The original purpose of this blog was to track whether I would be able to earn enough income online to sustain life. The big answer is, so far, no.
Earlier, I was reporting the amount earned every day, even though it was pennies. This took way too much time, and was impractical. But, for any faithful, or incidental, readers I may have I’d like to provide a year-end report of my efforts. It's long, but some of you have indicated that you are quite interested. So, here it all is... my successes and other attempts.
There are several categories of income included here: Online writing venues, pay-to-click, and other- mostly blog advertising. I’m not going to post proof of payments... You can either believe me or not, and I have no reason to make any of this up. I will make a few comments about each income source.
Total online income for 2010 is $2666.79. All in all, not bad, but not enough. If I were to write content for eight hours a day I could probably double that, but I would go stark raving mad at the tedium. I’m currently focusing on Shared Reviews, where I think I have the best chance of building significant residual income.
Highly recommended earning sites in green! Not recommended in pink! Your may or may not like in yellow.
If any of these appeal to you, might I ask that you sign up under me? Many sites will just sell your referral to someone else, so why not help a friend? It will cost you nothing. The site names are links, with referral info if applicable.
Online writing venues |
for a comparison of four of these, see Comparing Four On-Line Writing Venues |
Textbroker: reliable income for decent writers, payouts twice a month. You write, you get paid. No residual income. |
date | income | outgo |
9/21 | $98.03 | |
8/21 | $39.07 | |
7/21 | $62.71 | |
4/21 | $30.82 | |
4/6 | $33.52 | |
3/21 | $75.06 | |
2/21 | $192.75 | |
2/6 | $66.03 | |
1/21 | $131.24 | |
TOTAL | $729.23 | |
Shared Reviews: reliable income for diligent writers, payouts seldom on time, but always come eventually. Residual income increases as the body of your work increases. See How to Write Excellent Content for Shared Reviews |
date | income | outgo |
12/9 | $102.44 | |
8/26 | $64.69 | |
7/26 | $35.73 | |
6/19 | $40.18 | |
5/21 | $55.00 | |
5/18 | $36.45 | |
4/7 | $42.14 | |
3/29 | $33.80 | |
3/9 | $15.00 | |
2/18 | $51.87 | |
1/14 | $60.25 | |
TOTAL | $537.55 | |
Helium: horrible rating structure which is required for residual income, very frustrating. I reached payout threshold, and will not go back there. |
date | income | outgo |
12/9 | $27.88 | |
TOTAL | $27.88 | |
Associated Content: submit for upfront pay (slow response time), or page views only. All carry small residual income which increases as the body of your work increases. |
date | income | outgo |
12/9 | $7.06 | |
11/10 | $5.44 | |
10/18 | $2.30 | |
10/13 | $5.00 | |
10/13 | $4.11 | |
10/11 | $4.49 | |
9/28 | $2.97 | |
9/22 | $4.35 | |
9/21 | $4.02 | |
9/15 | $4.45 | |
9/14 | $4.64 | |
9/8 | $5.65 | |
9/8 | $4.61 | |
8/11 | $4.01 | |
7/14 | $3.62 | |
6/9 | $3.12 | |
5/12 | $3.02 | |
4/14 | $2.93 | |
3/10 | $4.98 | |
2/10 | $7.55 | |
1/13 | $9.14 | |
TOTAL | $97.46 | |
Seed: I haven’t had a lot of luck getting content accepted here |
date | income | outgo |
8/17 | $12.50 | |
TOTAL | $12.50 | |
Vertical Blogger: was offered two assignments, and then no others |
date | income | outgo |
2/5 | $45.83 | |
TOTAL | $45.83 | |
Advertising |
Adgitize: primarily for blog advertising, not income, but advertisers who also participate can recoup expenses and make a little money |
date | income | outgo |
12/23 | | $14.00 for ad |
12/6 | $ 20.85 | |
11/24 | | $14.00 for ad |
11/7 | $21.20 | |
11/21 | | $14.00 for ad |
10/9 | $16.50 | |
9/21 | | $14.00 for ad |
9/9 | $15.69 | |
8/22 | | $14.00 pd |
8/7 | $23.01 | |
7/19 | | $14.00 for ad |
6/14 | | $14.00 for ad |
6/9 | $10.99 | |
5/16 | | $14.00 for ad |
5/7 | $16.97 | |
4/16 | | $14.00 for ad |
4/7 | $20.53 | |
3/10 | | $14.00 for ad |
3/6 | $18.96 | |
2/7 | $17.93 | |
1/30 | | $14.00 for ad |
1/6 | $28.56 | |
TOTAL NET | $57.19 | |
Project Wonderful: makes pennies a day, but it’s quite trouble-free, and I did better in the second half of 2010 |
date | income | outgo |
11/2 | $20.00 | |
TOTAL | $20.00 | |
Chitika: contextual advertising, similar to and compatible with AdSense |
date | income | outgo |
10/31 | $11.27 | |
4/30 | $10.50 | |
TOTAL | $21.77 | |
AdSense: needs large traffic numbers, very strict regulations about click fraud and content |
date | income | outgo |
5/25 | $102.56 | |
TOTAL | $102.56 | |
Private Client |
date | income | outgo |
12/10 | $55.00 | |
TOTAL | $55.00 | |
Surveys |
PineCone Surveys: you must be invited to join this Neilson survey site which pays $3.00 for most opinion surveys |
date | income | outgo |
12/23 | $3.00 | |
12/8 | $3.00 | |
11/24 | $3.00 | |
11/2 | $3.00 | |
10/20 | $10.00 | |
10/19 | $3.00 | |
10/7 | $3.00 | |
10/6 | $3.00 | |
9/7 | $3.00 | |
8/23 | $3.00 | |
8/6 | $3.00 | |
7/12 | $3.00 | |
6/28 | $3.00 | |
5/24 | $3.00 | |
5/14 | $3.00 | |
5/3 | $3.00 | |
4/8 | $3.00 | |
3/12 | $3.00 | |
2/8 | $3.00 | |
1/7 | $3.00 | |
TOTAL | $67.00 | |
My Survey: I’ve been a member for many years. You don’t get paid a lot per survey, but you don’t fill out multiple questionnaires just to be told you don’t qualify. If you are shown a survey, you will be paid |
date | income | outgo |
9/22 | $40.00 | |
TOTAL | $40.00 | |
Pay to Click |
Cashium: pay to click- not very stable (I make about 3 cents a day) |
date | income | outgo |
12/13 | $2.29 | |
TOTAL | $2.29 | |
Neobux: pay to click- reliable, need either basic membership or natural referrals- rented referrals lose you money (I make about 4 cents a day) |
date | income | outgo |
11/17 | $2.97 | |
9/10 | $1.97 | |
TOTAL | $4.94 | |
Buxto: seems reliable- I bought permanent referrals, but payout threshold is $50, so I haven’t reached that yet (I make about 15 cents a day) |
date | income | outgo |
11/12 | | $18.00 to buy referrals |
TOTAL NET | $-18.00 | |
Clixsense: reliable, Alertpay charges processing fees, so this was my net from $20.77 worth of clicking (I make about 4 cents a day) |
date | income | outgo |
1/9 | $18.50 | |
TOTAL | $18.50 | |
PalmBux: has had outages, and lost money for some investors (I make about 4 cents a day) |
date | income | outgo |
12/13 | $2.29 | |
TOTAL | $2.29 | |
OnBux: seems reliable (I make about 4 cents a day) |
date | income | outgo |
11/11 | $2.11 | |
TOTAL | $2.11 | |
Other |
Swagbucks: get paid for internet searches- all it “costs” you is that their suggestions are the top few choices returned in the list |
date | income | outgo |
10/4 | $10.00 | |
4/28 | $10.00 | |
1/26 | $10.00 | |
TOTAL | $30.00 | |
Microworkers: I made cashout and will not return- too many offers are illegal or shady |
date | income | outgo |
3/12 | $10.69 | |
TOTAL | $10.69 | |
Other: not at liberty to disclose source- online employment, not permanent |
date | income | outgo |
3/24 | $600.00 | |
2/6 | $200.00 | |
TOTAL | $800.00 | |