John Chow dot Com Blog Income Report - June 2007
Back in September of 2006, I made a decision to see how much money I can make by blogging. Before, the blog served as a personal journal to ramble about whatever was on my mind. Since one of my rambling topics was about make money online, it made perfect sense to use this blog as a case study to show what one can achieve when all the stops were pulled out.
The blog has seen some amazing revenue growth in the past nine months. Starting in September, John Chow dot Com made $352.94 (all of it coming from Google AdSense) and went all the way to $11,702.66 in April. However, the income dropped to $10,559.40 in May.
June is the start of summer. Advertising revenue generally slow down during this time. Add in the fact that Google put me in their dog house half way though the month (June 16 to be exact) and you would expect income to go down again. However, I’m happy to report that summer and Google hasn’t done much to stop my rise.
Total Blog Income For June 2007: $12,569.61
The original goal of this case study was to create full time income with part time blogging. I think everyone would agree that we are well beyond full time income. However, John Chow dot Com is still a part time venture for me (it’s really a hobby). Here is the June income breakdown.
- ReviewMe: $3,800.00
- Affiliate Sales: $3,213.02
- Text Link Ads: $1,506.71
- Private Ad Sales: $1,440.00
- Kontera: $1,000.00
- Google AdSense: $778.90
- TTZ Media: $339.85
- Buy Me a Beer: $219.39
- FeedBurner: $201.74
- Subscription: $70.00
- Grand Total: $12,569.61
Blog traffic was 315,827 page views from 165,805 visitors. That works out to a site wide effective CPM of $39.79. In other words, I make nearly $40 for every 1,000 page views. That is NYTimes.com level rates. Most blogs are happy if they can pull down $1 to $2 CPM.
Looking at the revenue numbers, you can see Google AdSense took a big drop from last month. This is due to the summer advertising slow down. The blog is still getting the same level of clicks, but the income I earn from those clicks have gone down because advertisers lower their bids during the summer months. Luckily, I have many flat-rate ad setups that are not affected by seasonal changes.
The above income figures illustrates why you should never pull all your eggs in Google’s basket. If all I did was run Google AdSense, I would have made only $778.90. You should run as many advertising systems as you can get away with while still offering a good user experience. Check out my recommended money makers to find out more about all the ad networks I use.
Blog advertising expenses for the month was $467.05 for SiteMatch Google ads and $278.32 for normal Google ads. Hosting for John Chow dot Com is provided by BlueFur web hosting. The blog is hosted on a BlueFur Xlite dedicated server which cost $169.95 per month. Use coupon code JohnChowRocks for 15% off.
Make Money Online with John Chow dot Com E Book
Every time I post a monthly blog income recap, I get a ton of email from readers asking how I did this and how I did that and how can they do it too. Most of these questions I have already answered in the blog. However, not many people want go through 100+ pages of blog posts or use the blog search feature. To better serve readers wanting to make money by blogging, I have created an E book on the subject. Best of all, it cost zero dollars (and comes with a 1 million times money back guaranteed).
Download Make Money Online With John Chow dot Com
- Posted in Make Money Online, The Net
- 242 comments what's your take?
Very nice.
Reply to this commentcongrats, john
that’s some decent income
Reply to this commentWOW. CONGRATULATIONS JOHN. You really inspire me with your evil genius ways. Good luck! for July.
http://www.cashforcomments.com | get paid to comment
Reply to this commentDear John, I downloaded your book a couple of days ago; not only does it contain *highly valuable* information, it’s also written in an entertaining, easy-to-read tone. Congrats, very nice work!
Reply to this commentWow! Wow! Wow!
Reply to this commentI am amazed. Really. I know your secret John! I know How You did it John! You Built slowly but surely for almost 10 months now. That’s the way to go. Gaining natural link love from search engines and the bloggers community, in a natural fashion. And Bingo, traffic, momentum, authority etc with hard consistent work. Nothing Overnight.
And most of all, you apply the Mother Of All The Make REAL money online Secrets, what I call “HYOPOF” which means ”Have Your Own Product Or Fail!”. John, You have your own product which is This blog johnchowDotCom and that way you will not fail. “HYOPOF to all of you guys !!!” Now I also have my Own Product which is http://www.blogadollar.com and that way I will not fail. I get there slowly but surely too.
Beware John! I’m coming.
Wow, I wish my hobbies paid that well.
Reply to this commentNICE ONE JC
Reply to this commentyeh very nice 12k is quite the accomplishment. Keep up the good work.
Reply to this commentI find the $40 CPM to be the really astounding figure…
Reply to this commentWell done JC…hope one day i can make such money from my blog
Reply to this commentsame here, but it’s difficult
Reply to this commentHe’s been a role model to us all — cheers, John!
Reply to this commentWell done indeed!
Reply to this commentYou’ve become a mentor to thousands John!
Reply to this commentWow!(What a great hobby)
Reply to this commentI´m going to read you’re book.
Maybe there’s a chance for us (the beginners)!
I have read it. Lots of good stuff there.
Reply to this commentYes, I agree it is very informative. I actually read it when I had just started blogging and it really helped a lot.
Reply to this commentthe book is very good, but i felt its too hard to get a user click on a particular advt to get revenue. Even if one follows all the advice in john chow’s ebook still revenue comes only on clicks. I still trying hard to get traffic to my site which is a big task
Reply to this commenti read part of it too
informative indeed, but i’m sure it’s difficult to replicate john’s success. we just have to add our own tweaks in order to make it work to our advantages
Reply to this commentYup, it’s a really good book! It got me started on it on my site…
Reply to this commentThe ebook gives readers a great head start.
Reply to this commentGrats!
Reply to this commentCool income report. I wonder %25 percent of it
Reply to this commentwhat do you mean?
Reply to this commentCongratulations for your performance!
Reply to this commentBut how you get traffic? and people who wish to visit again?
It is a problem that my blog isn’t written in english? Thank you for sharing you experience and knowledge!
i think after you get the words out, it’s all down to quality and informative contents.
it’s not a problem that your blog is not written in english, there are plenty popular blogs out there written in different languages for different group of people
quality sells!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Reply to this commentthat’s true; but not completely. My blog for example is written in German, that decreases the potential visitors base enormously. If you run your blog in English, you can not only count on all the English native-speakers, but on plenty User from other countries too, who can read and write English very well.
Reply to this commentBut speaking personally, I can only say that translating everything is drag… I haven’t decided to do that yet, but may I’ll switch to bilingual some time in the future.
Great report as always John!
Reply to this commentCongrats John, would sure be nice to see where your traffic came from though, is it mostly repeat visitors? Google traffic? What?
Reply to this commentall of above and traffic from digg, stumbleupon…..
Reply to this commentNice stats!
I wonder if you change your “Buy me a beer” to “Buy me a coffee” if that will increase or decrease your donations?
Reply to this commentLet’s face it, John seems more of a beer person than a coffee person. Beer is probably his best bet for those “donations.”
Reply to this commentYah I remember he drank a really tall beer in Taipei…
Reply to this commentlol, maybe the few prohibitionists that are still around? I’ve also seem someone change it to buy me a root beer
Reply to this commentThat’s it?
Hehe, nice going, John! I wouldn’t mind making that much in a year from my blog!
Reply to this commentIt does sound like a pretty decent annual blogging income, doesn’t it.
Reply to this commentyup it really does! He’s my goal I am working towards!
Reply to this commentVery great job! Did you get any donations this month? I really think you should include that in your reports
.
Reply to this commentThats Called Buy me a beer in the List…
Reply to this commentI’m shocked that he’s pulled in that much from that plugin… Wow.
Reply to this commentGz John. Keep it up so the next car you may buy will be a 911 and not some Acura
Reply to this commentI’m reasonably confident that John could have afforded something more expensive, but just because you HAVE money doesn’t mean that you have to SPEND it all.
Reply to this commentNope, there are also more expensive cars than a 911 but the 911 is just a beauty.
Reply to this commentAnd when you become a parent, I guess most often than not you think about the family first before splurging on the next extravagant thing that comes to mind.
Reply to this commentCongrats John! I am going to try and optimize my blog with other advertising networks this month.
Reply to this commentJohn,
Just curious, what percent of the 165,805 visitors came from Search engines, namely Google?
Reply to this commentThanks a lot for this, I have searched your blog and seen most of those in posts, but some I have not. Thank you again for this E-Book!
Reply to this commentcongrats on the income
you are definitely making a killing on reviewme
Reply to this commentTime to rename the blog to Make Money With ReviewMe!
Reply to this commentif it would make him more money he might just do that
Reply to this commentIndeed… my site is in German, that’s a big problem with ReviewMe.
Reply to this commentOut of interest do you pay Michael Kwon to do the ReviewMe’s? If so have you accounted for that?
Best wishes, truely impressive!
Reply to this commentMichael Kwan is Canadian. He works for food.
Reply to this commentIt’s spelled Kwan, not Kwon.
And I work for pho and dim sum… apparently.
Reply to this commentWhich I don’t pay for.
Reply to this commenthahaaha that’s very evil of you John…
Reply to this commentWhoa, so that’s what paid for the new car eh?
Reply to this commentNot really. I don’t keep the income I make from the blog.
Reply to this commentYou don’t keep it?
What do you do with it all?
Reply to this commentI believe he donates some to charity, and some goes to a college fund for his daughter.
Reply to this commentAh, I see. That’s really awesome of him.
Reply to this commentYou are correct, Mubin. John makes his primary income from having rock fights with pandas.
Reply to this commentJohn,
Reply to this commentHow about completely switching of adsense for a month?
This could help you play with blog layout a little bit.
Also imagine the sound off. Bloggers makes x,xxx with any adsense. Thats another Ebook right there.
I don’t use Adsense and still make money. Maybe I should write an ebook?
Reply to this commentPerhaps you should
Reply to this commentKumiko,
Google banning you really pushed you beyond the ordinary to the extra-ordinary income earning levels.
I am happy that you braved the odds of AdSense ‘ostracization’ to show the power of determined good writer.
I love and admire your courage
Reply to this commentIt must be great to have an income like that on a hobby. Good work!
Reply to this commentWow, very very nice.
If by any chance you want to donate to the “MK is poor” foundation - please do so.
XD
Reply to this commentSounds like a good idea. We both know that MK stands for Michael Kwan, right?
Reply to this commentLol! We can split the money, there should be plenty for both of us XD
Reply to this commentHi John,
Congratulations for this month’s income! :))
I love your blog and I have downloaded your free e-book. I wanted to ask you something and I will be extremely happy to receive your answer!
You have the huge auditory! You have the know-how! You have the talent to write. What are you waiting for? Why don’t you write an e-book to sell.
I am sure that you are going to make more than 5-10 000 sales per month! You could make more than $100,000.00. Every month.
The question that bothering me is “Why are you satisfied with “only” $10000+/mo when you can make 10+ times more?”
I would really want to know your answer!!!
Thank you in advance!
Kind regards,
Reply to this commentWilliam
The JohnChow site isnt his main site.
Reply to this commentI believe it. Check out the picture of the black RSX next to the white TL in the post Picking Up the New Car. The window sticker on the back of the RSX reads http://www.thetechzone.com not http://www.johnchow.com.
Reply to this commentAnd TTZMedia also which a number of tech related sites use. Also a few others that I know of too.
Reply to this commentThere are a few reasons. I may do a separate post on it, but it’s mostly what Matthew said. This is just a hobby and not my main income source.
Reply to this commentVery nice! I want to be good like you when i get older! hehe
Reply to this commentGreat work John.
Reply to this commentthose are amazing numbers. congrats!
Reply to this commentDon’t you think that bloggers should be less mindless and post on more meaningful things such as charity? America is in the toilet and you aren’t do your fair share to make it better. You are a journalist but not an activist. I would hate to be you.
Consider making a difference and make your next blog entry on something worth caring about. How about suggesting to your readers your favorite charity. Maybe some of them will even contribute…
http://duckdown.blogspot.com/
Reply to this commentI take it your a new reader. Stick around. You’ll learn something.
Reply to this commentwhat a sad excuse for spam. Dwelling on the negative in life isn’t going to make it go away.
Congrats John. I’ll be happy once I get to what you make off adsense
Reply to this commentThe BoBo’s are everywhere aren’t they
Reply to this commentJohn is very charitable, he has provided everyone with access to his free e-book. If you are so concerned about charities you should utilize his resource and donate all of your income to your favorite charity. I do my fair share of charity work too, but I don’t put down others if they don’t.
Keep up the great work John!
Reply to this commentWhile $12k seems like a lot at first, it’s really just a normal salary (~100-150,000/year). Given this is your only real source of income (I imagine the TTZ sites make maybe $1-2,000/month.. they are old/outdated and I doubt attract much people) you should try and branch out and create a real business/website and not just a blog.
Reply to this commentYou need to stick around as well if you think this is my main income source.
Reply to this commentIgnorance is bliss, isn’t it?
Reply to this commentHaha!!! Gotta love it! Yeah John, when are you going to realize that TTZ isn’t making money?
Reply to this commentKumiko,
I beg to disagree with you. Why not do a thorough research for which you are known, (the guesstimation you did on Darren Rowse’Adsense income). Do same for TTZ.
Reply to this commentIt is funny how envy gets the worst out people. We all need to tip our hat to John and others that make real money from blogging.
I own a few successful online businesses, I make a lot of money, but I have to admit that I consider monetizing blogs far more challenging. Why? because while most businesses make money, very few bloggers do.
Reply to this commentGreat blog - Great e-book- great guy! John, you rock!
congrats!
Reply to this commentThe story of your site being removed from #1 even for your name from Google has made some rumors. I am not a frequent reader of your blog, but from time to time i pass by and see what are you cookin’ this time. Anyway, i just wanted to say that I am glad that your blog earnings have not decreased together with your slight decrease in traffic (due to Google penalization). Have you ever thought about long term earnings for this blog? I mean, if you used to be paid $400 for a site review with the previous traffic your blog received aren’t you afraid that your site review value will decrease too (due to decrease of traffic)
Just wish you double your income for this month
Reply to this commentHey John, give us an update as to how many times the ebook has been downloaded, and how many affiliate clicks if any you have gotten from that.
I am really really interested to know.
Also next time you write an ebook maybe you could make room for some sponsors??
Reply to this commentsponsers would be another evil way to make some money out of it
Reply to this commentThe only thing i can say is Wooww!
Reply to this commentI noticed your blog just a few weeks ago… wish i noticed it last september
Wish you much success andthanks for all the advice you give us
I only started reading John’s blog early this year; I drop by in here almost everyday since then. Great content is so hard to come by these days.
Reply to this commentI love how you snuck in make money online in the first paragraph instead of the grammatically correct making money online. Very evil
Anyway, nice earnings and your earnings report greatly emphasizes the thing about not putting your eggs in one basket, I think I should try monetizing my blog a few other ways too
Reply to this commentJohn’s grammar isn’t the best, but I guess it doesn’t matter when you can make as much money as he does.
Reply to this commentI second that. I remember reading one of John’s posts for the first time and I noticed a few grammatical errors. After that I didn’t really care much about it anymore because I was more focused on his content anyway. And I’m a copywriter by profession, and that’s saying a lot LOL.
Reply to this commentMUST MAKE MORE MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!
Reply to this commentI didn’t know you could report your AdSense earnings. I thought that was frowned on by Google, which is why I’ve been so secretive about mine (even though it can pretty much be counted in pennies).
I noted Kontera and Text Link Ads both outshined Adsense earning. Very eye opening, and I’ll definitely make a mental note of this.
Reply to this comment