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How Bloggers Make Money from Blogs

Posted By Darren Rowse 6th of December 2005 Pro Blogging News 0 Comments

Make Money BloggingDo you Want to Make Money Blogging? Subscribe to ProBlogger Today.

My Personal Income Streams

As an update to this post I’ve more recently written one on How I make Money Blogging which highlights the most profitable ways that I use blogs to generate income. I’ve also written extensively on how bloggers make money in ProBlogger the Book.

How do bloggers make money from blogs?

How-Bloggers-Make-MoneyI’ve been reflecting this week about the amazing diversity of opportunities that are opening up for bloggers to make money from blogging.

I’ve long advised that bloggers seeking to make money from blogging spread their interests across multiple revenue streams so as not to put all their eggs in one basket.

The wonderful thing is that this is becoming easier and easier to do 2005 has seen many options opening up. I thought I’d take a look at some of the methods that bloggers are currently using to make money through blogs.

Income Streams for Bloggers – How to Make Money Blogging

Advertising Programs – Perhaps the most obvious changes in the past few months have been with the addition of a variety of viable advertising options for bloggers looking to make money from their blogs. The most common way bloggers seem to earn money online is via the contextual ad program from Google – Adsense. A more recent addition that many are using successfully are Chitika.

RSS Advertising – The past 12 months have seen some advances in RSS Advertising also. I’m yet to hear of any bloggers making big money blogging through it to this point – but as improvements are made to the ad programs exploring this I’m sure we’ll start to see examples of it being profitable.

Sponsorship – In addition to the array of advertising programs that are available to join there is a growing awareness in the business of the value and opportunity that exists for them to advertise directly on blogs. I’m hearing more and more examples of this and have been fortunately to have a couple of ad campaigns of my own in the past month – one with Adobe a couple of weeks ago and another just completed with Ricoh for a new digicam over at my Digital Camera Blog. These are not isolated cases – as I say I know of many blogs exploring sponsorship with advertisers at present and suspect we’ll see more of it in the year ahead. Sponsorship is also happening on a post by post basis with some bloggers being paid to write on certain topics by companies – either in one off or a regular fashion – and they are able to make big money from their blogs doing so.

Affiliate Programs – There are larger affiliate programs like Amazon, Linkshare, Clickbank and Commission Junction but also literally thousands of others from the large to the very small.

Digital Assets – Increasing numbers of bloggers have been developing other digital assets to support and add revenue streams to their blogs. By this I mean that I’m increasingly seeing e-books, courses and tele-seminars being run by bloggers. This type of activity will only increase in future – in fact this week I’ve seen numerous examples of bloggers running courses.

Blog Network Opportunities – with the rise in popularity of Blog Networks – bloggers are also being presented with more places to earn an income from their blogging – by writing for and with others. While it might be difficult to get a writing gig with one of the bigger networks – there are plenty who are always asking for new bloggers to join and who are willing to pay bloggers using a variety of payment models. While there are distinct advantages of blogging for yourself – blogging for an established network who will handle a lot of the set up/promotion/admin/SEO etc has it’s advantages also. More and more bloggers are combining writing for themselves on their own blogs with taking on blog network blogs as additional income streams.

Business Blog Writing Opportunities – as blogging has risen in it’s profile as a medium more and more businesses are starting blogs. Many of these companies have internal staff take on blogging duties – but an increasing number of them are hiring specialist bloggers to come on and run their blogs. I know of a number of bloggers who in the past month or two have been approached for such paid work. Check out the ProBlogger Job Board if you’re looking for this type of work.

Non Blogging Writing Opportunities – Also becoming more common are bloggers being hired to write in non blogging mediums. Manolo’s recent coup of a column in the Washington Post is just one example of this as bloggers are increasingly being approached to write for newspapers, magazines and other non blog websites. Along side this is the rise of bloggers as published book authors – this is to the extent that one blogger I spoke with this week complained to me that they were one of the few bloggers than they knew who didn’t have a book deal!

Donations – Tip Jars and donation buttons have been a part of blogging for years now but this last year saw a number of bloggers go full time after fund raising drives. Perhaps the most high profile of these was Jason Kottke of kottke.org who through the generosity of his readership was able to quit his job and become a full time blogger.

Flipping Blogs – Also more common in 2005 was the practice of ‘Blog Flipping’ – or selling of blogs. This has happened both on an individual blog level (I can think of about 20 blogs that sold this year) but also on a network level (the most obvious of these being the 8 figure sale of Weblogs Inc to AOL).

Merchandising – My recent attempt to sell ProBlogger.net T-shirts wasn’t a raging success, but it is an example of how an increasing number of bloggers are attempting to make a few extra dollars from their blogs by selling branded products through programs like Cafepress. While I didn’t have a lot of success with merchandising – quite a few larger blogs are seeing significant sales – especially blogs with a cult following. I’m not at liberty to discuss details – but I know of one largish blog which will see sales over $20,000 in merchandise for the calendar year of 2005.

Consulting and Speaking – While it has been popular for established consultants to add blogs to their businesses we’re also starting to see bloggers with no consulting background able to make money by charging readers for their time in consulting scenarios BECAUSE of the profile that their blogs have built them. Blogging has the ability to establish people as experts on niche topics and we all know the value of being perceived as an expert. I spoke to one blogger last month who charges himself out at over $200 an hour for speaking and consulting work – his area of expertise was something that he knew little about 18 months ago – but through his blog he’s become a leader in his field and a minor celebrity in his industry.

As time rolls on there are more and more ways that bloggers make money from their blogs opening up. Feel free to suggest your own ideas and experiences in comments below.

Update: Looking for more information on how to make money blogging? Here’s a post I wrote talking about my own experience – particularly looking at the top ways that I make money from blogs.

Also check out these resources on how to set up a profitable blog:

  • ProBlogger the Book – where I and Chris Garrett sum up all of the basic tips about starting up a blog in the one volume.
About Darren Rowse
Darren Rowse is the founder and editor of ProBlogger Blog Tips and Digital Photography School. Learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Comments
  1. I agree that you can make money from blogs. I have been making money from blogging for two years now. Here’s a great tip:

    make sure that you have an opt – in box on your blog, so you can get all sorts of email address.

    God Bless!

    ELMO

  2. Good day guys..
    I am new from blogging but I knew long before that you can make profit from it..

    I am spending my time on the net and found out that most money making blogs are the one’s that are visited the most, like this blog from idol darren. He is a great blogger he makes profit from this, probably, but in return, he gives us hints and ideas on how to profit from our blogs.. thanks darren, ur the man..

    happy blogging everyone..

  3. hello…thanks….for sharing your listing…. now, I joint affiliate in linkshare according to your suggestion… I hope I earn my first money online….

  4. This is a lot of good practical advice that others who are new to the blogging world can follow. I’ve seen the results of some of the techniques you mention as my unique visits have doubled over the last two months. Thanks!

    Dan

  5. Blogging is a great way to manage content of the website. Better yet, equipped with the tools such us Adsense or partnership features like amazon or Ebay can pull in profit on autopilot. However like said before the blog content must be original and interesting in order to attract new visitors.

  6. I too own a blog which earns nothing but mere cents from adsense. i loved your article and would soon implement different methods you explained myself, Cheers!

  7. Thank you for sharing. Great post.

  8. I should have started my blog a couple of years ago. But i guess its not too late to still cash in.

    Excellent Post.

  9. Your site is the best. I look forward to putting the information to the test. I will be coming back for more.

  10. Hai Darren,
    Good articles and thanks for your sharing article make money from blog. I think it’s good idea for beginner like me…thank’s

  11. Thank you for sharing.

  12. Hi Darren,

    I am not so sure on how to advertise within my RSS feed? Any more information on this topic would be great at some point!

    PPS: A good article on this would be very handy for the world of online bloggers!!

    Cheers mate,

    Alex from Savings Guide.

  13. Rod Cook says: 07/07/2008 at 5:13 pm

    The MLM WatchDog is the oldest blogg on the web started for consumer protection http://www.mlmwatchdog.com and I have had numerous discussions with my 600 reporters about Monetizing it. Thanks for the article and the input from the rest of you….. I think I will allow advertising on the Watchdog. Great group Thanks

    Rod Cook

  14. The old true and trusted AdSense still works wonders, just get traffic to your site and you get money from the clicks!

  15. This really is enough info to get you going. It’s very simple to set up. Thanks for the great tips!

  16. Once again, Darren Rowse saves the day!

  17. Man all the advice makes your head spin thanks.

  18. This another great tip for your online business. thanks again

  19. Trully, you enlight me… :)

  20. This is another great tip for your online business. thanks again

  21. Adsense seems to be a good source of income, but it takes a lot of “clicks” to get anywhere. Any one got a good source of traffic?

  22. I am using google adsense for my anti aging blog. I have many traffic but no one are clicking on the advertising…

  23. James says: 07/17/2008 at 8:41 am

    The potential of adsense, and PPC in general is coming to the point of steady decline, in my opinion. Before, people who wanted to make a few hundred a month easily could do so with a half ass blog and some decent strategies.

    Now, people are becoming more and more desensitized to ads.

    The ultimate key to making money with a blog is to build up loyal readers. The more people you have trust with, the greater your earning potential. Factors like these are the ones you want to pay attention to, because they remain true no matter what the trends. People that focus on the trends of the internet almost never make big money.

    When you have a loyal following, you can sell them relevant products simply by writing an honest review about it. For example, one person spent years building a blog writing about persona leadership, personal development, and personal growth. That was his passion. He accumulated thousands and thousands of loyal readers.

    Later on, he started reviewing all the personal development & leadership products/books he came across, and the people bought them left and right, because they trusted him.

    That concept applies to everything. Xocai

  24. Nice article bro, i’ll another the best tips N trick

  25. Very nice article, interesting and with a lot of powerful information. Time is money, and you must save as much time as possible sharing THIS kind of knowledge… thanks a million.
    JC

  26. you will make happy more people with this article darren, this is very nice topic…make money from blogs….wow
    trully….you very god man

  27. Great stuff, i think your earning a lot from blogs. I have one question is the blog business going to increase or decrease ?

  28. Great networking opportunities at

    http://www.netmixer-events.com.

  29. By the way, i think there are some things that shouldn’t be done since some people are banned from other ads site like Google for not following there rules.

    THank you.

    Money Making and BLogging Tools
    Charles
    http://www.resourcesandmoney.blogspot.com

  30. I’ve just discovered your blog Darren. EXCELLENT stuff. I’ve got a LOT of catching up to do with you older posts.

    Great article yesterday!

    Luke

  31. I love this blog.

  32. I’ve learned a lot on this page , thank you guys.

  33. Great Article, I plan on reading much more of your stuff! I am new to blogging and this really helps!

  34. Good articles. Do you have a post on comparing the advertisement programs? Like which one is better text links or chitika?

  35. I just wanted to say that this is a great blog. I save this to my favorites so that I can come back to it for ideas. I just started blogging about 3 days ago and this is a very helpful and inspirational blog. If you readers wouldn’t mind checking out my blog and letting me know what I need to improve on and just overall comments that would be great.

    Thanks everyone,

    http://bodybuildingexpert.wordpress.com/

  36. great article but you are missing a new way of earning just check it out at http://live-money.blogspot.com

  37. very interesting post, i tried WidgetBucks on my blog but its not accepted me

  38. Great post, just a question though, to get your opinion.
    How long do you think this kind of income stream can support people as a profession?

    Surely it will reach a saturation point and too many people will be involved (maybe already) and no-one will be able to earna decent amount.

  39. Anthony says: 08/24/2008 at 1:37 pm

    I got a lot of good info from this article. Looking to supplement my income setting up a blog. Glad their are others out there to provide some direction.

  40. Great post! I’m impressed.

  41. Hi,Darren Rowse. This’s my first time I read your blog. Your articles are great! I like your blog and I will come back again . Thank you.

  42. Yes. you are so lucky to become part of the darren rowse fan’s club. Hehehe.. I really like some of darren rowse’s articles because it helped me alot. Keep it up darren.

    Money Making and Blogging Tips

  43. i am a teacher, Thanks for the info darren. Your stuff is always inspirational. i wii tranlate this article to my language..
    regards

  44. HMM…
    This really is enough info to get you going. It’s very simple to set up. Thanks for the great tips

  45. man i love your posts. They are on the money all the time. I can see why you are able to make a living online.

  46. Nice posting. Now, I still try to belief that I can struggle life just by monetizing my blogs.

  47. I have been trying beta tst fo a new service for publishers callec http://www.contentxn.com, and think this will be helpful for bloggers and website in general.

    Think you need to be invited but..so msot will have to wait im guessing..:-)

  48. These are some reay useful links. I have tried bidvertiser and adsense and failed both bcoz of pay per click. I want a good program for pay per impressions. Search is still on..

  49. Its amazing to me how bloggers even make money out of donations. It’s definitely an art. Thanks for the post

  50. What about writing blogs, and selling them? I saw it a few times on net. But guess nobody will sell a good blog, so it is sold to some begginer who cant understand if blog is good or bad

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