July Monthly Blogging Report - 2019

Here is my July Monthly Blogging Report and what a month! The temperatures here in the South have been ridiculously warm. Even the Gulf of Mexico is at a temperature of 87 degrees F. Since this is my first month of "summer" blogging, I found myself leaning towards quick and easy recipes that wouldn't require a lot of effort.

Since my blogging world has come to a nice and even ebb and flow pattern, I decided that after the blogging stats, I will include some personal monthly goals.

Isn't growing a blog enough of a challenge?

Well...yes and no.

You see, when it comes to blogging, there are only a handful of aspects which I can control:

quality of recipes
quality of photos
posting 4 posts a week
posting to Instagram 4 times a week
Keeping my Tailwind account full so that I am regularly posting to Pinterest.

Everything else, such as new Pinterest and Instagram followers as well as page views, are completely out of my control. With that being said, I feel like I have accomplished the goals that I can physically achieve and the rest is simply a "wait and be patient" game.

Since I am a goal-oriented person, I decided to throw some monthly personal goals into my monthly blogging report. This way, at the end of each month, I will be able to hold myself accountable for achieving (or failing to achieve) a specific goal.

Now, onto the monthly blog stats.

July Monthly Blogging Report Stats:

Number of Posts: 18 (4 new posts a week on average)

Number of Pinterest Followers: 267 (up from 220 in June)

Number of Instagram Followers: 56 (up from 47 in June)

Top 5 Recipes:

Once again, this month I did not have a single recipe that went viral. Instead, all recipes seemed to be somewhat equal in popularity. Over the course of the month, I had 3 days where I had record-breaking pageviews...all in the 1000 range! Although this is awesome and amazing, the downside is that I have no idea how or why it happened but it will be interesting to see what happens next month.

Monthly Pinterest Viewers: 449 800 (up from 444 000 in May)

Monthly Pageviews from Google Analytics: 15,800 !!!!! (up from 12,600 in June) The reason this number is important to me is that the only way to make any money blogging is to have advertisements on your website. In order to get "classy" ads, I need to have over 100,000 page views a month! So, currently, I need 84,200 more pageviews a month.

Monthly New Users from Google Analytics: 9,8000 (up from 8000 in June)

Audience Sessions: 11,700 (up from 9,500 in June)

Overall, I had a really good month and hit some record highs. So far, the blog has continued to grow at a slow yet steady pace and I am excited and nervous to see what August brings!

JULY MONTHLY BLOGGING REPORT INCOME AND EXPENSES

Income – $0
Expenses – $39 for Blogpros which is a company I use to help promote my posts.

PROFIT/LOSS

Beginning Balance: -$1075.78

Income in July: $0

Expenses in April: -$39

Total Profit/Loss: - $1114.78

So, what about personal monthly goals?

Each month I will have 3 goals one focusing on my mind, one for my body and one for my soul.

Mind Goals: We often get caught up in our to-do lists and worry how we’re going to get everything done, so it’s important to give your brain some time to breathe. After all, if your brain isn’t working correctly, nothing is going to work correctly.

Body Goals: From exercise, nutrition, fasting and rest, we all could use a little work on making our physical bodies the best that they can be. When you think about it, the healthier the body, the happier the soul!

Soul Goals: I like to think of this as goals focused on becoming a better person. It could involve a relationship, religion, job, hobbies, interests, or addressing any of your personality faults. However you define the soul, it’s a vital part of achieving optimal health.

By creating 3 mini-goals for 30 days, I will give myself the opportunity to challenge myself, create new habits, and try to become a better version of me.

The neat thing is that I have often heard that it takes 30 days to break a habit and 30 days to form a new habit. With my goals, I plan on taking a bad habit and converting it into a good habit. When you think about it, after 30 days, hopefully, my new habit continues through to the next month. Therefore, after 1 year, I will have broken 36 bad habits and created 36 new habits!

WATCH OUT WORLD, HERE I COME!

Personal Goals for July

To Nourish my Mind:

Goal: I will meditate 10 minutes every morning and 10 minutes every night. They say there is a very strong connection between our brains and our guts so we'll see if this improves my belly issues!

To Nourish my Body:

Goal: I will return to doing scheduled fasting.

I have always been a big believer in giving our digestive system a rest and allowing it to have a vacation from our constant consumption of food. I am not sure why I stopped fasting since I always felt better after accomplishing a fast...whatever the reason, it is in the past and is pointless to waste energy thinking about it. So, moving forward, I will restart my fasting with a 7-day fast beginning August 2 and ending on the 9th.

To Nourish my Soul:

Goal: Every day, I will take a moment to truly live in the present. I will take the time to stop to notice the chirping bird, the squirrel scampering across the grass, the sound of the waves crashing on the shore. I have always been a planner and have realized that I sometimes forget to live for today. This moment—now—truly is the only moment you have.