The First Ever ViperChill Income Report

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It’s been 18 months since I launched this blog and what a great 18 months it has been. ViperChill has almost 16,000 RSS subscribers (thank you!), over 3,000 people are signed up to cloud:niche and there are over 8,500 comments now posted on this blog. Keep in mind that there are only 83 blog posts here, so that’s well over 100 comments per post on average.

In the last few weeks, ViperChill was ranked 9th in a list of the biggest marketing blogs in the world, just ahead of blogging powerhouse’s like Seth Godin and Aaron Wall of SEOBook. The rankings were based on how many times people come back to a site each month, and how many pages they visit. The data was put together by a respected analytics company, and you can find the full list here.

To say I’m happy current situation the site is in is a huge understatement, but the success is all thanks to you – the readers – who keep coming to the site, reading what I have to say and leaving comments. I can’t thank you enough for that, and I hope to see you here for years to come. I’ll do my best to keep providing content worth reading.

Why I’m Sharing My Income

Last year I wrote my 12th monthly traffic report and said it would be the last one ever. Then, a couple of weeks ago I wrote a post about my dream future: Project Warehouse. In that post I mentioned an epiphany I had about what really used to inspire me when it came to making money online in the early days.

For those of you who missed the post I recalled that seeing how much money other people were making online motivated me to work harder at making money online myself.

Since my goal with ViperChill – and especially CloudBlueprint – is to help you make more money online than ever before, I guess I should be the one sharing some of that income proof. I’ve been hesitant to do so for a long time, mostly because I just can’t be as transparent as other people.

I’ve seen too many examples of big marketers releasing the sites they’re working on and having their rankings tank or a ton of negative feedback sent their way. Heck, early last year I showed you all a tiny site of mine making $400 per month and a few weeks later I already had 5 new competitors on the first page of Google (I find popular, uncompetitive niches fairly well).

As much as I would love to share everything with you all, it simply doesn’t make business sense. Instead, I will only be reporting on the money that I’m making with ViperChill.

ViperChill: The Business

Since I’m going to be sharing these reports on a monthly basis, I should really comment on how I feel about making money with this website. The genuine reason for me starting ViperChill in the first place was simply because I love to help people and enjoy having an audience. As soon as I sold my personal development blog, I knew there was going to be a void in my online activities, and I re-launched ViperChill to fill that void.

I love working on ViperChill more than any other site and for over a year, I made literally nothing here. In the first 12 months of writing for the site I probably made $50 in total. Further proof that I don’t care about the money and instead on genuinely helping people.

That changed (the income, not the helping people) when I launched Cloud Living in December 2009, and subsequently Cloud Blogging last month. Both products have made thousands of dollars since then, so I can’t deny that the site is now making a decent income.

I really don’t have any income goals for ViperChill, since I make a livable income from my other ventures online. All of the money I make here is just a nice bonus. I don’t feel bad in any way about making money online, in part, by teaching people how to make a living online. I’ve done nothing but focus on giving value to people here, and as the world works, you usually get something in return for doing that.

I’ve stayed true to my roots in that there is no advertising on this site (and never will be), and I’ve even closed down products like affiliateSkin because I simply couldn’t offer the live support I wanted to for customers.

Sharing my income here is for no other reason than I hope to inspire you to see what is possible online…

ViperChill.com Income for May 2011

Total: ~$8,027

The income figures for CloudLiving are CloudBlogging projects are estimations since we may get refunds (there’s a 60-day money back guarantee).

My overall expenses are pretty low. Hosting costs me $8 per month (plus around $1.50 for Amazon S3) and I pay $50 per month for Aweber which handles all of my email subscribers. I do all of the design work here myself and don’t spend a penny on advertising, so the majority of the revenue this site makes is pure profit.

Drama At the Top

Most of you probably weren’t around the blogosphere a few years ago when a well named blogger named Kathy Sierra decided to quit blogging due to death threats she was receiving. She owned a blog called Creating Passionate Users and provided amazing advice. Yet because she was becoming successful and well-known, there were people out there who wanted to bring her down.

Some people even Photoshopped pictures of her with a noose around her neck.

I never imagined anything as extreme would happen to me, but I was warned that the trolls appear once you do start seeing any form of success. Sadly, that’s happening to me on a frequent basis at the moment. In the last few weeks I’ve been “outed” on multiple blogs and forums, all trying to get traffic based on bashing my brand name.

Funnily (or not), they usually come to me and apologise for their actions after their viral bait didn’t quite work out.

Apology #1

The only reason the person in the email above apologised is because I used their full name on a public forum where they were trying to slander me, and they wanted me to take it down. Their whole argument was that I stole some content, and I happily proved I didn’t. The situation could have been resolved in seconds with a quick email to me.

Instead, not only did they blog about me with the headline “ViperChill is busted” but they tweeted dozens of bloggers I connect with to share the link. Then this person – Rison – spammed the comments on CloudBlueprint, spammed the ViperChill Facebook wall and created threads about me on multiple forums.

Apology #2

Another example above is where I caught someone pirating software a friend of mine created. They added me as a friend on Facebook and then started talking about it publicly. I asked them to buy a legit copy, and that’s when about 20 of their friends (and the guy above, also Nigerian) started calling me a racist.

And the final entry to the trolling stakes is a lovely man from India who’s name I sadly don’t know. At least once a day he changes his I.P. and leaves a comment on ViperChill calling me a p*ssy. Why? Because one of my free WordPress plugins doesn’t have a feature he wants. I can’t even make this up.

You guys should all totally start a blog today ;).

Feed Subscribers Growth

In all honesty, I’ve done very little over the past year to grow the audience this blog has. I’ve only averaged 2-3 blog posts per month and I’ve written no more than three guest posts in 2011. However, ViperChill is highly optimized for converting the visitors it does get into subscribers.

You can see the number of subscribers the site has had on certain dates, below:

  • September 30th (2010): 9,651
  • May 31st (2011): 15,358

The difference between the two is 5,707. If you divide that by the number of full months in between – eight – you learn that the site has grown by 713 subscribers per month, on average.

With that in mind, the site should reach 20,000 subscribers before the end of the year. I’m confident the site will actually have a lot more than that as we enter 2012.

Personal Update

There’s a lot I could talk about in this personal update, but I would probably just annoy you if I told you how many projects I’m working on – and with which people – without being able to reveal any specifics. So, just keep in mind that I’m working on a number of very cool things, and you’ll hear more about them when they’re ready for the world to see them.

Overall, I’m really happy with how everything is going with ViperChill. I know based on the traffic the site is getting and the very minimal promotions I do, the site could be making a lot more money. While true, it’s not something I’m too worried about or focused on right now.

Instead I want to continue to focus on growing the audience here. The money can wait. 9th is good (see intro), but why not go for number one?

As always, thanks for being a part of the journey…



133 Comments


  1. SEOSherlock says:
    June 6, 2011 at 12:29 pm

    Brave yet outstanding giving us an insight into both your income and the lengths people go to just to get traffic. Keep fighting the link trolls and we (the SEO community) will keep listening & supporting….

    SEOSherlock

    Reply
    • Glen says:
      June 6, 2011 at 12:31 pm

      Hey Colin,

      Awesome to finally see you comment here 😉

      Thanks for the support!

      Reply
      • Onibalusi Bamidele says:
        June 6, 2011 at 12:57 pm

        What people don’t understand is that just any traffic is no traffic. You need the best type of traffic (like the one you get to this blog by writing awesome content) to succeed online!

        Reply
        • Dror says:
          June 6, 2011 at 1:50 pm

          I think you meant to say that the best traffic is targeted traffic. Traffic that is actually interested in what you have to say and write about and that it just might help them out in a way or two (or three, or four…:)

          No doubt Glenn has one of the most responsive blogs and it is first and foremost due to the amazing content he shares with all of us.

          Thanks.

        • Bogati says:
          June 29, 2011 at 4:40 am

          You are absolutely right Oni, Even we have small traffic we need the best and regular traffic.

      • Gregory C. says:
        June 7, 2011 at 4:44 am

        Hey Glenn, I had a question for you that might push the boundaries of your “ideal” level of transparency.

        I just wanted to know (percentages only) of how much of your income is dependent on the following:

        – Mini/affiliate sites
        – Full blown blogs
        – Products that you sell

        Also, with your CloudBlueprint strategy being something you wish to continue in the future, where do you see these numbers heading?

        Best of luck either way,
        Greg

        Reply
        • Glen says:
          June 7, 2011 at 12:58 pm

          Affiliate sites = Usually 60-70%. It used to be 100%. A little less this month…

          I’ll pass on the last question 😉

      • Gregory C. says:
        June 9, 2011 at 3:50 am

        Thanks for the response Glen, another question that’s not so personal (=P): what do you prefer to use to build your mini-sites now that affiliateSkin is down? Do you use OptimizePress?

        Reply
        • Glen says:
          June 9, 2011 at 12:08 pm

          I’m haven’t built any new sites for a while.

          I have one more to build (just purchased the domain a couple of days ago) and I’ll probably just do it static HTML, since it’s not a squeeze page.

          I build most of my sites from scratch in a text editor. Hardcore 😉

          For squeeze pages though, OptimizePress all the way.

      • Trent Dyrsmid says:
        June 13, 2011 at 7:16 pm

        Hey Glen,

        Thanks for sharing your income report (I do the same). I’m new to your blog after having found on on SPI. The part about the trolls blew me away. Hard to believe what people will do for traffic.

        I’m reminded of a quote from Warren Buffet: Reputations take a lifetime to build and seconds to destroy”

        Now that I know you exist, I’ll be reading regularly. If you are interested in being interviewed on my Podcast, please get in touch. You can see the last interview on my blog. We got a TON of comments (relative to other posts).

        Cheers,
        Trent

        Reply
  2. Kevin Velasco says:
    June 6, 2011 at 12:37 pm

    How many hours do you think you’ve averaged per day working on ViperChill.com over the last 18 months? Also, do you feel the drama and trolling will only get worse as you become more and more successful? Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
    • Glen says:
      June 6, 2011 at 12:42 pm

      Hey Kevin,

      Yeah I think it will get quite a bit worse. I remember it happening to DoshDosh quite a lot when that blog was becoming popular.

      A lot of people like to see the bigger (I’m not that big yet) bloggers fail for some reason.

      Probably an hour per day on average. Some days I can work on the site for 48 hours straight. Other times I might not even log into the back-end for 10 days.

      Reply
  3. Bilal Kamoon says:
    June 6, 2011 at 12:39 pm

    I think ViperChill definitely deserves to be the first (;
    and I liked how you mentioned even the lowest income streams (Aweber), how do you generate income from Aweber anyway? Aren’t you suppose to “pay” them for the service?

    Reply
  4. Tushar Mathur says:
    June 6, 2011 at 12:42 pm

    Your total honesty on this blog is what I admire the most about you. I have learnt so much from you and I try to implement those things on my Personal Finance Blog.

    Reply
  5. Tim says:
    June 6, 2011 at 12:50 pm

    Hey Glen,
    I simply love this post. Revealing and not so revealing. Transparently declining to publish your niches and other business given your strong reasons is a great move.
    I reveal my niches and don’t really care. In every human gathering, they’re certainly going to be low people trying to do low things like steal niche ideas, blackmail for traffic etc.

    “…also a Nigerian” I kinda get disappointed when I see people from my country do “less than good things”, I cringe…I just wish people can be real.

    I’m a Nigerian, I’m proud of it and will say it anywhere!

    “Glen, e ka san o…”

    Tim

    Reply
  6. Rob Cubbon says:
    June 6, 2011 at 12:51 pm

    Well done for publishing your income figures. You deserve to be commended for this as it really serves as an incentive for people like me. It’s good you’re not bothered about the trolls and, it’s true, trolls never have blogs, but if they had they wouldn’t feel the need to troll!

    Reply
  7. Onibalusi Bamidele says:
    June 6, 2011 at 12:54 pm

    Hi Glen,

    This is awesome and I’m so happy to see your first income report for Viperchill.

    Concerning the emails and everything, I don’t care what others say. All I know is YOU ARE A SUCCESS. Implementing tips from your blog has got me thousands of visitors, it has got me hundreds of subscribers and it has made me thousands of dollars what else?

    I noticed the trolls are becoming quite common online nowadays, like the one so called “Bob” on Pat’s site recently. One even emailed me and said my site is fake. What matters most is the positive feedback, as long as you’re getting more positive feedback than negative then you’re doing a great job.

    CloudBlueprint is my best video ever Glen, you’re awesome!

    Also, thanks a lot for the retweet of my income report today, I really appreciate it!

    Once again, thanks so much for the complete transparency and have a great day!

    -Onibalusi

    Reply
    • Glen says:
      June 6, 2011 at 12:39 pm

      Hey Oni,

      Fortunately the trolling doesn’t really bother me that much. It’s more that people are trying to rank for my names / brand names with (untrue) negative press just to get some traffic. Frustrating.

      Glad you liked the CloudBlueprint course!

      Appreciate the comment :)

      Reply
  8. Diggy says:
    June 6, 2011 at 1:14 pm

    Sweet Glen,
    Cool post and happy to see how well you’re doing!
    $9k a month is certainly nothing to laugh at so Congrats!

    :)

    Reply
  9. patrick says:
    June 6, 2011 at 1:32 pm

    Very glad to see you are doing well. You definitely deserve it for all of the hard work you’ve done. I’m sure this will only add to your success.

    Reply
  10. Anthony says:
    June 6, 2011 at 1:41 pm

    Hello fellow Geordie :)
    I’ve just been forwarded your site and I’m loving what you’re sharing. You seem to keep a very level-head mate when it comes to haters – something I truly need to work on!

    Keep up the good work.

    Where abouts in Newcastle were you born? I am writing from Benton.

    Reply
    • Glen says:
      June 6, 2011 at 1:45 pm

      Hey man,

      Thanks!

      I’m from Wallsend. You been watching Geordie Shore? I went to school with one of them haha

      Reply
  11. Anthony says:
    June 6, 2011 at 1:48 pm

    Hahaha no way!? I witnessed 15 minutes of it and I was worried for my brain cells. Aaaah home of Mr Shearer :)

    Which one was he? I’ll try and give it another go, Can’t believe they air it in SA!?

    Reply
  12. Brad says:
    June 6, 2011 at 2:11 pm

    Glen-

    I’m a big fan and enjoy reading and learning from each post.

    I am also a proud cloudblogging member.

    Thanks for sharing all this!

    Keep it real,

    Brad

    Reply
  13. Ian Mackay says:
    June 6, 2011 at 2:20 pm

    Is this possible for any style of website?
    I can’t really see how I can make money out of my current setup.

    I have introduced a few small ads, wrote some reviews, offered a couple of very basic services, some affiliate products and in talks to sell some clothing lines via the store but I have still made £0.

    As much as the website is there to help people, a small income would help as I would be able to pay off the running costs from income generated, expand the services I offer on the site and also with a possible threat of redundancy soon, I may need some income to tide me over between work.

    Wheres the best place to start?

    Reply
  14. Sadie says:
    June 6, 2011 at 2:29 pm

    Hi Glen!

    Wow! You are truly an inspiration to everyone out there! :) You’ve honestly achieved a lot at your young age…wow again! :)

    Just wanna say congrats on all your success, you really deserve it! And don’t mind the haters just keep your head up!

    Sadie

    Reply
  15. Cristina says:
    June 6, 2011 at 2:39 pm

    Hi Glen,

    nice to see your income report. Not bad for a Z-List blogger 😉

    I followed the whole “Rison drama” on Twitter and you know what I did? Nothing. I didn’t visit his site to read his post, I didn’t retweet him and actually I didn’t give a s*** what he could say.
    You’ve worked very hard to build your reputation and we – your readers- can’t give credit to the first guy who comes around the corner to screw you or to try to make money using dirty tactics.

    Cheers,

    Cristina

    P.S. If you are planning on going to South America you should first learn how to roll your r’s :-p

    Reply
  16. shelli says:
    June 6, 2011 at 2:41 pm

    Hi Glen

    It’s pretty sad that as soon as you get success there is a queue of people who want to bring you down. It’s amazing what you have achieved with your blog over the last 18 months (which i have followed) keep at it.

    I wanted to ask what had happened to your million $ project and if it is still going? do we get any insight on to what you are doing with this? would love to know out of curiosity.

    Reply
  17. Adarsh says:
    June 6, 2011 at 2:58 pm

    Hi Glen,

    I have been reading viperchill.com for a while now. I’m not at all amazed at the growth of this blog since you provide that kind of value on this blog.

    Recently I took inspiration from your blog and also thinktraffic article on write epic shit and wrote a 4500 word article. Since my blog is not yet popular enough, very less traffic to it to make it go viral.

    Congrats on the amazing figures

    Reply
  18. Tim says:
    June 6, 2011 at 3:00 pm

    Oh yeah Glen, I just did!
    Simple means, “good afternoon”…

    You once wrote yoruba to me on skype remember?

    Tim

    Reply
  19. Steve says:
    June 6, 2011 at 3:50 pm

    Hey Glen, you shot my mom and you ran over my dog!!!

    Just kidding…

    Great post, thanks a lot for your always abundant inspiration. That’s all I’ve got to say. Hope to walk in your esteemed footsteps someday soon! Have a great one man, thanks!

    Reply
  20. Sarah Russell says:
    June 6, 2011 at 3:51 pm

    Sorry to hear about the trolls picking up your site – not cool, but unfortunately, it comes with the territory. It’s amazing what some people think they deserve from you, just because you had the audacity to put up a helpful site… :)

    But otherwise, congrats on the successes here! Well deserved, for sure, and I’m glad to hear that it’s been both personally and financially rewarding.

    Reply
  21. Steve MacCormack says:
    June 6, 2011 at 4:31 pm

    Hello Glen, I’ve been reading your blog consistently for the better part of the last 6 months. I got your site from another blogger I follow as I’ve been studying the methods to this madness called I.M. I’m about to launch my first blog and attempt to get into this I.M. game…your knowledge and commitment to the industry are both top notch amigo! Over the past year I’ve trimmed the fat down to about 4 people that I look to for advice and you are one of “the four” bro. I realize that right now that means very little but you will be seeing much more of me(hopefully sooner rather than later)…promise. Keep up the amazing work and when it comes to the “trolls” remember one thing…”what they think of you is none of your business.” There’s plenty of room for the top notch bloggers/ marketers…always was, always will be…Have a great day bro.

    Reply
  22. Jay says:
    June 6, 2011 at 4:42 pm

    Cool to see a report which does provide some transparency. I have no problem at all with someone making money off of providing extra information to people especially in your case where you give away a large portion of it for free so people should know what they’re getting. I think most people have a problem with the gurus who throw up a landing page and start selling the next big thing or trick to make money on auto-pilot.

    Reply
  23. Brendon Held says:
    June 6, 2011 at 4:43 pm

    I can’t believe what I am reading Glen! I am very sorry to hear about the trouble you are having with trolls. This is a sad reality of the world we live in unfortunately. The internet is the perfect breeding ground for cowards that can’t make it in the real world. Instead they resort to taking their frustrations out in a medium that they can hide behind.

    At least you know you are above them, and one thing you have that they don’t (most likely, or they wouldn’t be resorting to such tactics for attention) is a huge dedicated following that knows better. So don’t stress about it at all my friend. You have always given me value on your website, and I am eternally grateful for that.

    I am glad to see that your efforts on ViperChill are being rewarded now. Congrats on the success!

    Reply
  24. David | Almost Bohemian says:
    June 6, 2011 at 4:55 pm

    Glen please ignore the haters. Please!

    That was very helpful of you to post about the income, but it was even more valuable to post about the negativity you have experienced. As a fairly new face to the blogging scene, I haven’t yet come across that. But its good to be reminded that it exists. I think more of that would be a great post. The unfortunate realities of blogging full time.

    I appreciate so much what you do. And I am thankful to be a subscriber to damn near all that you do!

    Reply
  25. Jia Jun says:
    June 6, 2011 at 5:11 pm

    Through this report I’ve learn the important of having our own great product in order to earn a living and even more in blogging and internet business.
    Thanks Glen for the report. 😀
    Viperchill is one of my favourite blog. 😀

    Reply
  26. Vince Lin says:
    June 6, 2011 at 5:25 pm

    Hey Glen,

    Fame comes with it many benefits as well as hardships. Once you get famous, you can’t really get “unfamous”.

    I thought you were making more than 8k/month but thank you for posting these figures. Now I know what number I need to beat :)

    Reply
  27. Rasmus says:
    June 6, 2011 at 7:11 pm

    Man, I wish it was me who was so popular that I had people trolling me :).

    If that does not say something about your success I don’t know what does.

    Reply
  28. Serperb says:
    June 6, 2011 at 8:23 pm

    Personal update didn’t mention what part of the world you are in this month. Hmph!

    Reply
  29. Rachelle says:
    June 6, 2011 at 8:38 pm

    Dear Glen,

    It’s certainly true what you said about when you get popular. I’m in a tiny niche and my blog brings me customers.

    So far I’ve attracted one demented troll. This guy followed me around to all the forums I go to, posting his vile crap, he sent me nasty perverted messages on my blog. Then he used a picture I took of my son (fortunately disguised) as a forum avatar. This went on for about 8 months. I can’t even express how stressful it is to have some person you’ve never even met or worked for attack you. He uses an IP anonymiser and posts under multiple user profiles to reinforce his ploy.

    Recently some other business in Canada out west, bought the .com version of my website, trademarked my business name and now I’m embroiled in a nasty legal dispute to trademark my own business name that I’ve been using since 2007. These people claim they never heard of me or thought to google the name of my company, yet they copied my site. This is going to cost me thousands in legal fees.

    It can get pretty bad out there.

    Reply
  30. Darren Singleton says:
    June 6, 2011 at 9:12 pm

    Great post as usual Glen. Really appreciate you putting those figures out for all to see.

    Keep up the great work!
    Regards,
    Darren

    Reply
  31. Justin | Mazzastick says:
    June 6, 2011 at 10:18 pm

    Hey Glen,
    I forgot about the downside to blogging success. I guess that is what happens in life and business.

    Well, you are kicking ass at what you do, and I am only inspired by it, and hope that I can do the same.

    Thanks for being transparent with your earnings.

    Reply
  32. Phoebe says:
    June 6, 2011 at 10:31 pm

    I normally do not comment here, but this drama stems from you sucessding …the more u suceed the more people will crawl from under a rock and hate on you.

    Nice income u have there, hope it only gets bigger 😛
    Great blog also.

    Reply
  33. alex - unleash reality says:
    June 6, 2011 at 10:49 pm

    haters gonna hate trolololololol

    Reply
  34. Ralph says:
    June 6, 2011 at 11:15 pm

    Reading all the comments everyone seems to be on your side anyway.
    And just like Onibalusi says, this is really the traffic you want anyway. Genuine people who like your stuff and come back for more.

    I mention you (and Pat Flynn) quite a bit on my own site and to other people who I meet in the affiliate marketing game as my personal guidelines.

    Mate, Hater hate and won’t change. Talk loud and proud when they talk bad but don’t when they apologise. (who’s the p*ssy now…)

    Anyway, keep going and you might be able to afford a ticket to Sydney 😉

    Ralph

    Reply
  35. Shatish says:
    June 7, 2011 at 1:57 am

    Hi Glen,

    I enjoy reading your posts and you provide some of the best content online.Please don’t stop what you’re doing.

    You know you’re popular when you got yourself some haters.Take a look at Justin Bieber , people hate him for no apparent reason.lol

    Regards,
    Shatish

    Reply
  36. Kim says:
    June 7, 2011 at 2:23 am

    Glen, you’ve got a lot of ‘quiet’ fans, too. I’m a long time subscriber, and have encountered a few trolls and opportunists on my own blog, but nothing like what you’ve experienced.

    One thing that encourages me is to read archived posts on dooce.com by Heather Armstrong. She has lived through some difficult experiences that she’s blogged about (she’s famous for being fired for blogging, among other things) and she seems to have come to terms with the trolls who call her names and attack her parenting skills. She makes fun of both herself and the trolls, and sometimes she just posts their insane comments and lets the sentiments speak for themselves. Seems like the more successful she is, the harder they attack.

    Anyway, a lot of us are just plain happy to see you succeed and appreciate your sharing your valuable insights with us.

    -Kim

    Reply
    • Glen says:
      June 7, 2011 at 12:59 pm

      Hey Kim,

      Thanks for coming out of the shadows…

      I’ve heard of the site but never really given it a proper look.

      Thanks for the suggestion!

      Reply
  37. Pavel says:
    June 7, 2011 at 2:34 am

    Hi Glen,

    Thanks for another awesome post. You are an inspiration to those like me, who are just starting out. Thanks also for talking about the “dark” side of success – trolls. That’s how you know when you’re truly successful, when people start bashing.

    Good luck!

    Reply
  38. Jeremy says:
    June 7, 2011 at 4:53 am

    Thanks for sharing the numbers Glen. There’s nothing like the real proof and being truly genuine is a great approach.

    Thanks also for the inspiration and honesty, you are making a different in many lives as I’m sure you can tell from the comments. I know you have indirectly guided me in some key areas where I was failing.

    As many have said, you can expect more negative to come with your success, just block it out and thrive on the positive.

    Reply
  39. Anne Lyken-Garner says:
    June 7, 2011 at 10:57 am

    Congrats, Glen. You work hard and you deserve to make a good living. I’m still struggling to break the ‘money-making online’ fantasy, but I’m still trying.

    I’m glad that I’m one of your subscribers and also bought your cloudliving programme. It’s great to be included in the stats! :-)

    Reply
  40. Marios says:
    June 7, 2011 at 2:04 pm

    Glen, I been reading your blog for a good few months now, and I think what I like it is the “Quality” of your work, I don’t think you have to post every day to be successful, I think you have to post amazing stuff.
    I learn a lot form your videos and articles, I make money selling wp themes, I hope you stick around for long time, best of luck
    Marios

    Reply
  41. rishil says:
    June 7, 2011 at 3:18 pm

    Remember the Kathy Sierra stuff – she was so badly shook. Trolls seem to grow these days – I have a few that are pestering me too… 😛

    Keep up the good work bro.

    Reply
  42. Shekhar says:
    June 7, 2011 at 3:26 pm

    Hi Glen,

    Really rice start and progress. I knew this blog but was not a regular reader. But now I realized that I missed something in my way. Will make it sure that This must not be repeated. Keep marching and sharing exceptional posts.

    Reply
  43. Naveen Kulkarni says:
    June 7, 2011 at 6:54 pm

    Congratulations on this feat.
    Your blog rocks and one of my favorite blogging advice resource.
    I also installed your ViperBar on my blog and its incredible :-)

    Keep up the great work

    Reply
  44. Alex says:
    June 7, 2011 at 9:47 pm

    Hey Glen I’ve been reading your blog for a while and I’ve been having problem actually getting the blog to rank. I mean putting back-links manually in for many websites is too time consuming. There must be a faster more efficient way. Do you recommend just writing more articles so my site will rank on google better? I know there are other ways to get traffic to the site such as ezine articles, but I just wanted a faster way to get more back-links. Its really discouraging to put a blog when backlinks seems like the only way to rank and that is too time consuming let alone not very effective.

    Reply
  45. Seth says:
    June 7, 2011 at 9:47 pm

    You tried to take advantage of something you didnt have good info on. ¿Why not trying to gain traffic writing quality content and following Glens advice instead of posting bad things about him?

    That is just sad my friend. You are now “famous” for these kind of incidents. Sad Sad.

    Reply
  46. Pure2raw twins says:
    June 8, 2011 at 2:47 am

    I am happy to see you doing well because it gives me hope 😉 I appreciate you sharing all that you do.

    I understand about the trolls, I blog in a different area (healthy living) and I get the not so nice comments, etc. But try to remember all the good!

    Keep it up!

    Reply
  47. Michael says:
    June 8, 2011 at 4:52 am

    For the 1st guy, the reason he gave for deleting that post about you on his blog was:

    “He started trolling me, lol. I just can’t compete with a-listers with bigger social media power. He called me a twitter rapist and a troll. I had enough.”

    Reply
    • Glen says:
      June 8, 2011 at 7:56 am

      Meh.

      I never called him a Twitter rapist, and he never actually deleted the post.

      Real thing I said was “He is raping me on Twitter” since he was messaging everyone I speak to in order to share the link.

      Reply
  48. Chris says:
    June 8, 2011 at 7:20 am

    Hey Glen, After reading this post I was shocked!! The content you create, the ideas you share and all the vibes that you put across are OUTSTANDING!
    Throughout Life I have learnt that people and even friends can become very jealous of your successes. When you fly up the success ladder you find out very quickly who cares about you and who supports you.
    People don’t like it when you become better than them or more successful than them, cus you are then their competition and their lime light has faded if not gone all together due to your success!
    To me when anyone achieves something outstandingly amazing or sometimes something even simple I look up to them and say AWESOME!
    I guess that’s just me!
    You keep doing what you’re doing Glen and don’t ever give a darn about the peeps that don’t like you or your work. I support and back you all the way and always will… unless of course you start sending me hate mail for my successes!!! hahaha!
    Keep the energy HIGH Glen, you’re doing OUSTANDING :0)

    Stay cool ;0)

    p.s. Sorry for the long post, but had to jabber on! Also been playing the new zombies arcade style mission on COD all night so brain is a bit fried and english is a tad static cus of it, to say the least!! I feel like a zombie!! Time to go get some fresh air and breath! :0)

    Reply
  49. Lee Hughes says:
    June 8, 2011 at 10:29 am

    Since you will be more successful you should start something like the Oatmeal did http://theoatmeal.com/pages/retarded_emails

    :)

    Reply
  50. Toto says:
    June 8, 2011 at 11:35 am

    Awesome bro, $8K+ in one month is something some of us dream about. I have to say do not worry yourself about those stupid scare tactics, I am also very impressed and motivated by one of your subscribers… keep it Oni.

    Reply
  51. Iulian Lita says:
    June 8, 2011 at 11:59 am

    Thanks for sharing, Glen. I have one question: why did you include in the viperchill.com report the income from cloudliving? arent’t they separate projects? Or that income is from referral trafic from viperchill to cloudlivinghq.com?

    Reply
  52. Nigel Tidy says:
    June 8, 2011 at 4:43 pm

    I have read your website for some time and bought one of your products. I love the information, ideas and strategies you provide. I am used to US dollars on the internet, but often working out what it means in terms of UK pounds sterling income to live on.

    I do miss the print text option. Although I should read it online, I sometimes want to take it offline and highlight sections and add notes.

    Please keep up the good work.

    Reply
  53. Shekhar says:
    June 8, 2011 at 7:00 pm

    Glen, 1 confusion… You told that this blog is 18 month old, but today when I though to see all your post from day one, I discover that the post are from 2007.. 18 months and 4 years .. Bit confusing for me ????

    Reply
  54. Alex says:
    June 9, 2011 at 9:38 pm

    8k almost pure profit is amazing… Just shows how well hard work, great content and a clever marketing strategy pays. As for the haters… you’re not at the top if you don’t have them so just sit back, laugh and let them be jealous.

    Congrats on being the 9th largest marketing blog in the world!

    Reply
  55. Ryan says:
    June 10, 2011 at 11:09 am

    Hey Glen — I think I came across your blog from another blog about “100 people you should follow on Twitter”

    This blog was pretty funny — I am sure cleaning up all the negativity was a pain but it read well.

    May this serve as a reminder to everyone in any business, there is no easy way — you have to put the time in to get results.

    Be well —

    Ryan

    Reply
  56. ZPTsotetsi says:
    June 10, 2011 at 1:02 pm

    this is great and im really impressed by the two products you own, you really are making a killing with •CloudBlogging and CloudLiving.

    just a question, do you have an affiliate program for your products, if no, why?

    Reply
  57. andrew says:
    June 10, 2011 at 2:47 pm

    Nice work on you profits. What’s the total average monthly income from ALL of your sites?

    Reply
  58. Mk Akan says:
    June 10, 2011 at 3:59 pm

    Glen,
    Sorry to hear about people who try to bring you down…i guess it is a price that comes with success. just see what happend to celebs in the world…i guess it is something similar…

    And like Tim,it sad to hear that the second person is a Nigerian…because i am proudly one. Anyway ,keep doing your thing,you are doing great …

    Mk Akan

    Reply
  59. Chris Webb says:
    June 11, 2011 at 5:59 am

    Screw the haters. I wouldn’t have validated them with the post but hey, I’m all for a bit of troll bashing.

    Your content is always 100% on the money. Ignore these idiots no one with a brain will take anything they say seriously.

    Reply
  60. Stefan says:
    June 12, 2011 at 10:38 am

    Hi Glen,

    You have so far been in the outer area of my radar (just being honest here) and I haven’t read your post so much.
    But today I sat down and decided to read some, and one thing is sure, you are now inside my area of focus.
    I really enjoy to read what I see here.
    So expect to see some of my comments here in the future.

    Keep up the good work :-)

    —
    Stefan

    Reply
  61. Make Money Online with Vic says:
    June 12, 2011 at 9:48 pm

    Hi Glen!

    I totally respect the transparency. And I’m sorry to hear that the last time you attempted to share info in an openhearted way, people jumped all over your niche!

    It’s hard to find a happy medium between giving people that raw inspiration through income reports, progress updates, etc. and providing solid information that people can use to take action to see those results in their own businesses.

    Either way, your content is absolutely killer and I’d be a reader income reports or no income reports! Thanks for opening the books and giving us a peek at what’s going on!

    Good Vibes!
    Vic Dorfman

    Reply
  62. Jason says:
    June 12, 2011 at 10:33 pm

    Hi Glen,

    Congrats on your success, and thanks for a great read with this post. Out of curiosity – how long did it take you to reach the point of working online where you could replace your day job income? I’ve read somewhere that most Internet marketers move from project to project (with lessons learned along the way) until they finally hit a reasonable amount of success (i.e., quitting the old day job:) ). As a reader, I’d be interested in a post(s) that chronicled what you learned from each of your different projects that enabled you to reach success – sort of like a case study mixed in with some productivity/improvement lessons.

    Reply
  63. Andy says:
    June 12, 2011 at 11:05 pm

    Like they say, “the tall poppy gets cut.” I guess it’s something that comes with the territory. In virtual life as social life.

    Reply
  64. Jeremy says:
    June 13, 2011 at 2:21 am

    Cool to see how the blog is doing. I have been reading it since early 2010 and learned a lot, some of your tips helped me with link building and eventually quit my job. I knew if you ever released a product you would do well selling it and you definitely are. Good job, but I bet you make even more with your niche sites! It would be great to see a bit of a round-up on how those sites are doing traffic-wise after the panda update.

    Reply
  65. Terence Pera says:
    June 13, 2011 at 7:33 am

    Hi Glen,
    I followed a link from Pat Flynn to your page and i enjoyed reading your blog, i have been mugging around with web sites and blogs but to test things out but when i came across Pat’s and your blog i thought to my self i really have to start doing this seriously. Glen thank you for the encouragement and i like the way you help people.Thanks again.
    Terence

    Reply
  66. Jake says:
    June 14, 2011 at 12:50 am

    Wow, there are some desparate folks who will do anything for traffic. How bout just make awesome content? Keep up the good work Glen.

    Reply
  67. shajjad says:
    June 17, 2011 at 6:25 am

    Happy to get your first monthly income report. Hope you will continue it. :)

    Shajjad

    Reply
  68. Mohit says:
    June 23, 2011 at 12:24 pm

    Good to see that you are doing well and encouraging bloggers like us to take up blogging as a full time job.
    Keep up the good work Glen !

    Reply
  69. Lee Griffiths says:
    June 27, 2011 at 7:54 pm

    Hey Glen, This post has just really opened my eyes, i had no idea of anything to that nature happened!!! I cant believe the actions of others trying to take you down and death threats to that women just enjoying blogging.

    I just today got my first google pagerank and have been moving up the alexa rankings very fast, i really hope i don’t have to put up with that behavior one day!

    Reply
  70. Usman says:
    June 30, 2011 at 12:27 pm

    Glen how do you earn $500 with HostGator. Its good to see you earning $5200 with cloud Living your self signatured product

    Reply
  71. Cool Boy says:
    June 30, 2011 at 12:29 pm

    You have noit earned much from affiliate programs like Aweber and Hostgator but you have earned well with your self developed online products. Congrats Elder Brother

    Reply
  72. Siddhartha Sinha says:
    July 5, 2011 at 12:24 pm

    Your Blog is earning so much even without using the Google Adsense

    Reply
  73. Gordon Casper says:
    July 7, 2011 at 4:32 am

    Glen? What is your highest completed education level?

    I am asking because I suppose you arent a college graduate (too young to be) and this article more than other articles can very well be motivator for thousands of students to stop their school and do this or similar activity…

    Reply
    • Glen says:
      July 7, 2011 at 10:05 am

      Hey Gordon,

      I dropped out of college after my second year (with one year still to go). College for me in England is from 16-18, so it’s not quite the same as America. Meaning my education level is probably even less than you assumed!

      Reply
  74. aditya menon says:
    August 13, 2011 at 3:25 pm

    Wow Glen, are you even real? I have never come across anyone so good at making money, being so open about it.

    The cynic devil on my left shoulder argues that this is because you want to make sales on your Cloudblogginghq tutorial website, but the angel on my right shoulder assures me that this is not the case because of your really open, straight-to-the-point posts and *great* tips – I’m especially floored by your post on how to get back-links.

    Sure, I can think these techniques up if I were to sit down, but it would take a lot (I mean a LOT) of sit-down-think-write-down sessions, and you saved a great deal of time for me personally and thousands of others by providing a ready-to-use roadmap on going about it.

    Basically, I just want to say I came across your site today, and I think you’re a great person. All the best! (Rehashing the obvious, you don’t need luck. You’ve got talent, AND the drive to use it)

    Reply
  75. Dave says:
    August 31, 2011 at 9:31 pm

    It’s great that you’ve shared some of your figures with us and you’ve given me something to aspire to. Yes I won’t be making as much as you but I now know it’s possible and I’ve been enjoying the tips on the site. Thanks

    Reply
  76. Michael says:
    November 5, 2011 at 4:25 am

    Hi Glen,

    I was wondering – do you still do affiliate marketing? Or is that a dead horse for you now? If so, is that not included in the income report on purpose?

    Reply
  77. Dean says:
    February 13, 2014 at 3:55 am

    Hello Glen :) it seems im bumping your old post – last comment being 2011 – im from Darlington near Newcastle so it has been interesting following your work since I found you a month or so ago (I came across a service/product your involved in that you rightfully keep under close wraps but I was not ready to act at that time but am thinking about doing so soon).

    I actually came accross this post having found a shameful outing by a blogger getting traffic from your name and it got my attention as I was interested in something you do that I mentioned earlier. I thought I had better look into you a bit more lol!

    Anyway I have posted for just one curious question thats all about the cloudliving and cloudblogging sites – obviously im 3 years late to see them im guessing they are not running anymore I see the cloudliving one in japenese!

    So you just stop doing these sites because the traffic dropped or because your onto much bigger projects now?

    Ps if you do read this please email me on the address in this post so I can speak to you privately about that service/product you are involved in – I just have a few questions thats all it would be greatly appreciated – thanks geordie lad :)

    Reply
  78. Praveen says:
    February 17, 2015 at 11:24 am

    stumbled across the post, it will be nice if u can share2014 results

    Reply

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