How I Made $860,538.38 PROFIT in 4 Months!

First off, I would like to make it clear that this post is NOT to impress you, but to impress upon you what’s possible! This is a quick review on how I went from one of my worst years of making money online to my best year, and all it took was one big idea, one web site and several hundred hours of effort along with many sleepless nights. This is “How I Made $860,538.38 Profit in 4 Months!“.

MARKETING EXPERIENCE & RIDING THE WAVES:
Time and time again, I talk about how you must change your marketing niche every once in a while to continuously make new money online. Over the years I have done everything from content web sites, to sweepstakes and freebie type sites, to running my own affiliate programs and even permission based email marketing. In early 2004 I had one of my best years with making money online, then later on in the year things started to slack off and this continued on through most of 2005. At the time I wasn’t making much money and it was quite depressing. It’s very tough to get back into the groove when you hit a few underachieving projects in a row. In short, I was in a dip… and at the bottom of my latest successful wave. It wasn’t until October 2005 that I came up with my next big idea that would soon bring me my best months and year!

FIND A NEW IDEA & TAKE CONTROL OF IT!
Social networking was just starting to catch fire and for months I knew there was a way to profit from it, but I just hadn’t come up with an idea yet. MySpace had millions of users on their network 24 hours a day, there had to be a way to take advantage of this. Soon enough I realized, instead of trying to sell to all of these users, why not offer them something for free. I ran through some ideas and came up with my own site to provide free content for social network users. To make a long story short, my site and my content went viral extremely fast. Instead of having users upload their own content or have to search around for what they were looking for, I provided everything for free. In no time I was receiving thousands of users to my site daily. At max points I was pushing up to 180,000+ unique visitors per day, while pushing TERABYTES of data bandwidth. Imagine hosting thousands of images, viewed by millions across several different social networks!

MANAGEMENT OF MASSIVE GROWTH:
Just two months after going live with my new site, I was starting to accumulate some amazing hosting costs. Imagine the cost on hosting thousands of widgets, text applications and images, which are loaded millions of times a day across social networks like MySpace! The only reason why I was able to afford these insane hosting costs, was because of the massive volume of users I was receiving back to my site, not only through social networks, but also from Google and other search engines. You only need a small percentage of a very big number to click on ads, fill out surveys or take any action, to make money. In two short months I went from having a single dedicated server to having over TEN, then with the insane bandwidth costs added in I was paying up to $12,000 a month. At this time I was currently with EV1Servers.net, and leasing all of my servers. Since I’m not a tech/programmer type guy, I also had a server management team watching my servers constantly to make sure they were always running, just being down for a few minutes would have lost $100s of dollars. This server management team was not part of EV1Servers, and cost $1000 a month to manage all of the servers, and keep the servers balancers in place. By the end of the third month, I talked with my server management team and we decided it was time to for me to invest in my own servers and take out the middleman for hosting. I went on to order 17 servers from Dell, which are all held and managed in a data center now.

MONETIZATION IS KEY:
On average, my site was receiving around 100,000 unique visitors per day, and I was generating most of my ad revenue through Yahoo Publisher Network, ValueClick Media and CasaleMedia. It wasn’t until a year later that I would start testing CPA offers on the site. To my surprise, the CPA offers from networks like NeverBlueAds worked extremely well. Originally I had stayed away from promoting a few of their offers because I thought they were over saturated and wouldn’t convert. I finally took their advice and listed a few on the site and to this day they are still pushing some great earnings through the site.

TO EXPAND, SELL OR STAY THE SAME:
Back in April, I wrote a post asking the question… “To Sell, or Not to Sell?“… This was a question I had to ask myself when I was approached by a company that wanted to merge/purchase my MySpace resource site. I not only turned down their seven-figure deal, but I was lucky enough to not be one of the many sites screwed by the company, as they tried buying many other sites as well. Once acquired by the company, they would wreck the site with adult-like video content and I heard from several people on how they got screwed out of their owed money and contracts.

SUCCESS IS FOUND:
Two years, and over seven-figures later… my little site idea that rapidly became one of my most profitable ideas yet, is still running strong. Despite the fact that I really haven’t touched the site in several months, it’s still receiving over 25,000 uniques per day and still making a decent amount of change.

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EARNINGS DETAILS:
As I mentioned earlier, three of the main initial revenue sources I monetized my site with were ValueClick Media, CasaleMedia and Yahoo Publisher Network. While I did use other programs such as NeverBlueAds and Google Adsense later on, these three programs were heavily used during months of peak traffic. As for promotion costs of the site, during this three month period, there were none. No ppc Advertising either, everything was viral traffic and a couple links off my other sites. This write up focused on how I made $860,538.38 PROFIT in 4 months. The site is now well over two years old and has since earned over seven figures in profit/earnings.

ValueClick Media is a company that buys your web site advertising space on a CPM basis. From my stats chart below, you can see the monthly increase in revenue went from $243.63 to nearly $30,000 a month.

CasaleMedia provides the same type of service as ValueClick Media, but are more strict with acceptance into their program. They also have higher CPM rates, but usually purchase a smaller percentage of your ad space. Peak earnings with CasaleMedia were around $7,000 a month.

One of the major reasons for my dramatic increase in income, was due to the release of the Yahoo Publisher Network. This program, run by Yahoo, is basically their response to Google Adsense. Like Adsense, you are paid an unknown percentage for each click you send to the contextual advertisements displayed on your site.

It wasn’t til about a year after launching the site, that I would start testing with CPA offers from NeverBlueAds. To my surprise, the majority of offers I listed on the site performed extremely well. Even though I thought the market was over saturated on these offers, there was still a high demand. With the new revenue generated from NeverBlueAds, the site was able to pull in another $60,000+.

For any of the doubters, or photoshop addicts… Just to prove my legitimacy, take a look at the video below!

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Currently at $450 in Donations to Humane Society

It’s been a week since I first posted about my idea to run a promotion to try and generate a decent donation for the Humane Society this month. To recap, all earnings from the “Top Spots” advertisers on the right side of the page, will go towards the Humane Society. So far the earnings are at $225, from first nine advertisers (thank you!). A bunch of new ad spots have just become available. If you would like to donate and get some free advertising in the process, simply click here to get listed in my “Top Spots” area for one week!

We are currently at a $450 Donation towards the Humane Society!

As mentioned in my original post, I will personally match all donations/ad buys made for this month… that means we are at a total of $450 in donations for the Humane Society. All donations/advertisers will also receive a Free MoneyReign T-Shirt, along with some “I Make Money Online” bumper stickers and some pens.

Let’s see if we can get to a $1,000 donation by the end of the month!

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Make Money with Ads4Dough Affiliate Network

Every once in a while a new network pops up, but not as often as they were a few years ago, when everyone and their friend had a network running of the DirectTrack System! Today I will walk you through a new network called Ads4Dough. With so many networks now available, does Ads4Dough hold up against the competition? Let’s take a look.

Overview:
If you are currently an affiliate of many other networks, you will notice some of them share the same backend system to manage their network, and sometimes the same look. Ads4Dough is run off the DirectTrack system, which also powers some of the other major affiliate networks out there. Right now the admin area is very simple and bare bones, but I was in contact with my affiliate manager Rick, and he said a new site design and admin area is in the works. A great looking site design is always a nice feature, but the selection and quality of ads is where the money is at. Ads4Dough currently has over 330 different ad campaigns for your to choose from.

Ease of Use:
As mentioned, Ads4Dough is in the process of a redesign, so I’m looking forward to what changes and improvements they have in store for us affiliates. Right now, once you log into the network, you are shown your affiliate manager information along with info on the rewards program. In the new design, I would like to see some features which highlight new offers added to the network, top converting offers (sorted by search, email, web), along with some detailed and running earning reports (today/month/alltime).

Profitability:
Even though Ads4Dough is a new network, they are starting off on the right track, as they currently have over 300 ad campaigns, which vary in commissions and beat out plenty of the other networks. I would recommend you join their network and compare their commission rates with any other networks you are currently earning with. With this many ad campaigns available, I’m sure they have at least one offer you are currently promoting elsewhere. If you can provide the volume, get in contact with your affiliate manager and negotiate a commission rate that works for you. Everyone should be able to find a profitable niche market with the amount of offers that are available on this network.

Quality of Ads:
With over 300 offers on the network, you can easily get lost in the list. Some of the premier well known names available from Ads4Dough are BlockBuster, Date.com, Jamster, NetFlix, Nutrisystem and Scholastic. One thing I noticed was a bunch of these offers have the option to promote the campaigns through email, search or banners. Some networks carrying these offers are limited to only banners on campaigns like Blockbuster and Netflix. You will also find that Ads4Dough has a decent amount of “incentivized” offers, which is great if you can target to these offer types. To view the master list of campaigns available, just click “Campaigns” on the main menu bar, “Submit” on the next form, then click the link titled, “List All”.

Just a preview of the many offers available through Ads4Dough

Stats Tracking:
The stats reporting area is pretty generic and easy to understand. You can pull stats reports based on campaign, date and sub-id. A working stats chart is shown below, which shows key stats such as clicks, leads, epc and your total earnings.

Quick stats tracking makes it easier for you to find what’s making money

The option to sub-id track your ad campaigns is also available. Since Ads4Dough is using the DirectTrack system, they already have a system in place for you to easily setup sub-ids. Two different methods for setting up sub ids are:
1.) http://affiliates.ads4dough.com/sw/2280/601/subidhere
2.) http://www.cpaclicks.com/redirect.asp?a=601&b=2279&d=0&l=0&o=subidhere&p=0
Simply replace the bold “subidhere” area with your own name or code. Sub id reporting will appear in your statistics when you click “Download Optional Info”.

Rewards Program:
Having a rewards program is always a great incentive to network affiliates. Knowing that you can earn an extra $50 gift card is sometimes the difference between an affiliate pushing an offer casually, and maybe trying a little harder. I would suggest that Ads4Dough offers one or two lower gift card amounts, as hitting the $25,000 mark within a month’s time, may be very hard for some of their affiliates. Even just a tshirt or some promotional stuff after an affiliate earns their first $100-$500, might help in motivating the affiliate to use the network more.

Why Do I Like This Network:
I think this network has the potential to make a decent amount of people, especially because of their selection of ad campaigns and payout rates. While I was browsing through the list, I did come across a few offers that I used to promote, but haven’t seen on a many other networks lately. If you are able to provide volume, or focus on a niche area with their offers… this one could be a good money maker.

Final Review:
After final review, I rate Ads4Dough with 3 out of 5 “Zac Stamps of Approval“. Since this is a NEW network, I have not yet had the opportunity to run any of their offers, or even try them out. I mentioned I did see a few offers that drew interest, so I would like to try and test these on some ppc campaigns soon. It’s also tough to review a new network because they have a coming redesign in place. As I’m very familiar with the DirectTrack front and backend, it’s a little barebones (though I’m looking forward to their coming custom changes), but as mentioned… it really just comes down to the offers available, which they seem to have covered. I recommend you apply for their network and see if there is anything you can work with, and also look forward to what their new redesign as in store.

Join Ads4Dough and Increase Your Revenue!

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Why Do Blogs Post Monthly Earnings?

Occasionally, someone will bring up the topic on why some blogs report their monthly earnings. Despite how the majority of people find these to be the most entertaining posts, some find them to be just bragging or even useless. Here’s why I think blogs that report their monthly earnings do, and why they should continue to do so. Let’s take John Chow for example, he has been running his blog and reporting earnings for quite a while now. In the process he has taken his blog from $352.94 in it’s first month, to over $30,000 in January 2008. John’s monthly blog reports are not only his most popular posts, but also what make his blog so famous. Every month all of John’s readers, flock to his blog to see if he beat his previous month’s earnings. Despite any negative press or comments elsewhere, John’s blog continues to grow, along with his monthly revenue. He was even recently mentioned in Entreprenuer Magazine, due to his blog’s success!

As for my blog, I decided in December to do a case study of my own as well. Instead of trying to sell my information and guidance through an ebook or marketing program, I would offer all of my advice and experiences for free through my blog. The case study… simply, can you thrive/benefit, while helping others for free, instead of trying to push $97 ebooks down their throats?

My blog went live on St. Patrick’s Day in 2006, and it would go ad-free for the next 10 months. I was more concerned with providing content, helping others and establishing the blog, before trying to turn a profit. It wasn’t till I had UniqueBlogDesigns redesign my blog in December, that I would make the move to effectively monetize the blog. Not only did the new blog design make for a better appearance, but also made for better monetization. Just in the past week alone, the new design helped raise over $500 for the Humane Society, due to “My Top Spots“, which never would have fit on the old design.

Comparison Between Original Design & New Monetized Blog Design

So back to the topic… why do some blogs post monthly earnings? Not only can these types of posts help with exposure for a blog, but they also play a huge part in motivation and show that “bloggers” actually are making money. What better motivation is there, then seeing someone earn $30,000 a month from a blog? Even if you aren’t currently a blogger, I’m sure a good majority of people say, “Wow, I wish I could do that!”. This is pure motivation to bring others into the market place and try to do the same. I started posting my blog earnings in December to motivate and educate. I’ve never been a fan of all the ebooks out there, I simply took a different approach at sharing my knowledge.

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Say Hello to My Little Friend

A little over a month ago, Jim Kukral wrote a post on how Dwight Schrute (from The Office) has his own bobble head, and why can’t he? Even Jim Cramer has his own bobble head! In the post, Jim also mentioned a new company called WhoopAssEnterprizes, which specializes in the creation of custom bobble heads. Right after I saw the post and their web site, I knew I had to order a bobble head of my own.

WAE has a decent site, and when you fill out the order form, you can go into quite some detail on how you want your bobble head created, along with uploading multiple photos of what you look like. I told WAE, that I wanted the bobble head to look more like the ZacJohnson.com blog toon, than anything else. Here were the first draft sets of images they sent, in the creation of Mini-Zac.

After receiving the the draft pictures, WAE asks if there are any changes you would like made to the design. I approved their design right away, anxiously awaiting their next set of pictures. A few days had passed and I finally received an email with my completed bobble head.

If you’d like to have your own bobble head or mascot on your desk, I’d recommend going with WAE. The price on a custom bobble head is $125, but they’re worth it. Not only did they provide a quality product, but they will keep working with the designs until you are satisfied.

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