Comments on: Alternative Income Streams – July 2008

By: MoneyEnergy

MoneyEnergy — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 01:01:07 +0000

Interesting to hear about Forbes. I’ve been with them not quite a month yet. We’ll see how it turns out.

By the way, did everyone know yet that Google is dropping its Referral ads program in August?

By: Tom

Tom — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 19:41:53 +0000

In addition, if you had referral links posted to a website they will no longer generate referrals. You need to update the links.

By: Online Dividends

Online Dividends — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:51:14 +0000

Tom,

I think that you are correct. I had one referral in June but I don’t think the person got the $25 bonus.

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 05:08:03 +0000

I think I get it now – you still get $10 if you refer a friend. The friend no longer gets $25 for signing up. That’s how it has changed.

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 02:53:17 +0000

It looks like the RME promotion is still going on. I don’t see an end date on the promotion page only a note that, “Revolution reserves the right to terminate the Program at any time with or without notice.”

By: Lazy Man

Lazy Man — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 19:30:56 +0000

I did max out my account and my wife’s. I thought the promotion was over May 15th, which meant that I wasn’t going to earn anything for June.

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 18:55:38 +0000

Why was this the first month you knew you wouldn’t have $500 coming in from RME? Did you already hit the max on your account(s)? I noticed that I wasn’t getting any RME referrals the last couple weeks. I logged in today and realized I needed to update the referral link.

I also got an invite to join the Forbes network. It now seems like just about everyone got a personal invite. Now I’m glad I didn’t join.

By: Lazy Man

Lazy Man — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 14:42:58 +0000

O.D., I experienced exactly the same things. It seems a good ad in May wasn’t renewed for June.

By: Online Dividends

Online Dividends — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 14:39:11 +0000

I did sign up for Adify ( which is basically Forbes’s network). I made three times as much in May as June. My traffic was the same for both months. The reason is that there were too many sites that signed up and not too many advertisers to sign up for the Adify network. Thus you do not get paid for every impression at your site, because most of the times the ad spaces show some generic stuff, for which you don’t get paid. Anyways, the CPM at Forbes is super low. And the payout is $100.

I have come to realize that google adsense is the best way to monetize your blog for small bloggers.

By: Tight Fisted Miser

Tight Fisted Miser — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 14:02:48 +0000

I got an invitation from Forbes but decided against it since the application was so long. It looks like I made the right choice.

I’d love to get my income up to where yours is at but I only have a fraction of your traffic. Still,I should make a 4 figure profit for the year so I’m not complaining.

By: Writer's Coin

Writer's Coin — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 10:44:47 +0000

I still remember the first time I saw some Amazon revenue ($1.94) — I was so excited! Hopefully one day I’ll be making alternative income to almost cover my expenses too.

By: Maria - Frugal Homesteading

Maria - Frugal Homesteading — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:55:46 +0000

Thanks for sharing your experiences and details on your alternative income .. it really helps!

By: Llama Money

Llama Money — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 22:58:15 +0000

I also got the offer to join the Forbes network but never followed up on it. Based on your experience, I’m glad I didn’t take the time to join.

By: SingleGuyMoney

SingleGuyMoney — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 22:30:34 +0000

I know how you feel LMM. I miss those RME referrals too.

By: Lazy Man

Lazy Man — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 22:15:17 +0000

Chris, it’s extremely difficult. I came in with the idea that I wasn’t going to be able to make any money online… that I was just going to have fun and help people. Then some offers came in and things changed.

I hate to fall back on the, help someone and you will be helped, argument, but I don’t know have anything major to suggest…

… actually I do.
1. Write content that people are interested in (I’m still working on that).
2. Market yourself and your content in appropriate, non-annoying ways.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:38:31 +0000

Way to go Lazy Man! It’s always good to see solid returns for your hard work. :)

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:15:56 +0000

Great report, thanks for it.

Given that the vast majority of us don’t have blog income streams, what would you recommend for us mere mortals?

By: budgets are sexy

budgets are sexy — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:13:43 +0000

Oh man, yeah I was looking forward to working w/ Forbes too – sent over the signed contract and all, and then not a word since. Not even a “sorry, you are not accepted”. pshhhhh.

I’m glad July’s looking better for ya!