If you want to make a living online you have to start building a monthly income. In 2007 I averaged $1,345 per month for the year, this is just over $16,000. This is not enough to quit my day job, but it is proof I am building wealth and sustainable income online and making progress towards my goals. Why would I disclose this information? Because I think it makes it more real for you. You wouldn’t be reading this blog unless you were trying to become a better blogger and earn more money online. I want you to know that you can do it, and that it won’t happen overnight. I also want you to see that progress takes time, and I’m only part of the way through my journey of becoming successful by blogging.
First, check out the 1099 statement I got from google in the mail yesterday. You can click the image for a larger version.
This is what I earned in 2007 from adsense for my web sites. The average is about $850 per month, and I didn’t realize that I made that much from adsense last year until I got this google 1099 tax statement in the mail. I got to thinking about this because Alan at Affiliate Confession wrote a few days ago on his blog that he earned over $12,000 from google adsense in 2007, and I thought that was pretty incredible. Then when I got my statement I thought – you know I’m becoming successful too! The difference is Alan is building a sustainable income that is growing over time, and my adsense revenue was quite sporadic. I had one month that was almost $4,000, some under $1,000, a few a couple hundred, etc. In fact, for this first month of 2008 (the first month in over a year) I may just fall a few dollars short of the $100 required to get a payment next month! I’ll have to write about that in another post…
So I made the other $5,000 in 2007 from affiliate programs like Amazon, Commission Junction, Clickbank, and CCBill. I have yet to make a dime from Clickbank, but I’m sure I’ll get something from them in 2008! I also used some contextual link companies to make money online as well, like Targetpoint (for a time), and Kontera. I also made some money with one particular site by using AdBrite.
I intend on writing much more about what I’m earning online in 2008 because I want you to see my progress, both where I fail and where I succeed. I’m very happy to see Turnip of Power blog about his first affiliate check for $141.15. I wish I would have blogged more last year about what I was making online – as I was making it. Signup for my rss feed or subscribe by email in the top right of any page on this blog if you are interested in following my success in 2008. I have some very interesting series that you will want to read for exact instructions with actionable items if you want to earn more money online this year and begin building a monthly income! If you are reading this post and you are a blogging trying to earn more money online – I CHALLENGE YOU TO BLOG ABOUT WHAT YOU MADE IN 2007 NOW!!
In turn, I will update this post and add you to…
The blogroll of people who disclosed their online earnings in 2007
Google Adsense over $12,000 in 2007
My First Affiliate Check
My First Check from Neverblue Ads
Tom’s a licensed real estate agent who blogs about his online income in 2007
Alan reports Affiliate and Internet income over $25,000 for 2007
Xavier Media writes about earnings in December 2007
Link Bait Me says His Check is Bigger Than Yours
Study of Blog Earnings 2008
Mixed Market Arts January 2008 Earnings
I averaged $1700 month from a variety of sources: Porn Review Sites, porn short stories, web design/content management services;
This year I intend to leave porn alone and concentrate on Adbrite and TBO-Tech.
Offbeat News’s last blog post..Mayor Kilpatrick Apologizes Will Be At Work Tomorrow
I made around $100 from mid-December to now.
Earnings
I accepted your challenge and posted about my 2006/2007 income:
http://www.linkbaitme.com/2008/01/31/my-check-is-bigger-than-yours/
JoeTech.com’s last blog post..White Label the Deli.cio.us MP3 Player in Just 4 Easy Steps
I accepted your challenge and posted about my 2006/2007 income here:
http://www.linkbaitme.com/2008/01/31/my-check-is-bigger-than-yours/
JoeTech.com’s last blog post..White Label the Deli.cio.us MP3 Player in Just 4 Easy Steps
I brought in about $4000 in about 7 months. This is my first year actually trying to make money from the web so I expect to at least doube that this year if not more. Most of it was from creating and selling websites on SP and DP. I tried a little of everything though.
Guitar Hero 4’s last blog post..Guitar Hero and Rock Band Drive Music Sales
WoW! I only earned about $2,000 in 2007 from adsense running on 2 sites. I make most of my money through affiliate programs.
Your earnings have motivated me – I’m going to really try and work-it this year!
How many sites do you have?
madWAHM’s last blog post..My Adsense Earnings
I own about 40 domains, and about 20 of those are online. Of those only about 10 are running full-tilt and I make adsense money from only 6.
You can make good money from adsense if it’s worked right – and I have a post coming up about that in the next week, so stay tuned!
Thanks for provoking these guys into sharing with us. Can you let us know, without going into too much detail, how many sites this income comes from. Folks may think that just this blog is doing all that, I’m guessing it’s a few blogs, perhaps bans, perhaps guest writing??
Sure, no problem. I make money from a wide variety of sites, most of which are listed below in my Smorgasbord Network of sites. I have others I’m bringing online now, like the one I talk about in my BANS Series, but for now 99% of my income comes from the sites below. In addition, out of all the sites below, I would say that almost all the money comes from 7 of those sites. The rest I just haven’t had enough time to market at all, and keep around for the day when I do!
Did I mention I have 35 domains I haven’t yet to use? There’s not enough time in the day to do all the work I have to do. I have yet to guest write at all, but I have been asked and I really need to. In the future I’m going to post “a day in the life” (maybe this weekend) so people can really see how much work it is. I remember seeing shoemoney post quite awhile back that he didn’t make a single dime the first 2 years he worked online.
I have a number of blogs and would really like to know your thoughts on promoting these in the most effective way possible? They are wordpress blogs and have been optimized with the proper plugins for ranking.
Thanks
.-= Jerald Lynn´s last blog ..Minnesota No Fault Auto Insurance =-.
Sorry, forgot to ask…what is the best source to learn wordpress and the use of the plugins that are available? What do you feel is “the” source? Thanks.
.-= Jerald Lynn´s last blog ..Minnesota No Fault Auto Insurance =-.
@Jerald Lynn: I think the best place to learn wordpress is the codex (http://codex.wordpress.org), but now WordPress has a site with videos which might be even better (http://wordpress.tv). You can check out WordPress plugins in the official directory: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/browse/popular/
There is no real “source” for learning about plugins, but going with ones that have the best ratings and highest downloads is usually a pretty safe bet.
@Jerald Lynn: forgot to answer your question about promoting your blogs. Lots of people advertise and to PPC campaigns in adwords (which cost money). I think the most effective form of promotion is linkbuilding.
Read about it in my guide: Linkbuilding Cheat Sheet
I’m going to write an eBook about this soon as well.
Difficult to say how much I earned as my sites are lead generator and I still have to convert them to commission but suffice to say 90% of my business is now generated from my own sites wheres this time last year 0% was…
Much much better not having to pay other people for introducing business.
I am now thinking of developing some other sites which create residual income and have nothing to do with the finance sector.
hopefully a year from now I will update this comment and let you all know how much I have made!
Do you have similar post for 2008 earnings JT?
And can we expect one at the end of this year?
.-= Spanish mortgages´s last undefined ..If you register your site for free at =-.
I don’t publish earnings anymore, and most of the bloggers that started when I did don’t anymore either…especially since I get income from so many different passive areas now. Suffice to say – I work online now full time in my house and have quit my day job for good – and I’m making more than I ever did in the corporate environment.