Stats & Analysis For June 2008 - $808 Earned

Well done, I just did my income report, and that came in at a tad under $600.00… so I think you’re ahead of me! I’m really facing a time crunch though, and I’m sure I could really make a lot more if I could find the time!

Kenneth

InvestorBloggers last blog post..June Income Report on InvestorBlogger Dot Com

Hi Caroline, great job!! I agree on the Bluehost recommendation, too, used to be with DH and am much much happier at BH. :D

Your StumbleRush course looks intriguing too, and you did a great job with the sign up page, very clean looking.

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very impressive earnings. it’s great that you’re sharing your progress and earnings report on the blog. it’s an inspiration to many folks out there that want to generate some income from their blogs.

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Congrats. Awesome to see the RSS numbers continue to increase as well. Keep it up!

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Awesome. Your charts and analytics look great! Good to see hard work paying off.

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Wow. I wish I could make that money off of blogging :P We haven’t monetized the site yet, but we’re hoping to do so very soon.

You have a wonderful blog with a lot of great content but..

The money your making is pretty pathetic, considering the amount of time you’ve been involved with blogging/internet marketing.

Why don’t you get some kind of product going, or work on some sites 30DC style? Put your blog on the side.

With some hard work you can be up to $10k per month, in a few short months.

- Scott

Thanks for sharing your stats Caroline - I found it really useful and it helps to see how things build over time. Interesting that you say your blog readers don’t tend to go on to your web site ie, they are two separate groups. For me if a blog gives me lots of good info I don’t tend to go through to the website every time, but it is helping to consistently build authority and relationships. That way, when you mention a product or something you’re doing I’d then want to go to your site for more info. and to possibly buy. So although your earnings might seem low to some, it’s not all about earnings (as nice as they are to have!). Very much the Ed Dale model - by sharing so much for free, he sets himself apart as an authority to listen to down the line whether for selling his own services or those of others.

Thanks again - and I’m definitely going to work on my membership model so hopefully we can share notes on that - are you going to perhaps link a membership prog to your StumbleRush prog?

What’s wong with the sign-up box?

@InvestorBlogger, there is no ‘ahead’ unless you live your life in terms of competition with others which is a surefire way to live in constant pain!

@devjargon, what might not be so apparent from these stats is that the majority of the income (BlueHost) comes from the ebook I wrote and whilst that ebook wouldn’t exist without this blog, if I hadn’t written that book my earnings would be a lot less.

@Scott, Stumble Rush will be my first paid product. I’ve been working on that for a few months now.

@nudgeme, no there won’t be any kind of membership site attached to Stumble Rush. I have shared everything I have to say on the subject in the course.

@Dennis, nothing ‘wrong’ with it as such but I could tweak the wording perhaps. ‘I hate spam’ may be seen as a somewhat negative message and it might be better to reword it along the lines of “I value your privacy” which is more positive.

Congrats Caroline :-)

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Great job on increasing your traffic.

May I make 1 suggestion? Focus on building your email list and your ability to earn money will greatly increase!

Imagine if you had a list of 3000 people and you sent an email notifying them of your new product release. Since these people know you and love you they will be likely to purchase your product.

Or if you want to notify people of an important post it’s easy with a big list.

Or if you want to get feedback on something again it’s easy with a list.

–
Nick Stewart

Nick Stewarts last blog post..Day 17: Social Bookmarking

That was about 1/3 decrease from May 2008 income, so I won’t congratulate you. :-)

Wish you success with your new project, Caroline!

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Keep up the great work Caroline! I’m waiting for you to release StumbleRush. Also please continue posting on your IM newsletter…

Good news, I earned about $300 this month but I’m new and I’m growing. :)

One thing I’d like to ask is what program do you use to generate the stats that you posted in you post?

I’ve always wondered. :)

Congratulations on your earnings! Hopefully July will be your best month yet! It’s definitely been inspiring to keep an eye on your progress!

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Hello Caroline,
I don’t get a chance to read your blog as much as I would like to, but I always enjoy your articles and I love that you share your stats.
I would just like to say that you inspire me to keep blogging.
Regards.

@Nick, yeah I did try that a little while ago but to be quite honest I am struggling a little. The RSS readership continues to grow much faster than my list and I don’t feel I have quite found a good enough offering for my list to grow. I think I need to give my newsletter more of a focus, so it provides more value but I haven’t found the idea yet.

@Hendry, boooo! lol :-)

@Ruchir, yes sorry it’s been a little slow - new edition coming out in the next day or two, most probably tonight.

@Dean, I use Google Analytics for my stats.

@Ray, I hope so too but if not I’m fine with that too.

@jsanderz, I love knowing that what I do can inspire other people. That in turn inspires me!

A free gift for list takers usually works quite well (and you will have to change the graphic to show it ;) )

Perhaps offering the free version of stumble rush until it is more wide spread….that may raise both counts.

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hi Caroline, congrats for you.
I love your build niche site ebook, its really easy to understand, can’t wait for your new stumblerush ebook.

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I don’t know - nobody likes spam, so you may be winning points in terms of empathy, whereas a ‘I value your privacy’ comes across a bit more like corporate spiel.

On the other hand, your second-to-last paragraph to a certain extent gives the impression that you’re sidelining your blog, especially given your declining income. I imagine this wasn’t intentional however, as I’m sure your blog is in reality a very valuable asset.

Hi Caroline - that is interesting. So it sounds like ebooks only really sell well in the first few months. I wonder if you need to reach a wider audience with the book and possibly achieve more sales?

You’re doing really well on Bluehost though. Maybe there’s a way you can push that more?

Congrats again on the month. You are producing solid income and the ebook will be a winner.

1. Dearly Beloved Caroline:
2. Greetings and nice to reach out to you once more this month.
3. Remember when I mentioned deleting all enrollees on my mailing list and building it all over again? Yes, I do that from time to time but no single subscriber is ever lost! :-)
4. There is a list that have existed since 1996! That was when I got online and each time I send a free but profitable information to that list, the response is always massive! I seldom send to it but when I do, I receive enormous rewards. That is a greatly valuable idea that Nick Stewart just shared with you right there.
5. If you have ever mailed me or will mail me, know that your contact goes down into permanent record with me! Even when you are blacklisted, it only goes into a do not send electronic mail to this ever again but I still have it for the record.
6. Now, how many people do you think are on that list? When marketers talk about the list all the time, they know what they are saying. With a million people on your list, you will hardly go wrong if and only if the relevant information is shared from time to time.
7. Like what you share in your newsletter, I will always look forward to reading it because I gained from it! That is what distinguishes electronic mails from all the junks and spam mails we all receive. As a matter of truth, once I hit spam on a communication by email, I will never see it in my inbox again and obviously, who wastes the most finite resource of TIME looking for something of worth in a trash bin? Surely, no TIME conscious person will.
8. On daily basis, I am always making effort to increase my subscriber base. It is the most vital to me because it has always worked over time. When I promote any page, the key is getting a way to remain in constant touch for a long time.
9. Think about it, there are 6.5 billion people on this planet, how many of them will you meet within the space of time defined for you? I think it is worthwhile to put to the best use the few millions we meet on our journey through life in the best way we can and one of those ways is to keep in constant touch and share things that can make their lives worth living in the best way we can and in return we will always be rewarded with a lot of good results.
10. Let me pull out something from a book of someone called Luke who was a doctor, chapter 6 paragraphs 37-38 verbatim: “Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults— unless, of course, you want the same treatment. Don’t condemn those who are down; that hardness can boomerang. Be easy on people; you’ll find life a lot easier. Give away your life; you’ll find life given back, but not merely given back—given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity.”.
11. Caroline, as you have been giving into the life of many via this blog, it is certain that your hard work will not go in vain, of course, you will receive the rewards as plenteous results.
12. So, keep working on building a long term contact with everyone that crosses your blog. Imagine having all the fifteen thousand people that crossed the blog last month on your electronic mailing list, what difference will that make? On average, I convert like 18 percent of my visitors on some websites to subscribers and keep working on that daily. But most importantly, I keep working on becoming a one to one friend. Very key!
14. Like Cath Lawson said, eBooks only sell for a length of time but you can always resell it with a “New” or “Improved” edition when you have a list in the first place.
15. Truly, I have also noticed that those who do Really Simple Syndication are really simple indeed. They are way too posh to come to your blog. And those who come to your blog may not really use RSS or if they do, they still prefer the feel of your blog like me. :-)
16. This is getting long, I should keep this short as I still have some tracking and testing and other promotions to share with the few who will become my lifetime friends starting from today.
17. Thank you so much for everything all in all Caroline. You are a GEM!
18. Remain blessed and a blessing and we shall communicate again soon if God is willing!
19. Regards,
20. Olakunle Solomon Fatoye.

@Dennis, yeah Yaro Starak gave me the same advice. I think I’m going to merge Stumble Rush and the newsletter in some way in the future.

@Web design, this blog has always been and will always be primarily a record of my journey to make money online. I don’t treat the blog itself as a business and I have no desire to go back to daily postings. The blog isn’t being sidelined but I am very pleased that it continues to grow without requiring the same time committment that it did in the beginning.

@Cath, well at the beginning I did a massive amount of promotion so once that was done it was bound to die down. That will be the same for any product. To be honest I don’t have any interest in continuing to push the ebook as it is now out of date since WordPress 2.5.

@Olakunle, yes there is certainly value in building a good email list but I haven’t quite found a good enough offer for my list. Still, I don’t expect to get everything right first time.

Hi Caroline,

Looking at your monthly earnings …. when converted to sterling how has it maintained the lifestyle you had when working a 9 to 5 job?

I have a well paying 9 to 5 job but would love to ditch it all for a less complicated one.

I’m a regular John Cow/Chow, Garry Conn and now a Caroline Middlebrook reader! Your ebook is very informative.

Your writing style is informative and easily understood …. it’s a breath of ‘blogging fresh air’.

Some questions for you:

What’s your opinion on the use of alternatives to .com extension?
For example: .infos are much cheaper to register but is there a downside in using them?

Garry Conn uses ‘Micro Niche Finder’ for research … do you use a program to help you research niche sites?

In creating static sites would you ever consider using an adsense ready html based template (other than WP)?

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@Paddy, my lifestyle now is completely different to the one I had when I worked a 9-5. If you mean financially, as you can see, I do not yet earn a full-time income but I don’t need to as I live very cheaply at the moment so it’s all good :)

No clue on domain extensions, not my area at all. I’ve not experimented much with niche finding software yet either. Yes I would consider an HTML template as every WordPress installation takes up a SQL database but I would only do that if I was absolutely sure that I wouldn’t want to develop the site in any way beyond what was provided by the template. WordPress allows expansion and a lot of customisation.

Wow, nice income from being a hosting referral!

I love the 3000-ish direct traffic statistics too. It proves that you have so many loyal readers!

Regarding your opt-in box graphics — I agree it could be made to “pop” more. I’d get that person that did SRush to make you something. She rocks!

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@Mark, well the bigger problem is the content. I’m still not happy with my newsletter so I’m probably not going to bother changing the graphics until I have a better offer for the newsletter itself.