Just how much money did I earn from online endeavors this year? Here is the breakdown in comparison to 2012:
| Category | 2012 | 2013 |
| Amazon Sales | $28.68 | $24.73 |
| Book Sales | $101.07 | $48.75 |
| eBay Sales | $641.73 | $252.69 |
| Goods Received | $140.00 | $545.69 |
| Surveys | $474.00 | $867.50 |
| Rebates | $233.51 | $119.42 |
| Writing Contests | $750.00 | $0 |
| Prizes from Giveaways | $149.00 | $1,755.95 |
| Advertising | $1,957.25 | $3,233.35 |
| TOTAL | $4,475.24 | $6,848.08 |
And here it is in a pretty pie chart, because who doesn’t love a little color:
Some categories increased a bit and others decreased significantly. My eBay sales were nearly nonexistent. I sold a lot less stuff in 2013. In fact, I sold just two or three things, but they were all high ticket items. There were two primary reasons. Unless the item retailed for a significant amount of money it simply wasn’t worth my time to list it, find a box, wrap it up, wait in line at the post office and hope that it arrived. Secondly I felt better about giving my unwanted items to charity.
My Amazon sales remained very small, because I don’t post affiliate links very often. The majority of these sales occur during the Christmas season when Google directs readers to a few stocking stuffer posts.
As I mentioned in yesterday’s post I earned a lot more prizes from giveaways this year. I entered a broader range of contests and focused on those that included less than 300 entries. As more people turn to online contests it is getting harder to find contests without 1000+ entries. I just encountered a contest with 5000 entries today to win a $10 gift card. In the past I only saw that much volume on a highly valued prize. I imagine my success at winning will decrease this year as more entrants join in on the game.
The amount I earned from completing online surveys nearly nearly doubled from last year. I actually reran the numbers because the figure looked much too big to be true. I also earned 8,000 miles on Southwest Airlines. Not too shabby.
I feel pretty good about every category other than advertising. I don’t include much advertising on this site, but $3,233 after seven years of blogging seems like a rather pitiful little sum. It is certainly better than nothing, but when I read about other bloggers who bring in $5,000 to $10,000 a month I think, nothing more than ugh.
All in all it was nice to see the total number rise from last year, but a lot of the increase was hedged on luck, so I can’t ensure next year will be as good as this one.
Wow, that’s a lot of winnings from contests! I never win any of those but you are motivating me to keep entering. š
I agree that it’s a bit disheartening to not earn much and see other people earning thousands, especially when they’ve done it for a shorter time. However, it’s also motivating because I hope one day that will be me too!
Good luck on increasing your numbers this year!
I don’t think I’ll ever make a ton of money from this blog, but I wish you all the best with yours. The people that make a lot of money seem to devote a lot of time to blogging. I’m not sure I’ll ever be that dedicated š
Those are fantastic numbers. I rarely ever win anything but I enter for fun… š
As for advertising, the only one that brings me money is Google Adsense.
I don’t actually use Google Adsense, but perhaps I should.
Wow, you’ve done so well! Can’t believe how much you’ve made from surveys, I earn maybe Ā£80 tops in a year, do you put a lot of hours in? Well done and I’m sure 2014 will be even better!
I keep saying I’m going to add up the number of minutes I spend working on surveys but somehow or another I keep forgetting. I’ll try to keep track in 2014!