Over the last few months I’ve been showing breakdowns of my earnings in an attempt to give some insight into the diversity of income streams available to bloggers, as well as showing how earnings can vary from month to month. Earnings come from my work on a number of sites including ProBlogger and Digital Photography School.
Following are the breakdowns for October and November.
The split changes a little from month to month based upon a variety of factors. For example, in October, affiliate income went up by quite a margin as I did a couple of larger promotions on my photography blog. In November, ebook sales rose quite well because I did a promotion with affiliates on the ProBlogger ebooks. Similarly, Amazon affiliate income and AdSense have both increased in the last couple of months, as tends to happen when we move towards the holidays.
To get a sense of how the revenues have tracked over the last few months, here’s a different visualization that shows how each area has performed (click for a larger picture).
Now that we have seven months of data, I hope that it’s clear how things can vary from month to month depending upon the season, special events, and promotions that you might run.
Looking forward, I’m predicting December to be quite a good month in terms of AdSense and Amazon, thanks to holiday shopping. I’m also running a fairly larger promotion in December on dPS with some affiliate pushes, so I’m hoping that that income stream will spike quite a bit also.
Looking further ahead, I’m hoping to see the red ebook line increase with some good spikes in the new year, as I have several ebooks currently in different stages of production for dPS.
Nice breakdown, Darren. Thanks for sharing!
Nice to see Adsense is still a strong earner!… I have that running on my animations now!…
Thanks
David Edwards
@ David, don’t know many online business bloggers that don’t use AdSense so like you said, it is a relief to see that it’s a strong earner.
it’s not something that works for every one – but because I use it on dPS which has 3-4 million visitors a month it tends to attract a lot of advertisers targeting it which pushes earnings up.
Yeah, it definitely depends on your niche. I know A LOT of professional bloggers and online entrepreneurs who don’t even bother with Adsense – but you seem to earn from it VERY well.
We never know your real earning, it’s all just percentage. :)
Anyways, thanks for sharing.
I don’t share the specific numbers – just %’s – this post isn’t about me proving what I earn or boasting – rather I’m more interested in showing people the array of ways bloggers can make money.. In general terms it’s over 7 figures a year but I don’t get any more specific than that.
My mom taught me in my childhood – never reveal to strangers how much money you have. :)
sounds a little like my family :-)
Well, yeah. But with simple math, one can obtain the real figures. I estimate you make about $100,000 per month (about a quarter of that is due to Adsense).
Nice stats, obviously. You keep us motivated.
Pedro, Darren has stated it is over 7 figures but $100,000 is only six figures… so, no. you couldnt figure it out.
Nice try though.
What are some reccomended affiliate programs? Or is that considered a bloggers secret? Hahaa I totally understand if so ps just started on your book and so far real good
really depends upon your niche Andre. I promote products that relate to my topics. So on my photography blog I”m promoting photography eBooks, photoshop plugins etc. They work on that blog but wouldn’t work on anyone else’s. I could list them all off for you but they wouldn’t be any use – the key is to find products that relate to what you’re blogging about.
As you are a problogger, I like to know what your earnings in numbers are .. :)
Siva – I don’t reveal the exact numbers I’m afraid. This is not about me grandstanding – just trying to show the diversity of income. You could probably get a sense for the totals though if you look at how many ads appear on my job board each month at $50 a pop and then compare it to the rest.
Congratulations, Darren .
The numbers look good and consistency even though you did say they vary from month to month.
“Black Seo Guy “Signing Off”
Nice breakdown Darren!
Let me guess,the november income was more than the october income?
I see that AdSense keeps a remarkable share in your income. Is that because of a strategy you’re following? A placement strategy perhaps? Do you pay a lot of attention to the way Adsense behaves? Do you make adjustments in your Ads behaviour from within your account?
These might be stupid questions. But for a beginning blogger like myself an answer could be really useful.
I’m a big fan of your blog. From now on, consider me a daily reader!
Regards,
Daan
its mainly because I get great traffic to my photography blog which attracts advertisers too it. I have ads reasonably well placed too – many times IN content on longer articles. For some tips on how to increase AdSense earnings (and other ad networks) check out this post.
Hey Darren,
You are well diversified in you revenue stream.
I’m new to blogging and notice probloger.com has quality content for newbies like me.
This post particularly, demonstrating the available option to convert reader into buyer.
Excellent Post !
Cheers,
Ganesh
I just love adsense. I make more money from adsense of recent
Hi Darren that’s great. yeah I think on December usually there is a big sales. hope you can increasing your revenue.
Thanks for opening your books!
Adsense being number 1 surprised me a little — don’t like Google having control.
But something has to take up the slack with Affilate programs becoming so competitive.
Love that continuity – hoping for lots more of those $31.01 checks —
coming in like clock-work for me.;-)
Have a great Christmas — All!
Social Media Rocks!
I use Amazon. It’s very good.
Hi Darren,
Congrats on a healthy growth in earnings…. Wish it reaches and surpasses the June level soon…
Hello,
it is one of my first steps to get involved into a blog about this topic and blogging at all!
I am a newbie in this market and have lots of trust that affiliate marketing works for me too if I will not give up.
Thanks for sharing your experiences and your data show that it really works!
And congratulations! :)
Hmn again the Google Adsense is top earner,its not only for Problogger but for other sites too with quality content.Keep it up darren.But more adsense in on Digital photography.
Interesting to see the Adsense was high, I am still learning what ads people like more. Have not had any luck at all with any of my ads. Awesome for you though bro!
Great stats thanks for sharing these, we are still testing with different revenue streams and ad types but think we also need to look into ebooks
help me out on understanding this since the colors and names on top are different than the color and names on the bottom
so you can’t easily see that dark pink top and bottom dark pink are not the same but different or is there a mistake here
dark pink top is ebooks
dark pink bot is direct ad sales
It would be nice if the colors and items stayed the same between the two months for easily seeing the growth or decline or am I just not reading this right
Wow, this is really great info for us aspiring bloggers. Thank-you for the information, this helps with my long term plans. :-)
Well I guess that answers all the Adsense haters! Although it would have been great for you to list the dollar figures :)
AdSense has skyocketed for me over the past two months. November was near double October’s amount and December could be double again. I expect some of this to drop off in January, particularly as a lot is coming from the Christmas-specific content on my sites, but hopefully not too much.
Yes – I notice that most years too. Nov and the first half of December can be great but then you can often lose what you made in the first week or two of Jan – same with Amazon.
I did have a similar experience early this year though – seems two advertisers were in a bidding war with each other which sent earnings on AdSense way up :-)
Good to see you Andy
Interesting. I would not have expected AdSense to be such a stronger performer compared to your other means of income. I guess that debunks the myth that AdSense is a dead end for bloggers!
Thanks for providing these figures Darren.
I don’t know why people get so hung up on the fact that you’re only providing percentages, not actual dollar figures. I don’t know too many businesses that provide their customers with month by month breakdowns of their figures. We know that Darren is successful – the point here is to learn about where his income comes from, not how much he makes.
Darren has successfully diversified his income streams – the biggest source of income is AdSense (around 27%), but he has numerous other revenue sources. This is the key for bloggers – don’t concentrate your efforts on only one source of revenue. Aim to get your revenue from at least 3 or 4 different sources so if one has a bad month the others can prop it up.
Allan
Wow I can’t believe Adsense is your strongest revenue stream…it’s very encouraging. Thanks for sharing.
Darren I had a few questions:
Would you mind going into more detail about what continuity programs are? Obviously I’m a rookie so I’m unfamiliar and would like to know how and why it takes up such a large percentage of your earnings.
Also you discuss AdSense placement in another post I believe (about putting AdSense at the top of posts): do you feel text or image ads work best in-post?
Thanks and best of luck with your blogs in 2011!
Continuity programs are membership sites – like Third Tribe or ProBlogger.com.
Hi Darren,
A very diverse list. Interesting to see the adsense topping out the list. But then again with the traffic you see to your photography blog I am not surprised. I wouldn’t use adsense on my main blog, but I do on my niche sites, works better with some than others.
Pete
Darren i m sorry correct me if i am wrong, but where are the adsense ads on this site, or is the picture % of earning (mainly adsense) for your other blog websites?
Hi Ash – I don’t use AdSense on this site – just my photography site (which is my main site).
Hi Darren
If u would have displayed adsense ads in this site(problogger), there are chances for hike in your adsense revenue. But you didn’t. Why?
Hi Darren,
I’m also curios about no adsense add in this blog
Cheers,
GanesMuthiah
Just wondering if you can break down the facts behind the “programs” of the last chart? Such as the “affiliate” programs and the “continuity” programs. What are they and how do these work? Or maybe you can refer me to where I can read more about these affiliates.
I was just about to ask about Continuity! Thought it was a advertising company or something, thanks for clearing that up Daren.
Cheers
Read Aloud Dad
Really unbelievable. Most Blogger avoid using ad-sense in their website and the information you provided is very challenging, because its still the best way to earn money.
Thanks for sharing, it will be really helpful for the Preblogger….
Thank you so much for sharing Darren! It is very insightful to see how you are making money with your various blogs and businesses.
Could you take a look at my report on how I made $10,000 with an ebook launch this month?
http://www.thetrafficblogger.com/2010/12/how-i-launched-new-clickbank-product.html
Feel free to email me if you would like me to do a more thorough write up on how I did it.
Very interesting charts, Darren.
For someone just starting out(Yes I meant me) visiting your site has/is providing a wealth of information and a mountain of inspiration.
I must admit that my eyes popped wide open on seeing your Ad-sense figures.
As with some of the above posters, I had heard so much negative press regarding it’s use.
My main surprise was when comparing your Ad-sense to your Affiliate results. I am forever reading about how Affiliate programs are the be all and end all, in regards to revenue raising through your blog.
I also noticed how you sliced off a fair piece of your pie through E – Books( Was that JUNE spike from an E – Book Release(Promotion)?
The other noticeable, is that your Speaking events and Job Board stats alternated( almost Mirror opposites) from the third to fourth quarters annually.
Is this due to marketing, etc?
Great blog, keep up the good work.
Daniel.
Thanks for sharing Darren. I also would not share actual amounts, as it would possibly lead to attacks and trolling.
Darren, Congratulations!!! Thanks for sharing your earning report.Keep Up your good work.