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May has come to an end and our summer is beginning! I’m so excited (it is my season after all!) I’m currently doing my income report and review from sunny Cairns, Australia! We’re here to scuba dive the Great Barrier Reef and explore Queensland. It’s been an amazing trip so far.
One thing I’ve loved about this trip is how easy it has been to incorporate working from home with traveling! This is the second post I’ve written while on the road. And it reminds me of my why for starting The Sunshine Suitcase.
My Why is: To live a life I don’t need a vacation from.
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.
Cheers to an amazing summer ahead of us! If you’d like to see a more personal recap of my month you can check it out here!
Best May Blog Posts on The Sunshine Suitcase
- 10 Fun Journal Prompts for Summer
- 30 Amazing Mental Health Quotes to Fight Stigma
- Road to Hana, Maui- A Complete Guide
My Blog Goals and May Income Report:
This month my original goal was to work on building content and quality. This focus carried through this month, and I was able to go back and edit 4 older blog posts for better SEO. I also added some more information and background to these posts to have more info for my followers. Doing this, helps to increase the reliability of each post.
Additionally, the new content I published on the blog this month was fun, informative, and well thought out. So, I really believe I crushed my quality goal this month! 🙂 Woo-hoo!
| May 2019 Blog Goals | Goal | Reality |
| Blog Posts | 6 Written | 6 Written |
| Blog Page Views | 2000 | |
| Unique Users | 1000 | |
| Facebook Followers | 125 | 124 |
| Pinterest Followers | 225 | 273 |
| Instagram Followers | 250 | 274 |
| Pinterest Reach | 52k | 68k |
| Twitter Followers | 125 | 124 |
| Guest Posts | 1 |
Wins: Going back and editing older posts was a success. I crushed my Instagram and Pinterest goals. I finally got my email subscriber list up and running. If you sign up, you get an amazing Mood Tracker for free.
Additionally, I finally reached my monthly blog post goal. Last month, I readjusted my expectations, and feel like I’ve finally found a place where I’m happy. Creating 6 posts each month is very doable for me. And I don’t feel overly pressured and drop the ball. Which gave me a great sense of accomplishment.
Negatives: My facebook page and twitter are growing, but didn’t quite make it to my goal. I did not pursue any guest posts this month. And I regret it. I also did not reach my pageview goal of 2,000. However, I did get the highest number of
Blogging Lessons I learned in May:
- Take advantage of free materials and growing opportunities. I took a free online blog growth class from It’s a Lovely Life and loved it. It helped me to focus on building over time and adding value rather than just growing numbers. And it lit a fire under me to finally create an email list with an opt-in!
- Don’t be afraid to adjust your goals! By far the best lesson learned this month, was to adjust your goals if you’re not meeting them! I achieved much more success with blog post writing by adjusting my monthly goal. By shifting my overall blog post goal from 8 posts to 6, I was actually able to accomplish my goal!
My May Income Report-
Blog Monetization May Income Report:
My May Income Report is a brief overview of how I made an income on my blog. I use several streams to build my income. Most of it comes from sponsorships from influencer networks.
However. this month The Sunshine Suitcase started using ads via media.net to help build our income. So far, it has made a whopping $.82, but hey, it all adds up in the long run, right?
In total, this May I received $62.43 in cash payments from ads, sponsorships, and affiliates. I also received a few free products retailing at $153.00. See my collab with Tonic Products below!
This month my combined compensation from ads, sponsorship, and gifted items was $215.43. Overall this was a big increase from a total compensation of $124.47 this April.
Influencer Marketing Networks I used to build 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.
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 April 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.
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 ,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 May:
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.
June 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. See my June 2019 Income Report Here.
June 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: 300
- Instagram Followers: 325
- Twitter Followers: 150
- Pinterest Reach: 70k
- Pinterest Group Boards: 25 Total Group Boards
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?