Get the real scoop on what the fifth month looks like on a beginner’s blog. If you are a beginner blogger or you’re thinking of starting your own beginner blog, then this honest reflection of the fifth month of blogging will help you! Get a better idea of what to expect when you start a blog from scratch.

A lot of bloggers only share income reports that show obvious success and progress.

But the truth is, the average beginner’s blog takes time to see results. In these cases, the process can be slow and discouraging.

I am one of the average cases that started off knowing nothing about the blogging world. Now I’m in my fifth month, and though there is progress, I have yet to see any huge success, but I plan to stick it out for a whole year to see where it goes. This article is all about my fifth month of blogging, but if you’re curious about how my previous months went or want to know how I got started, you can check out my other posts here:

• What My First Month Blogging Looks Like
• Blogging Secrets: Know What the Second Month Looks Like
• Secrets of the Third Month Blogging: Encouragement to Beginner Bloggers
• The Authentic Journey of my Fourth Month Blogging

Who I am and why I started a blog

My name is Genesis, and I love to learn, create, and teach. I am deeply passionate about writing and growing my skills in that area of my life.

For four years, I had been a teacher in elementary schools around the world. I enjoyed so much about that part of my life, but some things didn’t feel like they were a good fit for my life. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I wasn’t living a life that was fully suited to who I am as a person. It became clear to me that my passion for writing was getting ignored due to the demanding nature of my teaching career. I decided that if I continued teaching it would mean completely letting go of my identity as a writer. I knew I couldn’t give up that part of myself and decided that I had to find a job that would allow me to use both my love of teaching and my love of writing.

And that’s where blogging comes in!

This beginner’s blog has become a way for me to teach others about things I value while having the opportunity to write every single day. It is a place of true joy, and I am determined to make this into something real and sustainable. I’m now five months in, and every day I feel more comfortable in the role.

Why am I sharing my progress? 

Though I occasionally put stuff up about blogging, I don’t typically blog about blogging. So why go through the effort of sharing all of this with you? I have three main reasons why I choose to share my beginner blogging experience with others each month: 

I want to practice what I preach

Here at In Its Season, I talk a lot about the importance of being true to who you are and creating a life that reflects that. As I’ve started on this path, I’ve encountered a lot of bumps in the road. I have days where I feel confident in my choices and other days where I think I should give up and just go back to being the teacher everyone expects me to be.

But I believe in the things that I write about, and I aim to follow my own advice.

I want to share my progress so that people can see that the journey to authentic living is not an easy one, but it’s worth it in the end. It is important for me to share my struggles openly right now because it can be so easy to forget how hard the journey was once you finally make it. I want to be as honest as possible about what it’s like to run a beginner’s blog, sharing both the good and the bad sides of the process.

I want to motivate people who have experienced failure.

Every month comes with its own set of successes and failures. I definitely prefer to have successes, but when I fail, I try my best to find the lesson in it. I recognize that failures and mistakes can actually be great learning opportunities and I want to encourage others to search for the lesson in every failure they experience. It’s never something to be embarrassed about!

I want to show people how to recognize progress even when they don’t feel it.

In last month’s report, I genuinely thought that I had made zero improvements. I remember thinking that people wouldn’t be very inspired by my lack of progress from one month to the next. But when I sat down to actually look at the numbers and reflect on the things I had learned, I realized that I actually made a lot more improvements than I thought! Often, when we are in the middle of a big project, it’s hard to notice the little changes that have been occurring to move us forward. I want to show people how to look back at their own projects to see that they’ve learned a lot more than they think!

My Setbacks and Successes This Month

My fifth month has definitely been my best yet! I have been able to easily see progress, and I am feeling more confident on a daily basis that I can achieve what I’ve set out to do. Here’s what I’ve been learning this past month:

Success: I’m seeing more activity on Pinterest and on the site itself

About two weeks ago, Pinterest started picking up for me even though I hadn’t made any striking changes. All of a sudden, more people were re-pinning my pins and clicking on more links. That, in turn, has been pushing my site traffic higher and higher every day. I’ve also been making connections in the blogging community, so I’m seeing more comments on my posts every day. It has been so motivating and I’m incredibly thankful to everyone who has been a part of that!

Setback: Despite the growth in traffic, I’m still struggling to get email subscribers

I’m so glad that I’ve made the switch to ConvertKit because their platform makes it incredibly easy to make great templates for emails, sign-up templates, and landing pages. They also have free trainings that help me feel comfortable working with the platform.

However, despite their amazing training and features, I have still seen little progress in my email list. I really enjoy writing to the people who are on the list, but I am often left wondering what I’m still doing wrong. It was more upsetting than usual because I believe I have some really great freebies that would help people, but I don’t fully understand why it doesn’t yet appeal to anyone. I haven’t quite figured out what I could be doing differently. However, I’m sure I will figure it out eventually and see growth!

Success: I’ve found a routine that helps me meet deadlines more predictably

For a while, I was trying to sit down three days a week to accomplish an entire blog post in one sitting. This was not at all feasible. I ended up stressed and pressed for time, but with this new schedule I’ve created, I have been able to get a lot more done in a week. Not just that, but it has allowed me to be more flexible with when I do my work. When things come up with my family, I am able to readjust my schedule so that I can help out without sacrificing my deadlines.

Basically, I do Pinterest pin design and an outline of new posts on Monday, the writing of posts on Tuesday, and editing and scheduling posts on Wednesday. Thursday and Friday are left open for training, site maintenance, creating products, and any other details that I need to do. It has been a great schedule for me to maintain this month!

Setback: I’m still struggling with session duration and bounce rates

This has been a sore point for me from the beginning because it has been hard to see progress. My stats for these two fluctuate quite a bit. Some days look pretty good, but other days are still pretty bad. I’ve done a lot of research to try to solve the problem and it has helped. However, the problem is not fixed yet. I was encouraged, however, by an SEO lesson that mentioned that new blogs often will struggle with this for a while. It was useful to hear that it was a normal problem and not necessarily something I am doing wrong. I will just give it more time and try my best to improve the experience for my readers.

Success: I did my own graphic design for Pinterest!

For about a year, I have been trying my hand at digital art, and it has been a blast! Recently, I felt that I needed to create more brand consistency for my pins. I decided to make a logo that can be easily inserted into my pins. It wasn’t a crazy difficult task, but it felt good to do it! I feel so good every time I see my In Its Season badge on a pin now!

The results

Traffic Report

Sadly, my bounce rate and average session duration got worse this month, but everything else has improved! I don’t know how normal this is for a beginner’s blog, but I’m pleased with the results of this month overall.

Top Referrals

Everything on my referrals stayed about the same. Pinterest is bringing in the most traffic, and Facebook is still pretty steady. For a beginner’s blog, I understand that it’s normal not to receive many referrals from Google. I believe that takes about a year. I was happy to see a few referrals from other blogs on there, though!

Top 5 Posts

The information has stayed pretty predictable in this area. People are still super into anything that has to do with routines and other ways to improve your life. It makes me so happy because I absolutely love writing about it:

• How to Use Your Phone With Intention and Purpose
• How to Make Your Winter Mornings Easier and Cozier
• Morning Brainwash: How to Start Your Day Right
• Tody: The free app that will change the way you clean
• 80 Ways to Calm Down Your Anxiety and Worry

Income

I finally started getting traffic to my Amazon links this month! This felt like a sign that it might be time to start looking into affiliate links. I am not rushing to get anything started, but I am heading towards beginning some affiliate partnerships.

Expenses

This was another free month! Things have been going smoothly, and the stuff that I don’t know yet has a lot of free educational material that I am using before spending any money for more in-depth lessons.

Total Expenses: $0

Where the blog is headed

This beginner’s blog is still headed towards a niche-lifestyle blog that focuses on self-improvement, simple living, and chasing authenticity. I am getting better at starting to articulate what exactly I’m about, which has also been encouraging. Here’s a little thesis of what I’ve been developing in my mind:

I believe that we can’t live peacefully or joyfully if we are not living the life God designed for us. We each have unique abilities and interests that can’t be ignored just because people say it’s not ‘normal’ or ‘responsible’. Instead, we need to discover who we are and mold our lives around that. To help people do that, I want to provide them with everything I know about life so that they can try it all, mixing and matching to find the best fit for them.

I share organization and minimalism tips to help people clear the physical clutter and help them find what is most important to them. My routine and productivity articles are meant to help people develop a daily routine that uses their time wisely and provides them with valuable time to do what feeds their soul. Finally, I intend to share travel and culture posts to show other ways of living that will expand your own understanding of the world. Every post is meant to help you open your heart to new ideas and experiment with your own life to discover the things that work for you and the things that don’t.

It’s still largely a work in progress, but I feel like I’m finally getting somewhere with it!

Now, to be totally candid, I am still struggling to know the details of where this blog is headed. There are pieces missing that I haven’t been able to put together yet. I plan to continue writing and trust God to guide me through the day-to-day until I have a better idea of what he’s planning for me.

My thoughts about my fifth month with a beginner’s blog

This month was a lot easier for my confidence. Even family and friends have started to notice the increase of activity on my blog. I’ve been more comfortable sharing my project with other people, and it’s starting to feel more like a job than a hobby.

That being said, I can’t ignore the fact that I have no income to show for it. This part has been hard on me. A part of me feels like I should do the ‘responsible’ thing and get a job. But at the end of the day, I always decide that it’s better for me to put my full effort into making this work instead of splitting the time with something else. I work best when I have no safety net, so it’s best that I don’t have a job to cushion the fall if I give up on blogging. It will make me more determined to give this everything I’ve got! I have loved blogging so much that I feel more motivated than ever to make it into something sustainable.

Overall, I would say that the fifth month of blogging as a beginner is actually quite nice! Besides the occasional overwhelm or discouragement, the weekly routine is straight-forward and enjoyable. It’s the first time I’ve gone through a full month where I felt like I had a decent understanding of blogging. I know I still have a lot to learn, but I didn’t feel completely lost this month which has been a pleasant change.

I don’t know what to expect in the future, but these past few weeks have been quite nice!

My Personal Goals

I’ve decided to change gears with my goals because I feel they are too far beyond what I can control. I mean, Pinterest and site traffic are not really things that I can change through sheer determination. I’ve decided to monitor and record those things without setting goals.

Instead, I want to make goals for things that I will actually set out to learn and do myself.

This way, they are reachable goals I can actively strive for. I have set less lofty goals this month because I anticipate that, with the Christmas break, I probably won’t get much done. I don’t want to set myself up for failure. For this reason, I’m mostly trying to maintain the status quo this December and just learn a few extra things.

Here’s what I’m aiming to achieve this month:

I want to make a plan for taking a holiday.

With Christmas coming up, it has got me thinking about how I will take a break from work. Do I want to do extra work to take time off, or do I want to simply do nothing for the holidays? How long do I want to have a break? I am trying to base my holidays off of Biblical principles. Christmas is a good time to consider how I want to take my holidays in the future.

I want to organize my blog more effectively.

At the moment, I feel like people still can’t get a full understanding of what my blog is about because my categories are too vague. I want to come up with clearer categories and have the site mapping get simpler because of it.

I want to develop a better understanding of SEO.

Right now I have a basic understanding of Search Engine Optimization. However, I want to learn more so that I can rank on Google as well as Pinterest. This will require taking classes and learning more about SEO best practices.

I want to use my own photos as often as possible.

I have recently started to use my own photos in my blog posts and some of my Pinterest pins. In the future, I really hope to make this a consistent thing that I can do. One benefit I’ve noticed is that I was able to get more personal when I started to share my own personal photos and I want to continue that trend. However, I recognize that I am not great at photography and I only have a phone to use to take pictures, so it’s not ideal. But you’ve gotta start somewhere, right?

Blogging resources I would recommend

You can see that I’m not a blogging expert, yet. I’m still in the baby stages of learning how to do it. But there are a few resources that I have tested out and found to be extremely helpful! I want to share the ones that have helped me a lot in my blogging journey so that you don’t have to waste time trying to find the best resources alone.

(Please note that I am an affiliate for these three programs, so I do make a small commission on purchases you make through these links. However, I want to make it clear that I would never recommend something that I don’t use and appreciate myself. I truly love these three resources and believe that you would benefit from using them, as well!)

Resource #1: ConvertKit

I would recommend ConvertKit to anyone looking to build a mailing list. Not only is it easier to use, but the support offered to you as a creator is just so helpful! They offer weekly workshops to help you grow as a creator, concerts and inspirational stories to watch, free templates, community networking, and one-on-one support. Honestly, I have nothing but good things to say about them!

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If you’re looking to grow a mailing list, you should sign up for ConvertKit.

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Resource #2: Legal Pages Bundle

After quite a bit of research, it was clear to me that Amira’s Legal Bundle was the most cost-effective way to protect myself fully on my blog. Within one day, I had purchased the bundle, customized it, and placed it on my site.

Amira’s bundle makes me feel so much safer about my blog, and I want you to have the same thing!

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If you are a freelancer or a blogger, then don’t hesitate to buy Amira’s Legal Bundle. It is the best use of your money and time to get her help!

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Related Post: Where to get the Best Legal Bundle for your Blog

Resource #3: Divi WordPress theme

I opted for Divi because it promised a lot of customization without having to know all of the coding lingo.

Now, I want to be candid with you and explain that, for me, the learning curve was still really tough. Additionally, a lot of the customization I wanted ended up slowing down my site enough that I had to sacrifice beauty for functionality.

I might not recommend this theme to everyone, but I would recommend it to beginner bloggers like me.

I really appreciate the personal support I get from them and that is the main reason why I would recommend their product for you. Though my more experienced future self might move on to a new theme eventually, I couldn’t have asked for a better beginner theme!

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If you want to try Divi out for yourself, you can check out their products here!

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Conclusion

I hope that my story can encourage you today to chase your own dreams, whatever they may be! If you are starting a beginner’s blog, you have a good idea of what to expect if you read my posts about it. If you are working on a different project unrelated to blogging, this article still applies to you. Every big project is going to have difficult hurdles along the way. You can either let them beat you or put the effort in to get past them until you reach your goal. I hope that this post encourages your fighting spirit today!

What goals are you reaching for this month? What are you learning that you can celebrate today? Tell me about it in the comments. Are you in the process of starting your own beginner’s blog? I’d love to hear from you!