Written on January 25th, 2006 at 12:01 am by Darren Rowse
Becoming a ProBlogger - A story in Many Parts
During the first year of my blogging ‘career’ I worked three jobs simultaneously and was studying part time - and blogged on the side.
Sorry - that was a bit of an odd way to start a post - but I just didn’t know how else to do it (It’s been a long day).
On a number of occasions this week I’ve been asked about my early days as a blogger and how I got into it as a way to make income. I know from some of the comments and emails that I get that some people come to this blog and see the few posts that I’ve written about how much I earn and see blogging as a get rich quick kind of thing but don’t see the full picture - so I thought I’d document it a little more. So if you want to hear my story grab a coffee, make yourself comfortable and relax - this could take a little while.
Once Upon a Time…
Back in November of 2002 when I first hit ‘publish’ on my original (and short lived) Blogspot Blog I did so believing that this ‘blogging thing’, which I’d only just heard of, would be a bit of fun. I started for a number of reasons but in short it was curiosity and the hope of a new hobby and perhaps some new connections that drew me to it. At the time I was working three jobs.
My 3 Jobs
My main job at the time was as a Minister of a Church. It was a part time thing and I was not ‘the’ minister but one of 4 working in a team. My responsibility was working with young people and I did so 3 days per week.
As I was engaged at the time and trying to save for a wedding, pay off my little car and pay for my college fees I had taken on a number of other part time jobs (ministers wages are not fantastic at the best of times but part time they were even less spectacular). My second main job was working for an online department store. While that might sound interesting and useful for what was to come - it was not. I was the warehouse ‘dogs-body‘ and my job consisted largely of sweeping, cleaning, lifting, packing, unpacking and other menial and boring jobs. Still - it did help pay the rent.
My third job was as a casual laborer. I was on call with an employment agency and did all kinds of temping work ranging from mind numbing production line work on a conveyor sorting through the rubbish that comes off planes at the end of 15 hour flights (not pretty) to helping to assemble circuses (don’t ask).
As well as this I was finishing off my Theology degree (a long term - 10 year - process) at a half time load.
There wasn’t much time for much else in my life at the time as the Minister job tends to fill up any gaps one has in their life with a lot of weekend work, although I did have time for a fiancee.
This was my life that fateful day when I first got the taste for blogging….
Hobby Blogger
Now I’d like to say that at the moment I hit publish on my first blog that the earth shook and a light from heaven came down and I was suddenly transformed into a full time blogger - but as we all know it doesn’t happen that way. In fact for the first 12 or so months of my blogging very very little changed. In fact if anything I became busier as I took on an extra subject in the attempt to finish my degree before my college booted me out for taking too long and I left the church where I was working to start another one).
Blogging in this time remained something that was a hobby and a way to connect with others who were involved in thinking through similar church stuff to me - nothing more. My blog had become quite popular in ‘emerging church’ circles at this time and my hosting and ISP costs were starting to escalate.
It was after about a year of blogging that I accidentally started Digital Photography Blog (another story) and discovered AdSense and the Amazon Affiliate program. I’ve talked in numerous interviews and posts about this time so I’ll gloss over the details except to say that my hope was to pay for my ISP and hosting costs and to perhaps help pay for a blog design.
I quickly discovered that my hope of covering my expenses was a realistic one. This was not because all you have to do is put AdSense on any blog and you’ll make money but because I put it on an established blog that was doing several thousand readers per day (this is important to keep in mind). Even with established traffic the earnings in the early days were not high. My first month (October 2003) saw me average about $1.40 per day (and that was with lots of curiosity clicks from my readers in the first few days - thank goodness Google didn’t boot me out) and November hit $3 per day. The money was very small but it covered my costs and I began to wonder if with the extra few dollars a month I might be able to afford one of those Apple Laptops I’d been eyeing off (up til this point I was blogging on dial-up from a 6 year old PC that worked most days).
December saw daily earnings hit $6 per day, January $9, Feb $10 and March $15. Hardly big dollars but I began to wonder what would happen if I saw the same sorts of increases in income over a longer period of time. By that I don’t mean adding $2-$3 to the daily average per month but what would happen if I could sustain 30%, 40% or even 50% growth each month. I began to think in terms of exponential growth.
Part Time Blogger
Around this time I began to find myself with a little more time on my hands and in need of another part time job. My study was winding up (I finally graduated) and the grant I’d had to start up the church was on a declining payment system over two years (something I was fine with). ‘V’ (my wife) began to hint that maybe I should start looking for another part time job (rightfully so) and we decided that when I finished my degree at the end of June that I’d need to get serious about finding another two days per week work. All this time I was secretly doing the calculations in my head to see how much I’d need to earn per day to be able to call my blogging my part time job.
April’s earnings came in and averaged around $20 per day and I began to realize that I might just have myself a part time job. The beauty of blogging income is that it earns you money 7 days per week so totaled $140 per week. The other beauty was that AdSense and Amazon pay in US$ which equate to $1.30 in Australian currency.
June was looming and I decided to increase my efforts in blogging to see if I could get it to a level that might justify me pitching to ‘V’ that I dedicate 2 days per week to it. I started blogging more posts per day (this is when I started working late into the night after work) and learnt as much as I could about SEO and ad optimization.
The work paid off because in May earnings hit $32 per day and by the end of June I’d broken $1000 in a month for the first time and was bringing in $48 per day.
It was crunch time now and V and I had to consider our next move. I could probably keep growing things each month by working after hours on blogging and go find another job - or I could put the two free days that had been taken up by study and the church work that had just decreased by a day per week into blogging and see if we could make a go of it.
We decided to give it a few more months of increased effort into blogging to see where it would end up. I also got my first Apple computer (an ibook) - but was still doing it all on dial-up).
I’ll pause here in my story to say that this was a bit of a freaky moment for both ‘V’ and myself. Neither of us had started a small business and while I’ve always had something of an entrepreneurial spirit we are both fairly conservative people in many ways and while the figures indicated that there was potential on many other levels it just seemed plain weird. I mean who makes their income blogging? Needless to say we didn’t really tell too many people of our decision and when we did with a few family and friends there were plenty of raised eyebrows and lots of comments like ‘that’s nice but are you going to get a real job?’ and ‘how’s your little hobby business going?’
I’ll stop going into the monthly earnings at this point except to say that investing the 2 days per week into blogging at this point proved to be one of the best decisions we made. I will stress that this decision came after I’d been blogging for 19 months already and after establishing a number of blogs that were obviously earnings reasonable money. It is not something I recommend people just do off the cuff in their early days of blogging - work up over time because while it worked out for me there are plenty of others that it has taken a lot longer for and some who it just hasn’t worked at all for.
Over the second half of 2004 I continued to put 2 days per week into blogging while maintaining another 3 days a week of other work (some church work and some warehousing). In actual fact it was more than 2 days per week in practice as I continued to work long hours in the evenings to keep things moving forward and at times worked literally around the clock (like during the Olympics when I partnered with another blogger to run a blog on the Games).
This was a time where I began numerous blogs (I got up to 20 at one point) and experimented with many different income streams and advertising systems. It was in this time that I also started blogging seriously about blogging and had an active blog tips section on my LivingRoom blog. This didn’t go down too well with some of my readers there and so I decided to move all of those tips to a new blog called ProBlogger.net - it launched on 23 September 2004.
Full Time Blogger - Evenutally
By mid December of 2004 we had pretty much decided that 2005 would see me go full time as a blogger. I’d already ditched most of my warehousing work as the earnings had continued to rise over the month or so before and the grant for my church work was going to run out early in February 2005 (we transitioned leadership of the church to more of a team thing which I still lead voluntarily).
All was going well with some amazing figures in terms of earnings in November and December until what felt a little like disaster happened in mid December. Google did one of it’s notorious updates where some bloggers go way up in search results and others go way down - I was in the later group and most of my blogs virtually disappeared from Google - taking with them almost three quarters of my traffic and earnings. Ouch!
Things looked a little uncertain for the first time in over six months and we wondered if the next Google update would see things back to where they were or to get worse. The Google update in mid December left us at a level where we could still get by - but we wanted to be sure so it was time for a contingency plan and I promptly applied for a six month position doing some research for 7 or 8 months a couple of days per week which started the day I finished the church work. I got the job the day before the next Google Update (at the end of January 2005).
The update brought things back to a level just under what they were before the fall in December and we needn’t have worried as much as we did - although it did teach me many many lessons including the importance of diversifying your interests, the necessity to not just rely upon Search Engine traffic and to expect the unexpected when working online.
2005 was a massive year. I worked in the research position as well as working full time on my blogging (a juggling act but both were worthwhile). You can read the story of this year in the archives of ProBlogger (I won’t go into the details on this post but did do some end of year reflecting here) but it has seen me continue to diversify my efforts which has resulted in new blogs and partnerships (most recently with Andy in Six Figure Blogging and with Duncan, Jeremy and Shai with b5media).
2006 is upon us and where as last year was a year of diversification this year is looking like being one of consolidation (I say that now but suspect I won’t be able to help myself and will get into new things too).
Lessons from the Journey
So why am I telling this story? Is it just a self gratification thing? Maybe, I have enjoyed reminiscing - but there’s more to it than that.
Firstly I wanted to tell it because I’ve been asked to on a number of occasions - but secondly (and mainly) I wanted to tell the story again and in this extended way because I think it’s important to keep reemphasizing a number of points:
1. Blogging for an income takes time - while there are stories around of people making good money from blogs much faster than I have, from what I know of the many bloggers that read this blog my own increases have been faster than most. I’ve had my fair share of luck, I worked insane hours and I started out at a time that was a lot less competitive than it is now - all of these things have contributed to any success I might have had. It took me over 1.5 years to get things to a point where I could say it was a part time thing and another year after than before I went full time. It takes time.
2. One Step at a Time - Unless you have a massive pile of cash somewhere or a sugar daddy to cover your expenses in the mean time you need to approach blogging for money one step at a time. My approach was to always have a back up plan and to increase the time I dedicated to blogging only gradually as it started to show me earnings that justified it. We made a decision of what level of income we wanted me to be earning and decided that as long as blogging was under that that I would need to have other work. While there was one point where we broke this rule and I stepped out into two day per week blogging we put a time limit on it. If income didn’t reach the level we wanted within that time frame I would have been looking for work. While this might sound a little rigid or a bit of a downer - I believe I have a responsibility to my family and it’s goals and didn’t want to run off ahead of ‘V’ in my own direction without our decisions being joint ones that we were both comfortable with. V has been incredibly supportive in all this and has allowed me to follow my dreams even when they seemed quite bizarre - but there have also been times when she’s rightly been the voice of reason and pulled me back to earth to be sensible with the dreams.
3. Hard Work and Discipline - As I mentioned a number of times above, there have been countless nights when I’ve worked into the wee hours of the morning blogging. While I’m not quite as full on these days it wasn’t unusual for me to post 50 times per day over 12 hours in front of the screen). I love blogging so this isn’t a chore all of the time - but I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t days (and weeks) that I didn’t want to slack off and ignore my business. One of the common reactions of friends to me talking about a home based business is that they say they’d never be able to do it because they’d be too tempted to never work. I always thought I’d be like this too but I’ve worked hard at being disciplined and working hard and put a lot of progress I’ve made down to this.
4. Follow your Dreams - The main point of this post was to communicate the above three points - I never want to be accused of giving an unbalanced view of blogging or hyping it up as a get rich quick thing. I’ve gone out of my way on numerous occasions at ProBlogger to emphasize this (although am still regularly accused of being unbalanced). Having said all this it would also be irresponsible of me not to say that it is possible to make money blogging - and for some (not all) it is possible to make good money doing it.
I do no know where my story will end or how long my good fortune will last but I’m certainly attempting to prolong it and am making the most of every day it goes on.
I hope in this people catch a glimpse of where I’ve been and some of the lessons I’ve learned so far (I’ve written about many more lessons here previously). I look forward to sharing the next part of the journey here at ProBlogger in the coming years.
109 Responses to “Becoming a ProBlogger - A story in Many Parts”
Dave Walker
January 25th, 2006 12:17 am
Inspiring stuff Darren - thanks for telling the story.
Mariano
January 25th, 2006 12:18 am
Hey, how do you feel about your degree? Was it worth the effort apart from satisfaction? 10 long years …
Darren Rowse
January 25th, 2006 12:21 am
Dave - thanks for listening.
Mariano - I’m really glad I got it for many reasons. While it was frustrating at times to take so long it was great because all the time I studied I was working in areas that I could use what I was learning - I think this helped me learn it a lot better. Having said that I’m also really happy to finish it ;-)
Mariano
January 25th, 2006 12:51 am
Darren, very inspiring to hear that too. Thanks.
Joe
January 25th, 2006 1:45 am
Hey Darren,
Thanks, that really was inspirational. I try to tell the readers of my Blog that it takes hard work and time to succeed in any business.
Joe
kashifraza
January 25th, 2006 2:09 am
thanks darren
as a newbie in blogging its will really works for me
captweb
January 25th, 2006 2:12 am
Hi Darren,
thanks for this useful post: many so called professional bloggers try to persuade their readers that it’s easy to start a profitable blog: just signup to some free blog hosting platform, add Adsense and, of course, read some miraculous e-book and your earnings will grow exponentially. The truth is very different: you need hard work, discipline, passion and, of course, a bit of luck.
Bye.
Jon
January 25th, 2006 2:21 am
Clearly to me, what makes you a pro is that you will write a story like that at the END of a long day, most would just go and watch the telly. Nice.
cheriiye
January 25th, 2006 2:31 am
Thanks Darren for this post. I’m new to blogging or even doing something on the net other than look at porn (jokes). A friend suggested I start a blog, just to get used to the other side of the whole web thing. It’s been only 3 weeks, but it seems like I’m hooked. I was really disgruntled with all the silly same story get rich quick but you have to buy my product first stuff I came accross. Problogger was one of the few sites I added to my bookmarks and regularly go back to. I’ve found your blog to be really helpful and inspirational to me. I look forward to hearing more about your journey and I hope that, as with you, luck, good sense and consistency stay with me too.
Gary Miller
January 25th, 2006 2:34 am
[…]Darren Rowse gives us insight and inspiration on what it took for him to become a Problogger.[…]
Carl
January 25th, 2006 2:50 am
Ever thought of writing an autobiography about your journey to a problogger
james
January 25th, 2006 3:17 am
“Blogging for an income takes time” — And luck and talent and a bit of divine assistance. People just getting into blogging need to understand that there are tens of thousands with the same “clever” idea. It’s a very tough slog, and it’s getting more and more saturated every day. Which means that you need extremely clever ideas in addion to perseverance. (sorry, I don’t have a bucketful of ‘em hiding under my desk… wish I did!)
Shq
January 25th, 2006 3:50 am
Wow, this is a great story and quite inspirational. Keep up with the good work.
The Story of a ProBlogger » The Tlog
January 25th, 2006 3:51 am
[…] Darren Rowse tells it from the beginning. I can’t recommend reading that post highly enough - it’s long, but more than worth it. Not only educational, but inspirational, as well. Tags: blog, blogging, problogger Related posts: […]
A história de um blogger profissional » A Arte de Blogar
January 25th, 2006 4:07 am
[…] O Darren Rowse conta a sua história, desde o início. Um post longo, mas brilhante (em inglês) - não só instrucional, mas inspiracional, também. Um dia, chego lá. Tags: blogar, blog, blogging, problogger Related posts: […]
Steve
January 25th, 2006 4:11 am
Excellent, bravo! I love it. Perhaps this story can unclutter the blogosphere a bit. The get rich quick types will just give up and let the serious ones get the attention they deserve. This is true life. I wish you a more prosperous year. Stay blessed.
Steve
Dan Wolfgang
January 25th, 2006 4:20 am
As the others said, this is a very inspirational story. It’s also nice to see the actual timeline you laid out–that’s much more informational than the frequent “it just takes time” remark.
Walter Jeffries
January 25th, 2006 4:32 am
Your lesson with Google’s update is an important point. In my manufacturing business that I started back in the 80’s we had one very big customer who represented 60% or more of our gross at one point. They went into a slump which threw us too. My response was to immediately work at diversifying our customer base and it paid off. That is one mistake I’ve not repeated. Why bother repeating mistakes when there are so many new ones to make! :)
Leon
January 25th, 2006 6:09 am
Wow, thanks for the inspirational story. I am still struggling to make my blog a success in the blogosphere. It’s good, and better than some of the bigger blogs. I was starting to lose hope, but this story reminded me that it just needs some more time. Plus your story is more practical than the get rich quick ones we hear so much about.
Nystul
January 25th, 2006 6:30 am
Hey Darren,
Glad you hanged in there, else there won’t be this place for me to learn.
Nyst
mymo
January 25th, 2006 8:20 am
Thanks for telling your story. I am glad to hear how pro blogging really happens. You deserve all the success you achieve.
» Another Excellent Article About making money from blogs - Free Marketing Information
January 25th, 2006 8:49 am
[…] Becoming a ProBlogger - A story in Many Parts During the first year of my blogging ‘career’ I worked three jobs simultaneously and was studying part time - and blogged on the side.Sorry - that was a bit of an odd way to start a post - but I just didn’t know how else to do it (It’s been a long day). […]
Mike
January 25th, 2006 9:02 am
Darren, both a sobering and inspirational story. Thanks for emphasizing how hard you had to work in order to get where you are today. If you’re going to blog for a living, this should be a must read.
Bill McRea
January 25th, 2006 9:07 am
I posted a link from one of my blogs to your story. It’s like I tell everyone…making money on the internet is hard work!
Matt
January 25th, 2006 11:00 am
Very interesting read Darren, and many thanks for posting it up. I run a few sites / blogs along with my girlfriend, we have both been inspired by yourself, and seeing that you now make a living from it, it no long seems just a “dream”. Very funny what you say about the raised eyebrows, and the little comments. Right now im a student, final year, and can very much seem to future of a full time blogging, I just wish others could, my family are the kings of the raised eye brows… lol, but atleast I can say from blogging I earn myself the same as I would from a “part time job”, while at uni, … and I always think “one day,… those raised eyebrows will stop when I can say Im earning $100,000 from blogging”…See thoes lil eyebrows move then! lol
Cheers Darren.
Rob
January 25th, 2006 11:20 am
From the heart and very honest . Thanks Darren ..There are many parallels with your recent life story and mine . I am working part time as a minister whilst studying for a degree in theology , whilst trying to find some extra income
I have been blogging non-commercially for 6 months now at http://www.shared4u.blogspot.com ..this blog will remain advertising free (although I would be interested in how living room covers its costs)
Since reading your story I have kicked off ebay4u ( http://www.ebay4beginners.blogspot.com)…hoping to create a niche there ..but only time will tell
thanks again
Rob
Jason Click
January 25th, 2006 12:23 pm
Darren,
Thanks for the post. Your story proves that it can be done but not without alot of hard work.
Adventures in Net Marketing
January 25th, 2006 12:37 pm
Darren’s Tale
If you haven’t read Darren Rowse’s recent post, called Becoming a ProBlogger - what are you waiting for? Hop over there if you’re at all interested in blogging for a living. It’s inspiring, motivational, and filled with common sense, too.
Duncan
January 25th, 2006 1:30 pm
“college fees”: you really are becoming more American than me :-)
Darren Rowse
January 25th, 2006 1:39 pm
LOL Duncan - no, I actually studied at a Theological College - one of the numerous ones connected to University of Melbourne. Unfortunately they were separate enough to have upfront fees and nothing I could defer…
Adam Graham
January 25th, 2006 5:20 pm
Inspiring, Darren. Really. Currently, my AdSense earnings are up more than 28% from last month (my first full month with AdSense on.) I pulled out the old calculator and figured out I’d be making $3,000 a month by February, 2008 at this rate. (Hopefully I’ll find some other income streams such as BlogAds that will start to pay off with real money). Your story is inspiring. You’re my own personal FREE success guru on a blog. :)
Jon Mills
January 26th, 2006 3:34 am
Very cool Darren.
I like the fact that you let people know that it does take work and discipline. I have on my wall a list of all my blogs and I go down them 1 by 1 every day so that I don’t forget to do them. Now saying that I don’t always touch certain ones as some I only say something if there is something worth saying.
But my main ones for income I hit every day. I have a mixture of regular sites online that I dont touch but get traffic, then I have sites i drive traffic too with ppc, then I have my blogs I update every day. This mixture allows me to be able to work from home full time.
It was interesting what you said here ” One of the common reactions of friends to me talking about a home based business is that they say they’d never be able to do it because they’d be too tempted to never work.”
Its true at the start you think that.. but once you working from home full time reality sets in and you realize.. you have to knuckle down. I find it tempting to Stop Working..and have to tell myself to stop.
Consistency daily is a key I have found really has helped me, Stepping out and taking a drive once a day helps clear my head, get me out of the house and keep me sane lol. It certainly has its ups and downs working from home but I couldn’t see myself doing anything else except maybe full time something within my church and even then I probably would want to do something online.
Anyway some terrific stuff Darren.. your blog is always an enjoyment to read…keep it up mate.. peace bro.
miscblogger
January 26th, 2006 9:32 am
wow.. very inspiring story. i love it!
Work at Home Scams, a Carnival and then some… : Home Office Voice - Home Business on the Web
January 26th, 2006 11:36 am
[…] And you thought making a decent living through blogging was going to be easy! Check out the journey this once dogs-body (aka: casual laborer) has gone through to get to six-figures. […]
twins15
January 26th, 2006 6:32 pm
Wow, great post! Always interesting to see how these good bloggers like yourself got started!
johnny
January 26th, 2006 8:17 pm
Great history about darren, i have learnt a few things from his journey in fulltime blogging , and should not depend on single source of income.
Thanks to Darren.
my blog http://cameras.gadioc.com
MY SPACE at ipears | Steppin’ into probloggers’ footsteps…
January 28th, 2006 12:39 am
[…] I find myself more and more hitting that “about” link, wondering whether there is some real life-story with some actual content. On this site I kept it quite short, over at curlysoul.com I gave some other additional info, and in and between my posts you can read a little more. But there are enough blogs that are only providing info on a topic, instead of on the person behind it… So while I am doing also a little link-baiting with a title and postslug called myspace, I am actually referring to the personal space of the blogger. Because it is not that often that we get to peek into the personal life… I mean how being a blogger influences daily life, your family, your friends, your other job. Sure, there are exceptions, Darren Rowse is quite open, while being respectful towards his close and loved ones by not being too explicit, but most bloggers keep babbling about how to optimize this, how they earned that and what they will do next… […]
TheAlphaMarketer
January 31st, 2006 8:07 am
Be Patient - It will take some time!
It was encouraging to read the story about Darren Rowse and his journey as a blogger until reaching success. A lot of the online marketers and business owners that I know, pretty much have the same story. a Here…
rosh
March 17th, 2006 10:56 pm
Darren’s story has given me the inspiration to persevere, try, fail, try, suceed, make money, etc…
R. Tyler Banfield
April 10th, 2006 1:49 pm
Thanks for the story Darren, it was a very interesting read…
rmb lab
June 28th, 2006 2:05 am
Wow! Great story .Thanks .
That’s really inspiring!
colleen
August 8th, 2006 11:48 pm
At this point, I just don’t want my blogging to COST me money. You know with the price of printing ink etc. I’ve sold one piece that was originally a blog entry and a handful of books.
I’m still trying to figure out HOW you make money. Just by having ads on your site? I only see one, but I’ll look around some more.
Bruce
August 14th, 2006 10:06 am
Darren,
I enjoyed reading your honest story. It has started me on a search for the posibilities.
As I am in my early 50’s I find I have some time on my hands and would like to develope understanding in this area of bloggling.
I did blog a couple of pictures for the family at month ago but have not done anything more. I appreciate your emphasis on the fact that it takes time and commitment.
I am going to look more at your sites and will talk more
Thanks
» Store penge i blogs » Søgemaskiner, internetmarkedsføring og trafikanalyse - Notabenes Blog
August 23rd, 2006 7:17 pm
[…] Sidder du med en lille blogger i maven og store drømme om at hive mange penge hjem, skal du finde en niche i en branche med stort cashflow, skrive fængende og hyppigt og i øvrigt være god til at skabe opmærskomhed til din blog. Så venter du til trafikken farer i vejret og giver dig indtjening på de annoncer, du naturligvis allerede har placeret på strategiske steder på din blog. Google Adsense er en måde at tjene penge på, men annoncer via Affiliate Marketing er også en vigtig del af indtjeningen. Darren Rowse fra ProBlogger har skrevet en god artikel om sine oplevelser på vej mod en stilling som fuldtidsblogger. […]
Google Adsense Methods » How Much Money Can a Blog Earn?
September 13th, 2006 12:11 am
[…] 7. Time Invested: Lastly I’ll add that the time a blogger is willing and able to invest into their blog is a factor worth considering. I’m fortunate enough to have been able to work myself into a position where I can blog full time. This didn’t just happen overnight (I attempted to describe the process here) but as I was able to put more time into it the rewards increased. This is a bit of a catch 22 situation of course (the more you earn the more time you can put in and the more time you put in the more you can earn) but it’s a principle I’ve discovered that is worth adding into the mix. […]
Jose P
October 20th, 2006 2:16 am
Darren,
I have to say that I love coming to your site and reading your insightful posts. I am basically new to blogging and now have a friend that is hooked after introducing him to it.
I did start the blog with the intention of making money from it, but now see that I have gone all wrong about it. I will have to re-evaluate the blog and topic and dive into my passions…. architecture and photography.
Keep up the good work….
- Jose P
Can I Really Make Money Blogging? « Blogging For Income
October 20th, 2006 6:55 am
[…] Darren also runs several other blogs which helps him generate more income. You can read his story about him first being a part-time blogger, then to quitting his job to become a full time blogger here: “Becoming A ProBlogger - A Story In Many Parts”. […]
Blog News Watch » Blog Archive » Bloggers, what we are supposed to good at?
November 20th, 2006 5:58 am
[…] A lot of successful blogger out in blogosphere, i think merely a handful of them came from journalism/ writing background. Starting with Darren Rowse, who was a hard working church minister, warehouse worker, student(Theology) & temporary worker at the same time. It don’t need a wild guess to understand that none of those work have any relation what so far with blogging or writing. If you read his this article you will see what makes him so successful, experience and educational background means very little to blogosphere. Second person would be Chris Pearson, who is more of a blog designer rather then blogger. He has a bachelor degree in Mechanical Engineering and into lot of things, none of them fits with CSS or design does it? But he did became a legendary CSS expert, who’s blog design are famous all over blogosphere. Next is Jeremy Wright, who was more of a web /graphic designer rather then writer. There are many more successful blogger can be listed here who never did had any connection with journalism, writing or anything similar. So what makes them successful blogger? what they are good at?that should be the perfect question, since how they got success can’t be compared. […]
Retire Young and Wealthy » Blog Archives » Personal issues of running a web business
January 6th, 2007 9:29 pm
[…] I read an excellent post on a similar theme by Darren Rowse. Posted in General | Trackback | del.icio.us | Top Of Page RelatedPosts […]
David Wilkinson
January 22nd, 2007 2:56 am
Almost a year later… And the blog’s looking better than ever! Nice stuff man. :)
andry
January 29th, 2007 1:31 pm
Darren, your story inspires me to make a better living tomorrow. Now, I become more exited and want to start earning income from my blog too. I make a blog about free software and a blog. Most of them I copy article from other website. I am newbies about blogging, may you give me an advice? I have to say that my English is not quite good. Thanks for post my comment.
What Blogging brought me » Touched by an Angel - Parenting, Family, Marriage, Netrepreneur, Lifestyle, Health, Fitness and Grief Education and Recovery
February 4th, 2007 12:22 pm
[…] What is Professional Blogging or problogging? Read this on how one can earn a living out of blogs. This blog is also monetized by Google and text link-ads but I place them discreetly. The income I earn from this blog goes to the funding of my advocacy. […]
Wise Bread
February 5th, 2007 4:34 am
Your story is one of the main reasons why we started our blogging network. Thanks for sharing your wonderful story.
70 domande di Blogologia Sindromica « Stalkk
March 9th, 2007 12:12 am
[…] Becoming a ProBlogger - A story in Many Parts […]
70 domande di Blogologia Sindromica | Stalkk.ed
April 8th, 2007 11:51 pm
[…] Becoming a ProBlogger - A story in Many Parts […]
home-based-businessblog.info » Blog Archive » PROBLOGGER
April 28th, 2007 12:22 pm
[…] You can read my story of becoming a full time blogger here. […]
Be Professional - 5 Vital Elements Of Successful Blogging : iffect.net
May 19th, 2007 6:57 pm
[…] Darren Rowse - Problogger.net […]
See me draw » Mission statement (See edge)
May 30th, 2007 3:59 am
[…] up to 50 articles of a few hundred words a day. That way search engines have a lot of points of reverence to find. Steve Pavlina on the other hand post only a few articles a week but they are usually very […]
Goals to Achieve in a Blog’s Launch Phase
June 22nd, 2007 12:01 am
[…] and share what you’ve learnt (here’s an example of a post in which I told my ProBlogging story) - read more on using stories on your […]
Karen Putz
June 22nd, 2007 8:42 am
I enjoyed this one! It’s clear that you put a lot of hard work into your blogging. Here’s to many more blogging years ahead of you.
Susie
June 22nd, 2007 10:21 pm
Hi Darren, it’s been a week since I have stopped by, sorry but I was so busy trying to design and code my blog (big mistake!) Anyways it’s so nice to hear about your journey as a blogger. A lot of people think it’s goldmine and a get rich fast scheme. Even I have gotten swept up in the excitement but like anything in life, it all takes time and patience and willingness to suffer through the bad times. I just started my journey as a blogger. I was hoping to use blogging to make money while I finished up my education. Becoming a professional blogger is not something I had ultimately planned.. or still think about doing but I am so glad that I started. I have met so many amazing people and reading blogs have inspired me, angered me, made me laugh, and there’s so much passion in so many great blogs (among all the money making overwhelming badly placed ad blogs out there) I truly enjoy reading you. I think you are sincere and that translate through the screen. I wish you all the best and hope that you will be a professional blogger for many years to come.
Allen Gurrea
June 29th, 2007 10:00 pm
After reading this story, I felt good. I felt good because it erased the “you-can-get-rich-fast-by-blogging” notion in my head. I have learned that bloggers who earn a lot now (just like you hehe) had to start from somewhere and did not have high blog income at the start. The different between you and the new bloggers is that, you were around in the blogging world longer and has learned the tricks and persevered through the hardships. ^_^
Goals to Achieve in a Blog’s Launch Phase at My GotChance
June 30th, 2007 10:45 am
[…] and share what you’ve learnt (here’s an example of a post in which I told my ProBlogging story) - read more on using stories on your […]
Amous Hol
July 11th, 2007 5:06 pm
im curios about ur plans for the future, retirement, etc.
webby
July 12th, 2007 7:10 am
ive tried so hard :(
you dont mention anything about learning php, mysql
Ive had to work double overtime, college, and still havent given up,
I made $0.00 from adsense and $1.00 from amazon
in 2 years……………
Darren Rowse
July 12th, 2007 7:31 am
webby - yep, it’s a tough game isn’t it.
In terms of learning php and mysql - I’ve never learned it but have surrounded myself by people who know it well.
Mark Harrison
July 19th, 2007 11:51 pm
Darren, I quite enjoyed that thanks and it sure puts into perspective for someone like me ( about to start that is) the amount of hard work and patience that needs to go into blogging to turn it into a living. How about a Part II post to cover last 18 months since you wrote this?
blogmunch
July 20th, 2007 5:58 pm
This has got to be the best post on your site. I found that although I have interest in blogging, it is hard work too. There are research to be done, ideas to be thought and then putting everything on paper/screen in a clear and interesting way.
Take home message from your post: push through…
Tell a Story - Rediscovering Your Blogging Groove Day 7
July 23rd, 2007 9:19 am
[…] Becoming a ProBlogger - A Story in Many Parts - the story of how I grew my blogging […]
Sonia
July 24th, 2007 3:53 am
Very inspiring story…it really does shed some light into blogging which is that it takes hard work and alot of dedication to be successful as a blogger! Thank you for sharing!!
SpicePuppy
July 24th, 2007 6:25 am
Awesome post, Darren! It’s one thing to say “successful blogging takes a lot of hard work.” It’s very different to share a personal story that paints a picture of what a pro blogger’s journey really entails. Very enlightening.
surya
August 13th, 2007 8:04 pm
I got the stuff what am i searching for.Untill yesterday I don’t know what a blog is.what tempted me to know more about a blog is obviously the thing that we can earn money through it.But the post gave me a clear picture of pros and cons of achieving it
Krish
August 21st, 2007 3:13 pm
Darren, I really enjoyed reading your success story. It is inspiring and for sure I have learnt few things myself out of this. Thanks for sharing with us. Please do let me know if you have any suggestions or feedback for my blog as it counts a lot.
Cheers mate.
phlizzow
September 13th, 2007 3:05 am
Thanks for sharing your experience with us. I had learned a lot from your success story.
Sheff
September 14th, 2007 3:34 am
Darren, thanks for the great post. It was very enlightening and answered many questions I didn’t know I needed to ask of myself.
adwords adsense combo
September 23rd, 2007 2:19 am
You made $2 a day with thousands of visitors!!? I just cannot believe. Anyway…. Keep up the good work.
Darren Rowse
September 23rd, 2007 7:45 am
adwords adsense combo - keep in mind that I was just starting out and didn’t have any idea on ad positioning etc back then. These days I’d turn thousands of visitors into more than $2 :-)
Blog modelbisnis
October 21st, 2007 9:10 pm
Your approach of spiraling decision (hobby-part time-problogger) in a quite modest time range is an inspiring step to see blogging as a career. Thanks Darren.. :)
Great Tips & How To Information
November 14th, 2007 7:45 am
Excellent Bio Darren! Gives me inspiration to keep pecking away! Also, if you get the chance some day try to give us all an updated and even more detailed bio on your recent activities starting from the beginning!
DOS and DON’TS - Blog Branding » Inspiration Bit
January 10th, 2008 11:13 am
[…] he will be forever associated with ProBlogger. His image hasn’t changed much since his minister days - he’s still making a living by preaching, but this time he’s preaching blogging to all […]
Arif
January 12th, 2008 8:47 am
Beautiful, moving and inspiring post. keep it going dude…keep it going…
Sharat Thakur
January 22nd, 2008 1:05 am
Awesome article. I have recently started blogging, in fact I started my blogging site on 1st Jan, 2008. I was looking for more data on blogging, when I came across Problogger. I think this is one of the best blog resources for newbies.
What caught my attention in this article is the niche area that Darren is talking about. In fact, few days back I wrote an article on my blog ” Why my artciles are so diversified in nature”. But considering Darren’s perspective, it really makes sense to have targeted blogs, but still I have feeling that you can cater to a larger mass, if you address diversified topics in a single blog.
Nonetheless, this article is an eye opener. Thanks Darren for sharing your story with everybody.
Richard
January 23rd, 2008 4:55 pm
Hi Darren
What an awesome story. You just made me fired up to keep blogging. I’ll will let you know of my progress.
Just curious Darren. Do you still have those 20 blogs?
m07
January 23rd, 2008 8:35 pm
great story.you have worked quite a bit to get where you are.best of luck for future.
Dana
January 23rd, 2008 8:40 pm
That is a great article… it seems that you are talking about me… :)
Funny, you know… because I have started just like you… but for a short time (1 and half year) but I believe that I can get big… as you, or maybe bigger!
Thanks!
abhijit
January 24th, 2008 12:24 am
I really enjoyed reading your story.
tom
January 26th, 2008 4:14 am
Darren,
i really enjoyed your story. Before reading your story i was set on the idea of starting a blog on digital photography for beginners. I want to do it because it is a passion of mine, however over time i would like to try and earn some money from it. Do you think that there is to much competition in the field of digital photography now for making any money?
Thanks.
Tom
Mark
January 27th, 2008 9:29 am
Hi Darren,
I have always wanted to start a blog but really didnt know what to do with it or what to write about. I really admire columnists and bloggers who can write really interesting stuff day in day out. How do you do it? Right now my blog is only used as a tool to communicate to my friends around the world what I’m currently up to as I thought writing an entry would be quicker than typing several emails. But now I would really like to go pro but havent really anything interesting to talk about. I am in marketing and I really dont think we need anything marketing blog (and plus it aint that interesting either). Where do you get the inspiration to write everyday?
Brandon
January 27th, 2008 7:43 pm
Thanks for sharing the story. Love the blog by the way.
rohit
February 9th, 2008 12:08 am
I have been inspired by yourself.u r really a hard struggler,suddenly something happened in my heart when i was reading ur story and now i realised that that ” Juat because something is difficult doesn’t mean u shouldn’t try it means you should just try harder………”i really appreciate ur story and thanks for sharing ur life story with all of us ………..
Tom Ross
February 24th, 2008 11:06 pm
Really inspiring, you’re helping to motivate me to work hard with my blogging efforts :)
nick
March 26th, 2008 1:46 pm
Great post.
Too bad I read it 2 years down the road. Tell me, what changes would you propose making to the original article in order to be up to date with your advice? I realize competition has increased (it never bothered me in my current biz) but anything else lurking in the background that is important to a newbie blogger?? Thanks.
Coach Deb
March 28th, 2008 9:00 pm
Very interesting story! Now I want to see a Video with you sharing this story… and then twitter the URL so I can watch
Julie Power
March 29th, 2008 1:29 am
just read this having spotted it on twitter. good stuff. i am surprised by the strength of the blogging addiction, it sneaks up, grabs you and turns into an obsession very quickly. Never had that before and don’t quite understand it. why oh why???
Deepa
March 31st, 2008 9:26 pm
Very inspiring and informative. Thanks for writing this in the first instance and sharing this on twiiter or I’d have missed it. I have added it to my favorites and I hope some day I write a story even half as interesting as this one. I was very encouraged by your sharing the information on three jobs and dial up and using the 6 year old PC. I pray you and V always have sunnier things to look forward too.
Judika
April 8th, 2008 11:42 am
Thanks, Darren. I am from Jakarta, Indonesia. This is an inspiring story.
Judika
vandana
April 22nd, 2008 3:45 am
Truly inspirational article Darren. Its made me look at my blog in a new perspective . Have been blogging for about 2 months now, but I really need some advice desperately on how to go about the marketing part and submitting to search engines.
http://www.cookingupsomethingnice.blogspot.com
Chi
May 1st, 2008 2:12 pm
Just wanted to say thanks for sharing your story,i’m in the process of starting my own little company call chiworld,which will consist of clothing lines,clubs,poetry etc…so I just been reading your tip on blogging cause on my 50% complete website the blog is the only thing complete at this time.
Oli from the-iBlog
May 16th, 2008 8:52 am
Thanks for sharing Darren. I recently started the-Blog, not to make money but more of a hobby. I’ve added adsense just o see what happens. I can’t see me ever going full-time, but it’s good to see things can happen.
Twitter’s down : now what do we do? | The-iBlog
May 16th, 2008 8:58 am
[…] been waiting for my Tweetery fix, I’ve been reading Darren Rowse’s story over on ProBlogger. Very interesting stuff. Share this: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers […]
Hannah
May 29th, 2008 12:28 am
Thank you for sharing your story!
I had been blogging since 2005 (I think), and recently some friends told me I needed to get more serious. I have been reading your blog, and I have learned alot from you! I also have started a couple of other blogs!
At this point I only use adsense, and amazon but this week I got my first paycheck of $240! I’m ready above the $100 mark for next month as well!
i never felt it was possible, but now I have money to send to some ministries that I support. Thank you so much for sharing the knowledge! I hope to become more educated, and learn to earn more in the future!
thekalpong
June 2nd, 2008 9:22 pm
it’s really motivating. nice words of wisdoms DR. i am the waiting expert. soon enough I’ll have my first pay check from blogging. ;-)
Justin Flood
June 3rd, 2008 2:08 am
The major thing about blogging is that you have to find a topic that you are extremely passionate about and interested in. Most people simply give up before a blog will turn a profit because they get bored or defeated. Long stretches of seeing adsense lingering at 4 cents a day, can be frustrating. With a network of sites it can talk almost a year or more of pretty hard work a to get that first check from google.
But, like most things in life, the major thing is to not give up. Build your community, focus on good quality content (This is really important), Don’t write fluff pieces just to keep posts coming. Make sure every post is informative and entertaining. Blogging is as much a performance medium as it is a personal medium. Remember there are people reading what you write and it’s your responsibility to keep the quality high.
In the mean time Just enjoy the process of blogging. You’ll eventually reap what you sew if you don’t forget to water the plants.
GettyCash
June 3rd, 2008 2:23 am
Thank you for sharing. I just got a chance to read this post today. It’s great to learn from your blog and how you become a ProBlogger.
kev
June 3rd, 2008 8:04 am
Darren,
This was a very inspirational article for me. I just started blogging a month ago and I am starting to see how this all works. My results have been interesting…
Week 1 = $5
Week 2 = $11
Week 3 = $29
Week 4 = $45
Although the results aren’t making me rich it is exciting to see the potential if the numbers increase over time.
Tim
June 28th, 2008 9:29 am
Great story Darren.
I myself, like everyone else have just started my free blog. I am studying at law school at the same time but find blogging pretty therapeutic.
I started my blog on personal development as I have vast knowledge in this area. If it makes money, that’ll be great, if not I think it’s just good to be able to share my knowledge.
I do have a business plan and am hoping for double digit growth as far as visitors are concerned. Ii tend not to write for the search engine spiders but just try and ensure my readers are receiving te best quality possible.
Great post, great blog.
Clark
July 9th, 2008 7:49 am
Thanks for the tips Darren. This is some really helpful stuff for me as I’m just kind of getting off the ground myself and sometimes have to remind myself to be patient and let the process take its course. Thanks again.
Frank Lee
July 9th, 2008 2:57 pm
Darren,
Great story, truly direct from the heart and very motivational and inspirational too. Whatever one wishes to persue ine must have the passion for it. Otherwise, it won’t last.
I look forward to your postings and keep them coming. And thank you for sharing with us your life experience.
Frank Lee
July 9th, 2008 2:59 pm
Darren,
Great story, truly direct from the heart and very motivational and inspirational too. Whatever one wishes to persue one must have the passion for it. Otherwise, it won’t last.
I look forward to your postings and keep them coming. And thank you for sharing with us your life experience.
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