How much is enough?
November 16th, 2009 by John Dilbeck
I hope the subject of this post didn’t mislead you. If it did, I apologize right now.
I just didn’t have room to ask the real question I’m pondering this morning…
How much do you have to earn from something in order for it to be worth the effort?
That’s closer to what I’m thinking about.
My goal for my online marketing has always been to clear $100 per day for my efforts.
Since I don’t use pay per click advertising, and I no longer have upgraded memberships in the traffic exchanges (or even use them anymore), and I don’t use paid classifieds any longer, my only overhead is hosting, domain names, and a few services that are ancillary to what I’m doing.
So, it would seem that being able to clear $100 per day would not be too difficult. All I’d have to earn is about $110 per day and the goal would be met.
Still, it just isn’t working out that way.
I used to think the plan to follow would be to have 100 sites each earning a dollar a day. It sounds simple, but it never worked. Some of those sites were lucky to earn a dollar a month.
As much as I like the concept of having many little revenue streams that add up to one large revenue river, the reality has never lived up to the idea.
A couple of years ago, I thought I was well on the way, but things took a detour, as you already know, and I’m trending downward.
There are some reasons for that, I know.
1. I was earning profits by recommending the traffic exchanges and a couple of MLM programs. However, over time, I realized that this was just a treadmill and I was getting nowhere fast.
2. I was making a profit by recommending books and other products through Amazon.com, but they dropped me when the NC legislature passed the tax law this summer.
3. I was making a profit by recommending some ebooks that I used to think were valuable, but no longer think so, so I stopped recommending them.
4. I was earning money from Squidoo from publishing lenses, but that has been declining and I just earned the lowest amount I’ve ever earned from them for a month - just over $2.00.
5. I was earning nice checks from Cafepress.com for the designs I’ve uploaded, but that has declined since they started setting the prices they’d charge in the marketplace. Now, most of my sales are through the marketplace and, instead of earning $7 or $8 per sale, I’m earning closer to $2.50. I’m making more sales, but earning less money.
6. One thing that is really holding up for me, even though it’s still down from what I saw the last couple of years, is earnings from recommending Site Build It. The residuals for annual renewals are doing very well, but the new sales have declined quite a bit. Lately, I’ve been doing more work on planning what I’m going to do on my SBI-powered sites than I have been in promoting the service. But, I believe that it is a long-term strategy that will lead to increased profits in the long-run.
7. Google Adsense income has continued to do pretty well, even though it, too, is down from what I used to earn. Part of the reason is that I’ve removed it from some of my popular sites. I’m starting to reconsider that move and I may be adding Adsense ads back to some of my sites where I previously removed them.
So, those are some of the things I’ve been thinking about.
Then, over my first cup of coffee, I asked myself, “How much do I have to earn from something in order for it to be worth the effort?”
Now, I’m asking you that question, too.
If you promote something and it earns only a few dollars per month, or per year, is it better to just let it ride, because something is better than nothing?
If you think that is true, would you do the same thing in real life?
In other words, would you take a job that just pays $10 per month, rather than one that pays that much - or more - per hour?
If you would not, why would you settle for earning that much from a program online?
Let’s say that you’re earning $100 per month from a program, but you work 20 hours or more, per month, to keep it going. Is that worth it?
What if it only took a couple of hours to earn that $100? Would that be worth it?
Now, this is where you’d probably expect me to recommend something and pitch you on why you should buy it to help you earn more.
I’m not going to do that.
I’m seriously interested in your opinions and hope you’ll comment with your expectations, observations, and evaluations of what you’re doing and how well it’s going.
If I were still depending upon earning a living from affiliate marketing this year, I’d be nothing but skin and bones and living in a culvert or under a bridge somewhere.
I’m still earning a living from my online marketing efforts, but it’s mostly from helping local business owners in Murphy, NC promote their brick and mortar businesses online. I’m not earning what I want to earn, but at least it seems to be growing a little.
So, what’s your opinion?
How much do you have to earn from something for it to be worth your effort?
Act on your dream!
JD
This entry was posted on Monday, November 16th, 2009 at 9:52 am and is filed under Affiliate Marketing, Musings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
November 16th, 2009 at 10:42 am
Well, John! you do always make me think!
In fact, after reading this post, I immediately thought of one particular affiliate program that is doing quite well. I need to spend more time on that one, and less time on other projects. Duh! The light dawns.
Yes, $100 a day is a reasonable and I think, do-able goal. I am far from there, but I do think as I continue to learn and tweak my work, I will arrive there! Thank you for a super post!
Joan Adams´s last blog ..mukunda22 wrote a new blog post: Daily Prayer For Healing 11/16/2009-Your Prayer For Today
November 16th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
It’s an interesting question, John. As you’ve seen me test things and drop things you know that I’m looking for those few things that might being me some sustainable income also. To date, nothing has fit the bill, though Adsense is my best earner.
I’ve stuck with CJ and Google Affiliate Networks for a long time because each offers the opportunity to find other products I might be able to market. But I can’t say I’ve had great success with them. But they give me what I need when I need them, so those I’m staying with.
Anyone else,… well, it’s always up in the air. Truthfully, I think it’s more something wrong with me than with them for the most part.
Mitch´s last blog ..Done With Demand Studios Also; The Gripe
November 17th, 2009 at 11:27 am
Good morning, Joan.
I’m happy to hear that you have one affiliate program that is doing well for you. I agree; promote it far and wide and see if it will do even better.
I used to think $100 a day was a pretty easy goal, but now I’m not so sure. Still working on it, however.
Act on your dream!
JD
November 17th, 2009 at 11:31 am
Good morning, Mitch.
Yes, I’ve watched you test things as you try to identify something that works for you and is desired by your audience.
For those of us without a clearly defined audience, it’s hard to determine the products and services that will help them solve a problem or scratch an itch.
I hope you keep on working on it until you find something that works well for you.
Act on your dream!
JD
November 17th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
The key difference is passive income. With a job, I have to actually work to get the dough.
November 18th, 2009 at 6:16 am
Good morning, Bruce.
Thank you for your comment.
I almost did something very uncharacteristic of me. I nearly posted a smart-ass reply about passive income - but I caught myself in time.
That means that there is something about “passive income” that triggered such a response. I don’t think it has anything to do with what you said.
So, why did I have such a response?
I keep hearing about “passive income” as it relates to online marketing, but I’ve actually seen precious little of it.
Maybe I’m hanging out with the wrong people, or haven’t been exposed to the right ones, but I don’t know anyone who has achieved passive income - unless they either inherited it or worked many long years and invested their savings.
Many of those people lost a large amount of their investments last year, even the cautious ones. Some of them no longer have passive income from their investments and have had to turn to other ways to make a living.
I hear of people in MLM talking about passive income, and I’m willing to bet that less than half of one percent of all the people doing it have achieved that goal. The percentage may be even lower than that.
I don’t know anyone in affiliate marketing who has achieved it.
Things change all the time and we have to adjust. That means work.
If I were still physically able to hold down a full-time job, I’d leave affiliate marketing and go do it. The hours are better, the pay is better, the benefits are better.
But, I’m not able to do that - at least, not right now. And, if I wanted a job, I’d have to leave where I live, because there are precious few of them around here.
The truth is that I love being self-employed and working at home, but none of that is passive.
It takes a lot of time and effort to build websites and actively market anything.
If you have achieved passive income and don’t actually have to work to get the dough, I want to hear your story!
I’ll bet there are others here who would love to listen, too.
Act on your dream!
JD
November 19th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
John I would love to earn a hundred dollars a day online, but I don’t see that happening anytime soon which is why I haven’t given up my day job.
Although over the last few months I’ve been around the $200 mark I can’t see myself sustaining that especially now that I haven’t been pursuing the paid post route.
Seeing as how I do have a normal job I am quite happy to take anything that comes my way, especially as it costs me very little of my time. This is because blogging for me is more of a pastime and as most of my posts don’t actively promote a product as such, and all it involves is the pasting of some code, a lot of which is automated, in the posts.
I know that there are people that do quite well at making money online, but I think a lot of them are sharks and I ain’t going that route.
Sire´s last blog ..Keyword Abusers Force Comment Policy Change
November 19th, 2009 at 8:43 pm
Good evening, Sire.
For several years, I’ve depended upon affiliate marketing to pay the bills and put food on the table. I think that gives me a very different perspective on it than most of my readers and most people who are involved in online marketing.
If I had another business that paid all the bills, or if I had a job that did it, then I’d be pretty happy with the income I’m receiving from my online marketing efforts and I appreciate you helping me to see things from your perspective.
If this were a sideline - especially one that I enjoyed - then I would have a different view on the ratio of profits to effort. Even picking up an extra hundred dollars a month, in profit, would be nice.
I know that some of the people who make a lot of money online are sharks, and I agree, I’m not going that way either.
However, there are a lot of clever people who are providing real value to real people and are making a nice living through online marketing as a result.
That’s what I’m trying to identify.
If I can find a niche where I can recommend products and services that I am proud to use, and which I would recommend to my friends and family even if I weren’t getting paid to do it, that would be perfect for me.
Thanks for the input, Sire.
Act on your dream!
JD
November 20th, 2009 at 3:07 am
No worries John. If I happen to stumble on such a niche I’ll be sure to let you know.
Sire´s last blog ..The Myth That DoFollow Leaches Your PR
November 20th, 2009 at 6:23 am
Your real question is so very truth. Sometimes people just do things because they have no idea that they could spend that time much better. And some people just don’t feel that they do in something really not best way possible. Good to think about it and to change organization of work or the whole work and to get to something new instead.
November 22nd, 2009 at 10:47 am
Good morning, Paula.
Welcome to our discussions and thanks for your comment.
I agree. I think most of us can spend at least part of our time more wisely and effectively, if we take the time to really analyze our goals and see what’s working - or not working - for us.
Act on your dream!
JD