• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
The Fiery Vegetarian
  • Home
  • All Recipes
    • Appetizers
    • Breads
    • Desserts
    • Dips and Spreads
    • Lunch and Dinner
    • Meals in under 30 minutes
    • Round-ups
    • Soups
    • Side dishes
    • Snacks
  • Spring Recipes
  • Subscribe
  • Contact
  • About
menu icon
go to homepage
  • Recipes
  • Spring Recipes
  • Contact
  • About
  • Subscribe
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
  • search icon
    Homepage link
    • Recipes
    • Spring Recipes
    • Contact
    • About
    • Subscribe
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
  • ×
    Home » Blogging » Income Reports

    Income & Traffic Report March 2020

    Published: Apr 13, 2020 · Modified: Dec 6, 2023 by Deirdre Gilna. This post may contain affiliate links.

    33 shares

    Welcome to my traffic and income report for the 17th month of my blog! I began reporting on my blog’s progress from the first month I started publishing posts, November 2018, after being inspired to start my food blog by other blog reports.

    A collage of four food images for March 2020 income and traffic report

    I was hesitant about publishing for this month, with everything that is going on in the world right now, but I guess this report could still be useful for others, maybe in the near future if not right now.

    You can find all my previous blog reports in the income reports section of The Fiery Vegetarian.

    Below are some quick links if you’d like to navigate to a specific section of this report, rather than read me waffling on. Don’t hesitate to let me know any feedback you may have about any information you’d like included in future reports.

    • Posts
    • Traffic
    • Email Subscribers
    • Push Notifications
    • Facebook
    • Pinterest
    • Instagram
    • DA
    • Income
    • Review and Goals

    Posts

    Posts this month: 9

    I’m pretty happy with getting this amount of posts out. I’ve been faithfully updating and reshooting photos for older content and putting out new content 50:50.

    I saw a sizeable increase in my Google traffic this month which had been stagnating for a while. Why?

    A lot of food and recipe blogs have seen a boost in traffic due to more people being at home and having time to cook. I’m also convinced it’s due to increasing the value of the real estate on those old posts.

    I spent March getting to know my new artificial light setup better, using my new overhead tripod and reading Nagi from RecipeTin Eats Food Photography book.

    I have been pretty pleased with the improvements I’m seeing, and although my photography is not amazing yet, it’s way better than it used to be. I mean, check out the difference in this recent reshoot and the old photo!

    Split photos with top down view of yellow soup on the left and forward facing view on the right
    (Old photo on the left and new one on the right)

    Better photos are, in turn, increasing the blog’s CTR (Click Through Rate) on Facebook, Google, and Pinterest.

    It would be great if I could get that amount of posts out in April, but everything is:

    a) A bit nuts right now.

    b) I’ve been merrily burning the candle at both ends with the kids at home, hubby away on a business trip and then having difficulties getting back (terrible timing, I know), teleworking and pushing hard on the blog so I definitely feel a bit of burnout coming on.

    Traffic

    Graph of page views for March 2020

    March 2020 Page Views 67,063 (compared to 4,179 in March 2019)

    My page views this month leaped up considerably when compared to my February traffic (37,984).

    The peak on day 10 was some luck where what I thought was a pretty basic, good but unimpressive post (still a favourite recipe of mine, easy vegan garlic bread) went viral on Facebook.

    It just goes to show that no matter how long you have been in the food blogging business, you can never tell what will do well!

    Screenshot of top ten traffic sources from Google Analytics

    On paper, looking at traffic sources compared to February, it looks like sources stayed more or less the same.

    However, this month I made an effort to get posts out on Facebook nearly every day, in addition to sharing regularly via Facebook groups, and this made a big difference to my Facebook traffic.

    I enjoy Facebook but it definitely requires a lot of consistency and work when compared to Pinterest, and if you stop for a few days traffic will tail off.

    Email Subscribers

    200 (versus 182 in February)

    Sigh, subscribers. Still terrible growth. I’ve seen a big slowdown in subscribers ever since I had to get rid of my MailChimp subscriber popup (due to a clash with Mediavine Ads) and am planning to look into ConvertKit soon to fix this issue.

    Push Notifications

    281 (versus 27 in February)

    In late February I started trialling push subscriptions using OneSignal. The results pretty much speak for themselves, given that I now have more push subscribers than email subscribers!

    It was really easy to set up, is really easy to use, and is free. I highly recommend trying out push subscriptions if you haven’t yet.

    Facebook

    This month followers increased to 3,314 up from 1,979 in February. I posted on Facebook every day, mixed up my post types, and shared to at least five groups a day (well, most days).

    I’m super happy with this growth but wow, it’s definitely much more of an effort to get traffic and followers from Facebook.

    I really need to look into a course on how to better manage and get the most out of Facebook and am hoping to look into this more in April.

    Pinterest

    In March I finished up with 1,300 followers, compared to 1129 in February. Views hit over 1.1 million, which okay I know, it’s a bit of a vanity metric but that number made my heart go pitter-patter!

    This month I focused on getting fresh new pins out and aimed for ten a day – didn’t quite happen but I definitely got around 50-60 out each week.

    Pinterest strategies can take a few months to pay off but by the end of the month, my weekly views had already increased from 3,816 to 5,196.

    Instagram

    326 followers (up from 291 in February)

    Still not caring about Instagram, and recently realized I haven’t even got up some of my recent photos on it. The only thing I like about it is that it can be a nice way to get in touch with blog viewers as they tag me in their lovely photos.

    Income

    March Income : $888.08 (compared to $497.55 February)

    In theory my March income looks great when compared to February’s income, with a steady increase in earnings since January.

    In practice, I cannot imagine this increase will be reflected in the months to come. RPMs (Revenue Per Mille) fell heavily throughout the month and I went from a high of €22 to around €9-€11.

    This was despite making new videos nearly every day of the month.

    The uncertainty regarding the worldwide economy right now is having a knock-on effect on advertising revenues and will no doubt impact them severely for months to come at the very least.

    The average RPMs for The Fiery Vegetarian in January were just €9.13, but in February they increased to €13.10 (these are the RPMs for page views not session views, in previous reports I had used the RPM per thousand sessions).

    March RPMs clocked in at $13.26 on average, which I would imagine would go down to around €10 next month. We’ll see, I’m not thinking too much about income at the moment and trying to focus on the benefits of being able to at least grow traffic right now.

    Mediavine ad revenue is my sole source of income at the moment, and I keep meaning to look into affiliate income but haven’t gotten around to it yet. I did sign up to several affiliate networks during March so hopefully this month I’ll finally figure it out a bit more.

    All income mentioned is the gross amount, not my net income, and doesn’t take into account deductions for tax, social security, accountant, expenses, etc.

    Review and Goals

    I had set several goals for March but did I meet any of them? Let’s take a look:

    • Make 10 new pins a day.
    • Make 7 new videos a week.
    • Read Nagi’s food photography book.
    • Begin mastering artificial light photography.
    • Get out two posts a week – one update, one new.
    • Change the ugly cover image on my Facebook page.

    For once, I actually did meet most of my goals! I did get a new video out most days and 10 pins MOST of the time.

    I read Nagi’s amazing food photography book which was really the most helpful resource I have found yet, especially when it came to quickly figuring out artificial light photography.

    I’d still like to reread it a few times to soak up all the useful knowledge and work a bit more on lighting and composition. I changed my Facebook cover and got out two posts a week. Check and check.

    For next month I’m aiming at a short list of goals. I’d like to:

    • Hire a VA (Virtual Assistant – Surprise!).
    • Examine, update and edit my Pinterest Boards.
    • Research Facebook Strategy

    The big thing here is hiring a VA – with revenue down but traffic up I think the wisest thing for me to do right now is to concentrate on growing my traffic and for that I need help.

    I recently noticed that my more general Pinterest Boards are not doing so hot when it comes to repins, so I’m going to be digging back into my Pinning Perfect Pinterest course content to audit my boards and improve performance.

    I’m still absolutely winging my Facebook strategy based on tips and clues so I’d like to look into some well-priced courses or do some more research, and then hand Facebook over to my new VA.

    With training to do, lots of learning needed, burnout beckoning and everything that is going on, I don’t think April will be a hugely productive month when it comes to posts and social media but it should be a useful one that will set the tone for the next few months.

    I also ordered a new 35mm camera lens and an Instant Pot (yay, finally!) which should be here early April so I am excited about using them for the blog.


    I hope you found this report useful, if you have any questions or would like to see other items included in the next report, holler at me down below!

    Stay safe and keep blogging!

    More Income Reports

    • Collage of four dishes (enchiladas, pasta, mini cheesecake and potatoes) with text overlay starting Q4 2021 traffic & income report $9753.50.
      Food Blogger Income Report Q4 2021
    • Collage of four dishes with text overlay stating Q3 2021 traffic and income report $6062.91.
      Food Blogger Income Report Q3 2021
    • Food Blogger Income Report June 2021
    • Collage of top down views of four dishes with text overlay stating May 2021 traffic and income report 1544.46 dollars
      Traffic & Income Report May 2021

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

      Leave a Reply Cancel reply

      Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

      Recipe Rating




    1. Kristina

      June 13, 2020 at 12:40 am

      Loved reading this report! I hope blogging is going well for you now that we’re in June. Can’t wait to read your next update!

      Reply
      • The Fiery Vegetarian

        June 15, 2020 at 11:25 am

        I got really behind with the reports but will definitely be posting at the end of this month!

        Reply

    Primary Sidebar

    Hi, I'm Deirdre. Welcome to The Fiery Vegetarian where I share vegetarian and vegan recipes, many with a spicy twist. Most of my recipes can be made in under half an hour and I never sacrifice flavor.

    More about me →

    Spring Recipes

    • A spaghetti nest covered in green sauce in a white bowl.
      7 Minute Green Pasta Sauce
    • A spoon dipping into a glass jar with herby sauce in it.
      Easy Lemon Herb Tahini Sauce
    • Front view of a plate with a little white rice and lots of peas in orange sauce.
      Quick Pea Curry
    • Two bowls of yellow soup on burlap
      Easy Light Lemon Lentil Soup
    • Top-down view of a fruit crisp in a glass dish.
      Best Strawberry Apple Crisp
    • A glass bowl with a creamy brown dip surrounded by sliced apple.
      Easy Greek Yogurt Apple Dip

    Trending Recipes

    • Soft tofu chunks in a bright orange-red sauce in a white pot.
      Quick Spicy Silken Tofu Recipe
    • Top down view of a black cast-iron pan with a creamy light brown bean curry, on a grey background.
      Creamy Black Bean Curry
    • A silver pot of red tomato pasta sauce surrounded by fresh basil, tomatoes and pasta
      Best Arrabbiata Sauce Recipe EVER
    • Several blue bowls containing white rice, chickpea curry, and naan bread.
      Chickpea Spinach Curry (Chana Palak Masala)
    • A white plate with pasta in orange sauce on it.
      Quick Gochujang Pasta
    • A top down look at spaghetti fried in a cast iron pan on a blue background
      Easy Fried Spaghetti Recipe

    Footer

    A list of black and white company logos.

    ↑ back to top

    The Fiery Vegetarian

    Vegan and vegetarian recipes with a kick, founded in 2018!

    the fiery vegetarian logo

    Pages

    • About
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Accessibility Policy
    • Subscribe

    As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

    COPYRIGHT © 2023 THEFIERYVEGETARIAN.COM ALL RIGHTS RESERVED