Weekly Update 8-5-2007
By Bryan Clark on Aug 5, 2007 in Uncategorized
Things are progressing smoothly at One Man’s Goal. It seems the weeks are just getting better and better. Every step I take in the right direction leads me one step closer to my goal.
-Some Highlights-
- Getting linked to by Darren @ ProBlogger for a 2nd time. I’m pretty stoked about this because this blog is very new (a month and a week old) and I’ve been linked to twice by the biggest blogger in my niche.
- Switching layouts. Ben Cope “The Internet Genius” did a wonderful job customizing this layout for me. He made sure that all the plugins worked, and also designed my new (more professional looking) banner. Thanks Ben!
- Getting to find out first hand how many people are behind my goal. It’s definitely a motivating factor knowing that there are so many people behind me. I will try my absolute hardest to reach my goal… not just for me… for all of you too!
-Posts-
- Monday - Help A Friend In Need
- Tuesday - Jill Koenig “The Goal Guru” & Ryan Shamus Reviews One Man’s Goal
- Wednesday - Understanding Your Alexa Ranking
- Thursday - The Blogger Challenge Contestants & 5 Simple Tips To Increase Adsense Income
- Friday - $10 Site Review Sale & Text Link Ads Pays You For Free Sign-ups
- Saturday - Saturday Link Love
-Readers-
This is the first week where traffic has actually leveled off. Normally I would consider this a bad thing, but don’t forget that last week I was still riding the wave of traffic from Darren linking to my article at ProBlogger. So for this week to be barely (and I do mean barely) beating last week… I am actually going to pat myself on the back.
Last week was an inflated traffic number (due to the extra attention). So in all reality for this week to beat last week (even though it was by less than 3%) it was a huge accomplishment. That means that I actually was able to leverage some of the traffic I was given by Darren into repeat visitors.
Before this week leveled off, week by week, I had shown an average growth rate of 161% a week (unique visitors) and 273% a week (pageloads).
-Sweet Revenue-
This week seemed a little slow in the revenue category. I sold all 5 of my $10 site reviews, but only 3 have paid so far. I might have 2 more spots open so email me if you are interested.
I’m actually pretty bummed that total revenue this week was only $33. Not so much for the amount, but because it puts me behind in reaching my goal of $250 in revenue for this month. Hopefully things pick up!
-Supporters-
First and foremost I’d like to thank Ben Cope “The Internet Genius” for his wonderful work on this site. Ben did a fantastic job of creating a beautiful banner and customizing the layout of this site. Sometimes I think I’d be lost without him. He also does a wonderful job of encouraging me on those days when I need it. Thanks Ben!!!
If you need a custom site design, banner design, help with plugins or just about anything else internet related… Ben is your guy. Contact him by clicking the internet genius link I’ve provided. His rates are EXTREMELY reasonable, and he does fantastic work. He was worth every penny and then some.
I also want to thank all of you that have my “I’m A Supporter” banner on your site. It makes me smile every time I visit a site that has one. If you have my banner on your site, and you aren’t listed in my “friends” tab at the top… let me know so I can put you there!
Popularity: 1% [?]
11 Comment(s)
By Terence Chang on Aug 5, 2007 | Reply
Bryan:
I can definitely see you making progress. To answer your email about “changing direction of my blog” question. I have post it to “Are you enjoying being a millionaire? Money is not everything.”
You are the one inspired me! Great job!
By Angela on Aug 5, 2007 | Reply
I know I’ve been reading a lot of your posts via Google Reader, so I’m sure many others have done the same. That might explain the traffic leveling off. Maybe?
By blog.lovesports-ent.com on Aug 5, 2007 | Reply
how much do you think you would be making by the end of this year? what is your goal in revenues?
By Jason on Aug 5, 2007 | Reply
What’s up Bryan?
Your blog is kicking… and taking names.
ProBlogger… I was also surprised I got two ProBlogger plugs the last couple months. I’ve been “a member” of that blog since 2005, and the last two months were the only times I’ve been mentioned on there.
Hey, that was clever with the site reviews thing. I’m sure it’s also great for the sites you’re reviewing.
By Bryan on Aug 6, 2007 | Reply
bloglovesports - My goal for the end of the year is to be consistently generating 2,500 - 3,500+ a month on blog related revenue. Which would allow me to work at home.
jason - Thanks. I had to do something, it would have been rough writing a weekly update to let you guys know that I made 3 bucks with adsense…
By cooliojones on Aug 6, 2007 | Reply
The ‘click to enlarge’ for the pictures isn’t working. I tried in Firefox and IE (ew!!) and no dice unfortunately. BUT it is so very cool for you to be mentioned twice like that, and see the corresponding traffic increase! I want to plan out my traffic spike as much as possible so I can handle the influx of new visitors and hold on to as many as I can.
By Bryan on Aug 7, 2007 | Reply
coolio - I’ll try to find out why it isn’t working. Thanks for the tip. And what you mentioned is VERY important, I was given a gift with the increased traffic… it’s up to you as a good blogger to leverage it into return visits!
By Vic on Aug 7, 2007 | Reply
Hi Bryan,
Bryan my question is are you blogging to make money or just because you love to blog?
The reason I ask is if you are into it to make money you are in way wrong in the niche you chose.
My second question, is this your only blog or site?
Example Courtney Tuttle has a blog about monetization http://www.courtneytuttle.com but he also has multiple sites generating revenue.
Those of us who make real money from the net do not rely on just one site.
If what you are looking to do is be a Darren @ ProBlogger or John Chow you may be late the where pioneers of there nich.
These are this weeks stats of Bu.bulicio.us
Unique Page Views Rss
Today, 07 Aug 2007 1810 10002+248
Mon, 06 Aug 2007 5485 25872+543
Sun, 05 Aug 2007 1722 6019+481
Sat, 04 Aug 2007 1809 6361+476
Fri, 03 Aug 2007 2434 10056+488
Thu, 02 Aug 2007 1701 8477+447
Wed, 01 Aug 2007 2051 8776+407
Tue, 31 Jul 2007 3501 16922+337
Total for a Week:
Unique Hits 25625
Page View 129961
And Bu.bulicio.us does not even have a month yet.
It was started 17 Jul 2007, 00:44
My point is who should know more about SEO and actual real life internet marketing you or me?
Then why is it I do not focus my writing on blog monetization?
Because there are way to many people wanting to be the next John Chow or Darren @ ProBlogger, it is saturated.
Also what is your break down on visitors? You do not say where are they coming from.
This is by far the most important thing for somebody that knows how to really do seo and marketing.
If you visitors are coming from a dofollow website list, well really know body then knows your site.
This Is part of the list of Referers for this week, did not post all because it is just way to long.
google.com 14456
search.aol.com 2824
aolsearch.aol.com 708
technorati.com 608
google.ca 603
search.yahoo.com 456
blogsearch.google.com 438
google.com.tw 379
furl.net 357
today.com 319
google.co.uk 201
google.com.au 15
Also did a quick search on your keywords for your site most you are not even in the top 500k
Example of real SEO
http://www google com/search?hl=en&q=Michael+Biserta
http://www google com/search?hl=en&q=fieldstone+mortgage&btnG=Search
http://www google com/search?hl=en&q=Anne+Stringfield&btnG=Google+Search
All key word in firts pageof hundreds of thousands and beating out Fox News, Cnn, Msnbc
Brian what I hope from this comment is for you to explore another market with another blog, do not place all you eggs in one basket.
Also in general the real money is not in adsense. Adsense is great when you start the first days when you only have 1oo visitors but the real money is some where else.
Good Luck Buddy.
Vic
By Barry on Aug 7, 2007 | Reply
I really enjoy your blog. I hope you meet your goal of 2,500 - 3,500+ a month. Good Luck.
By Bryan on Aug 7, 2007 | Reply
Vic - By no means do I plan on this being my only blog. I find it counter-productive to start a second blog right now when the first one still isn’t very established.
I don’t know where you got the idea that I’m relying on Adsense. As you can see from previous updates (and this one) it plays a very small role in my revenue.
Barry - Thanks buddy!
By john - from fat to fit on Aug 7, 2007 | Reply
Can’t even remember how I found your site but I’ve already implemented the dofollow WP plugin you suggested and am on my way to installing the sitemap one. Just noticed we using same base template too it looks like!