Some people have been asking me how much money this blog makes.
If you’ve been reading it for a while then you know I like making monthly financial statements, so as you might have guessed I track the numbers.
Here they are for August 2008.
Income:
$215.00 - Book Sales
$87.70 - Google Adsense
$53.00 - Private Ad Sales
$50.14 - Text Link Ads
$10.22 - Kontera
$3.50 - Commission Junction
$1.36 - Chitika
TOTAL INCOME: $420.92
Expenses:
$10.00 - Hosting with 1and1 (this includes a number of sites, not just BreakingFree)
$45.00 - Book printing and shipping costs (paperback only)
$5.00 - E-Junkie for processing book payments
TOTAL EXPENSES: $60.00
NET INCOME: $360.92
As you can see I’ve been trying a variety of ad programs. Some of them are under performing, like Kontera, CJ, and Chitika. I’m always ready and willing to replace these with something that might work a lot better. In particular the 125x125 square ads on the right side of this blog make very little money at all. I was trying a company called PerformancingAds.com last month which brokers 125x125 square ads like that, but they didn’t make a single dollar :(. That space can probably be put to better use.
If anyone has other suggestion for what has made them money on their blog, please post below in the comments.
I don’t think blogging is a good way to get rich quick, but if you enjoy writing about a subject then by all means it doesn’t hurt to make some money on the side.
The real benefit of blogging (at least in my mind) is:
Writing your thoughts and interacting with others on a particular topic forces you to learn it better and faster.
From a purely egotistical point of view, it just feels good to help other people, get emails from them, and have people listen to what you say.
It’s like a personal journal to help you record and organize your thoughts.
It’s a good way to keep in touch with people who you wouldn’t ordinarily have time to communicate with on a regular basis. They can still know what’s going on in your life.
It builds distribution for your ideas (also known as a permission asset) so that the next time you launch a project there are people who know you and are willing to check it out.
If the non-monetary reasons make enough sense for you to blog, then I think you can wake up a few years later and have a nice fairly passive income. It certainly doesn’t happen quick though, and I’ve still got a ways to go. I’ll keep you posted as things progress and I find other ways to make money from blogging as a side income.