In My Mind’s Zen Garden

Amit Agarwal of Digital Inspirations has proven that you can make a “great living” out of doing what you love best, in his case… blogging.

Digital Inspirations’ site statistics for 2006 are spectacular!

His article, “How Much Money Do I Make From Adsense & Blogging?“, is a very inspirational read, and he posted a graphic that revealed $999.99 USD earnings in one day! So, imagine making around $1,000 a day multiplied by 365 days in a year and well… this obviously translates into a 6 figure salary that rivals the highest paid professions! Pretty darn good for being a full-time blogger!

The thing that sets him apart from the multitudes is his expertise and technical advise, which spans a wide range of topics from blogging to SEO (search engine optimization):

Amit Agarwal is a technology analyst and professional blogger. After graduating from IIT Roorkee in Computer Science, he worked with ADP Inc. for few years and then switched to full time blogging.

Amit writes for Digital Inspiration and is also working with Podtech.net as their Editor-in-Chief for India. Microsoft awarded him MVP status for 2007.

In the article he also lists other bloggers who’ve made a fortune using Google Adsense ads.

I think it was Eric of echeng.com who advised me to start using Google Adsense ads for Rice Bowl Journals. I was reluctant at first because I didn’t want to have all these ads all over the place, but I think I’ve found a way to integrate the ads without negatively affecting the look and feel of the site.

My earnings, though, can range anywhere from .02 cents to a couple of dollars a day, barely enough, it seems, to pay for my Starbucks habit, but at least I’m earning something through the Google ads which helps pay for RBJ’s bills.

Still, most earnings for RBJ come in the form of donations, which go directly to the ongoing expenses incurred by hosting RBJ on a semi-dedicated hosting account, which, included with other expenses comes to about $150 to $200 a month.

I’m also in a few affiliate programs through Amazon.com, Linkshare, and Commission Junction. I was able to utilize webservices for RBJ which developed into a full-fledged online store, and you’ll see Linkshare and CJ banner ads on the RBJ as well now. Though I confess the banner ads aren’t generating any commissions at all so far, which is lame… but still I’ll keep them going for 2007 to see how well they do.

The RBJ online store is active and successful, and much of the revenue comes in via third party vendors, but overall earnings are a very small percentage of the total costs of the products, so I don’t see a $100 check for 9 months to a year. Still, it’s a pleasant surprise to find a check in the mail from Amazon once-in-a-great-while!

But I’d say I’m pretty much “breaking even” every month, but wouldn’t it be nice to generate more revenue, to make all those hours I’ve spent count more, and to see the Rice Bowl Journals site upgraded to a fully dedicated server account. We’ll see, we’ll see….

Seeing others’ successes is definitely inspiring, and I’m keeping a positive attitude going into 2007! Yes, we’ll see….