It’s time for the much anticipated blog income report! These are exciting times here at John Chow dot Com. Summer is about over and companies are getting ready for the advertising bonanza that happens in the fall/winter months. As a blog, I’m surprised at how well I’ve done during these summer months. I expected income to drop but it had held steady and even managed to set a new record.
Almost a year ago, I decided to use this blog as a monetization case study to see if is was really possible to make money by blogging and since John Chow dot Com was the only blog I own, it made sense to use it. Starting with just Google AdSense, the blog made $352.94 in its first month, went up from there and finished off May 2007 at a record $12,569.61 in total blog income. In July, income pulled back a bit but came in at a still respectable $12,406.76.
On August 22, I unveiled a complete redesign of the blog with an emphasis placed on private ad sales. Even though all ads spots have been sold, their sales won’t count until this month. The advertisers were given the nine days in August for free. How did the blog do without the new private ad services? Pretty damn good!
Total Blog Income For August 2007: $17,828.61
The amazing thing about the income figure – aside from the number itself – is I set it in the heart the summer. The other amazing thing is it will most likely be broken next month as those private ad spots kick in. Here is the income breakdown.
- Affiliate Sales: $7,244.00
- ReviewMe: $4,200.00
- Private Ad Sales: $2,370.00
- Text Link Ads: $2,157.88
- Kontera: $1,000
- Google AdSense: $490.94
- FeedBurner: $131.18
- Buy Me a Beer: $117.99
- TTZ Media: $66.62
- Subscription: $50.00
- Grand Total: $17,828.61
Blog traffic in August was 337,852 page views from 170,465 visitors. A nice increase from the 319,165 page views posted the month before. RSS subscriptions are at a record high 7,836 readers and should break 8,000 this month. Traffic wise, everything is looking up!
Affiliate sales continues to be the blog’s biggest money maker. I promote a bunch of different programs, with an emphasis placed on programs that pays a residue income. The best performing affiliate program for August was Text Link Ads, accounting for $2,500 of the $7,244 affiliate income. Yes, I make more from the TLA affiliate program than I do from the TLA links.
Google AdSense posted its second worst performance ever. It now accounts for less than 3% of blog income. This month it will account for zero. Yes, the ad network that started John Chow dot Com will be eliminated from the blog. This illustrates the importance of spreading out your income sources. I started with Google AdSense. If I had stuck with them and added nothing else, the blog’s income wouldn’t be all that impressive. I run as many advertising systems as I can get away with while still offering a good user experience. Check out my recommended moneymakers to find out more about all the ad networks I use.
Blog advertising expenses for the month was $585.46 for Google Adwords. Hosting for John Chow dot Com is sponsored by BlueFur Web Hosting. Use coupon code JohnChowRocks for 15% off any BlueFur hosting packages. The blog redesigned was done by Nate Whitehill of Unique Blog Designs for considerations other than cash.
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September is considered the turn around month for the Internet money train. Kids will be going back to school and advertisers will be ramping up for the fall/winter season. Now is the best time to get that blog started. If you think what I’ve done this month is amazing, stick around. Your eyes are about to be open even wider.
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