The Finances of this Blog

The Finances of this Blog

This blog has just finished its third month.  I started the website on May 13th.  I published my first blog post on May 17th, 75 days ago.  I also began tracking page views on May 17th using Google Adsense, one of my advertisers.  I have had 23,436 page views since that time, an average of 312 per day.  I began tracking individual pageviews and visitors using Google Analytics on June 13th, 48 days ago.  Interestingly, Analytics gives me 21,522 page views in just 48 days, an average of 448 per day.  6670 people have come to the site, an average of 139 per day.  79 people currently have a free email subscription, that's up from 31 on June 13th.  People spend around 5-6 minutes on the site on average, and 57% view more than one page (average 3.24 pages.)  50% of you come from referring websites (predominantly bogleheads.org and studentdoctor.net, but also other blogs), 30% of you type the website name directly into the computer, 14% found the website through a search engine such as Google, and 6% subscribe through an RSS feed.  I have made 51 posts and have 23 other pages on the site. The most viewed pages besides the main page are the post on Stupid Doctor Tricks, the Books, Websites, and About pages, and the page on financial advisors.

I'm excited to have reached over 6500 people in just a few weeks, especially since most of those are students, residents, physicians, and dentists who can really use the information found here.  I hope those numbers continue to grow as the months go by.  The expressions of gratitude I get in dozens of emails, comments, and forum private messages are very encouraging, especially on days when I wonder if I'm really helping anyone out! I even got a donation this month!

As expected, and like most blogs, it hasn't turned out to be a very profitable exercise.  I've made more posting on Sermo.com than I have blogging.  The blog makes money from advertising (a small amount from ads viewed, a larger amount for ads clicked on), from affiliate programs (usually only pay me if you actually buy the product), and from direct donations from readers.  Most of the advertisers don't pay me until I generate a certain amount of money, so none have actually paid me yet.  So, without further ado, here is this blog's financial statement.

Earned Income

Advertisers

• Google Adsense  $65.84

Affiliate Programs

• Amazon $30.21
• Barnes and Noble $0.00
• Mint.com  $0.00
• CompleteTax $0.00
• TurboTax $0.00
• Discover Bank $0.00
• H&R Block $0.00
• Simple Tuition $.00
• Morningstar.com $2.70
• Perk Street Financial $0.00
• Discover Card $0.00
• ING Direct $0.00
• Saveology $0.00
• Scrubs and Beyond $0.00
• ACU Army $0.00

Donations

• Tips $5.00

Total Earned Income $103.75

Received Income

Advertisers

• Google Adsense  $0.00

Affiliate Programs

• Amazon $0.00
• Barnes and Noble $0.00
• Mint.com  $0.00
• CompleteTax $0.00
• TurboTax $0.00
• Discover Bank $0.00
• H&R Block $0.00
• Simple Tuition $.00
• Morningstar.com $2.70
• Perk Street Financial $0.00
• Discover Card $0.00
• ING Direct $0.00
• Saveology $0.00
• Scrubs and Beyond $0.00
• ACU Army $0.00

Donations

• Tips $5.00

Total Received Income $5.00

Expenses

• Domain Registration $2.17
• Hosting $47.88
• Total $50.05

Earned income minus expenses= $53.70 ($0.72 per day, or $0.73 per post/page)

I don't even want to find out what my hourly wage is!  My point is not that I need the readers of this blog to somehow support me financially.  My day job pays me plenty to support my family, my hobbies, and my future retirement.  I just don't want anyone to think there is this huge financial conflict of interest in my writing and recommendations.  There simply isn't much money being made here (yet.)  So feel free to recommend the site to family, friends, and co-workers.  You might not like my opinions, but at least you know they're coming from me.  As always, my commitment to you is full disclosure of my financial conflicts of interest, no matter how small they may be.