Blog Income Report - August 2008
Some people have been asking me how much money this blog makes.
If you’ve been reading it for a while then you know I like making monthly financial statements, so as you might have guessed I track the numbers.
Here they are for August 2008.
Income:
- $215.00 - Book Sales
- $87.70 - Google Adsense
- $53.00 - Private Ad Sales
- $50.14 - Text Link Ads
- $10.22 - Kontera
- $3.50 - Commission Junction
- $1.36 - Chitika
TOTAL INCOME: $420.92
Expenses:
- $10.00 - Hosting with 1and1 (this includes a number of sites, not just BreakingFree)
- $45.00 - Book printing and shipping costs (paperback only)
- $5.00 - E-Junkie for processing book payments
TOTAL EXPENSES: $60.00
NET INCOME: $360.92
As you can see I’ve been trying a variety of ad programs. Some of them are under performing, like Kontera, CJ, and Chitika. I’m always ready and willing to replace these with something that might work a lot better. In particular the 125×125 square ads on the right side of this blog make very little money at all. I was trying a company called PerformancingAds.com last month which brokers 125×125 square ads like that, but they didn’t make a single dollar :(. That space can probably be put to better use.
If anyone has other suggestion for what has made them money on their blog, please post below in the comments.
I don’t think blogging is a good way to get rich quick, but if you enjoy writing about a subject then by all means it doesn’t hurt to make some money on the side.
The real benefit of blogging (at least in my mind) is:
- Writing your thoughts and interacting with others on a particular topic forces you to learn it better and faster.
- From a purely egotistical point of view, it just feels good to help other people, get emails from them, and have people listen to what you say.
- It’s like a personal journal to help you record and organize your thoughts.
- It’s a good way to keep in touch with people who you wouldn’t ordinarily have time to communicate with on a regular basis. They can still know what’s going on in your life.
- It builds distribution for your ideas (also known as a permission asset) so that the next time you launch a project there are people who know you and are willing to check it out.
If the non-monetary reasons make enough sense for you to blog, then I think you can wake up a few years later and have a nice fairly passive income. It certainly doesn’t happen quick though, and I’ve still got a ways to go. I’ll keep you posted as things progress and I find other ways to make money from blogging as a side income.
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Chris Guthrie said,
Wrote on September 2, 2008 @ 12:11 pm
Hello Brian,
Based on your blog’s size I thought you would be earning more than that actually and I agree that you really need to get rid of those under performing programs.
I would highly recommend you replace them with private ad slots. I’m sure you could make a lot more by selling it privately as well. (Perhaps set up OIO Publisher? I found my private ad sales went up drastically when it was a simple automated program).
Also have you considered Adsense for Feeds? I am going to try that out this month to see how it performs.
Either way I love your blog and think you deserve more :)
[Reply]
Brian Armstrong reply on September 2nd, 2008 3:13 pm:
Thanks for the tips Chris, I subscribed to your blog. I’ve got adsense for feeds set up, but never heard of OIO Publisher. It looks like a marketplace for people to buy/sell ad space on blogs? Has it helped you generate sales or just to manage it? I’ve made only a handful of private ad sales so far but it’s been fairly easy to manage just with paypal subscriptions. Keep in touch!
[Reply]
ericabiz said,
Wrote on September 3, 2008 @ 2:30 am
Hi Brian,
I, too, am surprised your income is that low. Since you already have a successful book, why not pair it with some videos and do a $97 package? You could promote it and make some money that way. $97 adds up a lot more quickly than $20.
By the way, I found your blog through Peggy. She and I were in the same Pilates class here in San Jose. She said she’s known you since you were very young,a nd figured we’d have a lot in common. Looking at your blog, I’d have to agree!
Good luck. I have ~800 blog subscribers and haven’t attempted to really monetize yet. I’m currently making between $40-80/month with my blog (erica.biz).
-Erica
[Reply]
Brian Armstrong reply on September 4th, 2008 2:57 am:
Thanks for stopping by Erica, yep Peggy is like a second mother to me :) You have a good idea there with the videos…I have a number of them actually recorded from talks I did that I released free on here. I think videos have higher perceived value. Thanks!
[Reply]
Bloggers Income Report August 2008 | The Blog Novice said,
Wrote on September 3, 2008 @ 6:24 pm
[...] Start Breaking Free - $420.92 [...]
Creer un site said,
Wrote on September 7, 2008 @ 3:18 am
The issue with adsense on a blog is the same as with forum, readers are ads-blind
worse, I’m a rss reader, and the post is fully send with the rss. That prevents me from coming here for each post.
[Reply]
Brian Armstrong reply on September 12th, 2008 2:21 pm:
That is true. Click through rate on ads is very low (about 1%). By the way, they have adsense for feeds now which I started using about a month ago.
[Reply]