Updated on February 15th, 2021

Here is my annual Blog Review and Income Report! I am sharing the strategies and techniques I used to double my earnings this year.

Hey everyone!

Exactly a year ago (minus a day hehe), I created How to Start a Style Blog + earn over $3k a month! It took a {long} minute, but this post has gained a bit of popularity on my Pinterest in the last few months.

Which inspired me to do some sort of a follow up!

Maybe the work from home life has inspired us all to really create our dream job? Perhaps we are looking for a way to pay off debt? Whatever your reason, starting a blog is always a good choice. 🙂

I contemplated editing last year’s post with updates, as I have learned and grown so much in a year. Instead, I will create a new post!

Today’s post is all about growth in a year. What have I been up to? What worked this year? What did I waste my time on this year? Where has 3 years of blogging brought me financially? All the deets!

As a way to reflect and help inspire others, I am going to try and go over all the main strategies and events that took place this year. If my blogging year had a moto, it would be that all the effort will matter!

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Before we dive into all the strategy and goals I met in 2020…

I want to give a little disclaimer (as I always do with these type of posts). I personally love reading blogger success stories. I find them helpful in mapping out my own path! This post is intended to inspire and offer tips that have worked for me.

Honestly, other blogger’s success stories are the main reason I keep on trying. They motivate me to keep on going! Everyone is on their own path to success, but reading about how “everyday people” have created successful blogs makes this difficult goal seem much more attainable.

I know I am not the only one who feels this way, so these posts are for you!

I began my blogging endeavors earning a $35,000 yearly salary as a school teacher. I literally lived paycheck to paycheck. Since then, I have earned every last penny on my own. You do not have to be born into money to create the life you want!

Third Year of Blogging Review + Income Report

To better understand my journey (and all of my terrible beginner blogger skills) check out My First Month Blogging – What Worked & Didn’t Work. It’s “precious” (in an awkward junior high yearbook photo kind of way…)

Also, to compare my success to last year’s success, you may want to read How to Start a Style Blog + earn over $3k a month. It has a lot of beginner blogger information that is still relevant to 2021!

2017 & 2020 Blogging Stats:

These are the stats that I recorded after my first month of blogging in 2017. This little snippet from the beginnings really brought all the nostalgia feels 🙂 I remember exactly where I was when I was writing that First Month Blogging post.

2017 Beginning Blog Stats

• Blog Posts: 13
• Monthly Views: 823 (31,360 for that year)
• Pinterest Group Boards: 31
• Pinterest Followers: 25
• Pinterest Monthly Viewers: 24k
• Instagram Followers: 67
• Total Income: $9.03 (my first month blogging)
• LTK following: Didn’t get accepted until fall 2018

Here is how everything looked by the end of 2020, my third year of blogging. So crazy! I cannot stress this enough: If I was able to do this, YOU can as well.

2020 End of the Year Stats

• Blog Posts: I wrote 30 blog posts this year
• 2020 Views: 1,474,679 for the year (the majority of views came July-Dec. I average about 250-300k a month now.)
• Pinterest Group Boards: archived most, they don’t seem to help me anymore!
• Pinterest Followers: 25.4k
• Pinterest Monthly Viewers: 10million
• Instagram Followers: 7,060 (fluctuates like a beast)
• Total Income: $92,686 (I believe I made around $40-45k in 2019)
• LTK following: 4.2k
• TikTok following: 1700 ish

2020 Blogging Milestones:

1. First Viral Blog Post
2. First month of earning over $10k
3. Reached 10m monthly views on Pinterest
4. I started selling my own product (on Etsy!)

Chapter I. Fare thee well, Instagram.

I have always struggled with Instagram. However, in 2020 I really began to see how much of a toxic ‘friendship’ instagram really was.

In order to receive the bare minimum from instagram, I had to devote SO much of my time, energy and efforts. If I skipped a day, I felt like I was getting the cold shoulder. (they say shadow banning is not real, but we all know it’s a thing…)

Devil wears Prada vibes, anyone?

Don’t get me wrong, instagram is a great tool for content creators. I still put a little effort here and there. However, there are plenty other {friendlier} tools to use that produce faster followings, more engagement and sales for a realistic amount of time and effort.

I stopped worrying about instagram growth around July. Instead, I worked on my blog traffic and Pinterest growth. This decision alone helped me land my first viral post, earn way more profits and develop a successful Etsy shop. I will explain how.

Instagram? Don’t know her…

Chapter II. How Valuable is Pinterest?

My instagram detox ultimately led me to focus my time and energy on boosting my Pinterest. I honestly regret neglecting Pinterest all these years!

If instagram is the toxic {but super cool} friend… then, Pinterest is that older friend that just has their sh*t together. They are organized, full of the best advice and throw all the best themed birthday parties haha!

The more I used Pinterest, the more on top of my own blogging endeavors I became. Yes, Pinterest takes a great amount of time and energy. However, she gives back just as much as she takes! If not more.

I went from 2m monthly views in July to over 10m views. It keeps rising!

Why are Pinterest numbers more valuable than instagram growth for me? (for the time being)

Pinterest views will ultimately lead to more blog views, LTK link clicks and more sales. Best of all, there isn’t much of an expiration date on pins! They have the potential to become evergreen and produce passive income for months/years.

Here is an example of a pin I created spring 2020. Almost a year later, and I am still receiving tons of blog views and LTK earnings from all of the shopped products. All from one pin that keeps getting re-pinned:

Think about it, we use Pinterest when we are actively searching for inspiration. Whether that be an outfit, recipe or home decor. Pins are mostly evergreen and can keep popping up to viewers for years!

Pinterest? She powerful…

Quick Pinterest Tips:

• Create broad topic boards. i.e “Home Decor”
• Create specific topic boards. i.e “Transitional Home Decor”
• Do not create silly board titles i.e “Oh she lookin’ good” This will not help with SEO.
• Flood all of your boards and pins with strong keywords.
• Pin other user’s popular pins to the boards that they fit best in. This will boost your board’s “authority” (as they say…)
• Pin some of your own pins to the boards that they fit best in.
• Create new pins for old blog posts every few months. Pinterest likes new pins!
• Do not Pin the exact same pin to the same board until a few weeks have passed. Pinterest doesn’t like duplicates
• However, you can pin the exact same pin to different boards!

Chapter III. How I created a Viral Blog Post

It was late September. ::dramatic music plays::

I noticed my posts on free Instagram Highlight covers were becoming very popular all of a sudden. So random!

A few moments later, I saw an Apple News Article about the new ios 14 update and the process of changing app icons. Ohhhh! People were searching for icons and finding my blog post with instagram icons.

That night, I simply gave the people what they wanted: a post with free iPhone App icons.

I woke up to madness!

How did my post go viral?

I didn’t actively plan on my post going viral, however I saw the opportunity and ran with it. I definitely suggest keeping up with what is trending on google!

Viral Post Tips:

If you see something trending on google that fits in with your niche, squeeze it in!

Make sure the written topic is not too out of left field. Google and Pinterest know the history of your website. I already had various posts on highlight icons, so my website was already given “authority” (as they say) for these type of topics.

I also cannot stress how important it is to establish yourself on Pinterest!

Here are some SEO techniques I used:

• strong keywords throughout my blog post’s headings
• strong keywords in my blog post’s permalink
• filled the alt text on all of the post’s photos with strong keywords
• created a few Pinterest pins
• Pinned those pin graphics to boards with, you guessed it, strong keywords.

Chapter IV. Income Report for 2020

Let me preface with my mental state of early 2020.

I started December 2019 with finding out my beloved dog had Cancer. She went from being a picture of health to barely being able to walk. We made the choice to honor her quality of life and let her rest peacefully.

If you have ever lost a pet, you know the grief.

Then, the lock down happened. In retrospect, I really needed that time to be home, fully grieve and put myself and my personal goals into focus.

Sure, I spent the majority of 2020 in Christmas pajamas, somewhat greasy hair and mismatched fuzzy socks. However, the focus was on point!

The hard work was starting to pay off! Quite literally.

I earned $92,686 in 2020 off of my self-made content creator career.

I literally doubled my teaching salary! What?!

Where did my 2020 Income come from?

• Affiliate income (Bluehost, etc.) – $350 (from a post I made in 2018)
• Flat Lay campaigns for various brands (JCPenney, Sephora etc.) – $12,500
• RewardStyle (I figured out a game changing strategy, stay tuned for that blog post!) – $32,967
• Etsy Shop Earnings – $46,869 (I opened my shop in September)

RewardStyle Earnings

If you read my post, How to Start a Style Blog + earn over $3k a month, I talk about how I make money through affiliate partnerships. Nothing new on that side of blogging for me.

However, I do want to briefly talk about RewardStyle! (LIKEtoKNOW.it) I went from barely earning a couple hundred a month on the platform in 2018, to earning close to $2k a month in 2019. Now, I earn a full time income (at least compared to my teaching income) off RewardStyle.

Right around August, I began seeing huge growth in my LTK ‘blog & social’ earnings. “Social” would refer to instagram if I had the swipe up feature for my LTK links. However, I do not have the swipe up feature yet. Social=Pinterest for me.

Look at the huge gap between LTK app and blog/Pinterest earnings! These earnings mainly came from old blog posts that I updated and promoted with new pins throughout Pinterest.

I definitely have tons of tips to share on RewardStyle (blog post in the works), but here are some KEY techniques that helped me boost my RewardStyle earnings.

RewardStyle Earnings Tips:

• Include the strongest keywords at the start of your LTK caption
• Check Pinterest search bar to see what “keywords” people are actually searching for.
• Read every email and strategy that the RewardStyle team sends.
• Blog posts >>>> instagram posts. Spend your time where it matters!
• OMG use Pinterest!

All about my Etsy Shop

I remember when I began blogging I created a list of goals. One of my goals was to create a product that I could sell.

Back then, I thought this ‘product’ would be some sort of an e-book. That goal quickly took a backseat as I never felt brave enough to put anything out there.

In fact, the more I got into blogging the faster I realized that I was NOT an e-book gal haha!

I did, however, learn that I LOVE designing. I can spend hours working in Canva… I already created ‘free’ instagram highlight covers for a few blog posts, so why not create fancier icons to sell on Etsy?

I opened my “Instagram highlight cover” shop on Etsy in early September with no idea on what was in store for me in the weeks to come.

In a nutshell, iPhone app icons became super popular late September, and my shop hit nearly 10,000 sales by the end of 2020! (that alone deserves a blog post/therapy session)

::swirly stars and pink smoke:: Let this be your sign to open that Etsy shop you have been thinking about…

Chapter V. Blogging Goals for 2021

This is my favorite part of writing income reports! I was very blessed {and kind of lucky honestly} in 2020. However, I have such a good feeling about blogging in 2021!

Here are the main statistic goals I have for Guitar & Lace:

• Blog Posts: 2-3 posts a month
• Monthly Views: 500k+ a month! Let’s goooo
• Pinterest Group Boards: I would delete this row, but maybe group boards will come back in style? Going to test them out…
• Pinterest Followers: 75k
• Instagram Followers: 10k, so I can finally have the swipe up feature lol!
• LTK following: 10k
• Income Earned: $100,000! 6 figure blog?! is that possible, 2021?! Let’s goooo!
• Mediavine: I finally reached the new threshold (after they doubled it in June 2020) Will they accept me into their loving arms?! We will seeee…

Aside from all the numbers, I want to share more personal goals I have for myself in 2021.

Ultimately, I want 2021 to be the year I am at peace with everything (don’t we all want that?!). I want to have a solid routine that promotes healthy habits and good mental health (no more overworking myself).

I want to doubt myself less and remind myself on how far I have come.

I would like this to be the year that I gracefully exit my day job as a teacher. Whether that is moving to part time or a complete exit. As you may know, 2020 was a rough year for teachers (and everyone else I am sure).

Teaching during a pandemic really made me question whether or not teaching is beneficial to my future (and my mental health). As much as I LOVE my students, I just see a different path for myself.

I just need a little more reassurance that I will be financially stable if I pursue blogging. I had a successful year! However, will it maintain?

Yes, because I have never let myself down yet! good vibes, good vibes!

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