Affiliate Marketing Income Report: August 2013
September 1, 2013 Posted by Tyler CruzHello again!
First, the mandatory apology:
The only post I wrote in August was actually my affiliate marketing income report for July. Despite my lack of posting, I’ve definitely been working. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I took an entire day off from not working at all. Hell, yesterday was my birthday and I still put in some hours of work in.
As you’ll read about shortly, August was my worst month this year… by far. As a result, I was focused more on trying to keep a profit going on my campaigns and performing triage than I was on publishing new blog posts.
So, that explains my lack of posting.
Here then, are my affiliate marketing numbers (not inclusive of my other revenue sources) for the month of August 2013:
August 2013 Affiliate Campaign Income:
$38,702.00
Ugh. From $142,606.00 in June to $64,950.00 in July to $38,702.00 in August. What’s next? $2,500 in September?
Expenses:
$30,127.02
Traffic Source Breakdown:
- Traffic Source #1: $6,007.63
- Traffic Source #2: $2.60
- Traffic Source #3: $9,735.47
- Traffic Source #4: $14,381.32
At least my expenses were the lowest I spent all year…
Net Profit:
$8,574.98
I can’t tell you had embarrassed I am to have to post these numbers, after having so many better months this year.
But the whole point of these income reports is to share my results with you, whether that be good or bad. Affiliate marketing is a roller coaster ride as you can see, and I can’t expect the ride to keep climbing without ever seeing some drops.
In fact, there’s actually some good news to come out of this. More on that later on.
My ROI dropped dramatically in August as well, from 70% the previous month to a measly 28%.
Year-To-Date Affiliate Marketing Results
Despite seeing concerning drops the past 2 months, 2013 has still been a great year for me overall so far. In fact, it’ll be pretty hard for it to to lose that standing… the only way I see that happening is if I start pulling in some red months.
Here’s a monthly breakdown:
| Month | Gross | Expense | Net | ROI |
| January 2013 | $74,277.30 | $50,927.39 | $23,349.91 | 46% |
| February 2013 | $103,961.00 | $72,516.36 | $31,444.64 | 43% |
| March 2013 | $83,204.00 | $49,320.34 | $33,883.66 | 69% |
| April 2013 | $98,526.50 | $64,892.30 | $33,634.20 | 52% |
| May 2013 | $104,600.50 | $64,402.12 | $40,198.38 | 62% |
| June 2013 | $142,606.00 | $90,158.83 | $52,447.17 | 58% |
| July 2013 | $64,950.00 | $38,258.85 | $26,691.15 | 70% |
| August 2013 | $38,702.00 | $30,127.02 | $8,574.98 | 28% |
| Total: | $710,827.30 | $460,603.21 | $250,224.09 | 56% |
| Monthly Average: | $88,853.41 | $57,575.40 | $31,278.01 | 54% |
Man… August is such a blemish in my otherwise nice looking table.
It’s funny… because I had thought July was a horrendous month, but now it looks like so much compared to last month.
Net Profit Projections
The following linear projection is based off the past 8 months of data, and is projected for the next 4 months:
For the first time, the linear projection is on a DECLINE. That’s no good. Anyhow, rough projections show that December 2013 may bring in $25,000 profit.
Now let’s take a look at the running net profit total from my campaigns this year so far:
So this year so far, I’ve made $250K from my campaigns, and this time the projection is set for the end of the year. The linear projection predicts that I’ll finish the year at a net profit of just over $400,000. I hope it’s right!
These are just predictions though. My campaigns have really plummeted over the past couple of months, so we’ll have to see if the law of averages catches up.
August Recap
Geez… where to start?
I think I’ll do this recap in point form to this time:
- Got mostly caught up with e-mail (currently down to 70)
- The vast majority of my campaigns died due to increased competition, offers going down, etc.
- Had my new programmer make me some basic custom software that gives me a huge leg up on some specific types of campaigns I run. Already paid for itself and will pay off many dividends in the future
- Managed to get some brand new profitable campaigns going. They don’t make much, but it is so important to be able to do this…
- Worked hard on some new landing page ideas, which definitely paid off
- Spent a fair bit trying to get new campaigns going. Been struggling in this regard, but did manage to get a couple new offers going at small profits.
- Had some server issues which caused some downtime and losses on my campaigns
The good news is that despite virtually all of my existing campaigns having died, that I still managed to get some brand new profitable campaigns going and end the month in a profit of $8,500+.
September Plans
For September, I have 3 things on my mind. In order of priority:
Finish Catching up to E-mail
I currently only have 70 e-mails left to tackle. However, most of the ones left are fairly "involved" so they will take a lot more time and effort to deal with.
Finish Taxes
Once I finish my e-mail, I’ll have a "clear head" and will be able to focus 100% on doing my taxes.
Affiliate Marketing
With August being such as bad month for me, I really need to step up and work my ass off to try to get my campaign numbers up again. This is definitely easier said than done, but I do want to return to my 5-figure profit months.
I also want to modernize and sell some more of my websites, but I don’t think I’ll have time in September, so that will probably have to wait until October.
September Campaign Income Predictions
To be honest, I don’t think that September will be a good month. If I had to guess, I’d predict around $5,000 profit, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was more like $1,000 profit.
Part of this is because I will need to spend a lot to try to find new profitable campaigns.
We’ll just have to wait and see. Check back on October 1st to see the results!
Now – how did August treat you for your affiliate marketing campaigns? Share your results in the comments below – I’m genuinely interested in seeing how things are going for others.
Embarrassed? lol… I have friends that are attorneys, dentists and doctors that don’t make $250k in a year, let alone just 8 months.
Drawing out any kind of net projections with affiliate revenue is just setting yourself up for disappointment — it’s just a roller coaster ride.
The affiliate game is all about short term gains and milking it for all it’s worth and investing the profits into more stable growth vehicles like individual stocks, mutual funds, real estate, etc.
Absolutely right about that, SS. There are many professionals who will absolutely love to have such results!
I agree that you shouldn’t feel embarrassed with $8.5k in profits this month. Indeed, it’s not as good as 50k, but it still is really nice money and it’s probably just a temporary thing: the past 8 months proved that you know how to make the money, you just need to do that again. And maybe selling some of the websites will actually profit you more in the long run since you will have more time to focus on the ones that matter!
That’s the main reason for selling them – to free up time and focus that I can put towards my campaigns.
$8500/month still translates to a six-figure income, which is more than DOUBLE the median income in Canada. You should be embarrassed that you feel embarrassed.
The average person also isn’t in such a highly volitile business. Wait until you find out what my September numbers are.
If we go with average incomes, the $250k you’ve earned this year thus far in affiliate commissions (not including your other income sources) should be able to sustain you for at least five years, if not more.
Yes, but I don’t want to be sustaining, I want to be thriving.
Might be a good idea to sell off some web pages and focus more on the profitable web side. The old proverb – focus – focus – focus.
You shouldn’t feed embarrassed juz because of one or two crapy months. You’re still doing an awesome job here.
And Lucian here have mentioned a great point, you could sell your low profitable websites and spend more time and more budget on those profitable ones. Not sure how that might go, but you could try, for a gerat IM like you it’s not that hard to create a new few k $ a month website.
Didn’t you think to try mobile? Or you already running some?
Why? Is it instant money?
I ran some very brief basic mobile for a very short period, but I’m going to wait for CPVLab’s next upgrade which will have more mobile features before I try it again.
Wow! Big drop, but I’d still switch places with your income. $250K for the year and you’ve got 4 months today. Dude you are killing it. Wish I could peek over your shoulders and see what you are doing. Everything I’ve tried lately has FAILED miserably. Maybe you need to offer a coaching club! Keep up the great work!
Join the chatroom… it’s free.
Even though it was an overall “down” month based on your averages, I’d still say that’s not too shabby! Heck after taxes that would probably still fit within a $100k/year salary range. Not too bad for being “down” 🙂
Any great affiliate out there always touts their “failures” as necessary and a stepping stone to greatness. I’m sure you’ll learn what’s needed and adjust. But, just remember – your “down” month was still higher than my “salary” month!
Thanks… it’s not so much the $8K though as it is the trend…
I know you will rinse back to $50K within 2 months
Haha, that is very ambitious – hope you’re right though! If you are, I’ll give you $100 (Just e-mail me with your IP address so I can verify it’s you).
Hey Tyler, sorry your income was down, but I’m sure you will bounce back. Your blog has really motivated me and I’ve been at it about a month now, been having some positive ROI days lately after about all negative first 3 weeks and a facebook ban. Can’t wait ’til I’m at 50k and sending you a gift basket 🙂
Getting from red to black is the hardest part, no matter the ROI, so congrats on that.
Don’t let a month (or even months) of relatively smaller returns get to you Tyler!
You’re a huge inspiration (and a key source of information on affiliate marketing) to a lot of people, me included.
Your how-to & review videos have been especially great, thank you for them and all that you do.
Rick
If you care about micro details, there’s a line in this post:
“2013 has still been a great month for me overall so far”
Thanks, fixed.
Can you please tell us what paid traffic sources you are using?
He has mentioned it many times in the past. Ever heard of Facebook? 🙂
Getting from red to dark is the worst, no issue the ROI, so congratulations on that.
Will get $100 from you on November … Anyways minimize the investment as of now, dont test too much, just focus on ROI, simply what you feel will work well for you. I usually have some sure winners, when ever I am in negative ROI I will unleash my ‘sure winners” in the market 🙂 But dont run sure winner always because it can die over time or simply been copied by other if you long run (i,e more than 15 days)
I warned you in the July report that August is a very weak month, people have vacation, with its vacant school children or just do not have the energy to sit at the computer in the heat. You just have to get new energy and to come back in September with better figures.
Not at all good month for you man! though August was a good month for me ( earned around $2500)
August was also a good month for me.
BTW: your ROI has decreased significantly. feeling sad 🙁
Hi Tyler,
You mentioned you had 3 priorities for Sept, in this order of priority:
1) Finish Catching up to E-mail
2) Finish Taxes
3) Affiliate Marketing
My advice is to…
1) Outsource your email (seriously)
2) Outsource your taxes
3) Move affiliate marketing up to the #1 priority since that’s where your money comes from.
Take some of those earnings from earlier in the year, outsource all the distractions, and get back to those $50k months ASAP 🙂
I have trust issues. I wish I could hire me… for cheap…
I agree with Eric (thanks for all the tips, all these yes, by the way, Eric)…
Anyway, yes, I agree with Eric… you need to spend more time on the more important aspects of your business, re $50k months and leave the other aspects to a VA to handle!
It’s no surprise. Summer is always bad for internet marketing. People don’t stay too much in front of their computers in summer.
“Feels bad for making 8,500$ a month … Most internet marketers make 8,500$ a year!”
Imagine that text on one of Tyler’s pictures 🙂
I believe most marketers make either thousands or nothing. A couple of hundreds arent worth it, if you ask me. They just cant be consistent 😉
Haha, Tyler Meme. Let’s not start that.
Hi tyler,
The affiliate campaign income is little more high than the expenses? From the chart July month have the highest ROI. Thanks for the honest Post and methods. I wish you have achieved the prediction in the month of September.
Hi Tyler, I am confident you’ll rise those earnings, dont worry! I really like to read all your posts, learned more from you than I learned from gurus during the past 3 years.
Why not try Adult Media buy? or are you already doing it?
Good luck!
8.5k is not too bad but I am sure you can do better. (:
I read your post and enjoy it very much! Thank you for providing such insightful information. I do believe in order to make money you have to spend money. Congrats on your achievement this year!
For me 8k plus per month is not bad! i guess your rating in performance was due to the big differences in earnings in the past couple months
Exactly that. He does feel bad because it’s nothing compared to previous months, but still nothing to scoff at for many people, :))
It seems that the market has become tougher and fewer customers that want to click or buy via Affilite marketing ads, especially via facebook ..
Nice share! I can see that this post is still inspiring. If there is a problem with your work, i hope that you can get back on the track as soon as possible.
Well, I know some are earning higher of lower than your income, but whatever it is, you have to do your very best to have a satisfying outcome.
In affiliate marketing, handwork is really needed and you must have a good and effective strategy to make it work. I think all of us knew that. right?
I hope this quote will inspire you.
“Just don’t give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there’s love and inspiration, I don’t think you can go wrong.”
I found this post shared on Kingged.com, the Internet marketing social site, and I “kingged” it and left this comment.
Damn shame aff bloggers are still lying like this…
You’re right. It’s all one big lie. There’s no money in affiliate marketing. I actually made only $15.00 this year. Be back later, have to do my night shift at Walmart.
Still, $9k is quite significant. It’s just a shame it costs so much to generate that. I guess you have to have lots of experience to risk so much outgoing for such a small return (in comparison)…
Summer months are always worst to sell online. So, i am sure your figures will be higher now on the laster 4 months of the year. Do you have any website giving some monthly income for sale? I was reading that you are planning to sell some..
Well done Tyler! As I understand Facebook is your favorite advertising network, right?
Really disappointed there is not an income update for September… I realize it was a bad month, but I think I’d find it even more useful to know how you evolve and respond to the bad times than just how you ride the wave of the uptime. Hope you post income updates soon!!
It’s coming! I have the numbers all saved and ready.
[…] новый дом, а в августе его чистая прибыль составила 8,5 тысяч долларов. Не самый большой заработок, но все же, […]
Is this realy possible?
I have been working my way through your articles backwards , and as I have already explained , the period of economic depression , which follows an economic boom , is also appicable to this sector also . Don’t give up hope mate , just keep trying ……
I agree that you shouldn’t feel embarrassed with $8.5k in profits this month. Indeed, it’s not as good as 50k, but it still is really nice money and it’s probably just a temporary thing: the past 8 months proved that you know how to make the money, you just need to do that again!!! Teach us how you all mighty .. then maybe we can share with our friends.
I’m new and i’m newbie any tips for me to make this amount of money please?
I look forward to a new monthly report on revenue and expenses.
Just wondering if you are able to give us a breakdown of where your income is coming from? Kind of like what Pat Flynn does. thanks and great work by the way!
Hey Tyler it would be very interesting if you could give us a short update on this.
Can’t understand why Tyler gone totally offline and left this site inactive.
Well done Tyler! As I understand Facebook is your favorite advertising network, right?