Today my blog, One Little Project, turns 1! It’s been a very interesting year, to say the least! I’ve been introduced to an extraordinary world of talented moms and bloggers. Some of us have beautiful blogs. Some of us have profitable blogs. Some of us have something somewhere in between. But the one thing we all have in common, is that we all work very hard on this thing called blogging!
I know it wasn’t an elegant beginning, but I’d love to share with you how I got started blogging. I was on maternity leave with my daughter Kate, and I spent many hours surfing the internet as I nursed her.
One day, I randomly Googled “Can you make money blogging?”. I had never followed anyone’s blog, I didn’t really know what a blog was at that point. The results of that search were eye opening.
Much to my surprise, the answer was YES.
I stumbled across this fabulous article at Christian PF called How to make money with a blog – and more importantly – how he made more money blogging than he did at his day job. (Bob, if you ever read this, thank you. I can never repay you for the help and inspiration you gave me!).
Was it really possible?! I followed his instructions to a T and got my blog up and running. I posted an article every day for nearly 4 months. It almost drove me crazy, but I absolutely loved it!
Shhh… don’t tell anyone…
I am a blogger for two reasons:
- I love blogging.
- I make money blogging.
I hope this doesn’t make you think less of me, but if I didn’t make any money, I probably wouldn’t be doing this. But on the other hand, if I didn’t love writing this blog, I also wouldn’t be doing it.
I made $2,500 my first year blogging
It isn’t going to pay the mortgage, or put my kids through university, and it is soooooooo far below minimum wage based on the hours that I have put in that sometimes it makes me cringe. But honestly, I am over the moon about it!! Because there is only one way to go – up! 
When I first started blogging, everything I read said I wouldn’t make any money the first year. So, the way I see it, if you are making any money blogging your first year, you are doing well. It’s like starting a business. It takes time to build up your revenue. It’s also going to take time to learn HOW to build up your revenue. No one is born knowing SEO, or which ad networks work the best or what time of day is the best to post on Facebook. It takes time (years) to learn those things.
Blogging is not a get rich quick scheme. It’s hard, thankless work, that most people don’t understand. Haven’t you had those awkward moments, where someone finds out you have a blog and they say “Oh, you have a blog… good for you…” as they raise their eye brow, assuming that you must only post about the cute things your kids said the other day.
If you are on this blogging journey, it’s a tough road ahead, but I truly believe that if you are persistent and you work hard, you can achieve things you never dreamed were possible. It is such an amazing opportunity!
I have been overwhelmed at how kind and generous the blogging community is. To each and every one of you who has taken the time to comment on my blog this past year, thank you. To all of my readers who are interested in what I post each week, thank you. I wouldn’t be here without you!
One Little Project’s Blogging Stats
It’s crazy how much work blogging is, but it’s a labour of love. Here are some stats about the past year:
Hours a week, on average that I spend on blogging or blogging related tasks: 15 hours
Number of Posts: 207
Monthly Pageviews:
- December 2012: 755
- January 2013: 1,389
- February: 4,277
- March: 15,129
- April: 32,878
- May: 44,687
- June: 46,469 (I went back to work full time)
- July: 56,143
- August: 60,483
- September: 53,082 (I took a month off blogging and almost quit)
- October: 105,384 (I read Ruth Soukup’s e-book
, more on that later)
- November: 93,484
- December: 48,800 (and there is still 2/3 of the month to go!)
- Total: 563,015
Monthly Income:
- December 2012: $0
- January 2013: $0
- February: $9
- March: $25
- April: $107
- May: $312
- June: $200 (I went back to work full time)
- July: $220
- August: $199
- September: $224
- October: $434 (I read Ruth Soukup’s e-book
- November: $510
- December: $310 (and there is still 2/3 of the month to go!)
- Total: $2,500
How often I post: 4 days a week
Where I get most of my traffic: Pinterest
Biggest Traffic Day: 11,127 pageviews, October 27th, mostly to How to Bake Pumpkin Seeds, traffic from Pinterest:
Post with the most pins: 37,400 pins, How to make your own snow paint:
The post that put me on the map: Hard Boiled Eggs Baked in the Oven (if you scroll back up to my traffic chart above, this post was the first small spike that I had back in April):
Well, this is turning into a marathon post, so I’ll stop here. Next time I’m going to share the 10 Things I’ve Learned my First Year Blogging.
Thank you for reading this far! If you would be willing to like this page on Facebook or leave me a quick comment so I know you were here, I would be so grateful!
Source : onelittleproject.com
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