It's been quite some time since I last posted on here, and I'm going to try to get back into doing so on a more regular basis.
Anyone who has been following this blog since the beginning will know that I started out a few years ago with the intention of making money online. I've tried various things, but never really put a great deal of effort into it, which has had a fairly predictable result - i.e. very little in the way of online income.
This doesn't mean that it's not possible to make a lot of money online, but it does go to show that there is no "magic bullet". No "set-it-and-forget-it" method of making money. The bottom line is, just like any job, if you want to make money online, you have to put some effort into it.
Unfortunately, my day-job and family life have tended to get in the way of my online marketing efforts. I seem to have very little free time nowadays, and when I do, I'm generally so tired, that I really don't want to be working on what is effectively a second job. Consequently, I haven't made any real progress towards my goal of being able to give up the day job.
Ironically, if I was able to give up my day-job, I would have the time and energy to concentrate on my online marketing, but until I'm earning enough from my online activities, I cannot give up the day job. Catch 22. I imagine that there are many other people in the same situation.
Regardless of this, I have now decided to ramp up my efforts as much as possible in order to achieve this. I expect it to be many months, or a year or two before I can get to that point. In the meantime, I hope to be building up a steadily increasing income, and that extra cash will be very welcome.
Update
So, what has happened since my last set of semi-regular posts to this blog? Here's a quick summary. I shall probably post a summary like this every 6 months from now on - or more often if things go really well.
Products
In conjunction with another online marketer, I have developed a software product for which we have seen a few sales. We are currently working on version 2 of the software, which we think will sell much better as it contains a new list-building feature. More on that product in a future post when we release version 2.
Advertising Revenue
I got my first payment from Google AdSense. What a great feeling that was. It had been a long time in the making - I had displayed Google Ads on various sites on and off for about 4.5 years and earned the odd few cents here and there. The majority of the income was earned in the last 6 months after I had started to make some more popular websites.
Now, those sites are earning from AdSense a lot more quickly. At the current rate, they should earn about the same amount of money in under a year, but with a lot more effort on my part, I hope to start receiving payments at least monthly.
Affiliate Marketing
I've been a member of Clickbank for about 5 years, and I have still yet to receive any money from them. This is because I have not met the terms of their CDR (Customer Distribution Requirement). They will not release any money until those terms have been satisfied. Additionally, my account has also fallen foul of their Dormant Account Policy, in which accounts that are not active for extended periods are subject to various charges.
Recently, however, I have started to make a few sales, which keeps my account from becoming dormant while I try to meet the terms of the CDR.
The CDR is frustrating - it requires at least 5 different credit cards and 2 different payment methods. If everyone pays with PayPal rather than credit cards, it's difficult to meet this requirement when sales numbers are relatively low.
If you're in the same position, stick at it - you'll get there eventually.
I have joined various other affiliate programs and promote my links wherever possible, but again, this needs a lot more effort on my part. Some of the programs are for monthly services, so I should receive a monthly income from them. I see that as a key part of setting up an online income - build a nice core of monthly income streams that almost guarantee a minimum monthly income. I would love to get to the point where my mortgage is paid entirely from monthly affiliate income. (Of course, I would prefer to pay off my mortgage entirely, but one step at a time!)
In summary, I can see that had I put in a lot more effort into my online marketing over the last year or two, I would be in a much better financial situation. it's too easy to give up, or put things off because you're too tired.
Having started to see some money coming in, I am more enthusiastic about progressing things further.
Hopefully, my next summary report in 6 months time will show a marked change in my status.
