Jun

2008

My Income Report For May 2008?

Posted by Kelly as Blogging, Making Money Online

For months now I keep getting asked if I am going to join the ranks of John Chow, Garry Conn and Caroline Middlebrook (to name a few) and start publishing my online earnings. For me personally, I’ve never felt very comfortable with this as I was always taught that asking someone about their income was rude, so with this in mind I have always declined.

It was when someone decided to point out to me that I am very keen on watching other bloggers when they post their online earnings each month. I have to admit that I did feel (very slightly) guilty

I’m also a little worried that people might think that I am being a little patronising by posting my online income for everyone to see. I’ll do it this month and hope that it’s taken as it’s meant to be - inspirational, motivational and also to show the income streams that I use to build my income each month. So long as it’s received well, I will continue to do this.

This Blog’s Income

No direct monetization has been done on this blog until this month. It’s main purpose is to serve as a blog that basically gives free quality information to readers and then to bring them on to other products that I create. At one stage I did have Google adsense running on here and it did quite well considering the low numbers at the time(approx $8-$10 per day).

As RSS subscribers continue to grow I decided to place advertising on the site along with paid reviews etc. I have had one paid review this month and have several pending reviews for next month.

Income For Kelly Stone Blog

> Paid Reviews: $175
> Sales Of eBooks: $2,112.41 (estimated based on tracking)
> Amazon: $14.03
> Affiliate Sales: $12.00
> Linky Love: $20.00

Total: $2,333.44

Expenses:

> Advert On Garry Conn Website: $5.00

Grand Total Earned: $2,328.44

Income For Squidoo Queen

> Clickbank Sales: $9761.09
> Paypal Sales: $921.51

Total: $10682.60

No Expenses For Squidoo Queen as affiliate payments are taken direct from Clickbank.

Affiliate Sales

> Squidoo.com: $441.72
> Job Crusher: $184.25
> Get My Software Free: $48.50
> Wealthy Affiliate: $518.00
> Internet Marketing Center: $100.00
> Clickbank Sales: $3,378.54
> PayPal Sales: £1,319.66

Total: $5990.67

Expenses

> PPC Costs: $425.59
> Advertising: $215.00
> Hosting (all accounts): $96.00
> Misc: $52.60

Total: $789.19

Grand Total Earned In Affiliate Sales: $5201.48

For the month of May 2008 my combined income online came to:

Total Earned For May: $18,217.52

(This works out to be approx £8,000 in UK currency after transfer)

Analysis

Last month was a great month for me (my fourth best month ever) so I am really pleased with how my marketing is going. RSS numbers to this blog have grown at an exceptionally fast rate. Visitors are now returning time and time again with hundreds of new people each month arriving here through search engines.

The main search engine to send me my traffic is Google with Yahoo! not too far behind. (This is the same all through my marketing.)

My aim last month was to increase the RSS readers which is what happened and also to increase sales of Squidoo Queen - again, this happened. Most of the increased sales came from several big affiliates promoting it to their lists so the level of sales will not stay at that rate for this month.

Next Months Aims

I’ve also been working on the latest version of Squidoo Queen for the last few weeks. The new version will be a membership site with a lot more advanced methods of promotion. The whole site should be up and running in a few more days with the new forum being hosted there too.

With the large sales of Squidoo Queen last month I intend to work on the relationships that I have built with other marketers more this month to ensure that we are able to continue working together for a long time to come.

The blog will also be having more regular posts made (at least every other day) with some great interviews coming along with other Squidoo members. Certainly one to watch for.

Let me know what you thought about the report and if it’s something that you would like to see more of. If you hate it - let me know too

Blogs Who Publish Their Earnings (Which I read and love)

John Chow

Caroline Middlebrook

Blogging Experiment - (Not too sure if anymore to come)

Technorati Tags: may income report, blog income report, kelly stone earnings, squidoo queen sales, internet marketing sales

If you enjoyed this post then why not follow me on Squidoo or subscribe to my RSS Feed so you can stay up to date with all the latest information. You can also subscribe via email to get all my blog posts direct to your inbox. You can also find out more about Squidoo with my full guide at Squidoo Queen.

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24 Responses

Comment Guidelines: Although I do not force you to register before you can post a comment, if you do, you will be able to have the 'nofollow' tag removed from your author link after 5 posts. Please do not link to any offensive sites, no offensive comments and PLEASE, do not just post a self promotional comment - They will be deleted so add VALUE to this post.

Michael (3 comments)

June 8th, 2008 at 7:08 am
1

I have no problem believing that money can be made on line; I just recently joined WA so I am just learning the ropes. My question is what marketing differences will your program teach me that WA won’t?

Also how many months or years did it take for you to get to this point in monthly income?
Kelly (54 comments)

June 8th, 2008 at 8:37 am
2

Hi Michael

I think that WA will be able to give you all the marketing advice that you need. It’s a fantastic resource and is one that I am still referring to time and time again.

My own product (Squidoo Queen) is one that concentrates on that one particular niche. Making money with Squidoo. It takes you through the complete steps of building a lens and promoting it and the new version that I am working on holds some fantastic material.

It depends really on what direction you want to go. If you want to learn more about PPC then WA is the place for you. If you want to concentrate on totally free methods that can be combined together then Squidoo Queen is an excellent place to master these.

Hope this helps - let me know if you need anything further.

Kelly
Jamma (7 comments)

June 8th, 2008 at 8:41 am
3

WOW Kelly. I knew that you were doing well, but I didn’t realise that it was drawn from so many places.

I really do hope that you will continue to post your reports each month as they are a real inspiration to myself and others I’m sure. It makes me feel totally lazy though when I see how much stuff you must do each week to be able to get such amazing returns.

Thanks for your help along the way, I couldn’t be doing it without you.

Jamma
squidoonoob (2 comments)

June 8th, 2008 at 8:48 am
4

I just wanted to say that I hope you DO kkep showing us your earnings as they really are a great way to inspire people like myself who are just starting out.
I’m a reader of several of the blogs you also read. Have to say though that I really don’t like John Chow blog. It’s to much like a sales page to me.

Glen
kim (3 comments)

June 8th, 2008 at 8:50 am
5

I like your 8 pack plr offer, I know it is a PLR, but it does not say what kind of rights I would have with it, ie… unrestricted rights etc.. meaning I can change the contents, I can claim it as my own, me being the author, can I resale it for whatever price, etc..
Kelly (54 comments)

June 8th, 2008 at 9:09 am
6

@ Michael

Sorry, I missed that last part.

It took me about two years to get to this stage. When I say this stage, I mean, the amount of hours I work to get these results. I’ve been online for over six years and the first two were a complete waste of time, or rather, I was wasting my time

I now know that I could increase the amount of hours that I work and increase my income along with it. For me though, my long term goal for this year is to increase my recurring income. With recurring income I know that the work that I do now will pay off for a long time to come.

It can be hard work and long hours at times but so long as it’s productive it’s worth it.

Hope this helps.

@Jamma

You are the one that does the hard work, I just pointed you in the right direction. Keep it up and you will soon be posting your own blog income reports.

@Glen

I’m glad that you are finding the blog inspirational and helpful. It’s good to know that what I do IS helping people. John Chow’s blog is literally FULL of great content and I really do think that it’s worth reading. Personally, I think that he is now in a position to be one of the very few marketers who could get away with such an ad heavy site - especially above the fold.

Like everything in life though, you will never be able to please all the people all the time. Not every person will be able to connect with every reader of their blog/site/lens etc so I totally respect the fact that you don’t find the blog appealing.

Let me know if I can help further.

@ Kim

The PLR comes with no restrictions. Sorry I should have made that clear.

You are able to do whatever you wish to do with it.

Let me know if you have any more questions.

Kelly

Kellys last blog post..My Income Report For May 2008?
Anthony (4 comments)

June 8th, 2008 at 9:32 am
7

Hey Kelly
It doesn’t matter to me if you publish your income.
I have read your stuff and trust you.

I like the way you are building an income online,
actually a business.

If you were a flash in the pan you would have been gone
long ago—you are the real deal!
Thanks!
Gods Blessings, Anthony
Gary (17 comments)

June 8th, 2008 at 10:03 am
8

HI Kelly

I am very impressed (and jealous LOL).

No seriously, that is inspirational and very motivating for someboyd like me and I appreciate you sharing that information as it spurs me on.

I was faithfully following your course but it seemed to have come to an abrupt stop and I am itching for you to continue it please as I only have part of the puzzle and I have no doubt whatsoever that you can help all of us to achieve the kind of success that you are having.

I do have some questions if I may:
1) what kind of template are you using for this blog are there any templates that you particularly recommend?

2) How did you do the password thing that gives us access to the private pages?

3) Can you please explain how to effectively post on a blog? (This is how I have done mine: I make regular posts, in a non-salesy way by giving up to the date information for my niche. I make references to specific products or services that might be of interest to my readers. However I worry that I am giving them too many options. I really don’t know how to post effectively to get affiliate sales).

I can’t wait for you to restart your course as I am ALMOST there but desperately need your help for the final part of the puzzle.

Great stuff Kelly and thanks for sharing.

Gary
PS. Sorry that this is such a loooooooong post.
Dominic Valentine (1 comments)

June 8th, 2008 at 10:31 am
9

Hi Kelly

I think account “details” from someone like yourself is great..thedy seem more believable than the multi-million income you hear about from other marketers.

What I also love is the expense part of the info … its excellent to see that you spend money to make money.

It will be interesting to see those figures change over time as new and different areas of advertisment get brought in.

Many thanks

Dominic
Michael (3 comments)

June 8th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
10

Kelly,

Great to see you making money! Well done! I emailed you recently but have not had a reply. It would be interesting to get some insight into how you turned this around and if you can point others in the right direction. Also how your Squidoo product differs from say Tiffany Dow’s or Bob The Teachers version.
Kim (3 comments)

June 8th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
11

Kelly,
Thanks for sharing your income! Please keep doing so- it’s inspiring and motivational. Seeing where your income comes from also show the value of multiple streams of internet income.
I think it’s important to see more women online earning good incomes.
Thanks again,
Kim

Kims last blog post..Going beyond traditional Self-Help
bloggernoob (1 comments)

June 8th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
12

thanks for the link. looks like you’re doing well with your blogging income. thanks for checking my blog out.
bloggernoobs last blog post..How much are entrecard credits worth?
Frank (1 comments)

June 9th, 2008 at 3:00 am
13

Hi Kelly.

I am one of those people who subscribes to too many lists.
I do not read everything that comes in.

But promising to reveal your income got me reading your email.
It is not the first time I have read your email though.

I found your income quite interesting. Not sure I will ever be
game to reveal mine.

Best regards.
Caroline Middlebrook (1 comments)

June 9th, 2008 at 3:24 am
14

Thanks for posting this Kelly, it is indeed VERY inspiring! I love to see just how many sources of income you are drawing from - that shows a very well rounded business and something that I hope to work towards over the coming year.

Caroline Middlebrooks last blog post..Learn How to Build a Profitable Blog And Flip It In One Month
Kelly (54 comments)

June 9th, 2008 at 5:37 am
15

@ Anthony

Thank you for you kind words. It’s always nice to hear people saying good things about you and what you are doing. Take care.

@Gary

The course is still on, but there has been a delay in pulling two or three people together all at once. I am half way through the next section and hope to have it finished within the next week - so keep an eye out for it arriving in your inbox.

This template was purchased specifically for this blog. I have several other blogs that just run off of templates from wordpress.org/themes. Some of these have to be modified slightly for search engines, personal feel etc. I am NOT technical and pay someone else to do this for me. Every time I think that I have a little knowledge - I break it! There are literally thousands of templates to choose from, free and paid. Look for one that suits your needs and then read this post by John Chow just to really confuse matters.

When you create a post you have the option at the end of the page to password protect your post - this is all well and good but it can cause a LOT of work when people start to email asking for the passwords etc. I think it’s standard on most wordpress templates.

Posting great content is the ONLY way to get sales. Once you have a blog that has lots of content that readers will find useful then you need to start getting traffic to it. Create posts that are helpful and not selling anything. Build trust with the readers and they will reward you when you recommend something to them. Keep your blog tight around your niche and write for the reader before the search engines.

Hope this helps, keep up the good work.

@ Dominic

I always laugh when I see screen shots of peoples earnings saying that they just made 10 million in 24 hours. I hated posting my screenshots on this post, they are just too easy to tamper with (if you have the ability).

It certainly is possible to earn a huge amount of money in such a short space of time, but you would have to be established and have an amazingly responsive list. I know of several marketers who have had million dollar days - it didn’t just happen for them straight off. They had to work hard to get to that stage.

With such a good response to the post, I think that I will be posting these reports more regularly now so yes, it will be interesting to see how things change in time.

@ Michael

I’ll try and get back to your email once I have finished here. Each product to do with Squidoo is different and target different tactics. Lots of them I agree with and some I don’t - I’m sure that they would say the same about my products too.

@ Kim

Thanks Kim. It’s important to build multiple income streams online - You just never know when one might dry up! If your whole business is based around one product and one method, your whole business could be gone in minutes.

@ Bloggernoob

No problem - thanks for stopping by.

@ Frank

Thanks for taking the time to comment. I’m pleased to know that you are reading a few of the emails that I send.

@ Caroline

Thanks for dropping by and taking the time to post. Hope you are feeling better, even if only a little. I look forward to hearing from you again more frequently as time goes by. Good luck and keep smiling.

Kelly
Gary (17 comments)

June 9th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
16

Hi Kelly

Thanks very much for taking the time to reply.

I am waiting in great anticipation for the next part of the course. Thanks for all of your hard work

Wordpress optimisation is harder than I first thought. I thought that it was already optimised for the search engines (doh!).

Do you (or any of your readers) know of an authoritive book on wordpress that shows how to set up a wordpress AND install the relevant plug-ins and optimise it.

I know it is a bit of a tall order but I really do want to get this right and start making money like you.

Thanks again

Gary
Mick Kopp | Success Secrets (1 comments)

June 11th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
17

Hi Kelly,

I like this new trend of showing what you are earning each month.. It’s inspiring to see how other people are making a great living on the internet. Keep up the good work and thanks for the encouragment.

Mick
Kristie (9 comments)

June 11th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
18

Kelly,

I am so amazed at your income! And truly happy for you! You have worked hard to get there I have followed you for about a year and you have made me LOVE Squidoo. I am just beginning to earn adsense on my lens for the first time since I am “refreshing” them as you teach in Squidoo Queen I. Looking forward to the new version and want to sign up as your affiliate to put that link on my Wordpress blog:
http://dnaforyou.net Thank you for all of your warm and wonderful advice!
Dean Saliba (4 comments)

June 15th, 2008 at 7:41 am
19

Wow you really do well for youself.

I have yet to start afiliating as it scares the hell of out me.
Monthly Earnings May 2008 | Make money online | How to make money on the Internet

June 15th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
20

[...] was reading Kelly Stone’s monthly earnings, and I saw her selling "Linky [...]
Katherine (6 comments)

June 17th, 2008 at 7:47 pm
21

I love that you did this. It’s so inspirational! I have a ways to go to reach your income earnings but I am focusing and setting my sites on one milestone at a time.

Katherines last blog post..Things to Do to Get Business and Article Ideas
needa (1 comments)

June 23rd, 2008 at 6:30 am
22

Good Job Kelly
Minsheyenwen (17 comments)

June 26th, 2008 at 7:05 pm
23

Hi Kelly,

I am glad you posted your income. I believe, it inspires hope. It lets aspiring web entrepreneurs and new online marketers know what is possible.
Norhafidz (1 comments)

July 9th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
24

Wow Kelly, that’s huge! congratulations, It’s inspiring, I will surely be here more frequent to know what and how you did that
Norhafidzs last blog post..I Am Officially Busbied