It’s time for last months income report: July 2012.

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 us a lot of time to figure this blogging thing out. And truthfully, we 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.

What went down in July

A little bit of progress…..finally!

First, how embarrassing that this is and will be our only post in August.   Are we lazy?  Uhhhh…no!   Just super busy.  🙂

This past month consisted of a much needed family vacation, preparing for my upcoming speech at the Financial Blogger Conference, organizing the Life Insurance Movement, and some really cool news that I can’t wait to share.  Hint: it involves video.

What I can tell you is that the below video was more than just a video for my blog.   This was actually an audition video for a media company that was looking for a personal finance expert.   That’s about all I can share for now.  Stay tuned!

45% Increase in Traffic on Niche Site

My niche site continues to see growing traffic numbers.  And with traffic, I’m now starting to see a ton of new leads come through.    I also just tested a new way to capture the leads on my site because someone suggested I do so.  The funny thing is that the person who suggested it is actually a direct competitor in my space.   He has 3 or 4 sites competing against mine, but he has been so impressed with what I’ve done with my site that he actually called me to congratulate me several months ago. We had a nice chat and I hadn’t heard from him in months.

Then just last week he called me again because he noticed my lead generator tool was running slow.   He then recommended that I try something else.   Since when does a competitor give you tips on how to improve your site?  It just goes to show you that your competition is not your enemy.   It’s always good to help out people if they need it.  Just be careful to not share TOO much information.  🙂

Since I implemented his suggestion, I’ve noticed that my leads have doubled, if not tripled.  Now I’m left wondering how many leads I’ve lost in the past several months!  Oh well, it’s time to focus on what the site will really do now.

Here’ a look at the traffic numbers on my niche site in July.

How’s that for some growth!?   We saw a 45% increase in traffic just after one month.  Nice!

Here’s another interesting stat my VA shared with me:

When we first created the niche site, we had about 10 keywords we were going after.  We now have over 100 blog posts and another 75 resource pages on the site.  Because of that we are ranking for a variety of keywords which explains the growth in traffic.

I continue to add 3-4 new posts per week to the site so *fingers crossed* I don’t expect the traffic to go down.

Here’s a look at the numbers for June:

Income Breakdown

Good Financial Cents

• Adsense: $1,565.83
• Adspeed: $975.20
• Commission Junction: $1,054.90
• Flex Offers:$1,511.00
• Direct Advertising: $1,073.08
• Media Net:  $245.67
• Aweber: $78.oo
• Beta Test New Affiliate: $243.50
• Clickbank: $48.96
  • Total: $6,796.14

Other Niche Sites

• Adsense: $137.06
• Flex Offers: $90.00
• Direct Advertising: $100.00
• Media Net:  $79.49
• Niche Site Conversion (new): $98.00
  • Total: $504.77

• BlogHer Ads: $451.20
• Direct Advertising: $45.00
  • Total $496.20

• Equifax: $
  • Total: $200.00

Financial Planning

• Online Planning Fees: $750,oo
  • Total: $750.00

Total Revenue for July: $8,747.11

• Revenue Last Month: $7,001.66
• Difference: +1,745.45
• Total for 2012: $47,117.79
  

What Happened in July

I didn’t get my $10,000 month liked I hoped I would.  I know I keep saying this but my niche site is getting ready to break out.  Expect August’s income report to be a new record.

What I did notice is that with $47,117.79 earned in 2012 were currently lagging the $100,000 goal that I had for the year.   Am I worried?   Absolutely not.  As mentioned above, I believe the niche site is going to be catalyst that puts us over.

Once again, we apologize for not having any other posts this month.  My wife is currently working on a Pinterest post that shows how her traffic skyrocketed because of that.  Here’s the screenshot that we shared on the Dollars and Roses fan page:

So expect a Pinterest post, a more in depth YouTube post, and another post that shows how I was able to get 150 bloggers all to write about the same thing on the same day.  And I did it twice!

Thanks for reading!