January 2016 Blog Stats and Income Report

I love reading peoples blog stats and how much money they make – I always said to myself that when I was big enough, I’d do…

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I love reading peoples blog stats and how much money they make – I always said to myself that when I was big enough, I’d do the same.

Well, I’m not big enough. Butttttttt I still wanted to share it anyway because I feel like there’s not a lot of reports around for bloggers of my size. The ones I ready are generally those of full time bloggers that get thousands of views a day and make a huge income.

Another reason why I want to share this information, I’ve had a few e-mails and messages from people lately and most of them seem to think I blog full time. I do not blog full time. Well, I probably put in as much time as my full time job but I do not make a full time income from blogging, or even a part time income. I have full time job, 5 days a week, I’m a manager in retail, if you care. I know I share a lot of information on this blog site about blogging and I don’t want anyone to feel disillusioned that you’re getting this information from someone who is a professional blogger.

I’ve also had a few people seem shocked when I mention my page views because they think I get more than I actually do – I think that’s probably because I generally get a lot of comments on my blog posts, but that’s something I work really hard for. I comment on a lot of blogs and post of the people that comment on my blog are regular readers and commenters, and I’m a regular reader and commenter of other blogs too.

A lot of posts about views and stats seem to have some form of shift, where the blogger writes something that goes viral, or a random Pin gets shared thousands of times, but not me! I’ve had a few posts do well over social media, but nothing that’s got me any major increase in traffic long term.

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So yeah, I’m a little nervous of sharing this because I’m not particularly proud of my stats, but I’m not ashamed of them either. They just are what they are. To some people, they’ll look pants, for others, they’ll look good. What I am proud of though, is being honest and transparent and I just want to lay it out there.

I’m not ashamed to admit that I love stats. I know some people are of the option that stats don’t matter, but they do to me and I don’t think that makes me better, or that someone who doesn’t care about stats is better. Different. We’re just different.

I haven’t decided if I’ll do this every month. What I’m leaning towards right now is only doing it again if I see a big change in something that’s worth noting. I look at my stats often, but I don’t track them or look at them on a month by month basis to see if my page views are increasing or decreasing, but in general I’ll have an idea what my views are each day. I know what’s a good day, what’s a bad day and what’s average for me.

So, let’s jump right in, shall we.

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January Blog Stats.

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So as you can see, my stats were pretty much flat across the whole month. I was averaging around 500 page views a day. I had a few days where I got less than that – with the lowest day being 300. There was also a few days where I got more than that which compensated for the lower days. On the highest day, I got 780 views.

As you can see from the graph, I had two mini spikes and they were the days that I posted my most popular posts for this month:

This was mainly thanks to Twitter, a lot of people seemed to share these posts. I didn’t think they would do particularly well, which is something I’ve come to expect. Posts I think will do well are usually pretty average and my most popular posts are usually a bit of a surprise!

I just want to note that you should be using Google Analytics if you want an accurate view of your page views. When I was using Blogger, their stats would say I was getting about 1k a day, when it was only 200 on Google analytics. Blogger counts search engine bots crawling your site so it inflates your statistics. I find that WordPress stats tend to be near enough the same as Google Analytics, but Google is still the more accurate way to see your true stats. 

So where did my traffic come from?

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So most of my traffic comes from Twitter – I’m really active on Twitter and it’s something I’ve been working on for the past month. Just to put it into context, I have 5300 followers on Twitter and I tweet out links to my blog posts around 20 times a day. That might seem like a lot, but I see a massive difference in my views when I don’t do it. I’ve spoken to some of my friends about it, wondering if they see my Tweets too often and it comes across as spammy and most people say that because Twitter moves so fast, they hardly notice.

Obviously, how often a follower sees your posts depends on how many people they follow. I figure some people might find me spammy, but that’s a chance I’m willing to take, for da views.

Social Media Stats:

As with my page views, I generally know how many followers I have for most platforms, but I don’t track them in any way month to month. I only wrote them down at the start of the month as I made some goals for 2016 regarding social media followers, so I couldn’t tell you if my growth on social media was better in January than any other month because it’s not something I’ve looked at until writing this post.

Twitter:

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I gained 921 followers which is great! I got most of these through being active on Twitter, either sending out Tweets, replying to others and getting really involved in #thegirlgang. I wrote a post in December about how I started getting more traffic from Twitter here.

So at the end of January, I had 5,359 Twitter followers.

Bloglovin:

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I started the year with 2,441 follows on Bloglovin and ended it with 2,691, which is an increase of 250 followers. I’m happy with this because I always found Bloglovin hard to get followers on, but since I started doing things in this post: How I gained 100 Bloglovin followers in 10 days, I had pretty much given up.

Pinterest:

I had 1259 Pinterest followers at the start of January and now I have 2203, which is an increase of 944 followers.

I started using Pinterest as I’m hoping to use it as a tool to get me some more traffic. Although I generally do really well on the actual site – I get followers and repins often, I don’t get much traffic from Pinterest at all. Overall, I got 78 views from Pinterest.

I’m not giving up yet though, as I know people generally have one or two pins that get a lot of shares and give them traffic, but sadly, my most shared Pins so far have been of other peoples content!

It doesn’t take long to schedule Pins, or scroll through my feed and re-pin things throughout the day so it’s something I’m going to carry on with.

Instagram: 

I started January with 2055 followers on Instagram and now I’ve got 2363, so that’s an increase of 308. I don’t focus on Instagram too much because I don’t link my blog to it – so it’s not of much value to me in terms of my blog.

Generally, I’ll not do much with it apart from sometimes liking photos of the hashtags I use, which is when I tend to get likes and follows back. This is only something I do if I can be bothered though, like when I’m at the gym on the bike and messing around with my phone!

I’m not going to talk about Facebook, because it’s just not something that works for me. I don’t invest time in it, I don’t get a lot of page views from it or engagement on the page – everything I post to my Facebook page is automated – my Instagram posts and my blog posts auto post to it.

Blog Income:

This month has been quite slow for me on the money front – but I’ve stopped applying for sponsored posts or for reviews because I made the decision in December that I wanted to review less products. This is because I’m wanting to write more lifestyle posts and I was finding myself putting them off because I’d have a review or a sponsored post to get up. This is making me like my blog more, so I’ll probably continue like this until I feel like I need some more ideas for posts, then start applying for more blogger ops!

If you’re curious, I usually make between £150 – £300 a month blogging. It varies from month to month and it’s not an income I rely on . I just put all the money into a savings account and I’ve not decided what I’d like to do with it. I’m torn between buying a new Macbook and saving up for a mortgage deposit, haha.

I know that realistically, I’m not going to make a lot of money unless I sell a product or service and that’s just not something I’m interested in right now. I’m more focused on writing content than making money with blogging. There was a time that I desperately wanted to blog full time, but the stress of an unsteady income, no holiday pay, no pension scheme, sick pay and other benefits I get with my current job, it’s just not something I’m working towards. I know there are other ways I can make some money out of this site, but like I said, I’m not overly bothered about that right now.

Income:

Advertising: £25
Sponsored posts: £135

Expenses:

Hosting: £2.99
Premium PicMonkey: £3.46

Right well, now I’ve put that all out there I hope you found this.. helpful? I’m not sure if that’s the right word, haha. I hope I satisfied your curiosity.

If you have any questions about anything, feel free to comment below.

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81 comments

  1. Really interesting to see stats, it’s always an eye opener when what you think a bloggers stats might be compared with what they are are two very different numbers. If my blog was making ANY money I would be putting it away too, it would be nice to think I could get a deposit together from blogging, or even just a holiday haha!

    Sarah 🙂

  2. THIS WAS SO HELPFUL THANK YOU!!

    I am so active on Instagram but it brings me NO views! And on twitter I hardly do anything at all. You’ve just convinced me to change my focus completely!

    Love your blog and NEVER miss a post …. even if I don’t always comment. Keep up the great work Corinne!

    BTW I would love to feature you on my blog and have you co-host my style linkup one week….would you be into that? Drop me an e-mail! reasonstodress@gmail.com !

    Angie from reasons to dress {fashion + real life in Italy}

  3. Great outline on the status of your blog I get viewer from flip magazine and twitter some from IG my growth is slow but the followers ad up with my likes and comment on IG and on twitter some interaction. On google it grows and I get so many question about the blog. As per income I do not rely thank god I have a profession I will be eating popcorn for dinner if I rely on my blog lol.

  4. My stats are pretty similar to yours when it comes to page views! Think of it as a hobby that can become income one day. Keep it up, can’t wait to read more. Haven’t been by in a minute!

    – Harlynn
    mindyourmadness.blogspot.com

  5. Thanks for being so honest. For a new blogger like me a post like this is super helpful. Because as you say it’s only usually those with crazy stats who share who have been doing it as their job for years. I started blogging last month and was happy getting 1200 views haha! I disn’t think i would get any. And I know some people scoffed at my little celebration. But for 4 posts and not a lot of effort or advertising I was surprised.

    I’m rambling now! Anyways ill continue to read your blog as it’s a fave of Mine 🙂

  6. Thanks for sharing this – you’re right, it seems like it’s only the big bloggers who share this kind of stuff so it’s really interesting to have a nosey! Interesting to hear your comments on Facebook – I don’t particularly like Facebook and so I’m not keen to set up a page on there for my blog (also partly because I don’t tend to push my blog to friends and family), but I keep getting comments saying I should. Sounds like it’s one I can continue to not bother with!

  7. Really interesting post, I’m really new to blogging so it’s really interesting to see some more normal stats, although still much higher than I imagine mine with ever be!
    You’ve become one of my favourite blogs as most of your content just seems to be so helpful and interesting! You’re blogs like the perfect beginners guide aha

    Rhi x

    1. RHI, I’m new to blogging, too. Very New. I’d be more than happy to network with you; follow you and do retweets and likes for the same in return… Just let me know. They say networking is the key to a successful blog. ; )

      If anyone else is interested in the same, please let me know!

  8. Thanks so much for posting this!!!
    I love reading peoples stats and income for their blog, but like you said, there aren’t many people who do it when they aren’t blogging full time. It’s amazing how active you are on social media and how frequently you post when you have a FULL TIME JOB too! I’m glad I stumbled across your blog because I’m just beginning to start blogging and I work a full time job as well, so it’s nice to have this kind of inspiration.
    I’me excited to see what your Income and Stats look like 6 months from now with all the hard work you’re doing 🙂

  9. Thank you for all this information, I appreciate it a lot. I also thought you’d have far more readers every day, and also that you’d blog fulltime.

  10. I found this post really interesting and quite useful! I’ve never thought about using Pinterest to promote my blog before, have you written a post on how/what to do because I wouldn’t even know where to start haha! Thankyou xxx

  11. I found that really interested and I definitely don’t think you should be shy about your stats. I’m considering tracking mine for a few months and maybe doing a round up post in June or so because I feel like my blog is too new to take any of the stats seriously yet.

  12. I think it’s really nice that you chose to share with us your blog stats. Your blog really gives me good tips with ways to improve my blog. Thanks Corinne!
    P.s Get the MacBook

  13. I’m really surprised since I thought you were a full time blogger! I can’t believe how hard you work with a full time job and frequent blog posts and you’re always active on Twitter. How do you have time for it all?

  14. I think it takes a lot of patience to get to the point to make blogging a full time job. It’s not easy and in time it gets harder as the pressure to blog about this, that and the other builds up. Save for a home, it would be great to have your own flat/house. xx

  15. This was such an interesting post to read so thank you for sharing it! I find so many people are hush hush about this kind of thing (which is fair enough) but then I’m left not knowing what’s normal for my own blog!

    Please do this monthly!

    Jordan | JordanCourtney

  16. I enjoyed reading this. Good to see a blogger honest with income bit. Many inflate them, lol.

  17. Having a full-time job and growing your followers is great. It is hard to get followers, and you’re doing a good job. I like how you give details about everything, most of the people who share the stats don’t include some of these bits but only a few numbers.

  18. I really enjoyed seeing this post as I’m always curious as to what the bigger bloggers or more active/established bloggers actually do get. People are so ambiguous with their views in general, they’ll reference it but not actally tell you specifics, so I really liked seeing this.

  19. Found this post really interesting! I love stats I think they keep you going sometimes and can give you a real boost when you know your posts are actually getting read! I think you make a reasonable amount, it’s good to get anything if your blog it’s something you enjoy so why not put it to its full potential! Xxx

  20. Last month I made £25 and that’s average for me. So I won’t be full time blogging any time soon haha.

    I love your blogging tips blog post so turning the reviews and sponsored post are worth it. It’s nice to see that your more bothered in your content rather than getting paid or receiving free products

    Carrieanne X

  21. Thanks for your transparency. I think I may need to hustle on Twitter more but I just feel kind of icky sharing nothing but my own posts there.

  22. Love the honesty in this post!!! I’m new to the blogging world so this is extremely helpful for my blogging goals!!

  23. This is super interesting. My stats are still fairly “low” compared to others but it’s definitely interesting to see what other blogger’s stats are like, especially as you say people like you who are juggling full time work with a blog. If someone is able to blog full time I already pretty much know what their stats are like- bloody high haha!
    Thank you for sharing!

  24. I found this post so interesting!! Honestly I’m so curious about this things: how many views people get, how many much money they make, etc! For me these are reaaaaally good stats as I’m really tiny at the moment so I hope one day my views will be this big! Even though this is not big at all for some people! I think you’re doing great 🙂 I see your tweets a lot but I honestly don’t mind and I really need to be more organised on tweeting my posts and stuff! Besides, someone once told me your tweet is only “visible” for around 20 minutes and after that tje traffic is almost near zero so 😉 xx

  25. This is really interesting Corinne and congratulations on growing your Twitter followers so much. For Bloglovin’, it won’t let me follow any more until I unfollow some people which is annoying. Do you know of an app or site that tells you who is not following you on Bloglovin?

  26. I found this so interesting. Thank you so much for being so open & honest. It really is an insight to see how other people are doing and what works for them. I have only just started using Twitter and already loving it. I don’t know why I didn’t start sooner!

    http://www.makeerinover.co.uk

  27. Oh goodness me, my stats are SO much lower than yours haha. It was nice to see them though, I found it really interesting and enjoyed seeing how your blog is doing! Really admire your blog, so it’s an inspiration to me!

  28. It’s interesting that you’ve decided to cut down the number of sponsored posts/reviews you do. I’m thinking about reviewing a bit less myself, as I end up not having time to write my own articles due to having to type up a review…

  29. This was really interesting. I’m so bad at keeping up with my analytics especially my traffic sources. I’m really active on Twitter but again, I’m really bad at actually promoting my blog. Full time work distracts me too much!

    http://www.raisethewaves.com

  30. I found this blog post super interesting! Only just found your blog last month and love your style of writing 🙂 @imrose1 xx

  31. Honestly, thank you so much for this post. I always find it quite helpful when people share what they actually get or not get. The past month was the best month for my blog, having had one day with circa 700 views as well, although the rest of the days weren’t as high. When it comes to income, I have yet to do anything, but I don’t mind because I really love what I’m doing and it’s been helping me build my happiness, and I don’t know, it just keeps me going in the morning and gives me something to look forward to.

    Personally I think you deserve about 3000 views a day because your blog is certainly one of my favourites and I think it’s hard to find someone who doesn’t agree with me on this because you’re certainly one of the best I’ve ever come across.

    This was far too interesting to read, so thank you for your transperency and for your honesty. It means quite alot!

    Ella x

  32. Ever since I started paying more attention to Twitter, my views, comments and just general interactions have gone up so much! Not to mention the amount of friends I’ve made through it! If you only use one form of social media, it’s definitely gotta be Twitter, amirite?

    Anth | aanthblogs.blogspot.com

  33. Your blog is so darn useful! You’ve helped me progress my blog in so many ways since I found you a few months ago! So thank you. I love how open and honest you are, and that you actually want to help others – a lot of people wouldn’t want to share their secrets to success.

  34. Love this! I appreciate these sort of posts for new bloggers like myself. Totally love that you shared. Great work!

  35. Wow, you do get less views than I thought you did, but still not bad overall. I did think you were closer to a full time blogger, but I’m actually glad to see you’re more like me. I don’t normally read an entire income report post, but I did yours. Probably because I like you haha

  36. I loved this post, thankyou for letting us be nosey with your blog income! Lovely to know you are doing so well xxx

  37. Thanks so much for posting this! I am inspired. I know you don’t make much $, but you certainly have a tribe — 15k pageviews a month!

  38. This is really insightful, especially for a new blogger like myself! I enjoyed your writing style and I’ll definitely have to give google analytics a try.
    xox

  39. This is such an interesting read! Your transparency is a breath of fresh air. 15k views per month seems like a hell of a lot to me!

  40. This is such an interesting read! Your transparency is a breath of fresh air. 15k views per month seems like a hell of a lot to me!

  41. Thank you for sharing this! I LOVE seeing income reports from people who are in a similar place as me. (XO Mia does them as well!) It’s encouraging me to do my own, even!

  42. This is really great information! I’m new to blogging and still trying to figure Google Analytics out. Could you tell me where you can find where the traffic is coming from? I’m interested to see where I need to improve and what is doing well 🙂

  43. Just wanted to say, I love this post. Something I really value in a fellow blogger is honesty. I know it takes guts to put your stats out there. For the record, I think your numbers are DEFINITELY something to be proud of! I just started out in Jan and I’m NO WHERE near the numbers your hitting! Still I identify with you saying you wanted to do lifestyle posts instead of sponsored ones cuz it makes you like your blog more. My favorite thing about my blog is, it’s all content I’d totally wanna read! Anyway, I’m officially a fan! Keep up the awesomeness! : )

  44. Hey Corrine, great effort and thank you for sharing the cogs and whirring that goes on in the background!

    I have included this post in my monthly round up of blog income reports for my own subscribers with a link so people can find you – hope that’s ok?!

    It’s awesome to be able to share what I would call more “typical” earnings and traffic stats. The big guys and gals, whom I also have a lot of time and respect for are brilliant to see but for the majority of people they are much closer to you so have more to relate to.

    Make this a monthly post!!!

  45. This is my first time commenting on your posts but I always find them so helpful and interesting. I’m a Twitter follower as well!

    Best,
    Rose

  46. Really helpful post for both newbies and those of us who’ve been around a while. I’m a person who gets annoyed and sees quite a few people auto sharing their posts on twitter – but whatever they’re using isn’t spreading them out enough because quite often I see a few altogether which is madness given I follow 3k.

    Like you, I work a full time job, but spend a similar amount of time on my blog. It’s nice to get some extra pocket money but it does mean we can choose our sponsored posts instead of feeling like we have to post everything – like several people I know, where I used to read their blogs, but am now largely put off by all the featured content/reviews.

  47. Well done you for sharing all these details. For someone who is lost with numbers and stats, me, it’s great to see how you use them to track your blog and readership. Your hard work rly pays off.

  48. Thanks for that really informative. Just a quick question regarding Twitter you say you post your links 20 times a day. Is that the same links youre posting 20 times? I always think I’d just bore people seeing the same links on my Twitter
    Thanks

  49. This was so interesting! Thank you for posting it! I hope to one day get that many views but according to analytics I get around 30 which is pants compared to what blogger says I get. Makes me a little sad ha! Do you have a post on how to improve your blog? xx

    Tamz | http://www.throughneweyesx.com

  50. I’m really loving seeing these kinds of posts on the blogs I follow. It’s interesting to see, and especially with you saying what you’ve figured out works/doesn’t work. My stats aren’t amazing, but all my social media accounts have steadily been increasing so seeing these posts just inspire me to keep going!

  51. I really did find this post useful!It satisfied my curiosity as to what the stats of a blog like yours look like – like you said, this is more often done by ‘big’ blogs.
    The Style Angel

  52. Sometimes I wish I could live in UK just for the blogging opportunities I would have! Blogging for me was a dream since I was a teen. I am learning blogging things like a baby steps. It’s frustrating but it’s all what I can do for now. Honest pots like this is what really treally help me and motivate me. Even when I think I do have nothing to blog about I probably do, but couldn’t put it in front of me. Haha and I do care, cause I want to know more about you lol. You pretty much answered my questions here so thanks xx

  53. This is a really great post! I know it must have been scary posting this but it really is useful to see what other people are doing with their blogs. I really enjoyed your recent Bloglovin post on how to gain more followers there and I’m not surprised your blog has seen so much growth, it’s awesome!
    Sophie x
    http://www.thescientificbeauty.com

  54. This is a very useful post. Thank you. I always see and hear from full time bloggers so it is good to see the stats and income from someone that blogs around a full time job. I often find alot of blogs are quite secretive when it comes to stats and income so I am very grateful that you are so open with the information.

  55. Wonderful post! Very informative and helpful to the new bloggers like myself. I appreciate you sharing the information with us! ~Sarah Katherine <3

  56. love this post! how do you get sponsored posts i gt a lot of things to review but not paid. I als have google analytics but find it hard as at the moment it shows 0 wen i am clearly getting views!!

  57. For a new fashion blogger like me, this article is very inspiring at all. I will continue to follow the latest from you Corinne.

    Thanks
    Ashlee

  58. I know I said this a lot in previous comments but only because it’s true; I literally use your blog as a reference to mine. I love your blog tips and your twitter ones have been working really well for me. Thanks for sharing this!

    Nour

  59. Seeing other people’s stats is always encouraging but at the same time saddening because I know I can’t make such money, even if I manage to obtain those views. The reason for that is the country I am from and the fact that sponsored posts are not paid for by money. But I’ll survive

  60. You should take part in a contest for one of the
    most useful blogs on the web. I most certainly will recommend this web site!

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