In order to monitor progress, I will say that the month of October had been a pretty good month in terms of blogging revenue. For the month, I earned $713.17; down less than $30 from the prior month. Following the recent trend, I would expect the earnings for November to rebound and result in a modest increase in earnings.

Unfortunately the yo-yo trend has been broken - on the bottom end.

While I have been investigating a new affiliate network, I have yet to actually earn anything. Coupled with the glitch at PerformancingAds that locked up an advertising spot for most of the month, I am not surprised that there has been a slight decrease in November.

Dollars and Cents

The purpose of these monthly updates on my earnings is to demonstrate for all of you to see which tools are working on my blogs and which tools are not working. While that doesn’t mean everyone will experience the same results, as every blog is different, my hope is that it stokes the fire inside you to experiment with your blog until you find the right combination of tools.

With a decrease in earnings, one would think that there might not be too many bright spots. However, there are a few developments that are reason to remain encouraged:

• AdSense Earnings :: For the fourth consecutive month, AdSense earnings have surpassed the $100 threshold. While some of you may scoff at such low numbers, I know many people still waiting for their first $100 check so that is extremely encouraging.

• Amazon Earnings :: While not earth-shattering numbers, the earnings from Amazon have been a pleasant surprise. The last two months have had enough earnings to move into the second tier of affiliate commission, which is encouraging.

• Private Advertising :: During the month of November, I secured a new private ad deal that will run for three months but also saw one private ad deal come to an end. Private ads have been one of the best, most consistent sources of revenue all year.

Obviously not everything has been positive, as otherwise we would be talking about an increase in earnings as opposed to a decrease. Here are a few of the discouraging developments that will need some attention moving forward:

• Kontera Earnings :: Month after month, I continue to try and give them the benefit of the doubt. There had been a brief moment of hope when the earnings had more than doubled in September, however that moment has since passed. Kontera…you’re fired!

• TextLinkAds Earnings :: At one time this had been one of my strongest sources of revenue. While it still earns a nice chunk of change each month, it has continued to decrease and has given me reason to consider moving towards private ad deals only.

• PerformancingAds Earnings :: As I mentioned earlier, there was a glitch on the PerfomancingAds servers that caused one of my two ad blocks on this blog to be locked out for nearly the entire month - meaning no opportunity for income. After seeing the response from Chris, there is hope that this will reverse.

Plans for December

How much did the slumping economy impact my earnings in November? It is hard to quantify but it may have played a role as companies spend less on advertising. Traditionally the holiday season is when the earnings ramp up, so I have my work cut out for me in December.

As noted above, I have pulled the plug on Kontera for the time being. There have been too many months with earnings less than $10 to justify keeping it around. However, as we have discussed before, pulling the plug doesn’t mean my work is over. There is testing that needs to be done to see if removing Kontera has a positive impact on other revenue sources, such as AdSense.

With the server glitch at PerformancingAds behind us, I’d like to see the earnings return to form and book a couple of ad spots this month. In addition, I will keep experimenting with affiliate networks to try and squeeze a little earnings out of that pot as well.

The holidays and new year will be here before we know it. That means it is important to also take the time to slow down and enjoy time with the family and friends. As always, please ask any questions that you have in the comments below and we can continue the discussion.

How have your earnings been this holiday season?

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That lead to a challenge for readers of TwiTip to construct their own “Top 10 Must Follow” list. My entry was actually created nearly 8 months ago when I first signed up on twitter and I created The Ultimate List of Dads & Husbands on Twitter, which continues to grow.

Shortly after sharing my list as part of the challenge, I learned that a friend of mine that has just recently returned to blogging had included me on their list of top niche twitter users and also launched a new FriendFeed challenge to create a list of the people that you recommend following on FriendFeed.

While I have yet to use FriendFeed the way that it should be used, I have a nice group of people that I am able to follow and stay up to date with via FriendFeed. Among that group of people are the following 10 people that you should be following:

• Andy Beard - While I haven’t seen a blog update from Andy in quite some time, there is still plenty of value to be found in following the sites that Andy stumbles, diggs, and tweets. [ blog ]

• Ange Recchia - Not only does Ange have a wealth of helpful and interesting sites to share, she also has a passion for helping people improve their financial intelligence (which I really dig). [ blog ]

• Chris Brogan - Many of you likely know the name, but let me stress that following his blog and tweets will teach you so many things about this space. [ blog ]

• Chris Garrett - After seeing the timely response from Chris regarding my issue with PerformancingAds, it should come as no surprise that I have learned a lot from following him on FriendFeed. [ blog ]

• Gary Jones - Yeah, Gary is the man behind the hosting company that I use - BlueFur - and is always sharing great technology news and items of interest. [ blog ]

• Internet Strategist - Always willing to share her knowledge with others and has taught me many things that have made me a better blogger and person. [ blog ]

• Liz Strauss - Want to build a true community? Follow Liz for awhile and learn from one of the best. Attend SOBCon and you’ll stand to learn even more. [ blog ]

• Maki - As the author behind the hugely successful blog DoshDosh, Maki is a brilliant guy that goes the distance to help other people improve their skills. [ blog ]

• Shana Albert - Some of you might remember the name from this Speedlinking post. Shana is a prolific Stumbler and has plenty to share if you are willing to listen. [ blog ]

• Tamar Weinberg - When it comes to social media, there aren’t too many people that will teach you more than Tamar. [ blog ]

Are you using FriendFeed? Who would be on your list of recommended people to follow? Create your own list, either in the comments below or on your own blog (be sure to come back and tell us about it), of 10 people that you recommend on FriendFeed.

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In addition, there has been an increase in dialog between community members of roughly 20% compared to the previous month. To get an idea of what was responsible for the increase in dialog, lets take a look at the posts that received the most comments.

For the month of November, the following posts had the most active discussion:

• Blog Blazers :: 40 Top Bloggers Share Their Secrets :: 57 comments
• Bug Out :: Playing With The Camera :: 32 comments
• The Five Things Meme :: 30 comments
• Election Night 2008 - History In The Making? :: 30 comments

As I mentioned, there was an increase in the quantity of comments during the month of November; moving from 414 comments the previous month up to 498 comments. On a per post basis, this represents an increase from 21 comments per post to 26 comments per post.

So, who had the most to say last month?

1. It should come as no surprise to anyone that Nick from romandock dot com is among the most active commentators; he secured the top spot with 36 comments. Awhile back, Nick questioned how much time is wasted online with a variety of non-productive sites. It is quite interesting to think about when many of the people frequenting these sites complain that they have no time.

2. Yet another regular contributor, Andrea from According to Andrea, locked up the spot as the second most vocal with 25 comments. For those that don’t know, Andrea is working on a secret new project that I think some of you will really enjoy (yeah, I already know the secret).

3. The third most vocal community member, with 22 comments, is Nicole from Great Prices Here. Not too long ago, Nicole shared some great advice on how to save money on medication; given the current economy every little bit helps. In addition to Nicole’s tips, look at mail-order programs for additional savings.

4. Neil from Goodies For Free is the lone newcomer to the list of top commentators with 22 comments. Unfortunately for Neil, as I am writing this post I visited his site to try and include an additional link and instead I am greeted with an “Under Maintenance” screen. Doh!

5. Wrapping up the list of most vocal community members is Ling from Uptake with 16 comments. As we plan our next family vacation, I will certainly be talking to Ling for advice on where to stay. Given how much our kids enjoyed the beach on our trip to Florida, the Dunes Village Resort in Myrtle Beach sounds like it might fit the bill.

Thank you to not only these five active commentators but each and every one of you for your contributions and participation. It is encouraging to see not only the quantity but also the quality of comments continue to increase.

It was a great month - here is to an even better month in December!

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Khaled asks:

Nicole Price asks:

Dassnagar asks:

FP System asks:

Ling@Uptake asks:

Shawn Knight asks:

Ryan asks:

Jessica W asks:

Sizegainplus asks:

Happy Thanksgiving!

While we hopefully take time throughout the year to give thanks for all of the things we have in our lives, today is the “official” day of giving thanks here in the United States. In recognition of today, I wanted to take a moment to share a few things that I am thankful for this year.

Here are just a few of the many things that I am thankful for this year:

• Family. We have our ups and downs, but my wife and two boys mean the world to me. We are healthy, happy, and have each other.

• Friends. There are friends that I have had since childhood, as well as friends made more recently. They are all special.

• Work. With the state of the economy, I am thankful that I have a job that pays me well and provides for my family.

• Community. This includes each and every one of you that visit this blog, share your voice, and help one another.

• Future. With President-elect Obama, I am thankful for the promise that the future holds.

In addition to giving thanks, I will be giving books!

The five winners that will receive a copy of Blog Blazers have been selected. As much as I’d like to be able to give each of you a copy of the book, I have a limited number to share. Thank you to everyone for participating!

The winners are…

• Danny Cooper
• Brian Yamabe
• Steve
• Mert Erkal
• Tyler Ingram

Congratulations to each of the winners! Remember, if you’d like a personal note from Chapter 15 (aka me) included in the book, just let me know.

Take some time, not only today but every single day, to reflect on what you have to be thankful for and share that thanks with the people in your life. Let the people in your life know how special they are to you, don’t assume that they know.

Last but certainly not least…thank you for everything!

Photo courtesy of psd

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Since introducing this tool on my blog, I’ve made money and spent money with the ad network. While people like Nick pulled the plug on using the service, my experience with PerformancingAds has been pleasant overall.

Until recently.

For the last few weeks, there has been an ad running in my sidebar that had been booked for a period of one week. As one week turned into two weeks, I noticed that the ad was still being displayed. On closer inspection, I realized that the PerformancingAds interface indicated that this ad was now a self-booking ad, which it is not.

After exploring the PerformancingAds site and reviewing all of my options, I did not see any way to remove this ad from being displayed. By this point, two weeks had turned into three weeks and this ad was still being displayed at no cost to the advertiser.

It was time to send an email to PerformancingAds support.

Friday afternoon I submitted an inquiry via their website and by Monday morning I had received a response from support. The response that I received indicated that PerformancingAds had experienced a server glitch that caused ads to be stuck. New ads were not appearing, while expired ads did not disappear.

From what I was told, as well as this twitter announcement, the issue was resolved and the ad regions should now appear with the correct ads.

Unfortunately, I have to disagree that the issue has been resolved. The same ad that was improperly listed as a self-booking is still being displayed. That very same morning that I received the response from the support staff, I replied that the issue did not appear to be resolved. As of right now, I have yet to receive a follow-up response.

Is this a sign of trouble with PerformancingAds?

If this were an isolated issue, I might be more inclined to chalk it up to nothing more than a technical problem that they were working to resolve. However, I have noticed a few other things that are cause for concern with the use of PerformancingAds.

• Inability to remove self-bookings. Once an ad is booked as a self-booking, I don’t see any way to edit or remove this advertisement. This is a design flaw in my opinion and detracts from the appeal of using their service to manage my own private ads.

• Affiliate earnings. According to their affiliate program, you earn $10 for each publisher and/or advertiser referred to the program. While the reports indicate that I have referred people to the service, I don’t see anything displaying information about my affiliate earnings.

• Payment schedule. Since signing up at the end of July, I have earned money every month with the service yet I have only received one payment. Taking a quick look at their site, I don’t see mention of the payment schedule to know whether this is an expected delay or a problem on their end.

While I have had a positive experience with PerformancingAds up until recently, I am beginning to question whether or not I want to continue using their service. Their response to this “server glitch” will go a long way to determining how long I stick with them, so hopefully they come through and properly fix this problem.

Well, I have some exciting news for fans of Harley-Davidson - the XR1200, inspired by the legendary XR750, is the newest member of the Sportster family and is coming to the U.S. following its Europe-only release early this year.

The XR750 was the most dominating American dirt track racking motorcycle of all-time, earning the Number One plate in an unprecedented 26 AMA flat track seasons. When the XR1200 had a Europe-only release, many riders in the U.S. were anxious to see if they would bring the bike stateside.

That time has come!

In a tribute to the XR750, there is a pre-sale of only 750 XR1200 models that will begin on December 1st, 2008 and end on December 15th, 2008.

More information on the Harley-Davidson XR1200:

Drawing significant design influences from the successful Harley-Davidson XR750 motorcycles that set new standards for dirt track racing success over the last 30 years, the XR1200 features technical innovation to provide potent street performance and handling. In fact, Harley-Davidson dirt track racing legends Scott Parker and Rich King participated in the XR1200 development, along with European GP racing champion Adrien Morillas.

The 1200cc Evolution V-Twin cranks out 90 hp with high torque. Rubber mounted to a new frame with a cast aluminum swingarm, the engine delivers exhilarating performance and responsive handling with less vibration. A unique upswept, high-volume 2-1-2 straight shot exhaust system includes dual mufflers and is finished in satin chrome.

A sport-tuned Showa® suspension with inverted 43 mm front forks and twin preload adjustable shocks combines with lightweight black cast three-spoke wheels to make the XR1200 ride and corner with feeling. Specially designed Dunlop® Qualifier D209 tires connect the rider to the road, while Nissin® four-piston calipers and large dual disc front brakes provide stopping power.

There will be more information, including a video of the XR1200, from Harley-Davidson as the bike is released. As soon as I hear word of this information being available, I’ll let you know.

In the meantime, I will make the suggestion to Harley-Davidson that if they really want to leverage social media, they should select one of the top 40 bloggers (ahem, raising hand) to spend some time with a demo of the XR1200 and write about their experience.

After all, if Kawasaki can do it, why not Harley-Davidson?

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There are many people across the world that are thankful for the promise the future holds with the recent Presidential election, myself being one of them. Personally, I am thankful for the opportunity that I had to be included in the book Blog Blazers and I hope that the blogging tips shared in the book help at least one person on their journey to success.

Further, I am thankful for the opportunity to share a part of myself with all of you. Through this blog, I have had the pleasure of being introduced to a group of people that are truly outstanding and have touched my life. The opportunity has also presented itself to remove the shroud of secrecy and share my passion for blogging with people in my personal life.

As part of my reflection on the many things that I have to be thankful for, now it is time to take a step back and thank the top ten blogs that referred the most traffic - where did you come from - and take a look at the top ten most visited posts for the month - where did you go.

Top 10 Referring Sites

1. romandock dot com
2. Geekologie
3. According to Andrea
4. Courtney Tuttle
5. InlineSEO
6. Sparkplugging
7. More Merchant
8. 45n5.com
9. Minterest
10. Puppet Kaos

While there are a handful of regular names included in the Top 10 above, I was happy to see a couple of new entries on the list. This month I’d like to give a special welcome to the Top 10 to Andrea from According to Andrea and Kelvin from Puppet Kaos. If you haven’t already, check out their sites and add them to your reading list!

So, now lets take a look at what content was benefiting the most from all of this traffic.

According to Google Analytics, here are the top 10 visited posts from the past month.

Top 10 Visited Posts

1. How To Record A Cellphone Conversation
2. Bug Out :: Playing With The Camera
3. Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor
4. Pictures :: Aftermath of Exploding CD
5. Blog Blazers :: 40 Top Bloggers Share Their Secrets
6. Can You Record A Cellphone Conversation?
7. Being A Better Husband
8. 5 Reasons You Should Trick Or Treat At My House
9. 100 Push Up Challenge :: Join Me And Win
10. Halloween Costumes :: Purchase vs. Home-Made

Over the last month, we see that the usual suspects have remained in the list of the top 10 most visited posts, however there are also a handful of new posts that made the list.

One that I find interesting, and I suspect has made the list due to the holiday season approaching, is the post about being a better husband. On an interesting side note, I actually listed that post as one my most successful posts in my interview for Blog Blazers - which you still have time to enter to win a free copy.

Is there a post that you think should be in the Top 10 but isn’t?

Again, I would just like to take a moment to extend my thanks to each and every one of you for sharing a part of your life with me. Having a chance to get to know so many of you is what makes writing this blog worth the effort and I hope that you are getting something of value in return.

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You can ask anything that you like and I will answer to the best of my abilities, or tell you if I don’t know the answer.

Before asking your question, it would be great if you could review the previous sessions to see if your question has been asked already. Not only will that save us time, but it will allow you to ask a new question that has not already been answered.

• Q&A Round 1 :: The Answers
• Q&A Round 2 :: The Answers
• Q&A Round 3 :: The Answers
• Q&A Round 4 :: The Answers
• Q&A Round 5 :: The Answers
• Q&A Round 6 :: The Answers

The Thanksgiving holiday is quickly approaching here in the US, we have a new President-elect that seems to have pleased people all across the world, I am off of work until December 4th and am completely rockin’ the facial hair for Movember (btw, I have raised a little over $200 so far and you still have time to donate) - so I hope that you can find a question that you’d like me to answer.

Hit me with your best shot…what do you want to know?

Questions will be answered on the following Friday, unless I am still in a food coma as a result of Thanksgiving.

Focused on advancing your career? You’re likely reading business books. Raising a family? You’re likely reading parenting books. Concerned about the state of the economy? You’re likely reading financial publications.

The important take-away here is that we are influenced by what we read, therefore we should strive to find a healthy balance in our reading materials. Unfortunately, many of us are limited in the amount of time that we can devote to reading.

As Michael concluded his post, he asked whether or not people still read for pleasure or if people only read material directly related to their work or education. As I commented on the post, I do still read for pleasure - although much of that reading is now done online.

However, after a recent order arrived from Amazon, plus a trip to the local library the other day, I have found myself with a stack of reading material on my desk. I thought it might be interesting to share with you the books that are on my desk right now. Whether or not this gives you an insight into who (or what) I am, I will leave you to decide.

Artie Lange - Too Fat to Fish

On my morning commute, often times I am listening to The Howard Stern Show on Sirius satellite radio. For those that aren’t familiar with the show, Artie Lange is the side-kick on the show and also has a successful stand-up comedy career.

Being a fan of the show, I’ve heard numerous stories from Artie that have had me in tears with laughter. Naturally, I had to pick up a copy of his book when it came out to see what other kind of bizarre stories he had to share.

Blog Blazers

While I am intimately familiar with one chapter in this book - the one about me - I am extremely interested in what the other 39 bloggers have to share as well.

One look at the lineup of bloggers that have been included in this book and you can see why this would be on my reading list even if I had not received a copy. You still have time to enter to win a copy of Blog Blazers!

With this book, I can clearly see that Michael’s belief that you are what you read has some merit. Obviously I am a blogger, whether I can be considered a “top” blogger is not for me to decide, but I am a blogger reading about blogging.

Meatball Sundae: Is Your Marketing out of Sync?

One of the bloggers featured in the book Blog Blazers is none other than Seth Godin. After reading Seth’s chapter in Blog Blazers, I was interested in reading one of the books that he has authored.

Recently, Shoemoney had been talking about the book the dip and I found myself at the library looking for this book. Unfortunately it was not on the shelves, but they did have Meatball Sundae so I grabbed it.

The Secret

Anyone that is familiar with the law of attraction has likely heard of this book. While I have read a fair amount about it, I have yet to read the book most often referenced when discussing the law of attraction.

Do I believe in the law of attraction? Not really, but I think that I need to read more to fully understand the message before I can say for sure. There have been times that I thought there was some validity to the law of attraction, however I also question whether that is just a convenient explanation for the results of my actions.

WTF?: How to Survive 101 of Life’s Worst F*#!-ing Situations

A couple of weeks ago, I was contacted by someone working with this book that thought it might of interest to my community over at TMP. When the review copy arrived, my wife grabbed it and could not put it down.

Whether it be how to handle the times when you can’t pull down your pants to crap because someone peed on the floor (#12) or your computer crashes and you lose the big presentation (#33), this book is guaranteed to have you laughing.

Click Here to Order: Stories of the World’s Most Successful Internet Marketing Entrepreneurs

Joel Comm may be well known for his advice related to Google AdSense, but he has a long history with internet marketing.

In this book, Joel takes us through the “underground” history surrounding some of the most successful internet marketers. While this isn’t a step-by-step guide to replicate the success that these people have had, it does offer insight into what these people did to achieve their goals.

As you can see, my reading list has a couple of books focused on blogging and internet marketing - which is certainly inline with the belief that you are what you read. However, I also have a couple of books on my reading list that are of a broader, or different, demographic.

I’d be interested to hear what is on your current reading list - are you what you read?

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