April was poop just like March but May is looking good after a couple of sweet link sales early in the month so I’m not too worried, as usual. April was also a pretty cheap month for me spending-wise and May is shaping up to be even cheaper so even though I didn’t earn as much as in previous months, the bank balance has gone up which hasn’t happened in a while and that makes me happy.
Earnings Breakdown:
- Google Adsense – $251 - Adsense rebounded from the month before when my main site was on a brief ban for bad behaviour. I really feel like Adsense is underperforming though. I am hoping my two new sites will push this up but it won’t be for several months at least.
- Affiliate Sales – $425 - Once again this was mostly my main affiliate program. The other one that had been doing well a few months ago has been crap for three months in a row now and I’m not sure how to fine tune things. I will try to tweak some links, add a few new affiliates and hope for the best.
- Linkworth – $25 - The same two links are chugging along and pulling in a small amount each month.
- Private Link Sales – $204 - I had my three $10 links renewed once again. These have been going since August 2007 so, while it’s not much each month, it has definitely added up over the years and none of them seem to be in any hurry to cancel. I had another last minute link sale for nearly $150 which was a relief.
I’m currently paying $200 per month to cover my food and living expenses plus an extra $6 for internet (bargain!) It’s a really sweet setup and I’ll write a post about it soon but, long story short, it’s in the middle of nowhere and I have nowhere to spend money so I should come out way ahead this month. Plus I only work in the mornings which gives me loads of time for web work. Hopefully I can crank out a couple of cheap living and productive months.
Good to hear you like the new place & you can work on the sites some, sounds like a perfect……….. Place
How many sites for the adsense income?
You are making me jealous- Id like to see central America – Ive been to Mexico and south america but not the bit in between. Nicaragua really sounds like a good idea -and I’ve always fancied going to Cuba just to annoy the Americans
Sorry just though – you should tag your posts where you mention living costs in specific countries- its always a question beginner travellers ask on the bulletin boards!
why not create a bunch of sites then wait 3-4 months, build links to them, and then when they get a pr3-4, sell links on them? that could add more to your income.
or take some webdesign/seo clients on? I have 2 right now and that helps keep income steady.
Ya Neale it’s pretty sweet but the rainy season is coming which means charging stuff will be a lot harder so productivity might start sucking.
Pktan I have three main sites for Adsense and a couple of scragglers. I’ve started a few new sites with Adsense in mind so I hope to add a few more producers to the mix soonish.
Passive Income I don’t have tags on this site for some reason… new did grasp the concept. But for not I think the living cost posts are in the ‘Destinations’ section.
Good idea Matt and one I’m working on slowly. Link sales is something I want to move away from eventually but it’s a definite easy earner once you get everything in place. I hadn’t considered web design or SEO work but I’m not too interested in working for other people at the moment. If my earnings started to slip to a point where I couldn’t sustain myself then I would consider it for sure though. Where did you find your clinets?
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your site! What a great adventure! I’m a travel writer and will be looking to do something similar to this (with a completely different focus). Thanks for the inspiration!