource that really helped was this free Pinterest Primer course by Moms Make Cents.
I also made a point of adding more internal links between my posts, to encourage people to stick around for longer. As a result, my bounce rate has really dropped (and it wasn’t high to begin with) and my daily page views has increased.
How did I increase my DA?
I worked on getting links to my blog from other bloggers. This was the main thing. I used crowdsourcing groups on Facebook to look out for posts that I could contribute to and I started hosting a new Mummy Monday linky (in addition to the Wellbeing Wonders one I was already co-hosting), to get my blog name out there a little bit. I also kept posting regularly and worked on the SEO of my posts. I’m really pleased with how quickly my DA has increased so far, but it’s definitely slowed down now. So I’m working on some ideas to give it a boost in September.
How did I increase my social media following?
This one was all about engaging with my followers. My Twitter following grew much more quickly than I expected. But I did spend a lot of time on Twitter, looking for people with similar interests to follow. Obviously, there’s no gaurantee that those people will follow me back, but that’s OK. All I can do is keep producing the best posts that I can and try to not be boring. If they follow me back, then great! If not, who cares? I followed them because I was interested in what they have to say, and that’s not dependent on whether they follow me back.
Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest have grown much more slowly, but I did exceed my goals – by a lot! – mostly thanks to the Twitter blogging community. One thing I’ve learned is that, if you tweet about a goal you’re trying to hit… people will make it happen. But don’t be selfish about it – help other people reach their goals and they’re much more likely to help you reach yours. It’s called a community for a reason!
It’s all taken a lot of time and hard work, but it’s been worth it.
So… just hard work?
Nope. Mostly hard work. But I had some really good foundations to work from, too. I got a lot of really good advice from Emma Drew and her #MyBlogMyBusiness course (especially the Facebook group linked to it). After I launched in July, I was able to hit the ground running, which meant I was able to grow my blog much more quickly than if I’d had to spend more time figuring it all out. MyBlogMyBusiness is currently closed to new members, but I believe it’s opening up again towards the end of September and I’d really recommend checking it out – especially if you’re new to blogging or are struggling to find your blogging feet!
Goals for September?
I feel like this post is probably long enough… So check out this post about my September goals!
Well done for smashing your goals. I don’t think I really have goals. As mine is a more personal blog it seems people aren’t that interested in reading it
I’m sure that’s not true! Keep working at it and the views will come! x
Well done! Helpful post too. I’ve just went self-hosted so I’m building up my DA too. Good luck for your September goals.
Rachael | https://rachaelstray.com
? thank you! Good luck with yours too! Congratulations on going self hosted ?
Congratulations on smashing your goals! If my blog stats looked like an eighth of yours I would be over the moon! Thank you for sharing your tips!
Thank you! Your blog looks great, with some really yummy looking recipes, so I’m sure you’ll be seeing big numbers soon! x
Congrats on hitting those goals, some big achievements there! It really is all about hard work you’re right, for me that’s the only way anyone is going to grow, along with good content.
Megan // https://pixieskiesblog.wordpress.com/
Thank you ? the hard work is all worth it ? x
Congrats on hitting some of your goals 🙂
I’m personally at a point where I feel like I’m making progress, but it’s very slow. Especially when I compare it to the views other new bloggers make. My Pinterest is quite good (500k monthly views) and giving me most of my views, but I’m not getting that much traffic overall. I’m honestly starting to wonder what I’m doing wrong. Sigh sigh.
Kate // https://katedaysaweek.be
That’s amazing views on Pinterest! I don’t get anywhere near that!! If you’re getting the views on Pinterest and it’s not translating into the kind of blog traffic you’d like, I’d look at your pins and see what you can do to make them more “clickable”. Maybe more “click-baity” post titles with keywords to draw people in, or brighter pictures etc? x
Yeah, I find it hard to be click baity. I did it once on one of my pins and it got a lot more clicks than most, but for some stupid reason it felt bad.
Click bait doesn’t have to be bad. It’s just using the right words to draw people in. For example, I could have called today’s post “August goals update”, but I chose “how I smashed my August blogging goals”. It isn’t lying or misleading, but it’s more interesting and I beat yesterdays views before 10am this morning ? I don’t agree with misleading titles etc, but it’s about finding ways to stand out in the crowd ?
Well done Becca, it sounds like you’ve really been smashing it with your goals! You should be incredibly proud <3
https://www.chloexlizabeth.com
Thank you! I’m really pleased with how it’s going so far! I just hope I can keep it up!
Congratulations are beating your goals. It always feels good to beat the previous month, even if it is by just a few. There’s some great advice here which I plan to use so thanks for that. I’ve already noticed that the hardworking is very much needed too but I guess that is the case with everything in life. 🙂
Yes, unfortunately, nothing worth having comes easy, does it? ?
So pleased you achieved your goals! This was a really interesting and helpful post! (: x
Thank you! I’m glad you liked it x
You’ve done so well on your goals well done you!! I managed to smash my August goals too. I set myself a goal of 350 page views and I ended up with over 1000! I just published my recap post and every time I read it it reminds me how far I’ve come.
Laura // em-andme.com
That’s amazing! Well done! You really did smash your goal!! Good luck with September ?
Wow congratulations! These are impressive stats for such a short amount of time. Good luck for next month I’m sure you’ll smash your next set of goals.
Melanie | http://www.frasersfunhouse.com
Thank you! I hope so!
Thanks for sharing this. As a new blogger, it’s great to hear how others are becoming successful. All great advice which I am definitely going to use. Here’s to crushing big goals and thank you again!
You’re welcome! Good luck with your blog! I’m sure you’ll smash your goals too ?
Congrats on hitting and exceeding your goals! I’ve been blogging on and off for the past 4 years, but am just now really starting to take it seriously and put in the time and effort to really make it grow. I work a full-time job, then come home and spend 4 hours per night on it, plus weekends. It’s slow, but it is paying off. Thanks for sharing!
Ashley | http://www.unveiled-tales.com
It’s so hard when you have other commitments. I don’t have a “proper” job, but the twins are drawn to my laptop like moths to a flame ? so I can only work on my blog after they go to bed, and it’s exhausting. I am able to dip in and out of social media etc during the day though, which I couldn’t do if I was working x
Congrats on totally smashing your goals! Get it! I love that you explained DA- this is something I’ll have to research more. I’m just starting to understand SEO. I don’t think people realize the hard work that goes into blogging and building a business out of it. Keep it up!
Thank you! I’m a little bit obsessed with DA ?
Well done achieving these goals! I have been trying to concentrate on getting my DA to increase and as you say, once you get into the teens it does slows down, but it is still increasing, so I am sticking with my goals. Yours has gone up to 15 since you posted this at the end of August by the way 🙂
It has! I noticed last night! fingers crossed it keep going up! Good luck with yours too x
Congratulations on smashing your goals! It really does show that you more you put into blogging, the more you get out of it. I wish I could spend more time dedicated to my blog.
Abi | https://whatabigailsays.co.uk/
Thank you ? it can be hard. I can only really work on my blog when my twins are in bed. But it’s worth it ?