This is the second update to my challenge of making 10,000 euros per month. The last month has seen a bit of changes for me and I’m happy to share the results.
What I did in September
First of all, I have abandoned PPC campaigns, because they were too stressful and I don’t have yet the time and knowledge to run it. I still believe PPC can be very effective and I’ll certainly use it where I find it appropriate.
Another important update is that my virtual assistant is now creating general information articles to be published on bukisa. Bukisa is a website where you can submit your articles and get paid when someone visit them. Right now his goal is to publish 10 articles per day, and we are still experimenting what’s working and what’s not.
I have also created two more websites targeting small niches. I’m doing well with search engines, although with one of those I still want to rank higher for my keyword.
While one of those websites is highly experimental, I believe the other one has the potential of making me a $30 – $60 per month, which is not bad considering I will probably spend 2 hours per month promoting it.
Lesson learned
This month I learned that it is definitely possible to rank high in google if you give visitors what they really want and if you use common sense. I also learned that being in the top first position for a popular product it’s not a guarantee of traffic if nobody is looking for it.
Show me the money
This month I made only $61 online, most of them from this blog. I’m still early on my journey toward my goal, but each day I grow and learn new things, and earn more, so I’m happy with it.
What I plan to do in september
In this month, I want to publish another 2 websites. I’m note yet sure about the topic, but it’ll not be difficult to find something. I also need to market a bit my other websites so hopefully they’ll start to make money.
Other Updates
Posted on October 05 2009
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Good Luck Oscar, your blog is coming along very nice and I’m sure within a few months you will be doing a lot better than you are now. Don’t give up!! :)
Cheers
Diggy
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Hey Diggy, in reality making money with this blog is not one of my goals, but they are still accepted if they came on their way ;)
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It sounds like you are on the right track. Just keep pushing on. If those niche websites seem to be working, why don’t you just focus all of your attention on that? Have your VA write articles for your own content sites, instead of publishing it on someone elses. Just a thought :-)
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Hi Nate, thanks for the feedback. I’m still figuring out about those articles. I think I will have a better idea at the end of the month. If traffic does not arrive I will certainly build my own sites. Thanks again for your feedback.
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$61 is certainly nothing to scoff at, especially since this blog has only been around since April or so. It sounds like you’re definitely moving in the right track, and while money generated via online means doesn’t show up overnight, just imagine where you’ll be standing in a years time from now! It also looks like you’re generating some pretty good traffic too, as you seem to be getting quite a lot of comments!
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Hey Travis, actually I made the first post on June 17. I’m starting to receive constant traffic and I’m very happy with it, although I would like it to grow a bit.
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Hey Oscar,
As others say, sounds like you are definitely on the right track, glad for you and hope it continues to go well for you :D.
And niche sites are definitely worth the time and effort to get some content going, they are a great source of passive income, and depending on how you set them up, they can continue to make a lot of income in the long run with next to no effort.
Keep it up buddy, definitely on the right track without a doubt :D
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Thank you Howie for your encouragement, it really helps! This month I’ll maybe try something different because I want to use my programming skills. Good things are going to happen ;)
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No problem, and also thanks for the mention of Bukisa, haven’t come across it before but just checked it out and believe I could put it to some good use so thanks :D
Also signed up through your link for you :)
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Thanks Howie ;)
Hey Oscar,
If your current websites are near the top but not getting traffic, I think you have two options. Either broaden the keyword (it doesn’t have to be entirely on the URL) or move on to a new topic (new website). If you broaden keyword reach, you’ll need more links and or content.
Also perhaps check if your site can’t convert better with the traffic it gets…
It’s tough, people aren’t in a buying mood nowadays. Especially with info products, unless these really fix an urgent problem. People tend to bounce off those and keep looking for free info.
I used to do pretty well with an ebook, and those days have passed. Free competition makes it necessary to concentrate on very specific themes with no credible free competition.
I’ve never tried selling hard goods online personally, but am starting to wonder if it isn’t the best way to go now.
Good luck! At least you’re off to a great start, and you’re punctual! :)
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Thank you for the tips Charles, right now I tend to use domain names keyword. For the one site I mentioned earlier, I’, still waiting google to update its index with the new blog title and description. Right now it has the default wordpress ones but it’s still on the 4th position.
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Hi Oscar,
I’m looking forward to your Bukisa experiment. Seems interesting to me. I’m building niche sites too. Are you doing it the “cloud living” way?
Cheers,
Vincent
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Hi Vincent, yes I’m following Cloud Living. I will post a review of it wednesday. I will also post updates on bukisa on the next month.
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Haha, I’m not sure where I got April from then… but June is even better! Seems like things are really growing quickly.
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Maybe you recalled that date from my about me page, anyways that’s ok I don’t pretend my readers remember the date of my first post :D
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Great job Oscar. Always love reading the accomplishment of others. It gives me motivation to continue doing my best. I have a question though, how do you make money from this blog? Was it from DIY themes or was it something else?
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Hi Karlil, I added the thesis banner yesterday, so definitely wasn’t that. Of those $60, ~$5 were from analytics, and the remaining from product referrals.
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w00t… $69 … you are RICH! :)
On a more serious note, $69 is better than nothing. This is proof you can do this. You’re well on your way to your goal Oscar, we are all rooting for you :)
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Hi Valerie, yes, that’s what I think too, and thanks for your support :)
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Still $61 you didn’t have last month. Next month – $63 :)
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I hope so :D
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Hey Oscar. Thanks for sharing your experiences with us man. It’s really cool that trying new things out and seeing what things work in internet marketing. Oh yeah, good job at making the money you have one your sites. It’s a great inspiration to all of us!
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Hey Tristan I’m glad you find it inspiring. I started everything from 0 so the numbers are not yet exciting but one day they’ll be!
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Liked what Jonny said in the comments — “That’s $61 you don’t have last month.” :)
Keep ‘em up and rolling (make it an avalanche and you’ll be in for a fabulous time) in October!
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Hey Daniel, thanks for your encouragement!
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Hey Oscar, good to hear your update. I was wondering, is $61 your turnover for the month, or pure profit?
cheers!
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Pure profit from the blog. I still have to pay my VA but that’s another story.
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pretty much ALL money online is pure profit if you don’t consider your time. hosting costs but it’s minimal.
that’s why online is so awwwsome.
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Hey Oscar,
Thats fabulous, the most I have ever made is $8 off an affiliate sell on click bank and a ppc campaign. That was 2 months ago. I’m still looking for real revenue possibilities online :) I feel a change in the air though. I’ve been working on the online income stream possibilities since september last year (I suppose I read Tim ferriss’s 4 hour work week easter last year).
Lindsay
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Hey Lindsay, at least you were positive! When I tried PPC 2 months ago I lost something like $100 at the end :D
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This is the kind of post I love to read!
It is about real people trying real things. No BS. No hype. Just action.
Nicely done Oscar!
However, I would suggest getting into freelancing or something with closer contact to clients. Gaming the Internet is too damn competitive. Create real value for people and you will have a long term business that no one will touch.
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Hi John. I already do freelancing (3 years now) and I’ve tried other things as well. The reason I want to experiment internet marketing is because when I’ll have enough cash flow to support myself, I want to build something with my programming skills. I’m not 100% sure about it, but that’s my idea for now.
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Good Luck Oscar. It’s good to see you progressing and earning more. Hopefully the income will increase each month as time goes on.
I am in the same position, trying to get my blog and other sites popular, and to add to my income – which as I am out of work right now is zero!
I earned just over $70 in September from Adsense, and if the trend continues this month, hope to earn over $120. It’s a case of continually writing articles, trying to write what people want to read about, tweaking the design, keywords, and topics so that you get noticed by the search engines, and above all getting listed on other sites and blogs.
My goal is to get noticed as an author, so that one day people will look for my posts. That way, it won’t hopefully be just one topic on one blog that is popular, it will be ME and everything that I write. If I succeed here in getting noticed, then the traffic will come. With the traffic comes clicks and affiliate earnings, and also the potential to sell advertising space on my sites.
Wishing you luck in your quest.
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hey oscar!!
man… haven’t been to this site in way too long. been mad busy with non-online goodies.
really love the way it’s looking and the MASSIVE improvement in content.
also abandoned PPC ages ago.
just SUCH a waste of time and pollutes the perception of your site, dilutes trust etc.
to me: much more valuable focusing on writing AMAZING guest posts and only the BEST content for your site.
think about it: you can write one GREAT article every 2 days. so do 2 for your site and 2 for a GREAT personal dev site elsewhere on the web roughly every week. this will SKYROCKET your traffic. just off that, you can sell ads on your site and bring in minimum $100 per month. not to mention all the affiliate stuff you’ll be doing.
make it happen proper.
keep well mate. and in touch. boom.
here’s to lording the net ;)
alex – unleash reality
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Hey Ales, thanks for the tip, right now I still have to find the time to write one great article every 2 days, but I’m on the right track. Good to see you back by the way!
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I am with you on publishing more sites. I am trying to do the same to egnerate more eyeballs into more money online.
Good luck and hope to see some more updates
David Damron
LifeExcursion
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Thanks Dave ;)
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