Over two years ago (in 2008), I started out on a journey to see whether it was plausible for one to earn money using adsense. I still remember the delight I had when I was able to earn $4.44 for a certain month in earnings. You can check out my posting about it here.
I remember lamenting the fact that my online earnings were low and I was not able to achieve the $1 per day target that I had set for myself. In a posting talking about Online Income from Adsense, I shared the joys and pains that I had about monetizing my blogs.
My Revelation - Earning Money Online is a Full-Time Job
I guess I moved on and realised that my blogging was not really about making money online. It was more about recording down my experiences and the thoughts that go through my head with regards to financial matters, investments or insurance. Slowly, I also added in more personal stuff which I would never share openly with strangers. The purpose was more to record it down for my own viewing pleasure in the future. Yet at the same time, I was hoping that others could learn from my experiences and not make the same mistakes that I have already made.
To me, any money that was derived from this blog was just an added benefit. Of course, there are days that I still harbor the thoughts of leaving the rat race for good and just becoming a full-time blogger. I am certain that my family and friends will desert me for good then =)
So I treated the income source from this blog as just a sort of added benefit. Of course, I still had earning goals that I hoped to achieve in due time just for the fun of it.
It is Possible to Make Money From Adsense
The only thing that I have proven thus far in my journey is this: It is possible to make money from adsense.
The problem is that the amount of effort one has to put in is totally not related to the amount that you will be earning. In fact, it is much easier to take on part-time work like tuition to earn money than to rely on adsense.
I have spent literally hours upon hours on this blog and if I translate the amount of time I have spent on it to let's say getting a part-time job that pays $30 per hour, I am much better off getting a part-time job. It is possible to make money from adsense but it is NOT EASY.
I repeat: It is NOT EASY <-- just in case some student sees this post and starts thinking that they can be the next Mr Brown or Xiaxue.
Get a job at MacDonalds, it will pay you much more than what you can earn from blogging!
My Earnings thus far.....
Jun 09 - USD$105 (forgot to record down the conversion to SGD)
Nov 09 - S$160.72
Mar 10 - S$180.75
1,500 People Visit this Site Every Month
This is actually the thing that keeps me blogging. Sometimes, I feel that my energies are being wasted in a futile activity. But at the very same time, writing has a calming effect on me. It helps me to organise my thoughts and I love to write. I am still not really a good writer as you can tell..
But just knowing that there are 1,500 readers per month makes me strive to keep this blog updated and interesting for all. I guess I have been able to make a greater impact through this blog than through my own personal life. I don't even talk to 15 different people in a month sometimes!
Yet this blog speaks to 1,500 people in a month!
Of course, I have yet to compute my readers that follow me annually. But it can sometimes be quite frightening....SO MANY PEOPLE ARE ACTUALLY READING THE STUFF THAT I PUT UP.... The last thing I want to happen is to become accidentally famous. I hate the limelight.
Should I Give Up Blogging?
I have been really weary lately. I really feel that my energies could perhaps be better focused elsewhere. I am still seeking God for a lot of questions that I do not have answers to with regards to my purpose in life and stuff.
There have been times that I have thought that I should stop blogging. Perhaps blog less frequently..or perhaps even just give up blogging forever. In this way, no one will ever find out who FF is. (FF is my online persona - it was a terrible mistake to call this blog sgfinancialfreedom cos the moniker FF just stuck with me. In fact, it was other bloggers and readers who started calling me FF. If I could change things, I would have gone by a cooler name that did not have so much focus on things like being financially free and stuff.)
Yet, here I am again..hitting the PUBLISH POST button. Perhaps I am addicted to blogging.
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I can't sleep. I am worried about my finances. So I am up now counting my money in all the places that I have. Sometimes I forget that...
Wow you are doing well. Can do a link exchange with me? :) I have consistently blogged for > 6 months liao... Should fit your criteria right?
ReplyDeleteHow's your Amazon ads coming along?
Finally, I would think getting a job would be a better idea at the moment, while you continue to work at your blog at night. You can do it, because your system is set, your blog has readers, and there are already many articles that will draw many organic traffic from search engines. Leverage on that and move on further. Perhaps a post every night or every two nights or even every 3 nights is sufficient to keep this blog going.
Congratulations, FF! That money will come in handy somehow. :)
ReplyDeletewalau. blur liao
ReplyDeletehttp://bullythebear.blogspot.com/2010/02/blogging-for-living.html
LP said adsense suck and you just show that it is not really suck.
Thanks AK71 and JW. I will work harder to improve upon this blog. The money from it will indeed be useful especially during these trying times.
ReplyDeleteJW,
I have done the link exchange already =)
CW8888,
I guess it differs for everyone. Perhaps LP implemented it on his blog during its infancy stages so his earnings were not high. If he was to implement it now, I am sure the results might be slightly different.
Anyway, I still feel that Adsense does not pay out as well as I hope it to be. It is just some coffee money at the end of the day. It has been close to 2 years and earning $300?? Hmmmm...i think not very profitable if I break it down based on an hourly wage basis. Well, at least the effort I put into this blog should be timeless in certain ways.
Those bloggers that really made money are selling ad place at their blogs for $xxx for a week or a month and they don't depend on visitors clicking on ad like adsense.
ReplyDeleteTrue cw8888. It is a different ball game altogether to source for advertisers and control the kind of ads that get placed on our blogs.
ReplyDeleteBut since we are not doing it full time per se... we are left with very little options.
JW,
Forgot to answer your Amazon question. I have earned ZERO dollars from Amazon so far. Sometimes I wonder whether it is stealing away clicks from my adsense because amazon only pays when people purchase something and not when they click on the ads. But I guess it is just a service that I give to my readers just in case they are looking for something to buy in the Amazon stores.
SgFF,
ReplyDeleteI would think that the placement of the Amazon ads isn't catchy enough.
Anyway, any thoughts of getting your own domain? I'm thinking of getting one for wealthbuch...
You'll never earn big bucks with a financial blog for singapore.
ReplyDeleteIf you noticed, most of the "celebrity" blogs seek to entertain with senseless banter or quips or pretty photos. Will they seek to take better care of their finances after reading those blogs? I doubt it. All they have done is lighten up their mundane life.
JW,
ReplyDeleteI have thought of it b4. Afterall, blogger owns our content (if I am correct). But at the current moment, it does not make much sense for me to port over to a new domain unless it is for branding purposes.
My amazon ads are placed out of sight because I give my google adsense ads the priority spots.
Hi Anonymous,
It is true. People only surf the internet to get information or to be entertained. I would like to think that majority of Singaporeans surf the net just for entertainment most of the time. So you are correct in a certain sense that a financial blog will never earn big bucks. I have recognised this fact very early on in my blogging and that is why I have lamented on the fact that this blog does not get as many eyeballs as Xiaxue's blog even though I feel that my blog is much more educational than hers.