If you’ve always wanted to learn about how to start a blog, this is a great series to follow! It’s the first check-in of the year and I’m officially up and running with the blog! I’ve been slowly sharing things on social media but not a whole lot quite yet. I wanted to start this series to show others that it does take some work, but it’s totally possible to buckle down and build up content!

This feels so vulnerable to share my numbers, but it’s reality and those who are starting from nothing should feel encouraged to just jump in. I’m not doing blogging/social media specifically to earn money, but that is a main focus on building the content. I absolutely love being a creator! After ten years in photography business I needed an outlet to get creative. I blogged over ten years ago on an old blog, so the world of blogging/content isn’t new to me. But now the technology and opportunities to earn money while sharing the products you love is awesome so why not take advantage of it!

*For a quick disclaimer, I’ve been an Amazon Affiliate for almost two years, a lot of the current traffic is running from my photography website where I have a post that’s been going viral for six plus months so I am showing a significant number or increases from there. Also, I created the Curated By Kelsey | Amazon Finds & Favorites Facebook group last year so the numbers that I’m starting with do look huge but this is something I’ve worked on building.

What is a Blogging Income Report?

A blogging income report is where bloggers/influencers break down how much money they made for the month, how much traffic they got along with goals for the next month. I will be creating my reports at the beginning of the following month so I have as current of numbers as possible to base things off of.

View our past report:
December 2022 Blog Income Report

Curated By Kelsey January 2023 Blog Stats

January 2023 Blog Stats;
Email Subscribers | 2
Page Views | 108
Sessions | 283

January 2023 Social Media Stats;
Pinterest Monthly Views & Followers | 3.1k monthly views / 6 followers
Facebook Group | 2,949 members
Instagram Followers | 890 followers
LTK Followers | 24 followers / 62 likes
Etsy Sales & Listings | 7 sales / 19 Listings

January 2023 Top Posts;
Stunning New Spring Outfits from American Eagle | 2023
My Amazon Essential Travel Items for Road Trips and Flights

January 2023 Top Etsy Listings;
Senior Rep Team Welcome Packet Templates for Photographers
Photography Client Workflow Checklist Printable
Senior Rep Team Instagram Story Marketing Templates for Photographers

Things I’ve Learned This Month

This month was a great balance of trying to manage how to go about adding more content to my plate. My main priority will always be Dirt Road Photography so learning how to get better about content dumping on certain days will be what helps me more long term. Also, I’m trying to watch and listen to educational content on how to grow your social media accounts.

This past month I tried to focus on building a new Pinterest account up. It’s been interesting being locked out all the time due to suspicious activity but I’m sure with time it will continue to grow. Another thing I’ve learned is that I need to focus on not only writing the content for the blog but also how to share it on media to bring readers over to the site. This is something I’ve never been good at, so back to the drawing board! I’m going to try to focus on creating more visual graphics that can be pinned, shared, etc.

I’ve been trying to share on my personal Instagram more. It’s kind of overwhelming but I’ve found that a lot of content can cross over so sometimes I feel weird sharing the exact same things on two accounts but I’m sure there are a few that aren’t following both my business and personal. I’d like to start just sharing on one or the other for things. Balance. Just again working on balance. I’d love to work on trying to post a few times a week on IG in February.

Something I’ve learned about sharing new items on Etsy is that stuffing keywords is both equally as important and ensuring everything with the graphics. People (like myself) all quickly browse through the photos to view the products and sometimes skip over the actual product descriptions. I’m hoping to continue to dig deeper into improving what I’ve got as well as what the season is in the photography world. Right now everyone is focusing on building senior rep teams so I was impressed that the things I made this past month are selling and popular right now.

I’ve also started digitally entering it all into my Google calendar. This has helped immensely! If I know there’s content I want to share I’ll add it, and once I’ve scheduled or shared it I’ll put a little box on it. Then it’s easy to see what’s coming up or needs to get shared on which media platform. It’s also perfect for showing me if I haven’t been active on something for awhile.

Blog Income & Expense Numbers for January 2023

(Keep in mind, the income I am reporting on has been earned and deposited into my bank account during the current month. Most of this income was made prior to this current month but takes time to be deposited. This month’s income will not be deposited into my bank account until 60-90 days later.)

January 2023 Income Report;
Amazon Associates | -$110.69
Etsy Store | $59.00
AdSense Ads | $0
Total: -$51.69

January 2023 Expense Report;
ShowIt Hosting | $19.50
Etsy Fees & Marketing | $37.52
Total: $57.02

Total Money Earned In January 2023: -$108.71

Past Monthly Income:
December 2022 Income: $-155.48

Things I’ve Learned This Month

Amazon Associates is of course still in the red. This is kind of expected with the post holiday season happening. I actually had 106 ordered items, but then 60+ returned items. I’ve seen this happen and it will slow down on the returns. It just takes time.

Still struggling to get AdSense up and going. I really think I just need to hire someone to figure it out for me. I’ve had it come back twice saying there’s an error of them approving me. I had this on my old site, and I don’t want it big or obnoxious but it’s nice to have it sitting on my site.

It was so nice to see an increase in my Etsy sales! I honestly stopped a lot of the ads that I had left on from the prior year. I’d rather only use ad money on things that are converting. It doesn’t make sense to market the cheaper items that aren’t selling. I also did adjust my settings to send cart reminders and hosted a 10% off sale the whole month in hopes of kick starting things.

January 2023 Social Media & Blog Goals Check-In

List 5+ Etsy items in the shop | I actually listed 8!
Clean up Etsy headers and shop information | This was fairly simple to fix
Continue growing Pinterest account followers on my CBK account | Growth is growth!
Write one blog post each week to go live | This was a fail, but I still did create two posts. I think I need to adjust from expecting lots of content to quality content
Create three style guides for LTK | I technically did create at least three posts, I’m struggling to keep up with all the platforms but I’m trying to stay consistent.
Schedule 3+ posts in the CBK Facebook group weekly | I’m proud that I’ve accomplished this! I’ve found myself sitting down in the evenings to schedule these out and it helps majorly.
Share 10+ LTK links | I looked back and I only shared seven posts. Short of the ten mark so we’ll re-add that on this months goals list.While I did post a few times, I don’t think I hit that 10+ mark this past month.
Set Up Email Subscriber System | This I did and although it’s not too intricate, it’s there and collecting email addresses to use in a future time. (Baby Steps Kels)

Let’s Set Our February 2023 Social Media & Blog Goals

List 5+ Etsy items in the shop
Update 5+ Etsy item graphics
Increase Pinterest views to 4k monthly views
Write two new blog posts in February
Schedule 5+ posts in the CBK Facebook group weekly.
Share 10 LTK links.

Cheers to growth in February for the Curated By Kelsey blog! This journey is fun, and I’m a numbers nerd so by having a way to watch my goals and keep me accountable is what will help me. Growth is good. Finding an outlet to be creative is great. Cheers to that hustle friends!