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Happy July Everyone! June passed in a flash and was such a crazy month for The Sunshine Suitcase. July is proving to be nearly as crazy. If you’re new here my monthly June Income Report is one way I share my blogging goals and achievements with my readers.
In the last six weeks, I have really been establishing my WHY behind becoming a blogger and influencer. I’m taking steps to build my blog into a business and community. We’re still in the beginning stages of The Sunshine Suitcase.
My why is: To live a life I don’t need a vacation from. My income right now, as you’ll see below is nowhere near supporting this dream. But, to me posting these income reports is worth it because it keeps me motivated and shows you that blogging is in no way a get rich quick scheme.
Your goals and dreams are reachable. And I hope that by sharing my goals, ambitions, and reality with you, that it might make it a little easier for you to do the same. Below is my monthly goals, income report, and list of blogging resources I used this month.
Blog Posts You May Have Missed on The Sunshine Suitcase
- 10 Fun Journal Prompts for Summer
- 30 Amazing Mental Health Quotes to Fight Stigma
- Road to Hana: A Guide to Maui’s Best Road Trip
My Blog Goals and June Income Report:
You get what you give, is a saying I’ve heard many times in my life. My blogging results in June are a direct correlation to that. I didn’t put in the time and effort into blog building, and I should have.
Wins: Pinterest was a big win for me this month! I didn’t dedicate a ton of time to it, however, I found that my reach and followers grew steadily anyway. This drove a decent amount of traffic to my blog.
Negatives: Because I had some good traffic come over from Pinterest, I was set up to have a great month. If I had kept writing and posted my monthly goal of 6 posts, I have no doubt that this could have been my best month yet!
However, I lacked focus. Writer’s block and burnout from all my travels and adventures kind of got to me. I spent too much time messing around on smaller platforms and playing around with updates.
| June 2019 Blog Goals | Goal | Reality |
| Blog Posts | 6 | |
| Blog Page Views | 2500 | |
| Facebook Followers | 150 | |
| Pinterest Followers | 300 | 324 |
| Instagram Followers | 325 | |
| Pinterest Reach | 70k | 82k |
| Twitter Followers | 150 | 149 |
| Guest Posts | 2 |
Blogging Lessons I learned in June:
Plan Ahead! They say hindsight is always 20-20, and it’s no different here. Planning ahead and having a content calendar ready could have saved me a lot of woes this month. I was so unstructured it added to my writer’s block and it took me a long time to recover.
Lean into what you love- When I did finally break my writer’s block, I did so by going back through and really looking at what I’m passionate about. Self-Care and living a positive, happy, mindful life are topics that bring me such joy. They allow me to get to know myself better.
Each day these topics help me to work towards leading my best life. When I write about them, I am intrigued, creative, and dedicated to these topics. So, I’m going to lean into that more.
My June Income Report-
Blog Monetization June Income Report:
All my income in June came from influencer opportunities. Even though I have a small following on Instagram, most of my opportunities involved posting pictures of products on instagram. I am honest about everything I receive to write about and enjoy doing reviews and taking photos with products.
In total, this June I received $46.00 in cash payments from ads, sponsorships, and affiliates. I also received a few free products retailing at $59.93.
This month my combined compensation from ads, sponsorship, and gifted items was $105.93. Overall this was about half of my compensation from last month.
It’s sad that my income didn’t continue to grow this month. And I put in so much work for so little return. However, I recognize that I didn’t put in nearly as much focus and organization as I have the previous months of my blogging journey.
Influencer Marketing Networks I used to build my June Income:
- WeAre8- This app is an amazing asset to beginner influencers. The pay isn’t very high, but they have some great campaigns with growing brands. I’ve worked with Dunkin’ Donuts, Truman’s Cleaners, and Angie’s BoomChickaPop.
- Savings.com– This wonderful network is new on my list too. But what I love about them is that they allow me to share deals and savings with all of you. In addition to that, they offer many different types of income: giveaways sign ups, affiliates, and sponsorships.
- AmbassadHer- This influencer network has a lot of opportunities available especially in the wellness, lifestyle, beauty niches. I’ve participated in campaigns for Tonic Products, VitaCup, Benelife and more. The pay here usually includes a small bonus and you are reimbursed for the products you purchase. It often includes a portion where you write honest Amazon reviews about the product. Not all products require posting to social media. So far this is where I’ve made the majority of my blog income.
- SocialPubli- This is a new network I joined. I haven’t made any money through them yet. So I can’t really attest to how easy they are to use.
Collaborate with Me!
I’m looking forward to more collaborations and sponsorships for The Sunshine Suitcase in the future. I would love to work with more eco-friendly, plus size and/or mental health related brands.
If you can think of any brands that you think would be a good fit, comment below and let me know!
Affiliates I used to build my June Income Report:
Bluehost- A very affordable way to host your blog from the getgo. It integrates effortlessly with WordPress. Self-hosting is the way to go if you want to make an income from your blog. Get a free domain and discount on hosting through my link here.
Shareasale.com– This affiliate network accepts new bloggers and connects you to big-name companies like Groupon, Grammarly, and Tailwind.
Viglink- A great way to monetize links to products already on your blog, as well as connect with
Rakuten Marketing- I just started using Rakuten Marketing. You do have to apply to each individual company you want to work with on this site, but it has a large database with lots of options.
Nuleaf Naturals- They have killer CBD Oil tinctures that I love. I’ve used this to help my anxiety, depression, and migraines! Read more about my experience with CBD Oil here.
Tools I used to Grow my Blog in June:
Tailwind- I’ve used Tailwind to schedule both Pinterest and Instagram posts. This is a great way to automate your socials to help you focus more time on writing and creating. Their Tailwind Tribes is a great way to connect to other bloggers as well.
Pinterest- Working with Tailwind, I used Pinterest to post pins I created using Canva with links back to my site. Pinterest was responsible for over 90% of my traffic this month 🙂
Grammarly- An awesome spellcheck and grammar helper, this app saves my life when I’m on a roll. They make suggestions in real time, which helps me to cut down on overall editing time.
Grammarly also tracks the number of words I check/write each week, which has helped me increase my productivity. I’ve caught many small errors using this as a guide and it’s really helped me to improve my writing style.
Bluehost- You can’t have a website without hosting! Bluehost has helped me to get my blog up and running at a very affordable rate.
Canva– Canva photo editing and templates have helped me to create some gorgeous pins this month that have really helped me to get my blog out there on Pinterest.
July Blog Goals:
In June, I’m going to shift focus on the blog and working harder on building community. Guest Posting should really be a higher priority. So, my goal for the month will be to find and write 2 guest posts. Commenting on other bloggers posts and sites is also another way to help build community. Due to this, I’m going to try to comment on 5 blog posts each week.
July Blogging Goals-
- Blog Posts: Add 6 more blog posts to thesunshinesuitcase.com
- Page Views: 2,500
- Blog Menu Subheader- create and install
- Guest Posts: Post 2 Guest Posts to another site
- Facebook Followers: 150
- Pinterest Followers: 400
- Instagram Followers: 350
- Twitter Followers: 175
- Pinterest Reach: 80k
Finally, thank you so much for being here in this space with me. I am truly stunned and appreciative that you are here to share in the Sunshine with me. Let me know if there’s anything you want me to include in my income report.
What's on your mind?