Jul 11 2005

Teenager Makes $5000 Per Month From Blog

  • Written by Yaro 
  • 14 Comments... Click to Contribute

Jon Gales is a 19 year old and runs a blog using Movable Type. It’s called Mobiletracker.net. According to the webstats available from his site he gets about 8000+ unique visitors per day which is well over 200,000 per month. He delivers about double those stats in pageviews. His site has a PageRank of 6 and according to his archives the site has been operating since at least February 2003.

He runs one Google Adsense ad at the bottom of his site. Currently Google sends him cheques for about $5000 USD per month for the clicks that AdSense banner brings in. Not bad for a 19 year old still living at home.

This is a great example of a good quality site with a solid niche built up over time that targets an obviously lucrative market for AdSense/AdWords. Building a site that brings in 8000 unique visitors per day is not easy, but certainly attainable. Anyone that builds up good content, has a differentiation strategy and a focus on a niche market AND sticks to it over time can have success of this magnitude.

Fortune: Jon Gales loves Google, but not for the reason you might think. It’s a terrific search engine, sure, but what Gales really likes is that Google is making him money. Gales’s website, Mobiletracker.net, is a compendium of news and reviews about cellphones that after a year and a half attracts about 200,000 users a month. Google supplies the ads for the site, visitors click on the ads, and because of the site’s popularity, Google sends Gales monthly checks of $5,000 or more. That’s a decent chunk of change for any sole proprietor. But for Gales, the numbers are eye-popping. He’s only 19 and lives expense-free at home with his parents in Tampa, posting four or five items in the course of the day while parked on the living room couch with his laptop. Says Gales: “If things keep going the way they are going, I’ll be making more money than my dad next year.”

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Comments

  1. 1
    On July 11, 2005 at 8:29 pm Plusone Marketing said:

    I thought about your post while driving this afternoon Yaro – and it struck me why Jon’s income could be so good…then I realised how smart he really is.

    He has a subject that has high value adwords – so he is earning healthy mony from each click. Pick an obscure topic that people are only paying a few cents for adwords, and the income level would be totally different.

    Of course that also places the challenge of his site/blog being found in the crowded marketplace – a feat he has obviously achieved – and he is reaping the rewards!!

  2. 2
    On July 11, 2005 at 9:20 pm Yaro said:

    Exactly Matt. I believe terms like webhosting are some of the highest paying keywords but of course with that much competition getting a site focused on webhosting high in the search rankings is darn near impossible.

    It would probably be a similar case for mobile phones.

    I’m not sure though if Jon deliberately chose that topic for the profiteering. I would be more inclined to believe that he had an interest in mobile technology and went and built a blog around it. He kept at it and maybe through in some luck, some PR coverage and bam, instant popularity. Way easier said than done of course.

  3. 3
    On July 15, 2005 at 4:30 am Jon Gales said:

    I chose mobile phones because I had an interest in them, not because the keywords were so hot. I actually started the site before AdSense existed, so that should tell you something right there.

    Also, that article is about six months old so I’ve had a birthday and some direct ad sales that have been on CPM/monthly basis. The income is now more a mix (the AdSense income hasn’t changed, but there are now other types of ads on the site).

  4. 4
    On July 15, 2005 at 3:21 pm Yaro said:

    Thanks for dropping by Jon and explaining the motivations behind your site. I thought it would be more about what you enjoy writing about than actually picking a topic based on potential adword profits.

    Do you have any particular insights on how to get a site as popular as yours is now?

    Yaro

  5. 5
    On July 20, 2005 at 12:36 pm Jon Gales said:

    “Do you have any particular insights on how to get a site as popular as yours is now?”

    Stick with it! There will be low points and high points. You have to keep going through the hard times when there isn’t much traffic (take your knocks).

  6. 6
    On October 27, 2006 at 12:51 pm luis said:

    hi guys i like all your comments but i wanted to know where to go to start up ur own blog and how much can any one help

  7. 7
    On July 31, 2007 at 4:41 pm Wojtek said:

    Hi, i’m from Polnad… I earn money via google ad sense to…, not $5000, but about $3000 /month. In Polnad it’s a nice sum.
    But…
    Google blocks some clicks, becouse theirs reason is spam on my website. My website (not WiCiU.Com)…
    greater good :)

  8. 8
    On December 11, 2007 at 5:58 am charley said:

    Thanks jon this is really inspirational for me you hit on key things I’ve been saying to my wife for years. As w/ any career or hobby you gotta stick w/ it for it to pay off, and get involved in things that interest you and that you have a passion for. She thinks there’s no money to be made on the internet at all, and uses the computer for games only. I dissagree and your proof i don’t believe in getting rich quick but I do believe in hard work. Thanks again
    Charley T

  9. 9
    On October 26, 2008 at 4:59 am Jose A. Colon said:

    It is always inspiring to see a young man succeed. I see that Jon has being active since at least 2003, and, he was and is following his passion, which happens to be a very profitable niche.

    Thank you for the lessons.

    Joe

  10. 10
    On June 17, 2009 at 3:08 pm Jason said:

    If he’s making $5000 a month then it’s time to move out.

    Sure, Google Adsense is profitable if you can get at least 1000 unique visitors a day. If 8000 unique visitors produce 5000 dollars then 4000 would produce 2500. dollars a month. 2000 unique visitors a day would make 1,250. Finally 1000 visitors a day would produce 625 dollars a month. Of course, I’m using cell phones as the product. Other products would give different results.

  11. 11
    On July 29, 2009 at 5:12 am Daniel said:

    Yeah, very tempting article.. Anyway Yaro, do you have a music blog earn big money?

  12. 12
    On August 10, 2009 at 9:49 pm Bloggernizer.tk said:

    Damn.. I am jealous to read this article. I can only gain about $28 with my first blog talking about iphone.. But i am truly inspired..

  13. 13
    On September 3, 2009 at 10:57 am Jason said:

    We can assume from this article that cell phones are a profitable niche. However, it might not be as popular these days with the bad economy.

    Ad Sense is tough because getting traffic is tough. The keyword research tools are often misleading.

    • 14
      On October 1, 2009 at 3:21 am Erik said:

      Thanks for this information, it is tough sometimes to convince people that it is worth the effort to create good blog content. I wonder since this information is a few years old is there an update, are you still making profits in this range? Let us know if you get a chance, Thanks

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