It’s been a bit delayed, but this post is detailing March’s Income Report. Like many bloggers, I have a number of online income sources that support this blog, but I also try to keep a number of offline sources as a way to spread the risk. January 2008 was a stellar month, February settled back somewhat, but March has been much more subdued than even February was. So don’t expect any surprises, especially as the money tends to arrive in clumps. In fact, a quarterly report might be more insightful as far as the trends go.

I’ve been plugging my free download as a way to attract visitors to download the top twenty subscriptions. Still waiting for that to work. I guess most people already seem to have their own ideas about who they want to download and listen to or read. I’ll leave it up anyway.

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So let’s deal with the money fiirst this month. We’re edging ever slightly closer to the $10,000 mark. I had hoped that we’d pass it this month, but it wasn’t to be. Several sources of income proved unreliable this month as consulting work dried and I decided (temporarily) to quit PayPerPost. This really emphasizes why it is important to retain a number of income sources to prevent over-reliance on one. PayPerPost used to provide a majority of the income that this blog generated, but this past month I was forced out of the program because I had to choose between my own advertisers and PayPerPost – like that was a hard one!

* Bank Interest: $26.48
* Dividend Income: $75.52
* Affiliate Income: $3.04
* TLA – $81.43
* LinkWorth – $63.50 (for three sites)
* TopSpots – $1.78
blogging – $60.00
* hosting = $114.75
* Total = $426.50*
*there are a few other residual sources but they generally don’t generate much, like Voxant, NetAudioAds, etc. that generate only a few cents a month. In addition, some sources that generate a lot one month, but nothing the next are not included.

The odd factor about this income is that most of the money generated actually didn’t require me to do very much in terms of time, ie. it was mostly fairly passive income. If I had watched TV, written a book, slept for the entire month, or gone on a world tour, most of this money would have still been there. How nice! Of course, I wouldn’t desert my readers!

According to my plan, developing a part-time income from work is important. I have had several contacts for part-time work in Taipei, but it isn’t something I’m able to do just now. I’d love to switch my teaching load from full-time to part-time, but I can’t find anyone that would commit to working with us on a longer term basis. Renting is still an option that we’ve not explored fully yet, but my wife and I are talking about doing this in the longer term. We enjoy where we live right now, and we’re just not quite ready to move out.

Total Income Generated

Naturally, this means my total generated by blogging now jumps to $9446.87. With $10,000 just a little bit nearer, it surprises me that I could earn so much extra income just by focusing on what’s around me. Now I’m always looking for ideas to create additional income streams, and there are loads. But you can’t see them with your eyes: you have to use your head to see them.

Expenses

The blog currently only has a few expenses such as hosting through Dreamhost’s VPS system and it works well. Of course, Domains and I own about ten or so all need to be paid for annually and Paypal Fees. I currently don’t advertise, though I may do so soon again.

* hosting – $49.40 (est.)
* Fees – $0.00 (Paypal, Commissions, etc.)
* Content, Development, and Advertising – $94.20
* Total = $93.62*

*These figures are estimates as final figures haven’t been received for some, and other commissions are invisible having been deducted at source.

One other obvious factor that is now affecting earnings: the US$ vs NT$ is now approximately $1: NT$30.5 +/- 0.5 which is boosting some earnings superficially. Since I don’t do actual exchanges, the value is a notional amount, but it is worth mentioning that a few months ago the rate was over NT$32.5 so the NTD has strengthened quickly. We’d been expecting this for some time, but it was a surprise just how fast it jumped. It’s likely that we’ll see rates approaching NT$29.5 later this year, though it should stabilize in the short term. The USD is likely to remain weak for quite some time; and the GBP is looking like the next victim as the currency weakens in a slowing economy and property market. I’m not forecasting rates for that, but GBP:NTD is already 10% down from historical highs.

I keep getting cut off from my ADSL, so I guess this is a signal to finish this part of the post as quickly as possible. I’ve already written most of the traffic report, which I’ll publish tomorrow.