February, 2008: Financial Results – a quiet month

After January’s stellar month, February has really settled back and results are only approximately half of January’s. That is of course to be expected.

I had hoped that my free download would entice visitors to download the top twelve subscriptions. Well, it hasn’t quite worked yet. But I’m going to keep plugging it, because I think it’s a useful way to promote this blog. I’m planning to up the number to 20 subscriptions, but so far I only have six more good suggestions. So now, I’m running a poll for the remaining 2 positions in the list. Do vote!

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So let’s deal with the money, first this month. Parts 2 and 3 will deal with the traffic, and challenges. But I’ll post these over the next few days.

Income this month has been less, but the variety of sources is quite impressive. I’m pretty sure now that I could easily extend both the range and the depth of each source, if I had more time to do it.

* Bank Interest: $26.25
* Dividend Income: $78.22
* Consulting Income: $250.00
* TLA – $74.49
* LinkWorth – $63.50 (for three sites)
* TopSpots – $1.00
* Blogging – $96.25
* Total = $589.98*
*there are a few other residual sources but they generally don’t generate much, like Voxant, NetAudioAds, etc. that generate only a few cents a month. In addition, some sources that generate a lot one month, but nothing the next are not included.

Unfortunately, I’ve not been very aggressive in getting extra interest generated. I have nearly $150,000 sitting in the bank, and another US$2500 sitting in a broker’s account, and still another $700 sitting in another account earning 0%. I’ve not invested these at all. So that’s pretty dumb. I don’t know why I haven’t got around to doing that, but I DO know that it’s costing me at least 2.5%pa now (or $16pm). And that’s not including any capital appreciation. This is a situation I will rectify.

Also the list of sources of income isn’t complete. For example, some of my customers buy hosting from on my server: no accounts have become due this month; nor have I had any new customers. According to my plan, developing a part-time income from work is important. I have had several contacts for part-time work in Taipei, but it isn’t something I’m able to do just now. I’d love to switch my teaching load from full-time to part-time, but it’s not possible. So…

Total Income Generated

Naturally, this means my total generated by blogging now jumps to $9020.37. Also, my revenue from writing reviews and buzzes has dropped from over $200 per month to just $96.25. In fact, last month I only wrote two reviews in February. It seems the Google Grinch is still out and about.

Expenses

The blog currently only has a few expenses such as hosting through Dreamhost’s VPS system and it works well. Of course, Domains and I own about ten or so all need to be paid for annually and Paypal Fees. I currently don’t advertise, though I may do so soon again.

* hosting – $49.50 (est.)
* Fees – $6.15 (Paypal, Commissions, etc.)
* Content, Development, and Traffic – $89.00
* Total = $144.65*

*These figures are estimates as final figures haven’t been received for some, and other commissions are invisible having been deducted at source.

Other factors that are beginning to affect me more directly now is the weakness of the dollar vs. the NT$. In fact in the past week, the NT$ has dropped by nearly NT$1. It’s now trading at a little under NT$31 to the US$. I’ve been using the value of NT$32.5 for a long time and I found it a good approximation. But no longer.