This month, I have to admit is a bit skewed. The holiday shopping, which I missed out on last year (since I was only doing AdSense) made every profit center swell for me. Hopefully the trend continues and I can build more pages, add more content, beef up my sites and get ready for a slump as the cycle goes.
Like it? Buy it - it's real. Yes, an affiliate link. Thanks. :)
In other words, I don’t think this will continue too much like this unless I take some action quickly.
Keep in mind that I’ve had two birthdays to celebrate in November (11 y/o and 13 y/o), I took a much needed family vacation (which was nothing short of a miracle if you’ve been reading here) to have Thanksgiving with my mom. That meant packing 7 of my kids and my wife, mother-in-law and her dog to take a 10-hour drive which we thought would be more interesting if we made the trek in 12-hours instead.
The drive was super awesome! We play this game called “everyone fall asleep except the driver.” Fun. For those not in the know (most reading this) – the drive from Idaho to northern California is as exciting as the annual belly button lint picking contest held in Lint Trap, Wattajoke.
Diapers, a big family and a nursing baby, what can I say? 10 hours stretches into 12.
I have to add: Oregon has the DUMBEST speed trap with the LENGTHIEST stretch of prime sage brush real estate on the planet…55MPH, really? Are you kidding me?
I should have ridden a banana slug…would have been faster…
Anyhow, I’m not complaining against Oregon – just the lame speed trap between Idaho and California, that’s all. It boasts the same topography as Texas, except in the Lone Star State, there are stretches with the speed limit posted at 80 MPH.
Freedom: I love it. BUT I digress…
My point in all of that was to say: I STILL haven’t been working my business like I need to. It kills me when I realize what I COULD have made if I actually did take charge of my schedule (I am such a lame on that end).
Disorganized me managed to pull this off (mwa-ha-ha-hee-haw-heh!) -
Amazon: 61.20
CB: 419.20
CJ: 2208.80
AdSense: 77.37
Sub-Total: 2766.57
—————————–
(- Overhead)
ArticleRanks: – 39.00
Hosting: – 59.17
———–
Big, Hairy Deal:
(New High!) $2668.40
I am re-signing up with Unique Article Wizard, which will reflect on next month’s totals (not sure how December will go, but here’s hoping!).
Dude. That rocked. I am just as surprised as you, believe me. I’ve only been online making money for 13 months and I have TONS more to learn.
Oh, if you’re new here, this total represents 80 websites…
Yeah, RIGHT!
I still only operate 13 money-making websites, with more in development. The fat CJ (Commission Junction) is from ONE website.
I do have HubPages and Squidoo lenses. Squidoo net me $300, but I didn’t set up any tracking on the Hubs, so I have no idea how much of the total is from HP (I’m “5institutes” there) – but it ain’t too much.
The $2k+ site = My baby. I love her. I need to re-visit AdSense and my strategy there, since I know I’m leaving a lot of money on the table, I just don’t believe in “AdSense-only” at this point for profit.
Alright. Gotta few gigs to hammer out and make some more active income…
Screen shots for the skeptics: (Hey, I’m a skeptic myself, I keep checking my affiliate programs to make sure this isn’t a joke.)
Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!
You start off making excuses then you write over $2000 of CJ earnings! Lol I was feeling quite good about my earnings until I read this, and I don’t even have the same excuses. You have definitely struck gold with that site, I am not surprised she is your baby ;)
Congrats on those earnings – keep going the way you are and you’ll be able to stop working like a maniac for clients and really build a fantastic PASSIVE income. I know you work really hard so you deserve it!
Ruth – Web Career Girl recently posted..My Christmas Hubs – What I’ve Been Doing Quick Update About My PLR Challenge
Say it ain’t so! I was absolutely surprised by my earnings, I haven’t really touched the site apart from add a few Amazonian Profit Plan style reviews (well, I did that 2 months ago + UAW, AR and EZAs).
I felt a bit weird posting since I hate the feeling you just described, and I hope I can keep writing to egg others on – not to out-joust you or anyone.
The only person I’m really competing against is myself – and what I don’t want is to be some boastful, obnoxious airbag.
That being said, Ruth – I find your posts always inspiring. What you’re doing is building a long-term business. I’m just raking in some 4th quarter sales (crossing fingers January I can at least have 1/2 this!).
I’d feel good about your numbers, seeing as your business has taken off and you write for yourself more these days. Your PLR site and recent Hubs I’m sure will continue to prove your business acumen is spot on.
And thanks for the kind words, I just hope you won’t see us as competitors, we’re not in any means. I’m still learning from you!
Congrats on the new high. I know about that driving thing. Took the Thanksgiving trip from Indy to Orlando. The nice part was that every state had a speed limit of 70 so was able to drive at a decent pace until traffic got in the way.
I am somewhat surprised that AdSense isn’t all that high with 13 sites but I guess if that is not your focus. More than one way to skin a cat, eh?
Love the picture, BTW. I am very interested in gold investing. Pleased to see it moving higher again.
kidgas recently posted..Made First Amazon Affiliate Payment
That sounds like fun! Disney World?
Re: AdSense – I’ve noticed a decline since taking my #1 earner (the CJ site) and making it more of an affiliate-product orientation. (Glad I did that!) The CTR on AdSense tanked, but the sales skyrocketed. It was a calculated risk at the time.
My #2 AdSense site I lost because of some funky cancellation move I did last year (newbie me). Pure mistake, and that site made me under $200 for the year. Big whoop-de-doo.
I can get more in AdSense if I actually wanted to build more pages on my earning sites, keep the theme of my WordPress sites ugly (I have several ugly themes that really work well for that)…but the gamble is: I don’t get as many sales.
As soon as I saw the sales out-strip my AdSense, I sorta knew where I was headed.
Oh, and gold investing – yeah, that’s a good thing (investments moving upward). I wanted to get into it, but never bought. I might when the $ gets better. Thanks for dropping by, Kidgas.
James you are absolutely right! And it is inspiring – because I am also going down the route where I am putting more focus into fewer things. The inspiration obviously does come with comparisons with my own earnings, hence my comment, but I do very much enjoy everyone’s earning posts. And knowing that it’s possible to make that with just one site is an important thing to know! You should keep posting those earnings, although I’d also like to see more posts about what it is that makes your site so special ;) Is it an authority site? I think those Amazonian profit plan style reviews are really a good way to go – I need to do more of them!
Ruth – Web Career Girl recently posted..My Christmas Hubs – What I’ve Been Doing Quick Update About My PLR Challenge
Re: the site in question and what makes it so special – I’ve been meaning to do a series of posts on that, or a free report, opt-in, not sure.
I’ve kept that one sorta in the bag until I can decide how to play the card.
:)
I don’t have a lot of cards to play. Yet.
But I will say this: it has 7 pages of content. 3 pages make money, my reviews.
And the rest? It’s really just….
Hm…
You almost had me.
I think that would be a GREAT report for an opt in. Having a list is always good! Bet you’d get lots of signups ;)
Ruth – Web Career Girl recently posted..My Christmas Hubs – What I’ve Been Doing Quick Update About My PLR Challenge
Congrats James,
You did well this month, I wonder did your site do all the money just from on site sales or did you have an email list to promote the products (emails got from the same site).
Oh, and was it in a holiday niche ?
Congrats and I hope you will make much more this month!
Alex recently posted..Camioane monstru
Thanks, Alex – the site is not in a “holiday” niche. I actually don’t (yet) really do well with holiday specific products.
Meaning: I only really choose evergreen products which will sell all year. I tried my hand at Halloween sites (sort of) but they didn’t make enough to impress me (my fault, though).
And yes: all on-site sales, no list. (Told you: I haven’t worked my business very well yet! It’s mostly physical products that push my #s, except in the case of Clickbank.)
Dude, you have site with just a few pages and made 2 grand!!!
You would be mental to even think about working much on anything apart from that site. Why not spend a year on it and build it out big style?
Rank for every term in the niche you can. Copy the successful pages on to Hubs and Squidoo and anywhere else you can and leave the rest be.
That is awesome earnings from one site and if I was you I would save my money and time on buying new sites apart from a few to run slowly in the background and get some age and turn that in to a $20,000 a month site. It can be done, trust me.
Your Car (huge Truck?) journey made me laugh. I read it out to the Wife, she said you are mental.
If I post this and it says I missed a spam trap I am going to cry.
Dave recently posted..Internet Marketing Sickness
Dave -
You read my mind – actually I’m sure I read those ideas you described in various places on your blog, to tell the truth. Seriously, what you’ve laid out mirrors what I’ve been telling my wife recently.
It helps that you agree! Oh, and the car is a hooptie, as the hip hop saying used to go: it used to belong to the Oregon Juvenile Correctional Authority, or whatever it is they call it.
Has dents, scratches and barely any traction (call it snow, I call it hell – driving through the Sierra Nevada mountains was nothing, but driving here in Idaho…I think Jack Frost wanted to kill me on the 11th hour of my return trip…seriously: white-out, driving through areas where you’re in between a cliff edge/mountain side and oncoming headlights…only you’re NOT sure which lane you’re in because there is no lane, it’s all white…)
Family travels are fun, but snow + family travels – traction – visibility = change your mandies.
(Man Undies)
Thanks for your solid advice, Dave. You rock like Slash.
JamestheJust recently posted..Passive Income for November 2010
James,
I totally agree w/ Dave’s comment about concentrating on that one CJ site. The other 12(earning)/79(total) that you have are only netting you $557.77 if I am correct. He is right you could really build that one out-even if it is a micro niche!
Kelly recently posted..October Earnings plus Site Updates
Yeah, agreed. It’s funny, though – like I’ve been reading what Michelle or Mike are doing [ http://passiveincomeonlineblog.com and http://mikeiser.com ] and I STILL want to build. I do have 2 domains, possibly 3 to build, but I’ll be chilling out on that for a while. The two I need to build are the two I’m using for Amazonian Profit Plan sites in my contest with Clare, the third will be my wife’s if she feels the compulsion.
All that to say, my focus does need to be chasing the “known” vs. “unknown” money. Oh, and the 79 or so sites – I was kidding. I only have 13 websites that are developed. The “80 websites” thing was a joke.
Even then, though, the main money is from this site, my niche site, and AdSense (ad cents in my case, I’ve still yet to build a true AdSense empire of any imagination). So really, 3 main websites I’d say so far when it comes to sales of any sort…
OH MY. All I meant to say was: you’re right! Having a hard time focusing. I need some coffee.
Dang, I’m jealous. Maybe I won’t post my earnings this month.
Carrie recently posted..Progress Update – What Day Is It
If I didn’t post because I was jealous of Dave, Mike, Sara and Michelle (and “The Black SEO Guy” Antonio Coleman…yikes! He’s smoking hot with cash) – well, I’d never post.
If you and Ruth don’t stop with that talk, I won’t post my earnings any more, because I don’t want to boast – it’s the direct opposite I want.
I seriously think: if I can do this – I, who still ask stupid questions because I have NO idea how to “properly” use BMD like the pros, etc. – you can do it, too.
It really does boil down to picking one hell of a product, then ranking your post, and serving cookies up.
Multiple #1 rankings helps, but so does the 3-6 month cookies some of these guys have on various aff programs.
Anyhow, you know the drill more than most. If you haven’t found something that works consistently (product wise) then I’d keep experimenting (using web 2.0 stuff first).
I don’t want to be in a contest with my own friends online – if anything, I’m in a contest against my own goals and standards. (I really don’t want to bring you down, or Ruth, or anyone.)
JamestheJust recently posted..Passive Income for November 2010
That’s not what I meant, sorry.
Carrie recently posted..Progress Update – What Day Is It
NP, I just don’t want to be “that guy.”
The guy you hear about a mile away because he’s rubbing it in…
JamestheJust recently posted..Passive Income for November 2010
Great job on the earnings for Novemeber. You really shouldn’t feel bad about them being so inflated right now. Every business has cycles with lows and highs and it just so happens that this is your high right now. Be proud of the work that you have put in so far to make this much money! Good luck in Decemeber.
Tiffany recently posted..A Closer Look at Passive Income Opportunities through Content Writing Sites – My Earnings and New Plan
Thanks, Tiffany! I appreciate that, I hope your writing ventures kick some tail for Christmas.
JamestheJust recently posted..Passive Income for November 2010
Wow, James, just wow. You rock!!!
I’m seriously impressed! Like Ruth, I thought my month was pretty good until I read this. Anyway, don’t listen to ANYBODY that discourages you from doing what you are doing right now. Just build it out, as Dave suggests, and then rake it in.
What was that niche, by the way? ;)
And what the hell is wrong with your footer? It does not look like it’s very happy…
Michelle recently posted..Weekly Update 26- November 24-30
Oh, looks like the footer’s fixed now… before it was saying:
Warning: preg_match() [function.preg-match]: Compilation failed: nothing to repeat at offset 0 in /home/ellipti2/public_html/theaveragegenius.net/wp-content/plugins/wassup/wassup.php on line 3970
over and over again… (for me, at least)
Michelle recently posted..Weekly Update 26- November 24-30
Thanks, Michelle – I dunno what you mean about the footer. I removed it with a plugin (uh…couldn’t figure it out in the CSS mumbo jumbo) so I’d be less of a spam target, and if you mean the “Invisible Defender” blocking 1600+ bad guys…well…stop spamming me, Michelle!
I know it’s Sick. Dash it all.
:)
Well, nobody’s actually bringing me down, I just have a polished sense of codependence or whatever. I don’t want to make anyone frustrated with their earnings, it’s more or less a gamble.
But the magic niche -
It’s actually one of the big mega niches. Not sure what they’re called, but:
Health
Business
Finances
Romance
Fitness
Etc. I’m sure I’m missing a few, but those are some of the big ones that sell all day, and my niche site is in one of these.
:)
I know it wasn’t too pleasant for you driving up and down for the holidays, but the way you described ot made me laugh! I’m not laughing at your pain, just the way you explained it.
Apart from that, WOOT WOOT to you re: your earnings. That’s a handsome set of figures you achieved there.
Good luck this month.
Thanks, ebele, and welcome to the blog. Love the title!
congrats man! Thats awesome earnings! I am curious though – for the site that is making all that money from CJ, what made you choose to use a CJ vendor over making it one of your amazon sites, and vice versa, why do you have some amazon sites instead of choosing CJ vendors.
Does that make sense? What I mean is, I am guessing that the product you are making a killing off on CJ is also available for sale on amazon – Im wondering why you affiliated with CJ instead of amazon for that product, and have you tested out conversions and earnings by switching over to amazon only?
I have a few amazon sites that are doing well, but after seeing you kill it with CJ, I am wondering if I should switch them over to CJ vendors where you tend to get a higher percentage and longer lasting cookie.
Anyway, congrats!
Daniel –
The setting on the comments is now (I think?) set to manual approval, since I can’t use my fave anti-spam plugin (it worked so well even I couldn’t remember to click the check box to comment on my own site…).
Re: why CJ and not strictly Amazon…
This product is actually exclusive (or was) to CJ. And the performance incentive is specific to this vendor (as it always is on CJ or Pepperjam, et al). So even if it was available on Amazon…I dunno: the cookie length and terms are just better for affiliates of the product on CJ.
The really cool thing is that I broke this market – it was NOWHERE to be found online, but more on that later. I think I’ve done so well with it because I broke the freaking market with it…literally, as far as SEO is concerned.
Just saw your latest post, congrats! So your biggest secret earner is CJ, huh? I know I have an account with them but I haven’t really pursued it.
I’ve just started with Chitika on one of my larger site, so I’m curious to see how I’ll do with it. I’ve noticed it on many larger, authority sites so it must work…
Marika
Marika recently posted..Reached 75 Commission With Amazon
I’d be interested to learn if Chitika vs. AdSense works better myself, my guess is that the text ads with AdSense will out-perform, as I’ve seen the Chitika ads, but you’re right: they’re on some high brow sites. What’s misleading is that those sites get tons of traffic, so any ad would work.
And yeah, I’ve been loving CJ this entire year, hoping the sales keep coming in, who’s to say? Here’s to hoping I can match your Amazon performance! That was really impressive, Marika.
Wow, I am impressed by your CJ earnings! Really terrific that they came from just one of your sites. It’s also encouraging to note that you only have 13 sites making money for you, my goal is 10, which I think is completely doable! Thanks for posting your earnings!
Rachel- Pen Meets Wallet recently posted..November Earnings Update!
Thanks for stopping by, Rachel – I like your title of the site, “Pen Meets Wallet,” here’s to your success as a freelancer! And yes, you can make a lot of money with just one site, but I like to be diversified. I’m now making regular sales from other properties as well, which makes me feel better.
Hi, saw your site while I was visiting another blog I follow. Nice earnings especially with CJ. I have an account with them but I haven’t got into promoting anything with them yet but later on I will definitely use them for something. It’s great to see you doing well.
Meka recently posted..December Plans
Thanks, Meka – I’m really happy with CJ, have been for a while, but since reading the Amazonian Profit Plan have decided to use more Amazon alongside. The thing about CJ, just like with ClickBank, is that you can (and have to be) choosy with your aff products. That’s where Amazon makes the process much easier – they have a uniform “look” to them, etc.
I’ll be doing more from Amazon, but build out this particular site with my CJ programs myself. Good luck to your business ventures!
WTG on the CJ – I’ve never made more than £20 promoting products on CJ. i pushed a load of traffic over at Halloween and zip… and I know if I’d have sent that same traffic to Amazon it would have converted.
Clare recently posted..The 3 Secrets Behind a Successful Squeeze Page
That’s probably true, since people have other things to buy, like flash light, decorations, even candy is available at Amazon…The cross selling is unreal.