Goodbye to April and hello to May, it’s time for another ZacJohnson.com Blog Revenue Report. April was a good month and pretty much started off with me being in California for a week for EliteRetreat. The event was awesome and I decided to stay a few extra days to travel around the state and even visit Google. Due to my vacation time, I wasn’t able to post as much as I would have liked to during the month, but I still managed to make 25 posts… which isn’t that great. I should be averaging at least one a day and will aim for around 35-40 posts this month. With the recent Google PR Update, the blog also went from a PR4 to a PR5. Let’s take a look at how the blog’s revenue performed during April 2008, compared to March’s earnings of $3,463.53 profit.

APRIL 2008 BLOG REVENUE REPORT:

- Affiliate Sales/Referrals: $1808.31
- Private Ad Sales: $1100.00
- ScratchBack Top Spots: $21.25
Total Revenue: $2969.56

- Ad Spot on JoeTech.com
Total Costs: $10.00

Total Blog Income for April 2008: $2959.56

Previous month revenue numbers for the month were at a high of $3,465.53 and down a bit during April to $2,969.56. I’m not that concerned as the blog revenue is more of a case study than anything else, and also gives you an idea of how sales and affiliate earnings can fluctuate month to month. ScratchBack Top Spots were really slacking for the month, so I think I will be changing a few things up on the blog this month. Private sales were lower than previous month, but affiliate revenues were up.

As for advertising and maintenance costs, and the server costs are minimal since the blog is hosted on my own rack of network servers. While at Affiliate Summit West, I got to meet with Joe from JoeTech.com. I saw he recently added a few ad spots to his blog, so I decided to grab one of his 125×125 spots. Other than that, nothing special on costs or advertising for the blog.

You may have noticed the latest edition to the blog is the new “Super Affiliate Tips Newsletter” form in the top navigation bar. That is just one of the cool new features being added to the blog this month. I will have a dedicated post to this new mailing list early next week. Subscribe now and get exclusive posts and articles that won’t be featured on the blog, I’ll be sure to give away some goodies too. Lastly, since getting more active on Twitter this month, I’ve been able to talk and network with a lot more people and pick up some new readers. If you haven’t already, get on Twitter and follow me.

March is over and April was kicked off with a bang… which was everyone’s own version of an April Fools Day joke or at least a Rick Roll or two. Getting back to making money, March was a full month with 31 days, so there was no excuses this month to fall short on revenue projections. During March, this blog also celebrated it’s one year anniversary! With a year under it’s belt, the blog just continues to grow in size and readership, and I thank you all! Let’s take a look at how the blog’s revenue performed during March 2008, compared to February’s earnings of $3,246.98 profit.

MARCH 2008 BLOG REVENUE REPORT:

- Affiliate Sales/Referrals: $1293.5
- Private Ad Sales: $1400.00
- Get Reviewed: $600.00
- ScratchBack Top Spots: $170.03
Total Revenue: $3,463.53

During March I had no ad costs, and the server costs are minimal since the blog is hosted on my own rack over servers.
Total Costs: $0.00

Total Blog Income for March 2008: $3,463.53

There was a slight drop in affiliate sales, but also a slight increase in private ad sales. There weren’t any big ScratchBack promotions going on during March, so the volume of advertisers was about half of February’s earnings. Lately there has been a high demand for advertising on the blog, so instead of placing advertisements all over, a new category called “Get Reviewed” has been added. This area will cover any advertised reviews on other ad networks, affiliate programs or blogs. All paid reviews will have full disclosure and I turn the majority of reviews down, do not expect this blog to become anything like paid review site.

This blog just keeps growing in size and I still have so much more to write up for you guys. Hopefully with the addition of my Twitter and FaceBook networking, I can start talking with my readers more and getting some ideas for new blogs. Speaking of new blog ideas, I would also like to start producing more video blog posts as well. The first three months since turning this blog profitable have been very close in revenue and exciting, can’t wait to see how April turns out!

February has come to a close, which means it’s now time to report some blog earnings. Even though February is the shortest month of the year, this year we managed to get an extra leap day out of it. During February I was also fortunate enough to attend and provide blog coverage on AffiliateSummit West in Las Vegas. The blog is still less than a year old and will celebrate it’s birthday this month on St.Patrick’s Day. I’m sure we will also see the blog hit the 2k RSS milestone soon enough. Let’s take a look at how the blog’s revenue performed during February 2008, compared to January’s earnings of $3042.64 profit.

FEBRUARY 2008 BLOG REVENUE REPORT:

- Affiliate Sales/Referrals: $1536.86
- Private Ad Sales: $1300.00
- ScratchBack Top Spots: $425.00
Total Revenue: $3,261.98

- Mturk: $15.00
Total Costs: $15.00

Total Blog Income for January 2008: $3,246.98

ScratchBack earnings were high this month due to my “Humane Society” donation promotion. In short, all advertisers who bought a link in my “Top Spots” area would not only receive a link to their site for a week, but their ad revenue would go towards a donation to the Humane Society. ScratchBack was cool enough to wipe out their profit percentage as well, so all earnings were a full donation. On top of that, I will also be matching the full amount. I will post a check later this month, that will be sent to the Humane Society.

Ad costs for the month were a mere $15.00. Last month the costs were zero, but I came across a new service called mturk.com, which I wanted to try and out. I will also post a review on this service soon, as it pertains to blogging, advertising and outsourcing. It made for an interesting and rather cheap case study. As usual, my hosting costs for this blog are minimal since I have my own dedicated rack of servers to manage all of my network work sites. The bandwidth usage of this blog is nothing compare with my other sites, so it really isn’t measurable or worth calculating the cost.

As I continually say, running this blog is more of a passion and I love to help others try and make the move from working for someone else, to working for themselves. I love hearing from all of my users and being able to update them with new tips and information. As much as I can, I try and respond to most emails I receive. March will make for an interesting month. With the removal of the Microsoft AdCenter affiliate program, it may hurt overall numbers, but the blog continually keeps growing in size. I wouldn’t mind seeing a 10%+ increase in RSS subscribers and an attempt to end the month in the 2250+ RSS range. I have yet to try increasing blog traffic and users through ppc marketing yet, but may attempt to do so this month. I’d also like to start up another blog or two in other niche areas.

Last month was the first time I opened up this blog as a new revenue source. The purpose behind this blog, is to share all of my personal experiences over the past 10 years, along with everything that’s going on today. I’ve never been a fan of ebooks and their outrageous $97-$297 price tags, so I always said to myself I wouldn’t write one. Instead, I’d perform a case study and provide all of my knowledge for free and help other accomplish their dreams of walking away from their 9-5 job and start making real money online.

Still less than a year old, the blog is doing phenomenally well and hitting new rss subscriber highs almost daily. As mentioned, last month was the first time this blog was a revenue source, and from doing so, it’s revenue was $1,487.64, with a $1261.81 profit. Let’s take a look at how the blog’s revenue performed during January 2008.

JANUARY 2008 BLOG REVENUE REPORT:

- Affiliate Sales/Referrals: $1681.10
- Private Ad Sales: $1125.00
- ScratchBack Top Spots: $236.54
Total Revenue: $3042.64

During January I had no ad costs, and the server costs are minimal since the blog is hosted on my own rack over servers.
Total Costs: $0.00

Total Blog Income for January 2008: $3042.64

Even more than the revenue, I just love running the blog and being able to be one of the top resource sites for information on making money with new affiliate programs and just to offer some tips on ppc marketing or whatever. This month I may try a little ppc marketing with the blog to bring in some new readers, I’ll let you know how it goes. Thank you for continue to read and I look forward to growing with you!

During 2008, one of my main goals is to heavily expand my portfolio of revenue generating web sites and gateways. With the release of my new blog design last month, I decided it was time to monetize the blog as a case study, to see how it would fair as a new revenue source and that you really can earn more money by offering your inside tips and secrets for free, rather than selling an ebook. I get emails all the time asking when I will write an ebook or if I offer consulting, for the time being I feel it’s best to offer my advice and services through my blog at no charge… not to mention I’ve never been a fan of selling ebooks. When I first started blogging I thought about placing ads on the site, but I first wanted to establish my presence and legitimacy. It’s now 2008 and this blog is now ten months old, with over 1200 subscribers and time to make a case study out of it.

DECEMBER 2007 BLOG REVENUE REPORT:

- Affiliate Sales/Referrals: $1018.73
- Private Ad Sales: $125.00
- ScratchBack Top Spots: $343.91
Total Revenue: $1,487.64

I also placed a few ad spots for the month, which were the following:

- John Chow 1/2 Month Ad: $200
- Six ScratchBack Ad Buys: $25.83
Total Costs: $225.83

Total Blog Income for December 2007: $1,261.81

I really don’t feel either of these ad buys provided a significant increase in traffic to the blog during December, so it will be interesting to see how numbers play out for January 2008. I may focus on setting up a few ppc campaigns to help further promote the blog and bring in new readers. As for hosting costs, I have this blog running on my own rack of servers and the bandwidth is so minimal it’s really not worth calculating.

As mentioned earlier, I will continue to provide you with the best information and insider secrets to successful make money online. This week I will be working on a major update to the “Make Money” section, adding in several new networks, statements and my personal experiences with these companies. Together we can make 2008 our best year yet!