May has recently come to a close so that means it’s time for another income report. You can click the “Continue reading…” link here or below to skip right to the goods, but for those that are new to my blog I like to include this disclaimer: These income reports aren’t meant to brag at all as many people make considerably more money than me, instead I’m trying to use this as a means to help motivate myself to reach my goal of $150k in 2010 while at the same time keeping me publicly accountable. With that said, let’s get onto the earnings:
Income Graph:
Income Analysis:
This month was different as I’ve included every source of income from my online business so that you can see even more detail. This took a lot more time and was more of a pain on my end so I may not do it in the future and instead just stick to income earners over $100 in future income reports.
My biggest earner of the month was again the Amazon Associates program with $5,099.24 which took up 82% piece of the pie. I’m again up $200 over last month’s earnings and in the month before that I was up $800 so things keep moving in the right direction. I increased traffic across my network of websites and tried a few more ideas out with my email lists (will discuss this in a future blog post). Numerous people email me every day asking for more details on how I earn money with Amazon’s Associates program and because of the requests I will be putting together a comprehensive training program on how I earn money with Amazon’s Associates program (subscribe to my blog so that you don’t miss out). I will include URL’s of some of my websites that contribute to my earnings and dive into great detail, but for those of you looking for info you can use right now be sure to check out my article on the Top 7 tips I used to make $41,438.42 in 2009 with Amazon Associates. I also suggest that if you’re struggling to earn money with Amazon Associates be sure to avoid these common pitfalls.
Google Adsense was about $100 higher than in April which admittedly isn’t a large amount but it is a 25% increase. To earn this additional amount I did more ad unit placement refinement as well as eliminating more lower performing colors and sizes. Testing is very important and I do it easily by cycling my ad units via the OIOpublisher plugin. As I continue to say, I really want to get another source of income earning more than $1,000 per month and it will either be Google Adsense or Private Advertisers that make it there first.
Private Advertisers:
I’m still trying to push this number higher and again I sadly haven’t had a lot of success with third parties to help sell advertising (i.e. BuySellAds.com and Technorati Media). As I’ve stated before, I believe my best chance at succeeding in my goal of earning over $150,000 in 2010 will require me to start making four figures a month from private advertisers. When I have my first $1,000+ month in a category other than Amazon’s affiliate program I’ll have a mini celebration. I’m going to fall back on my sales experience and start calling some of my contacts within each of my niche websites and asking if they would be interested in advertising. I’m sure I could open up ad space on this blog here and make some additional money, but I still like a clean look and the lack of advertising. I only want advertisers whose products and services I believe in which adds a lot of work if I have to screen each advertiser. I believe it’s not worth selling advertising until I could earn over $1,000 a month from this blog (10,000 subscribers would probably be enough to do that). What do you think though? Should I sell advertising on this blog or not?
Vibrant Media, Click Bank, eBay Partner Network and other Misc Earnings
I earned $179.09 from Vibrant Media and am looking at expanding it across my niche of websites. It’s important to monitor the other income sources and insure that in text advertising is not cannibalizing those sources so I’ll be sure to keep my eye on the other numbers. ClickBank is another source I’m looking to try out more in the future as I’ve slowly started to make decent money with them. eBay Partner Network only gave $47.63, but I only use them on a couple websites in a single skyscraper ad slot (sort of like an Adsense alternative). I set up a deal with PriceGrabber recently and am still working on scaling them up because as you can see it was only $12.28 this month, but I should be able to move this up to higher amounts in the future. I got another Host Gator referral which comes from my resources page along with someone that bought the excellent Standout Comments plugin from my best wordpress plugins blog post.
Plans for Next Month:
Last month I mentioned that I was hesitant to use more aggressive ad placements for Google Adsense, but after I implemented them I carefully monitored and watched the clicks and orders to Amazon Associates and surprisingly they didn’t dip. So I’m going to roll out the more aggressive strategy with Google Adsense in an attempt to raise it up to $1,000+ per month as long as it doesn’t hurt my Amazon Associates earnings. To ensure the new placements via Adsense do not cannibalize my Amazon earnings I’ll be monitoring both the number of clicks to Amazon links as well as the amount I’m earning on a daily basis. Finally, I still need to sell more private advertising space. I’m going to drop the prices I set via 3rd party networks to see if I can entice some more sales on the blogs I’m running 3rd party ad code on. I also use OIOpublisher to serve ads on other blogs and I highly recommend you buy that WordPress plugin.
Diversification Strategies:
I’m also looking to diversify my business by moving into completely new strategies of making money online. I love trying new things and it’s an even better feeling when it works. For me I think PPC is one of those things I’m going to get more into both by trying out more traditional style affiliate marketing and to try driving traffic to my niche websites. I am also currently screening people from Odesk on an iPhone application I’m looking to get developed. Last, I have a few major website ideas that I’m going to pursue that if done correctly could be seven or eight figure sales a few years from now. So for those ideas I’m still in the process of finding programmers in Seattle that want to partner up (if you are one contact me). As these are developed I’ll cover them on this blog in more detail of course.
Stick Around:
I have several more interesting case studies to share in June so be sure to subscribe to my blog so that you don’t miss out. You can conveniently sign up for my newsletter below. You’ll receive a free eBook on my top ways to make money online along with 3 free WordPress themes just for joining:
These posts are always my favorite. We get an inside look at what actually makes what.
For your Amazon sites: these are all small, SEO’d sites, that capture the long tail keywords, correct?
Nah, I have a few big ones (see earlier response above). Some of them are just that though very small earning $50 a month that I haven’t touched in over a year. Others making a couple hundred etc.
Hey Chris. How many total sites do you have that is earning the Amazon and Adsense money? That Amazon total is very impressive.
.-= Mike Roosa´s last blog ..Did The Contest Work? =-.
Probably 20 ish with a couple that earn $x,xxx so some are bigger than others and the bigger ones take more effort than the small ones of course.
This is my last comment. I have caused you enough trouble so I will let you go your own way and do your own thing.
One last word of advice: DON’T TELL PEOPLE ANY OF YOUR AMAZON SITES. If there is one thing I have learned it’s that the Internet is full of all sorts of people and among those, are people who will try to harm you if you give them too much information. Just don’t reveal your sites that are making money! Good luck.
Jack, thanks for the advice. I agree and I am specifically vague about the websites I run because I’m leery of people copying my niches. This is also why all of my big money makers are hosted on a separate dedicated server away from this server.
Side note: I really do think it’d be fun to meet up sometime in Seattle (despite your harping on me from time to time lol). I’m going to SMX Advanced Seattle on June 7th for the meeting and greet and then on June 8th and 9th. I’m not paying for any of the events just looking to meet up with other local entrepreneurs / affiliate marketers in Seattle.
Nice earnings last month. Wait til Christmas rolls around again and you could pull in a 50k/month with the positioning you are giving yourself at the moment.
You said you were thinking about PPC soon does that mean that your revenues up there are like 99% profit the only other expenditure being hosting and domains?
Also I take it through the determination you are showing to meet up with other online entrepreneurs/ affiliate marketers that your friends have grown tired of you going on all the time about websites? Lol, my friends are exactly the same every time I say something they all just go “here he goes again…”
Hey John,
Yes currently the numbers up there are basically all profit. I have domains, several hosting accounts and am also looking to hire on a full time writer but that is still in process.
I believe I’m really missing out by not driving traffic to my sites via PPC as everyone tells me I could be making much more. So if before the holidays (i.e. next month) you see my Amazon totals jump up to $20k you’ll know I started using PPC ๐
Yah most of my friends don’t read this blog but when they hear what I’m doing for a living they aren’t too surprised. I’ve always had an interest and passion for entrepreneurship.
I think many will benefit from your training program. When do you hope to have something to launch?
Andrew
.-= Andrew @ Blogging Guide´s last blog ..Search Engine Optimization Is Easy And Cheap =-.
Well, I wanted to wait until I had 5,000+ readers to do a launch but if I do anything this year I’ll do it in time for the holidays I think and I don’t want to charge an arm and a leg for it either so I believe it would probably be one time $97.
Hi chris really happy to see these earnings and it boost me to be success in Online. And finally, you decided to start the training for peoples like me. What about the training schedule and more…
Cheers ๐
.-= Manikandan´s last blog ..SEO Elite – Best SEO software for sale =-.
Well, I had always said I would wait until I had 5,000+ daily readers before I bothered to take the time to launch any type of training program around Amazon but I may move that time up. I’m still not sure yet as I don’t know how many people would be willing to pay for the training.
Ah, Amazon tips coming up. Now THAT’S what I’ve been waiting for ๐
.-= Richard @ Lifestyle Design Unleashed´s last blog ..Easy Ways To Automate Boring Everyday Tasks =-.
Hey Richard, yah actually I have another post showing how I make money with Amazon set to go live on January 7th, but it’s not on this blog. (don’t worry you’ll see it soon enough and it really is something I do on almost all of my income generating websites)
You mean June I hope?
Doh! lol, yes.
Chris, impressive stuff here. It’s always fun to read and analyze these income reports.
.-= Moon Hussain´s last blog ..How I Added 200+ People On Twitter Within 2 Weeks =-.
Impressive numbers Chris, and inspiring. I’m looking forward to what you have to say about selling through Amazon.
.-= John Soares´s last blog ..Selling Information Products Weekly Reading =-.
Thanks John!
HI Chris,
Although even us good guys and gals would love to see your big Amazon sites, we know that would be insane!
I do however love to hear your stategies as it allows me to think of things perhaps I haven’t considered.
Look forward to your training programs!
Jeanne
Hey Jeanne,
Thanks for stopping by and yes I have numerous sites but I may take the time to show some off later but that would probably only be in a paid training setting as I have to be prepared to see those sites stop making money as people are always inclined to just copy what they see instead of build something new.
Chris
I think that is amazing what you do with the Amazon Affiliate program. I’ve just started navigating around it and it’s not proving as easy as you make it. For me its juggling the five NOT-DO’s and posting the right amount of linkage. I’ll get it eventually and seeing your example keeps me going over at Financially Digital. I wouldn’t call you break downs “bragging” either – you are showing us that is IS possible to get to where you are with some hard work and patience. I am committed to being a successful financial blogger so I know I’m in if for the long haul. Kudos!
.-= Nunzio Bruno ´s last blog ..Must Read For New Traders And Give Away! =-.
It really depends on your niche too. I think that’s something important to remember.
Chris,
I really enjoy reading your posts, and look forward to seeing your Amazon strategies. But for heaven sakes don’t share your url’s with anyone. Screen shots, with reference redacted would be just fine to show the details of the page and how/why you set things up.
The sharks will eat your site for lunch, and while you don’t think so, it will dampen your enjoyment in sharing/teaching here. I know you know this.
Look forward to putting your advice to work now.
Thank you,
Interesting numbers!
However I m missing the website stats to get an impression of how much traffic one need to keep up with you. Or even get better! ๐
It is also interesting that you use a lot of different income sources but Amazon affiliate makes more than 80%.
And “just” 200 $ from personal marketing efforts. I think you could get in much more from that source…
Hey Joey,
I’m never really specific as to the exact traffic and websites that I run because some of the niches I operate in are very low competition. Here’s an example though: I used to have a video game forum that got over half a million page views a month. This forum never made more than about $500 a month. Fast forward to today and I have websites with less than one hundred thousand page views that earn over $1,000 a month. The niche you choose is more important than the effort you put into it in my opinion.
Chris
Outstanding results Chris. looking forward to connect with you on a JV.
Keep up the good work.
Well, this is my 3rd comment on your blog tonight (I must be turning into a spammer 8=)
Actually, I just wanted to say thanks for sharing your realistic numbers with us. I’ve just been sick to death of the “making millions” guys out there. While I don’t doubt some of them are, I imagine many are just hype.
Anyway, I’m hoping to get to the kind of levels that you’re aiming for. If I get beyond that I won’t say no, but it’s nice to have realistic goals and to see someone else like yourself showing us that it is possible.
.-= LoneWolf´s last blog ..Battling Comment Spam =-.
Hah, no worries I appreciated all your comments and feedback. Yah, I believe it is possible to make millions but it’s not nearly as easy as the guru’s make it out to be. I’ve been earning money online since 2005 and I’ve yet to find any type of magic button. Yes there are strategies to go after that are MUCH more effective than others but in the end you still have to put in the time if you want to make good money online. The way I’m trying to build my income is by slowly outsourcing more of the tasks that are low value but still worth doing (i.e. link building, article writing [on purely seo sites] etc.). The more money I make the more I can in turn reinvest into my business, the only thing that sucks is that I have to pay myself an income and I could grow much faster if I could reinvest the $5k – $6k per month I make back into my business instead of just a couple grand or less each month.
Those are the numbers that I am striving for. Keep up the great work. Thanks Greg Ellison
.-= Greg Ellison´s last blog ..Other Peoples Blog recap and income reports for May 2010 =-.
Congrats on your success in the Amazon Affiliate, other than test embedding a few amazon products in some posts that I showcased, I have no experience nor success with being an Amazon affiliate, it is one area I would like to put more time and effort into. Your AdSense earnings are also fantastic and nothing to be scoffed at.
.-= Justin Germino´s last blog ..Tips to Get Your Web Site Noticed by Advertisers =-.
Thanks for the update. It will be interesting to see how your diversification of income plan plays out. Keep us posted.
Hey Chris, I was wondering if you know anything about making money on youtube?
In what regard? YouTube rentals? Monetizing the video plays via the ad next to the video? etc?
Hi Chris
I’m new to your blog. I am curious…you said you started on the internet in 2005, what did you start out doing. How did you learn everything to promote your sites. I’ve been writing on Hubpages since Sept. 2008, and it has been a heck of a learning curve!
.-= Jen Jacobsen´s last undefined ..If you register your site for free at =-.
I’ve just spent a lot of time doing trial and error. Do you own any of your own sites? I’ve found it difficult to make money writing for some other network and I also prefer to own my properties as opposed to write for someone elses…
Hi Chris
Even though you’ve learned by trial and error, your earnings results are very impressive. I own three of my own sites. None of them are monetized. I made poor keyword choices on the first two sites. On the third site, I am still developing content, but I hope to monetize it after the content is done. Yes, you’re right. It does kind of suck writing on a revenue sharing site. However, on a positive note, considering I knew nothing when I began, it has been a learning experience. Best of luck!
.-= Jen Jacobsen´s last undefined ..Response cached until Wed 30 @ 2:29 GMT (Refreshes in 4.70 Hours) =-.