Starting on an Ebook

You may have noticed that I haven't been posting here as much as usual.  That is because I have been busy with blogging and HubPages trying to develop alternative sources of income.  Right now, I have been making money with AdSense, the HubPages Ad Program, and Amazon affiliate income.  I may also soon be getting a payment from Host Gator, but I am not counting anything until it is in my account.

This blog doesn't make me a lot of money, and I really don't see any way to change that.  However, I will be trying to develop another online income source and wanted to keep you in the loop.  Today, I plan on starting an ebook.  I already have a topic and a partial outline so I wanted to begin writing.  I haven't done much since starting the outline because I have been incredibly busy these past two weeks.

I have been posting at Cash Flow Mantra twice per week, Grand Per Month twice per week with some posts on Saturdays.  I have also been taking my contributors' posts and getting them up daily at Penny Thots.  (By the way, if anyone is interested, I could probably use another few contributors to maintain a daily posting schedule).

I have also been trying to publish up to a Hub per day this month because I really want to get to a monthly PayPal deposit from the Ad Program.  The money will come in real handy for continuing to pay my writers and offset some of the expenses associated with the three blogs.  I actually spent more than I made last month which was disappointing.

This is one of the reasons that I wanted to develop a new online income source, namely the ebook.  I know that it won't happen right away, but if I don't get going, it will just pass me by like blogging did.  One important aspect of trying to make money online is by diversification and this will be just that.  So I am thinking I might have some time to get some writing done today.  With that, I will close this post so I can get started.

Progress with Online Income

Making money online is a marathon and not a sprint.  This is what I had planned when I first started with $30 monthly income in July 2010 and figured that I would try to grow that figure by 5% monthly.  In so doing, I figured that I could get to $1000 per month by 2016.

Little did I realize that I would surpass that figure for 3 months in a row.  However, there has been some fluctuations and income for February and March will be down but well above the $96 figure that I would need to earn by July.  In fact, it appears that simply the HubPages Ad Program and AdSense alone could almost account for that total in this month.

Even with some set backs, it seems that I am on track for meeting the online income growth targets for the first two years.  The biggest driver of that success has been the development of 2 personal finance blogs.  Now I am not sure what the future will hold, but it seems that developing a few more blogs would seem like a reasonable thing to do.

In fact, I will be coming out with a collaborative project in the next few days and will announce it here sometime during the month of April.  It has turned out to be a bit more work than I anticipated, but it is coming together.  I will be spending some more time working on it this weekend in preparation for the April 1st launch.

I am fully expecting the new blog to add to the AdSense income although I will have to pay for some content once certain goals have been met.  I do think that the costs should be covered, but only time will tell.  I have set aside a couple hundred dollars from my other earnings to cover the initial costs of author payments.

I hope you have been keeping up with my income reports at Grand Per Month.  In case you missed it, here is the income report for February.  The March report will be coming out shortly.  It will be down, but will have some AdSense income and HubPages income to help out.  I am suspecting that April will be even worse, but we will just have to see.

Still Chugging Along

It has been a busy month.  I am working hard to bring another blog to life and will share more details once it is up and running.  The other two blogs are doing well at this point.  I have been able to make some money and get some debt paid off.

I had hoped to add more Hubs to my arsenal and get to 400 by the end of the year.  I really don't think that will be happening since life is so busy.  However, I am publishing more content and have some goals for the HubPages Ad Program.  I would like to at least get to monthly payments to help offset the fact that I am paying for content for Grand Per Month.

AdSense really did well last month.  It was a record month for me.  But of course, this month has to fall back to earth.  That is the nature of the beast and what would drive me absolutely nuts if I had to depend upon the internet to make my living.  But since I am just working to pay off debt, it is all good.

Amazon also did well last month.  I was pleased.  It is nice to see some consistent orders coming through.  This month is slow, but see the paragraph above.  Roller coaster on the earnings can just drive you batty.

Well, I don't have a lot.  I am wanting to work on another post so I can spend the weekend working on a non-internet related project.  That way I will be somewhat ahead of the game.  I have usually been writing my posts at the last minute and it is no fun.

Until next time.

Best Month for AdSense

I am actually somewhat surprised, but February 2012 has been the best month for AdSense for me yet in the almost 3 years that I have been writing online.  I really hadn't been thinking about it or was expecting it.  It has just been a consistent month.  There have been a few great days and one really awesome day, but the thing that I noticed was consistent traffic and activity.

Now the total is still not enough to get monthly payments from Google, but it does mean that I am closer than I have ever been with about 48 hours left to go.  It really doesn't matter if I earn anything else, I am still happy with the month.

I would dare say that by summer (thinking July), I will be getting monthly checks in the mail.  Then I will feel like I have hit a major milestone in my online income.  From there I can work on growing the daily average into the double digits.  I will be at the point of being able to begin reinvesting profits into my online activities and hire out some more tasks.

One of the biggest reasons that I have been able to do so well has been the addition of my newest blog, Grand Per Month.  By itself, it is not yet a huge money maker, but it has been just enough to increase AdSense to record levels. 

I am now putting together a blog where I will be responsible for day to day editing and publishing but will have little obligation for creating content.  The contributing authors will be getting paid per views and will be able to participate in a profit sharing arrangement, but once I get it set up, it should only take me about 3 hours per week on average and yet I will be publishing at least once per weekday with quality content.

I will share the name of the blog when it is closer to the launch date in April.  In the meantime, I want to be able to set aside some of the profits from my other online ventures to have available to pay for costs.  Hopefully, I will be able to earn a little more than what it costs me.  The model is a little different from Grand Per Month.

At Grand Per Month, I am paying for 4 articles per month and writing the rest myself.  It takes a lot of work and cost me money in January.  I have covered my costs in February, but could easily lose again in March.  I will just have to see how it goes.  The potential is good, but there are some upfront costs for the content.

For the new blog, I think the potential is even better and the upfront costs should be minimal.  Other than putting in some time, it should be profitable from day 1 since the articles will not be paid for until a certain number of views have occurred.  I already pay for hosting, and the theme is free.  I am hoping that earnings can stay ahead of the costs.

All of these projects have been keeping me busy so I don't write here as often.  Nevertheless, I think it is important to share what I am doing.  I have been following others who have been working on their online income and derive much encouragement so wanted to help add my encouragement to others.  Just keep with it and gradually growth will continue to happen.

January Has Been a Good Month

Well, January has been a pretty good month to me and there are still a few days left.  The month saw the launch of my newest blog which has gotten over 1800 visitors in the last 30 days.  I will probably end up January between 1800 and 2000 which seems like a decent launch considering I am not a professional and only do this part-time.

I also completed the give away for my other blog, Cash Flow Mantra.  I will be announcing the winners tomorrow, but they have all received their money.  Plus I still have enough in the PayPal account to cover February and March blogging expenses.

AdSense revenue is the highest it has been in almost 1 year.  It is a really solid month.  I expect that I might come in close to or just over $50.  A little bit of growth in February would mean that I could get another check after two months.  That would be nice since I am trying to pay off a Discover Card balance with blogging earnings this year.

Finally, I was able to meet my goal with the HubPages Ad Program.  I am just over $26 right now and have been adding a lot of content this month.  I hope to hit it hard in February and get to monthly payouts with HubPages which would require $50 each month.  I figure that $2 per day would do it.  I have had only 2 of those in the past 30 days, but I have had several greater than one dollar which I had only done once in the previous 8 months.  I am definitely headed in the right direction.

Ultimately, I would like to be able to cover my author costs for Grand Per Month with HubPages income so that I could start another blog.  I won't have any additional time to write so I would have to pay to have it done.  At $25 per article and 2 articles per week, I would have to pay $200 per month for content, but I think it would be worth it to be able to expand into other areas and try to multiply revenue even if I can only do this part-time.

How has January been treating you?

Amazon Streak Likely to Come to an End

Well for the last 10 months, I have managed to have at least one sale through Amazon.  It looks like that streak is about to end since today is the 29th of November and I don't have any sales yet.  I am actually a little surprised given that this is the shopping season.  Maybe all the people that link through my Amazon links are procrastinating like me.

Despite that, I am not too worried.  Both AdSense income and HubPages Ad Program income are up compared to last month and traffic continues to improve so for that I am thankful.

I am also earning some money through my blog as well so that is good.  I think that having a diverse income stream can be very useful should one of them have a bad month.

Plus, I am excited by the fact that my online income for this year has exceeded my income for 2010.  I honestly didn't think that would happen given the changes that have occurred this year, but it did happen.  I am really looking forward to 2012 for another opportunity to learn, grow, and earn more income.

PS:  My kids have some Cockapoo puppies for sale.  Here is an ad for one of them.  You can see his picture at the left of this post.

Why I Am Sticking With HubPages

As you can see from the title of this post, I am sticking with HubPages.  Now there is a lot of potential meaning in those words, and they could be taken in many different ways so I will be explaining myself.  It could mean that I believe HubPages is a viable method of making money on the internet.  I suppose it might work for some people, but it really doesn't mean that for me.  I have found a much more profitable method of generating income.

Essentially for me those words mean that I won't be deleting all of my Hubs like many others may have done.  In other words, I will retain HubPages as a source of passive income.  I haven't written anything for the site since June 4 of this year and that was really to complete a grand total of 200 Hubs.  Before that, I hadn't published since March.  I only end up going to the site every few days and checking to see if I have any comments to address.
 
Despite that lack of activity, I managed to earn $14 through their Ad Program and a couple bucks in Amazon purchases and AdSense ads.  Clearly, it is not the most lucrative venture but it is entirely passive at this point and pays for my hosting costs at Hostgator.  That is clearly OK in my book.

HubPages got hit big with the Panda update in March of this year.  I saw my traffic nearly disappear and decline through the summer.  But recently, I have seen an uptick.  However, my traffic is still less than half what I received in January 2011.  It would be great to see a return to that level, but I won't necessarily be doing anything to encourage traffic since I feel that my efforts are more useful with other projects.

Nonetheless, I won't be complaining too loudly about income that will pay for my expenses without any effort on my part.  I am pleased that I can continue to earn passive income for work that I have already done.

Amazon Comes Through Again

Well, I am now 9 for 9 this year with Amazon orders and shipments.  Each and every month so far this year, I have had an order from Amazon and some positive earnings.  I thought the streak might come to an end this month.  I did have a couple orders, but I had a return from last month so I was actually at a negative earnings number.  But yesterday, someone ordered 4 books and a flashlight so my negative $1.33 will be positive.  Plus I will be at 6% commission.  Yay!

I can't wait to see what happens as we get closer to the holiday season.  Despite somewhat crappy traffic over at HubPages, I am still making the occasional sale with Amazon, getting a few dollars per month with the HubPages Ad Program, and making a little off AdSense as well.  It turns out those 200 articles are worth a little something.  And now, it is strictly passive.  I only wish that the traffic would grow more.  I would bet by the end of the year, my traffic at Cash Flow Mantra will exceed that of HubPages, and that the earnings might as well.

Speaking of earnings, I should be getting paid from Amazon shortly.  I haven't really figured out their payment schedule so I don't know if it will be toward the end of this month or early next.  I will also be getting a check from Google in the next week or so.  This will be my third for this year and eighth total.  I can't wait until I start getting monthly checks.  I figure that I need to see my traffic increase about 4 times before that happens.  It would be nice to think that I could get that accomplished in 2012.

I am not sure the best way to increase traffic.  I really don't plan on doing anything different than what I am currently doing.  I am considering a contest or something, but I don't know how sustainable that traffic would be so haven't taken the plunge to do that yet.  I will see where things end up by the end of 2011.  I understand that the summer is typically slow.  Now that fall and winter are approaching, I will see what happens.  Many of my records have been set in October so I am curious to see what next month brings.

Congratulate Me on 200 Posts!

I only realized it when I went to write this, but this is my 200th post for this blog.  It hardly seems possible to have written that much, but it has been a little over 2 years.  I am encouraged to think that I have been able to stick with it for so long.  Many of the blogs that I followed on Blogger haven't posted in a year or more which just goes to show that persistence plays a huge role in being able to be successful.  Not that I consider myself successful, but I am closer than if I had quit.

My next goal for this blog is to get to 100 followers.  You can see in the sidebar that I am at 84.  I don't know why I like round numbers so much, but I do.  Although if you are a regular reader and don't follow, I would prefer that to following and not reading.  I want to thank everyone who reads regularly and who has supported me through your encouraging words.  I don't think I could have kept at it at times without knowing that someone was out there reading.  Thanks so much and good luck with all your goals for the rest of the year.

Revenue is Bouncing Back Following Panda

I could tell that revenue (and especially AdSense revenue) was bouncing back following the Panda update, but I really didn't realize that it had taken such a hit until I actually looked at the numbers.  To give you an idea of what happened, allow me to list my AdSense numbers for this year:

• January 2011-- $53.39
• February 2011-- $42.84
• March 2011-- $44.09
• April 2011-- $14.73
• May 2011-- $20.49
• June 2011-- $23.05
• July 2011-- $35.65
• August 2011-- $44.00

As you can see, once the Panda update hit at the end of March, AdSense revenue fell by about 70% but has now returned to the level that I was seeing before the change.

The main reason for this has to due with developing my own blog.  I have earned just over $20 this month by developing CashFlowMantra.com and working hard to get traffic and grow readership.

The effort has been a lot more than $20 worth, that is sure.  But it is fun to make a little something while sharing with my readers which I am enjoying immensely.  I enjoy the interaction and creating a worthwhile venture based upon my own hard work and diligence.

I am hoping that by the end of the year, I can exceed my previous AdSense revenue record of $62.53.  I think I have a decent shot at it.  I would also like to think that I could achieve monthly revenues of $100 by July 1st of 2012 which would still put me on track with my ultimate goal of earning $1000 monthly by July of 2016.

Needless to say, I will keep busy working on my blog and developing others along the way.  If you haven't taken the plunge and developed your own site, I would encourage you to do so.  I know that the idea of developing a blog can be very intimidating.  I knew nothing about WordPress but got thrown into it by a big, bad Panda.  I learned and am continuing to do so, but I can't help but wonder why I didn't do it sooner.  There really is nothing to fear.

Carrying Its Own Weight

I am excited (or maybe even ecstatic) that the blog, CashFlowMantra.com, is now carrying its own weight.  Just this past week, AdSense earnings for the site surpassed $10 in the month of August.  Since the hosting cost I am paying at HostGator is only $9.95, CFM has paid for itself.

It was only about 3 months ago that I started the site so I am pleased that it is now "profitable".  Of course, it still is taking a lot of my time which is uncompensated, but I am having fun writing content, commenting on other blogs and interacting with the financial blogger community, and growing the site.  I know that it is going to take a lot more effort, but I am encouraged by the early results so far.

Disappointed

I am a little disappointed that I haven't had as much time to write on this blog and track my efforts better.  I also haven't been able to spend as much time developing another site as well.  I would really like to be able to have more time for writing and building stuff on the internet.  But until myself and my family can learn to live without food, clothing, or shelter, I will have to continue to work and only write in my spare time.




Encouraged

I am, however, looking forward to being able to use my skills to help develop another website for my family.  This will be a fun project.  We have 4 cockapoo puppies that were born two weeks ago.  Their eyes opened just yesterday. 

We plan on spending the weekend putting together a website to showcase the puppies for sale.  We don't plan on having a lot of puppies to sell but maybe one litter a year or so.  In the meantime, I am thinking that we can create a resource for others looking to learn about puppies or breeding or training dogs, etc.  Maybe I can even convince some of the kids to write a bit of content.

I will of course be sharing with everyone on this blog our progress.  The first order of business is to get the domain purchased and get a workable site together over the next 3 days or so.  I had hoped to get started on it today, but circumstances beyond my control may prevent that from happening.  Oh well, it will happen so I will let you know how it is going.

That is all I wanted to share for now.  There are still several days left during the month of August for CFM to make a little more and actually show a profit for the month.  Everything past today is simply icing on the cake.

Making Record Money in My Sleep

I woke up yesterday morning and couldn't believe my eyes.  While I was sleeping (which was only for 5 hours), I had managed to make over $19 on AdSense.  I thought I had accidentally picked a month's worth of stats since I haven't been making all that much in AdSense since the Panda attack.  But there it was in black and white.  A month's worth of earnings in only a few hours.  So this is what it feels like to be Felicia from nojobformom.com.  I think I like it.

Needless to say, today is back to normal, and I am sitting on 13 cents.  But that's is OK with me.  I am excited about the prospects of continuing to build up various blogs and sites in the months and years to come.  I have a long term horizon as I outlined in my article on compounding my online income.  As you can see from the table, I only need to be making $53.87 this month.  Plus I have a year before I need to make $100 per month to stay on track. 

I honestly think that I will be able to do this now that I have my own WordPress blog.  I may not quite make it this month with just AdSense, but adding in Amazon and the HubPages Ad Program may help although HubPages traffic keeps declining.  But traffic at CashFlowMantra.com is taking off.  I am entering the Yakezie Challenge with that site and will be pushing it hard to gain traffic which can only help.  I am enjoying using WordPress and look forward to being able to make a few more sites this year also.

Sorry to make this a short post, but I have to get out and fire up the grill for dinner.  In the next few posts, I will be posting my quarterly earnings and some goals for the rest of the year.

A Great Day for My New Sites

Yesterday was a great day for my new sites.  Both of them had some AdSense earnings!  This was actually the first time I had earned anything at all on my newest site.  It is about 3 weeks old so I am hoping that this is a good indication of things to come.  Now these results are relative because there are many days since the Panda Update that I don't earn anything on AdSense.  I will be lucky to get to $20 total this month.

But I am encouraged that I am starting to get some traffic at both of these sites.  I am hoping that I can continue to build the sites and post so that eventually I could have a couple hundred posts each at these sites.  I plan on spending about 2 years to develop and work on content.  I have already spent two years on HubPages and have 200 Hubs so I figure that the precedent is there.  I think that I will actually be more motivated since these sites will be all mine.  I don't have to worry about them being removed from the internet unless I take them down.

This is a short post, but I just wanted to share my excitement.  I have a few posts that I want to write for those sites this weekend and lots of other stuff to do so it will be challenging to be sure.  But I have the ideas in my head so it seems like it just may be a matter of writing it all down.  Sorry this is so short.  Have a good weekend.

A Nice Surprise From List My Five

I had pretty much given up on List My Five.  It is one of those content farms that got slapped by the Panda Update.  My earnings there hadn't done much.  I didn't even earn a single penny during the month of April so I figured it was totally dead.  So, imagine my surprise when I logged on a couple weeks ago just for kicks and noticed that I had made over $3.00 in the month of May.  In fact, I had made $3.83 which was enough to get me over the $10 Paypal payout threshold.

So as a result, a few days ago, $11.23 was deposited into my Paypal account.  Yippee!  What a nice little payment considering I hadn't even really thought much about List My Five.  That will pay for one month's worth of hosting giving me a little more breathing room to get my own sites up and running.  At least now, I don't have any balance and can restart accumulating some earnings if that is even going to happen all that often.  So far for the month of June, I have earned nothing.  I would be thrilled if I could get one payout (and hence one month of hosting) each year.

It shouldn't be that much longer and I will reach the payout threshold of $50 for the HubPages Ad Program which would be paid through Paypal as well.  That would mean that a full six months would be covered.  If you have been keeping up with this blog, you know that it has been my desire to not spend any of my own money and only utilize my time for this hobby/part-time venture.  So far, I have been able to do that thanks to the content farms.  I would like to continue to find some sites that will pay via Paypal and use that for all of my expenses with any Amazon or AdSense payments representing 100% profit.

Anyway, I just thought I would share and let everyone know that even though I haven't done anything at all on List My Five, I was still able to make a little bit of money.  It isn't a lot, but I am not one to turn down $11.23 if I have earned it.  Has anyone else had a nice surprise lately, whether on the internet or not?  Feel free to comment below.  As always, thanks for reading and enjoy your summer.  The weather has been very nice here almost like spring.  I need to get out and golf a little more.

Earnings During the First Three Months of OptionsDude

I thought I would take some time and make a brief report about my progress and earnings at OptionsDude.com since it has been a full three months since I started the site.  I am also wanting to document this information so that I can compare the progress with my newest financial blogging site to see where the two will compare.  My goal is to have the site pay for itself during the first year of life.  After that, I would like to see it grow earnings ever so slightly so that it could be profitable after that.

The cost to set up the site with Weebly was $40 which included the domain and hosting.  Weebly takes a 50-50 split on AdSense impressions so that the cost of hosting is actually supplemented by my future earnings.  It turns out to be an easy way to start a site which doesn't involve much technical knowledge at all as well as an inexpensive way to get started.  It does come with a cost and that is 50% of your earnings.  There also seems to be less flexibility from a design standpoint.

I can see where a Weebly website would have a place.  I appreciate the opportunity to work on my site and have found that I am mainly blogging about my options trades and adding in a few other blog posts.  I have some articles at the site and will add some more content over time.  Initially I thought a more static site would be the way to go, but I have found that I prefer the blogging format to a much greater degree.

That being said, I think I still have a decent future with OptionsDude.  I have developed a following among several financial bloggers.  I think many are interested in the information that I am publishing and the practical experience that I bring.  I am also getting search engine traffic which is slowly increasing.  I am excited to see what the remainder of the year has in store.  I think that I could double my traffic and maybe even see triple the search traffic that I am seeing now.

Increasing the search engine traffic is vital to being able to increase the earnings since social traffic will not click on any of the AdSense ads.  That is OK though.  I have always believed that overall traffic has some impact upon search engine results and authority.

As for the earnings, I have earned a total of $3.47.  That may not sound like a lot, but I anticipate that it will be gradually increasing so that by the end of the year, I would expect to be earning a solid $5 or more per month.  I believe that I am truly on pace to earn the $40 I would need by the end of the first 12 months.  Added content is indexed fairly quickly.  Plus, I plan on adding a couple blog posts per week which should help add to the visibility of the site.

April Worst Month for 2010 and 2011

Even though April is not quite finished, I have no doubt that this will be the worst month for AdSense revenue in 2011 so far.  It very well may end up being worse than 2010 for that matter.  I started writing online at the end of May 2009 so by April of 2010, I had been at it for almost one full year.  I was actually quite surprised with the results at the time and suspected it had something to do with the fact that I wasn't very active during the early part of 2010.

Now I recognize that there can be seasonal variations in online revenue and traffic.  I suspect I am seeing some of that seasonal variation in addition to the changes at Google.  At least I hope that is what I am seeing.  It would make sense to me.  With the majority of my traffic coming from the United States, it would make some sense.

April is the beginning of warmer weather in the Northern parts of the U.S. and people (including myself) are anxious to get outside.  Yard work, walking the dog, jogging, and golf are all activities that haven't been enjoyed for many months so at the first signs of spring, everyone gets away from the computer to head outdoors.  It seems logical and is what I am telling myself.

The next few months should really tell me a lot about what the future might hold for online income.  It has been a struggle to stay motivated with so little revenue coming in.  It seems like an entire year's worth of work has been for naught.  Of course, it doesn't help that I have been incredibly busy or that the weather is nicer.  Oh well, I will keep on working on my new site as I am able and add content.  If I can get it to pay for itself, then I might take the plunge and do another one.

Online Income Earnings Report 1st Quarter 2011

If you have been reading this blog for awhile, you will realize that I don't publish monthly results since the variation can be unsettling.  Instead I prefer to publish quarterly reports and compare to the previous 3 month time frame as well as the results from a year ago.  I think this gives a better sense of true progress and smooths out variations that may occur with various seasons and holidays.

The first quarter of 2011 saw some interesting changes for the prospect of earning passive income online.  The Google update caused my HubPages traffic to drop.  According to Google Analytics, I am looking at a 25-30% drop in overall traffic.  I think that this will have some impact on AdSense earnings going forward.  I am hoping that some of the other sites will make up the difference.

HubPages also added an Ad Program that did make up the difference during the month of March.  It is based upon impressions and traffic so if you want to read a few of my articles, feel free to check them out through the widget in the sidebar.  I will be including the revenue from this program in the results below.

I did benefit from the Google change through my eHow articles.  In fact, March was my highest month ever at eHow.  I am curious to see if this trend will continue and I will see improved earnings or if this is a new plateau.  Either way, I will take it.

So here are my online earnings for the first 3 months of 2011:

January 2011 (Compare to Jan 2010 of $58.40)

• AdSense $54.06
• eHow $20.83
• Total $75.50

February 2011 (Compare to Feb 2010 of $55.97)

• AdSense $42.92
• eHow $21.33
• Total $65.59

March 2011 (Compare to Mar 2010 of $47.49)

• AdSense $44.26
• eHow $26.01
• HP Ad Program $13.25
• Total $84.03

You may notice that the total doesn't add up.  I didn't report very small totals like the amount from ListMyFive or YouData but did include in the totals.  I also do not report Amazon income until I actually receive it.  I did this because it took 18 months to make the first payout.

In the fourth quarter of 2010, I made $231.93.  This quarter I made $225.12 so I have seen a quarter to quarter decrease in income (although counting the roughly $18 I made on Amazon in Feb and March would have helped).  I will, however, remain optimistic that compared to one year ago I improved my earnings by $63.26 or almost 40%.  Last year, the summer was a slow time for me so I plan on busting my butt over the next 3 months.  I will post those goals and plans next time.  I hope everyone will make it through all the interesting changes and continue to build larger and more varied income streams.

I'm Still Making Money Online

Even though it is easy to get discouraged with the recent algorithm change at Google and the impact that it has had on my HubPages traffic, I am still making money online.  I really don't think that AdSense has been impacted all that much.  Plus, eHow earnings have been very solid and are even a little bit better since the change.

There are other sources of potential income that have been added to my portfolio as well.  I was able to join the HubPages Ad Program which pays based upon the number of impressions.  So for those Hubs which didn't convert a lot of AdSense ads, this will just simply add to my revenue totals.  I have also started my own website which is slowly growing with additional content and traffic.  I am please with the progress so far this month and will likely report on it in a future post.

I just went back to look at a Hub I wrote about compounding passive income online.  When I look at the table that I posted which would enable me to earn $1000 monthly within 6 years, I find that by July of 2011 I only need to be making $53.87 per month in order to remain on target.  I have exceeded that total for each of the first 3 months of this year.

In fact, I have earned more than I did last month already and could likely surpass January's total.  The HubPages Ad Program has helped in this regard but even without it I would still be on target for making $1000 monthly within 6 years.  I know that it sounds like a long time, but I don't consider it that big a deal for a part-time gig.  The skills that I am learning could easily be used to supplement a retirement income someday.

Anyway, I just wanted to offer some encouragement and hope to those who might be feeling discouraged.  I know that I have felt that way at times this month watching the traffic fall by the wayside.  Even with this minor setback, I don't think it is the end of the world.  I still have the ability to make money online and am doing so.  I can still write Hubs and make some money from the views.  Plus I now have a website that I can grow and earn from as well.  I hope everyone else has been able to bounce back from the rough month.  Here is to a good summer.  Can't wait for the warmer weather.  I plan on doing some golfing soon!

Earnings Report for Fourth Quarter 2010

As is my custom, it is now time for reporting quarterly earnings.  I have shied away from monthly earnings because of the variability whereas I would hope to be able to see some positive progress when comparing one quarter to the previous and especially when comparing a quarter to the previous year.

I am pleased to report that the fourth quarter of 2010 did indeed show progress.  I experienced several firsts during the quarter.  It turns out October has been fairly good to me.  I saw my first (and only so far) double digit earning day in October on record traffic for the month.  I can only hope that October continues to improve into the future and that I can continue to improve traffic levels throughout 2011 until that time of year.

Here are my earnings for the final 3 months of the year:

October -- AdSense $62.71  eHow $15.55  ListMyFive $1.29
November -- AdSense $56.54  eHow $13.59  LM5 $1.73  Amazon $11.67
December -- AdSense $55.17  eHow $13.28  LM5 $0.40

Grand Total -- $231.93

Compare this to the final quarter of 2009 when I earned a total of $191.71, and I managed to increase my earnings by almost 21%.  That is certainly respectable but my plan for this year is to triple my AdSense income over the year.  It will take quite a bit of effort with a subsequent increase in publishing and traffic compared to this year.  But I think I am up to the task and have it broken down into manageable pieces during the year.

I would also like to add my own sites to the AdSense mix somehow.  I am still working on that and will keep you up to date on those plans.  In the meantime, I will continue with what I started in terms of publishing on HubPages and building links.  In reading many of the other online earnings reports, it seems like the fourth quarter was decent for many people.  Let's hope that momentum continues into this new year.

Earning Two Dollars Per Day

Even with the somewhat seemingly slow start to the month of December, I have now reached the point when I have earned on average exactly $2 per day.  Two dollars per day has been my next big target since it is a logical round number on the journey to $3.33 per day or $100 per month.  I first have to consistently earn $2 per day before I can get to $100 per month and the monthly Google AdSense check.

This is the first time I have averaged that much.  I may not end the month with this average, but if I do, then December 2010 will be the best month ever for AdSense.  The best that I have done for a full month has been in October 2010 when I averaged $1.91 per day.  Even if I don't quite make it this month, I am aware of the fact that I have seen a slow and steady increase in earnings.  I have to look back over several months and see where I was during May and June of this year and can see the progress.

The best part is that progress has occurred despite being incredibly busy and not able to do as much as I would like.  I just have to keep reminding myself to do what I can and that eventually the results will appear.  I may be on a longer time table than those who are able to devote more time to developing internet income, but it will come in due time.

Even at this seemingly glacial pace, I am still about 6 months ahead of a pace that would allow me to make my goal of $3000 monthly by the time my youngest hits college.  Just check out the table in my Hub entitled "Compound Your Passive Income Online".  I don't include it in the Hub, but if you carry out the table for 3 more years, you will be making $3000 monthly. 

Right now, I am making over $53.87 per month and have been for the past 3 months but still need to break above $60.  Anyway, I plan on hitting over $100 per month next year sometime.  I will explain how I plan on doing that in my post on goals for 2011 in a few weeks.  I am excited about the $2 daily average and hope that revenue continues to grow.  I plan on putting in as much effort as possible given my limited amount of free time and only time will tell.

Hot or Cold

The weather in central Indiana has been very interesting so far this November.  Last week during dinner, we saw a few snowflakes drifting down out of the sky.  There was no accumulation, but it was interesting to see.  This week, the temperature has been in the upper 60's and mid 70's.  In fact, I have a 9 am tee time tomorrow with a forecast of sunny and 74 degrees.

The weather shifting from cold to hot on a dime is the perfect allegory for my online earnings this month as well.  It is either ice cold or fiery hot.  So far in the eleven days of the month, over half my earnings has come from 2 days.  Last month seemed incredibly consistent with what seemed to be a steady stream of traffic and earnings.  This month, traffic has remained steady but great swings in the earnings department.  Needless to say, I would rather have consistency like in October.  It is a lot more encouraging to see consistent results from my efforts whether than wondering if I am wasting my time or not.

I guess that is just the way that it will be.  I will continue to keep writing and accept what happens.  I am pleased to say that I have published 5 Hubs so far this month as opposed to 3 in October.  I think this momentum will help maintain traffic levels and provide some encouragement to keep up the efforts through the end of the year.  As mentioned in previous posts, my goal is to get to 200 Hubs total by the end of the year.  It will tough to get done and I might need to pick up the pace a bit, but it is still entirely possible at this time.  I have 36 left to go.

Well, I hope your month hasn't been as hot and cold as mine (unless of course we're talking about the weather and you plan on playing golf).  Here is to hoping that the rest of November will be HOT!

Photo credit: Guaoguao