June Earnings, Traffic and Outsourcing Biz Update – It’s a Whopper!

by Darwin on June 30, 2011

June was another GREAT month for the blog, my new small business and me personally.  I’ll get right into it.

Traffic

Traffic at Darwin’s Money was down just a bit from the prior month, but no biggie.  What’s going on there is I derive a fair amount of traffic from organic search and while it’s not ideal, a good amount of that comes from just a few articles.  Well, as time goes on, searches for those keywords gradually wanes.  I’m still ranked the same in Google (often #1 for certain keywords), but the topics are getting a bit dated, so this is natural.  I haven’t been writing newer content for search engines as you can probably tell, so I’m not picking up much new search traffic.  I’ll have to work on that some time, but for now, I’m focusing on just writing in a more enjoyable, readable manner.  Being authentic has its benefits.  For Darwin’s Money specifically, here’s the trend:

Earnings from Blogging

  • Adsense – $695
  • Affiliate Income – $224
  • Direct Ad Placements – $730
  • Freelance -  A few hundred bucks across various partner networks
  • and More... I have a few other sites and projects going on.

So, a few grand for the month.  You’ll see more below on what I’m doing with that extra dough.  I included a Google Adsense screenshot with some blackout since Google doesn’t like you sharing ECPM and clickthrough data, etc.  But earnings is fair game…

Page Rank Updates!

Google did a pretty widespread page rank update last week and I had some awesome results.  Darwin’s Money jumped to a PR3 and ETFBase.com (another side gig) went up to a PR4!  What’s always been interesting to me is that there isn’t really any correlation between my own page rank and search traffic (i.e. I had higher numbers at Darwin’s Money as a PR zero than my 3 now), but it’s great for advertising revenue.  Since advertisers need something to base their ad rates on and they don’t always like to rely on page views, Alexa, MozRank or other factors, PR is still a big measure.  Higher Page Rank = More Money!

Small Business – Rockin’ It!

Of all the exciting stuff going on above, the new small business I started up with an old college buddy is even more exciting!  Just a few short months ago, we started up a CAD Drafting Outsourcing firm and it’s goin’ gangbusters!  We recently opened a new office in the Philippines and we’re adding a new employee about every 2-3 weeks!  We have a new drafter starting on Monday.  We just landed a massive construction project that will practically cover 3 months of expenses (and take a month to complete).  It’s awesome!  So, we’re growing so quickly we’re already talking about needing a larger office and potentially having to locate to a larger city because we’re running out of qualified candidates.  A good problem to have I suppose.  But it’s real exciting.  I’m handling all the online stuff and he’s managing the clients and operational aspects.  But our employees are becoming so proficient it’s not as hands on as it used to be for him, so we’re both able to focus on strategy, cost structure and expansion.  Livin’ the dream!

And We’ve Got This New Pool!

This doesn’t have anything to do with blogging directly, but wait! It does – I pretty much paid for it with money I’ve made blogging over the past few years come to think of it.  Along with funding the kids’ 529 Plans, Retirement and taking some neat vacations of course, I’m not a total jackass.  But overall, we’re lovin’ the pool lifestyle.  The kids are having a total blast, my wife’s home so they’re using it every day, all kinds of friends and family (4th of July party woohoo!) are enjoying it and it came out really nicely – with some hiccups along the way of course (Read About What Your Pool Contractor Won’t Tell You).

So, as usual, life is good.  Blogging’s good.  All is good in Darwin’s World.  Make sure to follow via email or RSS for more updates!

{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }

retirebyforty June 30, 2011 at 10:57 pm

Your Adsense income is awesome! That’s almost unbelievable to me since we are only making around $20/month… Congratulation on getting PR4 & the new pool is done! Your kids will have a great summer.

Reply

Darwin June 30, 2011 at 11:08 pm

That’s why I included the screenshot LOL!
After last month’s update, I got a sense people don’t have much luck with Adsense at all so I’d better throw a screenshot up there as proof. I’ve lucked out with a few real high ECPM posts and google search visitors convert the best of all traffic (for adsense at least).

Reply

Financial Samurai June 30, 2011 at 11:04 pm

You’re rich! Dont forget to throw some pennies to your poorer blogging brothers!

Cheers, Sam

Reply

Darwin June 30, 2011 at 11:07 pm

Pot callin’ the kettle black!!
But oh yeah, tried to throw a campaign our way last night and you saw what happened 🙁 I’m workin’ on it!

Reply

Financial Samurai June 30, 2011 at 11:54 pm

Dude, I’m poorer than a 1st grader man! Need some money to buy some new shoes.

Perhaps tell that client it’s all fixed now 🙂

Reply

Beating Broke June 30, 2011 at 11:21 pm

Way to go Darwin! Congratulations on the continued success. Enjoy the pool, you’ve earned it.

Reply

Evan July 1, 2011 at 12:08 am

Congrats buddy! I had my largest adsense month every in June…little less than yours. I am putting together my monthly update right now when I saw this on Twitter

Reply

John Border July 1, 2011 at 6:34 am

Fantastic Income .. congrats and also Great income with advertisers. I am sure this go up and up in years to come.

Mine was a little less than your in adsense . However it was zero for advertisers. It seems that I need to have that ‘Advertise” Button on the top.

Reply

Sass July 1, 2011 at 8:28 am

Wow! Those are some impressive blog earnings! I might have to get a bit more knowledgeable about what I’m doing…. but I probably won’t since my little blog is just a hobby (and a way to keep myself somewhat accountable to my big picture goals!). Congratulations! (Oh, and that pool is flippin’ awesome!)

Reply

Darwin July 1, 2011 at 10:29 pm

My first blog was a hobby too :> Now it’s a bit of an obsession; at least a couple nights a week.

Reply

Dave @ Money In The 20s July 1, 2011 at 11:54 am

Congrats on a great month!

Your blog stats are incredible from November to January!

Reply

Darwin July 1, 2011 at 10:29 pm

Thanks; yeah, that’s when some google search picked up!

Reply

Suba July 1, 2011 at 12:37 pm

Congrats on a great month! Impressive earnings and traffic!

Reply

Andy Hough July 1, 2011 at 4:04 pm

That was a great month of earnings. I share my earnings on my website and get good feedback from my readers. I’m putting together a list of bloggers who share their earnings and have added you to the list.

Reply

Darwin July 1, 2011 at 10:30 pm

That’s a cool idea; let us know when you publish your list!

Reply

101 Centavos July 2, 2011 at 11:06 am

Awesome stuff, Darwin. Congratulations on the small business success!

Reply

Spruce Up Your Finances July 2, 2011 at 12:11 pm

Congrats on the success of your blog. Nice adsense earnings .

As for your business, the Philippines is really a good source to tap to hire people for your outsourcing services. A lot of companies have been doing this for business transcription, medical coding, call centers, etc.

Reply

Cancel reply

Leave a Comment

{ 1 trackback }

Previous post:

Next post: