Blog to Travel

In December 2008, I earned $290.

• $101 from Google AdSense
• $71 from Text Link Ads
• $70 from Linkworth
• $48 from reader donations

My Text Link Ads stream is drying up by this point.  Down from a high of about $136 nine months earlier.  I think my drop in Alexa Ranking and Page Rank, combined with tough economic times, has accounted for the lack of new sales.  I wrote TLA regarding the poor performance lately, and they offered to have their sales reps help to push it.

I also lost a Linkworth ad which hurts because I get 70% of my $50/month rate, or $35 per text link, per month.  Much more generous than TLA, but with a lower volume of sales.

November was a higher-than-average month.  Unfortunately, it would be followed by two lower-than-average months which resulted from non-renewals.  The world’s economic troubles were pinching the budgets of advertisers.

In November 2008, I earned $678.

• $389 from the direct sale of a text link
• $88 from Text Link Ads
• $105 from Linkworth
• $97 from reader donations

Hola amigos.

This is just a quick update to let you know I’m still here.  If building one successful blog (GoBackpacking) is a lot of work, then I’ve learned the last few months that building a second one from scratch (Medellin Living) is about double the work!  No shortcuts.

Thankfully my gamble on the second one paid off with almost immediate SEO and traffic results.  I’m even making some money from it already, and arranged my first contributing author to help keep the content fresh when I leave Colombia for home in the USA next month.

I’m still very dedicated to sharing what I’m making from my sites, as well as how I’m doing in growing that income.  I’ll need to catch up with the Earnings Updates, and then my postings should start to become more regular.

As a teaser, I’ll let you know exactly where I’m at right now.

May 2009 was my second highest earnings month on record.  I earned over $1,300!  And as expected, June is down from that, and closer to my monthly average for the year.  Overall, my earnings are up about 20% over 2008, and that doesn’t discount the donations and cash gifts I received last year while traveling.  The real growth number from paid advertisers is probably closer to 30%.

My goal is to reach a sustainable traveling income over the next 12 months.  At the moment, I’m setting that figure at $1,500 per month, which means I’ll have to figure out how to double my recurring income.  Then, I’ll really open up my options for being able to take another long term backpacking trip! 

I’ve begun a new series over at GoBackpacking called Developing A Successful Travel Blog.  I haven’t hit the monetization aspects of travel blogging yet, but there’s still a lot of good info being posted each week.  Be sure to check it out, and I’ll talk to you soon.

I love the months where I pick up a new advertiser to pay for a 6 or 12 month commitment on a text link sale turns out to be gre

In October 2008, I earned $501.

• $289 from the direct sale of a text link
• $103 from Text Link Ads
• $70 from Linkworth
• $30 from reader donations