TylerCruz.com: An Internet Entrepreneur's JourneyThe journal of a web entrepreneur on his journey to wealth.

Affiliate Marketing Income Report: March 2014

See, I told you I’d be back up to date with these soon enough. Okay, okay – I’m not quite all the way caught up yet, but I only have 2 more to go and then I will be.

So the question is: was February just an outlier and an especially good month, or am I starting to make progress with my affiliate efforts again? After months of crap, it was sure good to see that $10K net in February, that’s for sure. It’s a motivational booster.

As with my last few reports, since this report is late in getting published, my memory is going to fail on the particulars of what went on with my campaigns, so I won’t be able to go into too much detail in this post apart from the numbers (which are 100% accurate).

With the obligatory introduction done, let’s begin!

March 2014 Affiliate Campaign Income:

$24,202.06

Just like February, I continued to try some of the affiliate networks I hadn’t used in a while.

You can thank the weird penny numbers due to some currency conversion from EURO to USD…

Affiliate Network Breakdown:

• Affiliate Network #1: $17,017.04
• Affiliate Network #2: $6,234.00
• Affiliate Network #3: $496.00
• Affiliate Network #4: $334.20
• Affiliate Network #5: $120.82

Expenses:

$15,408.95

I ended up using a total of 7 different traffic sources in February. If you think that’s a lot. Wait till you see May…

Traffic Source Breakdown:

• Traffic Source #1: $863.61
• Traffic Source #2: $12,520.79
• Traffic Source #3: $308.42
• Traffic Source #4: $1,568.49
• Traffic Source #5: $100.00
• Traffic Source #6: $40.67
• Traffic Source #7: $6.97

Net Profit:

$8,793.11

It wasn’t quite as much as February, but I’m definitely not complaining here. I was still very happy with how March performed.

2014 Affiliate Marketing Results

Now that I’m into my 2nd year of these affiliate marketing reports, here’s a recap of how 2013 fared for the entire year:

And here’s a monthly breakdown of 2014 so far:

I’m nowhere close to doing what 2013 did (I was averaging over $30K net profit a month in the first quarter), but I’m still very happy with these results.

Net Profit Projections

This is just a reminder that I decided to cease including my graphs for projected future numbers, as I decided that there really are no trends when it comes to affiliate marketing. It’s simply far too volatile, and so much of it is out of your control.

March Recap

By February, I was finally able to get back to work pretty much as I had used to, as I finally got my miscellaneous personal stuff more or less in order.

Workwise, I dedicated probably half my time to my affiliate campaigns, and the other half doing other things such as catching up on e-mail, blogging, and updating some of my websites.

Affiliate-wise, I was searching for "the next thing" in order to keep the campaign income flowing. I was testing new offers, various affiliate networks and traffic sources (no new ones this month though), and new targeting, creative, etc.

Pretty much all the new stuff I tried failed though, and so I only had my existing profitable campaigns keeping me pumping along.

April Plans and Predictions

Normally in this section I list the plans I have for the upcoming month as well as predict how I think the month will fare profit-wise. However, since April has already come and gone, I will be skipping this section in this report since I already know how it went.

I plan to publish April’s affiliate marketing income report around probably 8-11 days from now – there’s not quite the rush to get it up as there used to be though, since I’m only a couple of reports behind now. Here’s a preview though – it’s another massive swing… in which direction, you’ll just have to wait and see…

A Tour of My New Office

It’s been a while since I published more of a personal type of post, and so I thought I’d post one to help change things up in between income reports and other affiliate marketing related posts.

As you may recall, last November I moved from my condo into a house. One of the major selling points of the house for me was that it had a nice office, complete with a nice built-in desk in the corner. Invested in boardroom tables Perth for a place for business meetings. I also added a phone and installed a faster internet connection than my previous one. You can check out www.eatel.com/residential/internet/ to see the package that I got. Then, got some new lighting to create a nice ambiance for working. I hired professionals like Xpert Electric – Electrician, residential electrician, electrician near me, electrical repair to get the job done. Make sure as well to conduct regular electrical repairs and maintenance with the help of a licensed professional like these Electrical repairs in Denver who can provide electrical repair in Indian Trail, NC and other electrical services in Williamsburg, VA. And if you need an electrical contractor to service your electrical systems, you may consider hiring an expert electrical contractor in Dallas TX.

It’s located on the main floor close to the front door.

Here’s a short video tour I made of my office for you guys:

(Note: You may need to visit the post directly at TylerCruz.com if you’re reading this via e-mail or RSS in order to see it.)

And some photos for those interested in just a quick peek:

Affiliate Marketing Income Report: February 2014

Here we go, I’m up to February – only 3 more reports to go and I’ll finally be caught up to date with these reports.

I haven’t been getting as many comments on my posts as I used to in the past (most likely a result of my less-than-stellar post frequency the past year), so hopefully these reports still interest some of you out there and aren’t just becoming boring repetitive blog post filler.

I think part of the lack of response may also be due to my poor performance lately. It’s sure a hell of a lot more exciting when I’m pushing big numbers, and especially exciting when I’m setting new personal bests.

While February wasn’t a personal best (or anywhere near it), it was my best month in half a year, so it really helped to lift my spirits.

As with my last few reports, since this report is long overdue, my memory is going to fail on the particulars of what went on with my campaigns, so I won’t be able to go into too much detail in this post apart from the numbers (which are 100% accurate).

Anyhow, let’s get on with it.

February 2014 Affiliate Campaign Income:

$25,941.97

I decided to try some of the affiliate networks I hadn’t used in a while.

You can thank the weird penny numbers due to some currency conversion to USD…

Affiliate Network Breakdown:

• Affiliate Network #1: $24,341.34
• Affiliate Network #2: $736.60
• Affiliate Network #3: $407.00
• Affiliate Network #4: $410.03

Expenses:

$15,900.52

I remember in February also revisiting some old traffic sources. I saw some early success and got excited, but then it fizzled out.

Traffic Source Breakdown:

• Traffic Source #1: $1,538.25
• Traffic Source #2: $59.50
• Traffic Source #3: $10,539.33
• Traffic Source #4: $2,641.33
• Traffic Source #5: $1,077.11

Net Profit:

$10,041.45

While $10,000 a month net profit only works out to an average of $330~ a day ($500/day if you count it as a regular person’s workweek, since I work everyday), there’s just something about the "$10,000" number that is so satisfying. It’s most likely the simple fact that it’s 5 digits instead of 4

That works out to a high 63% ROI too.

2014 Affiliate Marketing Results

Now that I’m into my 2nd year of these affiliate marketing reports, here’s a recap of how 2013 fared for the entire year:

And here’s a monthly breakdown of 2014 so far:

I’m averaging $6,000 net profit per month so far this year. Not too bad, but nothing to write about home about either…

Net Profit Projections

This is just a reminder that I decided to cease including my graphs for projected future numbers, as I decided that there really are no trends when it comes to affiliate marketing. It’s simply far too volatile, and so much of it is out of your control.

February Recap

In February, I was finally beginning to get settled into my new house, and my puppy was pretty much house-broken.

I was able to find a bit more time to actually work, but still the majority of this time was spent on catching up on neglected things (mainly e-mail).

Affiliate marketing-wise, I mainly did the same as per usual, apart from trying old traffic sources and affiliate networks that I had used in the past. The improvement in income is mainly a result of the usual unpredictable nature of this industry.

March Plans and Predictions

Normally in this section I list the plans I have for the upcoming month as well as predict how I think the month will fare profit-wise. However, since March has already come and gone, I will be skipping this section in this report since I already know how it went.

I plan to publish March’s affiliate marketing income report around probably 7-10 days from now, after I get another couple posts up first. I’m really starting to get caught up now anyways

Blog Updates: June 2014 (End of Series)

Do you remember these?

If you’re a long-time reader of my blog, you probably will.

In my "Blog Update" series I list any notable improvements, modifications, or milestones related to my blog such as new plugins installed, design changes, or new features. However, I try to only list things here that I haven’t already announced or touched on in other posts.

My last update was made nearly THREE YEARS AGO! Despite it being so long ago, I’ve actually been keeping a file updated with all the changes I’ve made under the hood since that time, so I’ll be able to give an update on them.

However, this will be the last post of this series. It made sense when I first started the series because my blog had more of a focus on actual blogging, as well as trying to grow my blog. Since I’m now focused on affiliate marketing, coupled with the fact that all I mainly do now to my blog is update WordPress and plugins, I feel that the series has run its course.

Nevertheless, I thought I’d do one last post just in case anyone is interested in seeing some of the changes my blog has undertaken throughout the past 3 years. Ironically, though, I believe that my current readership is now comprised mostly of affiliate marketers with very few bloggers…

Anyhow, are most of the modifications and improvements I’ve made to my blog over the past few years:

Custom Changes & Modifications

• I increased the number of comments per page from 50 to 60. This is for top level comments only, not including nested responses.
• I updated my my Contact page to fix a "You do not have sufficient permissions to access this page" error which appeared when trying to access the plugin’s settings in WP-Admin. It was a simple fix thanks to http://www.dougreese.com/you-do-not-have-sufficient-permissions-to-access-this-page-wordpress-contact-form-plugin.html (hopefully this helps some other people who have the same issue as well).

WordPress & Plugin Upgrades

• I installed the plugin Socialize v2.0.6. It’s a nice plugin which adds social bookmarking links to posts (these are the ones you see in the top right corner of my posts: Twitter and Facebook). The plugin lets you display in posts and front page, and has a lot of customizing options such as adding different buttons/links. I later upgraded it to v2.1.
• I upgraded the plugin Akismet from v2.5.3 to v2.5.5, again to v.2.5.6, and once again to v2.5.7. Akismet checks your comments against the Akismet web service to see if they look like spam or not and lets you review the spam it catches under your blog’s "Comments" admin screen. It now ships with all WordPress installations. Again later, I upgraded Akismet to v2.5.8, v2.5.9, and finally to v2.6.0
• I upgraded WordPress from v3.2.1 to v3.3.1, again to v3.3.2 (which was just a minor security/maintenance release), and then again to v3.4 (a larger release, but mainly added theme improvements and more API stuff for developers). I continued to upgrade to v3.4.2 (mostly just some security and bug fixes), and then to v3.5 "Elvin".

  However, this particular version broke my blog because of my plugin Popup Domination, so I upgraded Popup domination from v2.0 to v3.3.4.1. I didn’t backup/export my details, so I ended up having to recreate my forms again, but I was lucky that I had a screenshot from an earlier post so that I could make it exactly like before. In addition, version 3.0 of the plugin turned out to be a massive improvement over v2.0 (easier to set up and manage, has analytics, and even built-in A/B split testing!), so it turned out to be a good thing in the end.

  Later on, I upgraded WordPress again to v3.5.2 (minor bug and security fixes). There were a lot more upgrades for a while, but I fell behind in keeping it up-to-date, and didn’t upgrade again until v3.8.1 10 months later, so that was a huge jump between versions there.

  More recently, I upgraded to v3.8.2 (mainly security fixes), and again to v3.9. There have been a lot of updates rolling out recently…

• I later upgraded Popup Domination from v3.3.4.1 to v3.3.5.2. I upgraded using the WordPress ‘automatic’ upgrade instead of doing it manually which is something I don’t normally do, but did this time because it’s a paid plugin and a bigger pain to get the update and do manually.
• I upgraded upgraded Kimili Flash Embed plugin from v2.1.5 to v2.2, then again to v2.2.1. Kimili Flash Embed is a nice plugin that lets you embed flash into posts. I upgraded again later to v2.3, and again finally to v2.4.0.
• I upgraded the plugin WP-Polls from v2.61 to v2.6.3 (mostly minor bug fixes and small adjustments). WP-Polls is a fantastic poll plugin that is quite versatile and works great. Can add to the side or inside of posts. I later upgraded it again to v2.6.4, and finally again to v2.6.5.
• I upgraded the plugin Email Users from v3.4.0 to v4.3.14. I wasn’t sure why the big discrepancy in version numbers (there was no version history listed prior to v4.0). I later upgraded again v4.3.21, which caused major issues (fatal error upon activation), so I ended up uninstalling the plugin it. I had only used it like 3 times in the past 8 years anyway, and can always find a substitute if I need something like that in the future.
• I upgraded MobilePress plugin from v1.1.5 to v1.2.1, and again later to v1.2.2. MobilePress is a free WordPress plugin which makes your WordPress blog mobile friendly.
• I installed User Role Editor v3.14.1 plugin since my hired writers (for some paid reviews) couldn’t use embed code when drafting posts. User Role Editor is a nice plugin which adds the ability to create user roles and privileges (similar to vBulletin and other CMS’s). It’s very handy and useful. I definitely recommend to anyone who has more than one contributor on their blog.

  Later I upgraded to v4.10, again a day later to v4.11, then again a week later to v4.12… as you can see, this plugin has tons of releases with small improvements and bug fixes; it’s very well supported.

• I removed one of my oldest plugins: Digg This since Digg is now dead.
• I removed Dean’s Permalinks Migration plugin, which was a URL migration plugin that let me  safely change my permalink structure without breaking the old links to my blog. Basically, it wrote old URL’s from when I switched from Blogspot to WordPress eons ago. I simply don’t need it anymore (plus it’s not supported anymore anyway).
• I upgraded Google (XML) Sitemaps Generator plugin from v4.0 BETA 3 to v4.0.2, and again later to v4.0.3. This is a plugin for SEO-friendly link structure.

Advertising Changes

• I added sponsored tweets to the advertising page.
• I updated the advertising page (up-to-date stats, pricing adjustments, etc.)
• I raised the price of my sponsored tweets from $20 to $30, again later to $45.
• I added a Clickbooth testimonial to my advertise page.

Content Changes

• I removed half of the links on my blogroll (mid-right side) due to either my own link being removed from their blog 🙁 or their site being dead or inactive.
• I did blogroll link exchanges with LukePeerfly and JustinDupre.
• Did a massive overhaul and update of my Recommended Resources page. It is still pretty current, so be sure to check it out if you haven’t already.
• I updated my Contact page to include chatroom and updated text.
• I added a "Chat" link to the navigational menu (I spent far too long figuring out how to get the "New!" text to work properly in multiple browsers… like, you really don’t want to know how long I spent on that).