Written on June 4th, 2008 at 12:06 am by Darren Rowse
How I Make Money Blogging - Top Income Streams Update
Once every 3 months I update my Make Money Blogging page here at ProBlogger with my top income earners for that last quarter. Today I made the update for the last three months (March to May 2008).
My top income earners for the last quarter were:
- AdSense (previously #1)
- Chitika (previously #2)
- Private Ad Sales (previously #4)
- Amazon Associates (previously #3)
- Miscellaneous Affiliate Programs (previously #7)
- Shopzilla (previously not in the list)
- ProBlogger Job Board (previously #6)
- WidgetBucks (previously not in the list)
- Miscellaneous Ad Networks (previously #8)
I’ve included where it was previously ranked in my income streams so you can see how things have changed (and where they have not. AdSense and Chitika continue to dominate although Private Ad Sales have been making a move, as have affiliate programs.
You can read a complete description of each one and how I’ve used it in the Make Money Blogging post.
106 Responses to “How I Make Money Blogging - Top Income Streams Update”
Martin Gommel
June 4th, 2008 12:18 am
Thanks Darren for sharing your top incomes on your blog. Good to see ad sales on #4 an that speaks of a good handling of your ads. Greets from over Germany
Robb Sutton (198)
June 4th, 2008 12:19 am
You have adsense as your #1 but I don’t see very many on this site. Are these stats compiled over all of your sites combined?
GolfSpy X
June 4th, 2008 12:25 am
Darren,
Anyway you could show us how you use these in your websites most effectively…actually you have probably already written an article about it.
GettyCash
June 4th, 2008 12:27 am
AdSense still be no. 1 income earner for you, but for me affiliate program is my no. 1 income earner. I don’t have luck with AdSense.
Rob Brydon
June 4th, 2008 12:28 am
Darren,
Do you have an explanation for Amazon dropping? Is it because you do less reviews?
Neerav
June 4th, 2008 12:28 am
Hi Darren
When I read your quote “I don’t do a lot of private ad deals (it’s something I should focus upon more)” in your How I Make Money from Blogs - Top Earners article in February 2007 I remember thinking that you could make a killing if you sold more ads directly and it looks like I was right so well done :-)
rick
June 4th, 2008 12:33 am
Darren,
Thanks for the list…Have you had any luck with Commission Junction?…Anyone else?
Jerry
June 4th, 2008 12:36 am
Question: I’m assuming that this ranking is based on the aggregate for all of your blogs, rather than for any particular individual blog, yes?
I think it might be an interesting discussion to talk about what types of revenue sources work for various types of blogs, and the reasons they might or might not complement each other.
Thanks for being so transparent. That’s important.
Make Money Talks
June 4th, 2008 12:39 am
Nice list, look
like private ad sales are
growing fast!
;)
Del Sauzo
June 4th, 2008 12:53 am
Wow.
Rebellious Arab Girl
June 4th, 2008 12:59 am
Mine is Google Adsense as well. I have been trying out Chitika and they are not so bad.
Del Sauzo
June 4th, 2008 1:00 am
I’m not sure I’m ready to go with all these, I’m trying to grow readership too. Hopefully one day I’ll be able to post a list like this.LOL.
Scott Hebert
June 4th, 2008 1:04 am
Jerry above has a good point. AdSense probably does really well on a site like DPS as compared to this site.
Marc
June 4th, 2008 1:10 am
I know I have a lot to do with you updating this article ! :)
I send your posts about monetizing to someone I know on a literal daily basis. People wanting to start sites have now clue how they make money.
I thought it would be obvious since we, as users, are bombarded by advertising from every angle.
Even many bloggers themselves wonder how to monetize effectively.
Make this an on-gong series, how popular are these posts compared to the others Darren?
Alli
June 4th, 2008 1:10 am
Although we would like to increase revenue, we’re worried Ads will interfere with the look of our blog and put readers off.
I like Jerry’s comment about discussing the different types of ads working for different blogs.
I also want to thank you for the transparency, really appreciate all the ‘inside’ information. Thank you!
taddict
June 4th, 2008 1:44 am
where are you using adsense? are you referring to your b5media network in general?
team ray
June 4th, 2008 2:26 am
i thought you said you drop adsense?
Matt Radel
June 4th, 2008 2:52 am
Nice to see it spelled out in black (well, #333) and white - thanks for sharing Darren. :)
Mark
June 4th, 2008 3:16 am
Thanks for sharing this. I’m surprised that Adsense is #1. From my meager understanding of blogging, I thought that it usually plays a lesser role for experienced bloggers.
Internet Business Ideas
June 4th, 2008 3:30 am
Thanks for list, I love this blog, it always have good tips.
Tanny
Markus
June 4th, 2008 4:19 am
Are your jobs board’s sales down? If so, do you think it has anything to do with the economic slowdown?
Lisa Irby
June 4th, 2008 4:25 am
Domain reselling is #1 for me because of the residuals. Nothing like getting a sale once and getting paid over and over again and watching those residuals grow year after year.
@ rick - I use Commission Junction and make very good money. It all boils down to finding products that fit your audience and understanding how to PREsell them. Whether it’s CJ, ShareASale, LinkShare, etc. you have to know how to communicate to your audience.
@ Mark - I think it depends on the niche. My blog targeted to webmasters has a horrible AdSense CTR because webmasters are familiar and ignore the ads. Yet my fitness site has a 6-7% CTR with AdSense. I would bet Darren’s photography blog probably contributes a large percentage. Remember, this is not Darren’s only site.
Rich Owings
June 4th, 2008 5:36 am
Darren,
Would you do a new post on WidgetBucks and show us some implementation examples?
Eric
June 4th, 2008 5:53 am
Just recently discovered your blog - great advice, thanks!
StationStops
June 4th, 2008 7:36 am
I have tried to sign up fro Shopzilla twice in the past week and after filling out the entire form I get ‘We are currently experiencing difficulties’…. arggghhh..
Mark Jaquith
June 4th, 2008 7:40 am
You should include the relative percentages in this list!
Darren Rowse
June 4th, 2008 8:52 am
Robb - these are my total blogging income - from my other sites - I go into this a bit more in the post I’m linking to.
GolfSpy - yes, there’s plenty of examples in ProBlogger archives (and the book)
Rob - actually Amazon increased in actual earnings but only dropped in rankings because private ad sales increased by more
Rick - no, i’ve had very little luck with CJ despite trying numerous times.
Jerry - yes, its for all my blogs. I’ve written a post (at least one) somewhere on how different blogs will convert differently - but can’t for the life of me find it. Will keep searching.
Del Sauzo - yes, the best way is to start by building readership and then experimenting with these one at a time - don’t be overwhelmed by it.
Marc - these posts are reasonably popular but not out of control. I could probably have them more popular by putting actual figures on them but I don’t go there these days as I wonder if it might create unrealistic expectations for people.
taddict - no this doesn’t include b5 blogs or income at all. AdSense is on my Digital Photography School blog.
team ray - please read the post I link to above where I give more information.
Mark - it really depends on the blog. In general on pretty established blogs with large readership AdSense doesn’t do great - however sometimes it takes longer to attract big advertisers. On DPS I’m still in building mode - it’s a hard niche to get the attention of big advertisers for some reason so til then it’s AdSense.
Markus - no job board ad sales are up - it’s just that some of the other income streams increased by even more and so pushed it down the rankings.
StationStops - yes, seems they are having trouble. Not sure what the issue is!
Mark - good idea, will do this next time.
Jason Coulls
June 4th, 2008 8:56 am
Great advice. I just started on an experiment to earn a million dollars using one blog (and talking about what I do as I stumble along).
Cowy
June 4th, 2008 9:10 am
How about CJ? Cj is my biggest source of income too, it’s really really great because there are some products with high commission.
The Masked Millionaire
June 4th, 2008 9:41 am
I’ve been trying Amazon but don’t seem to be having much success with it.
Of course Adsense seems worthless also.
Live From Las Vegas
The Masked Millionaire
Ben Barden
June 4th, 2008 9:50 am
Darren, you said “Today I made the update for Q2 of 2008″ - isn’t Q2 April to June inclusive? How can you have the stats for June already?
Luis Gross
June 4th, 2008 11:34 am
Nice Income streams! Diversity overcomes all! The more avenues of potential income, the more income overall, currently I use 3 of the 9 mentioned and one other which was not listed at all.
Darren Rowse
June 4th, 2008 11:39 am
Ben — good pick up…. can you tell I’ve not been sleeping well lately? These stats were actually for March, April and May - stupid me :-)
Faruqi
June 4th, 2008 1:37 pm
—–Thanks A Lot Bro———–
Darren kept his promise to update His Multiple Stream of Income for Bloggers.
He really give us a big Impression to ‘Keep On Moving’ with Blogging. Success Darren!
Thanks.
http://www.ShockingHomeBusiness.com
Pras
June 4th, 2008 2:48 pm
Hi Darren, Have you tried ProjectWonderful ?. If yes, How was your experiance ?
phanatic74
June 4th, 2008 3:09 pm
Thanks for the feedback !! I am always trying to improve and this helps a lot . . . . . . By the way the Phillies won again tonight. Go Phightins !!
Bob from http://www.weekendeasycash.com
June 4th, 2008 3:47 pm
WOW! I didn’t realise there were so many different ways to make cash.
James
June 4th, 2008 4:24 pm
Hi Darren, thanks for the info. This could be a reference for us. But really wonder why you don’t put the number for each of them like other bloggers do..:)
SEO Genius
June 4th, 2008 7:40 pm
Thanks for this mate, a great topic to cover especially with such a large professional blog it is good to know how the owner makes there millions.
Moise Levi
June 4th, 2008 8:08 pm
Commission Junction?
A joke ……
CTR 0.36%
Huge amount of clicks ……
And not one sale !
I contacted the companies who decided to “end” their contracts with CJ (Easy Forex for example)
I now make money :)
Strange ……….
Rick
June 4th, 2008 8:38 pm
Hi Darren
How often do you assess your various income streams. Is it a monthly process? At one point in readership numbers do you think a new blogger may begin to see a return?
Thanks!
Rick
RealWebToday.com
June 4th, 2008 11:01 pm
One of the things I like about blogging is the freedom to be open about things. I like it when someone reveals their revenue stream. The revenue stream at my blog is still just a trickle, however I am starting to see some increased traffic. Each Friday I will recap the week on my blog - both traffic and income. Thanks for sharing this with us and as for someone new to blogging it does help and give some direction of where to place monetary priorities.
Dean Saliba
June 4th, 2008 11:15 pm
Chitika won’t accept me, they are claiming that I am getting about 15,000 less visitors than I actually am!
It’s nice to see you using so many different avenues to monetize the blog, it shocks me how many think it starts and ends with Adsense.
Tresvanty
June 5th, 2008 1:03 am
Thanks for sharing this info. I may have to check Chikita out!
Mark
June 5th, 2008 1:46 am
Darren, do you think that Chitika ads would do well on small blogs?
rita
June 5th, 2008 1:54 am
I must be missing something because I have scavenged your site for google adsense ads and I don’t see any, yet you say this is your biggest moneymaker. Are you disguising them in a certain way I’m overlooking?
Sangesh
June 5th, 2008 1:59 am
Adsense definitely seems to top most ppl’s list. And so in in my list too. And yes, as one other commentator also said do u think if you could share the percentage they hold in the list.
Cheers.
David
June 5th, 2008 2:47 am
Text Link Ads are still my #1 revenue source
radhoo
June 5th, 2008 3:10 am
Hi,I want to ask you how we can get 125×125 px ad-banners to our blogs? The people who want to be promoted come to us or we send our offers to others.
Thanks
MoneyEnergy
June 5th, 2008 3:14 am
My site is still in the Growing Readership phase. I do have ads in place, but I imagine it’s going to take a while. I’ve only been at it for two weeks (or just over two weeks).
Wondering, everybody here, how long did it take for your blog to start bringing in income - any income?
Lewis Howes
June 5th, 2008 10:07 am
Curious to know where your book sales are on that list? Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Lewis
Darren Rowse
June 5th, 2008 10:52 am
Pras - no, never heard of it.
Moise Levi - those stats are pretty similar to mine with Commission Junction, however I do know so bloggers who do ok with it - I guess it depends upon the products you promote.
Rick - it’s an ongoing thing that I’m constantly assessing and experimenting with. In terms of reader numbers - for AdSense and Chitika you can definitely start earning something almost straight away as long as you have some readers - the traffic just multiplies the earnings.
Mark - the issue with Chitika is getting into the program. They do have traffic requirements so while they will earn you something on a small blog you probably need to have quite a few small blogs to get enough traffic for them to let you in. I hope they change this and let more publishers in because there’s a lot of great small sites out there that could do well from them.
Rita - please read the article that I’m linking to in my post above. These stats are for ALL of my blogs not just ProBlogger.
Lewis - book sales are not on the list mainly because I only really include direct income from my blogs on this update (ie I don’t include book sales, speaking payments, six figure blogging course earnings, my salary from b5media etc). Having said that - the book is only a month old so even if I did include it it wouldn’t yet feature as I’m yet to be paid anything more than an advance on it as royalties are not paid that regularly. It’s worth noting though, you don’t earn much from writing a book unless it’s a massive seller :-)
Play Games
June 5th, 2008 11:18 am
Hi Darren,
I have a mixture of a arcade/blog will chitika work for me.?
thanks
Noobpreneur
June 5th, 2008 12:56 pm
Darren,
God grief! That’s a lot ;)
About your job board, do you use custom scripts?
Ryan McLean
June 5th, 2008 7:01 pm
My income on my financial blog
1. Clickbank Afiliate Sales
2. Adbrite Advertising
Wakish
June 5th, 2008 7:50 pm
Darren how can you possibly not having heard about ProjectWonderfull? *Grins*
@Pras:
ProjectWonderful is not wonderful at all..
- Wakish -
Michael Aulia
June 5th, 2008 9:05 pm
Yeah, nothing can beat Google AdSense and I’ve tried almost everything out there :)
Blog Marketing Journal
June 6th, 2008 1:13 am
Thanks for sharing Darren…seems Adsense truly is the way to go.
Frank
June 6th, 2008 2:32 am
i still don’t understand how people can make money with something which doesn not have to do with adsense. my only income comes from adsense and it is the only one which offers me a fair amount of money based on the amount of people and click i get. other solutions? too cheap or very unfair, without speaking about the google ranking issue. i would like to have something like problogger on my website but i fear i may not be taken into account from the company. and what about the nofollow issue? does the company policy allow you to put a nofollow on those links? i dont want to be penalised by google as far as my google rank is concerned just because i can not put nofollow on certain links i dont have any control over. can you explain this darren pls? giving a list of great companies is not sufficent sometimes. just warn the average blogger about the risk they can get if they decide not to stay with google adsense
Andrus
June 6th, 2008 3:06 am
I am surprised your private ad sales are on thart position.
Good work!
good
June 6th, 2008 3:46 am
Thanks for sharing Darren…seems Adsense truly is the way to go.
Alquma
June 6th, 2008 12:29 pm
thanks for the information it’s very interesting to know what are the best ways to earn some money.
Jeanne
June 6th, 2008 12:52 pm
I’m glad to hear that AdSense tops the list - it’s all I have at the moment!
Thanks for writing such an interesting and informative blog - it’s definitely one of my favourites.
Greenleaf
June 6th, 2008 3:26 pm
Hi,
Nice posts. It seems like AdSense is the best way to make money. :)
Natural Baby Products
June 6th, 2008 4:33 pm
Thank you so much for sharing Darren. Your transparency is inspiring to me. quick question, Private Ads, what do you mean?
Yulius
June 6th, 2008 5:04 pm
Great list! Adsense always be my money machine in earning!
david
June 7th, 2008 5:31 am
is there any chance we could get an idea of *how much* can be made directly from these ad services? I like the list and the ranking, but I’d really like to see some ballpark figures of how much is possible.
Joi
June 7th, 2008 3:51 pm
It’s been my experience that a lot of it has to do with your niche. I have quite a few sites that cover a variety niches (from Self Help to fashion and from cats to cooking). Overall, my best performers are adsense, CJ, All Posters, Shopping Ads, and Linkshare. I’ve also been impressed with Kontera.
A lot of people have had a lot of success with Chitika but I actually took my chitika units down because they didn’t do well for me. I was disappointed because they’re so good looking!
Jessica
June 8th, 2008 3:35 am
This is I guess rise of adsense again. People are starting to lose faith in adsense earnings because of the late changes made my the google i guess. but on part of google they have to ensure that they take care of the advertisers too. So I guess in a way things are working well.
And here its nice to see that your blog is making the most out of that….
Nice brief little post Daren.
Jessica
DaveH
June 8th, 2008 6:17 am
I’d say my biggest Ad rev comes from #1 Adsense to and then looking for Affiliate Programs off the grid with low, low completion. It pays to be on the top of the search.
1) Get SEO Adsense theme. Location, Location, Location and Color. Gets people clicking.
2) Find Affiliate Programs that people aren’t taping into. Products with no, or low competion are great. Search for yourself. CJ,Clickbank,Linkshare are great for new sources. Just do your homework search for low numbers in searches. You’ll be at the top of searches in no time.
3)Stay at it. Learn more. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Content is King. Backlinks in your articles. Include keywords where ever you can.
4)Post on other’s blogs. Don’t just expect people just come if you don’t contribute to others. Big Brother AKA Google will reward you deeply for this. Blogs are Karm-o-matic.
5)*** DON’t GIVE UP**** Make Blogging like taking a shower everyday. Stay Proactive and clean and you’ll figure it out. There’s so much information out there and resources. Read all you can!
3)
jeflin
June 8th, 2008 5:12 pm
I am surprised to note that Amazon associates is your fourth biggest source of revenue. I made a few sales for them and earned less than $5.
I am interested to know the the breakdown of this earnings, you must be in the top-tier commission level and doing five-five product sales monthly, right?
http://jeflin.net
PPC
June 9th, 2008 12:28 am
It is gratifying to see somebody actually making money off the web, as most of us are trying to still find the way! Awesome website, with insights to how the pros do it. Love it!
prast
June 9th, 2008 12:47 am
Thank you Darren to list down your income from.
Anyway, adsense still number#1.
Cindy Kappler
June 9th, 2008 11:47 am
Thanks for posting your top money maker list. It’s interesting to see how the different forms of monetizing a site work for you and how their rankings change (or don’t change) over time.
Ajith Edassery
June 9th, 2008 7:48 pm
Hi Darren,
Thanks for the summary… I am surprised at Amazon going down and even more surprised at WidgetBucks still figuring there ;) Mind sharing how much WidgetBucks is returning?
Regards,
Ajith
Samz
June 10th, 2008 3:29 am
hi darren, I’d started blogging a year ago, just for the heck of it. I experimented with adsense et al, just from a curiosity perspective. my experience so far here - http://sampathmenon.com/blog/gonna-write-for-tonna-money. BTW, your site is terrific!
ashish choudhary
June 10th, 2008 3:55 am
i know that adsence is the best for earn money
biglove
June 10th, 2008 5:00 am
well for me i am more concerned with giving my visitors a link on how to get a job of their dream and not really the money. But if the money comes along with the adsense, i will smile .
Suresh Kumar
June 10th, 2008 7:28 am
Thanks for providing some valuable information regarding your earning. For me Adsense, Chitika , Bidadvertiser
Haven
June 10th, 2008 7:12 pm
Darren, how many blogs do you have? I write on three sites but I just realized that i dont write enough.
broalex
June 10th, 2008 7:42 pm
First traffic , then monetizing. My biggest earners so far are selling private ads , around 50$ a month , for a one month old blog , I think it`s ok , covers all the expenses , and also remaining 30$.
ElectroGeek
June 10th, 2008 10:02 pm
Hi Darren,
I have been using Chitika since Feb 2006 and have noticed that their Linx ad unit has dropped the per click payout rate by over 50%. Do you use the Chitika Linx ad unit at all? How do you think this could be explained? Chitika Linx has the highest CTR and now the lowest payout. Doesn’t make sense. Does anyone else use Chitika Linx? Thanks!
United Voices
June 11th, 2008 1:39 am
Adsense, does top my list too. But I am also testing other income streams as well.
phanatic74
June 11th, 2008 5:18 am
Darren - I just got approved for Google Adsense! The only bummer is I did not know that the free version of wordpress does not allow Adsense coding. I am getting hosting through Blue Host and starting all over again. I am also waiting to here back from Widget Bucks. Thanks !
Jimmy
June 11th, 2008 5:29 am
Very few people manage to reap the profits they want from their blog. Most people who attempt to make money with their blogs don’t succeed for three reasons: Unrealistic Expectations, poor Planning and no Marketing.
Added-Cash
June 11th, 2008 6:49 am
Great site. And even better insight as to improving sales.
Thanks
Added-cash.com
Rosh
June 11th, 2008 1:25 pm
I find adsense is still my best income producer, but I’m younger in the game.
Rosh
http://www.prosperousartists.com
Alex
June 11th, 2008 3:41 pm
Thanks for this post. In my case, adsense seems to come up with rather irrelevant ads for my readers, but I suppose it comes with the stereotypes of my niche area.
http://www.simplyqueer.com
Cafe-Nett
June 11th, 2008 9:29 pm
Great information Darren, thank you for sharing this information with us. WidgetBucks is one of my favorite and performed more than Adsense.
I get my niche ideas at http://www.prosngurus.com/dir/senuke.html
Cafe-Nett
http://www.cafe-nett.com
Dare your friends
June 11th, 2008 11:15 pm
Thanks for this post Darren, very useful! ;)
Have a nice day
Will
Josh
June 12th, 2008 2:00 am
I like seeing how diversified most online professionals are it is a good reminder not to put all the eggs in one basket.
Paul Krupin
June 12th, 2008 2:18 am
Keep sharing these experiences and insights. The lessons learned and hard core examples are really helpful.
I appreciate you posting this data and information. It’s very valuable to so many of us.
Bryn
June 12th, 2008 8:27 am
I’ve always been a fan of private sold links/ads. I like the funds upfront instead of hoping you get a certain amount of clicks/page views every month…Oh how I love cash.
Matt
June 16th, 2008 11:26 pm
Thanks Darren, Adsense works for me too.
Brouwer
June 24th, 2008 4:46 am
Nice list of income streams. I’ll definitely make use of some while on my journey to become RICH!
Follow my progress at http://becomingrichwithadsense.blogspot.com/
Will keep track of your blog for sure!
Totalnetbiz
June 28th, 2008 11:54 am
Adsense is still the winner! Not a surprise. Blogging and adsense just work well. Thanks for the update.
Magnetic Sponsoring Review
July 1st, 2008 5:57 pm
Darren,
Great post. I think it’s important for folks to know that MSI’s come when desire, discipline, and determination are combined!
Seth Daley
http://www.HomeBusinessTrafficMasters.com
nwRealty
July 2nd, 2008 8:34 am
Darren … so far Adsense has worked well for us. Looking into Chitika now.
Mary
July 6th, 2008 4:24 pm
I have seen a decrease in my Google Adsense lately so looking forward to exploring more of your blog for info.
I just ordered to ProBlogger book on Amazon
Should be here in a few days
Mary
StationStops.com
July 8th, 2008 8:28 am
I have started using Chitika Premium this week, but just realized something of concern…
I just wrote a 3000-word review on a camera, with links to Amazon Associates, but Chitika Premium is producing a very tempting link to the camera in my header.
I would hate to lose my Amazon commissions to a low-paying ad, and I guess this would happen with AdWords, but I never really worried about it with them for some reason.
Tosin Emmanuel
August 2nd, 2008 12:58 am
Thanks for sharing.
Your selflessness really touches me, though I’m a newbie and I’ve not started earning yet.
I just recently signed-up for google adsense.
Thanks for the infos.
Zapper
August 16th, 2008 2:54 am
Adsense is making nice income for sites that have plenty of daily visitors, i know :)
If you dont have really popular website try the one and the best PayToClick site/system :)
More details at my site
Reusabel Bags
August 29th, 2008 12:36 am
I haven’t been using any of these on my blog, but I might give it a try. I haven’t heard of Chitika yet, but I’m off to check out what they are.
gout
October 6th, 2008 10:37 pm
thanks…I already mix adsense and amazon, but the earning from amazon very low…..I always evaluate my web every week and the problem my visitor low quality…..I still learn now….
Money Maker
October 30th, 2008 1:48 am
AdSense is really the number one for me… I haven’t tried other programs, but AS does everything I need. :D
mysapce
November 9th, 2008 5:15 am
adsense income can replace your daytime job if applied very nicely you would be on top in no time. Adsense #1 :-)
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