Blog to Travel » Earnings Report

Web Earnings for June 2010

Dave — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 11:00:15 +0000

In June 2010, I earned a total of $2,556.

$1,401 – Direct advertising (banners, text links, paid reviews)
$637 – Travel Blog Success
$261 – Private consulting
$193 – Commission Junction affiliate payment
$63 – Linkworth text link ad

June was a strong month, and by now, my average income for the year was over $2,000 per month.

My rough goal for the year was to reach the $5,000 per month mark, however that seems like a long ways off. Instead, I’d really like to reach the $3,000 per month mark by year’s end, and then focus on $5,000/month for 2011. That kind of income would allow me to live just about anywhere in the world, from New York City to Rio de Janeiro. My eye is on the latter.

I ran a ten day, 20%-off sale for Travel Blog Success to coincide with the Travel Blog Exchange (TBEX) conference in New York City. Several affiliates helped to publicize it, which earned them some money, and my sales were double the norm that month.

The private consulting income was the result of an agreement I made with the client to refer advertisers her way, in exchange for a share of any earnings she made. Because she was already well established, with good traffic and Page Rank, the advertisements practically sold themselves. She was happy, and I was happy.

Part of me wondered whether I should be getting paid for those referrals. I’ve referred advertisers to a few of my friends simply to help them out. Then I realized that the payments were incentive for me to contact the advertisers, and do a little pre-screening work before getting my client involved. I’m sure this saved her time, and given she was traveling, made her life easier. During the second half of 2010, while I’m here in Colombia, I intend to pursue the consulting angle further.

Lastly, I earned my first affiliate payment from Commission Junction, and it was a big one. It was the result of a large purchase through a GoDaddy affiliate links. I’m guessing the buyer was via my membership site, as I haven’t earned money from GoDaddy for the small number of other links I’ve used on blogs in the past.

Join Travel Blog Success and learn to build a better travel blog.

Web Earnings for May 2010

Dave — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 11:00:09 +0000

In May 2010, I earned a total of $2,248.

$1,615 – Direct advertising (banners, text links, paid reviews)
$399 – Travel Blog Success
$136 – Private consulting
$55 – Linkworth text link ad
$44 – Miscellaneous affiliate payment

By May, earnings from Travel Blog Success appeared to be leveling off at $400 per month, or $100 per week. While I’d been hoping for more new members to join each week and month, I’ve been satisfied with results of creating and launching my first product (ever!).

My goal with Travel Blog Success was never to earn a living completely off of it, but rather to launch a product that could supplement my other online income sources, and thereby allow me to live abroad, or travel again, sooner rather than later. Basically, I saw it as a means to expedite the growth of my online earnings.

Considering I am writing this update from a comfortable room I’m renting in a new building in Medellin, Colombia, I’d say my plan worked out well.

May 2010 marked the start of my first foray into private consulting. I’d created the membership site to help travelers build high quality blogs, however there will always be people who for one reason or another, prefer to work on a 1:1 basis. The earnings from consulting were based on an agreed upon hourly rate, which I set quite low in order to gain the client and test the waters.

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Web Earnings for April 2010

Dave — Sat, 01 May 2010 11:00:37 +0000

In April 2010, I earned a total of $1,544.

$962 – Direct advertising (banners, text links, paid reviews)
$489 – Travel Blog Success
$58 – Woo Themes affiliate payment
$35 – Linkworth text link ad

My streak of 3 straight months over the $2,000 mark ended in April, however I was still happy to be earning over 3 times what I made the same month the year before (2009).

Travel Blog Success earnings dipped noticeably, and I knew a plateau was inevitable. I found the post-launch marketing push to be more draining than I expected, and I didn’t keep the sales pressure up for very long.

On the plus side, the feedback from the people joining was very positive. I’d only had a handful of refund requests, and those were in the first few weeks, mostly due to personal financial reasons (ie. they shouldn’t have purchased the membership to begin with).

Join Travel Blog Success and learn to build a better travel blog.

Web Earnings for March 2010

Dave — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 11:00:48 +0000

In March 2010, I earned a total of $2,779.

$1,697 – Direct advertising (banners, text links, paid reviews)
$775 – Travel Blog Success
$262 – World Nomads affiliate payment
$35 – Linkworth text link ad
$10 – Miscellaneous affiliate payment

The second month of Travel Blog Success was almost as strong as the first. This was partly the result of Clickbank’s accounting policies, and how they issue payments. I record my earnings per month based on the amount of money that hits my PayPal or bank accounts, not how much I made on paper alone.

The World Nomads payment was a nice chunk of change, though I feel like it took way too long for me to earn my first affiliate payment from them. I should probably do more to promote their travel insurance products going forward, given they’re perfectly suited for my core audience (and I’ve used them as well).

Join Travel Blog Success and learn to build a better travel blog.

Web Earnings for February 2010

Dave — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 11:00:06 +0000

I launched my first digital product, a membership course called Travel Blog Success (TBS), February 1, 2010.

It immediately stuck a chord, and opened up a new income stream for me. I was unsure of how it would be received (was the price too high, would the content be valued, etc.), however the four months of work it took to create the content and build the site paid off. I was no longer solely dependent on advertising and affiliate sales.

In February 2010, I earned a total of $2,698.

$1,644 – Direct advertising (banners, text links, paid reviews)
$836 – Travel Blog Success
$141 – Google AdSense
$35 – Linkworth text link ad
$33 – Amazon.com affiliate payment (mostly due to one netbook purchase before holidays)
$10 – Miscellaneous affiliate payment

Join Travel Blog Success and learn to build a better travel blog.

Web Earnings for January 2010

Dave — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 11:00:12 +0000

I really thought January was going to be an average to low month, but it turned out to be my second highest month on record.

In January 2010, I earned a total of $2,055

$1,927 – Direct advertising (banners, text links, paid reviews)
$67 – Woo Themes affiliate payment
$35 – Linkworth text link ad
$26 – Nomadic Matt affiliate payment (for his ebook)

My traffic was the highest on record for a single month at Go Backpacking: 25,000 unique visits and over 50,000 page views. This was helped by the fact that the blog was a top 5 finalist for the Best Travel Weblog award in the 2010 Bloggies.

I don’t usually try to win those popularity contest type of awards because it requires me to appeal to my audience to vote, but this time I really went all out. This is only the second year (out of ten) that they’ve had a unique travel blog category, and I want to win it. Not that it comes with a big reward, $20.10, but because it would be a nice selling point to throw out at potential sponsors. A little recognition can go a long way.

Two weeks into February, it’s looking like I’ll easily be able to surpass January thanks to the successful launch of my new membership site, Travel Blog Success.

If you like what you see and read here, consider joining the course and community I built from scratch to help others achieve the same results, and better, than me!

Join Travel Blog Success and learn to build a better travel blog.

Web Earnings for 2009 (Year End Total)

Dave — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 05:01:18 +0000

In 2009, I earned $10,390 from travel blogging:

$7,251 – Direct banner/text link sales
$910 – Linkworth
$840 – TextLinkAds.com
$785 – Freelance work
$362 – Google AdSense
$19 – Miscellaneous affiliate sales
$13 – Amazon.com

As you can tell, selling advertising directly is by far the biggest way that I’ve monetized my travel blogs. In the second half of 2009, after updating the theme of Go Backpacking, I began to sell much more banner advertising, which is billed on a monthly basis, or 3 months at a time in the case of the 125 x 125 banners. I learned to use PayPal subscriptions to automatically bill the customers.

Advertisers still prefer to pay for 6-12 months in advance on text link ads. I started turning them down for the first time because I didn’t want to see Go Backpacking overrun with text link ads.

I started to monetize Medellin Living through text link ads, and was earning more than I expected for such a niche travel blog. The consistent PR 3 has helped, I’m sure.

The freelance work consisted of 3 articles I wrote for AskMen.com, and a payment for the Colombia trip I didn’t get to go on (through no fault of my own).

I scaled back the Google AdSense on Go Backpacking, and instead, relied on the Lonely Planet’s Blogsherpa program to help me earn those dollars. I continued to earn a minimal amount of money per month on Medellin Living and this blog, but nothing much. At the time I’m writing this, I’ve removed AdSense from ALL of my blogs.

I received feedback through the Problogger.com forum in the latter half of the year that my traffic numbers should equate to higher earnings, and that I wasn’t making more money was a sign that I wasn’t monetizing properly – specifically that I wasn’t leveraging affiliate marketing. As a result, I started to focus on that area more. It’s not reflected above because I have yet to receive payouts from World Nomads, and my first Woo Themes payout was received in January 2010. Together, these two affiliates account for more than $300.

I should also mention that I spent more money on my travel blogging activities in 2009 then any other year. I bought a new laptop, Blackberry, upgraded my hosting package on GoDaddy, registered a bunch of new domains, invested in premium WordPress themes, joined AWeber, and started hiring designers to help with small projects on a freelance basis.

All in all, I’m super psyched that I hit the $10,000 mark for the first time, and that reflected a doubling of 2008′s achievement. The stars are aligning, and I see no reason why I can’t reach $25,000+ in 2010. And that’s just through Go Backpacking and Medellin Living.

To take things a step further, after 4 months of hard work, I’m launching a new membership site called Travel Blog Success. My goal is to help others build quality travel blogs through a 12-week online course blog, and members-only forum. I’ll be offering personalized support and guidance to everyone that joins.

Travel Blog Success launches at 10 AM (EST) Monday, February 1, 2010.

Check it out!

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Web Earnings for December 2009

Dave — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 22:57:38 +0000

Happy New Year!

After my record-setting month of November 2009, I expected to see a dip in December. Plus, with the holidays and people traveling, I knew the traffic to Go Backpacking would dip.

In December 2009, I earned a total of $568:

$520 – direct banner/text links
$35 – Linkworth
$13.50 – affiliate sale (money collected)

Go Backpacking received 16,000 unique visits, up about 5% from the month before.

I’m actually happy with this because I don’t think I had any new sales, so it’s a reflection of recurring monthly income. I was sad to lose a long time $35/month Linkworth advertiser though.

I turned down a handful of text link ads, and my prices were simply too high for other interested parties. I raised them extra high to get a feel for a ceiling on what companies will be willing to pay, yet as my traffic grows, I continue to think the site’s value is headed towards those dollar amounts.

Now that I have 3 years of earnings on record, I can tell January 2010 is likely to be a slow month too, but then things should pick up heading into the Spring.

A few affiliations are starting to pay off for me, though not yet in collected money:

World Nomads – I’m a few dollars shy of hitting their $250 minimum payout for the first time.
Woo Themes – I made 4 affiliate sales in December, and that affiliate link is the 2nd most clicked at Go Backpacking (as it appears on every page in the footer). This is almost enough for me to break even on the cost of the Gazette premium theme I use there. And I am flabbergasted at how many owners of premium themes don’t use an affiliate link in their footer! They’re leaving money on the table and they don’t even realize it.
How to Make Money with Your Travel Blog – I’ve sold a few of Nomadic Matt’s ebook, though in December he was offering a discounted price so the commission was lower.

In 2010, I’ll likely transition Medellin Living and Blog to Travel over to Woo Themes as well. Picking a preferred brand and standing behind it makes a big difference in earning money through affiliate sales. It’s akin to shooting a distant target with a sniper rifle vs spraying machine gun fire in the hopes a bullet strikes the bullseye. If that analogy didn’t make sense, then I’ll just add that affiliate marketing requires a lot more precision than I initially realized.

I intend to post a few more times this month, including a year-end report for 2009′s online earnings. I’ll give you a hint as to the results: I more than doubled 2008′s earnings, and cracked the 5-figure threshold for the first time!

Plus, I’ll share my 2010 goals for travel blogging.

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Web Earnings for November 2009

Dave — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:30:38 +0000

I am writing this as the final hours wane in November, 2009. Just last month, I set a new record for online earnings, and I knew November had great potential due to a lot of links up for renewal. But I didn’t expect the results to be so awesome.

I almost doubled the earnings of October!

In November 2009, I earned a total of $2,971:

$2,752 – direct banner/text links
$143 – Google AdSense
$70 – Linkworth
$5 – affiliate sale (money collected)

All but $200 of this was earned from GoBackpacking.com too, which goes to show that you can earn good money by focusing on a single site.

I was especially excited to sell my first 486 x 60 banner advertisement in the header. It was my highest priced option at $200 per month, and I think I first saw the e-mail notification of payment from PayPal after working out at the gym.

Time after time, I check my BlackBerry mid-morning, as I’m walking out of the gym, and see money being sent to me for building a travel blog I’m passionate about. It’s an incredible feeling. I’ve learned so much over the last 3 years of blogging, with a whole trip around the world sandwiched in between.

The reason I’ve been so quiet here at Blog to Travel is the attention I’ve been giving my new travel blog project – a membership site due to be launched in January 2010.

I’m excited to be putting together my own product to sell, and think it will have a lot to offer the travel blogging community. I’ve already given a few previews, and I am confident it will kick butt when all is said and done.

___

PS – if I factor in uncollected affiliate earnings for Nov ’09, I surpassed the $3,000 mark Nomadic Matt cites for his ebook about How to Make Money with a Travel Blog. And I’m poised to easily surpass $10,000 for the year!

Join Travel Blog Success and learn to build a better travel blog.

Web Earnings for October 2009

Dave — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 02:03:21 +0000

October was a record-breaking month for my web earnings! New, high-quality, high-paying sponsors seemed to emerge from the woodwork. I began to leverage Medellin Living as a lower-cost alternative to advertising on GoBackpacking as well.

I am finally experiencing the benefits of having multiple sites, though I’m still concentrating the majority of my efforts on GoBackpacking.

In October 2009, I earned a total of $1,610:

$1,449 – from direct text/banner ads
$91 – Text Link ads
$70 – Linkworth

As you can see, selling direct pays, and BIG. Probably even BIGGER than I realize because I tend to undervalue my blogs and am not the hardest negotiator.

There’s no sharing revenue with a middle-man, though it does require you build up some traffic, Page Rank, and/or reputation first. The irony for travel bloggers is that the best time to leverage their blogs are before their trip, and even more so AFTER their trips. While they’re away, even though they are reporting back cool activities and photos, they have less time to engage with the online travel community, comment on blogs, and use social media to the fullest.

A cool thing about almost every advertiser that buys space on my site is that they come to me. Great rankings in the search engines (primarily Google) and being listed on the Trusted Travel Blogs Network have accounted for many a new advertiser.

As my traffic has improved on GoBackpacking, I’ve decided to steer away from selling text link ads. My homepage is a sad PR 2 (even after this past weekend’s update) because of them all. Yesterday, I canceled my account with Text Link Ads after being with them for almost 3 years. They were my second highest source of revenue, however now that I’m valuing my blog more, I should be able to make up the $70-$90 per month with one new, quality sponsor.

November will be dedicated to working hard on a new blog project I’ve got going. It has HUGE potential and I am really excited about it. I can’t wait to share more, but not quite yet.

For those that are interested, GoBackpacking received 14,000 visits and 30,000 page views in October, reflecting a 15% increase over September.

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Web Earnings for September 2009

Dave — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 12:05:35 +0000

September turned out to be an average month in most respects, except one. I earned close to $60 through Google AdSense for the first time, much the result of increasing traffic on GoBackpacking. Averaging $2 a day versus $1 offers a nice mental boost, however the real goal is to hit $3 a day so I can count on a monthly check of $100 or more from Google.

In Septemeber 2009, I earned a total of $475:

$194 – from direct text/banner ads
$113 – from Google AdSense (payment received from prior months earnings)
$98 – Text Link Ads
$70 – Linkworth

I was approached about a banner deal which will end up netting me a little over $100 per month. I was really excited about this deal. If it lasts 12 months, then it would be my single biggest advertising agreement to-date. I also referred the advertiser to four of my fellow travel bloggers. He mentioned my name when contacting them, which meant I received a lot of “thank you’s” which made me feel good.

I did a lot of work in September over at GoBackpacking – launching a new magazine-style design, releasing my first (free) e-book, and doing my best to pump out great content. I wrote a few guest posts for other blogs, and have a few people returning the favor. I am in authority-building mode, doing my best to network via Twitter and build up awareness. Once GoBackpacking’s premium Woo Theme was in place, I updated Blog to Travel’s theme to Blue Grace.

Looking ahead, I have one advertiser up for renewal in October, and a whopping 6 in November, which could prove to be my biggest month to-date. I anticipate spending in December to be lower than average due to the holidays.

__________

PS – I think it’s against the Google AdSense Terms of Service to share how much I make through them. If anyone can confirm that yes/no, I’d appreciate it!

Join Travel Blog Success and learn to build a better travel blog.

Web Earnings for August 2009

Dave — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 12:30:34 +0000

In August 2009, I earned a total of $1,063.

$485 – freelance online/social media promotional work
$418 – direct text/banner ad sales
$90 – Text Link Ads
$70 – Linkworth

This was my third highest month on record, and came just a month after my second highest month. Suddenly, it feels as though momentum is building toward reaching the $1,000 mark more regularly.

The freelance payment was for a bit of work I began in relation to the trip to Colombia I was offered, but couldn’t accept. I thought it was quite generous given I had yet to get seriously involved in the project.

I really need to write out my goals so I make them more definite. The figure in my mind for monthly earnings within 12 months of today keeps vacillating between $1,500 and $3,000. I know I should aim toward the higher end of this range, so even if I fall short by 33%, I’d still land at $2,000 per month which would be simply mind-blowing! I’ll figure out how best to get there in a different post.

One thing is for sure, I’ll need to renovate and market Blog To Travel if I want it to become part of my earnings empire.

Join Travel Blog Success and learn to build a better travel blog.

Graph of Total Online Earnings

Dave — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 06:12:00 +0000

This graph (which will open in a new window) represents October 2006 to August 2009*. It was produced using Google Docs, which is the way I track my online earnings. This approach was very useful given I began traveling in late 2007 without a laptop, and even when I bought one a few months later in Hong Kong (because my Asus AC adapter kept breaking on me…3 separate times to be exact – Nepal, Thailand, and Cambodia).

I take heart in the slow upward trend. I’m on the right track, and it could very well be a slippery slope to much greater income.

An old childhood friend of my brothers, who is the co-founder of an internet start-up in NYC, recently commented to me that “it should be easier to go from $500/month to $5,000, then $0 to $500.

I bet he’s right, and I’m looking forward to finding out!

____________________

* I am not sure if this link is static or will dynamically reflect future data, therefore these dates are reflective of the graph as it looked at the end of August.

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Web Earnings for July 2009

Dave — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 06:58:53 +0000

In July 2009, I earned $155.

$85 from Text Link Ads
$70 from Linkworth

After two great months, way above my average earnings the last 1.5 years, a month like this is not unexpected. Still, it sucks! I’m glad I’ve been able to keep $150+ coming in even when all other income streams aren’t producing. Again, every dollar makes a difference in terms of my financial situation and my mental beliefs about the long term prospects of making money online.

Also, I think the Summer months are typically quiet since people are on vacation, including the buyers of advertising!

I’m almost caught up with my earnings reports, which means I’ll be more consistent in posting month-to-month going forward. Hopefully, I can also share some tips as well, which ways always the purpose of starting Blog To Travel.

Join Travel Blog Success and learn to build a better travel blog.

Web Earnings for June 2009

Dave — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 06:53:53 +0000

In June 2009, I earned $716.

$220 from a Direct text link sale
$200 from Freelance Writing
$106 from Google AdSense
$105 from Linkworth
$85 from Text Link Ads

Normally I’m use to a significant drop in earnings after a really big month like May, but the strategy of having multiple income streams paid off well. The only effort I really had to make above and beyond normal, smart blogging, was writing a few freelance articles.

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Web Earnings For November 2008

Dave — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 06:22:39 +0000

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

Join Travel Blog Success and learn to build a better travel blog.

Web Earnings for May 2009

Dave — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 06:46:18 +0000

In May 2009, I earned $1,338.

$1,134 from a Direct text link sale
$105 from Linkworth
$85 from Text Link Ads
$13 Amazon.com

This was my second biggest earnings month on record, and the biggest if I am disregarding the highest month (which was something of a fluke because the advertiser made a mistake in purchasing 3 links for the same URL, just with different anchor text…though he let me keep the money).

As you can see, direct sales made up the bulk of earnings. Selling links for 6 or 12 months at a time is the way to go as neither the advertiser, nor I, want to keep up month-to-month managing a single link.

Earnings from May were more than enough to cover the purchase of a brand new HP Pavilion Entertainment PC. This purchase was the first step toward really investing in my blogs as a future source of significant income, whether I am living at home or traveling abroad.

Join Travel Blog Success and learn to build a better travel blog.

Web Earnings for April 2009

Dave — Sat, 30 May 2009 06:38:23 +0000

In April 2009, I earned $474.

$187 from a Direct text link sale
$105 from Linkworth
$100 from a freelance writing assignment
$82 from Text Link Ads

Adding the new income stream of freelance writing was awesome! It is money I now realize has to be treated differently with regard to taxes (self-employed earnings vs. the blogs which are a hobby), but it’s worth it to start getting my name out there as a published travel writer.

The opportunity was the direct result of my backpacking blog, which was over 2 years old by then, and my newest blog called Medellin Living which I began back in February when I saw a HUGE opportunity to write about an up-and-coming South American destination from a foreigner’s perspective (in English).

Join Travel Blog Success and learn to build a better travel blog.

Web Earnings for March 2009

Dave — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 06:29:17 +0000

In March 2009, I earned $267.

$97 from a Donation
$81 from Text Link Ads
$70 from Linkworth
$18.92 from a Direct text link sale

Not the greatest month, but the cost of living was lower in Colombia, so every dollar I earned felt like more money. Plus, the exchange rate was really in my favor due to the economic downturn. Taking the time to actually live in one place abroad, I realized the power of earning money online in US dollars. Earning that money back at home, it was and is easy to take it for granted.

To give you an idea of what $267 could buy me in Medellin -

$160 – cost of a room rental in a very nice, furnished, 1-year old apartment building
$40 – 1 month gym membership which includes support from personal trainers
$30 – 7 taxi cab rides across town
$20 – 3 lunch specials at Sushi To Go in Parque Lleras (main nightlife district)
$10 – 1 month’s worth of pre-paid cell phone minutes with Tigo (carrier)

Needless to say, I really became motivated to grow my online income.

Join Travel Blog Success and learn to build a better travel blog.

Web Earnings for February 2009

Dave — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 06:12:06 +0000

In February 2009, I earned $501.

$359 from Direct text link sales
$71 from Text Link Ads
$70 from Linkworth

February 09 was the first month in almost a year that I did not receive a reader donation or cash gift. This was basically the end of my trip around the world, as I arrived in Medellin, Colombia, and decided to try living there.

This year is turning out to be a great one, as my earnings continued to grow despite the lack of donations! Plus, I was offered my first paid trip abroad. I’m currently changing my personal reality to believe what I want from all this is possible – self-sustainability, being my own boss, and able to work remotely as I travel.

Join Travel Blog Success and learn to build a better travel blog.

Web Earnings For October 2008

Dave — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 06:55:32 +0000

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

Join Travel Blog Success and learn to build a better travel blog.

Web Earnings For September 2008

Dave — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 06:33:48 +0000

September was a great month as I contacted an advertiser early to see if he would be willing to renew 5 text links a little early. He was happy working with me, and happy to renew a little early in support of my travels. I also gained a new advertiser on Linkworth to up my earnings through that marketplace.

In September 2008, I earned $681.

$411 from the annual renewal of 5 text links
$103 from Text Link Ads
$97 from reader donations
$70 from Linkworth

Join Travel Blog Success and learn to build a better travel blog.

Web Earnings for January 2009

Dave — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 22:11:52 +0000

In January 2009, I earned $272.

$131 from Donations
$71 from Text Link Ads
$70 from Linkworth

The earnings from Text Link Ads hit their lowest since my third month with the company – February 2007. Yikes! Hopefully I’ll start getting more sales again now that my Alexa Rank is improving, but Page Rank is important too, and Google most recently dropped me from 3 to 2.

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Web Earnings for 2008 (Year End Total)

Dave — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 06:32:48 +0000

Happy 4th of July to all the Americans reading.

In 2008, I earned a total of $6,141. I doubled my 2007 income, which represented my first year of blogging and learning how to monetize my site. But about $1,000 of this represents cash gifts, donations, and payments for Dares, so the advertising growth was perhaps 75% over 2007 versus 100%.

Either way, this was my sole income for 2008 as I traveled around the world. It easily allowed me to travel longer than I would’ve done otherwise, and in more style. Having some money come in also provided a mental boost, and encouraged me to put in the hours of work each day and week required to keep the blog updated daily.

Next, time to catch everyone up on how I’ve been doing in 2009.

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Web Earnings for December 2008

Dave — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 06:27:39 +0000

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.

Join Travel Blog Success and learn to build a better travel blog.

Web Earnings For August 2008

Dave — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 05:37:03 +0000

August marked my 5th straight month of decline for income from TextLinkAds.com. As I write today, my income has declined even further, with months passing between new ad sales. It appears as though this source of income is going to dry up once the remaining ads expire.

I recently contacted Text Link Ads after reviewing the way my site is listed in their marketplace. Changes to the listings, and what I feel are gross inaccuracies in the stats are clearly hurting me, yet the company didn´t see a problem. They did offer to push my site to their salespeople to hopefully spur new interest.

In August 2008, I earned $305.

$110 from reader donations
$100 from Text Link Ads
$60 from Review Me
$35 from Linkworth

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Web Earnings for July 2008

Dave — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 07:48:50 +0000

The last four months evened out to a nice figure for July. The direct sales of text links continue to offer the boosts I need to see a higher average income per month. Best of all, the advertisers come to me, so my part in the process continues to simply be the development of a interesting content and negotiating rates. Seems easy enough!

In July 2008, I earned $396.

$144 from direct text link sales
$119 from Text Link Ads
$98 from reader donations
$35 from Linkworth

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Web Earnings for June 2008

Dave — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 07:45:54 +0000

Nothing much to speak of last June. It was the second time a very good month was followed by an especially low month. In June 2008, I earned $171. $116 from Text Link Ads $35 from Linkworth $20 from reader donations Join Travel Blog Success and learn to build a better travel blog. Related posts:Web Earnings for [...]

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Web Earnings for May 2008

Dave — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 08:24:19 +0000

May turned out to be another good month for direct sales of text links. Together with the recurring revenue from TLA and Linkworth, I am starting to enjoy a regular income month to month.

I had doubled my rate for ReviewMe from $60 to $120, mostly because I do not enjoy writing reviews, nor subjecting my growing audience to them, however if a company finds the value gained worth the cost, I want to reap a bigger reward for the time and effort. I sold one, so clearly I was undervaluing my site when the rate was half as much.

In May 2008, I earned $637.

$365 from direct text link sales
$119 from Text Link Ads
$110 from reader donations
$60 from ReviewMe
$35 from Linkworth

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Web Earnings for April 2008

Dave — Fri, 02 May 2008 17:09:02 +0000

April’s earnings were meager compared to the fantastic March numbers, but I still hoped the overall trend would be heading higher over the months ahead. In April 2008, I earned $208. $129 from Text Link Ads $70 from Linkworth $10 from reader donations Join Travel Blog Success and learn to build a better travel blog. [...]

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Web Earnings for March 2008

Dave — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 15:25:52 +0000

March was (and has been) by far my biggest one month total thanks to the direct sale of 3 text link ads to a new advertiser for $1,000 (minus PayPal fee). I remember how excited I was when we negotiated the rate. It was chilly. I was in Hong Kong. I had just bought a new ASUS eeePC laptop. I don’t care where you are traveling or living, a grand can make a BIG impact!

I also received a Google AdSense payoff, and upped my Linkworth earnings thanks to another text link sale through their marketplace.

In March 2008, I earned $1,494.

$1184 from direct sales of text links
$136 from Text Link Ads
$106 from Google AdSense
$68 from Linkworth

March turned out to account for 25% of my total earnings for 2008. Unfortunately, the advertiser chose not to renew in 2009. As you will soon see, the economic crisis which started to spiral out of control in late 2008 has had a noticeable impact on my renewals and new sales.

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Web Earnings for February 2008

Dave — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 16:27:24 +0000

Wow, what a year! I wish I had the time and energy to keep this blog updated while I traveled the world and wrote for GoBackpacking, but it was just too much. The good news is I continued to earn money online the whole time, and it is still going strong!

I am currently trying to earn a sustainable living in Medellin, Colombia, by teaching/tutoring English and developing my online income even further. To that end, I recently created Medellin Living to highlight my experience taking on this challenge in another country. I have enough savings to last me until the end of March. 4 weeks! Will I make it? Subscribe to Medellin Living and find out!

And now back to my earnings updates so I can catch you all up to the present day.

In February 2008, I earned $477.23.

$187.60 from a direct sale of a text link
$136.46 from Text Link Ads
$75.88 from reader donations
$46.29 from Linkworth
$31.00 from ReviewMe

During this month, I was excited to have my first sale through Linkworth, which offers a higher payout than Text Link Ads (70% vs 50%). And unlike TLA, I only feature the Linkworth ads on my home page, so that leaves plenty of open real estate on the right sidebar of the blog.

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Web Earnings for February 2008

Dave — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 06:43:07 +0000

I began to receive more frequent inquiries from advertisers by February, as my trip was in full swing. I found myself quite excited to check my e-mail each day, with the hope that additional advertising would have a noticeable impact in extending my days on the road.

In February, I earned $477.23.

$136.46 from Text Link Ads (2nd month in a row)
$187.60 from a new direct ad sale
$31.00 from Review Me
$75.88 from reader donations
$46.29 from LinkWorth (representing my first ad sale through them)

It was a banner month!!!!! In addition, since I only report earnings deposited into my bank account per month, this number does not reflect another $100 I’ve earned through Google AdSense. It will likely be reported in March’s numbers.

My Google AdSense earnings are certainly up per day since I began to travel – a reflection of my higher traffic numbers. I need to think about further capitalizing on this revenue source I had once give up on.

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Web Earnings for January 2008

Dave — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 06:20:05 +0000

By January, I had covered French Polynesia (Tahiti) in the South Pacific and New Zealand, and was hoofing it around Australia.

In January 2008, I earned $304.28.

$136.46 from Text Link Ads
$143.85 from the renewal of a 6-month text link ad sale (direct with me)
$23.97 from reader donation

The Text Link Ad income was the highest so far for a month without a referral bonus! I continue to see my 10-link inventory maxed out, which is good because I can count on the income immediately, though bad because it means I cannot earn more through new sales based on my higher ad rate.

Still, after 2 months of travel, I was increasingly excited about any money I could bring in.

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Web Earnings for December 2007

Dave — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 11:20:03 +0000

After a whirlwind first 3 months on the road, I feel the need to resume my earnings reports. Despite a lack of updates on Blog to Travel, I’ve managed to schedule posts almost daily on GoBackpacking as I travel around the world.

In December 2007, I earned $233.00.

$129.91 from Text Link Ads
$60.00 from Review Me (1 review written from the island of Moorea in French Polynesia)
$43.09 from reader donations

This income took on a whole new meaning when it was deposited into my bank account. It provided a mental boost given I had severed my ties with life in the USA and was half way around the world in New Zealand.

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Web Earnings for September and October 2007

Dave — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 02:06:30 +0000

In September, I earned $653.51

$126.11 from Text Link Ads
$527.40 from the renewal of a direct sale (5 links on different pages for 12 months)

In October, I earned $108.00

All of it from Text Link Ads

I would’ve earned an additional $30, however I declined a Review Me request. I raised my TLA rate to $42 per link, per month, however because I’m usually running at full capacity (10 links) for the majority of each month, it’s going to take many months for new buyers to purchase my links at the higher rate.

In November, I expect to earn $134.36

All from Text Link Ads again

I raised my Review Me price over $100, given the amount of work they require. I’m not inclined to do any now, however I may change my tune once I’m on the road. If I can continue to earn $134 a month while I’m traveling, that could cover a few splurges, an extra activity or two, or who knows!

Since I’ve saved enough to make it around the world *without* having to work, I’ve down shifted and intend to fully enjoy myself, updating my primary GoBackpacking Blog for fun instead of profit. I expect my traffic to potentially decrease as I will be posting less often. I’m still happy to have retained a PR 4 after the last Google Page Rank update, and was surprised to see Blog to Travel hit PR 2.

I depart New York City on November 30th for Tahiti!

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Web Earnings for August 2007

Dave — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 15:46:30 +0000

At about $200, my monthly earnings for August did not set any records, however I did reach a new monthly high for Text Link Ads. I also received my first donation, thus opening the door to a new potential revenue stream. Like investing in stocks and a retirement plan, diversification is key.

Based on my experience thus far, some of my streams may only pay once a year (Google AdSense, which has a $100 threshold for payout), while others have become dependable monthly sources of income (Text Link Ads, $25 threshold).

Diversifying is akin to fishing with a net, instead of a fishing rod. You could be using the fanciest fishing rod in the world, yet you can still only catch one fish at a time! Improve your catch by adopting a net mentality.

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