October was a weird month.
After having such a successful September, October proved to be tough. I was on a high from September that I couldn’t sustain and I ended up getting sick the entire last week of October which put a strain on some of my goals.
As you’ll see in the recap some things just didn’t get finished no matter how hard I tried.
However, I do want to say that I did my best and I have ideas lined up for things I wasn’t able to accomplish and I’m very proud of myself for that.
Overview: If this is your first time coming to a monthly goals post (heeeey!), the point of my recording my monthly goal is to keep on track to gaining a full income within a year.
We’re 3 months in and so far so good.
I want to say that my blog is now in full swing to help modern women with their self-confidence through personal development, self-care, and travel. I don’t foresee a time where I will have a “How to Blog” segment on this blog as this space isn’t meant for that.
However, since this is my first, and only blog, I’m trying to help others who may be in my shoes see what I am doing with this blog to gain the income I desire.
I wish that there was something like this when I started – there’s a lot of income reports but nothing like this in the grand scheme of things.
Recap on why I started this series (aside from getting to full-time income within one year):
- Accountability.
- Analyzing patterns so I can see what works and what doesn’t.
- I have another business I need to actually get started (but I’m finding it hard to find the time to work on) and I’m taking a Project Management course as well. Therefore, trying to use my time more efficiently across all three ventures to ensure I’m not running myself ragged.
Table of Adventures
October Goals Recap
My main goals for October were:
- Publish 5 posts total (create 8) [½]
I did well to publish five posts like I wanted to. However, when it came down to writing three more pieces for some reason I just didn’t have the inspiration to do so and I’m unsure what happened.
I have ideas, but no motivation to write them just yet.
So, the three pieces I wanted to have in my back pocket, the ideas are there, but the written part hasn’t been completed yet.
How to Make Yourself a Priority While Still Being There for Others
21 Spectacular Christmas Gifts for Boyfriend’s Family
5 Empowering Rituals to Add to Your Daily Morning Routine
25 Uniquely Realistic New Year Resolutions (Practice Being Honest With Yourself Is A Good One)
30+ Exciting Hobbies to Start Today
To add: I did have little inspiration in the way of pins since headlines are hard for me to do well. I’m not a copywriter and you can tell if you’ve ever come across some of my pins. 😂
- SSSEO: Module 2 + 3 [✔]
I devoted time to completing two modules of Stupid Simple SEO. I finished these modules pretty early in the month and planned on working on all the points from those modules, however, because of how temperamental my health was this month and my anxiety, I couldn’t implement very many things.
My website is undergoing a behind-the-scenes overhaul (no theme change) so changes will be done whenever I have the time and energy to put into it. It could be complete by the end of November, but only time will tell.
- Update posts with affiliate links where appropriate [✔]
I added affiliate links to two posts mainly because I had the opportunity to do so as I have more than one affiliate program I can now utilize to help readers.
I added them to 50+ Winter Date Ideas and to my first Christmas post: 17 Christmas Eve Box Ideas for Adults. We’ll see how those grow in affiliate income, if at all.
- Create freebies as lead magnets [✔]
There’s a big thing in the blogging community, that in order to gain subscribers you need to give them a proposition that they don’t want to refuse. So by offering them a freebie via a lead magnet they’ll be more receptive to handing over their email address.
I created 6 printables in accordance with my rewriting some of my old “Health + Wellness” posts. I placed 5 into one post and I will spread them out over the other posts where needed when they also get updated but things can always change.
Aside from that I also created a one-page New Years Resolution goal tracker that I hope people enjoy. We’ll see how that one goes in terms of sign-ups at the end of January.
I did start to work on A Cup of Zen’s Canva Course to learn how to create printables, but I also have two other sources I want to learn for them as well.
- Automate (or create) email sequence for new subscribers [½]
Alrighty, this was my biggest issue for the month.
I realized I cannot automate under the free Convertkit plan. If I moved to Mailerlite then sure, but because I don’t have anyone to actually automate for just yet I instead read over Kate Doster’s newsletter templates and “ear-marked” them for future use.
Plus, if I moved to Mailerlite I would then need to redo my landing pages and forms and honestly, I just don’t want to. It’s a lot of work so no thanks.
- Update older posts to reflect the new niche [✔]
Lastly, I wanted to update at least 2 older posts, but it wasn’t a mandatory number, so I’m proud I was able to update at least one.
Since my niche has finally been cemented, I needed to update older posts to reflect the new niche and so I started with my first ever post – I Have One Year to Lose 70 Pounds – and now it’s about redoing all the posts that came after it and creating a series instead.
The Extra Mile:
October had a couple of pitfalls, but I do believe I was pleasantly surprised by how much I was able to accomplish this month considering my health issues.
- I was accepted to RewardStyle at the beginning of October, which was great; however I’m unsure how to get the clicks necessary for people to also buy. Therefore I will work on that when I have the time.
- I updated my popular halloween party post with earlier interlinking around the second to last week of October to see how my readers react and to see how long they stay on the page.
- I found out 60 pages were not being indexed by Google and while some of them didn’t need to be, I had a couple of blog posts that were on that list. I absolutely internally screamed my head off.
- Took some time to finally read through Suzi Whitford’s Email Bundle. I enjoyed learning from her as she did a deep dive into every single email she sent to her subscribers over the course of a year. I’d like to start emailing but I don’t have the email list yet for it and I’m unsure how to proceed since I did create freebies but no one is biting.
- Read the free resource from Debbie Gartner on Amazon. Since I’m struggling to get the clicks I want for better affiliate income, I plan to get her Amazon course but for now just having the basics down was good enough (and I seem to be doing alright based on what I read).
Current Income:
These numbers can absolutely change so please take these with a grain of salt.
- lemonade + adventure made some ad money: $21.24 from Google AdSense (as of October 30, 2021).
- As an Amazon Associate for the month of October: $8.48 commissions from 12 orders. This number can change because of possible returns. I’m grateful I was even able to make that.
November Goals
Foreseen Roadblocks
It’s Thanksgiving season. Mm, I’m so excited.
But that means a lot of planning for the holiday as I’m in charge of making the pretty menus and coordinating with family members who are bringing what. Plus, I’m making the drive down to Florida the weekend before Thanksgiving.
Therefore, half of the month is already going to be hard to work, but I’ll try my best.
Posts
I plan to write three posts.
I really wish I had written those three posts in October but my brain really wasn’t having it. So, I’ll make due.
SEO + Social Media
I’d like to continue taking Stupid Simple SEO by watching modules 4 and 5.
And as per usual, I’m not paying attention to social media. I don’t have the mental bandwidth to add something else to my plate when my plate is already overloaded.
You can follow @lemonadeandadventure on Instagram in the meantime, but don’t expect to find anything there for at least 6-12 months.
I wasn’t able to get that quality backlink last month but that’s out of my control and to tell you the truth I’m just glad I understand my niche better to connect with the audience I want.
Affiliate Marketing
For now, I’m taking a solid pass on creating a goal for affiliate marketing. I’ve already got a lot to do this month as is.
Email Marketing (+ Subscribers)
Taking a month-long hiatus on this as well. Nothing I’ll be actively trying to do for this either.
Update Posts
I’m going to update one post. That’s it.
It will be one of my older posts from when I started the site so that it better reflects my site’s niche.
General Plan
Since this is a busy month I truly did not want to aim for the moon when I knew that aiming for a few clouds was the best I could handle.
The TL;DR version:
- Write 3 posts.
- SSSEO: Module 4 + 5
- Update one older post to reflect the new niche.
I’m Trying to Be Reasonable
This update was underwhelming for me and the goals I have for November feel like I’m giving up. However, I believe in being reasonable when I know my time is more strained.
Still, I am very proud of all that I accomplished last month.
It’s very clear that money can be made here – it will just take some time. Plus, if I wasn’t so rushed this month I would have added creating a shop, too but again: reasonability.
If you’re looking at my monthly goal posts and seeing that I’m not making anything, don’t be discouraged. It’s something I have to figure out and the money will come and so will yours.