Blog report for go big with affiliate marketing July 2020

This is the second-month report of my blog. I feel really excited to step into a new month and curious to know what lies ahead! Voila!

Before starting this report, I would like to sincerely thank all my readers for providing amazing support in growing this blog. Thank you so much for your comments and shares! Your actions give me immense joy that I am able to help you in some way!

Lets dive straight into the report!

Things I am going to cover in this report

• Go big with affiliate marketing stats for July
• Mistakes I made in my first month report
• My findings as a two months old blogger
• Stats that I am proud of
• Stats that can be improved
• Things I need to understand
• My major traffic source
• A new facebook page
• My guest post result
• Helpful facebook groups for beginner bloggers
• July goals result
• August goals
• Conclusion

Go big with affiliate marketing stats for July

Note: I’ve calculated these stats from July 1 to July 31, 2020.

Just like the last month’s report, I’ve concentrated in improving these important metrics such as total page views, number of sessions, sources that gives me consistent traffic, total share count for all of my posts, average time spent in the sight, bounce rate, new vs returning visitors, and devices used by my visitors to navigate this blog.

With these basic metrics, I’ve also started tracking which of my posts perform well in Google and what are the keywords I am starting to rank for.

Here’s the July stats list for go big with affiliate marketing!

• Total page views. 777.
• Number of sessions. 457.
• Consistent traffic source. Facebook.
• Total share count for all my posts. 255.
• Average time spent in the site. 2 minutes.
• Bounce rate. 56.02 percent.
• New vs returning visitors. New 359. Returning 49.
• Device breakdown. Desktop. 42 percent. Tablet. 0 percent. Mobile. 58 percent.

Note: I’ve accumulated these stats only from Google analytics.

Mistakes I made in my first month report

Actually, I’ve made a major mistake in my first month blog report. Do you want to know what it is? Using both monster insights and Google analytics to calculate my blog’s stats for June month!

Why did I do this? well, here’s the reason!

I was lured into the fact that I can track my stats right in the wordpress dashboard itself using monster insights. Turns out, it was the bad decision I’ve taken in my blogging journey so far.

Why? After talking to many of my blogger friends and doing my research, I found out that monster insights isn’t accurate in providing all the traffic stats. They only give you some basic numbers such as page views for the month, total sessions, average time spent in the site, bounce rate, new vs returning visitors, country-wise traffic, and best performing content in terms of traffic. You only get simple stats with the free version and if you want a full report for everything, you have to pay for it.

Having said that, here’s a stats comparison between monster insights and Google analytics for the month of June. Just have a close look at it.

Monster insights, MI. Google analytics, GA.

• Total page views. MI 479. GA 470.
• Number of sessions. MI 261. GA 255.
• Consistent traffic source. MI facebook. GA facebook.
• Average time spent in the site. MI 1 minute 37 seconds. GA 1 minute 37 seconds.
• Bounce rate. MI 66.67 percent. GA. 67.07 percent.
• New vs returning visitors. MI new 75 percent and returning 25 percent. GA new 190 visitors and returning 11 visitors.
• Device breakdown. MI Desktop. 49 percent. Tablet. 1 percent. Mobile. 50 percent. GA Desktop. 49 percent. Tablet. 1 percent. Mobile. 50 percent.

Not much difference. Right?

Wrong! When it comes to search engine optimization, you need accurate data.

Google analytics gives you a detailed report for every metric, which is of course free and it is the most accurate of all.

This is my opinion and I welcome you to add yours!

After seeing this, I’ve learnt all about Google analytics and the stats in this report is only from GA.

My findings as a two months old blogger

I have some key lessons to share with you here.

• There is a lot to learn when it comes to navigating through Google analytics and Google search console. From verifying your site ownership to submitting your sitemap in GSC, or navigating through various reports provided by GA, you have to do a heck of a lot of Googling, figuring out, and implementing. It takes so much of your time, but it’s worth every single minute.
• Blog spam comments. Here’s a smashing truth. I got 216 spam comments in July. Whereas, I haven’t got a single one in June. Because, that’s my first month as a blogger and my existence may not have known to the bots. All those spam comments in July are from honeypots. But is it gonna stop? No. I may get more or less spam comments. It isn’t going to stop. If that’s the case, how am I tackling this? through the plugin, Antispam bee.

• Blog commenting. I don’t want to bore you with my story. I commented on a well-respected blog and I left a link to my latest post at the end of the comment. I didn’t check the post after that, and I got a polite response from the blogger which reads like this.

Hari, there are better ways to build traffic than this. Please reach out to me and we can fix a call and discuss.

Although I didn’t have the slightest intention of building free traffic, something struck me and I reached out to my blogger community and asked about it. From their responses, what I’ve understood is that all of them did the same thing at one point in their blogging journey.

Some people just delete the link and post the comment, and others will mark your site and email as spam. If people like your comment, they are going to visit your site anyway! So, my humble request is, leave a genuine comment and you’ll start building trust, which may develop into a wonderful relationship!

Stats that I am proud of

Here’s the list of stats I am so proud to have achieved.

• Total page views. 777.
• Number of sessions. 457.
• Total share count for all my posts. 255.
• Average time spent in the site. 2 minutes.
• Bounce rate. 56.02 percent.
• New vs returning visitors. New 359. Returning 49.
• Three of my articles are doing really well in Google search results.
• Currently, I am ranking for 10 keywords.

Stats that can be improved

Here are some stats I need to improve.

• Average time spent in the site. 2 minutes.
• Total page views.
• Number of returning visitors. I have improved this metric ok, but it isn’t enough.
• Number of major traffic sources.

Things I need to understand

I’ve learned to navigate in both Google analytics and Google search console. But apart from pulling out the stats for the last month, I haven’t really dug deep in GA reports.

Also, apart from performance and discovery reports in GSC, I haven’t read into other items.

As of now, I haven’t started pinning in Pinterest and that must happen in this month.

My ,major traffic source

Facebook is still serving me as a major traffic source.  Right now, I am only sharing the posts only with my facebook audience and I am reaping great rewards for that. So, thanks  so much for every one of my readers for commenting and sharing my articles!

Still, I am fully aware that I need to venture into various other channels for a newer audience. I am planning to do so this month!

A new facebook page

In the middle of July, I’ve started my facebook page. Yay! You can check it out here!

At the end of July, I have 53 followers and 47 likes.

Apart from sharing my posts, I am planning to post some helpful quotes dedicated for beginner bloggers and affiliate marketers.

So, watch out!

My guest post result

I’ve finished writing and submitted my guest post to Ellen  of zyrakuma.com.

She has accepted my post, and I’ll let you know once it’s published!

Helpful facebook groups for beginners

There are tons of helpful facebook groups for beginner bloggers out there, but I’ll list out the groups where I am a member and had personal experience interacting with its people. In my personal opinion, these groups are gold for beginner bloggers!

Its members are friendly and helpful, encourage you when you are down, and celebrate your wins with you. Who wouldn’t like to be a part of such groups!

But, a word of caution. If you want to enjoy those benefits, you need to follow all the rules set by the moderators at all times.

So, here’s the list of awesome facebook groups for beginner bloggers!

• Write Better, Blog Better: Writing Support for Bloggers
• Becoming a Blogger
• Newbie & Expert Bloggers Unite 🥂
• Grow your Blog / Website Traffic & Make Money Online!
• Blogging for New Bloggers
• Bloggers Supporting Bloggers
• Blogging Newbs
• The Smart Blogging Approach
• Golden Bloggerz: Online Blogging Community
• Blogging Like We Mean It
• Bloggers Unite on Pinterest

These groups are not arranged in any particular order. Each group is unique at its own, and if you join, you’ll get so much value for sure!

July goals result

Here are the results for July goals.

• Total page views. 1600. Fail!
• Number of sessions. 400. Pass!
• Publish 4 quality blog posts. Only published three!
• Get started with Pinterest. Got started but didn’t start pinning, I’ll do that this month!
• 10 Pinterest followers. Fail! I have only 4 followers.
• Create a couple of lead magnets. Fail! I am still struggling with designing my lead magnet, and I am also learning Canva.

August goals

Here are my goals for August.

• Total page views. 1000.
• Number of sessions. 700.
• Publish 4 quality blog posts. I’ll definitely do it this month!
• Get started with Pinterest. I’ll start pinning!
• 10 Pinterest followers. I’ll achieve it!
• Create a couple of lead magnets. I am not sure how its gonna take shape, yet I am seriously hopeful that I can pull it off this month!
• Improve my rankings in Google.
• Rank for more keywords.

Conclusion

That’s it for July. Quite a good improvement in my blog stats.

Above all the stats, I am particularly happy about three of my articles doing well in Google search results. What I mean by doing well is that I am starting to rank for these articles.

For a two months old blog, this is an excellent result. I’ll keep you updated on my progress!

Now it’s your turn. What’s the one thing you feel proud to have achieved in your blogging journey up to this point? Share your thoughts in the comment section below!

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About Hari:

Hari loves writing about affiliate marketing, email marketing, and blogging for beginners. When he is not writing, you can find him actively watching tennis, or searching for the next recipe that’ll fulfill his heart.