Food Blog Traffic Report Q1 2024: Growth, Top Posts & Insights

Welcome to my first traffic report on the road to 1 million monthly pageviews. In these updates I’ll share what I’m learning while growing and maintaining two food blogs, including the experiments I try and the results—both wins and setbacks. You can read more about the 1 million pageview project on the main project page.

Quick note: I expected this quarter to be particularly intense and close to burnout. That was a conscious short-term choice to push hard at the start of the year. The workload I took on isn’t sustainable long term, but it helped create momentum and build a stronger foundation for the business.

💡What I focused on for Q1

Goals I set and how I progressed

1. Update posts: Refreshing existing posts and images is the fastest way to improve traffic and revenue.
2. Implement a Pinterest strategy: I committed to learning Pinterest marketing because it drives thousands of pageviews for many bloggers.
3. Increase traffic by 30%: An ambitious target to push growth this quarter.
4. Prepare for content diversification: Start learning short-form and long-form video production for future expansion.

Outcomes

• Post updates: My primary focus was updating featured images and blog posts on Salted Mint. After overhauling the theme and investing in plugins last April, Salted Mint had been rebuilding from years of low activity. For context, in April 2023 Salted Mint recorded 15,386 pageviews and $271.21 in revenue after initial updates and investments.
• Salted Mint attracts mostly US-based traffic, which drives higher RPMs than my other site, Savvy Bites, which has a largely UK audience. Prioritizing Salted Mint helped increase revenue faster so I could hire support.

Grand total: 60 posts updated. This was a major effort and I’m proud of the progress.

• Pinterest strategy: I studied Pinterest training that finally made the platform click for me. After implementing the strategy and new pin templates, Salted Mint’s pin impressions more than doubled within four months. Savvy Bites grew more slowly.
• Traffic: Salted Mint’s traffic rose, while Savvy Bites declined because I shifted focus. Balancing attention between two sites proved difficult—focusing on one site accelerates growth there but can cause the other to stall. I chose to double down on Salted Mint to secure revenue and protect content against search ranking decay. My site wasn’t hit by the broad helpful content update; the drop was due primarily to regular content decay.
• Content diversification: I began learning video production—shooting, lighting, and editing—well before the planned Q2 launch. The learning curve is steep, so I started early; implementation will ramp up in Q2.

📈Traffic and income numbers

How I set monthly pageview targets

I used AI to reverse-engineer a pathway to the year-end goal and set monthly targets as a practical guide. They’re not rigid; falling short doesn’t cause panic. They help me measure progress and prioritize efforts. Savvy Bites missed targets because I deliberately shifted attention to Salted Mint, but momentum can be rebuilt once focus returns.

Note on finances: Writing this report made me realize I need a tighter handle on daily finances. I have excellent professional help, but I’ll begin tracking monthly expenses more closely and include expense breakdowns in future reports.

⏱️Hiring help

I hired Adrian in October 2023 to manage social media graphics and scheduling, and it’s been a huge relief to delegate that work. Having help has improved consistency and freed up time for higher-impact tasks.

Despite delegating some work, I remain the main bottleneck. I’ve tried Pinterest managers before and didn’t see the ROI I expected—likely partly my fault for not setting things up clearly. I know I need additional support to scale, but I’m careful about the roles I hire to ensure results match investment.

In summary, Q1 was busy and productive in focused areas, but other parts of the business lagged. I have plans to rebalance priorities and will report progress in next month’s update.

🧠The mindset shifts required

To move the business forward I’ve made several mindset shifts that helped me push through hard work and uncertainty:

1. Believe it’s possible: Doubt is natural, but genuine success is achievable with focus and consistent effort.
2. Practice patience: My daily mantra—“Chop wood, carry water”—keeps me grounded. Results aren’t immediate, but month-to-month progress becomes obvious if you keep doing the basic tasks well.
3. Work for your future self: Visualizing the future version of myself and the business helps me tolerate the discomfort of repetitive or tedious work. When I feel like quitting, I imagine the future result and push through.

I hope some of these ideas resonate or prove useful. Thanks for reading—see you in next month’s traffic report.