Today is the first installment of Ask David. Since I launched this feature last week, I’ve had 3 readers submit questions to me via the contact form. If you want to ask me a question, and get a free link out of it, click here for details.

1. So without divulging all the secrets of the prodigy, after your $160 a day post how many sites do you having making you money each day? Also as a person who is continually interested in earning more money online as well, what types of sites are solid money makers and what types of sites and/or monetization methods do you recommend? - by Matt Propst of Fleeing the Social Scene.

Currently, I have 8 websites that make me something every day. Some of them, like Philip Rivers may only make me .25 cents, but I’m still including that in the 8.

I believe that any site can be a solid money maker, as long as you know how to promote and market it. There are a million free arcade websites out there, but new ones still pop up everyday. It doesn’t matter how saturated the market is, so long as you can find creative ways to drive traffic. Now with that said, it is probably easier to make money with unique content driven sites. I’m a big fan of sites that have unique content and sell products at the same time, like Bob’s Think Computers. And if you can get the users to submit the content for you (like forums), then you can have a solid money maker on your hands.

Regarding monetization methods, I definitely recommend using a combination of 3-5 different ad networks on each site you own. Now, I don’t use 3-5 on all my sites, but really I should be. I make my money online from Adsense/YPN, Value Click Media, Adbrite, and Azoogle. I have four different sources to generate money.

2. Your blog has been up for some time now. I’m curious of how many visitors per month the blog receives? - by Richard Osborn of Blogger For Life.

That’s a good question Richard. A lot of blogs keep you posted on traffic stats. I used to do this, but have lately gone against it. As you can see I usually have around 85 or so RSS subscribers.

• April - 2,950 uniques
• May - 1,990 uniques
• June - 2,361 uniques
• July - 2,600 uniques

It’s not that impressive, but they’re decent monthly numbers. My goal by this time next year is 15,000 uniques/month.

3. You ever smoked some grass? - by Nomar of 9MB Webmaster Forums.

I’ve actually talked about this before in one of the blog tagging posts. The answer is no. I’ve been around people who have smoked, like I’m sure just about everyone in the world has. But I’ve never had the urge to do it myself. I’ve seen quite a few lives ruined because of their habitual need to get high.

That’s it for Ask David Batch #1. If you want to have your question answer, then click the Ask David link at the top of the page. Be sure to include your name, your website, and any anchor text you might want for your free link back.

A lot of people start web development as an escape route from the corporate work. They want to leave the doldrums of a 9-5 job and have the freedom of being their own boss. I am one of those people. Some day I would love to leave my cubicle and run my own business. Eventually I want to use online earnings to fuel a brick and mortar business.

So what would it take for me to quit my job? How much money do I have to make online in order to survive?

For a single guy maybe 18 years old or so, it wouldn’t take much money to survive online. If you can make $115/day for 365 days a year, you will gross nearly $42,000. Subtract 30% for taxes and that leaves you with about $30k. Some of you might think $30k isn’t a lot, but for a single person with modest spending habits, $30k could do just fine… that is unless you live San Francisco or New York City. It would be hard to save depending on your rent situation and insurance, but it could be done.

I am not single though. I’ll be getting married in like 8 months (ya the time is flying by). That means I have more responsibilites. I can’t just quit my job the second I start making $115/day online like an 18 year old could do.. $115/day won’t cover it in my situation. After sitting down and crunching some numbers, I’ve determined that I would really need $160 or more/day in order to survive without my current 9-5 job.

$160/day for 365 days a year is $58,400 a year. Whoa that seems like a lot…but after taxes you’re looking at only $40k left. Well you say “Hey, $40k ain’t bad either”. Well no it’s not, until you take out something like $2000/yr for health, dental, and eye insurance. So now you have $38k. Cough up another $1k for life insurance…down to $37k.

By the time your done subtracting everything from your gross, let’s say your left with $34,000. That’s a solid net income, but would still not a high income. Although the happiness you get from being your own boss and working on your own business is WELL worth a paycut in my opinion. Lucky for me, when I’m married we’ll have a nice double income household. These are the power earning years for a young couple…that is until kids come along.

So $160/day is my target income so I can quit my everday 9-5 job. A lot of you are definitely making $160/day and more, so I know it can be done. It will take a lot of work, and a lot of smart investing to reach that level, but it can be done…especially if I buy a couple of big earning sites.

How close am I to that $160/day you ask? Well, I’m not giving out specific numbers anymore, but let’s just say I’m on my way to achieving my goals.

You may have noticed that this morning I added an animated ‘Ask David’ banner in my sidebar. What is Ask David? Well, it’s a new way for my readers to submit questions to me, an ultimately get a free link back in return.

Once or twice a week, depending on question volume, I will select a few questions to answer and post on my blog. If your question is chosen to be featured on my blog, I will give you a free link. That’s just my little way of saying ‘thank you’ for providing me with blogging material. And you never know, maybe my answers will help you and other readers. It’s really a win-win situation.

So I set up a new contact form on my contact page. This is how readers will submit their questions. I set up a specific email account to receive the ‘Ask David’ questions. So if you send it to me through some other medium, I won’t get it. You have to use the contact form.

For my form, I decided to use the Secure and Accessible PHP Contact Form v.2.0WP for WordPress (versions 2.0 and later). After looking around it seemed to be one of the better plugins. I’ve already tested it, and it works great. The plugin is very easy to set up. It comes with about 15 different styles to choose from, and lets you configure everything via the admin panel. No messing with code. It has a built in spam blocker and an option to send carbon copies.

I hope this ‘Ask David’ feature is a success. It all depends on you, the readers, to work. So if you have any questions… personal or business related, send them to me. I don’t care if you ask ‘Why is the sky blue?’. You never know what questions I will select to feature.

Working alone on a PC all day can be quite boring. One of the only things I enjoy about having a corporate job is the human interaction. If I were to work alone on a computer all day, I imagine I would get bored rather quickly. Sure there are the MSN messages that come in from time to time. But you could potentially work a full day without speaking 1 word out loud.

For some people, total silence is the only way to get things done. You may get bored pluggin away at your websites, but you will be satisfied when you get work done quicker then others.

For others, working alone all day can be quite boring. So below I’m listing a few tips for you to fight boredom.

• Only work in short bursts of 30-45 minutes. Take 5-10 minute breaks after each session. The mind doesn’t work well under long durations of repetitive work.
• Don’t stare at the computer constantly for more than 10 minutes at a time. Every 10 minutes move your eyes off the screen and focus them on something else in the room. This will stop your eyes from getting that heavy feeling.
• Play games. If you like silly arcade games, take a few breaks throughout the day to test your skills.
• Interact with real people. This means to pick up the phone every now and then and have a 5 minute chat with a friend. This takes your mind off of work.
• Eat and drink small meals throughout the day.
• Exercise. Every so often stop what you’re doing and do 15 pushups or jumping jacks to get your blood flowing.
• Listen to music. And don’t only listen to it, sing along out loud.
• Youtube. This always works for me.

I know a lot of these tips seem pretty obvious, but honestly, how many of you actually do them?

You may not have noticed, but I’ve been slacking a lot lately. At times I’ve been purposely putting off working on my websites. Like last night, I went to check my Adbrite earnings for the day, and their system was down … but instead of moving on to a project or working on something I sat there and played the Pacman game they provided publishers.

I also didn’t post on my Fishing Lures website in nearly a week. That’s true slacking since those reviews take me less than 5 minutes each. I also haven’t found a final web templated for my Bass Pictures website.

Maybe it’s the summer time blues? I live in Florida and the weather is beach perfect everyday. I hate sitting in my office or at home working on a computer when it is so damn nice outside.

Either way, there’s no excuse. It’s time to get back on track and get some work done. You won’t make it in this business just sitting back while everyone else is pluggin away. I need to get back to making my todo list every morning and crossing off items all day. That’s the only way I can get things done.

Earlier, I took the first step by writing 3 fishing lure reviews and timestamping them for the next 3 days. Now I just need to finish the rest. Other important things on my list for the upcoming week are:

• Find the final bass pictures template.
• Purchase a new vbulletin theme for Mass Effect Forums and start posting on it again.
• Upgrade all my vbulletin forums to 3.6.7
• Transfer a site from an old server to my current one.

If I complete those 4 big tasks along with all the tiny to do items I have, I’ll be happy. Sometimes I just need a slap in the face. So if you see me on MSN, just shoot me a message asking “Is what you’re doing right now helping you achieve your goals?” Hopefully I can answer yes to that.

 

I’ve been tagged by Bob. This time instead of sharing personal, interesting facts… we’re sharing tips for other bloggers.

-Start Copy-

It’s very simple. When this is passed on to you, copy the whole thing, skim the list and put a * star beside those that you like. (Check out especially the * starred ones.)

Add the next number (1. 2. 3. 4. 5., etc.) and write your own blogging tip for other bloggers.

Try to make your tip general. After that, tag 10 other people. Link love some friends!

Just think – if 10 people start this, the 10 people pass it onto another 10 people, you have 100 links already!

1. Look, read, and learn. ****
- http://www.neonscent.com

2. Be, EXCELLENT to each other. ****
- http://www.bushmackel.com/

3. Don’t let money change ya! ***
- http://www.therandomforest.info

4. Always reply to your comments. ****
- http://chattiekat.com

5. Spell check is your friend. **
- http://thingsbymike.com

6. Be the blog. ***
- http://www.meandmydrum.com/

7. Your readers are your treasure.*
- http://www.brownbaron.com/blog/

8. Learn From The Pros. *
- http://www.shaunlow.com/

9. Pay a visit to your visitors. Be active in your community. *
- http://www.leochiang.com

10. Make Your Blog Your Own *
- http://www.bobbuskirk.com

11. Don’t be afraid to evolve.
- http://www.lithman.net

-End Copy-

It said to star the blogs you like, but honestly I only starred Bob’s because that’s the only blog on the list I’ve been to. I’ll have to spend some time to check out the rest of the blogs, especially those with 4 stars.

I’m going to tag Andreas Bard, Joel Szerlip, and King Nomar.