Month 10 Blogging Report
Welcome to my month 10 blogging report. This is a real look at what month 10 of a blog looks like for me, and it is not a highlight reel. The short version: my process is on track, and my results have not arrived yet. I’ll show you both sides, with the exact numbers.
I publish these reports for one reason. When I was deciding how to run this blog, I wanted to see what a normal, unfiltered month looked like, and most of what I found was either a success story or a sales pitch. So here is what I’d have wanted to read.
Month 10 Blogging Report: Traffic, Posts, Costs & What I'm Learning
Affiliate disclosure: This post mentions Hostinger and ShortPixel. I’m an affiliate for both, which means I may earn a commission if you buy through my links. I’ve only linked to tools I use or would use myself, and nothing in this post depends on you buying anything.
Why I Publish These Numbers
This is Version 3 of my blog. I made mistakes in Versions 1 and 2, and I’m cutting those mistakes out now, which is why I’m blogging with more clarity this time.
Blogging has also changed since I first started. There are so many tools and platforms outside of blogs now that it makes you question whether blogging is still worth it. I asked myself that too.
I publish my numbers because beginners deserve to know what matters at each stage, what’s worth paying for, and what isn’t, even when you can afford it. You can’t learn that from a post that only shows the wins. If a blog report only ever shows growth, it isn’t a report; it’s marketing.
I also publish them because it keeps me accountable. It’s harder to fool myself when the numbers are written down in public.
My Real Numbers (Google Search Console, Data as of October 14)
These come straight from Google Search Console, which is Google’s free tool that shows how your site performs in Google search. I haven’t rounded, softened, or adjusted anything.
Last 28 days:
- Clicks: 0
- Impressions: 17
- Click-through rate (CTR): 0%
- Average position: 26.3
Last 7 days:
- Clicks: 0
- Impressions: 7
- Click-through rate (CTR): 0%
- Average position: 34.4
What These Terms Actually Mean
If you’re new, these four words show up everywhere, and nobody explains them properly. Here they are in plain English.
Impressions are the number of times a page from your site appeared in someone’s Google search results. They don’t mean the person saw it, scrolled to it, or noticed it. It only means your page was shown in the list. My 17 impressions in 28 days means pages from my site were listed 17 times.
Clicks are the number of times someone actually clicked through from Google to your site. Mine is 0. That’s the number I care about most, and it’s the one that hasn’t moved yet.
Click-through rate (CTR) is clicks divided by impressions, shown as a percentage. If your page is shown 100 times and clicked 5 times, your CTR is 5%. Mine is 0%, because 0 clicks divided by 17 impressions is zero.
Average position is where your pages typically appear in the results. Position 1 is the top of the first page. Roughly speaking, positions 1 to 10 are page one, and 11 to 20 are page two. My 28-day average of 26.3 and my 7-day average of 34.4 both sit well beyond page two, which is a place almost nobody scrolls to.
If you want the official explanation of every column in this report, Google’s own help page on the Search Console Performance report covers it in detail.
One note on average position. With only 17 impressions, that average is built on a very small sample. A handful of impressions can swing it a lot, which is probably part of why the 7-day figure looks worse than the 28-day one. I wouldn’t read too much into either number. I’m reporting them because they’re real, not because I think they tell a complete story.
Where the Blog Stands in Month 10
Here is the rest of the picture.
- Published posts: 78 as of mid-October, with 2 more scheduled
- Publishing schedule: twice a week, every Tuesday and Friday
- Indexed pages: [FILL IN: ___ of 78, from Search Console > Indexing > Pages]
- Real email subscribers: 10 (I’ll explain this one below)
- Pinterest: rebuilding an old account with 13 followers
That indexed pages number matters more than it looks, and I’ll explain why in the next section. I’m leaving it blank in this post rather than guessing, because I don’t publish numbers I haven’t checked.
Why Zero Clicks at Month 10 With 78 Posts Isn't a Surprise, but Still Needs Checking
Here’s the honest version of how I think about this.
Zero clicks after 78 posts is a common result for newer blogs. Google tends to take time to trust a new site, and a large library of posts doesn’t change that on its own. If you want my thinking on timelines, I wrote about it in How Many Blog Posts Before Traffic? and about the early stage in How to Get Traffic to a Brand New Blog.
But “this is common” is not the same as “so I’ll do nothing.” I don’t want to blame an algorithm, and I don’t want to promise that traffic is coming, because I can’t know either of those things. What I can do is check the parts that are in my control. Here’s my checklist.
1. Indexing
A page can only show up in Google if Google has added it to its index. In Search Console, the Indexing > Pages report tells you how many of your pages are indexed and, for the ones that aren’t, gives a reason. If only a fraction of my 78 posts are indexed, that’s a very different problem from having all 78 indexed and ranking nowhere. This is the first number I’m checking, which is why it’s a blank above that I’ll fill in before this goes live.
2. Sitemap
A sitemap is a file that lists the pages on your site so Google can find them. I’m confirming that mine is submitted in Search Console and that it’s being read without errors.
3. Internal links
Internal links are links from one of your posts to another. They help Google find and understand your pages, and they help readers move around your site. With 78 posts, I know I can do better here, and I’ll cover that in the next-steps section.
4. Search intent
Search intent means what the person typing a search actually wants. A post can be well written and still miss, because it answers a different question than the one people are asking. When I look at the queries my pages are appearing for, I’m checking whether the post matches what the searcher likely wanted.
If you want a deeper walkthrough of how I think about ranking, I covered it in How to Rank Blog Posts on Google Faster.
None of this is a guarantee. It’s simply the list of things I can verify, so I’m verifying them instead of guessing.
The Fake Sign-Ups I Found on My Email List
This is the part of my month 10 blogging report I didn’t expect to write.
I hadn’t checked my email list in about a month. When I logged into Brevo, it showed 59 contacts, up from 4. For about two seconds, I felt great. Then I looked closer.
I went through the contacts one by one and could verify only 10 as real sign-ups. The other 49 looked like bots or fake sign-ups. These were the signs:
- First names that didn’t match the email addresses
- The same name repeated with different email addresses
- No matching traffic from Google that could explain a jump like that
So my real email list is 10 people, not 59. I want to be completely clear on that, because it would have been easy to report the bigger number and feel good about it.
How I'm Handling It
I’m making three changes:
- Adding double opt-in. This means a new subscriber has to click a confirmation link in an email before they’re added to the list. Bots usually don’t do that.
- Adding CAPTCHA to my form. This is a small check that asks the visitor to prove they’re human before the form submits.
- Cleaning the list. I’m removing the 49 contacts that look fake, so my list only contains people who actually asked to be on it.
The Lesson for Beginners
Don’t judge list growth by the raw count. A list of 59 with 49 fake addresses is not a list of 59, it’s a list of 10 with a problem. Fake sign-ups can hurt you in practice too, because sending to addresses that don’t exist or don’t engage can damage your email deliverability, meaning how likely your emails are to reach an inbox.
Check your form protection before you start promoting your list. And check your list regularly, because I wouldn’t have caught this if I’d waited longer. I’d rather have a real list of 10 than an impressive-looking list of 59.
What I Spend, and Why I Avoid Monthly Tools
Here’s my full cost picture, with no inflated or hidden totals.
I pay for no monthly tools. My only costs are yearly renewals for my domain and hosting through Hostinger. I’m a Hostinger affiliate, as noted at the top, and I wrote about why I chose it in Hostinger Review: Why I Chose It.
I’m not giving a total spend figure in this post, and that’s deliberate. What matters more than the total is the principle behind it.
I avoid monthly subscriptions I won’t use yet, even when I could afford them. Being able to afford a tool and needing it right now are different things. At this stage, most paid tools would be solving problems I don’t have yet. I don’t have traffic to analyze with an expensive analytics suite, and I don’t have a big list that needs an advanced automation platform.
If I start paying for one tool, it will be ShortPixel, which is an image optimization tool. I’m a ShortPixel affiliate too, and I’ve compared free and paid options in Free vs Paid Image Optimization. Until I do pay for it, I compress my images outside WordPress before uploading them, which costs nothing and does the job. I also keep notes on what’s actually worth installing in Best WordPress Plugins for Bloggers.
The rule I use is simple: I pay for a tool when I can name the specific problem it solves for me right now. Not “it might be useful later.”
What's Going Well, and What Isn't
I try to keep both columns honest.
What’s going well:
- Consistency. I publish twice a week and haven’t missed. That’s 78 posts, with 2 more scheduled.
- A clear niche. The blog covers blogging, WordPress, AI tools, affiliate marketing, and how to make money online for beginners. I know who I’m writing for.
- A clean, fast site. The foundation is solid, which matters when traffic does start to arrive.
What isn’t:
- Google traffic is still at zero clicks.
- I discovered fake sign-ups on my email list.
Both columns are true at the same time. My process is good, and my results haven’t arrived. I don’t think those two statements contradict each other, and I’d be lying if I only showed you one of them.
What I'm Doing Next
Here’s my plan for the coming weeks. Notice that none of it is a promise of results, just the work.
Rebuilding Pinterest. I’m rebuilding an old Pinterest account that has 13 followers and pins that are 2 years old. I’m creating fresh pins for my posts, because Pinterest can send visitors to a blog without relying on Google. I’ve written about using AI for this in AI for Pinterest Descriptions.
Improving internal linking. I’m going back through my posts and connecting related ones, so readers and Google can move through the site more easily.
Fixing the email list. Double opt-in, CAPTCHA, and a cleaned list, as described above. Then I’ll focus on earning real sign-ups.
Publishing consistently. Tuesday and Friday, as always. If you want to see how I use Claude to speed up long posts without losing quality, I explained it in How to Use Claude for Long-Form Content.
Checking, then checking again. Indexing, sitemap, search intent, and the queries I’m showing up for. I’ll report what I find in next month’s update, including if the answer is unflattering.
What I'd Tell a Beginner Deciding Whether to Start Now
I can’t promise you traffic, results, or income, and nobody honest can. What I can tell you is what I’ve learned.
Expect a long wait before results show up, and plan your life so the blog doesn’t need to pay you soon. If you need results quickly, a new blog is probably not the right tool for that.
Keep your costs low early on. You don’t need a stack of subscriptions to publish your first 50 posts.
Check things. Check your Search Console, check your email list, check whether your pages are indexed. A lot of beginner frustration comes from not knowing what’s actually happening.
And pick a niche and stay with it. Consistency is the one thing I fully control, and it’s the one thing I’m sure is working as intended.
Why Owning Your Own Site Still Matters
Owning a place to call home online is the first rule of online business. Social platforms change their rules, their reach, and sometimes their existence. Your own site, your own domain, and your own email list are yours.
That doesn’t make it fast or easy. It takes patience and constant checking of what works and what doesn’t. But the alternative is building on ground you don’t control.
Claude helps make that journey easier and more hopeful for me. I think it’s worth the wait.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is 0 clicks after 10 months normal for a new blog?
It’s common, and I’m living it. Many new blogs see very little Google traffic in the first year. But “common” isn’t a reason to stop checking. I’d still verify indexing, my sitemap, internal links, and search intent to make sure nothing fixable is getting in the way.
What is a good number of impressions for a blog in month 10?
I don’t have a benchmark I can honestly stand behind, because it depends on the niche, the site’s age, and the content. My own number is 17 impressions over 28 days, which is low. Rather than comparing to a target, I compare against my own previous months and watch the trend.
How do I know if my blog posts are indexed?
Open Google Search Console and go to Indexing > Pages. It shows how many pages are indexed and gives reasons for the ones that aren’t. You can also inspect a single URL to see whether Google knows about it.
How can I tell if my email list has fake sign-ups?
Look for names that don’t match the email addresses, the same name used with multiple addresses, and a spike in sign-ups with no matching traffic source. If you can, compare the jump in subscribers to your actual visitors. Then add double opt-in and CAPTCHA so new fakes can’t get in.
Do I need paid tools to start a blog?
Not at the beginning. I pay for no monthly tools right now. My only costs are yearly renewals for my domain and hosting. I’d add a paid tool only when I can name the exact problem it solves.
How many blog posts do I need before I get traffic?
There’s no fixed number, and I don’t want to invent one. I have 78 posts and zero clicks, so volume alone clearly isn’t the answer. I’ve written more about this in How Many Blog Posts Before Traffic?.
Is blogging still worth it?
That’s the question I asked myself, since there are so many other platforms now. For me, owning my own site is still the foundation, and I think it’s worth the wait. That’s my view and not a guarantee for anyone else.
Conclusion
This month’s 10-blogging report has two honest truths in it. My process is on track: I’ve published 78 posts, I’m sticking to a Tuesday and Friday schedule, I have a clear niche, and my site is clean and fast. My results haven’t arrived: the last 28 days showed 0 clicks and 17 impressions, with an average position of 26.3, and the last 7 days showed 0 clicks and 7 impressions.
I also found out that 49 of the 59 contacts on my email list looked fake. My real list is 10 people. I’m fixing that with double opt-in, CAPTCHA, and a clean-up, and the lesson I’d pass on to any beginner is to never judge list growth by the raw count.
On costs, I pay for no monthly tools, only yearly renewals for my domain and hosting, and I’ll add a tool only when I can name the problem it solves. Next, I’m rebuilding Pinterest, improving my internal links, fixing my email list, and checking indexing and search intent instead of guessing.
I can’t promise traffic is coming, and I won’t pretend the numbers are better than they are. What I can promise is that I’ll keep showing up, keep checking, and keep reporting what I find. Owning a home online is still the first rule of online business, and I think it’s worth the wait. I’ll be back with the next report, and if you’re deciding whether to start, I hope seeing the real month 10 helps you decide with open eyes.
Related reading: How to Rank Blog Posts on Google Faster and Best WordPress Plugins for Bloggers.
