Last month’s report (the first in four months) showed that my income was at an all-time high. I had slashed my expenses and developed my freelance income substantially. And although Leaving Work Behind was just starting to offer up a little bit of what I currently consider “bonus” income, my internet marketing efforts (i.e. niche/authority sites) were still down in the doldrums.
I expected my freelancing income to drop a little in September (due to the considerable number of one-off projects I worked on in August), and didn’t expect anything else of note to occur. With that in mind, let’s take a look at what happened!
What Happened in September?
September was definitely a month for investing time in projects that I hope will pay off in the future.
Beyond my usual freelance writing work (which typically takes up around 3-4 hours of my working days), I was busy working on my one hour authority site project, my upcoming freelance writing guide, and of course this blog.
My authority site is progressing nicely in terms of the content I have published, but I am yet to see a noteworthy flow of traffic. I am definitely playing the waiting game with this site — patience is a virtue when it comes to working with Google.
As for my freelance writing guide, I did one very important thing in September — finalized a launch plan. I will be revealing all in an upcoming post, but if you are interested in the guide, click here to sign up to the pre-launch list. You will be able to get your hands on the guide (a) before anyone else, and (b) at a massively discounted price! Also, if you know people who would be interested in the guide, please click here to tweet out a link. Thanks!
As predicted, all of the above left me with little else to do. In fairness, I think those three projects in addition to my freelancing work would probably be enough to keep anyone busy 😉
Income & Expenditure — September 2012
- Freelance writing:
- Income: $4,079.10
- Expenditure: $20.51
- Profit: $4,058.59
- Websites:
- Income: $3.98
- Expenditure: $18.79
- Profit: -$14.81
- Leaving Work Behind:
- Income: $313.42
- Expenditure: $39.32
- Profit: $274.10
- Information Products:
- Income: $0
- Expenditure: $28.59
- Profit: -$28.59
Total profit for September 2012: $4,289.29
It was great to see my income stay above $4,000 for the third month in a row, which is just about where I need it to be to sustain my current living costs.
Within the next few months I hope to sustain my freelance writing income, whilst developing alternative income streams (most notably as a result of the launch of my freelance writing guide). Diversity of income is absolutely key, so if I can build up my information product and Leaving Work Behind income into four figures per month (each) within say the next six months (or sooner), I would be happy. I would also of course like to see my website income develop considerably during that time.
The Development of My Affiliate Marketing Income
Since I have begun earning a modest income from this blog, I thought now would be a good opportunity to cover my affiliate marketing strategy.
As I have said on multiple occasions before, my ultimate goal with this blog is to build up a picture of exactly what it takes to establish substantial income streams online, from the very first day. I have been publishing posts here since the very beginning of my “make money online” endeavors, which makes this blog quite unique. Most (if not all) popular bloggers in my niche launched their blogs after they had started making money online, not before. Just check out my past income reports to see how my income has developed from day one.
With that in mind, my approach towards affiliate marketing is to never compromise the trust that I have built up with you, the reader. Everything I publish here must be an accurate reflection of exactly what I have gone through — my successes and my failures. Therefore, my affiliate marketing strategy is very much in the same vein as Pat Flynn’s. I will only promote products and services that I have used and love, and I will only promote them when it is natural to do so. I don’t spam my email list with affiliate promotions, and I don’t litter this blog with affiliate links.
This probably means that I make far less money than I could do, but you can’t put a price on integrity. The fact is, this blog wouldn’t be the same if I had a more aggressive approach to affiliate marketing. It would quickly become something I dislike, and then I wouldn’t want to do it anymore. So taking a considered and conservative approach to affiliate marketing is definitely in my best interests, as well as yours.
My affiliate marketing income in September came from five sources:
- Market Samurai: $262.56
- Tweet Adder: $27.50
- WooThemes: $17.50
- AWeber: $5.70
- Amazon: $0.16
The Market Samurai income mainly came about from an email I sent to my list. The software was going through a sale period, and whilst I have never emailed my list specifically about a product, I recognized that it was actually a great deal, and one that I would have wanted to know about (had I not already purchased the product).
The Tweet Adder income was as a result of last week’s post. To be honest, I was really disappointed with this outcome — I expected to make a healthy handful of affiliate sales. Given that two people explicitly told me that they had purchased Tweet Adder through my affiliate link after the one and only sale was confirmed, I am rather puzzled as to why only one was registered. Such are the trials and tribulations of affiliate marketing…
As you can no doubt gather from the breakdown above, very little income was produced via affiliate links in posts or my Resources page. Again, this comes as a disappointment, but I’m not interested in pushing things any further. I just hope that as I continue to add more affiliate links to posts (when it is relevant to do so), and attract more traffic to the site, my income will grow. I am a complete newbie to affiliate marketing, so the whole thing is a steep learning curve for me! But it is fair to say, given the huge amount of time I spend on this blog, that a better return on my time investment would be nice.
What’s in Store for October?
October is a big month for my freelance writing guide. The launch is set for early November, and I have a hell of a lot to do between now and then, as evidenced by this spreadsheet. I would have doubts as to whether or not I will get it all done if it weren’t for the fact that I have no choice. The launch date is set — there’s no turning back.
Other than that, the rest of my time will be spent on freelance writing, my authority site, and this blog. I don’t expect any movement of note on those fronts. I think October will be the calm before the storm — with the launch coming in November, it’s going to be an interesting month one way or another!
Creative Commons image courtesy of 401(K) 2012