Well, I’m excited to say August was my biggest month (by far) at $48, and September has already surpassed that mark with almost a full week left to go!

I’ve had quite a few $4 and $5 days which I never imagined I’d reach.  If I can get to the $3.50 mark consistently, then it would earn me a $100+ Google payment each month, which would be an AWESOME addition to my recurring monthly revenue!

And it all came about because of a guest post I read on ProBlogger which highlighted simple changes with AdSense placement resulting in BIG changes in earnings.  What did I do differently to increase from $10 or $20 per month to $60+ you ask?

I added AdSense leader boards above the fold (in the top half of my blogs), usually front and center on the page.  They aren’t the prettiest advertisements, however they have been effective in leveraging what was once a trickle of clicks into more of a torrent.

Darren Rowse’s advice is to always be experimenting with ad placements and affiliates to find what works.  I just wish I hadn’t given up on Google early on.

In all fairness, my traffic has been rising steadily too, since completing my RTW trip and leveraging Twitter and GoBackpacking’s listing in the Lonely Planet Blogsherpa program.

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

Related posts:

1. What If Google Abandoned PageRank?
2. Stay Organized with Google Docs and Spreadsheets
3. Web Earnings for 2009 (Year End Total)

Text link ads are currently my biggest moneymaker, and a sudden cessation of Google’s PageRank system would likely have an immediate impact on my ability to make money online. Though it’s been 5 months since the last PageRank (that boosted my backpacking blog from PRO to PR4 overnight), I believe the delay is the result of updates being made to the algorithm to detect or place less emphasis on paid text links.

Regardless of changes to Google’s PageRank strategy, I’m confident the “make money online” community is so strong at this point, it will adapt and evolve to whatever challenges come their way.  People are making thousands, if not millions, of dollars from text link ads.  For those of us focused on earning some pocket change online to fund our travels, we need only continue to subscribe to a few of the leading moneymaking blogs to see how they adapt and change.

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

Related posts:

1. Google AdSense Earnings on the Rise
2. Stay Organized with Google Docs and Spreadsheets