Welcome to my November 2011 income report!
I’m not a super blogger yet and definitely not making a living from my niche sites but I am doing my best to make money in my spare time, after doing a full day’s work, and hoping that each month’s income brings me closer to being able to earn a decent income online. I know some people will look at these reports and think that my earnings are peanuts but I know others who appreciate seeing these reports as they show what an average Joe is earning and that’s it’s not all about getting rich quick.
What happened in November
After a poor October I stepped up a gear putting more effort into my current niche sites and made some big steps towards my aim to have 10 sites up and running by New Year. In fact I can reveal that I have 9 sites now which is pretty cool and I’m already seeing the benefits of having more sites. As I mentioned in my last post a couple of these might be duds and a couple have very little content at the moment, but that’s to be expected, but more sites means more chances at being a success.
A couple of these sites are affiliate sites, providing reviews and affiliate links to products available on Amazon, and this is an effort to diversify my income away from solely Google AdSense. This is an important lesson for everyone. Just as you shouldn’t rely on just one site for your income, you shouldn’t rely on just one income stream, as you can leave yourself vulnerable. What is Google went bust? Okay that’s unlikely but what if your AdSense account was deactivated? It sometimes doesn’t take much to fall foul of Google’s rules, so look at other ways to monetise your sites.
I think that getting these affiliate sites to rank and start earning will be a lot harder than with traditional niche sites, but it’s another experiment and I’m enjoying learning new things. I will also be using social media to promote these sites so there will be less reliance on search engines and more reliance on other means of promotion including guest posts.
The Numbers
In previous reports I’ve given a site by site breakdown detailing how much each of my sites have earned but now that I’m increasing the number of sites it’s not really feasible to keep doing this. Another factor is that I don’t really want to focus on individual sites anymore but rather on what the grand total income is and how far away I am from my goal of making a decent living online.
Last month was my lowest full earning month earning £87.26 (US$139.06) and saw a definite drop from my peak earning months, but I’m happy to say I’ve bumped my earnings back up thanks to improvements to a couple of my sites which has resulted in a better CTR (Click Through Rate) as well as a new site that started earning immediately.
November 2011 Income = £149.29 (US$234.25)
It’s definitely a move back in the right direction and I’m hoping that in a few months I’ll be back to what I was earning in the summer months.
Plans for December
I’m going to be mainly concentrating on my affiliate sites this month as well as keeping my other sites ticking along. I suppose that’s pretty obvious stuff, but I’m also planning to put together a spreadsheet of my sites so I can keep better track of them and how they are performing. At the moment I just have it all in my head which was fine when I had one or two sites but now I’m getting more I really should keep a record of earnings, links, rankings, etc taking a little bit of the guesswork out of my work. Do any of you use spreadsheets like this?
Plans for the future
Yesterday in the UK we had union strikes about pensions, changes to working conditions, and the increase in the age of statutory retirement, which coupled along with inflation, low wages, etc means that the future isn’t very bright for a lot of us. It’s my 31st birthday on Saturday and at the current rate I will probably have another 40 years of working before I can retire and get a state pension which will probably be very little indeed. I’ve known for a while that I will need to make my own plans for the future, and save for a very rainy day, and that is why I’m even more determined to do my best to earn any extra income I can and at the moment that is from these niche sites and the endless possibility they provide. I can dream can’t I?
Hi Adem,
I like these incone reports. It is always motivating to see how your peers are doIng. Best of luck with the 10 sites. I am starting my own 50 amazon site challenge as well so i am sure we will be comparing notes in the future.
Aaron´s last post ..
50 sites! Just read your post and that is some challenge although it will be interesting to see which sites do best. Thanks for dropping by.
Hi Adem,
You got this out quickly!
Fantastic work by the way – a 78% increase in earnings in one month is fantastic! The fact that your earnings were “only” £150 doesn’t concern me in the slightest. 78% increases in income, month by month, would have you earning about £175,000 in December 2012. That’s obviously not going to happen, but the point is, you’re going in the right direction.
Well done!
Tom
Tom Ewer´s last post ..Always Be Ready When Inspiration Strikes
I started writing it yesterday and all I had to do this morning was put in the final figures. I’m happy that my sites are making any money, so £150 is a nice amount to build on although I think £175,000 might be stretching it a little bit!
I’m looking forward to seeing how your authority site does once you start monetising it. Do you think it could be a big one?
Honestly? I have no idea. But the potential is certainly there. If Google leaves me alone, the sky is potentially the limit. We shall see!
Tom Ewer´s last post ..Always Be Ready When Inspiration Strikes
Hey Adem, good to see that you are chugging along nicely. I would like to be where you are in a couple of months concerning my earnings. I have a lot of websites to get filled out and a lot of work to do as well. Niche sites are pretty exciting ya?
Hopefully your earnings continue to climb over the next year, and hopefully you will reach all of your goals in the coming year as well. Good luck and keep working hard.
Take care.
I was probably a bit too successful at first, relying on one site, but as least it gave me the bug and I’m loving creating niche sites and seeing if I can make them a success.
Adem´s last post ..One simple change that could increase your AdSense earnings
Sounds like you are heading back in the right direction again.
I think August was my best month before it trailed off and I am now earning about £600 less per month than I was then.
Swings and roundabouts…
Joe´s last post ..Monthly Round-up: November 2011
It’s all ups and downs so that’s why I’m happy to have a 9-5 job too so that I still have enough money to pay the bills! I’m hoping that the more sites I have earning will leave me less vulnerable to ranking changes, etc.
Adem´s last post ..One simple change that could increase your AdSense earnings
I’m in a very similar situation, working a full shift and then going home to work on my sites so this makes for very interesting reading.
Steven´s last post ..Driving Test Tips
It seems there’s a lot of us out there trying to make a little extra, but it’s going to be quite a push to turn that ‘extra work’ into something providing a full-time wage.
Adem´s last post ..One simple change that could increase your AdSense earnings
Great meeting you, Adem from pennyonthefloor. I feel like learning the first $ online is the hardest.
Great to see you taking actions and on-the-way on the growth. Sure that Dec is a killing month for you as it’s a shopping season.
Happy Holidays!
Kent @ Make Extra Money Online´s last post ..7 Steps to be Free from Information Overload
As my sites currently focus on AdSense I’ve found that the festive season hasn’t been hugely productive but that’s why I’m focussing on producing Amazon sites so that I can benefit from people wanting to purchase real products. I’ve missed the boat for this year but hopefully next Christmas will be a better month for all my sites.
Adem´s last post ..Where I’ve been going wrong with my affiliate sites