Most of the “make money online” blogs teach various ways to earn online income, but I very seldom see posts that teach how to earn online income consistently. I’m not rich, I don’t make thousands and thousands of dollars every month – but each month I do seem to make more than the last. My web sites and blogs grow, my income grows, and I learn more as I go along the way.

If you’re thinking of building your own “online empire”, you need to be ready for the harsh reality of how hard it is – especially for one person to do alone. I own 48 domains, and less than 2 dozen are even live and running. I am not a very organized person, and yet the little bit of structure I have been able to apply to my work routine has greatly increased both my productivity and montly profit. I’m going to give you a glimpse into the daily life of a blogger / web worker / blog owner, so you can compare it to your own schedule and gauge where you possibly need improvement.

Here’s a running list of things that I did yesterday:

  1. Create a running list of items to work on for the day (which blogs need posts
  2. Create a new weekly list of goals to complete by week’s end
  3. Read and answer emails
  4. Approve Entercard ads
  5. Approve blog comments
  6. Check various stats (Feedburner, Adsense, etc.)
  7. Read other blogs
  8. Comments on other blogs
  9. Read and comments on forum posts
  10. Create graphic for blog sidebar
  11. Write new posts for articles series
  12. Edit guest post for submission to another blog
  13. Write 6 quick posts for 3 different blogs
  14. Write email for 2 WordPress projects partnering with blog owners on
  15. Do 10 minutes research for blog posts
  16. Write new blog post for 1 blog
  17. Send MySpace comments for web site that has companion MySpace profile
  18. Check blog (page view) stats
  19. Post pictures on one blog
  20. Check eBay product availability for post monetization
  21. Add 20 events to calender on one blog
  22. Answer MySpace messages for one blog
  23. Approve and reply to blog comments for one blog
  24. Respond to incoming emails for the day
  25. Edit existing blog page
  26. Approve and answer 10 comments on one blog
  27. Upgrade 6 WordPress plugins for one blog
  28. Write post for one blog
  29. Finish writing article series post and publish
  30. Write out notes for work to do later in the week
  31. Review design for WordPress Theme partner project
  32. Review design spec for WordPress Plugin partner project
  33. Place links for new merchant affiliate sale for the week

This list is basically what I did during one 5 hour work period. Now, I work on blogs more than 5 hours a day – but I wanted you to get the picture of how much work it can actually be. I wish I had seen somebody’s “to do list” for full time blogging a few years back so I knew what I was in for. I would have started getting more organized way back then.

If you want to be successful building monthly online income – you need to have definite plans for how to get there. You need to make sure your money comes from various sources, and you need to put in some time each and every day working on the basics:

1. Writing Content
2. Building Links
3. Monetizing
4. Doing Maintenance
5. Doing Analysis (what’s working – what’s not)

If you aren’t writing both daily and weekly goals, AND keeping track of exactly what you do throughout the week – you may actually FOOL YOURSELF into believing that you are working hard when really you didn’t do as much as you thought (in areas that generate income). As I stated before in previous posts, I maintain a daily spreadsheet in google docs of what I do throughout the week – so I can review it at the end of the week to see how I did. It’s also good starting out a new week, so I can pick up where I left off.

When you work online, and work for yourself you basically are running a small business. You are the boss, you are in charge, and you give yourself your own work assignments, and you need to evaluate your performance and work just like a boss would of their employee. Are you making the grade – or do you need to be fired? Are you an invaluable employee, or do you need to be fired?

I don’t claim to be the most organized person, or the most effective worker. But I do know I have a pretty good handle on whether or not my “online business” is on the road to profitability or not.