Stats & Analysis for April 2008 - $1,308 Earned

Caroline,
Thanks for sharing these stats every month - it’s very enlightening. And I’m glad that 16th Letter passed you some link love last month! - Melissa

Melissa Changs last blog post..The rare woman tech start-up founder

Caroline,

Very good blog entry. Useful information for anyone trying to figure out how money is generated online. In your case, at least for this month, it’s absolutely BlueHost. This month you’re an affiliate marketer for sure…

You’re smart of focus on your next product. You do need to build those assets and you can only do that with focus. Extreme focus. It’s the only way you’ll be able keep building that residual income.

I see that a lot of your traffic comes from StumbleUpon. How much is that helping you? That is, what kind of quality are you seeing with StumbleUpon users? We also get a lot of traffic from that source and it’s totally “hit and miss” regarding quality. Yes, quantity is nice, but quality is so low sometimes.

~ John

Caroline, great stuff… thanks for posting the stats like that. I love seeing the different info from different sites/blogs, you can really learn quite a bit between genres and formats.

On your last points, I have found that blogging, about the things and topics we enjoy, because we want to goes down much easier to me.

I did the same thing with a business blog, then sold it, then many months later came back with several personal blogs, and I like blogging again, to me, they are fun, especially without having to concentrate on how to get them to generate the most possible revenue.

Caroline, I wonder about those Twitter stats.. are they for real?

I use Google Analytics and got up to 500 visitors and all of them stay on my blog far less than 5 seconds..

Did you see similar results from these twitters? :)

I love you’re getting back to the roots with your blog.

Cheers,
Codrut Turcanu - “Succeeding Against All Odds!”

Your income report always impresses me as it by far one of the most thorough, I especially like you detail exactly where your traffic as come from, as a new blogger starting out this is very useful information.

I am curious though, is this blog still your only source of income? Living in the U.K I know how much $1,308 is in real money and it just doesn’t seem to be enough. I know I couldn’t survive a month on that income.

Hey Caroline — I feel responsible for the Butterfly Reports thing, since I was the one that pointed it out to you. It just made so much sense to me at the time…ButterFly Marketing was one of the first really huge launches, and Mike was using PLF techniques to launch.

On top of that, the program was based on eBook rebranding, which is a valid way to get affiliates to promote an eBook.

I thought for sure that one would take off.

In looking at the number of reports up on that site, I see that it is growing linearly, and not exponentially as I expected.

Anyway, I still think it was a cool idea, and I am sorry for wasting your time on it.

Mark Masons last blog post..Happy RSS Appreciation Day

I had a second separate thought regarding your list. As much content as you have, I would think that you might want to consider re-purposing some of it in the form of a free download for subscribers. For example, you could take some of the content from your traffic reports and write:

Caroline’s Ten Traffic Tips: How I got over 2000 RSS Subscribers in 6 months.

I think lots of people would want to read that. It adds value because to get that info now, you have to slog through 8 (excellent) monthly reports and other posts. A 10 tip summary would be spot on.

I would be chuffed to have such a report on my hard drive. (LOL — did I do that right).

Any way, Jolly Good Show.

Mark

Mark Masons last blog post..Happy RSS Appreciation Day

Caroline, the kind of Search Engine Traffic you get, I think you should work out a strategy to bring Adsense to the frontend and that too without affecting the theme. Like you could have a small contextual banner at the post end or something like that.

I personally believe adsense can fetch you good money if implemented in a manner to earn through it. However, again that depends on how you aim to handle this blog and your likes and dislikes about contextual advertising.

Abhijeet from Jeet Blogs last blog post..Chilirec - An Excellent Source of FREE Online Music And mp3 Songs

Hi Caroline,

Intersting stats, especially the twitter figures, and thanks for sharing them!

I’ve found most traffic I get from StumbleUpon to be pretty “valueless”, as they don’t tend to stick around for long, 29.4 seconds is the averag, I did a post on my blog with my results.

You beat me on Butterfly Reports!
I thought my readers would like it, but apparently not. :)

I agree with Mark, I’d read a report with top 10 tips for getting 2000+ rss subs in 6 months!

keep up the good work.

cheers,
Matt Garrett

Matt Garretts last blog post..Peel Away Ads FireFox Problems

Hi Caroline

The report is quite impressive nevertheless. It is great to see money coming in while you’re doing something different.

I think that ditching the ads was a smart move. A blog has a much bigger potential for affiliate marketing than just slapping some banners on the sidebar.

Cheers,
Alex

Alex at Net-Entrepreneur.coms last blog post..How to “Spy” on Other Sites’ Traffic?

Hi Caroline great post and very interesting, I thought I was doing well with 200 hits per day but I stand corrected ;-)
You have introduced me to twitter and the semi addictive nature of this useful and ever so easy to do web 2 methodology.
I have finally unsubscribed from M Filsaimes lists as it just does not feel right, we need to give value and keep with our geek roots promoting really useful interesting information ;-)
Keep up the good work and I look forward to testing Stumblerush as not all comments about the traffic quality are positive ;-(
The journey of a geek / cat / horse vet in internet marketing continues!
Paul

@John, that is a question that is often asked and I honestly cannot answer it because StumbleUpon has been my number #1 referrer every single month so I can’t compare having SU traffic to not having it.

@Codrut, I’m not that good at analysing my stats - I see where it comes from and that’s about it. My gut instinct though is that Twitter traffic is highly valuable.

@Clog money, the AdSense revenue comes from a niche site which I built months ago and then left. The Bluehost income is about 70% from my ebook and everything else is from the blog itself. I don’t think it is easy to make a full time income with a blog alone - especially not from just ads and affiliate sales. I believe that to really make a living you need to build real products that you sell for money.

@Mark, you were the first person to mention it but certainly not the last - a ton of people were jumping on it so I just kinda felt obliged to check it out. One of these days I’ll learn to trust my instincts more :p

Yeah there is a whole bunch of content that I could repurpose in the form of a free report to use an incentive to subscribe to the newsletter but to be honest I simply don’t like that tactic. I want people to sign up because they want to read the newsletter - not just for some freebie.

@Abhijeet, the AdSense income does not come from this blog. I will never put AdSense here - not the right audience for it at all.

@Paul, everybody starts somewhere. This blog started with a single subscriber (me!) and zero traffic so don’t play down your 200 a day!

@Caroline — but a lot of your traffic is “fly by” from SU. They don’t know enough about you to make a good decision about whether or not to subscribe.

Once they subscribe, you can work hard to keep them.

Point is, you are missing out on all the people that don’t know about how great your blog is.

Cheers.
Mark

Mark Masons last blog post..Happy RSS Appreciation Day

WoW.. you get some amazing traffic from twitter. I get some 1 or 2 per day :D ..

And about the looks of your blog. It’s one of the most well structured website.

Hey Caroline - I can’t believe all these people left comments and yet no one had Stumbled your post! So I did just now.

I LOVE your blog!

Honest, transparent without being as negative as I can get over some of the monkeyshines in the Internet marketing world.

I am trying to not spend all day reading all your stuff - kind of enjoying getting into it bit by bit.

I arrived on a link about Joel’s continuity thing - well done.

Of course, I’ve subscribed and hopefully I can interview you for my Internet radio show - and get you a whole lot more traffic (and money!)

Rick Butts
IMHBAO
In my humble, but accurate opinion

Rick Buttss last blog post..Terry Dean Put Me In His Blogroll

Congratulations Caroline and don’t worry about Vic. Vic has become more of an ass than he was already previous to the criticism you received.

-Mike

Mike Huangs last blog post..Time To Run On Fumes

Hi, interesting analysis and good on you for publishing you figures. I have followed you since last year though I don’t subscribe to you approach to making money online. I gave up on IM for a few months because I just could not convince myself that Yaro’s or Codruct’s approach was for me. I am trying again following Vic’s approach - because I don’t really care about getting my name out there - I just want to be financially free :-) I think people need to realise that there is a more than 1 approach to everything but at the end of the day they all involve hard work :-)

@lissie …

I’m not looking to be called a “PLR Guru” but it’s happening. I mean, I keep generating more and more reports and articles about PLR so people just see what I’m good at. It’s not a matter of my ego. I’m not pushing my name to sell more, if you follow me.

Regarding Caroline’s approach, I’ll say this: She’s making money online which is something many people cannot do effectively. I’d say that 20-30% of all people who “try” to make money online fail completely. That means they never make any money. I’d also say that just 5-10% make over $100 in one month. And, just 1-2% make over $1K per month. This is just my gut estimate but it is based on what I see and hear from our internet marketing membership.

And finally, you are right about the hard work. There is nothing instant about getting wealthy online. Building assets takes time and energy, and reinvested money in most cases. Furthermore, it involves building relationships and a network of partners. It usually means creating new wealth systems along the way; one builds on the next, if you wish for speed.

~ John

John Rhodess last blog post..When You Should Buy PLR

@ The hesitation I have about Yaro’s and other’s approaches is that making money is fine - but I don’t want to make money off other people’s desperation. I agree with you on the figures of what people make online -but I think its worse than that: many people spend far more than they make, more than they can afford buying stuff which either won’t make them their purchase price back or is plain misleading

lissies last blog post..April Earning’s Report

@Mark, yeah perhaps. I’ll have to think on that a bit more :-)

@Rick, thanks for the stumble!

@lissie, oh yeah there are loads of ways to make money online. One thing I want to do later this year is have another go at niche marketing in a completely anonymous way and built sites that can just maintain themselves without me having to worry about blogging etc.

1. Dearly Beloved Caroline:
2. Thanks for your smiles, they always reflect in your posts… Truly speaking.
3. Now, as you may have known, I “may” likely say something monthly on this post.
4. Hope no one minds and please, do not get angry at me if you do mind because to be angry is to control you. :-)
5. I did not make that up, someone said it long time ago… He who angers you conquers you. - Elizabeth Kenny
6. One clear thing is that, I have seen Caroline come out to the open more than anyone else I have been listening to since I got online some few years ago. There was a quote I heard someone say lately and I was like, oh, so that is it? What was the quote… “Those who make it, do not worship it!” I leave you to think about what that may possibly mean.
7. But, to say a few things about the stats here, they actually inspire me personally. Sometimes I feel like sharing mine too but of course most of them are easily found all over the web if you know how but little are known about what people do on the whole. Most people are found in few places but they have dozens of places they work on daily. Except they come to the open like Caroline does.
8. About the email lists, keeping people on your list should not be the focus, you just continue to spun good quality information out and people will search for how to get on your list by all means! Most of my email lists are purged annually. You heard that right. I literally say goodbye to everyone and clear my lists.
9. Surprisingly, few come back to sign up who were on it before but many more join afresh. Strange isn’t it? I know you have not heard that done before.
10. Do not sweat to keep people listening to you, if you are making sense, people will eventually listen. It may take time, but it will happen.
11. Also seen that, one just have to focus intently on what works for you. At some point though, Caroline may need to embrace PPC again and the information here, might just help: http://tinyurl.com/469jmk
12. Well, a lot is meant to be said but let us limit it to this little for now. Less Talk - More Action.
13. Please, I number my comments or questions so I can know when to stop my ramblings and hope that is okay with everyone and if not, remember not to get angry - You will not love to have me control you. :-)
14. Remain blessed and a blessing and we shall communicate again soon if God is willing!
15. Regards, Olakunle Solomon Fatoye.

Olakunle Solomon Fatoyes last blog post..Client Attraction: 6 Questions to Ask to Discover Your Brilliance

Hi Caroline,

it’s great that you are making this big money online by blogging.

How does it break down into profit per hour of work for people considering quitting their day and nuking their boss job like you did?

Hi Caroline, congrats on your earnings! It’s obviously well worthwhile to take stock of your traffic and income like this from time to time. Just out of interest, have you found an easy / cheap way of converting it from dollars, or does the bank do it automatically?

annabelts last blog post..Do I really miss my Second Life character?

@Multivar, that’s impossible to say. I don’t work full time but then all the money I made in April was due to actions I took before April! There is no easy way to calculate any kind of monthly revenue.

@annabelt, that’s tricky. If I get a cheque that goes in the bank and it is converted automatically but if I get paid in US dollars in my paypal account its a bit more complicated.

Your site is so refreshing and inspiring. I see stumbleupon is your primary referral source. I’m wondering if there is a stickiness factor in the referral source. I also wonder if it’s better to go for high volume-low return visit sources (especially for small niches), or are there other alternatives. Thanks for your site.

Thank you for sharing this with us Caroline. It is one of those things i could just print and tape to the wall for inspiration.

Would you please tell us how much money do you make from your niche WP sites? And the total number of sites you own?

Hope I’m not being too intrusive.

Cheers.

Caroline, thank you for the updates. Not many people will display the good, bad and ugly of their business. I know you have many people following your success and rooting for you. Keep up the good work and continued success.

very cool that you share your stats like this. and congrats on the income!
since you use google analytics you can easily see how long (e.g) twitter users are on your site: right next to the list of referrers it shows the average time spent on your site for each referrer. you can toggle and sort your views of the data by clicking these titles. it might be worth the effort to set up goals conversion so you can see where for example your newsletter subscribers come from, and where the people who click your banners, buy your book etc come from. this might help your target your efforts even more.
guide to setup goals in ga:
http://www.google.com/support/analytics/bin/topic.py?topic=11086

Nannas last blog post..house takes up parking space

Caroline,

Well-written as always. The Twitter stats are amazing, though I wondered also about the value. SU for me brings in those under a minute “readers,” and I wonder whether Twitter does the same. I don’t use Twitter so I have nothing to back up that feeling but what I hear elsewhere.

If anybody could convince me that there’s any business (or blogging) sense to Twitter, I might give it a shot. A lot of work from home folks use it to “get out of the house,” so to speak, and since I already get out of the house I don’t need it for that. :)

I still might not. Where on earth would I get more time in my day? Oh, well, slow and steady growth for me.

Congratulations on being able to cut back a bit and not have any ill effects!

Regards,

Kelly

Kellys last blog post..Get In On the Action: Business Cards of Bloggers

Congrats on the growth. Its nice to have blogger that focus on this niche to share their results and explain how they got there. Thanks for posting this.

Kokas last blog post..Bitter sweet Problogger Book delivery

Hi Caroline,

Given that blog commenting is essentially what got you to where you are today, I find it a bit curious that you don’t still devote at least a small percentage of your time to continuing that activity.

Do you ever have second thoughts about cutting back on your commenting?

Todd

Todd in Hawaiis last blog post..Iroquois Point Elementary School

@James, I have only one niche site that I setup months ago and then did nothing with. The only money I have made with it is the AdSense earnings that I report.

@Nanna, thanks for the info on GA goals, I’ll need to spend some time learning about that.

@Todd, I do still comment on blogs occasionally but only as I see fit - I don’t go out of my way now, simply due to lack of time. My time is better spent elsewhere which is what it boils down to!

Hi Caroline

I have been reading your blog for a while and this is my first time to comment. I appreciate your way of sharing your stats and income. I only wish I had the courage you did to quit a job that I dislike more and more everyday! You are a true inspiration to a newbie that is trying to get started!

Thanks
Jean M

@Kelly, in my experience, Twitter traffic is really different from Stumble traffic.

Twitter is (for me) a way to stay connected with blogging friends. Folks who follow me click through and read stuff and leave comments. (I don’t have hundreds of followers, though, so my Twitter traffic is just a nice little mellow trickle.) SU is more like you have a little under a second to either amuse a stranger or die. Just two different media, I think.

They do have one thing in common–they’re both refuges for the inveterate multitasker and/or procrastinator. So on that basis, yeah, you’re going to be engaging in a little Short Attention Span Theatre. ;)

Sonia Simones last blog post..Monkeys and Bloggers and Tribes (oh, my!)

Hi Caroline,
I am a new reader to your blog and wanted you to know that I’m not a huge fan of stats type posts. BUT, I really enjoyed reading this one. It wasn’t just a “here are my stats for the month” but an honest appraisal of what is and isn’t working for you. I found it very helpful and interesting to read. You’ve obviously done very well with your blog.

I’ve been particularly interested in your journey with e-books. This is something I’d like to do more of.

Looking forward to reading more of your content. :)

Kate@FullTiltBlogging.coms last blog post..Make Money Blogging: Setting a Price Point

@Sonia, I have to agree - Twitter and StumbleUpon are worlds apart in terms of traffic.

Pretty cool…I’ve heard that Adsense doesn’t perform well for the “make money” blog niche, and can get you smart-priced pretty quick. It’s good that you spread your income out over different sources. Stay in the pursuit…

SteadyPhils last blog post..50 Money Making Ways to Increase Traffic to Your Blog (50th Post!!!)

@SteadyPhil, yes thats the reason I won’t use AdSense here. I know from my referral traffic that a huge chunk of my traffic is from social media that simply doesn’t click on ads. If the majority of my traffic was search traffic it might be different.

However, having said that, I’ve just heard about a new plugin that allows AdSense to be shown just to search traffic! So I might try it out. On the other hand, I don’t really want my visitors clicking on ads - I want them to click around my site and subscribe! The goal of this blog is to increase readership, not to directly generate revenue.

Caroline,

As always it is very revealing to see your income stats for the blog. I still can’t quite believe how important the bluehost banner is. It must have something to do with your audience.

Guru Bobs last blog post..gurubob: "Sometimes you’re the windshield, sometimes you’re the bug" - Dire Straits

damn, you bring in a lot of money from bluehost

I currently use dreamhost, would you consider BH better?

@Matt, I’ve only ever used BlueHost so I can’t compare it to any other.

Kudos on the tough change. I know you’ll figure out how to keep growing the income as ethically as possible and share it with us!