Here is a breakdown of my online income for October 2010.
Google Adsense – $338.23
Affiliate Income – $750
Text Link Ads – $48.45
Direct Ads – $33.23
Ehow – $11.89
Total – $1181.80
My online income was over $1000 for the fourth month in a row. This is great income, especially considering I haven’t done a lot of work on my sites the last couple of months. My Adsense seems to have recovered from the summer doldrums. It should remain strong through the winter. The main source of my income in October was from affiliate income. I prefer this to the direct ad sales since I think it is more sustainable. However, the vast majority of this affiliate income was from one limited-time offer. Whenever the affiliate ends the offer my income will likely nosedive. This hasn’t happened yet so my November income should still be over $1000. I’ve been turning down a lot of direct ad offers since I don’t think the money they are offering is worth the risk to my page rank. My goal for the rest of the year is to diversify my affiliate income and develop my own product.
You are building income over the long-term and even though there are fluctuations in that income, it should increase over the winter months. If, it is a particularly prolonged and unpleasantly bitter cold winter, more people shop online and you can anticipate a spike in your earnings.