When I first started my blogging adventure, my goal was never to make money from it - I just wanted a place to post my ramblings. However, because one of the rambling topics I cover is about making money on the Internet, it made perfect sense to use this blog as a case study on how to take a blog and turn it into an Internet money machine.
John Chow dot Com was monetized back in September, where it made $352.94 - all of it coming from Google AdSense. In October, I added Vibrant Media IntelliTXT to the revenue mix and posted $1,361.64 in blog income. In November, blog traffic went down but income went up to $2,139.93 thanks to additional advertising options. Traffic dropped even more in December but income continued to increase as I posted a record $2,790.05 of blog income.
January is an interesting month for web publishers. Traffic is normally higher than December, but advertising rates are generally lower because Christmas is over. The end result is usually a drop in income. However, I’m happy to report that the blog posted another record breaking performance.
Total Blog Income For January 2007: $3,440.66
In five short months, I have taken this blog from zero to what many people would consider a good full time work income. How did I do this? First, let’s break down the January earnings so you can see where the money came from.
- Text Links Ads: $621.68
- Affiliate Sales: $545.00
- Google AdSense: $536.58
- Vibrant IntelliTXT: $478.18
- TTZ Media: $183.54
- FeedBurner Ads: $175.68
- ReviewMe: $150.00
- Grand Total: $3,440.66
Blog traffic for January was 255,574 page views from 133,871 unique visitors, according to Google Analytics. This is a nice increase from December but still well off the 229,853 unique visitors and 360,967 page views posted in October. However, I was able to beat October’s results by over $2,000. Here’s how this was done.
Concentrate On Value
If you look at the income breakdown, you’ll see that my biggest revenue source for January was direct ad sales. Getting direct sales allows you to realize your blog’s full income potential because you don’t have to share revenue with any 3rd party ad networks. For January, I sold direct buys to NewToTech, BuzzBums, Net Business Blog, and Financial RealTime.
The sale to NewToTech and BuzzBums was a banner, Financial RealTime was a link, and Net Business Blog was a review. By selling the review directly, I was able to realize the full $100, instead of having ReviewMe take 50%. I sold the link to Financial RealTime for $150, which is the stated price in my advertising page. A link purchased on this blog through Text Link Ads (aff) cost $200 per month, but I only get $100 of it. I think one of the reasons why advertisers buy links on my blog via TLA is they offers a $100 coupon (aff) to new advertisers.
When I say concentrate on value, I don’t mean just trying to get direct ad buys. It also means delivering value to your advertisers. I want to make sure they feel like they got their money’s worth. Remember, under promise, over deliver. Show value to the advertisers and you will realize value to your site.
Do Not Put All Your Eggs In Google’s Basket
This blog started out with nothing but Google AdSense and if that were all it ran, I would have made only $536.58 for January. Actually, I would have made a bit more because the ads would get more clicks. However, it wouldn’t be close to $3,400.
Because Google is CPC based, its pricing is affected by seasonal changes. This is why the Google ads made more in December with less traffic - the CPC rate was a lot higher because of Christmas. This is where flat priced options like Text Link Ads come in. TLA pays one flat monthly price per link - I don’t have to worry about changes in traffic or click level.
The performance of Text Link Ads (aff) has been really remarkable and I recommend every blogger sign up with them. They have completely sold out my blog and they pay much faster than other ad networks - I already received the payment for January. Check out my Text Link Ads Review for more information.
Affiliate sales came in at $545. That was enough to edge out Google for third place in blog earnings. I think most bloggers are not taking advantage of affiliate marketing - it can be one of your blog’s biggest moneymakers if done correctly. My number one performing affiliate deal was Text Link Ads. Yep! TLA again! Text Link Ads affiliate deal gives you $25 when you refer a new client or publisher to them. In January, I referred 16 accounts to them (4 clients and 12 publishers) and made $400. Another $145 was made from three SEO Book sales.
Blog income does not begin and end with Google AdSense. In order to realize the full value of your blog, you must keep your eyes and ears open to other opportunities. One way of doing that is to keep reading my blog - my eyes and ears are always open. 
For The First Time visitor/Blogger
If you’re a first time visitor or new blogger wondering where to go after reading all this, I can offer the following advice. The first is don’t quit. Many times, it can feel like an uphill battle trying to get your piece of the Internet pie, but if you want it bad enough, you’ll find a way to do it. Remember, quitters never win and winners never quit.
I recommend you read all the old posts from the Making Money From a Blog series. This way you can see step-by-step, how I got to part time blogging, full time income. You should also check out the Top Posts. This is where I link to some of my best works, many deals with making money on the Internet.
February is the shortest month of the year. It’s going to be tough to beat the results from January. However, I would not advise betting against me.
[Via John Chow]
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