6 Month Blog Update

It’s hard to believe it, but I’m now in my sixth month of blogging – I never would’ve thought that time could go this fast, but looking back at all that I’ve managed to fit into this time it’s probably no surprise.

My last blog update was at 3 months and I was only just starting to find my feet and build an audience and traffic, and since then I’ve been focusing on these very things as well as making the site look as eye-catching and user-friendly as possible.

Goals Achieved

I also spoke in my last blog update post of monetizing my site from the six month mark onwards but surprisingly after I posted this I was approached by two advertisers about text link ads for a 12 month period, so was lucky to lock this income in early – It was definitely a great feeling knowing all my hard work was paying off and people actually wanted to advertise on my site!

Additionally, I’ve also achieved all of the goals that I set 3 months ago, so I’m really stoked about this – They included:

• Be consistently getting over 600 hits per week
• Have 200 Facebook fans by the end of August
• Utilise the Travel Blog Success program (This is a fantastic program for anyone serious about blogging – if you are interested in joining, I can offer you a 35% discount if you use this link!)
• Spend at least two hours link and community building each week
• Design and purchase some business cards
• Attend Travel Bloggers Unite Conference in Austria in August

From here on in I will be focusing on building a regular monthly income with a view to earning $1,500 a month by August next year. It’s going to be a challenge, but I think if I continue to link build, provide useful content and interact within the community and build an engaged audience then I can get there!

Month 6 Stats

Below are my stats for the past month, and each month from now I’ll be sharing updates on what I’ve been up to, what I’ve earnt, and any lessons along the way.

Traffic – 12,890 visits

Link Building – I have been spending time commenting on other blogs, reading relevant content and stumbling great sites, and will continue to do so. I have also been using the WP Syndicator plugin which is fantastic for building links.

Content – In my last update I was posting 5 times a week, but I have recently been busy with looking for a new job and my flourishing property development business, so have experimented with posting 3 or 4 times a week. So far there have been no drops in traffic, so from here on in I’m committing to posting at a very minimum 3 times a week, and 4 when time allows.

Twitter Followers – 1,203

Facebook Fans – 404

RSS Subscribers – 100 (This is still lower than I would like, but I’ve recently added a free eBook for subscribers, so hopefully this will help boost it. If you are already subscribing and would like a copy, please let me know!)

Alexa Ranking – 208, 428

Income – In the past month I have earnt $600 from text link ads. I have also signed up for affiliate programs which I plan to experiment with, as well as seeking further advertisers through sites like Digital Point and Technorati.

I wanted to start these monthly updates to hopefully help other bloggers out there just starting out or wanting some support in starting to monetize their site or growing it in some way. I certainly don’t claim to know it all, but I’m hoping that the lessons that I learn will be helpful and inspirational to others looking to make a living from blogging.

So, I think it’s fitting to put the question out there and see what you would find helpful to read about in these monthly updates – I will do my best to include it each month, so please let me know!

Photo Credits – Thanks to Roland Tanglao (Attribution License)

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