Once again, it is time to check out my Associated Content stats for the past month. Last period I only managed to earn a total of $93.61. And while I thought that was bad at the time, this past month has been even worse.
Luckily, the reason for the bad stats this time around has nothing to do with AC. Instead, it is in direct relation to the lack of time that I have put into submitting. Not only have other freelance writing projects taken up tons of time, but growing this blog is obviously a lot of work as well.
Since I have not submitted any new work lately, I figured I would post my numbers a day or so early. Here are my AC statistics from July 15 to August 13
Articles submitted: 4
Article accepted for payment: 4
Waiting for acceptance: 0
Total acceptance rate: 100%
Total payment received: $19.35
Highest offer: $5.90
Lowest offer: $3.25
Average offer: $4.83
Performance Bonus: $23.15 (3 months)
The best lesson you can learn from these numbers is that AC is a nice side income, but as far as doing it full-time, you need to have complete devotion. I love submitting to AC to make a few hundred extra bucks each month, but my current workload has not allowed for it.
Use AC however you see fit. If you do not have any time (like me this month) it is alright to slow down. But of course, if you are lacking work, you should ramp up your submissions!
There are no two ways about it: you need to like what you are blogging about. If you choose a topic that is not of interest to you, one of two things is going to happen. You are either going to run out of ideas, or you are going to dread writing new posts. Either way, your blog is probably going to fail sooner rather than later.
I am a firm believe that blogging for fun is the best way to begin to make money. When you love what you are writing about, you will not care how long it takes you to garner a substantial readership. It will be more than enough to have the ability to write about a topic you are in love with. But of course, the more that you post the more traffic you will get. And as you continue with this process day in and day out, you will eventually realize that it is more than possible to make money with your blog.
Another great thing about blogging for fun is that it will show through in your posts. If I was to blog about a topic such as sewing or cooking, it would go nowhere. Readers would find out soon enough that this was not my passion, and of course, that I have no knowledge of the industry. Hopefully, this is not the case with this blog. I do my best to show my passion for blogging and freelance writing, and the results have been better than expected to this point.
When you start out blogging for fun, the money will come in the end. Simply put, you cannot expect to make money from a blog if you do not like the topic. After all, why should others find your blog interesting if you find it boring?
Is anybody else as amazed as me to see that so many bloggers put such a high stake on their Technorati ranking? Maybe I am missing something, but in my opinion I think that increasing traffic is much more important than a silly ranking based on backlinks. But of course, maybe I am wrong.
At the time of writing this, my Technorati rank is 124,330. We all know what this is supposed to mean, but does it really hold any credence? With an authority of 48 I am way behind the most well known bloggers. But of course, this is only based on backlinks; not the amount of traffic that I actually receive.
But I will say this. There is definitely a direct correlation between my Technorati ranking and the increase in my traffic stats. While this may not hold true for every blog, it has for this one for the most part. Since being mentioned on John Chow’s blog last week, both my Technorati ranking and traffic has skyrocketed.
So you tell me: should I be concerned with my Technorati ranking, or spend my time working on increasing traffic? I think I know the answer, but I don’t want to overlook something simple.
