2022 Year in Review: Blogging, Content Creation, and Other Adventures
Whether you’re scrolling Instagram, Pinterest, or searching through the internet in general, you’ll constantly hear that making money on the internet is “SO EASY” and that you can “MAKE 10,000 IN JUST ONE MONTH” but the reality can be quite different. Here’s my 2022 Year in Review so you can see what this journey actually looks like.
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The journey to making money on the internet is not easy. This was technically my third year in my blogging journey and my second year in my content creation journey. Here’s a recap of all my mistakes, lessons, and achievements!
The Year in Review: Some Context
Before we begin the year in review for 2022, I wanted to cover a few things. I did not dive into blogging for the money, even though I do talk about how much I made in this blog post. I began blogging because I needed a creative and challenging outlet, something different than my usual 9-5 work, a place where I could do whatever I wanted.
So that’s why I dove into blogging, but why am I still going? Well, there’s a few reasons. I still love the challenging aspect of blogging. The writing, the coding, the coming up with new ideas. It’s still very much a big reason of why I continue to do this. I rarely get that sort of challenge at work or in other aspects of life, so I want to keep this going as much as possible. I also have to say that the online industry has really popped off in these past few years, and making money online is not going anywhere.
Now, I keep blogging for both the challenge and the opportunity to create additional income. I’m nowhere near these six-figure bloggers or making that “easy $10K a month!” you see plastered all over Pinterest. Nor do I (currently) have the desire to quit my job. Blogging is still very much a side-project for me.
Okay, now that we have some context out of the way, we can dive into what happened in 2022!
P.S. If you want to read a previous recap, you can learn about my first few years blogging here or read more blogging posts below.
2022 Year in Review & Blogging Recap
2022 Year in Review by Month
2022 Overview
Most of 2022 was spent either transitioning or taking classes and not creating enough time for blogging or content creator. Oops. I did spend some time making a few Instagram Reels because it was slightly easier to get that content out than blogging. Basically, the beginning of 2022 had some great content and then I faded towards the end of the year.
January 2022
- Published three blog posts, including 17+ Affordable Skincare Products for Beginners, which has been a top five blog post for me according to Google Analytics.
- Took a new course from By Sophia Lee, Perfecting Pinterest!
Learn more about Perfecting Pinterest!
March 2022
- I started a new job that was only fifteen minutes away (compared to a 1-ish hour commute)!
- Published three blog posts, including a product review! I’d previously publishing a hiking pants for petite women blog post that has popped off for me, so I wrote a follow-up product review of the hiking pants I bought.
April 2022
- I began meeting weekly with a Blogging Facebook Group where we would all video chat while we wrote our blog posts or worked on other blogging business. This only lasted for about a few months but I got to see how other people managed their blogs and learned about their success.
Summer 2022
- Took six credits worth of college classes while working full-time.
Fall 2022
- Took eleven credits worth of college classes while working full-time, do not recommend.
- Also took the Sticky Blogging Course, fully recommend!
Learn more about the Sticky Blogging Course!
November 2022
- Began another course, Influencer Bootcamp by Christina Galbato!
Learn more about Influencer Bootcamp!
December 2022
- Opened up a business bank account! Shout-out to Novo Bank for making it super easy!
- Received my first major affiliate pay-out!
Blogging Stats for 2022
| Blog Posts Written | 13 |
| Newsletters Sent | 3 |
| Courses Taken | 3 |
| Page Sessions | 7.4K |
| Page Views | 9.8K |
| Users | 6.3K |
Courses Taken: This was the year of courses! I took the following blogging courses this year:
Perfecting Pinterest from By Sophia Lee
Influencer Bootcamp by Christina Galbato
I’m currently working on a blog post where I will list ALL THE COURSES I’ve taken over the years, my thoughts on each of them, and whether they were worth it or not.
Income Stats for 2022
| Affiliate Program | 2022 Income |
|---|---|
| Google Adsense | $ 27.24 |
| Ezoic | $ 47.35 |
| Amazon Associates | $ 19.20 |
| Skimlinks | $ 10.68 |
| ShopStyle Collective | $ 0.00 |
| Canva Affiliate | $ 0.00 |
| Hero Cosmetics | $ 0.00 |
| ConvertKit | $ 356.31 |
| TOTAL INCOME | $460.78 |
I still can’t believe I surpassed my $100 income goal by THAT much! I was close to finishing the year with less than $100 in income but a ConvertKit payout means I actually closed the year with almost $500 in gross income!
I definitely still need to make progress in creating affiliate income opportunities through additional blog posts and more content creation on social media. I’m excited to see these numbers continue to grow!
P.S. Would you be interested to see how I track my blogging income? Let me know in the comments below!
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Overall 2022 Year in Review
When I think about my content creation journey in 2022, it started off strong and then majorly dipped in the second half of the year. I spent quite a bit of time taking college classes during the summer and fall months that I didn’t have a lot of time left over for writing blog posts.
Instead, I focused more on Instagram and short-form videos. I got comfortable with editing short-form videos like reels and was able to get a little bit of traffic that way. Again, right when I got into a rhythm with videos, my college semester started back up. This time, I took eleven credits which was way, way too much for me to take on.
By the time the semester ended, I had written no new blog posts since June 2022! Instead, I focused on simply keeping the blog updated. I went in and changed a few affiliate links, sent out a newsletter, and shared my blog posts with greater frequency on my Instagram. I also spent quite a bit of time on admin stuff that you’ll probably never see or be able to tell but that will help me quite a bit as we head into 2023.
Lessons Learned
Have you heard of the quote “time heals all wounds”? Well, time is also a great partner when creating content. The best part about 2023 is that my blog traffic grew by 500 – 1,000%, depending on the time of the year! It wasn’t until the second half of the year that my traffic really took off! Some of these blog posts had been published either in the previous year or in the first half of the year and it wasn’t until the last four months of 2022 that the traffic really started to build up.
Do you ever find yourself thinking “Is it even worth it?” while searching for affiliate links for your content? The reality is that sometimes finding the right affiliate link can be more time-consuming than we think. However, it’s important to keep pushing through because that affiliate link could be the one that takes off or lands you a major payout. I received a big payout from one of my blogger tools, ConvertKit, this year and it was all due to one little affiliate link that was floating around the internet. Those little steps will add up eventually. Keep going
Mistakes Made
I recently wrote my budget for the month and walked away feeling super confident I had gotten all my recurring purchases. However, at lunch, I remembered an expense I’d forgotten. I went back and added it, feeling a little crestfallen I’d forgotten one. A few hours later, I remembered another expense I still needed to pay for just a few more months. Another line was added to the budget. Before the day was over, I’d added another two lines to the budget and was feeling defeated. Then I realized that it was important that I remembered those expenses NOW when I could still adjust my budget rather than at the end of the month when I couldn’t.
In a similar manner, I had lots of content ideas planned, a few blog rough drafts started, and even photoshoots mapped out, when the reality hit that my schedule was too overwhelmed by the classes I was taking and the grad school application I was submitting. I ended up dropping quite a few content creation projects and prioritizing my classes instead. In this case, I did not remember about my upcoming obligations until after the classes had started. Even though it really hurt my content production, it was a reminder to take more of a bird’s eye view when planning my expectations for content.
While my blogging journey might look like this, it doesn’t mean yours will be the same! There are truly so many ways to go about blogging and content creation, and the different purposes it can fulfill.
Whether you’re thinking about starting your own blogging or content creation journey or have already begun yours, I hope this year in review provided you with some inspiration to dive into your own blogging journey!
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2022 Year in Review: Blogging, Content Creation, and Other Adventures!
