Two months into 2012 and the online business is still rocking and a rolling.

My wife just got back from attending her first blogger conference – Blissdom – and had a fabulous time. She was at the Financial Blogger conference with me last year, but didn’t take part; she opted for shopping instead.

I was happy that she was excited to actually be an attendee and learn more about mastering her blogging craft. Looks like hubby is having an affect on her. 🙂

I think her conference was a bit cooler than mine since she got a private concert from Joe Jonas and Rascal Flatts.

Here’s a quick recap of her Blissdom experience:

For me, the two biggest happenings in the online world have been finishing up my book and a new site that I’m developing.

The book is going through it’s second revision and has reached a point where I now share it with people to get some honest feedback. This is very exciting to me and I can’t believe that this almost 3 year project is coming to a close. It’s almost bittersweet, but I will be pleased to finally share it with everyone.

Secondly, I’ve been investing a lot of time (and money) into a new site that I’m developing. I can’t wait to share what I’ve been working on. And I definitely can’t wait to share some of the income numbers for future income reports.

On to the income report…..

As a reminder, this is why we do the income reports:

1. Accountability. These will allow us to finally keep track of our total online revenue – something that I’ve been horrible at.
2. Progress. Now that we have it documented, we’ll be be able to chart our progress as our income increases (hopefully!)
3. Truth. To show people that you really can make money online
4. Transparency: We want others to see how we do it so that others can do it, too.

Remember: We started blogging in July of 2008 so it’s taken me a lot of time to figure this blogging thing out. And truthfully, I still have a lot to learn. Don’t get the impression that you can start a blog today and turn a profit tomorrow. I promise you, it ain’t going to happen.

Income Breakdown

Good Financial Cents

• Adsense: $892.90
• nSphere (local):
• Adspeed: $168.09
• Commission Junction: $100.00
• Flex Offers:$778.00
• Contx (Credit Sesame): $72.00
• Consumer Track (Ally): $42.00
• Card Synergy: $48.00
• Direct Advertising: $836.35
• Total: $2937.24

Other Niche Sites

• Adsense: $195.52
• Direct Advertising: $112.50
• Total: $308.02

• Blog Her Ads: $55.12
• Ebates:  $12.27
• Total $67.39

• Equifax: $200.00
• Total: $200.00

Other Sources

• Aweber (Email Newsletter): $39.00
• Lunar Pages (Web Hosting Company): $0
• Total: $39.00

Financial Planning

• Online Planning Fees: $0
• Total: $o

Total Revenue for February: $3,551.65

• Revenue Last Month: $6,878.52
• Difference:-3,336.87
• Total for 2012: $10,430.17
  

What Happened in February

As expected, our February income dipped.  Mainly due to the direct advertising opportunities.  If you recall, last month we had a few advertisers prepay for the entire year which inflated our numbers a bit.  It was a great way to start the year, so I’m definitely not complaining.  And $3,551.65 isn’t too shabby, either.  🙂

The biggest let downs were nSphere and lack of financial planning fees.  I had an inquiry to do a financial plan, but they haven’t followed through yet.   nSphere was a local guide directory that was installed on my site that was sold to me with great promise.  The first full month I made almost $400 and was thinking that an average $500/mo passive income was in my future.

Unfortunately, the next month dropped to about $200 of income.  The next month dropped to about $100.  Finally, for the month of January, I made a whopping $18 bucks.  🙁

What made it worse is that their customer service was horrible.   They never responded to my emails in a timely manner and could never give me a solid reason why such the large drop of income.   It was depressing, but…….

Out With The Old….

I love it when one  thing flops, but then another opportunity presents itself.   Through some blogging connections of mine, I got hooked with an advertising company that runs display ads on many sites in the personal finance blog community.   I’ve never really been a fan of display, but I’ll also admit I really didn’t understand how it works.  Turns out  it’s very simple.

For every certain number of impressions (page views) that my site gets, I get paid a flat amount.   It truly is passive income at its finest.   I just insert the code, sit back, and watch the money flow in.  (This is very similar to BlogHer ads that my wife runs on her site.)

It’s not HUGE money, but as you can see in the income report above, I made $168.09 in February and I just started the campaign on the 21st.

It will be neat to see how March does.   Also, don’t be surprised to see another display ad on my site, too.   🙂