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Blog Income Report - September 2008

written by John Chow on October 1st, 2008

After taking a few months off, the blog income report is back! The income report took a little break while I worked with Unique Blog Design to give John Chow dot Com a whole new look. The new theme is phase one of a makeover that will shift the blog’s dependence on advertising as its main income source.

The income report started back in September 2006 as part of a case study to see if you can really make money by blogging. The goal of the case study was to make full time income ($3,000 per month) with part time blogging (2 hours per day). In its first month as a monetized blog, John Chow dot Com made $352.94 and by September 2007, blog income hit $20,512.17. How well did John Chow dot Com do on its second anniversary as a monetized blog?

Total Blog Income for September 2008 - $38,030.57

September 2008 goes down as the blog’s second biggest income month. The blog did break $40K back in June but that was due to a $10,000 blog post. If that post was not taken into account, September 2008 would be the biggest month ever. Here’s the income breakdown.

  • Affiliate Commissions: $12,807.69
  • Private Ad Sales: 11,730.00
  • Appearance Fees: $4,000.00
  • ReviewMe: $4,000.00
  • Text Link Ads: $2,028.59
  • Shoemoney Tools: $2019.60
  • Kontera: $1,000.00
  • RSS Ads: $444.69
  • Total Income: $38,030.57

At its current rate, the John Chow dot Com is on its way to a $400K year, which is pretty good for a blog that just rambles about whatever is on my mind. For the first time ever, affiliate commissions overtook private ad sales to become the blog’s number one money maker. This is something I’ve expected to happen and was working on. It’s part of my effort to make the blog less dependent on advertising sales.

Shoemoney Tools is part of affiliate commissions but I’ve separated it in order to show the residue income power of affiliate marketing. Shoe offers 20% for life on any sales you referred. Shoemoney Tools are sold by monthly subscription so you can make that 20% month after month after month. Refer enough people and it can create a nice pension. This is how affiliate commissions have overtaken private ad sales. I am still being paid for sales I’ve made years ago and that income will continue to come in even if I shut this blog down.

Blog expense for the month was $296.25 for contextual advertising. Hosting for John Chow dot Com is sponsored by BlueFur Webhosting. They provided the quad-core server that powers this blog. Use coupon code JohnChowRocks for 15% off any BlueFur hosting package.

How To Be a Six Figure Blogger

The key to making money by blogging is to drive a lot traffic and then maximize the hell out of that traffic. These are the two elements that you really need to work on. It doesn’t matter how great your content is if nobody reads it. However, if you have a ton of traffic but only run Google AdSense, then you’re leaving a ton of money on the table. Google AdSense is known as welfare for webmasters. You need to run as many revenue options as possible while still preserving the user experience. Check out my recommended money makers to see what systems I used to produce my blog income.

I also recommend you download my free eBook, Make Money Online with John Chow dot Com. The book explains the methods I used to create content, drive traffic and make money online. You can get it for free by signing up for my free newsletter at the top of the page.

Clog Money said on October 1st, 2008 at 8:12 am

Wow Nice to see the income report not only back but with a considerable increase on the last one. Congratulations John. I love these reports as they continue to keep me inspired!!

Reply to this comment
Eric Tan said on October 1st, 2008 at 9:08 am

I was wondering what happened to it… great job John! it makes up for the condo shopping yesterday…

Reply to this comment
Debo Hobo said on October 1st, 2008 at 9:45 am

What does a person do with that much money? Gosh!!

Reply to this comment
Pete said on October 1st, 2008 at 10:13 am

I can think of a few ways I can do with that money if it was me ;)

Reply to this comment
Dividend Growth Investor said on October 6th, 2008 at 7:53 am

Me too :-). First of all buy good quality stocks trading at bargain prices..

Reply to this comment
Abdul said on October 7th, 2008 at 1:20 am

All I can say is ‘Woah!’

Reply to this comment
Geek-News.Net said on October 1st, 2008 at 11:16 am

Well John did just get that condo yesterday so I’m sure a big chunk of it goes there.

Reply to this comment
John Chow said on October 1st, 2008 at 11:19 am

Yes, I got the condo. I get the keys on Oct 16. Now to find a renter.

Reply to this comment
The Blog Academy [dot com] said on October 1st, 2008 at 1:48 pm

Well done John, congrats on the killer month. Still raking it in. Is there a picture of the condo on the site yet?

Reply to this comment
Steven-Sanders said on October 1st, 2008 at 6:24 pm

I like to see a smart investor. Put the money you make into real estate, and if there is ever another dot com crash, you’re still set on making money. :)

Reply to this comment
Dividend Growth Investor said on October 3rd, 2008 at 2:16 pm

You should also consider investing in dividend paying stocks that have a history of increasing their payments to shareholders for several decades. It’s much less work than renting out condos.

Reply to this comment
TYCP Entertainment Magazine said on October 3rd, 2008 at 12:04 pm

With the way things are so expensive now…a WHOLE lot!

Reply to this comment
Dividend Growth Investor said on October 1st, 2008 at 10:15 am

John,

If you manage to invest your online earnings in stocks and fixed income yielding 4%-5% annually you would be able to generate additionally up to $2K/month.

thanks for bringing this report back!

Reply to this comment
Keron Calame said on October 6th, 2008 at 9:22 am

Yeah john doing real good keep it up and u may kick bill gates butt one day lol

Reply to this comment
Dividend Growth Investor said on October 10th, 2008 at 9:01 am

I doubt he’d ever beat Bill Gates who is worth 40 billion and has 800 million in dividend income alone.

Reply to this comment
Franklin Bishop said on October 10th, 2008 at 6:22 pm

I want a new condo.

Reply to this comment
Eric Tan said on October 1st, 2008 at 9:10 am

I was wondering what happened to this report… thanks for bringing it back… gives us newbies something to shoot for… Awesome job by the way… makes up for the 250K condo yesterday…

Reply to this comment
Chris Jacobson said on October 1st, 2008 at 9:19 am

Pretty impressive.

Reply to this comment
Colin Klinkert said on October 1st, 2008 at 9:33 am

Well Done John, Nice Haul there. I wonder if this is now your top earning site? Would be interesting to know.

Reply to this comment
John Chow said on October 1st, 2008 at 10:07 am

No, the blog is not my top earning site.

Reply to this comment
Dividend Growth Investor said on October 1st, 2008 at 10:16 am

Would it be too much to ask how many other sites you own other than this one and techzone?

Reply to this comment
Geek-News.Net said on October 1st, 2008 at 1:52 pm

Dang John, I’m not even going to ask which one is the top earner as I’m jealous enough of the stats from here let alone another site of yours.

Reply to this comment
TYCP Entertainment Magazine said on October 3rd, 2008 at 12:06 pm

Yeah, I always figured that you were making more on other sites, including TTZ.I remember when you talked about making affiliate commissions off TTZ.

Reply to this comment
ZK@WebTrafficROI said on October 26th, 2008 at 3:20 pm

Thats even more awesome …..

Reply to this comment
Franklin Bishop said on October 10th, 2008 at 6:25 pm

Must make waaaay too much money. Wish we could be that fortunate.

Reply to this comment
Debo Hobo said on October 1st, 2008 at 9:44 am

That is simply incredible!!!!

Reply to this comment
Blograzy said on October 4th, 2008 at 8:34 am

hey John,

I congratulate you on your success to this huge number of monthly income. I hope you continue to be like this and become the worlds richest man one day :P. I know its possible.

Reply to this comment
Henrik Blunck said on October 5th, 2008 at 11:58 pm

I fully agree. Congratulations are in order.

Regardless of whether I agree with John Chow’s new profile, I can still congratulate him on good results. :-)

Reply to this comment
Ganesh said on October 7th, 2008 at 7:47 pm

I agree. The one thing that we all gain from reading John Chow’s blog is that we get the inspiration to make money. :)

Reply to this comment
John said on October 1st, 2008 at 8:19 am

nice as usual John!

Reply to this comment
Enkay Blog said on October 1st, 2008 at 8:23 am

Great Income Report. Its good to see how much this blog has come along since it first started. Ive been a reader since Month 8 so yay for me.

Reply to this comment
Andrei Buiu said on October 1st, 2008 at 8:24 am

Congrats John. You are really living the dot com lifestyle. ;) You will break 50k until next year. ;)

Reply to this comment
Affiliate Confession said on October 1st, 2008 at 8:32 am

Nice income and glad to see the report is back!

Reply to this comment
Adam - Creadiv said on October 1st, 2008 at 8:54 am

John,

It is nice to see the income report come back as I have always enjoyed it. It really gives me something to strive for. I am glad you had such a good month and that the blog continues to do well.

Adam

Reply to this comment
bb community said on October 1st, 2008 at 8:55 am

wao! your internet income really awesome! man, i got to sign up everything in your make money tab!

Reply to this comment
Ben - frogstr.com said on October 1st, 2008 at 8:59 am

Good stuff as usual, keep up the good work. But please, I would have preferred to see 3,500$ instead and 4,000$ in review me and no “Weight loss pill review”… ;)

Reply to this comment
Henrik Blunck said on October 5th, 2008 at 11:59 pm

It doesn’t matter. John will review ANYTHING for money. :-)

Reply to this comment
Zac Johnson said on October 1st, 2008 at 9:05 am

I usually have to wait a couple days after the month to post my report, as some stats are delayed 24-48 hours.

Reply to this comment
make150aday said on October 1st, 2008 at 9:27 am

Whats your point Zac?

BTW–Congrats John..

Reply to this comment
Zac Johnson said on October 1st, 2008 at 3:46 pm

The point is I’m surprised John doesn’t have some delayed stats as well. He always posts on the first on the month.

Reply to this comment
Pete said on October 1st, 2008 at 10:12 am

I wonder if John works on a cash basis, as in that the money he reported is actual receipts during the month of September as opposed to account receivable.

Sorry if I mis-used any accounting terms here… it’s been a few years since business school :)

Reply to this comment
Dividend Growth Investor said on October 1st, 2008 at 10:19 am

Well the question is valid.. In USA businesses under $5 million in revenues report income on cash basis.. While the larger ones report it on accrual basis.
Other than that it shouldn’t really matter since he seems to have exceeded the minimum payment limits :-)

Reply to this comment
John Chow said on October 1st, 2008 at 11:53 am

I work on the accrual basis, which complies with GAAP more than the cash basis.

Reply to this comment
Dividend Growth Investor said on October 1st, 2008 at 12:27 pm

That makes sense.. Most advertisers pay what you earned on a net 30 to 60 basis ( except for TLA which pays very quickly) and in most cases you are expected to receive 100% of the money earned.

Thanks for clarifying!

Reply to this comment
Tushar Dhoot said on October 1st, 2008 at 6:00 pm

Good to hear you’re familiar with all these terms. I’ve heard a big part of running a business is making sure you manage your books correctly.

Reply to this comment
John Creek said on October 1st, 2008 at 9:07 am

Big cash John, nice job!!!

Reply to this comment
Chetan said on October 1st, 2008 at 9:09 am

Congrats John :)

Reply to this comment
Cameron - OddBlast said on October 1st, 2008 at 9:10 am

Amazing news! Two years and look where you are at! Kudos! This sure beats my 7.75 for the year. :o) Keep it up!

Reply to this comment
nakodari said on October 1st, 2008 at 9:11 am

Hey John what about your blog’s traffic. What is monthly uniques and pageviews, can you give us a little insight in this field please ?

Reply to this comment
Rich Hill said on October 1st, 2008 at 9:11 am

Incredible!

Can anyone beat you?

I don’t know if Jeremy or Darren post their results, but yours are amazing!

Rich Hill

Reply to this comment
Online Presence said on October 1st, 2008 at 9:11 am

Congratulations!

How about putting one month’s income into a contest for us blokes to win? ;-)

Reply to this comment
stubsy said on October 1st, 2008 at 11:30 am

Yeah one months income contest.

Reply to this comment
Tushar Dhoot said on October 1st, 2008 at 5:56 pm

Goodness, think of the possibilities….

Probably would go a lot further for us anyways :P

Reply to this comment
Jules said on October 1st, 2008 at 9:12 am

What an awesome jump in the past three years! Congratulations, and you are very inspiring.

Reply to this comment
Daniel said on October 1st, 2008 at 9:14 am

Wow! Thanks for sharing. It tells everyone how real and possible it is to make real money online. Of course, you need to tell people the amount of effort you had to put in to get this up and running.

cheers
Daniel

Reply to this comment
Teraom said on October 1st, 2008 at 9:17 am

What’s that Appearance fees??

Is it from any of the conferences where you spoke in the last couple of weeks?

Reply to this comment
John Chow said on October 1st, 2008 at 9:46 am

The appearance fee is the money I made for showing up at a conference or event.

Reply to this comment
Pete said on October 1st, 2008 at 10:10 am

Must be nice :)

Reply to this comment
Dividend Growth Investor said on October 1st, 2008 at 12:47 pm

Wow, have you thought about consulting or doing motivational/internet marketing speeches for profit? I was once part of a student organization which paid several thousand dollars for a keynote speaker with the help of the university. Not bad for the speaker..

Reply to this comment
Keron Calame said on October 6th, 2008 at 9:24 am

Dam u get paid just to show up at events and conferences.. wow just to a hot product man

Reply to this comment
Michael Kwan said on October 1st, 2008 at 9:18 am

Nice work John. Maybe it’s time to increase my review price from a bowl of pho.

On a side note, this is not your third anniversary, because John Chow dot Com has only been monetized for two years. This is your second anniversary. The first month would be, I don’t know, your “zeroth” anniversary, because it would be akin to your wedding day. You wouldn’t say that your wedding day is your first anniversary, right?

Reply to this comment
John Chow said on October 1st, 2008 at 9:47 am

You are correct! I’ve changed the post.

Reply to this comment
Tushar Dhoot said on October 1st, 2008 at 6:02 pm

Good job spotting that buddy.

Great to see good eyes and people that don’t skim posts (like me)

Reply to this comment
Bash Bosh said on October 1st, 2008 at 9:40 am

Really impressive score!
Congratulations John!

Reply to this comment
Nicholas Chase said on October 1st, 2008 at 9:40 am

John, you totally rock, you have fun, travel around, laugh at Michael Kwan’s Segway crashing and are a motivator to newbies like me.

Thanks for spending some time with me at the Market Leverage dinner at BlogWorld Expo 2008, it was a great evening. Glad there was no ’shop-talk’ you get enough of that during the day I’m sure.

Do you ever offer private consultation?

I would WALK to Vancouver and Dot Com Pho, for some one-on-one time with the “JOHN-CHOW-INATOR ”

By the way, did Tyler Cruz ever get his ‘ML-CASHINATOR’ ‘ money-stack back?

Respectfully,

Nicholas Chase - ‘the video guy’ at BlogWorld Expo 2008

Reply to this comment
John Chow said on October 1st, 2008 at 12:01 pm

Hi Nicholas,

It was great to meet you at Blog World. I do not offer private consultation but may look at offering some kind of group thing in the future.

Reply to this comment
buzz said on October 1st, 2008 at 9:43 am

One Day for Diabetes is coming up in November, John.

I’ll be challenging you to donate one day’s sales/commissions to the Team Diabetes effort.

I’m looking forward to you spreading some of that wealth around ;)

Congrats on another great month.

Reply to this comment
Saroj said on October 1st, 2008 at 9:51 am

Great great great.You are really converting those traffic to money .Great efficiency

Reply to this comment
Daniel Kemp said on October 1st, 2008 at 9:51 am

Geez dude. $40,000? That’s cool man. I would like to make money like that fast. Now I will read that free eBook you have and I hope to understand how exactly you have come to make such a lot of money from a blog.

Reply to this comment
Dividend Growth Investor said on October 1st, 2008 at 12:43 pm

His e-book does have a lot of interesting stuff you could learn about online marketing. I have used one of his ideas and it did work.. But you have to be extra careful and modify his ideas in order to work for your specific situation!

Reply to this comment
make150aday said on October 1st, 2008 at 7:43 pm

good luck… :)

Reply to this comment
Saroj said on October 1st, 2008 at 10:02 am

What about google adsense

Reply to this comment
Pete said on October 1st, 2008 at 10:09 am

I don’t see Google Adsense units on this page…

Reply to this comment
Dividend Growth Investor said on October 1st, 2008 at 10:20 am

He discountinues using Adsense a long time ago. Otherwise he would still be earning only a couple of thousand per month as opposed to tens of thousands per month..

Reply to this comment
John Chow said on October 1st, 2008 at 10:28 am

Google AdSense is welfare for webmasters.

Reply to this comment
Bryn Youngblut said on October 1st, 2008 at 10:51 am

Say that to Shoemoney. lol

Reply to this comment
Keron Calame said on October 6th, 2008 at 9:29 am

Yeah u are right bryn, shoemoney must name is first on google’s payout each month

Reply to this comment
Dividend Growth Investor said on October 1st, 2008 at 12:41 pm

Haha, I am still on welfare for bloggers then. If I could actually somehow transform everyone that clicks on an adsense ad into a person purchasing a product/service from me I could probably make a little bit more than what I am earning now..

Reply to this comment
make150aday said on October 1st, 2008 at 7:47 pm

To some extent–yes..but consider some top earners from adsense–such as http://www.askthebuilder.com– he makes around 30k/month …

Its an easy way to make money using google adsense but if you are popular like John then it might be better to get rid off adsense,,,but its not easy to be like John….

Reply to this comment
Dividend Growth Investor said on October 2nd, 2008 at 7:15 am

It definitely pays off to be diversified with your income streams.. You don’t want to be too exposed to only one of them.
If your site targets a specific niche and you get at least 2K uniques/dayly then there are other ad programs that could work for you..

Reply to this comment
TYCP Entertainment Magazine said on October 3rd, 2008 at 12:08 pm

Haha. I agree that it’s good for starting out with though!

Reply to this comment
Keron Calame said on October 6th, 2008 at 9:26 am

Well its all i got John, i have just start using text link ads and i just start reaping over $100 per month on it.

Reply to this comment
Keron Calame said on October 6th, 2008 at 9:31 am

By the John, do you know if ShoeMoney is the person with the record for receiving the most money for its adsense program at any one time

Reply to this comment
Pete said on October 1st, 2008 at 10:08 am

Posts like these continue to inspire me to keep going with my websites :)

Reply to this comment
Danny Cooper said on October 1st, 2008 at 10:13 am

Nice to see your providing the proof necessary to keep up your ultimate blogging reputation.

Reply to this comment
Debby Phillips said on October 1st, 2008 at 10:26 am

John,

It looks like it was another rough month at the office! Kidding! You forgot to add in the money you stole from The Cashinator!

Nice job!

~Debby

Reply to this comment
John Chow said on October 1st, 2008 at 10:27 am

I would if I didn’t give it away! :P

Reply to this comment
Carl - BeABetterBlogger.com said on October 1st, 2008 at 3:30 pm

Where has that money gone you raked out from the Cashinator after it closed though!? ;) Or might they have seen you and taken it back!

Kind regards,
Carl

Reply to this comment
Calson said on October 1st, 2008 at 10:28 am

I hope i also can get profit like that. it’s cool

Reply to this comment
Mitch said on October 1st, 2008 at 10:38 am

Great work, John, and thanks for sharing. Also, thanks for going to a dofollow blog, because that lets everyone in on some of the action.

Reply to this comment
kahmaui said on October 1st, 2008 at 10:45 am

That’s Amazing! I see the breakdown, but I still can’t believe it.

By the way, I like Beef Ball and Tendon in my Pho. No onions or parsley though.

Reply to this comment
Bryn Youngblut said on October 1st, 2008 at 10:52 am

Do you not give a portion of the review money to Michael Kwan? Or is he just your bitch lol

Reply to this comment
John Chow said on October 1st, 2008 at 12:03 pm

Michael Kwan works for Pho.

Reply to this comment
Make money online said on October 1st, 2008 at 10:52 am

finally we see a blast.. :cool:

Great man..
what is appearance fee ?

Reply to this comment
Mubin said on October 1st, 2008 at 11:21 am

Love you or hate you, that is a nice income for making 3 posts a day.

Reply to this comment
jobucks.com said on October 1st, 2008 at 11:26 am

wow, so impressive. I wish I could earn at least 0.5 percent of it.

Reply to this comment
Ozzy said on October 1st, 2008 at 11:29 am

love money….love money…

^^

Reply to this comment
Movies Joe said on October 1st, 2008 at 11:43 am

Haha… I’m still on welfare for bloggers. Good job, John.

Reply to this comment
Christian Affiliate Marketing said on October 1st, 2008 at 11:54 am

I am digging that double column after the first post. I have been wanting to figure out how to do that. Though I liked the colors of your old one better.

Reply to this comment
jobucks.com said on October 1st, 2008 at 11:56 am

yes…. love money lol

Reply to this comment
soares said on October 1st, 2008 at 12:06 pm

UAU John,that´s money and just for saying this month i´ve received my first payment on an afilliate £15 and every month i receive more£5…and im happy with it imagine i received that …damn i would go to the hospital with an heart attack…lol

Best Regards
Soares

Reply to this comment
someone said on October 1st, 2008 at 12:49 pm

You really are an example for all of those Big Shots from big companies who think that they are experts in marketing&co but they are actually useless

I wonder what you can do with a website if you would have their enormous resources.

Cheers

Reply to this comment
ZK@WebTrafficROI said on October 1st, 2008 at 12:50 pm

Kontera seems to be constant at 1000 every month …..

Reply to this comment
Carl - BeABetterBlogger.com said on October 1st, 2008 at 3:27 pm

I think John has a fixed contract with Kontera so they provide him with $1000 guaranteed every month, I wish I was that friendly with Kontera!

John must provide them with a lot of members.

Kind regards,
Carl

Reply to this comment