Due to my early retirement series (which seemed to go over like a lead balloon I think) last week, I’m late in delivering my alternative income report that I usually deliver the first of the month.
This month I saw a small downturn in advertising. Some forms of advertising are going away completely while other forms seem to be increasing. I think the advertising that is going away may be due to the market downturn. It also may be the changing advertising marketplace. Sometimes it’s hard to figure why it is happening, it’s just happening.
The forms of advertising that are increasing are ones that very popular bloggers have told me about for some time. Some examples of this are Google AdSense, advertising based on pageviews (generally referred to as CPM), and affiliate advertising.
Overall this adds up to a profit of $1870.21 for October… definitely disappointing considering this website hit a record 57,000 visitors and 85,000 page views for the month. I’m thinking of investing more in some of my other “non-Lazy Man branded” websites to make more. I’d give more details about them, but they are run under my real name and hence I have to keep a separation. That said, they really aren’t all that exciting – no world beating profits – just a dollar here and a dollar there.
I really need to focus more on Lazy Man and Health, which is barely running at any kind of profit.
$1800 is still not bad. Since running a blog is something that you enjoy, do you consider your ad income more passive if anything else?
Also, I think your contact page cForm plugin in is not working properly. Check it out. It could comewhat affect potential clients from contacting you regarding advertisements.
Larry
http://www.theluckymoneycat.com
Sorry to hear about your underwhelming response to your retirement series. I enjoyed it. I’m guessing that maybe your reader demographic skews well below the boomer range and its those folks who really like that stuff.
Hi there!
I read your early retirement series, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I’m really jealous that early retirement’s an option for you… I just started working (so that makes me Gen Y) and I can’t imagine being able to build up enough of a nest egg to do that. Then again, I suppose that’s what happens when you’re over $75,000 in the hole from your college education– I can’t imagine making enough money to get out from under that!
I have also seen an increase in AdSense income – although I must say, my blog income is tiny compared to yours. I choose not to use affiliate marketing, and have not yet had occasion to sell and CPM advertising.
I am a regular reader of Lazy Man – keep doing a great job and success will continue to follow.
RE: Your early retirement series, I read it and found it interesting, but there wasn’t anything new in there that I hadn’t known beforehand. It’s also very specific to your own situation so it makes an interesting read, but maybe isn’t terribly useful to others.
Thanks for the comments guys…
Thanks for the help with the contact form… I wouldn’t have noticed that because I don’t contact myself all that often. I’ll put it on my list to have an e-mail address there as well.
Maybe my early retirement series didn’t go as bad as I thought. I realized as I published it that it might not be the best time to talk about early retirement… unemployment is high and the economy isn’t well. If I hadn’t been putting it off for 9 months already, I think I would have had better judgment.
I agree it was specific to me and probably why I didn’t get too many comments. I hoped that someone might find some idea they could implement. Otherwise they would probably find that their best early retirement plan is save a lot, invest a lot.
I’m going through a whole redesign and rebranding myself. It’s tough but since I’m freelancing full-time it’s important to have more than a one page portfolio now.
I agree, I think alternate income streams will be the overall new trend. Not necessarily by choice but because 1 or 2 incomes may not be enough. And the fear of relying on all income from one job is scary in these days. What areas do you recommend for alternative income streams? Most people don’t have the time or skills for alternative methods even if the would like.
Craig
http://www.budgetpulse.com
I think it’s worth looking at what value you can provide other people. I’m a horrible florist – don’t know the first thing about flowers and I kill them in about five minutes of owning them.
However one could imagine a website that helps you put together some flowers in a great arrangement and even tells you how to care for it. Such a person could sell their flower nutritional packets (whatever they are called) and do decently.