How I Made $506 Blogging In July 2007

For many, many months, I’ve seen affiliate marketers, internet experts and even wannabe mega-moguls posting their online income status on their blogs. These guys would break down their monthly incomes and each time it would leave me thinking, why am I not earning the same?

You see at the beginning, I was very much into blogging for the money - and I’m not afraid to admit that. But as time wore on, I began to see and realise that there was a whole other world outside of making money online. One which involved networking with other like minded individuals and connecting with groups and forums who shared similar characteristics and goals for the future.

So I kept blogging - determined to build up a community of like-minded entrepreneurs. In some respects, I feel that I have already accomplished this and more as I see so many of you guys commenting on posts. This alone is a major benefit in taking time to write posts day after day, where at the beginning of this blog’s life, I was seeing no reward.

As I kept writing, so my RSS subscribership kept creeping up, passing milestones along the way: 100…200…500. Traffic too has been on the increase and has been up more so ever since I posted the article on 101 Essential Blogging Resources. But most significantly, online revenues have also been increasing, and I feel that it’s finally time to show my community how far they have helped me come.

This July, I managed to surpass all previous records and earn $506.14 from blogging online at Blogtrepreneur.com. The following graph really shows my journey and how I got here:

As you can see, it hasn’t been plain sailing from the off. When I first started recording my income in November 2006, that first month turned out to be a high, and there was a continual downward trend for 3 months solid. After that and in the new year, things started picking up a bit as I pulled my socks up and increased posting frequency.

But again in April, earnings fell after a record high in March. I’m happy to see though, that since April, earnings have taken a turn upwards and now are growing at an ever increasing rate. The good news is, is that August is set to be another record-breaking month.

Where has this money come from?

I’ve always been of the mindset to never put my eggs all in one basket. Unfortunately, so many bloggers rely on Adsense these days - the problem with this is that you just never know when Google might penalize you for fraudulent clicks or ban your account outright. Since the new theme which I released in May, I’ve completely removed Adsense from new posts - as I feel that the ads aren’t worth the space or the time.

Here’s a complete breakdown of my income sources:

As you can see, the new theme has also allowed me to introduce Private Advertising. Ever since I stumbled on Nate and Maki’s posts, I’ve been intrigued as to how one can make such a good living from privately collected and managing advertisers as opposed to a service like TLA which handles everything for you.

In total, Private Ads account for $154 or 30% of my online income which is a really significant amount. However, at $175 plus another $25 for a referral, TextLinkAds continue to be my best money maker. Thanks to Patrick Gavin and the team for continuing to improve the service. ReviewMe were also fairly high up this time due to a review of XHTML/CSS. As a result, MediaWhiz (who own the two companies) account for $325 or 64% of online earnings!

Part-time Income

Now, a lot of people who look at this figure may be surprised, may not care or may simply just laugh. If you compare my site to others like JohnChow who collected $12,400 in July or Yaro who made $6500 back in March, I’m really not earning that much. But as a 17 year old student who actively blogs for 15-30 minutes per day, I’m very pleased with where I am - but I know that there’s room to further increase earnings.

Of course, preparing myself to blog takes a bit longer (and people who talk to me via IM will confirm that I’m online for a little longer than half an hour). But networking is something that I enjoy and something that helps me out in return. Speaking to these guys gives me motivation, and in some cases helps me to sell my private adverts!

As a blogger though, how much you want to earn comes down to how long you’re willing to spend doing the work. Money doesn’t grow on webpages, at least not initially. You must be prepared to spend some time writing articles, writing comments, using social media as a powerful platform for building traffic and taking time to read from other people and experts online.

So, why am I showing you this?

Simple really. There’s a lot of sceptics out there who think that the internet is still some fad whereby the only way to earn some money is through quick, dodgy dealing or eBay. Wrong. As I, and a great number of bloggers have shown, persistence can lead you anywhere and can allow you to push back boundaries unheard of before.

This article is also not intended as a means of showing off or boasting about how many dollars I make. Believe me, once you convert online earnings into GBP £, the value is somewhat rubbed off.

I feel though that I have gained enough skills and knowledge to be able to help anyone who has sustained determination to make money online. And this is where my next website comes into the mix - so stay subscribed so you don’t miss the launch!

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