How I Make Money Online Part 4 – Blogging
- 69 Comments... Click to Contribute
Back in August 2005 I wrote a three part series of blog posts about how I have made money online. This was one of my first pillar article series and forms one of the foundation content pillars that this blog was built on (my business timeline and typical day in my life articles were other foundation pieces I wrote in 2005, during this blog’s early days). These article types are concepts that are crucial to a blog’s growth during the first few months and are part of the methodology I teach in Blog Traffic School (and yes, the course is still coming, the mentoring program will be released first though).
I thought it was about time I updated my how I make money online series since I now make a significant proportion of my income from blogging. I was asked in my last post were I revealed that I made $6549.52 from blogging in March to break down specifically how I did it, so in this post I will explain the particulars for you.
How I Make Money Blogging – Video Explanation
I’ve explained how I monetize this blog in a 23 minute screencast video. It’s a 60MB video or 10MB audio only download, so I recommend this only for my broadband readers. If you have problems with the video I suggest you wait for it to download completely rather than watch it streaming.
Click the graphic below to open the video in a new window.
If you like the video and want to see more screencast presentations like this, stay tuned for my blog mentoring program as I will be using screencasts throughout the program.
March 2007 Income Breakdown
I maintain a monthly income spreadsheet, which lists revenues generated from my blogs and websites. Here is a snapshot from March, minus some private data that is not appropriate for release to the public.
As you can see, the income comes from Text-Link-Ads.com, ReviewMe.com, private text link campaigns, private banner campaigns, affiliate sales and a sprinkling of AdSense.
AdSense Income
The AdSense income of $875.46 does not come from my blogs. This money is generated from a network of mini bike site forum communities, which I purchased late last year and manage with a business partner, Robert Kingston. The sites were purchased using money I generated from blogging and my Internet business, which is one way I reinvest my profits and diversify my income streams. We plan to add blogs to the bike sites later in the year.
Buying and selling websites is a completely different topic, one I have discussed previously on this blog (see How To Buy A Website And Flip It For Profit). I will discuss what is going on with this project in a future post.
Text Link Brokers and ReviewMe
Text-Link-Ads, as many bloggers know, is a great service, especially when your blog is well established. My inventory is always sold out despite the fact that I have raised the price recently (I emailed Text-Link-Ads and asked them to increase the price). In March I made $560.02 from Text-Link-Ads. I also make on average around $75-$125 per month in affiliate referrals to the text-link-ads service ($25 per sign-up). In March the affiliate income was $75.
I made $176.37 from another text link brokering service, LinkWorth. The links appear on the mini bike forums, so this income does not come directly from this blog.
ReviewMe.com charges $250 per review on this blog and the other blog I operate, SmallBusinessBranding.com. I receive 50% of the income, so $125 per review. I don’t take every review offered, only the ones that I feel capable of writing something about of value to my readers and I have time to research and produce. I average about three reviews per month across the two blogs and in March the income was $375.
Direct Advertising Sales
I make a large chunk of my monthly income from selling banners and text links directly to sponsors. In March I earned $750 for direct sales of text links on both blogs. Banner revenue was $300, however the main banner sponsor, GetResponse, is booked in for six months so I did not realize that income this month and received the money as a large payment at the end of last year.
Affiliate Income
Affiliate income is the most significant source of revenue I have for my blogs. In March I generated $3354.87 in affiliate commissions. This was larger than usual because a few big once off payments came through. Generally though because affiliate programs pay out erratically, I can count on around $1000 – $3000 in affiliate commissions each month.
Some affiliate income is recursive, which means the money comes in from sales I may have referred months or years ago because I referred people to subscription sites. Some of the continuity affiliate programs I promote include:
- AWeber
- GetResponse
- 1shoppingcart/MarketersChoice
- Rich Schefren Coaching Program
- Russel Brunson’s Dot Com Secrets
- Perry Marshall’s Renaissance Club
There’s one cheque I receive for $30 that I have no idea what it’s for. It just says “affiliate center” on it and so far it’s come through twice. If you have seen The Secret you know about the guy who intents cheques to come to him in the mail, and how he goes on to explain that they just started coming. Originally I was like “yeah, sure, random cheques in the mail hey” but now I know what he’s talking about 
.
You will note that every affiliate program listed above closely relates to the topic of this blog, I currently use or used previously and can blog about with some authority. They are all relevant, which is key in successful affiliate marketing.
Outside of the recursive programs, I also affiliate sell the following products:
- Butterfly Marketing – Mike Filsaime
- Butterfly Marketing Manuscript – Mike Filsaime
- Product Launch Formula – Jeff Walker
- SEOBook – Aaron Wall
- Definitive Guide To Google AdWords – Perry Marshall
Again, I own every product listed above and have either written reviews about them or mentioned them in blog posts. I know these products, they have directly or indirectly made me money, I can write about them with an honest opinion and some of the readers of this blog benefit from buying them too because they are in a similar situation to me.
When they were still available, I made sales of Stompernet and Pipeline Profits (a large chunk of March’s affiliate revenues came from Pipeline Profit commissions). Other significant Internet product launches contribute to my affiliate income as well.
There are some other products and services I promote that are not listed above, including conferences and seminars, ebooks and courses. Whenever I feel I can adequately review something, it’s relevant to an article I’m producing or something I am personally involved with, I will promote with my affiliate link.
Blog Monetization Strategies
As you can see, to make money from blogging you can dip into many different income streams. That’s a good thing because you diversify and reduce your risk. If one income source tanks in a month you don’t suddenly have no money coming in. The entire Internet would have to be down for your money to dry up completely.
The one downside is that you need to maintain different advertising systems, but as is the case with my situation, I focus on building recursive and low maintenance options and reduce my dependence on any income stream that requires significant ongoing labor. I could just use AdSense across all my sites but I’d probably earn about 10% of what I currently make, so it pays to take some time testing different money making techniques.
Of course it’s a good idea to keep blogging every month, that is a labor activity, but chances are you enjoy it (as I do) if you are in the blogging game to begin with. By testing different monetization methods I’ve been able to come up with methods that suit my blogging style and work well enough that I can earn a full time income working part time blogging.
If that sounds like something you would like to do, make sure you are on my early notification list for my blog mentoring program. You can sign up here:
Thanking Sponsors
Before I end this article I want to send some thanks to the sponsors of this blog since they are responsible for a significant proportion of the financial rewards I receive from blogging. In no particular order, a big shout out and thank you to:
- WebBizIdeas
- GoBigNetwork
- GetResponse
- Venture Capital Update
- PreCharge
- Free Business Cards
- WordPress Tutorials
- Project Management
- Business Coaching
- Blog Design
- Internet Marketing With Gobala Krishnan
- Online Marketing
- Cash Advances
- Lead Generation
- Audio Conferencing
Also thanks to all the past sponsors of my blogs. If you want to be like these sponsors please check out the advertising page.
That’s it for how I make money blogging. Bear in mind I only cover a small sampling of the entire world of blog monetization methods. There are MANY more ways you can make money and it’s important that you keep testing different methods AT THE SAME TIME as you focus on producing great content. Through testing you can make more money, but I recommend you avoid investing too much energy in monetization as you can become too focused on the dollar and your own ego, which is detrimental to your blog’s health (and can be to your own health too!). Balance is key here people!
Good luck,
Yaro Starak
Making Money Online
Subscribe to Entrepreneurs-Journey.com
Free with subscription
"How To Start An Internet Business
& Make Your First $1000 Onine"
Forward to Friend
Email a copy of this article to a friend
Loading ...Comments
Leave a comment
Trackbacks
-
1
[...] Tycoons Yaro Starak of Entrepreneur’s Journey writes a post entitled, “How I Make Money Online Part 4 – Blogging.” Yaro pulled down in excess of $6,000 in March largely comes from affiliate income as [...]
-
2
[...] I love reading reports from bloggers about how much money they are making, and I have two great examples. Yaro Starak at Entrepreneurs-Journey broke down his earnings in his article How I Make Money Online. [...]
-
3
[...] Gunlugu” blogunda bu konuda yaziyor, okumak isteyenler icin cok iyi bir kaynak: “How I Make Money Online Part 4 – Blogging.†Yaro sadece Mart ayinda $6,000 yapmis blogundan…Gelirinin buyuk kisimlari google [...]
-
4
[...] How I Make Money Online – Part 4 – by Yaro Starak. Lists all the sources of his $6500 monthly income! [...]
-
5
[...] Paula’s List Source [...]
-
6
[...] Source of revenue estimate: How I Make Money Online Part 4 – Blogging [...]
-
7
[...] How Yaro makes money on the internet [...]
-
8
[...] site has taught me that making money simply writing a blog online is [...]
-
10
[...] Just as many thousands of small Webmasters have earned online income from running ads on their non-blog sites, bloggers are doing the same thing. And with the emergence of some high-profile blogs attracting millions of readers, a few bloggers are making very good money. [...]
Great post.
I was shocked when my ReviewMe price showed up at $60 for my BLOG. My Text-Link-Ads price isn’t bad either.
A little bit of the various income models with lots of great content.
Take Care,
Michael
Thanks for writing this article, with so many details.Very useful, that’s why I keep you in my RSS reader.
Fantastic post. Wonderful breakdowns. Simply put… very useful!
But, and this is a big BUT! PLEASE can you tell me privately or comment back on this post, what script are you using to run the mini bike videos! I have been searching for something like that for weeks now as I want to do a similar thing for a karting website that I run!
If you could let me know I would be really really thankful
Cheers
David
http://www.MobileMarketingWatch.com
That’s awesome, Yaro.
Thanks heaps for sharing and good luck building upon your success in the future.
I can’t wait to hear more about the mentoring – that ought to keep you busy!
Cheers,
Joe
Wow, that’s impressive. You are an inspiration to all of us!
Nice post Yaro, just downloading the video now. If you don’t mind answering this question, how do you solicit for private text link sales?
Is it mainly through your site or do you solicit elsewhere.
David – I’m not entirely sure where to get that videos script. The only reference I have for it is this -
http://www.buildrevenues.com/forum/index.php
Allan – all my sales come to me now, I haven’t ever actively sought sponsors. However for other sites I have looked around digitalpoint and sitepoint forums and approached companies directly.
One of the best ways to find potential sponsors is to run adsense on your site for a while and see what Google shows as relevant ads. You can usually find potential sponsors in the ads that you can approach directly.
It´s always very interesting to read detailed breakdowns like this one. Thanks for sharing your experiences and knowledge.
This article is fantastic and to add on the strategy of diversifying the into different revenue streams is still better.Today the bloggers have to understand the basic of Blog Monetization and then proceed.
Great article. I like the way you broke it down. It helps newbies like me understand it better. I really appreciate how thorough your articles are.
Yaro, I stumbled across this blog tonight and was amazed at your success. Thank you for this breakdown. I will definately try to utilize some of your techniques in the future. I have only just started two blogs and have to increase my traffic before I can do some of these. Thanks again and good luck in the future.
Hey Yaro! Wonderful job, i am getting jealous of you but anyhow thanks for updating us with your money making review. Keep it up, hope in future you will add more money every month in your bank balance.
Hi Jaro, great article!
I’m going to open a tourism based website or blog in the near future, and wanted to ask what ad programs could i use (preferently in spanish)
If not, could you suggest a directory or listing where to search for this kind of programs?
Thanks in advance
Great article Yaro, thanks for sharing. I’m in the middle of reading your blog profits blueprint. As you can see, I’m taking note…and commenting on other blogs ;o)
All the best, Matt
Hey Yaro,
Thanks for this information, it’s very interesting to see how different monetization sources can help a blog. I’m always amazed at those who are able to make numbers in the thousands online doing blogs.
I think I found the answer to a previous question about making money by blogging. Thanks a lot.
Teodor
Good post. Now I have an ida to making a blog like a business. Thanks Yaro !
Hi Yaro,
I just wanted to say thank you for writing and giving your voice to such an informative helpful piece.
So thanks!
Great post Yaro. Thanks for sharing such personal details of your earnings. It gives some inspiration to others just starting out to want to succeed even more.
WOW! Amazing article. I have somewhat got to making decent income in other aspects of web publishing, but after reading this I can’t wait to start blogging! Thanks for sharing all the details, awesome info!
yaro,
thank you for such an amazing article, video, blog blueprints, you are truly a magical find, you really helped give me a lot of inspiration for the future of my blog! Thank you for taking the time to put all of this together, it makes it so worthwhile to come to your blog and get so much useful and helpful information, and I don’t have to search everywhere, I just need to come to you
kisses
georgette
This is unbelievable that you make this kind of money blogging!!! How many sites do you have all together…6,549? Also, you didn’t mention how much you paid out in expenses for advertising your sites. That info would be very helpful! I know you’re very busy (overseeing over 6,000 sites and all), but if you have a chance could you take a look at my site? I am a total newbie, just got it up this week, and would appreciate any advise you (or perhaps your readers) could spare! Thanks so much!
Watch the video South Bay Mom and you will see exactly how this money was made.
Cheers,
Yaro
Thank you…I will!
Hi Yaro,
One GREAT post! Thanks for sharing! This could be the turning point of my life. Could you help me with my blog? I need a breakthrough! Cheers! Maketraffic
I realize this post is a bit old, but I was wondering how much your income has grown? (I am email subscribed to this posts comments so I should get your response).
Collin – read my blog posts from late December 07 and you will find my updated reports about my business.
Okay, thanks.
I will look for it.
Man Yaro, I’m fairly new to blogging and didn’t realize how much I have to learn until I watched your video. My main purpose was to provide good information and had no idea you could use this to monetize your blog. I will be looking into your blogmastermind course. Cheers, Nathan
Wow, this is a great post, Yaro.
I also earn $870 usd in Adsense, but in the last 6 months! I’ll use some of your tips to see if my earnings improve the following months.
But thanks for sharing this information, very helpful for newbies like me.
That was a nice income! I wish to have the same result too..but currently I only get much on CPC network ads. After looking at your earning summary I have a second tought on affiliates to make money.
thanks
Yaro,
Thank you for being so open about your income streams. You see alot of those gurus bragging about making so and so much without giving inside information on how they do it. Your post is a great eye opener and inspiration. Hope to learn more from you.
Beautifully written! I have bookmarked this for further reference…this is and excellent resource. 3 thumbs up!
Nice article… I wish I know how to lure sells. I think that’s the hardest part of them all, but the cash is the biggest of them all.
Hi, my name is Chris and I am officially addicted to your blog
I also wanted to ask you a question – how do you work out what price to charge for advertising packages that you run on your blog?
Hi, Yaro.
My main purpose was to provide good information and had no idea you could use this to monetize your blog.
I used to study all the method there is to so called “make money online” but i got stuck on paid review (which gives me around $100 – $200)…
Blogging is ever growing in popularity and for most is the first step into the journey of Making Money Online.
I own a blog myself (unfortunately not as popular as yours) and my main revenue is adsense.
What other methods do you recommend for those with less popular blogs? (I doubt anyone will want to pay $100 for a review on my blog!)
I’d recommend establishing a sales funnel and sell different products. The first step is to build an email list. I cover most of this in detail on this blog, so go check out my articles page if you want to begin the learning process.
Awesome post! Nowadays you have to diversify everything because you never know how long things will last, especially with the current state of events in the world.
If one revenue stream dries up, you can fall back on numerous others while you replenish the loss with a new avenue.
Hi Yaro
Could you tell me where I would find Parts 1, 2 and 3
Regards Tony
Wow this is old but a great article filled with good tips on making money online.
Yaro, do you still use adsense or do you mainly stick to affiliate programs now? Good article, anyhow. I might consider affiliate programs more now than just adsense ads.
Did I learn anything from reading this post? Nothing, except that you use several methods to make sure there’s money coming in every month. I’ve to salute you though, you’re so good at getting people to read on, leading them on with the promise of the Holy Grail, and then suddenly the article ends. I will keep reading some articles though, just in case there are other articles that will really teach me how to do it.
I’m reading your e-book. And if this article is one example of how you get people to read your posts, right now I’m saying No Thanks.
Hey Yaro,
Thanks for writing your online marketing history. Very interesting. You are a true entrepreneur from starting from an early age. It’s funny I used to play “business owner” when I was a kid.
They say you should do what you are inclined towards when picking a career.
I’m working on my 1st blog. Posting as much as I can daily. It’s about niche blogging & I’m learning as I post!
I do a couple online survey sites but those don’t bring in much. Does anyone know any survey sites, or other things I can do on the internet to earn money? I need free things that I don’t have to pay for. Will you please include links if you have any?
Xanga has fairly basic privacy controls. There’s an option where you can limit viewers of certain journal entries to users in a predefined list, but Xanga Classic (the free one) only allows up to ten users on that list.
LiveJournal, on the other hand, allows you to restrict entry views to your friends only, and there’s no limit to how many friends you can have. I’m pretty satisfied with LJ’s interface and ease of use.
You can write anything you wish in your blog, make a post through Blogger.com, or Wordpress.com, and every day or every week you would write up a post that your readers would find interesting.
Your Message
Hi Yaro,
I am a noob and learning how to start a blogging biz. I am truly inspired by you and hope to learn more from you. I need to ask a lot of questions. How can I get to speak to you (probably via skype or MSN), coz it will be tedious to do it via email.
Cheers
Having been referred to some residual income online business opportunities before, I still need your expert guidance on how to actually get started and most importantly how to make sure I really make money out of it.
Roselee, If you are searching for a business opportunity that delivers one of the very best exit strategies and residual income on the market today, you owe it to yourself to investigate, do your due diligence and join a excellent team.
More importantly, can you achieve the success, prosperity and lifestyle of your dreams and truly love what you do every day of your life? Let this website be your guide for one of the most lucrative home businesses on the market today.
Cash gifting is a business model that involves the exchange of money primarily for enrolling other people into the scheme, often without any product or service being delivered.
The best way to start successfully in cash gifting is to get a mentor. Seek for cash gifting expert that will teach and help you on the right way t have many people sign up into this cash leveraging program.
I am looking for ways to make money online without the hassle, and the possiblity of being scammed. I heard and saw bogus websites, those that ask for your credit card number and I’m not into all that.
Yaro,
What sales page / squeeze page program or option(s) have you had the most success with and/or what ones do you recommend? Also, is it best to use a site other than a part of your main blog’s site for the squeeze page and if so, what are the reasons for doing so?
Hi, Yaro, I’m fairly new to blogging and didn’t realize how much I have to learn until I watched your video. My main purpose was to provide good information and had no idea you could use this to monetize your blog.