December Income Report

Posted by Dot Com Dud on

January 8, 2009

Well 2008 is now officially over and a brand new year has begun. As promised, here is the latest income report, just a few days later than usual. You can read my previous blog income reports to see how I have progressed since starting DotComDud.com in August.

December was definitely a month of ups & downs. I didn’t make a lot of posts, especially towards the end of the month but my traffic was still higher than I’ve gotten previously and the guest posts I made on other blogs probably helped out too, so it should be an interesting month to analyse. So here are my earnings for December 2008…

Earnings Breakdown

DotComDud.com
AdSense = $0.20

Other Sites
Total earnings = $10.22
Sources
AdSense = $0.20
PayPerPost = $10.02

Affiliate Earnings
PayPerPost = $30

Total Earnings = $40.42

Conclusions

Well I almost doubled my earnings in December compared to the previous month’s earnings of $21.35, thanks largely to PayPerPost. This is a new high for my monthly earnings and it’s encouraging to see them continuing to rise month after month. I haven’t reached a full-time income yet but the more I learn then the closer I will get!

Last month I complained about this blog not earning up to it’s potential and I believe it still isn’t. I’m going to have to do more experimenting but AdSense and PayPerPost affiliate ads probably aren’t the highest potential earners available. Not to mention that I am still only really earning from 2 sources and that’s if you even include the minimal amounts AdSense is bringing in, this simply isn’t enough. I need to take my own advice and stop putting all my eggs into one basket!

My efforts to improve monetisation were a good start but they need to be taken further in 2009. I definitely think that adding the PayPerPost ad in the DotComDud.com sidebar helped me get those referrals, so that’s a step in the right direction at least. With further diversification of my income sources (and continued work on content and traffic) I can be sure that my earnings from DotComDud.com rise to a more respectable level.

AdSense on this blog didn’t perform very well. I can’t mention specific views or click-through-rates due to the AdSense T&C (terms and conditions) but I am sure it could perform better if I optimise it with better placement and styling. It’s current position in the header is sort of hidden away from the main content so it unlikely than visitors pay much attention to it. I’ll be working on different placements over the next few weeks, trialling them to see what works best.

I also briefly installed Text Link Ads on this blog but didn’t sell any links and I quickly removed the system. I am concerned if that I use Text Link Ads then my chances of growing Google traffic to DotComDud.com will be in danger and I’d like to avoid this.

In other news…

This post marks the 50th published article on DotComDud.com! I would have liked to have reached the half-century mark a couple of months earlier but It’s still something worth cheering about! I hope you are looking forward to reading my next 50 posts as much as I am going to enjoy writing them!

  1. 23 Responses to “December Income Report”

  2. I also think the 468×60 banner do not get much attention. I would suggest that you should turn it into a bigger one, but it may clutter your heading. Maybe a 350×350 banner or 300×300 banner in the sidebar would be enough.

    Richies last blog post..Precious Time ends January 9 (Spoiler)

    [Reply to this comment]

    Dot Com Dud Reply:
    January 9th, 2009 at 12:31 pm

    Yeah, I’ve heard that the box shaped ads work better. I might try moving them down into the content and use the header for something else (or I might redesign the whole blog, I’ve been thinking it could use a fresh coat of paint).

    [Reply to this comment]

    By Richie on Jan 8, 2009

  3. It’s all about traffic, dude. Organic traffic is one that is more likely to click ads. Without traffic, adsense is pretty useless. Good luck in the coming month and I hope to see better stats.

    Yan

    [Reply to this comment]

    Dot Com Dud Reply:
    January 9th, 2009 at 12:33 pm

    Thanks! I’ve been trying to work on my SEO so hopefully that will start paying off soon with extra traffic. I’m not sure if AdSense will ever be a great earner on an MMO blog though.

    [Reply to this comment]

    By Commentluv on Jan 8, 2009

  4. Happy New Year, good to see a new post, congrats on #50, and let’s hope for a great 2009!
    Your advice to “not put all your eggs in one basket” can’t be said enough, and I too could do a better job of listening to my own advice! :)
    Anyway, I look forward to and will be watching for your next 50 posts.
    ~ Steve, aka the 25-posts-so-far trade show guru

    Trade Show Gurus last blog post..Trade Show Booths and Duct Tape

    [Reply to this comment]

    Dot Com Dud Reply:
    January 9th, 2009 at 12:35 pm

    Yeah, knowing what to do and actually doing it are two different things but you just have to keep at it I suppose. Good luck in 2009 to you too!

    [Reply to this comment]

    By Trade Show Guru on Jan 9, 2009

  5. Have you considered writing for Today dot com or eHow? Leverage what you already know into a few articles that will generate passive income. Once you start to receive income each month, put it back into you business and watch your profits skyrocket.

    I enjoy your posts, but I wish you would post more frequently!

    [Reply to this comment]

    Dot Com Dud Reply:
    January 9th, 2009 at 12:38 pm

    I wish I would post more often too, hehe. I’ll work on that in January.

    I’ve heard about eHow but I haven’t really looked into it. A passive income sounds nice though, how much do people earn with it?

    [Reply to this comment]

    By Dusty on Jan 9, 2009

  6. dud…, how about thanksgiving contest, i didn’t see you announce yet?

    [Reply to this comment]

    Dot Com Dud Reply:
    January 9th, 2009 at 12:29 pm

    I know, sorry about the delay. I’ll make the announcement next week!

    [Reply to this comment]

    By topen on Jan 9, 2009

  7. Have you try Text-Link-Ads?
    I got nice number from them.

    Ps: Yup, It’s referral link. :)

    [Reply to this comment]

    Dot Com Dud Reply:
    January 9th, 2009 at 12:49 pm

    Hmmm, looks like WordPress removed the link. Oh well, I mentioned that I tried text-link-ads in the post… didn’t you read it? :P

    [Reply to this comment]

    By indocontest on Jan 9, 2009

  8. Decent stuff! Keep it moving upward!

    Congrats on the 50th. I look forward to seeing what you can do this month!

    [Reply to this comment]

    By ethan on Jan 10, 2009

  9. Many bloggers will not publish such a measly earnings.
    But I definitely like your way. Honest and straight. I have subscibed .
    Will keep visiting.

    viveks last blog post..7 things to do after making/creating/starting a blog.

    [Reply to this comment]

    Dot Com Dud Reply:
    January 12th, 2009 at 3:54 pm

    Awesome, thanks!

    [Reply to this comment]

    By vivek on Jan 10, 2009

  10. First, congrats on having your best month. Second, your numbers are like mine, but I only had my second best month overall, and didn’t make it all from my blog. Adsense doesn’t work well with blogs talking about making money because the people visiting, that are trying to learn, for the most part already have been conditioned not to click on their own ads that they rarely click on the ads of others either. So, there’s really not a lot you can do about it, which is why I removed one of mine, and only left one skyscraper ad on the site.

    Good luck in being better this month; I’m giving it a unique shot myself.

    Mitchs last blog post..Antivirus 2009

    [Reply to this comment]

    Dot Com Dud Reply:
    January 12th, 2009 at 3:53 pm

    I’ll probably remove AdSense from DotComDud.com and replace it with something else. I think you’re right about the audience of a Make Money Blog being ad blind.

    [Reply to this comment]

    Mitch Reply:
    January 12th, 2009 at 4:06 pm

    Keep one somewhere, even if it’s just a small banner ad, but use the rest of your space for something else. After all, you might have one or two newbies stop by who are used to clicking on those ads.

    Mitchs last blog post..Cute Things Falling Asleep

    [Reply to this comment]

    By Mitch on Jan 11, 2009

  11. Wow you got $30 from PPP? Thats kinda good huh.. I haven’t had any money from that up till this moment..

    Ben

    Make Money Onlines last blog post..15 Innovative Uses For Twitter

    [Reply to this comment]

    Dot Com Dud Reply:
    January 12th, 2009 at 3:55 pm

    Yeah, I probably just got lucky. I’ll just have to wait and see if the referrals keep coming to see if could be a reliable income stream for me.

    [Reply to this comment]

    By Make Money Online on Jan 12, 2009

  12. I just want to encourage you. I think you are on the right track. Keep moving forward. I am looking forward to a better earning report in January, then even better in February - slowly but surely :)
    A Maui Blogs last blog post..A Maui Blog Re-organizing

    [Reply to this comment]

    By A Maui Blog on Jan 13, 2009

  13. Congratulations on doubling income. I hope this month is awesome for you. I can see that you are taking more interest in SEO aslo. That’s great. Yeah, if you optimized more for Adsense you’d for sure see a better return, or result.

    [Reply to this comment]

    By Ken @ Work From Home Blog on Jan 14, 2009

  14. Man, you need to really work on your AdSense… Even the most stupid approach should get you into double figures with AdSense…

    Good luck next time. The affiliate numbers look good :)
    Ajith Edassery | Blog Moneys last blog post..Search User: Shift in Paradigm and New SEO Requirements

    [Reply to this comment]

    By Ajith Edassery | Blog Money on Jan 16, 2009

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