Today was a mini milestone day for me in my blogging.
I went to the PO Box this morning to grab my mail and found my monthly cheque from Google’s Adsense had arrived for earnings in the month of May. May was my biggest earning month since I started blogging (June was a little lower due to me being away for the full four weeks).
The cheque was the biggest cheque I’ve ever held onto (well the biggest I’ve held onto that has my name on it). The amazing thing is that in the month of May I earned more than I earned in a whole year in 2003 from a ‘real job’ (of course at the time I was only working a 3 day week while I studied part time) and well over half as much as I earned from Adsense in the whole of 2004.
It predominately came from two or three blogs which worries me a little (the worry is that if just one or two of them fell over it would have significant income. However on the up side the past couple of months have seen a number of my other blogs experiencing significant growth in traffic which points to plenty of potential for the future.
If you’d told me I’d be doing what I’m doing 2 or 3 years ago (and that it would be earning me a good living) I would never have believed you. I sometimes think it’s all just a dream – if it is please don’t pinch me, I’m not ready to wake up.
I’m quite amazed and am enjoying every moment while it lasts (because on the web you never quite know how long it will). Here’s to as good a second half of the year as the first!
Want to learn more? Subscribe to my free weekly ProBlogger Newsletter
Update: For those readers coming to this post via Slashdot – welcome. I’ve posted a few points here that answer some of the many comments that are being made at Slashdot about me and my blogging here. I try to clear up some of the misconceptions. I hope it is helpful.
If you’re interested in Adsense you might be interested in Joel Comm’s What Google Never Told You About Making Money with Adsense – otherwise take a surf through my own Adsense category to read my own tips.
If you want to see some of my other blogs you can check out my Digital Camera Review Blog, my Camera Phone Blog and Laptop Review blog as just a few of those I work on.
About Darren Rowse
My name is Darren Rowse and I’m a full time Blogger making a living from blogs like 
Since I am the first one to comment on this post, I won’t just come out and ask you how much you make. I am sure you get asked that question more than I can imagine. I will ask however, what three blogs, seem to do the best?
What blogs where they? C’mon let us in on some of your secrets :)
Darren, you’re my blogging idol, your style of writing, your technical and theoritical expertise are wonderful!,i’m so inspired by you, i won’t ask for any further details, but please, do share with us from time to time about your milestones and achievements from time to time ;)
And congrats for this specific milestone of course!
Heat
Congratulations Darren!
I think it is amazing that you earned more in May than you earned in a whole year in 2003 from a ‘real job’.
The amount of effort you put into your posts and the amount of posts you have have paid off, you deserve it.
I am just DYING to know what the amount of the check was??
over 10,000 ? over 20,000 ?
under 15,000?
around 12,000 ?
It should be within adsense TOS to reveal the number since it would be total monthly earnings..
Darren.. Please do tell …
Or send to me at my email :)
haha, I’m glad I joined a winning team here. Congrats Darren!
Brilliant. You’ve deserved it!
Nice…I can’t wait until the day that I am making $1000-$2000 a month online…seems like it is so far away…
Congratulations!
I remember the first time my website income was larger than my income from books and consulting, about a year ago. It took some time to adjust to that—I still catch myself thinking I should stop messing with my sites and do some “real work” from time to time.
Congratulations,
its good to see that with a little bit of effort, a little bit of luck, and some good business practices, its possible to eek out a living from the web.
Like you say, it may not last, but while it does, make hay.
Now the real question is, can you take what you have learnt from the 3 major money earning blogs and turn it into a best selling book, or alternatively turn it into a fourth money earning blog – a blog about earning money from blogs which talk about earning money from blogs, so to speak.
Keep up the good /and inspirational/ work.
Dave
Congratulations Darren – that’s awesome news and I hope you continue to experience wonderful levels of success all around :D
I see you’re quoted in an Aust IT article today on blogging too Darren (online here: http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,15891100%5E15841%5E%5Enbv%5E,00.html ). Is this another mini milestone for you, or have you had the ol’ press mention before in Aust?
Congrats Darren. Income aside, where to next? Or are you happy the way things are?
Thanks for the congratulations. This was a very late at night post and I woke up wondering what I’d written and if I’d sounded like a bragging goof!
In terms of ‘how much’. In this case I’m choosing not to reveal the total – but for new readers you might like to check out this post titled How Much Do I earn which points to a few hints.
I will give a rough figure though – it’s between $10k and $20k ($USD).
The question of ‘which blogs’ are your biggest is another question I get asked a lot and is one I’m a little hesitant to answer. You see I’ve revealed in the past that my biggest blog is Digital Photography Blog and have noticed around 10 readers now have similar blogs. Whilst I don’t mind the competition and try to build relationships with them all – there is also something to be said for a bit of secrecy.
Having said that – I mention all of my 20 or so blogs on this site in a variety of places and it shouldn’t be too hard to work out which should be earning more than others by digging around them a bit and looking at comment levels, traffic levels etc. I don’t mind if you work it out, but I’m happy for people to have to work a little for such information :-)
Some one asks ‘where to from here?’ – well I’m working on a few projects. Expect to see me expand ProBlogger.net in the coming months as I finish off other projects. I love ProBlogger but it earns me virtually nothing so I’m keen to explore some ways of finding a revenue stream for it. I’m also keen to add some authors to some of my blogs (something I’m doing slowly already) and finding a model to share revenue with them. This will enable me to start more blogs and perhaps even write that book that has been sitting inside me for a while.
I’m also keen to explore doing some writing for other mediums like newspapers – I’d love to do a ‘ProBlogger Column’ – just need to find a publisher who wants one! :-)
We’re in the same boat. May was my biggest month as well. (and the same figure as yours too!!! ) Feels great don’t it?
Congrats, Darren. I am pretty happy with my numbers too. It’s not quite “UPS club” yet, but I’m working on it.
Congratulations!!!! It must be very satisfying to be doing something you like, and earning a good amount of money for doing it.
How to make money from Problogger is an interesting topic, Darren. The second question hanging in the air there is : without spoiling it? Jason Calacanis ruthlessly lists his commercial blogs in posts on his personal blog. It doesn’t stop you reading it because he writes so compellingly at times.
Problogger is much more sedate in style. It obviously adds enormously to your personal credibility across the blogosphere and MSM. It would be the perfect platform to launch a career as an author ~ in the traditional sense ~ where credibility is all. My advice would be to find a good agent and get them to negotiate a three-book deal with HarperCollins ~ Mr Murdoch has already hosted your views in The Australian so his minions would be primed already. Then I would automate all your commercial blogs under different editors, spend a little time on Problogger only, and concentrate on a full-time career as a bestselling author. :-)
That’s awesome Darren, congratulations. Keep the positive stories coming, they only serve to motivate the rest of us. Thanks!
As an aside, I’m curious how you find time for all of the various blogs? Do other people help you with some of the blogs? I can barely keep up with my 3 blogs (I do have a day job at Microsoft which severly limits my blogging time though). Do you have a special tools to help automate some of the blogs?
Congratulations, Darren! I recently discovered this site and look forward to reading the archives.
I have a similar problem, though, as Tommy mentions above–lack of time due to a day job. Is it possible for someone to make money from blogging if they only have a couple of hours each day to devote to it?
Wow and here I am thinking that I might just top $50 in a month!
Congrats Darren ;)
congrats Darren…
someday I will be just like you. earning tons of $$$
What happens when people use FireFox and an add filter like: http://*.googlesyndication.com/*.js, does that still generate income?
Yeah but can it survive a Slashdotting?
I don’t see any ads.
/. away!
But all your google ads are for “Make money quick” schemes …very sad.
A sucker born every minute?????
..and don’t forget to pay your TAX now that the IRS knows how much a month you’re making.
Who cares about money.
Now if you can score chicks like this from blogging, sign me up!
http://www.fotodaze.com/view.php?view=1470
I don’t see a problem with earning money from blogging, in the end it’s just freelance journalism. Newspapers rake it in for relaying information with an opinonated twist, so why shouldn’t anyone else?
I’ve made all of $0.18 this year with google ads :)
Can we see the check? Like, a scan? Good way to build traffic, with a headline like that.
sorry DL – the cheque is cashed. Maybe I should post a screen shot of my stats just to stop the speculation once and for all.
lies lies lies. This site is a crock of shit and a scam.
Good for you. Maybe you can share some secrets on stopping the spammers from filling up your trackback and comments with links to online casinos and porn. Deleting that stuff takes a lot of time and make it worth what money you earn doing a blog. Makes one wonder if it is worth it. Someone should put these spammers in jail.
I need to implement AdSense on http://www.networking-forum.com
!!!
This sounds fishy, but I’m signing up for Adsense anyway….
“Yeah but can it survive a Slashdotting?”
It’s not very difficult to survive a slashdotting. It’s happened to me twice this month. I’ve written a brief article on it.
http://polyscience.org/2005/07/a-meta-analysis-of-the-slashdot-effect/
What a nice surprise to come back to after your vacation. I enjoyed guest blogging on your PDA blog while you were away.
Congrats Darren! Hope to join you someday ;-)
hey man
awesome . I am happy for u buddy
Vijay
Good for you! I’m certainly going to look into this. Although, I feel compelled to tell you that Joel Comm’s What Google Never Told You About Making Money with Adsense is the corniest, most cliched, used car salesman pitch I’ve ever had the displeasure of seeing.
After following your link to his site, I couldn’t be bothered even entertaining the thought that this guy might actually know something. The only thing that lends him credibility is your link, leading to him.
There’s something to be said about how a message is delivered.
I’m still in the old school group of those who refuse to put ads on their site. Google ads are unintrustive and I’m pleased that they are becoming commonplace, but my site costs me less than a weeks pay to maintain for an entire year, and I already make money by working. Albeit less than I might make by blogging, but really, I want a job.
What to do put on your site that makes you worthy of 20k?
Woohoo! Way to go, Darren! It is a great feeling when you get one of those massive checks. I have to pinch myself too.
Thanks for mentioning my ebook in your article. Congratulations on your success, both as a pro blogger and as another AdSense success story!
Joel Comm
Author
“What Google Never Told You About Making Money with AdSense”
P.S. – my 2nd edition is out now!
Well done sure google does pay you back if your stuff is worth and ads displayed are those for your vistors care more.
–
Vivek
Pingback from ” 趣闻要闻”—-播客宝典 http://www.hopesome.com
Congratulations!
I haven’t received my cheque…
how to ?
I am very suprised about what you gain from google.
I adobt about that.
my weblog:http://alone.kudou.cn
Would like more information on making at least $ 10,000. per month. I don’t have a website at this time.