So I got a Google Adsense cheque in the mail today for the amount of $209.12. As usual, it is in US funds and since the Canadian dollar is lower that means I should technically get more. The thing is, over the past few months the dollar has been going up and down so quickly where cashing these cheques at the right day could mean gaining or losing a few extra dollars.

It might not seem like much, but it does add up and is one of those things that it is good to develop a habit for I’d say. But as usual, for the sake of number tracking I am just going to tally up the total based on the figure on the written cheque. It looks like I finally broke the $1000 mark with the web publishing category. Not extraordinary I’d say, but again it shows that if you just do it things can add up.

Now whether or not I really want to think of ways to make it like a full time type of operation is up for debate. Though again my intent was to try and find as many different things to do as possible.

Stock Investment: $800
Web Publishing: $1095.67
Million Dollar Term: $100
Affiliate Sales: $91.01
Free Money and Credits: $100
Loose Change Savings: $209.23
Selling Items: $55.64

Total: $2451.55

This really has been a very casual section so far which I guess suits the original intent. Didn’t really get to do what I wanted though due to some circumstances that has been eating up a lot of my spare time, but that didn’t stop the blog from generating some more income. Today I received another payment from Google for $116.65.

I was thinking that‘s not too bad considering I don’t really focus too much on monetizing the blog as I simply write like normal. This made me curious as to how well that widget bucks program was doing. To my surprise, I am due for a payment as apparently last month I passed the minimum payment point. Ironically, I thought it wouldn’t do well at all since it seems like it is more fitting for a tech site.

The breakdown looks like this so far:

Stock Investment: $800
Web Publishing: $222.19
Million Dollar Term: $100

Total: $1122.19

I guess Google adsense won’t really be an income source once that Forbes network kicks in as all the ads will be converted to advertisements supplied by them. Not bad for a casual start so far I’d say. Almost feels like passive income in many ways.

I was checking my e–mail and noticed that I got an invite to beta test a new ad program called shopping ads. Basically, it’s for web publishers to display ads on their site. The way this one works from what I read is that it revolves around finding items from price shopping comparison sites. In turn, it displays new deals on the publisher’s site. Let’s see, I am going to put the code below and let’s see what pops up:

Of course, I can’t actually see what is going to display until I publish this post. If it’s relevant to what people are interested in here, maybe I’ll try using it as another avenue to generate income for this little journey. Oh, happy halloween to everyone as well.

As expected, I received my Google Adsense check this week which I will use as my starting pool of funds. I was also asked by some people on how they weren’t exactly sure how this particular program works and so I figured I would explain a bit about it.

If you own a website of some sort, Google Adsense is a way for people to display advertisements on their site in an effort to make money. Without being too technical, you can earn money in three ways depending on how you have it set it up:

1) Someone clicks on an ad. Depending on your topic and the amount of people bidding for the advertisement spot, you get a percentage of how much the advertiser paid for that ad. A more familiar term is a “cost per click”.

2) Advertisers can also opt to specifically target your site where only their ads will be displayed to your visitors. With this, you can also get paid an X amount based on how many times the ads have been displayed. It is also referred to as a “cost per impression”.

3) There is also a referral category where you get paid every time someone takes action to an advertisement. For example, there could be a site offering a free subscription of some sort. If the person visits their site and subscribes to their free service as a result of the ad displayed on your site, you will be paid a referral fee of say $5. Some use the term “cost per action” to describe to method.

It’s actually one of the more simple programs that people can do to make some money. Some sites rely on it entirely as its revenue source which can work out well. In order to receive your payment, your total income earned has to be at least $100. This is what the mail that I received looks from the outside:

It used to be a lot smaller to my recollection when I first started using it. This is what the check that I received just recently looks like:

So if you have a website and are looking for a way to generate some extra income, it can be a good way to start off as it isn’t too difficult to implement. I personally just use it in a passive way, but it can definitely be effective in generating an income should you decide to do so.