Check out the new discussion forums here at 20smoney - perfect for those looking to make money online or discuss the economy or seek out dividend income!

If you follow this blog, you know that turning this blog into a sustainable, growing income stream is a huge priority for me. I document my progress each month with a monthly blog update. The blog updates typically include traffic growth as well as income for the month.

Traffic & Readership

I like to break my traffic down into three categories: visits, page views and eye ball time. Since page views per visit can depend on a look and feel and how a blog is organized, the eye ball time is probably the most accurate number when comparing blog to blog. Let’s look at each…

Total Visits

October 2009: 6,387 visits
November 2009: 6,996 visits
December 2009: 7,735 visits
January 2010: 12,354 visits (59.7% increase) or 398 visits per day

The above total visit numbers break into the following categories: search, referral and direct traffic.  My goal is to show monthly increases across the board in each category.

Search Traffic

October 2009: 3,570 visits
November 2009: 4,075 visits
December 2009: 3,954 visits
January 2010: 5,922 visits (49.7% increase)

Direct Traffic

October 2009: 1,245 visits
November 2009: 1,230 visits
December 2009: 1,738 visits
January 2010: 2,370 visits (36% increase)

Referral Traffic

October 2009: 1,572 visits
November 2009: 1,691 visits
December 2009: 2,043 visits
January 2010: 4,060 visits (98.7% increase)

I experienced a large jump in visits this month when compared to last month.  I think the holidays depressed my December numbers (even though I had growth in December), so the jump was a little larger than normal for January.  Either way, I’m excited and very encouraged to get a major leg up in traffic.

Page Views

October 2009: 19,155 total page views
November 2009: 20,500 total page views
December 2009: 23,418 total page views
January 2010: 36,023 total page views (53.8% increase)

Eye Ball Time

October 2009: 1:44 per visit = 664,248 total seconds = 184.51 hours
November 2009: 1:57 per visit = 818,532 total seconds = 227.37 hours
December 2009: 1:48 per visit = 835,380 total seconds = 232.05 hours
January 2010: 1:49 per visit = 1,346,586 total seconds = 374.05 hours (61% increase)

Please note that I used Google Analytics for the above data. I tend to think Site Meter is more accurate, but I couldn’t get all the data that I wanted for the above metrics from Site Meter, so I chose to keep it consistent by getting all information out of GA.

Blog Income

Adsense Revenue

October 2009: $38.60
November 2009: $75.40
December 2009: $59.28
January 2010: $171.79 (189% increase)

Huge increase in Adsense revenue this month, leaping over my $100 monthly goal. This is a very encouraging sign and I hope that it continues. I don’t imagine I will top it in February, but as long as the average continues to move upward, I’m happy.

Private Advertisements

November 2009: $285.00
December 2009: $90.00
January 2010: $90.00

I didn’t sign many new deals this past month, but the revenue that is recurring each month is increasing which is what I want long term.  I now have three deals that pay each month through PayPal subscriptions.  The consistent monthly income is what I’m shooting for.

Overall Thoughts

This was a very encouraging month for the blog with the first large monthly increase in traffic (approx 60%) in some time.  Also, Adsense performance was very exciting.  If I can hold these gains and then make another leg up in the next few months, things will be looking great.

I mentioned last month that I broke the 700 subscriber mark.  Well I jumped over the 800 mark within a single month which is great.  As I show below, my goal is 1500 by end of the year.

2010 Goals Progress

As I mentioned at the start of the year, I have the following goals for 20smoney.

• Alexa ranking under 120,000 by the end of 2010 – While my Alexa ranking is improving, this might be tough, as it gets exponentially harder the lower you go.
  
• Google Pagerank of 5 by the end of 2010 – I’ve gotten a lot more quality backlinks in just this past month.  I feel pretty good about hitting PR 5.
  
• 25,000 visits a month by the end of 2010 – Definitely on track for this one.
  
• Averaging over $100 per month in Google Adsense income by the end of 2010 – Well I sailed past the $100 mark in the first month of the year, let’s hope that it becomes consistent.  If it does, I might have to raise this goal.
  
• Averaging over $400 per month in total blog income by the end of 2010 – Very likely with the traffic growth trajectory currently.
  
• 1500 RSS subscribers by the end of 2010 – I pretty much added 100 subscribers in January.  At that pace, I will hit 1500.
  

Additional Resources That I Recommend For Other Bloggers

• My December 2009 report – similar to this one
• My article that explains a great deal of the growth process – “The Slow Grind of Growing A Successful Blog”.
• Recent article: “No Free Lunch For Aspiring Bloggers”

Do you have similar reports for your blog detailing your traffic and income? I want to know about it and link to it. Leave a comment with the URL.