Blogging For Money – September 2007

by derek on October 2, 2007 · 24 comments

September has come and gone with the blink of an eye. During the month of September I celebrated my 32nd birthday and also made a big announcement about my partnership with Wendy Piersall on a new site for Dads.
In addition to all of that excitement, September was another record breaking month for me in terms of blogging for money. As you will see in a moment, some of the numbers were up while others were down and I also introduced a new source of income.
Dollars and Cents
My goal for the month of September was to set an all-time earnings record for the third month in a row and I was able to bring it home once again.

Here is my Blogging For Money recap for September:

  • AdSense:
  • Kontera:
  • ReviewMe:
  • TextLinkAds:
  • Amazon:
  • LinkWorth:
  • Private Ads:
  • AuctionAds:
  • PayPerPost:
  • Misc:
  • Grand Total:
  • $51.31
  • $18.55
  • $0.00
  • $59.14
  • $0.00
  • $49.00
  • $108.50
  • $0.00
  • $0.00
  • $95.00
  • $381.50

My earnings for the month of September increased by roughly 30% compared with my previous best in August. While not quite as substantial as the previous increase, I am still very happy with the continued success.
As I mentioned earlier, I have added a new source of income that brought in $95.00 in September. Right now I do not know how steady this source of income will be so I have held off on giving it a separate category.
Without this new source of income, I would not have set another new blogging for money record even though I had another new record month for my AdSense and Kontera earnings. That demonstrates the importance of diversifying your sources of income to compensate for the fluctuations from month to month.
I did not publish any PayPerPost posts during September so I saw a small drop in earnings there. Likewise, my LinkWorth earnings dipped slightly as I passed on a few opportunities that I did not think were a good fit for this site.
Plans for October
The challenge in front of me for October is to see if I can set a new blogging for money record for the fourth straight month. While my overall numbers are still relatively modest, I am very encouraged by the progress that I have been making but I will not settle for anything.
I’ve already made some progress on my October numbers as I have closed one private advertisement deal and am in the process of negotiating on another private deal.
One change that I am planning to make at this site is to eliminate the AdSense blocks. I’ve experimented with AuctionAds and AdSense on this site and the results are not very encouraging. I’ve yet to decide if anything will take the place of these ads but I feel there is more to gain by removing them than the few dollars that are being earned.
I’m still a little disappointed that this site has received zero interest in terms of Text-Link-Ads given the continued increase in traffic and statistical rankings. There are still spots available at an affordable price! 😈
September was an exciting month that brought new growth and development to my blogging career. Hopefully you have had your own success in reaching your goals and if there is ever anything I can do to help, please do not hesitate to ask!

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{ 24 comments… read them below or add one }

knupNET October 2, 2007 at 11:47 pm

Good work Derek! Wish for the best in October!

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Annie October 3, 2007 at 12:47 am

Congratulations on your success and continued growth. Those Text Link Ads people will come around eventually. 🙂
In truth, it’s hard to make a lot of money from sites about making money, which is why I’ve stayed away from the industry (aside from my podcast, which is less than a month old, so that hardly counts :P).
Your new opportunity to write for dads sounds like something with a lot of promise. Hope you get a nice chunk of the income!

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derek October 3, 2007 at 12:57 am

@knup :: Thanks, I saw we are both pretty close on our September earnings!
@Annie :: Thanks! You’re right that sites about making money with blogs is a hard nut to crack unless you are very large, well-known name. To be honest, I started this site with the intent of just having somewhere to post fun stuff that didn’t really fit my finance blog. Monetization would just be icing on the cake.

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Link And Earn October 3, 2007 at 1:44 am

Congrats you also won the SEO book at problogger. You decide the $ value for it.
When you brag about your win do drop a note at Link And Earn . A place where smart braggers and curious onlookers meet to make your blog healthy and wealthy.
Cheers
Link And Earn Blog

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Simon October 3, 2007 at 1:59 am

congratulations for your monetizing efforts

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Nick October 3, 2007 at 2:03 am

Hey good job with the continued growth. I’m especially pleased to hear of your success with private ad sales, I can’t seem to give my ad space away.

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Blogging the Movie October 3, 2007 at 3:45 am

Hey you have been nominated for Blogger Rookie of the Year at Blogging The Movie

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Hoto October 3, 2007 at 8:38 am

hey good job. i wish i will already make some money with bloging too. 30% increase is great. do that every month and you will be soon nr one money earner with blogging.

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derek October 3, 2007 at 11:04 am

@LinkAndEarn :: My thought was to post about winning ProBloggers contest later today. I received the prize late last night.
@Simon :: Thanks!
@Nick :: Thanks, I know what you mean as this site has not had nearly the same success as my finance site with regard to ads.
@Prija :: Sweet, thanks for including me in that list! Now I just need to get everyone to go and vote for me, lol.

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Jake October 3, 2007 at 1:09 pm

Hey Derek, Congrats on September. This quarter that we are now in always is the best for advertising.

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Brown Baron October 3, 2007 at 1:53 pm

Looking good buddy. Getting ready to take off I think. Congrats on a smashing month.

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Blogging The Movie October 3, 2007 at 3:28 pm

nice job derek.. hey I put you on my Blogger Rookie of Year list.

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derek October 3, 2007 at 8:53 pm

@Jake :: That is what I have heard so I am looking forward to my first holiday season with a monetized blog.
@Baron :: Thanks buddy! I’m very happy that I have continued to build on the previous success and don’t plan on slowing down any time soon.
@BTM :: Thanks, you mentioned that a few hours ago. 🙂 Now I just need to find a way to convince people to vote for me, lol.

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Leo October 4, 2007 at 1:57 am

Just wondering, the income figures are not exclusive to DerekSemmler.com right? It’s a total from your other sites too?

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derek October 4, 2007 at 8:53 am

You’re right, I meant to comment about that but I forgot to include it. The bulk of the earnings are from my personal finance site.
The only earnings on this site are LinkWorth and PPP, although that was zero this month. There were a few dollars from AdSense but you may have noticed I have since removed that from this site.
The Misc. income of $95 is not from any of my blogs, technically.

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BlogEarners October 4, 2007 at 10:00 am

Congratz on your gain compared to August. You’re #6 in the Blog Earners Report for this month!

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Bobby Revell October 4, 2007 at 5:52 pm

Hi Derek! I would like to interview you on my blog. I assure you I have some serious questions and being that you answer your comments unlike 98% of any other money blogger, it will be a very positive experience.
Would you be interested?

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derek October 4, 2007 at 5:56 pm

Bobby, I would absolutely be interested!
Lol, I always do my best to answer/address all of the comments as it is everyone participating in the community that has given me the success I have had.

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swollenpickles October 6, 2007 at 2:28 am

Good work! I’ve found text-link-ads to be quite slow as well. They haven’t updated the posts available for post level ads in a loooong time!

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derek October 6, 2007 at 2:54 am

@BlogEarners :: Thanks for the mention in the Earners Report!
@Pickles :: Thanks, I’ve seen the same with regard to the post level ads not updating regularly. Although one did just sell on my finance site!

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Hoto October 7, 2007 at 8:38 am

380 $ is not bad. i hope i will be there soon. i like this earners reports it alway keeps me motivated.

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Bambi October 8, 2007 at 12:06 pm

30% of increase is a real good news! Congratulations and hope it’ll get high on October and succeeding months! ^_^

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Bobby Revell October 10, 2007 at 1:06 am

Hey Derek! I’ll E-mail you the Iview by Saturday or sooner.

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derek October 10, 2007 at 1:10 am

Sounds great Bobby! Looking forward to it.

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