Year End Report- 2010 Online Income

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

Just Catching Up the Reports

I'm still working- they extended my contract. Will try to do an update on Neobux today too, since I just bought more referrals.

web ad income Dec 14 (6 blogs, 2 web sites, writing): Adsense $.10 Adgitize $.90 Project Wonderful $.03 Chitika $.32 Clixsense $.05 Neobux $.055 ______________________ Total: $1.46

web ad income Dec 15 (6 blogs, 2 web sites, writing): Adsense $.39 Adgitize $.91 Project Wonderful $.02 Chitika $.03 Clixsense $.05 Neobux $.07 ______________________ Total: $1.47

web ad income Dec 16 (6 blogs, 2 web sites, writing): Adsense $.06 Adgitize $.90 Project Wonderful $.04 Chitika $.03 Neobux $.06 ______________________ Total: $1.09

Assessing My Income Opportunities

Well, I found out Friday that I am losing my best web site client. They want to go with a completely database driven site, and I don't have the software to do that. Sigh.

I need to look at possible ways to increase my income beyond just a few pennies a day. My best option is to continue to expand my online writing income. In general, here is what I currently do, with comments:

• Textbroker- some months there are enough good assignments to make over $100, some months the offerings are garbage
• Associated Content- I post only for Performance Views at the rate of $1.55 for 1000 views. The upfront payments process is so frustrating that I simply cannot deal with it. Here's a humorous look at that: My Wrong-Headed Journey Into AC Land. I earn about $3.50 a month there, but with effort I could earn a little more. I need to get enough articles posted that I move to a clout level 10. Then I would at least receive the highest PV rate.
• Shared Reviews- This is a site where real people review products that they own. I've blogged about it several times. They had a good beginning and then a rocky patch where they had to sink or swim on their own earnings. They are now fairly stable. It is an advantage if you joined early, but there are still good opportunities to make some cash there if you work hard. It should only get better as the site generates more income. This month $2000 is being split among the top performers (rules defining that change from month to month). My share of the pie last month was $47.81.
• Helium- You can write a ton of stuff for them without ever making a cent. I have sold one article there for $10, but can't cash out unless I have $20. Not a place I can talk myself into putting more effort into.
• Contests- I have entered several writing contests this month. Of course there is no money there unless I win. Pretty iffy, but at least it gave me a chance to be a little creative
• Undisclosed- by far, my biggest income generator is from a source I am not free to disclose at this time. Right now, I'm making about $300 a month there. But the articles are all repetitive, SEO heavy, pieces on topics of limited interest to me. I have a hard time making myself do them.

I would say that an average price (not calculated, just seat-of-the-pants estimate) per article is about $5. If I could make myself write four articles a day, I could cover my bills. Just FOUR articles. But I have to tell you, that yesterday I did three, and my brain was just about fried. They take varying amounts of research, but some take quite a bit. They have so many criteria to meet the client's SEO wishes that it can give me a headache! (Seriously... one article had 13 keywords it wanted included at least once, but not more than twice each- and two of those were primary concepts of the article with no good synonyms. They specified the number of paragraphs and subheadings. They wanted it in a natural writing style, and they wanted it all in 400 words. Took two hours, and only earned $5.50).

So... I think I'm off to write an article.

P.S. I'll report the results of the Adgitize click style poll tomorrow, with some analysis.

web ad income Nov 21 (4 blogs, 2 web sites, writing): Adsense $.04 Adgitize $.74 Project Wonderful $.03 My Survey $.10 Clixsense $.07 Chitika $.03 Neobux $.055 ______________________ Total: $.97

Progress Evaluation

October was the eighth month that I have been trying to track my online earnings. During that time I've been reporting daily earnings, but I have to honestly say that I haven't always been consistent with that. It's hard to decide what to include and what not to include. Plus I haven't been tracking Swagbucks by the day and that's usually at least $.02, so it probably should be in this report (but it's not). I write at Shared Reviews, and reviewers are paid based on how well their reviews perform every month and also on how successfully they vote for top reviews. So that is online income, but doesn't seem the same as showing ads or clicking links. I write articles at Associated Content, but only post them for pay per view, not upfront payments. I also write articles at Textbroker, and for another source which I can't reveal. That income is really in a totally different category.

So, for this report, I choose to not count Shared Reviews, Textbroker, or the unnamed writing source. How have I done? Have I managed to increase my income since March? And income here is defined as money showing in my account at these places, not necessarily money paid to me. I'll try to clarify it in in a table.

MONTHLY TOTALS BY SOURCE
	Adsense	Adgitize (net= minus ad cost)	Project Wonderful	Chitika	Clixsense	Microworkers	My Survey	Associated Content
March	1.48	6.12	1.29	0	0	0	1.40	4.90
April	7.82	10.96	1.02	0	0	0	3.50	2.85
May	1.58	-3.08	1.36	0	0	1.24	1.30	2.35
June	8.10	4.01	1.82	0	0	0	1.40	2.09
July	7.63	2.17	1.41	0	-3.48	3.00	.60	2.94
Aug	1.84	-7.06	.99	0	0	0	.30	2.98
Sept	4.19	15.93	.91	.96	1.52	.20	12.25	2.58
Oct	3.35	1.36	.97	1.54	.81	.99	11.10	2.89

The width of the column prevented me from putting the daily averages in the same table, but here they are:

DAILY AVERAGES
March	.49
April	.87
May	.16
June	.55
July	.48
Aug	1.02
Sept	2.33
Oct	1.28

Well, the total income is so small that it's difficult to say anything definitive. September looks really good, but it's totally because of a couple of high-paying surveys. May was bad because I was gone hiking most of it and couldn't do much clicking on Adgitize. Any way you cut it, it's not very much income for a whole lot of work.

Shared Reviews
Associated Content

web ad income Nov 2 (4 blogs, 2 web sites, writing): Adsense $.03 Adgitize $.60 Project Wonderful $.05 Chitika $.04 ______________________ Total: $.72