As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This post may contain affiliate links.
The Sunshine Suitcase is another month older! Which means it’s time for our March Income Report. I’m so proud to say that we have now officially completed our second month.
It was a busy month in my personal life with visitors at the beginning of the month. I struggled with depression and anxiety on and off throughout the month. So I leaned on self-care activities to give me additional support when I felt like therapy and medicine weren’t enough.
I’m still trying to find a sweet spot in my productivity schedule to help make the most of my time writing, marketing, and content creating. In order to fine tune, this April I will be working on batching tasks, creating a dedicated workspace, and
My income reports will help to sum up how and what I’ve been doing in my business life each month. For a personal lifestyle recap from March check out my What I loved this Month blog post.
Learning how to blog isn’t always an easy journey. However, I’m taking the time to evaluate my goals and progress to help make this journey more trackable and easier to understand.
Sharing my goals, reality, and expectations with you will help me to keep track of my blog success. I also, hope that you will find value in learning about my hit and misses, as well as my blog income report down below.
Top March Posts You May Have Missed:
- DIY Recipe- Facial Toner for Sensitive Skin
- How to Level Up your Finances in your 20’s
- The Ultimate Guide to Online Anxiety Resources
My Blog Goals and March Income Report:
I took last months First Blog Review and Income Report and used it to set my goals for March. My focus was on content and connection. I reached out to other bloggers, commented on a lot of other blogs, and started communicating with brands I want to work with.
| March 2019 Blog Goal | Goal | Reality |
| Blog Posts | 8 Written | |
| Blog Page Views | 3000 | |
| Unique Users | 2700 | |
| Facebook Followers | 40 | |
| Pinterest Followers | 100 | 99 (I got so close!) |
| Instagram Followers | 250 | |
| Pinterest Reach | 75,000 | 78,200 |
| Pinterest Group Boards | 10 | 16 |
| Guest Posts | 2 |
After a surprisingly great first month of blogging, I set my goals fairly high for March. Although I didn’t meet all my goals, I was able to reach out and connect with more people and brands.
I excelled a joining more Pinterest group boards than my original goal. Also, I met my monthly Pinterest reach goal for part of the month. I also made more money this month than last month. Overall, I’m proud of the steps I took this month to make my business grow and succeed.
Blogging Lessions I learned:
- Again, Quality is key! I spent some time editing my first few posts and connecting a lot of my content with better sources.
- Productivity needs to be a higher priority. I spent a lot of aimless time on Pinterest and other social media resources this month. Social Media can be a big time suck, however, it can also be an amazing tool for blog traffic and meeting new people.
- Write, Write Write! The more quality posts I have the more traffic I can bring to The Sunshine Suitcase.
My March Income Report-
Blog Monetization March Income Report:
This month I was able to hustle and work with several businesses to increase my income. Thus increasing my earnings by over 500% from last month! I know that sounds crazy….but I only made $10.24 my first month. And this month, I made $67.47 blogging. That’s a pretty big increase.
In order to make more money this month, I worked with content collaboration companies and brands. I also made some affiliate income through links on my blog. In addition, I also received a few free products (worth $62) which would increase my overall compensation to $129.47 this month.
Although I am by no means making a lasting income from blogging, I’m so happy to say that I have made some money already on this journey.
I’m looking forward to more collaborations and hopefully sponsorships for The Sunshine Suitcase in the future.
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.
Other Affiliates I work with as a new blogger are:
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.
Acorns– As a freelance blogger, it can be hard to plan for the future since my income can be pretty unpredictable. Acorns invest in my future in small amounts through round-ups or scheduled deposits. I’ve invested over $10,000 using their app. Recently they added Acorns Later, an IRA Program to help you invest in your future retirement.
Sign up for Acorns Using my link for a free towards your future
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 March:
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.
April Blog Goals:
On The Blog-
Focus on Content Building-
In April, I want to work on creating more quality blog posts. I would like to write more posts on productivity, travel, and self-care this upcoming month. As well as work on a list of 15-20 seasonal posts ideas. See my April 2019 Income Report Here.
- Blog Posts: Add 8 more blog posts to thesunshinesuitcase.com
- Page Views: 2,000 with 1,700 Unique Visitors
- Email Subscribers: Create a Habit Tracker Opt-In and get 15 subscribers
- Guest Posts: Post 1 Guest Posts to another site
- Facebook Followers: 40
- Pinterest Followers: 140
- Instagram Followers: 250
- Pinterest Reach: 75,000 again this month
- Pinterest Group Boards: 20 Total Group Boards
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?