A while back I blogged about reporting some (a lot, actually) websites to Google for violation of DMCA. I got a positive response and everything was cleared up. Well, the truth is that it was really an exercise in futility - so I thought. See, my site had not earned me a dime since the Christmas shopping craze ended in January so I figured I would just move on. But I was so frustrated that my content had been stolen that I reported these sites anyway.
So a couple of days ago I decided to check the traffic on that site and was very surprised to see it getting a decent amount of visitors. "Hmmm....", I thought, so I moseyed on over to see if there had been any sales. MONEY! Mind you, not a lot of money, but it'll pay a few meals. :)
There is another variable at play here, and that is the update to Google that took place recently. I don't really now what effect it may have had, but I can say that my site isn't 'spammy' and it's very on topic. Perhaps G see's it as a bit of an authority site? Now I am energized to continue updating the content, and I came up with a new way to stay relevant while I was at it.

Lesson: Never give up on a site. Just let it simmer. For the cost of a domain name it's worth being patient. Keep on learning and growing!