The string of consecutive months with record earnings has come to a close as I failed to deliver on the 6th consecutive month in December, which was a little disappointing given that it was the holiday season.
Even though my numbers for December were down from the all-time high that I had set in November, I did still experience the 2nd highest total of earnings for the year and am happy with the progress that I made in 2007.
Dollars and Cents
My goal for the month of December was to continue the trend of record-breaking earnings for a sixth consecutive month, which I unfortunately failed to meet but still did pretty well.
- AdSense:
- Kontera:
- ReviewMe:
- TextLinkAds:
- Amazon:
- LinkWorth:
- Private Ads:
- Affiliate:
- PayPerPost:
- Misc:
- Grand Total:
- $34.97
- $15.13
- $0.00
- $131.63
- $0.00
- $28.90
- $113.50
- $26.98
- $0.00
- $75.00
- $426.11
The largest decline this month is from the private ad deals as I have not closed any new deals in December – although I am negotiating a few right now – and I had a nice one-time payment that pushed me to new heights in November.
The AdSense earnings decreased for the 2nd consecutive month and this will need to be monitored closely over the next few months. The Text Link Ads continue to be my most consistent earner so I say to hell with Google and their attempts to bitch slap the small publishers trying to earn a few dimes.
Plans for January
With a new year beginning, I am excited about the progress that I will make with a full year of blogging under my belt and will be starting a new string of months with record earnings.
One area that I will be focusing on in January, as well as 2008 as a whole, is affiliate marketing. Since I began blogging, I have tried to use affiliate links here and there for a few different things but ultimately I have completely failed to really make a dent with any of my affiliate efforts – except one that I plan to highlight in a future post.
It has been somewhat discouraging that I have failed so miserably with affiliate marketing although I admit that I haven’t given it the proper amount of time and attention to be truly successful. When I give something my best effort and fail, I can accept that and move on to something else. But when I haven’t given my best effort, I have to challenge myself to accomplish my goal and that is exactly what I intend to do starting in January.
There is no doubt that 2007 was a very exciting year and one that saw my blogging efforts translate into a nice chunk of change. The new year will undoubtedly present many new challenges and that means the rewards will only be more worthwhile.
Here is to a fun and rewarding year for everyone!
{ 24 comments… read them below or add one }
Don’t worry, a drop as far as traffic is concerned (which, of course, will have lower earnings as a result) is definitely normal this time of year and I am convinced that you will be starting a new streak of records as of next month.
Best wishes,
Alan Johnson
your blog seems great! hope you will achieve your goal in 2008. have a rocking year ahead. best of luck for 2008.
I appreciate your courage to step out and then share your successes.
Happy new year buddy!
Nice, I’m still waiting to break the $100 mark on Adsense after several months 🙁
I wish you great success for the coming year. All the best.
As long as you are periodically reviewing and taking course correction, the way you are doing, with clear goals already drawn up, you should have a much better 2008.
My best wishes to you for that.
Indeed, having the right goals is always a must, otherwise you may find yourself in the position of having invested a lot of time and energy in order to reach a certain destination, only to realize that you have been focusing on the wrong goals right from the beginning.
Alan Johnson
Thanks for the inspirational post. Bloggers unite! Happy New Year, and good luck in 2008!
That’s a nice chunk of change, congrats.
Matt
Well…that’s way better than having $50 something stuck in Adsense for a over a year. Which is where I’m at. I’m aching to see a check from Google in the post…
Blogging can be fun and exciting. And also some people
earn money from it, like you. Don’t be sad for the drop, I’m sure this year new records will come up.
Blogging is definitely fun and, whenever you are doing something you like and are passionate about, you stand a far higher chance at success.
Alan Johnson
You have certainly got a lot of good wishes coming your way Derek. So, what is your reaction to all these comments?
Very nice buddy. I have a strong feeling 2008 will be a blockbuster year for us.
Nice smart amount you got. Hopping best for the 2008.
Will text link ads continue to bring in the dough? Anyone?
@Alan :: Thanks for the encouragement and best wishes! While not having a product focused site, I still had high hopes for the holiday season.
@AD :: It seems great because it is great! 😉
@Damien :: Some might call it stupidity but I prefer your word of courage. I try to share the successes as well as the failures, hopefully it helps someone.
@Leo :: When I had AdSense on this site it really struggled as well, only making a few bucks here and there. The success with AdSense really seems to depend on the nature of the audience.
@FS :: Thanks, right back at ya!
@HRS :: Thanks for the encouragement. You’re absolutely correct that having clear goals and reviewing/adjusting along the way is crucial to success.
@DRD :: You’re welcome, hope it helps you reach all of your goals in 2008.
@Matt :: No doubt it is nice to make this much money from blogging, although when I compute it to an hourly rate I am probably making about $0.33 per hour. 🙂
@Ling :: Somehow I don’t think a picture of $103.42 from AdSense is quite as encouraging as a check for $100,000+ like ShoeMoney posted. I might get one more paper check and if I do I will try to post a picture.
@Mark :: By no means am I sad, as I would enjoy the blogging even if I were not making a single penny – although I might only operate one blog then.
@HRS :: Absolutely, I am lucky to receive so many kind wishes for success. My reaction is one of true admiration as this community is full of such kind and genuine people – it makes me want to give even more back to everyone and help them reach their goals.
@Brown :: Thanks bud, I too feel that all of us will find the successes that we are working towards.
@IR :: Thanks, likewise.
@Soccer :: Only time will tell but my magic eight ball said that it looks promising!
Surprising to see Adsense contributing a small percentage to your total earnings. Good luck for 2008.
Well, not putting all of your eggs in one basket is always recommended. Each website is unique, it’s hard to generalize. While a certain ad network can perform great for a certain website, it doesn’t mean that it will for yours as well. Trial&error is the name of the game.
Alan Johnson
Wishing you a lot of success in 2008 and beyond! your blog is very inspiring for readers like me. keep up the good job. have a great weekend:)
@Nicole :: What percentage would you expect AdSense to comprise? I’d certainly like to see it higher but I also enjoy having a balanced portfolio of tools earning money as that reduces the dependency on any one of them.
@Alan :: Absolutely, I’ve experimented with a few ad networks on my sites and none of them seem to match with what works and doesn’t work.
@LF :: Thanks for stopping by and sharing your encouragement. Best to you as well for a healthy and prosperous year.
Derek, I agree 100% that having a balanced portfolio is a must since you don’t want to be taken by surprise if one of your website monetization methods stops performing the way it used to.
Alan Johnson
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Great Post of my day. Really nice. (y)
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