I love watching income reports from bloggers and other online businesses. I learn so much from them!
But…
Most of the bloggers I follow have the type of success I only dare to dream of right now. That’s why I decided to start my updates and income reports from the very beginning of my journey.
Hopefully you can learn from the mistakes I make along the way without having to make them yourself.
Income Report
Surprise! Surprise!
My blogging income this January was…
ZERO DOLLARS!
But that is to be expected. Every successful blogger I follow has said that it takes Google at least six months to start indexing new sites. Even after your site is established, new blog posts can take several months to pick up steam on Google.
Not to mention, I don’t even have an established method of monetizing my site right now. The first method I plan on looking at when the time is right is Ezoic Access Now. Unlike most ad programs, Ezoic Access Now does not have a minimum pageview requirement. However, they do recommend having at least 500-1,000 monthly pageviews to make it worth your while.
My current goals revolve around getting those pageviews on a consistent basis.
I did not have any business expenses in January, so I broke even. Not bad for a brand new business!
Blogging Long Term Plans and Goals
Ideally, my vision is for this blog to become the heart of my online business, much like Becca Davis describes in this video.
In my previous blog post, November and December 2022 Income Report and Blog Update, I mentioned that my main long terms goals for my blog are twofold:
- Have my blog income consistently surpass my teaching income
- Use my blog to diversify my income streams as much as possible
Everything I do for my blog now is working backwards from those two goals.
Blogging Short Term Plans and Goals
My short-term goals are based on my long term goals. I can only make income from my blog if I have traffic. The most important aspect of blog traffic is having a catalog of high-value, long-form content.
So my number one goal right now is building up that high-value catalog. However, I have realized there are other factors I need to be mindful of as well in order to succeed. This is how I’ve determined my short-term goals.
I’ve split my short-term goals for this year into two parts:
- January 2023 – May 2023 Goals
- Summer 2023 Goals
I’ve done this for a few reasons.
- This is just how my brain works after being a teacher for so long.
- The end of May marks the end of the school year. More importantly, it’s around the sixth month mark for my blog. This is when I should hopefully start to see a little traffic consistently and have to start switching gears in my approach.
- Time and energy are very limited resources during the school year. Setting monthly goals was stressing me out. Giving myself a larger chunk of time (February-May) feels more manageable for me.
So what are these goals?
February-May 2023(AKA until summer break)
Split my blog posts into blogging and teacher self-care categories.
Right now I have one blog post category on my blog: Self-Care for Teachers. That is not enough. Now that I have six blog posts published on my website, I am going to split them into two categories: Teacher Self-Care and Teacher Blogging.
It’s a best practice for new blogs to start with 2-3 categories and have at least seven solid blog posts in each. One category makes you look like a newb, but 2-3 is the perfect number to show Google you’re an authority in those categories without spreading yourself too thin.
Create a homepage.
Somewhere along my WordPress confusion, I managed to completely delete my homepage. Right now, my website goes straight to my blog archive. Since I want to establish professionalism and authority, a simple homepage is essential.
Publish at least 8 more blog posts (at least 2 per month).
For now, seven seems to be the magic minimum number of blog posts Google wants to see in a blog category. That’s why my goal is to have at least seven quality blog posts in each of my two categories before summer begins. If I have more by that time, even better!
But given my time and energy constraints, I have to stay realistic.
Make other basic blog improvements.
Several of my favorite bloggers have done a bang up job of reminding me to keep it simple when it comes to the rest of my website and make sure I focus on the blog content. However, it is still essential for my blog to look professional and complete. Another goal before I try to monetize or get traffic is to make my blog look as professional as possible. I need to work on the homepage, legal pages, privacy policy, about me, and a few other aspects.
Start a Pinterest strategy.
As much as it would be great to start ranking on the first page of Google, I’m not willing to rely on that possibility alone.
Every successful blogger I can think of swears by Pinterest as a blogger’s best friend. I definitely do not want to wait until summer to start figuring out my Pinterest strategy. I aim to start that soon so that by summer I have a solid approach that just needs to be tweaked.
Start a mailing list.
Mailing lists are another invaluable resource to your business, at least according to just about every online business owner I’ve heard speak on the subject.
It makes sense if you think about it. An email list is a direct pipeline to connect with people who thought enough of you and your content to sign up to hear from you. That’s pretty flattering!
But besides being validating, it is a solid way to increase your earning potential.
Sign up for Ezoic Access Now?
While I have absolutely no expectation of hitting over 500 monthly pageviews by the end of May, you never know! Should I even get close to that, I will probably apply for the program. The worst case scenario is that I get some practice applying and hopefully some valuable insights into what I need to work on to get in.
Summer 2023
Since I have summers off, I have a million ideas about things I want to tackle over summer break. However, all the entrepreneurs I’ve been following lately seem to be sharing the same mantra of focusing on the few things that bring the most returns and forgetting the rest. It reminded me to be strategic about where I put my time and energy. Those may seem like unlimited resources over the summer, but they’re not. It’s imperative that I use that precious time and my energy wisely.
All that to say, I wrote the following friendly reminder above my Summer 2023 plan:
Focus 80% of your energy on what’s bringing you the most results!
And here are the action items I’ve decided are the most important to tackle.
Start emailing my mailing list regularly.
As I mentioned above, I want to start an email list before summer break begins. Once summer break starts, I want to start sending out short, consistent, value-packed emails. I would also like to be well ahead of schedule so I can stay consistent with these even once the new school year begins.
Restart Project 24 following all steps as I go.
The Project 24 System has been an invaluable resource to me as I start my online business. My main focus has been getting up quality blog posts, but once summer begins I will put in some hours restarting this online course so I can dot all my i’s and cross all my t’s in the rest of my business.
Start TPT product creation.
From the start of my online business, I’ve been torn about whether to start with TPT (formerly known as Teachers Pay Teachers) or blogging.
I decided to go with blogging because the more I learned, the more it seemed like a business blog would be the center of my business while product creation would be one stream of income. I’m very happy with my choice, but I’m still dying to get the product creation going.
Another reason I started with a blog is because it’s less of a learning curve for me. As a freelance writer, I wrote blog posts for many businesses. Product creation will be much harder for me to master, so a season when I have tons of time will be a great way to start. Hopefully, I’ll be in a groove by the time school starts back in the fall.
Look into ads and affiliate marketing.
Whether I start Ezoic Access Now or not before summer begins, I definitely also want to use the summer to focus on monetizing my blog through ad revenue and possibly affiliate marketing. It doesn’t matter how small these income streams are at first. What matters is that I get them going!
Add Instagram?
All of the bloggers I follow seem to agree that Instagram does not do much for their business directly. Yet just about everyone has one.
While I don’t think I’ll be as strategic or serious about my business Instagram account as I am with other aspects, I think I’d still like to start one. It will also be the one thing in my business I can kind of do just for fun. At least, that’s how I’m viewing Instagram for the moment.
January 2023 Thrive Beyond Teaching Blog Progress
In January, I published three blog posts.
The Pros and Cons of 3 Remote Teacher Side Hustles
We Know Why Teachers Are Quitting. But What Happens Now?
Thinking of Becoming a Teacher? Read This First!
I’m glad I’m taking this time to reflect because I thought I had done a lot less. I’m actually pretty happy with that! Three blog posts a month is consistent and repeatable.
However, I think my biggest accomplishment in January was coming up with an action plan through the summer.
“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!”
~Benjamin Franklin
Setbacks
I really didn’t put as much time and energy into my business as I would have liked in January. It was a stressful month of school combined with looking for other job opportunities and starting a new relationship. While my new relationship is a huge positive, it has definitely taken a bit of time to balance it with my business goals. Thankfully, my partner is extremely supportive and I am getting back on track in a big way!
Those ebbs and flows will happen in life, but what’s important is continuing to reset and move forward again.
Lessons Learned
Sticking to Business
I came across some very timely advice as I was having such a hard time balancing the rest of my life with my business. Becca Davis and other pros reminded me of the importance of treating my business like a business.
While set business hours still feel too rigid for me, I do have a daily/weekly schedule and time expectations for myself.
| Monday | at least one hour |
| Tuesday | at least two hours |
| Wednesday | at least one hour |
| Thursday | at least two hours |
| Friday | at least one hour |
| Saturday | at least two hours |
| Sunday | REST! |
Batching
If you haven’t already, you’ll probably get sick of me talking about Becca Davis. But once again, she really helped me with another big takeaway that I know will take my business to the next level, especially over the summer- batching.
The increments of time I work in now are too small for me to finish even one blog post at a time, furthermore to batch, but I’ve already got big batching plans for the summer!
I hope to use the summer months to build the habit of batching because I know it has great potential to get me ahead of schedule before school starts back next fall. More importantly, it will hopefully get me into the habit.
Resources
Here are some of the resources I’ve found helpful this January.
Becca Davis– I know I’ve already mentioned her above, but if you are a teacher starting an online business, I cannot recommend her channel enough. The one caveat I have is this- Becca is insanely productive. Don’t feel like you have to be the same. Her pace of life would leave me burnt out and miserable.
Lauren Fulton– Lauren Fulton’s YouTube channel and podcast are all specifically focused on TPT whereas Becca has some videos that are about online business in general. However, Lauren’s videos can definitely be applied to most online businesses as well. Her content is a big part of the reason I’m eager to get my TPT store up and running this summer!
As with any advice, take what works for you and leave the rest. But how lucky are we to have so many free resources at our fingertips at any given time?
Closing Thoughts
Blogging is not for the faint of heart. However, if you are not sure about it, there’s not much to lose. I would have spent my startup costs on food or clothes anyway, and time will pass regardless. I view the time and money spent as an investment in myself and my future.
While keeping my long-term goals in mind helps me stay motivated and focused, it’s also important to focus on things I can control in the here and now.
I can control consistently putting in the time and effort to make my business a success. I can control sticking with it after most others have given up.
I truly believe consistency and perseverance are the keys to success when it comes to online content businesses.
I’m excited to prove myself right!