1st Quarter 2018: Nothing to See Here

Back at the beginning of 2016, I set some big blogging goals for myself and Beyond Mommying. Since then, I’ve done a quarterly update on the stats of the blog. And the end of 1st quarter 2018 snuck up on me real fast (just like everything else this year!)

It was a crazy start to the year and Beyond Mommying ended up being the biggest loser. What started as a daily project became so neglected that, not counting the weekly Pretty Pintastic Party, I only published 12 new posts in the first three months of 2018. It’s actually kind of embarrassing and really, really sad.

Beyond Mommying has always been a passion project for me. I loved writing and sharing our stories, adventures and what we’re learning along the way. But it’s also become a big commitment with publishing a post also having to include pretty, edited pictures and lots of social sharing. What used to be a fun hobby of write a story, hit publish and post to Facebook has now become a lengthy process in which I may only get a handful of actual eyes on my work. All meaning the effort to reward ratio is low, making the motivation hard to come by some days.

But, I’m still committed to Beyond Mommying being a thing. I’ve been feeling more motivated and have much more free time since settling in New Jersey so I’m hopeful that 2nd quarter 2018 will at least have more action than 1st quarter did!

So, here’s the nitty gritty of 1st quarter 2018:

• I made more money than I spent. This is much more impressive than it sounds, though. Most of my earnings this quarter were payments owed from end of 2017. Plus my web hosting fees were very, very minimal this year which helps get the year started off right. And even compared to 4th quarter 2017, my expenses went down and earnings went up. So that’s a plus overall.
• My e-mail list grew (but that’s about it.) My total e-mail subscribers grew 13% over this 1st quarter of 2018. Unfortunately, my social following did not see substantial growth and I actually lost followers on both Twitter and Instagram due to my deciding to no longer waste time with the follow-for-follow game.
• Pageviews are still increasing. A lot of the reason I’ve always put so much effort into Beyond Mommying and all the things involved is because I’m terrified of losing any of the footing I’ve gained. I’ve been afraid of my pageviews dropping when I stop writing. But something funny happened when I let life become more important: my pageviews actually continued to increase. There was only an overall 2% increase in pageviews from 4th quarter 2017 but, that was all from steady, daily traffic.
  In the past, my monthly pageviews were based on something getting popular on Pinterest or getting shared in a big Facebook group and getting a lot of traffic over a few days. I only had one of those small spurts in January and the rest of my traffic was steady, consistent visitors. Which makes me feel so much better about being able to leave the blog as needed and knowing that it will survive (unlike my children who would not!)

I’m not sure where the rest of 2018 will take me and Beyond Mommying. I know many bloggers who are much bigger and more successful than myself who are struggling right now so I’m trying to keep my head where this whole thing started. Not as a money maker, but as a way to connect with other people. A way to support and encourage other mommies on this incredible journey. A way to share my experience and stories and help others to know they are not alone!