Every now and again I get an email from a ProBlogger reader excitedly telling me that they’re about quit their jobs to become full time bloggers. More often than not they are new bloggers who for one reason or another have it in their minds that blogging for money is a quick and easy thing to do.
This post is yet another attempt (I’ve done this 2-3 times a year since 2004) to help bloggers thinking about blogging for money to get a realistic picture of what is possible.
I always struggle a little with responding to these emails. On the one hand I love the enthusiasm that new bloggers often have and don’t want to be responsible for squashing it and leaving them despondent.
Blogging is an exciting medium, it is filled with many possibilities (one of which is profit), it is a lot of fun and it is possible to make a full time living from doing it. In fact it’s possible to go beyond making a living from blogging – (stories like this one about a 1 man blog being sold for $15 million illustrate this).
HOWEVER…..
The reality is that most bloggers never sell their blog for millions…. in fact most bloggers don’t even come close to a full time living from blogging. Every time I’ve surveyed my readers on how much they earn the majority report that they’re earning less than $100 a month with most of those earning less than $10 a month.
Can you REALLY Make Money Blogging?
The simple answer to this question is – yes.
It is possible to make money blogging. In fact it’s quite likely that if you try to make money blogging and stick with it for the long haul that you will make at least some money blogging – however ‘some’ money is different to ‘much’ money.
Can you Make MUCH Money Blogging?
Again – the simple answer is yes. You can make a lot of money blogging. The example of the $15m blogger above is one example. My own experience is less spectacular but is another story of a blogger making a good living from the medium (I’ve been earning well into the ‘six figures’ range for a number of years now.
It is possible – but every statistic I’ve ever read shows that it’s not likely, at least for the majority of bloggers, to make ALOT of money blogging.
As mentioned above – I’ve surveyed my readers a number of times on their earnings. One of these surveys was back in May 2006 (I did one with very similar results in November 2007 and things seem similar in the current poll I’m running on this same topic) where I found that my readers were earning a large spread of income levels from blogging:
While 7% reported earning over $15,000 a month (I suspect this is a little inflated – some people tend to pick extreme results in polls just because) 57% report earning less than $100 a month. 30% reported earning less than 30 cents a day.
I don’t know about you – but that chart is both sobering and inspiring all in one. It shows quite clearly that most bloggers are not making much – but does also seem to indicate that there are some bloggers out there who are at least making at least a part time supplementary income from blogging.
Getting Your Expectations about Earning Money from Blogging Right
OK – some of you are possibly quite depressed by this stage. Should you give up on your dreams of making a living from blogging? Is it all too hard? Is it worth it?
Don’t give up but be Realistic.
My encouragement to all bloggers with the dream of building a blog that makes money is simple. Get into the game – but do so with realistic expectations. A few thoughts and tips to help you get those expectations right:
Aim for the sky but set your sights on the next step
There’s nothing wrong with having big dreams. Very early on in my own blogging for money story I began to see the possibilities of earning a good living from blogs. Dreams are great for motivating and inspiring you – but they can also be a distraction and set you up for disappointment. Allow yourself time to think about ‘what could be’ but then get yourself focused upon the next step you need to take to take yourself in the direction you want to end up.
For me this was about setting realistic goals of what I could achieve in the next month. Each month I had the goal of increasing monthly traffic to my blogs by 10% on the previous month. This meant that over time I would see exponential growth to my blogs. With a goal of 10% growth in mind I then set myself ‘tasks’ – concrete things that I could do to achieve the goal (writing certain amounts of posts, networking with other bloggers etc).
Don’t give up your day job
There may one day come a time when you can give up that job and focus upon blogging full time – but that time is not likely to be now for most people reading this. My own experience of this (I share an extended version of my story of taking blogging from a hobby to a full time thing in the ProBlogger book by the way) was that I worked a number of part time jobs and was studying part time in my early days of blogging. As my blog income grew I slowly decreased the time I was working other jobs.
I actually was working a part time job even after I was earning a full time income from blogging. I wanted to have a backup in case things went pear shaped (in fact this was smart because at one point Google reindexed my blogs and my blogging income largely disappeared for a couple of months).
It’s really important to be responsible with cutting off other income sources in order to ‘go Pro’ as a blogger – particularly if you have a family relying upon your as the main income earner. I’ve seen a number of very sad stories of people taking this drastic action only to leave their family without income.
I’ve previously written about this in a post about Monkey Bar Blogging.
Take a Long Term View
Most successful blogs take years to build to their potential. It takes up time to:
- build a large enough archive of posts
- to build up loyal readers and subscriber numbers
- to become known in your niche, to ‘get blogging’
- to find your voice
- to get authority in the eyes of the search engines…. etc
None of this just happens. It takes years to grow a blog.
It’s NOT Passive Income
Another common misconception about blogging for money is that it becomes ‘passive income’ – that you can sit back and let your blog earn you big dollars while you enjoy your lifestyle.
Don’t get me wrong – there are a few ‘passive’ elements to the income that a blog can generate. For example:
- I could go away for a week today and not post anything on my blog and it would still earn me money
- posts that I wrote 4 years ago continue to generate income for me
Yes it could be argued on these fronts that the income is somewhat passive. However blogging for money is a lot of hard work. Most bloggers whose blogs make it big time put a lot of time and energy into building their blogs. Most that I’ve met have worked beyond full time hours on their blogs over years.
This isn’t to say that it’s not fun – one of the things I’ve discovered in the last few years is that hard work can be a lot of fun (who would have thought) – but there are days when it is very time consuming and challenging work.
Not all Blogs are Created Equal
I am often asked – ‘how many visitors a month do I need to earn $XXX?’
While I’d love to be able to give people a formula for working out the answer to this question the reality is that every blog is so different from every other blog. I’ve worked with hundreds of bloggers over the years and each time I do I relearn the lesson that no two blogs are alike.
Blogs vary from niche to niche (ie a finance blog will earn differently to a craft blog which will earn differently to a tech blog) – but even within niches they will perform very differently (I’ve had two photography blogs over the years and they couldn’t be more different).
I bring this up because quite often I come across bloggers who model their blogs after other blogs – sometimes to the point of copying every aspect of them. Unfortunately this isn’t a great way forward. Most successful blogs cut new ground, have their own voice, blog in their own style and tackle a topic with their own perspective. As a result they grow differently, attract their own audience and monetize differently.
Do learn from other blogs and bloggers – but also attempt to find your own way.
Further Reading:
I’ve talked about these issues numerous times in the past here at ProBlogger. One post that you might want to look at if you’d like a few tips on how to build a blog is a post I wrote some time ago outlining 18 Lessons I’ve learned about Blogging.
Ah, the reality check. I am fortunate enough to be able to make a living from blogging (I’m in the $5,000 to $9,999 per month range) — but I do it mostly by posting for others as a corporate blogger. But it is a good job, and I do get to set my own hours.
Darren,
You just busted some of the top myths of making money online (with blog or not).
I wish I read this article years ago when I was getting started. It would have saved years of wasted efforts on my part.
The excitement is usually high when starting a new venture, but you’re right. Being realistic is important, to save one from quitting job before it’s time.
Actually blogging for money can equate into passive income: just hire writers as soon as you start earning $2,000 – $3,000 a month… It’s a big myth that you can’t build your passive income through blogging…
“I am often asked – ‘how many visitors a month do I need to earn $XXX?’”
Have you ever done a survey where you correlated “money earned from blogging” with page views per month? It almost certainly is true that not any two blogs are the same, but I wonder if in the bigger picture you can see a strong relationship between page views and income? I would think so.
I think your most telling point in this article is that it’s NOT passive income…how true! The only “passive” income that works well are portal sites that rank high in search engines (‘way easy to do back in 2004….a weee bit more difficult nowadays).
I also like what another marketer once said…I’m not a blogger who does Internet marketing, I’m an Internet marketer who blogs. Your mindset is a very important criteria to your success.
Data points, Barbara
Hi,
Sobering post in deed. I believe that it all comes down to whether the new blogger can become an authority in a certain niche and provide unique content that attracts those crowds that click on ads.
I used to make around $300 a month from my blog until Google slapped everyone that was getting paid to post. Now all my income comes from affiliate marketing sites and the blogs are just placeholders until a new income stream is discovered.
To answer your question, YES YOU CAN, i have seen a lot and a lot of people keep earning money from blogging. Not just to those who have successfully earn it but to myself also. Really you just can’t imagine how big is the advantage from Blogging
Ruchir has a good point… That’s my technique for some of my blogs. BUT it’s still work managing and directing those writers. It depends on your skills. Are you a better manager (like me) than creative writer? It just shifts the work load, not so much making it passive.
Oh my gosh. That’s the Big Pie Chart. I wonder why the “30%” dominates the chart.
You’re absolutely right! I feel that blogging is profitable only in the long term. It has the potential to make a lot of money, but one should be ready to dedicate lots of time and effort to it. Every blogger should realize this point.
I guess it’s a bit like acting. a small per cent who (a) have talent (b) find a niche and (c) invest time and money in it really can make the big time.
I agree that starting as a hobby/side-project is the way forward. I just blog as an outlet, but have done serious corporate blogging for clients which is a totally different kettle of fish.
Most blogs are just the equivalent of one man ranting in a corner of a pub.
You certainly CAN make money blogging, but the vast majority of people won’t. This is not because they don’t have the skills or knowledge to do it. They won’t work hard enough for it.
Blogging is not a get rich quick method of making money. You can to dedicate yourself to creating great content.
I wrote a related article a few months ago:
“Don’t Quit Your Day Job”
http://kuyakevin.blogspot.com/2008/07/advice-for-beginner-bloggers.html
At the end of the day, blogging is a business and like other businesses, some manage to work to become sucessful while others don’t!
It is as simple as that!
You’re all right. Blogging does have the potential to make money if you hand around and think long term. I also believe that Passion has a lot to do with it, too.
When a blogger is passionate about their blogging theme or topic they will continue to make the blog better, add better content, upgrade it if you will. While other bloggers fall away because they lose faith or they began blogging for the wrong reasons(no passion for the platform and the theme) you increase in value. There are so many book blogs that have shut down since I began. I still remain. I receive speaking invitations, business ventures that incorporate the blog and so much more, so my blogging income has increased over time.
But to be honest. I would write Christian Fiction Blog for free, as I did in the beginning and that is my mindset. I love my blog. Don’t you?
As a new blogger (my blog is only 2 months old), I THANK YOU for a much more realistic perspective. I’ve already come to the conclusion that like any other BUSINESS it takes time to really build and that the sweat equity piece of the equation can be daunting for those who believe that they can just write a little something each day and expect to make a living at it. You need to work the bugs out and invest, invest, invest (time that is). Like any other art form (and I consider blogging to be an ART) there will be few STARS and many who may never rise to the top. So, for the newbie and chorus of bloggers we still need to wait tables (can you tell I used to be an actress), until we get the “big break.”
Remember the adage “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” – “Practice, Practice, Practice”
Hi Dareen Rowse.
I am Indian Tech Blogger.I found great Information here.very honestly I ‘m telling you about my blogging and earning.
I am not full time blogger but I am earning $15/day and getting only 3500 visitors daily.All are link based no one is coming from Search Engine.Because blog is only 63 days old.
I have a BIG PLAN about money blogging. Hopefully starting next month with a partner!
excellent points, as always. something that distresses me that i’ve seen more and more lately are blogs popping up with very little content, and FILLED with affiliate ads in the sidebars, and/or coupon code sites/blogs that ONLY post affiliate links/deals. i think people are under the impression that they can start a blog, join all the affiliate programs and start making tons of money. it took me 2 years before i could quit my “day job” and start blogging/writing full time – and even then, I was just squeaking by. now, i’m more comfortable, and make a greater proportion of my income from affiliate commissions than i do from ad sales (used to be the other way around). i think this is because i HAVE built up my visitor base & loyalty by not ONLY promoting affiliate links on my blogs. i built my site(s) around the idea that i wanted to provide my visitors with ALL the information out there, not only the sources that pay me to mention them. THAT is what has made my site(s) so successful in my opinion. my visitors respect my recommendations, whether or not they are from my affiliates, because i ONLY use affiliate links in posts – or post affiliate links/banners – if i would personally shop there, or HAVE personally shopped there. Every blog post that features an affiliate link contains my own personal favorites – either what i would buy, or what i have bought. and because i don’t ALWAYS and ONLY promote the sites that pay me commission, my visitors respect that my opinion is unbiased and trustworthy. THAT again, is why i can make money with affiliate marketing. when tracking the affiliate links that make me money, i hardly make anything (maybe 5%) from actual affiliate banner ads – the majority of my affiliate income comes from contextual posts and directory listings. maybe i’m an exception, maybe there are bloggers out there who can make money only by featuring affiliate banners on their sites, but i have a feeling that’s not the case.
sorry to go on and on, but especially in my niche, this is something that i am seeing often lately, and wish i could encourage bloggers to focus on content first, QUALITY content, then work on affiliate relationships. it takes time to make money blogging….and you have to build up trust & loyalty with your readers – that is what will make blogging a good long-term endeavor.
Great post Darren.
I think it is very important that people come to blogging with realistic expectations and don’t anticipate to replace their real job income with blogging proceeds within a month.
No System, Training or ANY single program can help people with that!
While there are ways to cut down learning curve and start earning a bit more and a bit faster – it takes time to earn solid income from blogging and ONLY if done right.
Your posts reaching out to wide audience with this reminder only benefits entire blogosphere.
Alex
I have managed to take my primary blog from a glorified writing hobby to a lucrative part time job, but as Darren points out, I am in no position to jump ship entirely as I have mouths to feed at home. If things went south I’d be in trouble without my FT gig and benefits. Having said that, the more of my FT income I am able to replace through writing, the more excited I become at the prospects of one day becoming a problogger.
Darren, great post! Thank you for sharing this data.
However, we are seeing more & more people who see blogging as a way to combine innovation with a subject they are passionate about and monetize the innovation more than the traffic.
The general premise is that traffic is important and conversions are important but the biggest determiner of the financial outcome is what the reader is being converted to, and less about how many are converted. Innovations – meaning in this case, products/technologies backed by intellectual property rights defined as patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets – can be and typically are much more valuable than many conventional things to which bloggers try to convert their traffic.
As people begin to connect the dots on how they can monetize lower traffic volumes for higher profits and still be true to their subject matter, I think your survey results will change, at least judging by the input we’re receiving.
I just wrote a new post yesterday for our ecourse landing page that explains this very concept in more detail. http://www.yourproductmade.com
With a recession in full swing, I think this topic/question will become more a part of blogger planning – the question of what they convert people to, now just how many are attracted and converted.
Very nice article indeed!
I think that this’s one relevant graph that shows how much people makes money online!
I totally agree that it is fair to be realistic that you may not be able to make a fortune blogging. I was lucky and found a job blogging and am able to stay home with my kids instead of going out working part time.
A great post! As I mentioned on my comment on your other post, I am losing my job in January so I will pour a lot of time on my new blog A MAUI BLOG. That said, I agree that I should have a back-up plan and look for another job while doing my blog.
Passion and Attitude has a lot to do with the success. Of course couple it with faith in God and His blessings (or luck as others would call it).
Moving forward :) …
Great post!
I’m currently reading your book and while i have no intentions of quitting my job just to blog, or at any point being just a blogger, I’m definitely hoping to get a few blogs pulling in some kind of respectable revenue just to help out and this data is useful.
much appreciated.
thanks!
I think blogging is the same as everything else. If you took a poll on any buisness venture you will find that most people fail, and only a select few make it to the top. I suspect it might have less to do with the blogging medium, and more to do with the bloggers themselves. I suspect Darren would have been successful in anything he was passionate about, and so can all those bloggers on the bottom of the poll!
Excellent post, Darren. I’d like to think that anybody could make a full-time living from blogging, if they really want it and work hard at it. However, this post may indicate otherwise. Perhaps blogging is best thought of as only one entry in a diversified portfolio of income-earning ventures. That’s all I expect from it, at least. Thanks!
Although what I do in my blog is what I want to do for the rest of my life, I am realistic enough to know that it, like any business, is something I have to build.
Right now I see it as a part-time or freelance job in which I make some fairly regular, albeit small, income.
I believe strongly that anybody can make money from blogging. However, that doesn’t mean everyone will. The key deciding factor here is you. If you have what it takes, then you can do it. Don’t let anyone else convince you otherwise. If you’re really a part of that top 10% nothing will stop you.
I keep wondering if I’m joining the blogging craze too late. Have I missed the potential? I don’t want to be anything spectacular, and I don’t even have what will be my main blog up yet, but I’d like to make a modest part-time income after a couple of years.
I am enthusiastic but also realistic, just as you recommend. I chose the baby boomer niche for my blog. I’ve been blogging almost three years at The Boomer Chronicles and still earn just a tiny bit of money (via Google Adsense). And I thought all those boomers would translate into mucho bucks for me. Oh, well. I am keeping at it.
Great easy to understand advice. Looks like I’ve a long way to go yet though I do earn more than $10 a month so I will take that as a sign of progress. Thanks from a UK blogger
It would be interesting to know how much those surveyed in May ’06 and Nov ’07 have increased their earnings by since then, and by what percentage. That way us new bloggers would see if all the hard work has paid off for others.
Excellent post good sir.
Most of us will fail and most of us will be to blame for our own failure. Blogging is not a get rich quick scheme. It takes a lot of work. Too many people expect to make money right from the beginning. You can’t write three posts, slap on some ads, and sit back sipping the brandy…
If you are serious about becoming a professional blogger, don’t do it overnight. Start a blog, maybe two, maybe three, and get a feel for different ideas and topics. Go with the one that feels right, that works for you. Then do it as a part-time hobby for a while to make sure you are able to keep at it. I’ve seen way too many blogs start off great, then slowly crumble in despair. Posting 20 posts a day isn’t very good if you then don’t post for 20 days.
Take your time, make friends, and write about something you enjoy. If you realize you are incompetent from the beginning, that can be your greatest asset. Knowing you are destined to fail just might be what you need to drive you to succeed.
Thanks, Darren. I think recently you or someone else said blogging must be largely driven by a love for what you’re doing. Recently, I was freed up to focus that way, and it really helped. I’ve got this temp desk job that gives me all this time on a computer (okay with the boss), so I’ve made the most of it learning what I’m doing on my blog, and havinga great time. So I’m getting paid on this temp job to do this as well…kind of crazy. Thanks for all your wisdom. I love reading what you’ve got to say…and am taking small steps while dreaming big.
Very interresting post Darren, thank you for your work. I’m writing this comment with the MacBook I bought with the money I earned from my blogs: Not a real income, but definitely a very cool Christmas gift :)
Thank you again, Darren, for setting the expectations of blogging in a realistic light.
Luckily, I had read up about blogging and knew what I was getting into when I started my blog. My goals are VERY long term with my blog and I don’t plan on going anywhere for the forseeable future. That’s exciting because I have seen growth and I know that as long as I keep churning out good content, people will read it. The sky is the limit in blogging and once you have your expectations in check, it is a very rewarding journey.
My blog will never make a lot of money. It’s in the mental health niche, which is not a big bucks topic. I get a lot of search traffic — 66% — from people looking for solutions. They find them and get some relief, but certainly don’t feel like clicking ads.
Yes, my blog makes money, and it might be enough to equal a part time job eventually. It will take a lot of hard work, patience, and passion to do so. Fortunately, I’m in for the long haul, and being retired, do not have to depend on blogging for food and shelter.
I could do a lot of gimmicky tricks such as ebooks that promise to “cure” you, but my sense of ethics will not allow me to do so.
Am I down or disappointed or ready to give up? Definitely not, because making lots of money is not one of the reasons I started blogging.
Actually, this article is encouraging to me. It confirms my beliefs about how much money I can expect to make.
Nice written intro for beginners about blogging and making $ from it.
I’ll pass this post to everyone that keep asking me about money making from blogs. ;)
I’m not sure that everyone was being truthful to themselves when they voted for the poll. It is not likely that 7% actually make over hundred $15,000 a year. So I hope people do not get the wrong idea. What’s the wrong idea? That they can actually make that much money easily because 7% of people that voted on the poll already do it. Just my two cents though.
oooh.. yeah, i think when i first began, i had these crazy ideas of how my blog was going to unfold.
the nice part about blogging taking time is that you get to develop the things you never thought about before, after all it’s such a new medium, and there are lots of opportunities to think of new and interesting paths to take.
so in a way the long haul is a blessing.
Thanks for the level-headed post. I’ve learned the hard way that money from blogs (or websites for that matter) doesn’t come easy. I try and drill it into my friend’s heads as well, that you don’t just put up a site and start making money–it takes time!
Not everyone can play in the NBA, but if you love basketball, you will always play, and you cannot help but improve. If someone told you that you could make only a couple dollars a day playing ball, would you still do it?
Depends on how much you love the game.
I like what you say about aiming for the sky but keeping your sights on the next step. That’s a great point.
Well we will see how good I do. I know it’s all about the long term but I am trying to perform an ADsense Challenge to make $100 in one month with a brand new blog and a brand new domain. Then we’ll see what happens!
Great post! I told my parents my visitor numbers this past weekend. They thought I was stating my earnings.
They immediately said if I was making that much, then they were quitting their jobs to start blogging.
Something they don’t even have a real passion for. It seems like most only want something if it benefits them.
I just wrote a new post on the 3 types of bloggers that won’t succeed that I think fits in nicely with your ideas here.
I hope you’ll check it out.
Always great to have a reality check. While making money with blogging is certainly a driving motivation, so too is the goal of building my personal profile. Both of these require work over the long term. In time it will happen, I just need to keep tackling it one day at a time.
In my opinion those who desire to earn their primary income through blogging could do themselves a great favour by focusing on the quality of their product (posts and data) and the service (benefits to readers, etc.) In my opinion it’s a matter of ensuring that new bloggers focus on the top line, NOT on the bottom line profits. If you’re able to reach the realistic and challenging goals, the bottom line will take care of itself. I suppose in a long winded fashion, I’m espousing the issues facing many competitive arenas today – in that it is quality and service that sells, that’s where the “big boys” focus. Valuable content should go without saying. Personally, I’m glad to see a post that gives a more realistic perspective. “Don’t give up your day job” – Right on! If you’re a gifted blogger, and really meant to be one, you’ll have the determination, guts and fortitude to make it so.
Compare the numbers in your poll to the US Census labor statistics: Approximately 15% of US households made over $100,000 per year. Approximately 5% of individuals made over $100,000 per year.
They didn’t get to that level of earnings over night either.