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.

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.

I Hate Writer's Block

Dang it!  I have writer's block and have no clue what to write about for Friday's post tomorrow on Cash Flow Mantra.  It is almost 11:30 at night, I am tired, and I just can't get motivated to really write anything.  It needs to be a financial topic, but I am totally stumped.

I really don't have any strategy for dealing with writer's block.  I suppose it would be a good idea if I did.  It would be nice to have a couple posts all ready to go and scheduled out.  I have tried every once in a while to get the posts done and stay one to two weeks ahead.  Unfortunately, it seems like something always comes up such that I find myself in this predicament.

I am thinking that the best strategy right now is to go to bed, get some rest, and start fresh in the morning.  I had also wanted to write a Hub tonight as well, but am having no luck there either.  My goal for February is to publish 30 Hubs in the month so that I can get a strong start toward 400 total Hubs by the end of the year.  Right now I have to publish at a 16-17 Hub per month pace, so getting 30 done would put me ahead.

Oh well, maybe I can catch up on the weekend.  The first priority is to come up with a financial type topic.  Preferably it will be one that doesn't require much fact checking.  I want to be able to get it done rather quickly, but it is going to have to happen in the morning.  I am tired and will be going to sleep now.  Good night.  I hope this is gone by morning.

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?

Hoping for a Little Help From My Friends

I just happened to be on the Yakezie forums on Sunday morning and joined a team that is looking to help each other with generating traffic and commenting on one another's blogs.  There are 15 members so it will definitely be noticeable in my statistics since my traffic isn't all that great to begin with.  We just started this yesterday and should the numbers remain consistent through the end of the year, I think this will help me succeed in the Yakezie Challenge of getting the Alexa Rank for Cash Flow Mantra below the 200,000 by the New Year.

I would hate to think that publishing 3 times per week and spending lots of time working on commenting would not produce some results over the next month and a half.  I know the process can be slow at times, but I would like to see some steady growth.  This is why I am optimistic.  I think that I will be able to see progress and am looking forward to it.

I must say that it is encouraging to have a group that is looking out for one another and offering to assist each other.  It certainly is a big motivator to know that someone has your back.  Blogging can be quite the lonely venture with many hours sitting in front of a blank screen.  I was wanting to write a post for CFM tonight but just couldn't come up with any decent ideas.  Wouldn't you know that when I have a little extra time, I have nothing percolating in my head.  I will have some time over the next few days so I will probably be lacking for any good material.  Arrgh!  Isn't that just my luck.

Maybe after a good night's sleep an idea will pop into my head.  I did get one post written today to schedule for this Friday so I am good for the rest of the week.  I am hoping to stay one week ahead so would need to get 3 posts together by the weekend.  Wait, I just had an idea.  I need to wrap this up so I can go write it down.  Will catch you all later.  Wish me luck.

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. 

 

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.

A True Test of Passive Income

What do I call a true test of passive income?  Those times when I travel and know that I won't be having internet access for several days in a row.  Well, starting in about 48 hours, I won't have internet access for 5 days.  I am leaving the snowy, gloomy Indianapolis weather behind and boarding a Royal Caribbean ship in Tampa, Florida with my wife and 6 kids.

We decided that rather than purchase Christmas presents for each other this year, we would take a cruise instead.  I have been looking forward to the time to get away from work, email, and any other responsibilities for awhile now.  Of course, while I am traveling, I will still be able to make some passive income.  I can't wait for the day that I make enough while gone to pay for the trip.

I can say, however, that the amount of income that I have made since starting in May of 2009 is paying for 2 and a half of us.  LOL!  The time will mostly be spent on the ship since we are going to leave Tampa, sail to Cozumel, Mexico and then go back to Tampa.  But that is OK.  I look forward to the sun and laying by the pool.

Anyway, I will be curious to see what kind of income I can make over the next week or so.  I am hoping that it continues to average about $2 per day so that I can report back when I return that I made over $10 while cruising on Caribbean.  We begin driving to Tampa in less than 20 hours so if you don't see a lot of response to comments just know that I am still busy packing.  I hope to come back refreshed and ready to tackle 2011.

Gathering Publishing Momentum

I think that one of the keys to success when it comes to making money on the internet is to constantly publish new material.  I also think that I am gaining some publishing momentum and need to keep working hard as long as I am able to keep coming up with new material to publish.  It is those times when I can't think of anything to write that I should use for creating backlinks.

To give you an idea of the momentum, I have published 4 Hubs in the last 5 days.  This compares to 4 Hubs for the entire month of August, none at all in July and only 1 in June.  So as you can see, my production has increased dramatically.  I am not seeing it in the way of earnings yet but I do think that all of this effort will pay off by the end of the year.  My biggest hope is that I can continue to work at this pace through the end of the year.  Then I will start thinking about taking some time off.

As mentioned in some earlier blog posts, I also want to devote some major effort to some Amazon product Hubs.  I have also written one of those in the last 5 days as well and plan to at least begin another one tonight.  Of course it will take some time for me to see the impact on Amazon affiliate income, but I would like to see a nice increase in activity by the end of the year also.  I may be too late to have a major income boost for this Christmas season since I don't think I am all that great at generating traffic yet.  But a slow consistent effort should pay off over the next year and put me in a decent position for next year.

My goal is to capitalize on all of this effort in order to see an approximately 30% increase in traffic by the end of the year.  Last month was my best overall month for traffic and even though this month is down from August, it is still better than many of my other months in the past.  I am trying to get past the ups and downs and focus on the longer term trends which are clearly up at this point.  I would love to hear your plans from now through the end of the year so feel free to share and comment.

Photo credit: Bergfalke2

Goals for Rest of 2010

I took a look at my online income goals for 2010 recently and realized that they had to be modified quite a bit.  So, I thought I would take the opportunity to review those goals and make some changes based upon new circumstances and directions that I plan on taking for the last four months of the year.

I will list the old goals first, followed by the modification of that goal in bold text.  This will save you having to flip back and forth between posts.

• 250 total articles on Life123.  Life123 had suspended their writers' compensation program early in the year.  They did pay out for all work previously done which was nice and professional.  However, this goal is no longer applicable.
• 150 Xombytes (articles) on Xomba.  I currently have 45 articles.  I am not entirely convinced that Xomba is the greatest source for residual income.  Thus I should focus my goals on sites that will actually make me money until something happens with those sites.  I do think Xomba is a great site for posting links and will continue to do this.  I hope to have every single article at HubPages linked at Xomba by the end of the year.  If you want to join Xomba for linking purposes with the probability of making some extra cash, that would be reasonable.
• 150 articles on HubPages.  I already have 145 Hubs.  HubPages has become my main money making site.  Last month, it was responsible for the majority of my earnings.  This month, it is not quite 60%.  I think I want to go for 180-200 by the end of 2010.  I also want to have a second account and put up 30 sales Hubs by the end of September to get some Amazon sales heading into the Christmas season.  I would also like to have over 300 followers from the current 285.
• 50 articles on eHow.  eHow has changed the format to Demand Studios.  I still have 38 articles.  I looked at some of the titles offered and did not like them.  For me, eHow is no longer applicable.  I simply hope to finish making additional links and make the $10 payout each month.
• As for writing for this blog, I have kept up but at a pace closer to 2 per week instead of 3.  I don't plan on making any changes.  I still think I have a shot of getting in the top 500,000 Alexa rank and will continue to strive for traffic and followers.
• I am putting my own site on the back burner for now.  I bought Michelle Adams' ebook on virtual real estate.  It is good, but it looks like a lot of work.  I would rather write.  I think I might look into having one built for me when I get a little more cushion in the paypal account to pay for a site and some hosting.

As far as earnings are concerned, between Life123, Xomba, HubPages, and eHow, I thought that it might be possible to make $195 monthly by the end of 2010.  Most of that ($100) was going to come from Life123 which no longer exists for me.  If I subtract that out, I still think hitting a $95 month with the other 3 sites is possible but will take some additional effort.  I will need to see Xomba pick up some which could happen if I am busy using the site for links.  I think I might be close to $60 this month so $95 in a month by the end of the year is not outside the realm of possibility.

So, what are your goals for the rest of the year?  Have you even bothered to look at your original plans for 2010 to see your progress?  Feel free to shout out and comment.

Photo Credit: Elliot and GoAvs

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

Lost the Fire, But I Feel Better Now

For those of you who follow this blog, you may have noticed my absence for essentially the entire month of July. Well, the fact is that I was burned out. I wasn't necessarily burned out with my online income venture, but was undergoing lots of stress at work and was physically and mentally exhausted. I just didn't have anything to give and was simply surviving.

Well, I know that I feel a lot better now and am starting to get motivated to write again. About a week ago, I went to bed early at 8:30 and slept for just over 12 hours. Boy, did that make a huge difference. I had another long night of sleep this week (about ten hours). Even though my back is sore this morning from working out Thursday and playing golf yesterday, I still feel pretty good.

I began to question why I was putting so much effort into developing passive income and lost all motivation to continue so I took the month of July off. Between the last post on this blog about earnings and this post, I did nothing at all. And despite doing nothing, the income kept coming in! Granted, it isn't great but it was a little better than last month.

So, I have some motivation back, and I am going to bust my tail to develop links for the articles that I already have written. I want to work on the eHow articles and have all of those completed by the end of August. It will take a lot of work, but I actually feel up for it now. I may not end up writing a lot of new content, but will definitely do more writing than I did in July.

Anyway, just wanted to let everyone know that I took a little unplanned vacation from developing passive income, but that it was well worth the break. What do you do when you get burned out? I would especially like to hear from those who are doing this for a living since it would be tough to take a month off.

Webinar from the Keyword Academy

I just spent the last 2 hours watching a webinar hosted by Court Tuttle from the Keyword Academy. It was entitled Massive Traffic 101. I knew some of the information already and felt good that I was able to follow what he was saying. At the same time, I learned a lot and also received some motivation to get more organized and systematic about my online efforts.


Granted I have known that I need to do a better job of organizing my efforts. It has been difficult for me to do it thus far as this has been a part time effort. However, I want to try and do a better job in the future.


February Goals


As a result of this webinar, I have elected to make my goals for February consistent with the principles that I learned. I would like to get more organized and will seek to do so in the following 3 ways:

1. Spend at least 1 hour each weekend doing keyword research for my residual income articles and get a list of keywords to target in my blog posts and article writing.
2. Spend at least 1 hour each weekend reviewing my existing articles and taking those that have the most traffic and earnings and getting more links to those articles.
3. Take those keywords from step 1 and write a few articles for HubPages, Xomba, and my blogs .

Right now, the biggest issue that I see with achieving my passive income goals is traffic. Actually, it's the lack thereof. To be truly honest, I am getting some traffic and the traffic that I am getting is decent. I just want it to grow faster than it is. I hope that by making a few adjustments, I will be able to increase my traffic. Overall, I would like to see it double by the end of 2010.

Getting back into the swing of things for February will also be a major objective of mine. I think it is doable. Now that I am healthy and refreshed from the time off, I feel like I can go at it pretty hard for several months.

As always, I will let everyone know how it goes. The other thing that I took from the webinar is that it just takes time and effort to build an online income. I have always known that. I just plan on taking it one month at a time.

Making Goals for the New Year

If you have been reading this blog for awhile, you know that I like to establish and record my goals on this blog for several reasons.

1. First, it forces me to sit down and figure out what I would like to accomplish within the given time frame.


2. Second, it enables me to go back and look at my goals to see what I have been able to do and what I need to focus on. I usually review what I have written about half way through the month (for monthly goals).


3. Finally, the fact that I have written and published these goals holds me accountable to my readers and offers motivation to complete the task.

My readers will also know that I prefer to set goals and then establish tasks that will ultimately lead to those results. While I have traffic and income goals, I can't make anyone visit or read my blog or articles. Nor can I force anyone to click on any ads.

Instead, I will focus my efforts on content and networking. Keep this in mind when I make my goals for 2010 and publish them in my next post.

How do you make goals? Do you write them down? Do you make them easy or try to stretch yourself?

It Only Takes One Article

I don't where you are in your journey to create online passive residual income. Maybe you are already well on your way making over $1000 per month. Maybe you are like me and still in the process of developing a cohesive strategy, excited about the prospects but still struggling with the daily roller coaster of emotions that go along with building passive income. Or maybe you are like I was six months ago when I had no idea what I was doing with no clue what keywords, backlinks or SEO techniques were. Or finally, you could just be reading about making money online and haven't even signed up for any content sites at all.

No matter where you are in this journey, I want to encourage you to just write one article. Get started taking your online income to the next level. If you are anything like me, I have a tendency to get burned out and not want to write anything. Instead I spend my time reading blogs, visiting forums on the different sites to which I belong, and simply waste time. I know I should write more. I have several good ideas just sitting with titles and some notes. I really should finish those and get them posted. I have one idea that has been sitting for months with a pretty low CPC but that might work on Life123. I should get that one done so I can at least earn $5 from it.

So if you are just sitting at home wasting time, be sure to finish reading all the posts of my blog and then get writing. Every step you take by publishing another article brings you one step closer to your goal. And if you are going to spend time reading stuff, check out my stuff on eHow or Life123. Thanks a bunch and maintain that fire.

PS--I made it for 15 hours and 15 minutes without checking AdSense. I will try to continue to cut down and stop wasting time in that way.

Online Income Inspiration

It can, at times, be discouraging to do several hours of research for an article only to have few visitors and no earnings. Multiply that times tens of articles, and it is easy to see why many people quit writing for online income within a month or two of starting out. I also get discouraged at times when I look back and realize that no one is clicking on any of my ads for several days in a row. So, what do I do during those times?


First, I remember what my college football weight coach would tell us. The times that you don't feel like doing something is the time that you get the most out of it. Why? Because lesser people won't do it (in our case it was lifting weights), and that's when you will start to close the gap on your goals. So when I don't feel like writing because I am discouraged, I write anyway.


Second, I remind myself that everybody has to start somewhere. We all start with that first article or that first blog post when we have absolutely no readers. I try to look at sites and posts that show me the possibilities and remind myself to keep going. Some examples:

• Felicia at nojobformom is closing in on $2000 per month passive income.
• Lissie, whom I met at HubPages, recently made $2000 in one month and is striving to make that consistently.
• Maria makes well over $1000 per month on eHow.
• Of course, Griz makes thousands per month with an ugly blogger blog.
• Livingoffdividends is one of my most favorite passive income sites. In fact, it was the inspiration for me to try my hand at internet income.
• Pat, from smartpassiveincome.com gives this annual report after being laid off. Granted, he was at it full time and wrote an ebook, but he pulled in over $200,000.
• Bob at ChristianPF.com writes this post on making money from a blog. He also got laid off, but pay attention to the graph of earnings and how it takes off after the first year. Gotta stick with it.
• Finally, this is my favorite post for inspiration. I have it bookmarked and have read it 4 times now. If you link to nothing else, link to this one. $100,000 from AdSense in a year is huge, but you have to stick with it.

As you can see, those that are making the most are those that stick with it. If you are able to make money online full time, then great! You will make it to that level that much quicker. If you are like me and can't work full time, at least try to do a little something each day. It may take longer to reach your goals, but don't be discouraged. It will happen. Slowly and surely, one day at a time. Just stick with it.


Odds and Ends


First, I want to thank DeAnna at WriteMoms for linking to my last post on an online income strategy for WAHM. You can see the link to her blog on the right. Be sure to visit her blog. I do several times each week. I am sure she is responsible for my 2 new followers. Welcome to you both.


Second, I would like everyone to notice the new RSS feed to my articles at Life123. You can read about my becoming a contributor at Life123.


Finally, I would like to feature several of my eHow articles which have not yet earned anything. There are 6 of them out of 42 total articles. Maybe the links will help them out in the search engines:

• How to Define Medical Malpractice
• How to Find Cash for Investing in Gold
• How to Buy Stocks at a Discount
• How to Take Advantage of Gold Price Seasonality
• How to Make Money When Stocks Fall by Owning Puts
• How to Figure Cap Rate on Your Real Estate Investment

That is all for today. Thanks for reading.

Thanks to Felicia

Here is a great post from Felicia. I'm pretty sure I have heard this type of story before, but it was nice to hear it yesterday. I know that it will help me gear up going into November, and I think it will help motivate you as well.


Making money online can seem like a long and arduous task. OK, not seem like it, it IS, without a doubt, an arduous task. It requires a lot of effort and a lot more commitment. I suspect it is not uncommon to get discouraged and burned out. That is why I find it so refreshing to read other blogs from people trying to make money online. At times, they can offer a much needed word of encouragement.

Some writers and marketers depend upon it for their sole source of income. As I have mentioned before, that would drive me nuts. I have a hard enough time watching traffic fluctuate, let alone worry about being able to pay my bills. The one downside to reading all these other blogs is that they are the successful ones. They have stuck with it and show up in the internet searches. They are the professionals making $1000, $2000, $5000 per month in online income. You really don't get a complete sense of everything they had to go through to get where they are. You don't realize the time involved or the uncertainty or struggles with the emotions that inevitably occur.

That is why I want to write this blog and maintain it so regularly. I want to share that sense of starting out and record it for all the world to see. I want to learn and teach along the way. It is actually turning out to be fairly therapeutic as well. There is a lot of uncertainty. Can I really do this? Can I make money online? Can I meet my goal of $3000 per month in 8 years and 7 months? Will I be able to stick it out for that long? Will I just simply go nuts? Am I nuts now?

Again, thanks Felicia. I think I now have the drive to continue for one more month. Even though I still don't feel as if I have a complete plan or direction and seem to still be searching for what is right for me, I think I can go on. I think I can. I think I can! Alright, enough of this, I am going to write some more and do some more links to get started early on the November linking extravaganza. I will likely have some interesting news in the next post in a few days, so be sure to look out for it. Until then, keep your head up.

My Online Income Quarterly Earnings Report

Here is the moment that we have all been waiting for! The official numbers are in! Be ready to be amazed and shocked!

Ok, maybe it's not quite that dramatic. But I sure am excited considering the fact that 4 short months ago I was earning absolutely zero, zilch, nada online. It has been a lot of work but I can say that I did it all. I built it all from scratch. So without further delay, Kidgas's online income report for the 3rd quarter of 2009!

(and I know there are four months...since I started at the end of May, I didn't want to have just one month in the second quarter or start doing this monthly. This is the only time that my quarterly reports will have 4 months.)

Quarterly Earnings

Month Squidoo Adsense eHow YouData Total

June 2009 0 4.15 0 3.74 7.89

July 2009 0 6.94 0 .47 7.41

August 2009 0 20.85 13.76 .19 34.80

September 09 3.51 27.50 27.19 .60 58.80

Looking at the numbers, I would like to point out a few things:

• The total for the whole quarter was $108.90.


• I only have 5 Squidoo lenses. The majority of the earnings were due to someone ordering books off Amazon.


• Adsense includes HubPages, this blog, and Xomba.


• For the number of articles, eHow is by far the best earner.


• The earnings from writing content have increased each month.

I anticipate being able to continue to increase my earnings each and every month for the next quarter as well. As mentioned in my last post, I need to be making $80 per month by the end of each quarter to get to $1000 monthly by the end of 3 years. Right now I have a $20 monthly deficit since I almost got to $60 monthly. That is certainly OK since I am just getting started.

If I can generate an additional $30 monthly earnings in each of the next three months, that would put me right on track and mean that I would be making about $150 in the month of December.

It will take quite a bit of work these next three months. I will probably have to continue posting articles at the rate of 1 per day. Doing that would mean another 90 articles in addition to the ones I already have putting the total over 200. I would then be expecting that I would earn 0.75 per article per month on average. That is happening for me at eHow, and I suspect that with increased traffic can happen across all sites.

All told, it looks like I could be on track to meet my longer term goals. I just need to maintain the persistent and consistent effort that got me through these first 4 months. I hope that this information has been helpful and encouraging to you.

I am not a writer or internet marketer by trade. I started with no knowledge regarding making money online but have read all I can on the internet. I have made some mistakes and will make some more. My goal has been to develop an income stream without any monetary investment. Classic bootstrapping. I have done that and will continue to grow that income stream through good old-fashioned effort. I hope you continue with me on the journey and learn something along the way. Please feel free to share your knowledge with me as well.

Until next time.

One Task Per Day

So, what one task will you do today to enhance your online income? Being persistent and consistent is the best way to achieve long term success. In Malcolm Gladwell's book, Outliers, he talks about the 10,000 hour rule for achieve spectacular success. He gives several examples including the Beatles. The Beatles played live in Hamburg, Germany's red-light district for several hours at a time. With all this practice, they couldn't help but get good.

Imagine how good you would be and how much knowledge about earning online income you would have after 10,000 articles. But most people aren't going to have the persistence necessary to accomplish such a task. You would know what works and what doesn't. You would know what keywords earn a lot. You would have so many articles on the internet, you couldn't help but have traffic out the wazoo! Backlinks--you would have thousands.

So, what one task will you do today to enhance your online income? Ideas:

• Write an article and publish
• Write a blog post
• Create a few links
• Visit forums and comment
• Keyword research
• Read other articles and blogs about making money online

I have listed some of these ideas from most active to less active. Some days I just don't feel like writing, but I can at least post a link or two to help with traffic. The key is just doing something each and every day. Persistent and consistent in your quest toward 10,000 publications.

I currently have 85 Hubs, 38 eHows, 22 blog posts, 5 lenses, 3 InfoBarrels, and 1 ezine article. That is 154 publications total. I am probably safe to say that if I quit now, I could earn a steady $40 per month passively. But, if I get to 10,000 posts over the course of 9 years or so (3 per day) and only earn at a similar pace, that is still $2600 per month. I would dare say that I could do even better with improving traffic and links.

So, keep at it! What are you going to do today? I posted this to my blog. Now I have 23.

Til next time and keep writing. Please comment on other things that you do to enhance your online income. I would love to hear your ideas.