No there hasn't been a PR update, but for some bizarre reason my PR toolbar is reading 6/10 for one of my pages. This isn't a post on how worthy PR is, we're all pretty well versed in saying how bad a metric it is, considering some worthwhile sites are reading zero just because they choose to make money by selling some links on their site. However, this just made me chuckle. Why? Because the PR6 is on the Write a New Post page of my Stuff by Sarah blog! This page is not known in Google search (strangely enough) and all the PR checkers I've tried show up zero, which is understandable considering it's a non public page. Clearly some little bug has cropped up, although it doesn't show for any other write post page on any of my other WP sites.nnStill, made me laugh. Here's a screen shot before it goes again nn

Now this is what AIS is about, earning money without work. Last month we were away for almost 33% of the month, yet we made a large portion of our earnings during this period thanks to a couple of affiliate sales and text links sold. Income is also finally on the up, which is pretty good considering AdSense is down a further 20%. Total income came to $266, a 30% increase on December, and finally increasing back to our highs of last year.nnPlans for this month include the launch of a new business with a couple of business partners, one that I'm quite excited about and looking forward to promoting. A couple of my old sites have suddenly gained a bit of interest, a skiing site which I've still got tonnes of content to write on is suddenly earning money (it being the right season 'n all!) so I really need to sit down and tap out my essay long articles for it! My foodie blog has taken an upward turn on visitors and it's also becoming a major earner for us which is pretty cool considering I just set it up due to my own passion of food and cooking (and drinking ahem). It's another that needs a little more attention.nnSo there's plenty to be doing this month, and with it being quite quiet and too cold to leave the house, I'm hoping to really get some work done this month to start to build more for the future.nnLast year we saved our AIS earnings to pay for our holiday, which turned out to actually cover our house moving costs. This year we're seriously thinking of buying a house (fed up with renting, the new place has been a real let down in areas too) so the earnings will be contributing to the deposit. This isn't set in stone however until we chat to an advisor, but I believe it's a good idea to have something to work towards for your motivation.nnBank Income Target: £127+ a month (real cash in the bank), balance stands at £116.51, so target wasn't quite reached for January.

A good business opportunity doesn't come around often I don't think. I've had a couple of opportunities which I've taken up instantly and they've come through for me. Maybe I'm just a bit too cautious and I could have had a few more on the go had I taken some risks. But at the same time I don't want to set things up, or buy something or into something and not actually do anything with it. In the past I've stumbled across a potentially good idea, had someone build the site, put in a few hours on improvements and we've made over $1k from it. Another was luck that a friend was selling off a couple of sites, I grabbed one, added more products to it and, whilst I've not made a massive amount, I'm in profit on it.nnLast week I was also pretty lucky when a fellow AISer offered the chance to make an investment into a new site selling a very cool product (I say this after having a good play with the product and seeing what it produced!). This person I have the upmost respect for, so getting the chance to buy into his idea was a bit of a no-brainer. I'm not going to release details of the product for sale yet until the site is up and ready, but watch this space as there will be an offer on for all my readers

Well if you're in the UK that is, or Australia, or a few other dropped countries. Apparently Google's strict changes in AdSense Referrals means the income earnt has dropped back to where it was about a year ago, however that makes no difference to anyone outside North/South America and Japan, because regardless of whether you referred someone yesterday or a couple of months ago, if they don't make their $100 before the end of the month you won't get anything, regardless of whether they make it within the 180 day period.nnNice eh. You can read about it all at JenSense.nnFrom what I can see, if you had referral button on your site it just won't display now, as mine isn't.

So the new year is here and it's a good time to wipe the slate clean. I've emptied out our savings account to pay off the final house moving costs and started the account back at zero for the start of this year. Of course payments have already come in from a couple of places which already gives us a total of £80+.nnLast year we made, including bank interest, £1526 (figure is pure cash in the bank, not virtual figures in accounts such as ClickBank). So I only have one New Years resolution and that's to beat that amount.nnPlans for the year (my to do list):nFinish off Travel site before we go on holiday in 2 weeksnFinish off improving/upgrading product selling site, plus bug the designer for more products to sellnImprove couple of existing template sitesnGet my 6 year planned shopping site on the gonPost more nnMost of that shouldn't take me long to do, it's just getting the motivation to do it. I'm hoping to take at least one day a week to sit and do this work, so providing I stay a bit more focused then it's achievable and I still get to keep my spare time.nnEdit: Just to add, £1526 translates to an average of £127 a month (give or take a few pence).