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.

Announcing the New Blog

I have been dying all weekend to put out this post because I am so excited about the new blog that I will be starting in January.  I managed to work hard on the site and actually had it pretty much ready to go last Thursday.  It turned out to be a good thing because the cat was out of the bag on Friday since one of the writers who will be working with me let his readers know.  Actually, it was a good thing since I could let the information trickle out and see who might be interested from different sets of readers.

However, since I try to be true to my word and said Monday would be the announcement, I waited til Monday.  But before I reveal the URL, I would like to offer a little background.  I wrote a post at Cash Flow Mantra wondering aloud if there were part-time bloggers who could make $1000 per month.  I figured that it was quite possible for a full-time blogger to do this.  After all, writing for 40-50 hours per week should be able to generate about $2 per hour.  A free-lancing article or two per day plus work on other sites should add up.

But how possible was it for someone who was working 50 hours per week with 6 kids and getting up at 4:30 every morning to write and comment for 1.5 hours before work to actually make the activity worthwhile financially?  I had been following other blogs and commenting in order to develop a following.  This was actually quite motivating, knowing that people were reading what I had to say.  I started noticing that several of these bloggers had jobs and were actually reporting very good earnings.

I saw a pattern begin to emerge and so was able to learn and adapt techniques.  And so I began to make a little bit of money.  Finally, in November of 2011, I was able to make just over $1000 through all of my online activities.  I was shocked and figured that if I could do it, I could help others do the same.  How would that level of added income change the lives of others?  It could provide a decent place to stay and even transportation for a young married couple.  It could be used to pay off debt.  It could be used for college or retirement savings.

Thus was the inspiration for Grand Per Month, my new blog.  It is about figuring out what it takes to make an extra $1000 per month which could help change someone's life.  Each Monday will be a new idea for making an extra $1000 in a month's time on a part-time basis.  Not all of the ideas will involve online activities.  Some of them will be offline.  The purpose is to help people get their creative juices flowing and think about how they might make some side income in these tough economic times.  Thursday's posts will be inspirational and practical in nature.  As the blog grows, we might be able to add other days for links around the web or reader stories.

I am excited to begin working on this project so be sure to stop by the site and check it out.  We will begin on January 2nd with a post on making $1000 per month as a blogger.  It is written by one of those from whom I was able to glean the necessary clues which enabled me to make a Grand Per Month.  Won't you join us on this journey in 2012?

What I Have Learned in Two Years Online

This month marks my 2 year anniversary of writing online and trying to earn a little bit of income.  In fact, it was 2 years ago on May 26th that I wrote my first Hub at HubPages.  Actually, I didn't even really think of the income aspect as much as I wanted to spend my time online doing something productive rather than spending too much time playing games or wasting time on Facebook.

More Than a Hobby

Although I initially thought of blogging as more of a hobby, it has become a little bit more for me now.  I view it as a passion and a challenge.  The passion comes from writing and sharing my thoughts.  The challenge comes in trying to actually make a little bit of money on the side and create an income stream that can be used to pay off some debt.  I have not been very successful at that aspect yet but I have learned a lot.

Meeting New Friends

There are a lot of people that I have met online and lest I forget anyone will not name them one by one.  Suffice it to say that I have a blog roll full of those whom I follow closely.  These bloggers offer much advice and encouragement.  They will post their results whether good or bad.  If you are just starting out, find several bloggers that you can follow and with which you can grow.  I have learned that bloggers are a rather friendly lot who will help you out.

Build Your Own Site

Yesterday, my OptionsDude.com traffic was higher than HubPages or any of the other content sites where I have articles.  I have been blogging there and then commenting on other blogs.  I am not earning a lot but the fact is that in 3 months, I have been able to get more traffic there than anything at HubPages or even this blog speaks volumes.  First, I am doing a much better job of marketing the site through blog comments.  I even have a guest post out there.  Second, I am so much more motivated to make it a success because I don't feel as if I am working for someone else.

Diversify for Income

This is a biggie if you want to make money.  The Panda update really demonstrates the need for diversification.  I was very dependent upon HubPages and its authority to get traffic and earnings from AdSense.  That isn't happening any more so it is vital to develop my own site.  I think I like the blog format and WordPress better than the static type site so I will be starting my own WordPress style blog using HostGator over the long holiday weekend and seeing what I can do over the next 2 years.  I would bet that I will be much farther along.

These are just a few of the things that I have learned about making money online over the last 2 years.  Of course, I have gained a lot of technical type knowledge about SEO, backlinking, etc but that wasn't the main point for me.  The point is that I am enjoying what I am doing, am meeting new people who enjoy what they do, and have this wonderful opportunity before me to make some extra cash that is only limited by my own effort.  Time to get started. 

 

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!

Celebrating Small Victories

I just got back from my South Carolina golfing trip about 48 hours ago and am getting back into the swing of things here in Indiana.  I got to come back from some short sleeve weather to 6 inches of snow and single digits temperatures.  What a shock!

But just like on the golf trip where I have to compete in the "A" bracket against guys shooting about 15 strokes better than me for skins and pins, so it is on the internet.  I have to celebrate the small victories.  It is a major accomplishment on the course when I get a few skins (meaning I got a better score on a hole than all of the other "A" golfers which for me meant a par).  Likewise, I have a few major accomplishments to celebrate for 2011 even if I don't quite match up with some of the other internet gurus.

So, I would like to list my accomplishments to encourage myself and others:

• Before leaving for golf, I was able to maintain my publishing schedule and publish 9 Hubs (I even published one while in South Carolina but it is difficult to keep up when physically tired from 27 holes each day).
• Even though it doesn't look like I will meet the earnings target this month, I am already ahead of my worst AdSense month from 2010 with several more days to go.  I am also getting some earnings virtually every day.
• Traffic is more than double compared to January 2010.  In fact, my worst day this month was better than every day except one in January 2010.
• I had 58 Amazon clicks in the first quarter of 2010 with no orders.  In January 2011, I have had 85 clicks with 7 orders.
• Linking at SheToldMe is paying off since it now shows up as a traffic source for my articles at HubPages.
• I have added followers on this blog and HubPages.  I am almost at 600 followers on HubPages.
• My Alexa rank on this blog has been steadily declining and is under 400,000 for the 1 month ranking.
• EHow earnings have almost doubled compared to January 2010.

 Even though I am missing the earnings target tripling goal, I am seeing plenty of positive response to my efforts and will have to keep up the intensity.  The earnings will be a lagging indicator but from what I am seeing above, they should be improving in the next several months.  I am really excited about Amazon since that is something on which I am not focusing and I am still seeing positive results.  I also have to remind myself that the effort I am putting in now will benefit me next January and the January after that and on and on as well.

I hope this has been uplifting for someone.  I know it can get discouraging to feel that you are making no progress but looking back at a year ago will reveal otherwise.  That is why it is helpful for me to keep the data that I do.  I hope everyone has a solid remainder of the month.

August Is Best AdSense Month for 2010

Well, August 2010 slowed down a bit at the end but it still turned out to be the best AdSense month of 2010 for me in several different areas.  First of all, it was my best month EVER for ad impressions.  This obviously means that my traffic was the best ever for the month.  I am hoping that this is the beginning of a positive trend that will last for the rest of the year.  If I can continue producing content and creating backlinks, I think that I can increase traffic by about 30% by December 31st.

It was also the best month EVER in terms of absolute number of ad clicks.  Again this is another encouraging sign that I am hoping will continue as we move into the fall and winter.  In 2009, October was a very big month for me.  I am not quite sure if there are seasonal variations yet since I have only been doing this for a little more than a year and haven't had time to see a pattern.  I do know that there are plenty of ups and downs in traffic and revenue but I am hoping that the trend remains positive.

Finally, August 2010 was the best month of the year (and 2nd best ever) in terms of AdSense earnings.  Needless to say, I would especially like this trend to continue.  I would eventually like to get to the point where I am able to earn enough to get a monthly check from Google.  It is difficult to know exactly when this might occur since I am not quite halfway there.

I was very pleased with the overall consistency that I saw for the month of August.  I was able to earn something most days for the first 3 weeks.  It slowed down the last week of the month, but I was very encouraged to see a positive response to my online efforts after taking the month of July off.  I will still be very busy during the rest of the year but plan to make an extraordinary effort to write and backlink.

As you know, I would like to develop some product Hubs for Amazon to see if some concentrated efforts will lead to increased sales.  I would like to end the month with 30 Hubs devoted to products.  Since I have 3 already, I would have to make 27 more.  That will be quite a bit of work for the month and would represent getting almost 1 done each day.  Obviously, I can't let myself get behind.  I will be doing this on another HubPages account so that I can keep them separated from my other articles.  I think it will be easier to follow traffic in this fashion although I won't keep Amazon stats separated.  I will still be able to tell if my Amazon clicks increase.

Well, I know that there are several who had a good month of August.  I know that the earnings trend was positive for many people.  So, how were your results for August?  Traffic up?  Earnings up?  Get a lot of work done?  I would love to hear how it went and look forward to being able to share some encouragement with one another.

Photo credit: Nachoman-au

August Off to a Great Start!

Well I must say that so far, so good for the month of August. I would dare say that I am off to one of my most consistent starts ever in terms of traffic, earnings, and doing work. I haven't produced a lot of content, but I have been making links and trying to do a little bit on most days. Things are certainly better than they were in July.

Traffic at HubPages is up over 10% over the last month. I would expect that if things continue at this pace, my traffic will set an all-time high before the end of the year. I am also impressed with the fact that my earnings are fairly consistent. So far, I have had more good days than bad days, which I define as earning over $1. I should easily be able to earn at least what I did last month provided things continue as they are.

The start to August is offering me more encouragement to keep working when I get the chance and not waste so much time on the computer. I have been playing lots of games rather than working since I have been burned out. The games are just a mindless activity that I can do, especially when tired. But I think that I am getting more and more motivated with each passing day.

I think I may even write an article or two in the next week. I know that I have another blog post for my Real Asset blog which I will write after I get done with this one. Plus, I think that I should be able to write another Hub or two. Well, I am feeling that motivation so I suppose I should get writing. Thanks to everyone for reading.

Putting Long Term Thinking Into Perspective

I just read a great post by Felicia over at nojobformom.com about big dreams and long term thinking. Of course, this got me to thinking about my longer term goals for making passive income online.

In case you hadn't read previously, my goal is to make $3000 monthly by the time my youngest is on her way to college. That means I have about 8 years and 10 months left to achieve this level of passive income. Considering that I made just over $58 last month, it would seem that getting anywhere near my goal in less than a decade would be impossible.

But, what happens if I start by making just $30 per month and increase earnings by 5% each month for the next 106 months? Certainly a 5% increase doesn't sound that unrealistic, does it? That would simply mean going from $30 to $31.50. At the end of 6 months, that would be $40.20. I am sure that I can be making over $40.20 monthly by the end of this year.

However, if I carry this out for the full 106 months, then I would be making over $5200 per month! That is well above my goal of $3000 monthly. So, the question becomes: What does it take to increase earnings by 5% each month?

Well for August 2010, it probably won't take a whole lot since I will likely be above the $31.50 without doing much. But what I do this month will make a difference 2 or 3 years down the line when the 5% increase is a much bigger number.

But just like compound interest can work to the advantage of the saver, the work I do now will compound and work to my advantage. Each backlink will metastasize into several backlinks. Each article will be read multiple times and will continue to earn month after month long after my effort has ceased.

Thinking about this is mighty encouraging. Even though growth seems fairly slow now, I realize that it doesn't take a lot of growth to add up into some seriously big numbers over time. It makes up for the burned out feeling that I was having last month and will inspire me to keep going and shooting for 5% growth each and every month. It will also provide me with a target each month to track my longer term growth. This means that in December 2011, I should have made $69 to stay on target. I think I can do it!

Photo credit: TakingITGlobal