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.

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.

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.

Plans and Happenings at CFM

I am sure you know by now that I have started my own personal finance blog at Cash Flow Mantra.  It has been live for just over 2 months so I wanted to update you on several exciting happenings that have been occurring.

Guest Posts

I have published 2 guest posts myself at other personal finance blogs.  This was a great experience although I didn't really experience much, if any, additional traffic as a result.  I may try additional guest posts in the future but am discounting the true value at this point.  I also published a guest post at Christian Personal Finance as part of an interview process for a staff writing position.  It is a competition for 2 spots and 10 authors are in the running.  I am OK with whatever happens, but I did have several visitors from the site as a result of my post.  The number was in the mid-teens, but it did help me set a daily traffic record at 62!

Finally, as far as guest posts go, I actually had someone contact me to post on CFM.  That post went live yesterday so I am officially a guest post host.  It is nice having some content without having to write it.  I could get into this and might consider one a week at the most.  I did have an idea for a contest but was planning on saving that for after the first of the year or at some time when I am busy or feeling burnt out.  I would like to have the majority of content on the site self-authored.

Page Rank Update

I heard that there was a Google PR update that occurred recently, and I am pleased to announce that CFM is now PR3.  Yippee!  I don't know if the increased traffic that I am seeing is a result of this or more exposure to my above mentioned guest post, but the last 3 days have been the most traffic ever with a record 62 visits on Wednesday.  I wouldn't be surprised if I could be getting 100 visits per day by the end of the year.

Attracting Traffic

Speaking of traffic, I will be focusing on two things for my blog.  Writing content and posting 3 times per week if at all possible and commenting on other blogs.  I have found that this social interaction is great for generating interest in my blog.  It is one of the ways that I discover new blogs.  Someone who leaves an interesting comment and has a link that I don't recognize is likely to have me visit.  If I like what I see, then I am likely to subscribe and interact.  That blogger may then visit my blog and become a regular reader.

I am still convinced that traffic has to figure into the Google algorithm somehow as an incredibly popular site must mean it is more sought after.  The result would seem to be a virtuous cycle of increasing traffic, improving PR, and better search engine placement leading to increasing traffic and on down the line.  I don't really know how the algorithm works, but it would seem logical.  Not to mention the fact that it seems to be working for me so why argue?

Yakezie Challenge and Alexa Rank

On July 1st, I joined the Yakezie Challenge with CFM.  The goal is to be a supportive community member and by working together help others market their blogs.  I have been working on this and other financial bloggers have been reading my blog as well.  This also goes back to blog commenting.  We are all pulling together to improve our visibility on the web.  My particular goal is to drop my Alexa Rank below 200,000 in the first 6 months.

Well, it seems to be working since my Alexa Rank is 340,083 but the  1 month ranking is below 200,000 so I am thinking that if I keep at it, I should be able to achieve my goal.  Now is not the time to slack off but continue to post 3 times per week and keep interacting like I have been.

Oh and by the way, I will occasionally make a little AdSense income as well.

So as you can see, there are lots of good things happening in just a few short months.  I expect many other good things to happen as well.  You could do it too.  It is simply a matter of getting out there and getting it done.  Host Gator has been a big help also.  I you are thinking of making your own site, I would recommend them.  They helped me out with their live chat every step of the way.  CFM works and will soon be paying for itself.  Feel free to click on my affiliate link banner for Host Gator above.

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.

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.

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!

A Record Month for Traffic

It is always a good feeling when you get to experience positive results from your efforts.  Whether it is lifting weights, shedding pounds or making money online, seeing results from your efforts offers plenty of positive reinforcement.

As many know, I have undertaken the task of tripling my AdSense income in 2011 and am seeking to do this by increasing traffic with a combination of additional publishing of Hubs at HubPages and increased backlinking efforts at sites that provide AdSense revenue sharing.  I figure that I need to triple traffic at a minimum if I hope to triple my income.

As it turns out, January 2011 was a record traffic month for me.  I bested my previous record by about 4 percent and my worst month in 2010 by about 150%!  It was also the best month for me in total revenue opportunities (ad clicks) but alas the CPC average was lower than I have seen.  That is OK because my AdSense revenue was still greater than double my worst month in 2010 but less than triple. 

So while I am behind the pace to triple AdSense earnings, I am still very pleased with my progress.  I also have a target for February 2011 that is not too much greater than January's target so maintaining the same level of effort should lead to additional traffic and additional revenue opportunities.

I would also like to mention that a side benefit has been 4 shipped Amazon orders for the month of January.  I am putting Amazon boxes on all of my Hubs which occasionally lead to a sale.  I also got more clicks for Amazon in January 2011 than in the entire first quarter of 2010.  This is only going to get better with more traffic.

I must confess that it has been somewhat difficult to keep up with the publishing although I did manage to do that.  I did fail on the backlinking effort and did not get 3 links out per day.  But each day is a new day, and I refuse to feel defeated.  If I miss a day, I miss.  I will simply strive to set 3 links daily as an ongoing goal and even if I get it done on half the days, I will be a lot farther than when I started.  I am seeing Hub traffic from SheToldMe so I know that it is working.

So if you want to sign up and make money writing Hubs, you can join HubPages.  It is a great way to start making money on the internet without spending any of your own cash.

My Online Income Goals for 2011

This is the time of year that many put together New Year's Resolutions, and I am no different.  I certainly have plans for 2011 but want to keep them reasonable.  I have a tendency to over commit and then find myself unable to accomplish what I had originally envisioned.  So this year, I plan on keeping it somewhat simple.  That means simply focusing on the task at hand and allowing the chips to fall where they may.  I do have the expectation that I will be able to get it done, however.

I hope to continue to develop my passive income over the next year and triple my AdSense income.  Of course I have no direct control over the amount of income that I make with AdSense but I do have control over my publishing and linking efforts.  My general sense is that I will need to triple my traffic to triple my income since CTR and CPC have been within a range over the last several months.  As a result, here are my main goals for 2011:

1. I plan on publishing 3 Hubs at HubPages per week.  I figure that if I can write one during the week in bits and pieces and one each on Saturday and Sunday, by the end of the year I will have an additional 156 Hubs to add to my 173.  That is almost double the number of articles.
2. I plan on submitting 3 backlinks per day each and every day during 2011.  This will provide me with over 1,000 backlinks to my Hubs.  I would think that this should at least increase my traffic by about 50% or so.  

When taken together, these two activities would be expected to triple my traffic.  I have been practicing over the past several days submitting 3 daily links.  I have been using Xomba and SheToldMe.  Once I finish down the list of Hubs with these 2 sites, then I will move on to Snipsly since it also offers AdSense revenue sharing.  I am hoping that using revenue sharing sites will help with the ultimate goal of tripling my AdSense income.

As a result of the above 2 efforts, I would like to see the following happen.  I don't have direct control over these results but would hope for:

1. Tripling of my AdSense income--I simply need to triple each and every month of the year and will be able to track my progress by taking the lowest AdSense total for 2010 and multiplying by 3.  My three worst months for 2010 were April, May, and June with $22.86, $24.54, and $28.10 respectively.  Therefore for the month of January 2011 I simply need to earn $68.58 to remain on target.
2. I would like to increase my followers on HubPages to 750 by the end of the year.  I am at 520 currently.  I would also like to see the number of followers on this blog increase to 80.  This will be more difficult since I seem to be adding followers more slowly here.
3. I would also like to see the amount of traffic at this blog increase by a factor of 2 and hopefully see the Alexa rank decrease below 500,000.  I am starting to see an increase in the amount of search engine traffic appearing at this blog.  It is up over 15% now so that is encouraging to think that I might be getting some increased visibility.
4. As a result of increased traffic at HubPages, I would like to see my Amazon results improve as well.  It took 18 months to get to my first $10 payout.  I am now at about $7 on my way to the next.  I think it would be wonderful to get 3 payouts in 2011.  I will just have to see what happens since I won't be writing very many product Hubs.  But who knows?

These are my main goals for 2011.  I plan on hitting HubPages and linking in a consistent fashion in 2011 and letting the results speak for themselves.  In doing so, I would expect by the end of the year to be getting monthly checks from Google AdSense.


There has been a lot of talk and suggestions from others that I get my own site.  I would like to address that in the next post so be sure to read that one if you are a regular.  Also, be sure to comment and briefly list some of your own goals for 2011.  I will be looking out for the posts as well.  I hope everyone has a safe and Happy New Year and a productive 2011.

Back from Vacation and A Passive Income Report

I am back from vacation and plan on writing several Hubs about the experience.  I will post the links on this blog when I get that done for those who might be interested.  We had a great time especially in Cozumel where we swam with the dolphins as you can see from the accompanying picture.  The sun was great that day!

Anyway, I thought I would report on the passive income that I received while away with no internet access.  I will include the time from starting travel on Sunday, December 19th and count through this morning as I write this report.  This is the time that I didn't do anything on the internet in relation to online income making all revenue totally passive.

This only counts AdSense income as I did not note how much I had earned on eHow prior to leaving.  I do know that while away I had an Amazon order for a book but it hasn't shipped yet so I don't know how much that will earn.  I expect it will be about 75 cents to a dollar.

I did receive decent levels of traffic while away, but traffic did decline between Tuesday and Christmas day.  I am not surprised since I suspect many people had last minute preparations for the holidays.  I was somewhat disappointed that I did have a few days with minimal revenue, but I did have 2 good days.  The total for those 6 full days and 1 partial day was $10.93. 

Overall, not that bad considering it is on par with what I might expect to earn for a 7 day period based on my recent monthly earnings.  Needless to say, I plan on being able to increase this total over the next year and will write a post on this in the near future outlining my goals and plans.  In the meantime, I have several days off work to be able to relax and write a little bit as well.  I hope everyone is enjoying the holidays and is getting ready for a wonderful 2011.

December Off to Mediocre Start

So far, December has just seemed kind of "blah", like I am stuck in the snow.  Not only is that the way that I have felt, but that is the way the results seem to have gone as well.  I had wanted to get to 200 Hubs by the end of the year, but that is not going to happen.  I am currently at 166 and just don't have enough ideas or motivation to get the job done.  I will keep striving for the 200 total and will make some goals for 2011 that I will share toward the end of this month.

I had also hoped to make payout at Listmyfive.com but that doesn't look like it will happen either.  I needed to get several more lists published if I wanted to have a chance at making it to the $10 mark.  I didn't get those done either.  Obviously, I have done less writing than I would have liked.  I currently have 13 lists and am lucky to earn a few pennies each day.  Right now it seems that my effort is better spent at HubPages since the majority of my AdSense income comes from that source.  I want to build to the level of monthly payments from Google before I go out and try to diversify.

Speaking of Google AdSense, the results there are mediocre as well.  I am getting respectable amounts of traffic comparable to last month.  Traffic overall is down from October but that was a record month.  Earnings seem somewhat slow to start.  It only takes one or two good days, however, to make for a decent month.  I am simply hoping to get to payout so that I can start counting on a check every other month.  I did get to make a Google AdSense check deposit yesterday which was cool.  That was my fourth one for this year!  I did make it more than halfway during the month of November so it should be close provided things don't continue to decline.

With my busy life and the holidays coming, I think that I will abandon all goals this month and just do what I can when I have the time.  I will make some goals for 2011 and for the month of January and post those so that I can try to establish a little intensity after the first of the year.  Last January, I got ill and it took several weeks to get back to 100% so hopefully that won't happen again. 

I hope everyone else's December is off to a better start.  I know that several have Amazon sites and have been focusing on those for the holidays.  That is a strategy that I haven't utilized but often consider.  I don't feel that I have the knack for selling so it would be a lot of learning and a big stretch to accomplish something like that.  Maybe someday.  I still need to work on getting traffic to my current stuff first.

Set Several Records in October 2010

October has turned out to be a very good month for me in terms of AdSense and traffic.  I have set several personal bests for the month that I would like to share with you without getting too specific.  I wouldn't want to violate any terms of service.

First of all, I enjoyed record levels of traffic (and thus ad impressions) at this blog and at HubPages.  I am really excited by this since it is only through increasing levels of traffic that I can really expect earnings to consistently increase.  I don't know that I can repeat this level of traffic since I had one really good article at HubPages which contributed quite a bit.  But, it continues to get residual views and my lowest traffic levels of the month were higher than the lowest levels in any of my previous months.  That demonstrates that at least a positive trend exists and that I have possibly reached a new plateau.

Along with the record traffic came a record number of ad clicks.  Again, I don't expect to earn too much more in the next two months, but I am hoping that as things level out, it will be at a higher level.  I do plan on continuing to write more.  I would like to get to a total of 200 Hubs by the end of the year.  To do this would require that I publish about 20 Hubs per month in November and December.  It is certainly possible but will take some work since I only published 3 in October.  If I am able to do it, then the levels of traffic may very well stay close to my current record.

The last thing that I would like to mention is that even though I still have days without any ad clicks, they are getting to be fewer each month.  I long for the day when I can earn some ad revenue each and every day.  Personally, I think that by July of 2011 I will be able to say that I have enough traffic that I am earning something each and every day.  I would also hope to be able to see a monthly check by that time as well.  I have been getting closer each month and will get another check for 2010 based upon my results in September and October.

Well, I just wanted to share that things have been going well.  October of 2009 was the best month of the fall last year and turned out to be good to me in 2010 as well with a big boost in traffic and earnings not to mention my first double-digit AdSense day!  I plan on working hard the next few months and seeing what happens.  I can't wait til October 2011 to see what it has in store.

Online Earnings Report for Third Quarter 2010

I enjoy reading about the earnings of others since it can help to motivate and encourage.  I think knowing about the struggles that others face can also be encouraging knowing that we all go through similar experiences.  I also think that it is good to see the progress that is made despite the struggles.  I think that is why the earnings reports are my favorite posts.  It allows me to look back and when I feel like I am not making any progress, realize that I actually have.

I choose to do quarterly reports since there can be a little more variation in the monthly reports.  It allows me to look at larger trends in my earnings.  Of course, I am constantly keeping the data so that I know when one month is bad and work to improve the next month.  But comparing this quarter to the last and to the quarter one year ago allows me to see where I have been and to see the results of my hard work.  Even though I am not working on online income as a full time venture, it is a lot of hard work when I do have the time to spend on it.  So, here are my earnings for the third quarter of 2010:

July 2010 - AdSense earnings: $34.86  +  You Tube: $4.51 + eHow: $19.16 = $58.53

August 2010 - AdSense earnings: $44.34 + You Tube: $1.41 + eHow: $13.01 = $58.76

September 2010 - AdSense earnings: $56.37 + You Tube: $2.76 + eHow: $11.17 = $70.30

When I look at the earnings above, I clearly see a markedly positive AdSense trend.  I believe that this is a result of increased publishing of Hubs at HubPages.  I have seen an increase in both traffic and earnings as I have been more active recently so I think it would be wise to continue to put forth a decent amount of effort without burning out.  I also have noticed a decline in the earnings for eHow.  I am not sure what I can do about this since the format changed and I haven't added any additional material.  My plan is to just allow it to fluctuate and remain totally passive income.

Compared to the second quarter, my earnings are also up.  In the second quarter I earned $123.56 whereas in this quarter the total is $187.59.  That is a very substantial increase in my opinion.  Furthermore, compared to the third quarter of 2009 when I earned $101.01, it is up over 80%.  Obviously I am making progress.  My goal is to continue to earn more each and every quarter.  If I can simply increase my earnings by 5% on average each and every month, I will be making a substantial amount within a few years.

If you look at my Hub on compounding passive income, you will see that I am almost a year ahead of schedule.  I want to keep up that intensity and be making over $100 monthly by next summer so that I can be getting monthly checks from Google.  With September's results, I am more than halfway to that goal.  The other cool thing about the third quarter is that for each of the 3 months, I averaged more than $1.50 per day with AdSense.  Of course there were days when I only earned a few pennies, but others when I earned significantly more.  Overall, it seems like I am having more consistently better days, and I like that.

I am still waiting for that double digit AdSense day, but I feel that it will be coming up before the end of the year, especially if I can continue to publish at a decent pace.  I have had some really solid days over the past month so I think I am on the verge of a breakout.  It will just require a little more traffic.  I am looking forward to the day when I have so much traffic that I am routinely seeing double digit days.  That will be phenomenal, and I will be sure to let you all know when it happens.

I know that several have had good earnings in September.  Here is to a great October and rest of the fourth quarter of 2010.  I offer everyone the best of luck and my best wishes.

Best AdSense Month Ever!

Not that I make a ton of money mind you, but September has turned out to be the best AdSense month I have ever had.  I am kind of surprised given the somewhat slow start that I saw.  Traffic is down a little bit as are clicks, but my amount per click is what really did it.  It is also as high as it has ever been.  Of course, it is just by a small amount but the combination of decent traffic, CTR, and amount of revenue per click was enough to make it happen.

This pretty much guarantees that I will actually get another check by the end of the year.  I should be seeing one in the mailbox any day now.  Plus with September's results, I would expect that October and November will put me over $100 again so that I will get one in the mail during the month of December.  Eventually, I will get one every other month and then monthly.  It would be great if I could be getting monthly checks from Google by the end of next year.

I am looking forward to putting together my quarterly report in the next post.  I figure that will come this weekend sometime after I have had a chance to see the final tally from eHow.  That site always takes an extra day or two to update earnings information. 

I am a little disappointed in the fact that I haven't put together as many Amazon Hubs on my secondary HubPages account as I would have liked.  I am just not the salesman type so it is like pulling teeth to get me to write anything with the idea that I might sell something.  Oh well, I will plug away and eventually build up a portfolio of Hubs for that account as well, but it is going to take awhile.  In the meantime, I still have plenty that I can be doing.

I still have one more day left in September and it is possible that I could even make it over the $50 mark for AdSense alone.  That would be great, but I especially want to continue to see some consistency.  I have been able to publish more this month than I have since April of this year when I published 12 Hubs.  This month I was able to get 9 done.  I would like to keep working to get at least 20-30 more done by the end of the year which would put me within striking distance of 200 for the main account.

Well, that is all I have for this post.  Like I said, I can't wait for the quarterly update when I will report earnings for the last 3 months and compare them to the 3rd quarter in 2009.  That is where it is really possible to make growth comparisons and assess progress.

Looking Back at Earnings and Traffic from June 2009

Someone over in the forums at HubPages asked how long it was before everyone had earned anything with AdSense.  This, of course, got me curious to look back and see how long it was before I had earned anything.  My first ad impressions were on May 26, 2009 and it took me 13 days before I saw my first ad click and revenue.  Needless to say, there were many, many days when I earned absolutely nothing.  In fact, that first full month of June 2009, I earned a whopping $4.16!  I also took notice of my levels of traffic.  Though I think they are pitiful now, my average traffic is about 4-5 times higher now than then.

It sure helps put things in perspective.  Today will likely be one of the worst days of the month as far as traffic goes considering the Labor Day Weekend.  Despite that, my traffic will be about the same (if not a little better) than my absolute best day in June 2009.  Furthermore, despite the horrendous start to the month as far as revenue is concerned, I have earned more between AdSense and eHow than I earned for the entire month of June 2009.

It certainly makes me wonder where things will be a year from now during the Labor Day Weekend of 2011.  I would certainly expect to be earning monthly AdSense checks by then which means I ought to be making over $100 per month with just AdSense.  There is no reason why I shouldn't be able to achieve that goal provided I continue to put in at least a modest amount of effort generating additional content and getting more backlinks.

Anyway, I found it interesting that I felt kind of disappointed with the last few weeks considering what an awesome start I had in August.  I know that there will be ups and downs in traffic and earnings.  I had gotten quite accustomed to the fluctuations but thought that I was getting the hang of it a little bit more so that I would see a little more consistency overall especially when it comes to AdSense.  Alas, it is not to be, at least not yet.  I am still seeing some fluctuations and figure I will have to wait until 2011 before seeing the monthly AdSense check from Google.  But that is OK.  It will be all the sweeter when that day comes.  And I will be sure to let you know when it happens.

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

Hoping for a Strong End of August (Plus Free Golf)

August 2010 has been one of the most consistent months for AdSense earnings that I have seen in a long time.  It is very encouraging, and I hope that it is a sign of good things to come for the rest of the year.  Even if things don't quite go as expected, I need to keep things in perspective and realize that I am building on the future.  Everything that I do now will benefit me a year and two years from now.

Also keeping things in perspective is the fact that last August my AdSense earnings were $20.85, and I have already doubled that total with a few days yet to go.  I am also closing in on my all-time best AdSense month of $45.95.  If I start seeing this type of consistency in the last four months of the year, then it might be possible to receive a check from Google every other month.

As mentioned in the previous post, I want to start working a little on Amazon earnings since I am very close to a $10 payout.  I want to have 30 product Hubs (up from a current 3) by the end of September so I will have quite a bit of work to do next month and have to find the time to do it.  That is the biggest problem for me currently.  Finding the time to compose Hubs during soccer season is incredibly difficult.  I will go to work in the morning, go to my daughter's soccer game from work, and then go to pick up the others from gymnastics practice.  The end result is that I am gone from 6 am until 10 pm three or four days each week.

Oh well, I can only do what I can get done and not let it get me down.  I have to maintain my physical condition and mental sanity which is why I have been taking a decade long approach.  I am in a marathon and not a sprint and will have to make year to year comparisons rather than focus on month to month as much.

Anyway, I hope that everyone is doing well.  The weather here in Indiana has been fantastic for August with mild evenings and low 80's highs.  There is plenty of sunshine as well.  I have the day off from work to go to a charity golf outing that was unexpected.  A colleague had a group fall through and asked me to go instead since the fee had been paid.  I can't think of anything better than free golf.  Don't worry, I won't feel too bad if I don't get any Hubs written today as long as I am putting well!  LOL!

Earnings for Second Quarter of 2010

First, I would like to apologize for not posting for the past week. I was out of town and had very limited internet access (not to mention time) so was unable to post anything. I still haven't gotten to the point where I schedule blog posts in advance. I simply write on the spot and off the cuff. Maybe someday, I will be so organized.

As a result of the time off, I feel like I am way behind in my regular life. I still have a week's worth of mail to go through and bills to pay. I plan on catching up this evening after I am done at work. In the meantime, I have a few minutes to post my earnings numbers for the second quarter of 2010.

I am encouraged by these numbers since the June earnings were slightly better than I earned in May. Hopefully the downtrend will be broken, and I can start to see some gradual improvement. Of course the earnings are much better compared to last June since that was my first full month ever online. I am really hoping that the numbers are looking better in the fall and winter months since last year seemed to be pretty good considering I was still early in this venture.

So here is what I earned for the past 3 months:

April 2010: AdSense = $22.86, eHow = $22.94, Total = $45.80

May 2010: AdSense = $22.49, eHow = $11.34, Total = $35.88

June 2010: AdSense = $24.51, eHow = $13.78, Total = $41.88

It looks like maybe I have found the bottom. Of course, one month does not define a trend, and I will have to see what this month brings. So far, the start of July seems to be promising. I need to get to work building more links and will be doing that for the next several months to be sure.

I hope to get back into the swing of things over this next week. It is always tough for me to come back from time off. It seems like I spend a lot of time trying to get things done before leaving and time catching up when returning compressing 3 weeks of work into 2. Anyway, it will be good to get back into a rhythm again. I will try to do a little each day and keep plugging away at building that passive income.