Even though it’s technically been less than 6 months, I guess my first year as an internet marketer is over. I can distinctly remember thinking I may never make my first dollar online, and now my feelings have completely turned 180 degrees. What I first viewed as an overcrowded market I now see as unlimited opportunities and I only hope everyone realizes how many incredible possibilities lay ahead.
2011 Highlights
I don’t have too many highlights to share as I started late in 2011, but here are a few things I managed to accomplish.
Created Chasing Pace. I created Chasing Pace on November 17, 2011. I was a little hesitant to create a blog in the Make Money Online (MMO) niche, but it is something I’ve become very passionate about and wanted to share. My ultimate goal with Chasing Pace is to help others achieve the same success I have. I’ve got some amazing things planned for 2012, so I hope you’ll stick around.
Be sure to sign up for my Newsletter and get a copy of the the tool I created, Niche Chaser.
Made My First $1000 Online. I’m not sure the reality of this has quite set in yet. Years ago I always though making money online was just a scam, but now I only wish I had started sooner.
Launched Niche Rivalry. I’m really excited about Niche Rivalry, and I hope you guys get a lot out of it. It still kind of scares me to make one of my sites public, but it’s something I felt was necessary if I was sincere about helping others. Make sure you check out my competition, Quin, at the Lostcyclist.
Created My First Facebook Page. It’s not much yet, but I’m hoping to use Facebook more and more in the future. Make sure you stop by and give me a like 
In addition, make sure you check out my most popular posts of 2011:
Did I Hit My Goals in December 2011?
Here were my goals for December:
- Write 20,000 Words a Week. Not Completed. I wrote 38,235 words. So, I fell quite short of my goal. This was definitely a wake up call because I know people that write 10,000 words per day and I could barely do that in a week.
- Launch 1 Adsense Site. Completed. I launched the site on 12/11/11 and it’s sitting at the top of page 2. It made a few dollars in December and probably has the potential to be a $3-$5/day site, though I haven’t done hardly anything since launching.
- Launch 1 Amazon Site. Completed. I actually launched 2 sites, 1 of which is part of Niche Rivalry, but haven’t had a chance to work much on either.
- Launch 1 Affiliate Site. Completed. This is a site that my wife is working on, her 3rd site so far.
- Choose 1 New Niche. Not Completed. I still want to find another niche that I feel can hit $1,000 per month.
- Announce a New Case Study. Completed. Niche Rivalry launched December 20, 2011.
- Purchase and Learn Camtasia. Completed. Well, I didn’t purchase Camtasia, but I did download and use the free trial. Though I’m not sold that it’s worth $299 when there are other free options out there.
Income Breakdown
I had a couple questions from people about how many sites I actually have and how many make money. While I didn’t break down the earnings per site I have added a (#) after each of my earnings which shows how many sites are earning money for me. I have a total of (14) niche sites right now, including Chasing Pace, so you can tell that not all of my sites are earning. Also keep in mind that I have purchased 47 domains since July 2011, 45 of which I have built out, though obviously I’ve gotten rid of 31 of them. Hope that gives a little bit more insight.
Google Adsense Earnings (4)
- TOTAL: $771.95
- Last Month: $988.66
- Difference: ($216.71)
Amazon Associates Earnings (5)
- TOTAL: $586.50
- Last Month: $221.01
- Difference: + $365.49
Other Affiliate Earnings (1)
- TOTAL: $88.48
- Last Month: $144.12
- Difference: ($55.64)
DECEMBER 2011 TOTAL: $1,446.93
- Last Month: $1,353.79
- Difference: + $93.14
Earnings Summary
Well, December went a lot better than I thought it was going to. As I predicted I lost quite a bit from Adsense, due to my main earner dropping a few spots. However, one of my newer Amazon sites did incredible and helped make up for it. I’m still in the process of building out a few more sites, so again, I don’t expect to see any major increases. I’d be happy if January was as successful as December.
My Goals for January 2012
- Launch 1 Adsense Site. I’m going to continue and try to launch one smaller Adsense site each month.
- Improve 1 Adsense Site. As I mentioned above my main earning Adsense site has dropped several spots. I’ve built a few links, but I’m going to get serious about it in January and get it back within top 2 spots (hopefully).
- Choose 1 New Niche. I’m leaving this as a goal from December.
- Refocus. I’m wasting literally 1-2 hours every night reading forums, blogs, talking with people, etc. I’ve got to refocus my efforts if I expect to see any gains. My number 1 priority is to spend 3 quality hours building out my sites every night.
A Little Bit of Motivation
This is by far my favorite part of each monthly report. I expanded on my Rocky theme with a little bit of Steve Prefontaine. If you don’t know who Steve Prefontaine is, then you absolutely must watch Without Limits. There is not a single individual I have ever met or read about that has worked harder at one thing than Steve Prefontaine. And that is the attitude and work ethic you need to succeed.
Quote of the Month
“Somebody may beat me, but they are going to have to bleed to do it.”
- Steve Prefontaine (Without Limits)
So, how did you guys do last month? And what are your plans for January?
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20 Responses to Income Report – December 2011
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Chasing Pace
Hey guys, my name is Wesley and I'm the guy behind Chasing Pace. I'm no Internet Marketing Guru, but I have found some success online. I'm here to share my experience and help you achieve the same success...
Hey Wesley, I love to catch up with you. Nice to see another engineer trying to do MMO. It’s fun, isn’t it?
I was impressed that you bought 47 domains since July 2011.
Cool to see your Adsense income and I hope I could hit 1K a month in the near future. I had a killing month from Amazon Affiliate and it would keep me motivated and going forward.
I’m planning to reinvest and outsource this month. I’m working out my detailed goal set and plan for 2012 and hope to post my 2012 goal this weekend.
Hey, I am wasting 1-2 hours in the evenings these days reading other blogs like yours. It’s quality time learning.
I’m doing this part-time as you do, hope I could focus and productive 2 hours on daily basis.
Motivate and keep each other up, dude!
Looking forward to your update later.
Hey Wes. It is nice to see that you are chugging along nicely. It will be interesting to see how both of our earnings play out over the month of January and beyond, since both of us have not been in the MMO game for over a year.
It is cool that you are setting goals and sticking to them. Even if you don’t get them all completed on time, it is the motivation that you take from setting the goals in the first place that counts. It is so hard to find time to work on my MMO blog since i am so busy actually building up my online income, so please don’t be offended by my ridiculously ugly site i have setup. It is hard to work your ^&% off now, and expect to see the fruits of your labor later. This is a concept that i am still wrapping my mind around, but i am getting there!
Anyway, hope January brings you some big $$ buddy, and i hope you complete all of the goals you set for January. I don’t know exactly why you are doing this MMO thing, but hopefully it is for the same reason that i am. Good luck, Wes, talk later.
I hear ya on the work hard now to see the results later aspect. I feel like I made my first big jump in December and I know I’m going to have to work my butt off the next few months to see some significant improvements. In the end though, it will be worth it.
Hey I’m glad I’ve found this site dude… i’m definately inspired by the progress you’re making.
But don’t worry, I’m right behind ya! December for me was $230 from adsense and over the holidays I’ve created 3 more authority sites (so not much of a “holiday”, haha).
See more of ya on WF.
Peace,
Akio.
Nice Ak. Pretty soon you’ll be passing me!
Great job, Wes. I need to do a better job in 2012 in terms of writing down my goals and working towards them. I try to think of what my desired endstate is and work backwards to get there.
I only started in niche sites at the tail end of November 2011, and just finishing up my first batch of sites now. I hope to realize the success that you’ve had so far.
Cheers, and all the best in 2012!
Make sure you take a quick read about SMART or SMARTER goals. I found if I create a goal I can measure it really helps me stay on track.
Yes, very familiar with the SMART system. I find what helps me the most is sticking them on a big piece of paper above my monitor as my “Kill List” of things to do.
A “Kill List”, I like it.
I think MMO fits the engineering mind. I’m a process engineer myself in the aerospace industry. Lack of focus seems to be my issue as well. I have months of great productivity and months of nothing. Like your site.
I agree Bill. IMing is essentially systems management, once you have the system it’s just about carrying it out.
By the way, love the picture. We just bought around 6 acres and now I’m dreaming of owning a couple horses
Thanks Wes. Hit me up when you’re ready. My wife and I breed arabians and half arabians.
Now that is just plain awesome.
oooo….beautifulllll..I used to work at a horsebarn with arabians and I rode a few…the one I rode was half quarter and half arabian…I was riding the her for jumping…it was the best feeling over a regular quarter horse and they are so much prettier..I one day wish to have my own horses too…you just made me put this into my goal list. Thanks
I like your site, which I discovered today. Pretty impressive results for 6 month that you reached 1K per month.
You said that you dumped 31 domains that didn’t work for you. Are they completely offline or live but not updated? I mean what you do with sites that don’t reach your expectation? do you leave them as they are or delete them completely?
Hey Veppa,
I just took a look at my spreadsheet and of those 31, 5 of them are still live, but I haven’t touched them. About 10 of them I just deleted because they infringed on copyright/trademark laws. The other 16 I took offline because I didn’t want to bother updating them or worry about security issues. They weren’t making more than a few dollars each month, so I didn’t bother trying to sell them, probably just let them expire.
Nice job Wes, man you wrote a lot in my opinion.
I’ve dumped over 40 domains since I started last year.
Unfortunately I’ve slowed down quite a bit. I almost think I did a little too much because I feel kind of burned out. Gotta regroup and get back to work.
Any advice for someone just starting out? I am on my second site win the first one not even in the top 100 yet although still only 4 weeks old. I am always boggled by those able to rank a site in the first few pages within a couple weeks of starting the site out.
Also I cant wait for the rivalry post regarding backlinking
Rob,
The best advice I have is to consistently take action. Most people won’t ever make it because they don’t want to put in the work.
I wouldn’t worry too much about ranking only 4 weeks in. You sound like you’re on the right track with creating a second site. I found that working on 2-3 sites at a time is about right for me, and keeps me from focusing/worrying about 1 site too much.
Keep working hard, build up high quality links at a pace you can stay consistent with and put out some amazing content. You’ll get there.