In my continued search for traffic and revenue growth for theNetFool.com, May 2008 provided one of my best months ever. We managed dramatic jumps in RSS subscriber numbers, daily traffic, social media rankings, search engine rankings and monthly income.

Encouraging news all around with the ending of The Net Fool’s Outrageous Blog Contest, as we had a lot of satisfied winners and anticipate a solid bump coming from continued advertising campaigns around the net. In June, I anticipate getting more heavily involved in advertising. Higher advertising costs on theNetFool.com should provide an extra funding to pull from, a neccesary step due to uncontrollable demand at previously dirt-cheap ad rates. Things will remain affordable, so don’t worry about breaking the bank! :)

April Results

  • RSS Subscriber Count: 153 Readers
  • Average Unique Visitors: 179
  • Average Returning Visitors:32
  • Average Page Loads: 302
  • Alexa.com Ranking:250,089
  • 45n5 Top 100 Rank: 312
  • Google PageRank:4

May Results

  • RSS Subscriber Count: 207 Readers (35.29%+)
  • Average Unique Visitors: 200 (11.73%+)
  • Average Returning Visitors:38 (18.75%+)
  • Average Page Loads:337 (11.59%+)
  • Alexa.com Ranking: 147,125 (41.17%+)
  • Technorati Ranking: 27,027
  • 45n5 Top 100 Rank: 55
  • Google PageRank: 4

Monthly Review and Growth Strategy
The results of May show clearly that theNetFool.com has seen steady growth across the board over the month of may. One of the biggest surprises was the jump in 45n5.com’s Top 100 Blogs rank from completely out of the picture, to one of the top 55 blogs on the internet. This has been largely fueled by a frantic jump in Google Pagerank along with a fast rising in our Alexa and Technorati ranks. So really, as far as these popular social networking websites are concerned, theNetFool.com is growing as fast as ever.

I like to take my numbers in the most fair and deflated way possible. Though TNF may have seen higher growth toward the end of the month, all of the numbers you see above are from the entire month of May. For example, our unique visitors for the last week floated around 250… and our returning visitors closer to 50. In addition, RSS subscribers have been higher than 220 as of late… but I have taken the number from May 31st to be more precise. With this in mind, I fully anticipate similarly awesome results for June.

Growth strategy over the next month should consist of a back-to-basics approach to blogging. I am going to be running a much smaller contest this month, and not really looking for extreme growth from this. I am growing concerned that the blogosphere is using contests as an alternative to quality work, so I am going to be the first to take a break from the chaos and take a second approach to writing in the “make money online” community.

May 2008 Income Report
Income from May’s action produced one of the best months that I have ever had in making money from web-related activity. With great sales of my latest eBook “Work Smart, Get Rich!“, along with the completion of a music website done for $250, I have really stacked the numbers this time around. I am anticipating further accelatation here once my new advertising rates kick in. Here is the revenue breakdown from the month ending May 31, 2008:

May 2008 Revenue Breakdown

  • Private Ad Sales: $144.00
  • Design Work: $250.00
  • eBook Sales: $220.00
  • Paid Reviews: $40.00
  • SWATcash Referrals: $56.98
  • TSIFR Referrals: $9.30
  • ReviewMe Posts: $20.00
  • Text-Link-Ads: $18.42
  • OIO Publisher Referral: $28.50
  • Total Monthly Income: $787.20

So clearly, a good portion of sales came from the work I did on both my eBook and my latest design project. However, I feel that I can match or beat this output over the next month because of higher traffic from theNetFool.com. This continued growth will eventually translate into more money in my pocket, so I am happy to see what is going to happen with this boost.

Advertising Rate Changes
Plain and simple, things have become too cheap on theNetFool.com. I’m really happy to see people taking full advantage of my ridiculously low spending rates, but it is time to raise things up a notch. Don’t worry, I still believe I am targeting the lower end of the ad price spectrum with these changes, so things are still very affordable and should produce good bang-for-the-buck in your advertising pocket. ;)

SideBar Ads: from $15 to $20 per month
Sponsored Reviews: from $20 to $35 per month
Text Ads: from $4 to $6 per month

I feel that these small hikes are completely justified by my output numbers. With over 200 RSS subscribers, It’s rare to find a website willing to give such an extensive review as I have been known to give for under $45… so I feel I am still giving out a great deal.

June 2008 Outlook
As The Net Fool dot com continues to get more exposure around the internet, I am planing to stay on top of things with superior posts, money making strategies and advertising campaigns. This upcoming month I fully anticipate spending a bit more out of pocket to fund continued organic growth on my website. I feel like at this point, my RSS subscriber numbers are safely in tact due to continued interest on other blogs that points users my way. I have seen theNetFool.com pick up some more brand-name exposure, as people continue to flock over here for sane financial advice from a guy they can trust. :D

Stick with theNetFool.com for all your ways to make money online. I’m going to continue with the plan to keep you educated on the stock market with a spin toward Get Paid To (GPT) communities, affiliate marketing, blogging tips and things that even beginners can do to make cash like the professionals.

-The Net Fool

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