Update #27 – August 2024 Income & Traffic Report

Hey!! Thanks for checking in on my August 2024 Update post!

If this is your first time visiting the blog section…Welcome!

This is a place where I kind of vent. It’s a nice change from being focused on writing articles.

So let’s get started!

August 2024 Traffic

Traffic is continuing to pick up from Pinterest. It’s really the only thing that I’ve got going right now.

Traffic from Google is still non-existent, as previously noted in my last update.

I actually went on a Google help board and asked why my website fell off a cliff in March. Some nice person responded and told me that my website has little value. He tried to say it in a nice way… He said that the Google Core Update in March 2024 has hurt my website.

Then he went on to lead me to believe that there’s no coming back from it without a complete website revamp.

That stung.

I thanked him, deleted the post out of embarrassment, and moved on like I didn’t just hear that.

So sometime in the future, I need to address the comments that he made. However, right now I am not mentally ready to hear that.

My first reaction was to shut down the website. That is the first time I can say that I’ve ever considered giving up on this side hobby that has cost me more than I’ve made.

I’ll address this topic more in coming months, when I’m ready. Right now, like I said, I am not ready to face it. I did copy his sort of lengthy response so I can study it a bit more.

So on to the traffic totals:

You’d think I would be happy because it’s the second highest month of the year. But almost all of these views came from Pinterest. 16 came from search engines. 😟

Social Media Updates

My goal was to go from 56 followers on Pinterest to 60 and I did that! Exactly 60 Pinterest followers as of August 31st! Yay!

The goal for Facebook was to go from 19 to 20 and as of August 31st, I have 21!! Yay!!!

I’m still not very active on Facebook, but I’m going to keep posting once or twice a month as I am getting some clicks from it.

I’m staying focused on Pinterest, as it seems to be driving a lot of traffic!

Super happy with reaching the goals for Social Media this month!

I do think that pinning at least once a day on Pinterest is key. Sometimes I struggle with that. I’m learning to at least re-pin while I’m sitting around doing nothing on my phone.

Challenges I’ve Faced

The biggest challenge was listening to something I didn’t want to hear. The fact that my Google search clicks may never come back.

Once again, I’m not ready to face that reality yet. I’m not sure if this page is worth it if it won’t gain any clicks ever from search engines.

That was my only challenge this month. It’s a rather large one. Hopefully I’ll be in a better place next month mentally and I’ll share my feelings on it.

Successes I’ve Had

August really was a success. I increased traffic, made more than I’ve made in quite some time off of my new Google ads, and hit my goals for social media followers.

That’s about it. I think that’s enough for now.

August 2024 Income

This is the first full month I’ve had an ad service on the website.

I want to say that this was a game changer, but I’m still not breaking $100 per month. 😅

This does show how much Google AdSense positively impacted my income though:

Amazon Affiliate income is significantly down compared to last month ($6.77 in July) due to some returns in August. No returns for items I recommended. 😄

I don’t want to downplay this. $34.80 probably seems like nothing to most people, but this is a huge uptick for me!

September Goals

Last month the goal was to increase Pinterest followers by 4 so this month my goal will be to increase it by 5. Let’s go from 60 to 65!

Facebook… I feel bad setting a goal here because I’m not really trying at all. I feel like I can’t put too much on my plate or I may feel overwhelmed. I’m a little sensitive right now due to the Google search problem.

So no goal with Facebook other than to at least share two articles so I’m attempting to stay somewhat active.

Last month, I said “If I get 10 articles written this month…”. WTH was I thinking? I didn’t get 10 articles written. 😂😂😂😂 I was losing my mind. I wrote 5.

This month, I want to write five again. Right now, I’m posting one a week and that is very comfortable for me. With my mental state all janky, I don’t want to pressure myself with anything right now other than not giving up.

Goals For End of Year

My goal has been to get out of the Google Sandbox. I no longer believe that I’m in some imaginary sandbox.

I think that I need to work on adding value.

I’m sticking to my goal, but shifting the wording slightly. Year end goal is to get Google impressions back to where they were in early 2024.

I believe it will take some dedication and time on my part.

So…talking to myself here… :

Don’t give up. You’ve put so much time and effort. You started from knowing nothing to building a website. So many people have given up months before you even considered it. Stick with it, learn from your mistakes, and keep pushing. You may need to pivot the website slightly, but you’ll figure out what is best and make the change. Keep an open mind.