Written on January 2nd, 2009 at 12:01 am by Darren Rowse
How Much Money Do Bloggers Make Blogging?
Over the last two months I’ve had a sidebar poll running here at ProBlogger that asked readers to tell us how much their blog earned in October of 2008.
This is an annual poll that we’ve run for a number of years now so it is always interesting to see the results.
As usual – the poll revealed that most bloggers either don’t try to make money blogging or earn very little from their blogs but also that a smaller (but still significant) number of bloggers are making at least a part time living from the medium and a few bloggers beyond what most of us would consider ‘full time’.
Of course this is not a scientific poll and it relies upon people interpreting the question correctly and voting honestly – I’m certain that there are inaccuracies in it (particularly with some voting in the top category just for ‘fun’) but the results are actually quite similar to previous years which does make me think that there is at least some level of truth to them.
Take it or leave it – here are the results of this year’s earning poll:
- 37% of those who voted said that they do not make money from their blogs. This category would include both those who don’t want to make money blogging, those who didn’t realize that it was possible, those who don’t have a blog and those who have tried but failed to make money blogging.
While this is a significant and important result I’ve removed category from the charts below so that we can concentrate just on those who make at least some money from their blog.
- 1162 people said that they make under $10 a month. This is a total of 29% of those who make money blogging. This category was 26% in 2007 and 30% in 2006.
- 477 people made between $10-$29 in the month (12%)
- 505 people made between $30-$99 (12%)
- 686 made $100 – $499 over the month (17%)
So to this point we can say 70% of those who make money from their blogs make less than $500 a month and 30% make $500 or more.
- 262 made $500 – $999 (6%)
- 150 made $1,000 – $1,499 (4%)
- 128 made $1,500 – $2,499 (3%)
- 130 made $2,500 – $4,999 (3%)
- 95 made $5,000 – $9,999 (2%)
- 45 made $10,000 – $14,999 (1%)
- 35 made $15,000 – $19,999 (1)
- 373 made $20,000 or more (9%).
The top category probably has some skewing but has always been in this vicinity (9% in 2007 and 7% in 2006 – although in these years the top category was $15,000+). While I’m sure there is some skewing here it is an open ended category so we could expect it to have people earning not only $20,000 a month but also those earning quite a bit more (of which I’m aware of quite a few).
Here’s another chart with the same information:
Once again these figures hammer home to anyone wanting to get into blogging for money that it is not a foregone conclusion that you’ll make a lot of money from the medium. It is possible to make at least a part time income from blogging and for some to make quite a bit of money from it – but over half are earning less than $3 a day (or $100 a month).
For those interested in the comparisons to previous years – let me finish with charts from 2006 and 2007. First here are the 2006 results:
And now the 2007 results:
As you’ll see the results are remarkably similar from year to year although each year we’ve done it the sample size has grown.
129 Responses to “How Much Money Do Bloggers Make Blogging?” - Add Yours
Detox Cleansing
January 1st, 2009 12:15 am
I would like the see the ages of bloggers along with their incomes. I think Blogger is full of college kids that don’t strive for large monthly payouts as the income isn’t important to them.
A Cowboy's Wife
January 1st, 2009 12:19 am
I tallied up my earnings the other day. I would be in that 2%. Not quite what I expected….
I really hope to keep better records for 2009 because I was lousy this year. Thank goodness for paypal which is how the majority of my payments were made. It’s easy to keep decent records with them.
Anyways, there are so many bloggers that don’t have a clue how to make money still with there blog, so many that don’t care to, and so many that are doing it all wrong or don’t have enough traffic.
I think it’s a lot more work that people expect it to be so they give up. I’ve had fun making my money in 2008. I’ve bought me some nice things, helped the family when we lost our job, and was able to have some spending money at the blogher conference:)
Looking forward to 2009!
Steven-Sanders
January 1st, 2009 12:32 am
Interesting to see the various percentages from multiple years rather than only one.
vivek
January 1st, 2009 12:33 am
I have just started so hope that in 2009 will bring in some money for me.:)
Amit Bhawani
January 1st, 2009 12:39 am
I guess i have got Colour-Blindness :D
TechMata
January 1st, 2009 12:41 am
Thanks for the info Darren.
I have 2 blogs and I only earn less than 1 dollar a month. 1 blog which is about my life in germany (http://pinoyingermany.blogspot.com/) is 3 months old and my other blog which is about technology (http://techmata.blogspot.com/) is just less than a month old. I am not surprised since my blogs are still kids and I don’t have the traffic yet.hehe But I hope that I will increase my traffic even just for a bit this 2009.
Happy New Year and Happy Blogging! ^_^
Make money online with a 17 year old kid
January 1st, 2009 12:41 am
Hi Darren,
Your survey seems to be very realistic as your site is visited by all types of bloggers.
I am one of those and I think that its na really helpful info that your poll has generated.
Although I was active in seeing poll results but this post made it easy to understand. Great pics up there.
By the way, I also voted. Keep the poll up the next year also please. Thx a lot.
Regards
Laksh
http://makemoneyonline-withme.blogspot.com/
Wesley
January 1st, 2009 12:51 am
9% over $20,000 — didn’t think I’d see these numbers here, that’s great :)
Josten
January 1st, 2009 12:54 am
I’ve not been putting my entire focus on earning money from blogging. Providing good content first for my readers.
Guillermo
January 1st, 2009 12:56 am
Nice post =)
Now my monthly earnings amounted to $ 275 per month since last July.
I like to be a blogger because I have fun and earn money.
Greetings to all from Perú and Happy New Year 2009
Reynosa Blogs
January 1st, 2009 1:04 am
very interesting poll; i received just a few dollars in the category of 100-499 in the 07 & 08.
FirstDayBlack
January 1st, 2009 1:05 am
This post was “Written on January 2nd, 2009 at 12:01 am by Darren Rowse” and is getting comments from “January 1st, 2009″. Wow! I heard that Australia is “down under” (from europe), but that the time is running backwards is new for me. :-))
maya | springtree road
January 1st, 2009 1:07 am
blogging: i’m not doin it rite.
Dragos Roua
January 1st, 2009 1:14 am
9% making over 20.000 / year means one of ten bloggers is a full time / wealthy blogger. This is such a good news for everybody who wants to join the wagon. If one of ten is capable of doing it, it’s doable. Remember there are niches of business where the percentage is far more smaller than 9%, so blogging is still a supportive medium for a business.
It’s really awesome to see how these polls are behaving over the years.
Oh, I assume problogger is in that 9% of the 9% who made a lot more than everybody? Well deserved, sir!
Happy New Year from here (still several hours to 2008) and good luck in 2009!
Anne Wayman
January 1st, 2009 1:34 am
Impressed with the 9% and wondering if there’s any relationship between how much they are earning and the length of time they’ve been blogging. Might make a good survey for 2009.
Thanks for the info and encouragement.
Anne Wayman, now blogging at http://www.aboutfreelancewriting.com
A Maui Blog
January 1st, 2009 1:37 am
I made some money on Liza’s Eyeview – and that’s not even the purpose of that blog.
Now I started resurrected a blog called A MAUI BLOG this year – it has made a few dollars this year but next year I am determined to make it a source of income (part time if not full time). I know it can be done. I’ll be losing my job (I work with a construction company and our project is done) so I can really focus on developing A MAUI BLOG. I am excited and positive. Next time you do the survey, I’d be earning a lot ;)
Sam Bradley
January 1st, 2009 1:38 am
A classic example of the Long Tail.
Steven
January 1st, 2009 1:46 am
It would be interesting to see how people are making money on their blogs? I’m assuming the majority of these are probably ads that are specifically targeted on really popular blogs (for the ones making good money) as opposed to ad words but perhaps there are other methods just not being mentioned or that are outside of my knowledge?
Venkat
January 1st, 2009 1:47 am
By itself this information is neither very surprising nor very interesting. What WOULD be interesting is a correlation between ‘how much money’ questions and ‘what do you blog about’ questions and ‘how do you blog’ questions (frequency, length, reading level). You oughta do a full-fledged survey, since you clearly have access to a pretty good convenience sample. I am sure one of your statistics minded fans would offer to do the regression analysis and data set pruning… :)
Venkat
Muyee
January 1st, 2009 1:53 am
9%….I wanna to be a member of the ‘nobility’.
Blog Expert
January 1st, 2009 2:06 am
That is pretty remarkable. I am surprised that so many people put down that they made a lot of money. The trend goes down until the $20,000 mark. Then it suddenly spikes. I just really think it is not likely that people were telling the truth there when they say they make more than $20,000. You never know though.
codeAries
January 1st, 2009 2:22 am
How come:
Written on January 2nd, 2009 at 12:01 am by Darren Rowse
???
Here it’s still 2008 :)
Outet
January 1st, 2009 2:23 am
Does this graph contain income from adsense, affil, direct ads?
AllWrite
January 1st, 2009 2:46 am
I am very curious to know whether the blogs of those earning $15,000 and more a month are of a certain genre.
Can you categorise them, at all?
Anthony
January 1st, 2009 3:06 am
This poll really shows the possibilities of making some money with your own blog, really neat.
Anthony C
January 1st, 2009 3:12 am
I’m just interested on how the date of this post is Jan. 2nd when half the world isn’t even the year of 2009?
dev
January 1st, 2009 3:24 am
Interesting result, hope 2009 year will be better than 2008
htnmmo
January 1st, 2009 3:48 am
I don’t think it’s safe to assume that the people that didn’t make money in October weren’t trying.
This site is about making money blogging so you would think that most people would be trying.
It seems that a lot of people are jumping into the whole make money blogging thing. They are paying for ebooks, traffic services, listing services, and crap like that, thinking they’ll get it all back.
But I’m getting the feeling there are too many people speculating with monetizing blogs and there might be a blogging bubble.
There seem to be similarities between other bubble economies.
Alan Hammond
January 1st, 2009 3:51 am
I find it interesting, and somewhat inspiring, that of the 12 categories, the 5th largest is those earning over $20k per month.
Better get back to work. Thanks for some great information.
Alan
Jim H
January 1st, 2009 4:12 am
Great information Darren. I’ve been blogging and podcasting for 8 months now as part of my job, but it’s a passion (in work on New Years Eve to post this week’s episode). I hope to branch off a side blog and am shooting for $1,000 per month.
Keep up the great info
- Jim Hopkinson, Wired.com’s Marketing Guy
http://www.TheHopkinsonReport.com
coolwebdeveloper
January 1st, 2009 4:53 am
I am making some money but blogging is fun and I learn so much. I have a full time job so less money really dont hurt. I really enjoy the attention and the amount of information I have absorbed since I started blogging.
coolwebdeveloper
January 1st, 2009 4:56 am
So my point is even if there are a lot of kid boggers not making money … but since they are into this so early … all the information bust will surely help them in future.
And I should say – nice charting skills. Thanks for another stream of good information.
Matt
January 1st, 2009 5:22 am
I don’t know if I’d trust those numbers at the higher end, but what I can say for sure is if you take the income and measure it against the hours put in, my time less is practically worthless (haha), but then my blog is barely a month old, so time will tell.
All I know is you must have a passion for what you’re doing.
ATLANTA WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER
January 1st, 2009 5:51 am
@detox that was a good question. Age would be a good question as well as how long they have been “seriously” blogging.
indonesia associate
January 1st, 2009 5:56 am
i made a few money 2008. i hope 2009 is my luck
Cara G
January 1st, 2009 6:13 am
I have had a blog for over a year now, but have only posted on an irregular basis. Just now, I realize it can be a money making opportunity. Since I am on maternity leave for the next 6 months I think I’m going to try working towards supplementing my family income with blogging. I just don’t know right now what to zero in on as a topic.
Cara
Velvet Blues
January 1st, 2009 6:49 am
These are great stats. They prove that not everyone makes a ‘living’ from the web. And yeh, I’d like to see age and experience as well. Let’s have some more polls!
Yeh, I was confused about the date as well… Maybe their servers are off? Or maybe they can manually edit the date, even if it is a future date.
Trading Hero
January 1st, 2009 8:00 am
Thanks for the great info as always.
I think it’s really interesting to see the learning curve. It gets harder and harder to make more money up until $19k per month, then after that it seems like people figure out the ‘formula’ and don’t look back. It is very inspiring.
Happy New Year!
sanjeev bhadresa
January 1st, 2009 10:03 am
Well, I’m going to be doing everything I can to make sure I’m in the top category for 2009!
Happy ‘09 everybody!
plin
January 1st, 2009 10:38 am
It will be interesting if there are additional breakdown regarding how people are making money.
Are those that make large amount mainly from affiliates?
Are those that make very little only use one advertisement platform?
I would be curious to see what is the correlation between the amount make each month in relation to the different money making methodology deployed.
Mary
January 1st, 2009 11:05 am
It’s great info but don’t skew the numbers.
9% of all bloggers are not making $20,000 or more – remember he threw out everyone who said they were making no money – wasn’t that 39% out right from the beginning.
He also said he suspects some people lied about how much their blog made but that the distribution was about the same each year.
To me, posts like “an open letter to Amazon” (which appeared sometime this month I think) tell a lot more. Darren (I hope I remembered your name correctly!) wrote about actual payouts he received from Amazon in an open letter to them.
I believe there is money to be made and I believe it’s up to us individually to work hard and see the opportunities.
But understand (and Darren said this) this is not a scientific poll!!
Oh and I take exception with the comment that college kids don’t care about the money – let’s not forget Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Michael Dell just for starters!!
Lindsay
January 1st, 2009 11:36 am
And then there are the people like me who make half their income from blogs and half from regular old websites, so we don’t know what to type in. :P
I usually make it to the ##,### a month category these days (counting it all). I’m thinking of hiring some other bloggers in 2009, so maybe I can make that $20,000 level next year… of course, I’ll have to pay those writers, so we’ll have to see. ;)
I do think it’s challenging to stay motivated to work and grow bigger once you get into the I’m-making-a-comfortable-living-and-do-I-really-need-more category. Maybe that’s just me though. :)
Jesse
January 1st, 2009 12:33 pm
These charts really do need to be color-blind friendly. Too bad.
Dawn Abraham Business Coach
January 1st, 2009 1:14 pm
I have to say that I am surprised that many people are making $20,000 a month on their blogs.
Most people don’t know how to make their blog or website payoff that I come across.
Of course that is why they come to me so I can help them turn their website or blog into a success.
Enjoyed ur blog Darren you had some great information.
Marty
January 1st, 2009 1:23 pm
Interesting data. That said, keep in mind that many of us blog to the goal of perception as “expert.” This can be leveraged to get jobs worth large sums.
Therefore, though we only directly correlate small amounts of revenue to our blog, we make buckets of cash as a result of what we accomplish in publishing…and thereby in the SERPs
Loft
January 1st, 2009 1:35 pm
i’m the majority of people lol.
happy new year
Sueblimely
January 1st, 2009 1:58 pm
Interesting figures Darryn, I was keen to find out how the 3 years compared so did some analysis of my own. I have just posted the results which do show up an increase in earnings over the years, especially at the upper end of the range.
Sueblimely
January 1st, 2009 2:00 pm
Sorry Darren, I mispelt your name
Arslan Ali
January 1st, 2009 4:09 pm
Hi Darren
How much do you earn ?
Muzi Mohale
January 1st, 2009 4:13 pm
Generated $5000 in 2008, split into half adsense and half private ads. Have learnt so much about ways to improve my earnings and aim at greatly improving the figures this year.
It would be interesting to know all those like myself who don’t blog, but own a blog or two and outsource the blogging to experienced bloggers.
wisdom
January 1st, 2009 5:20 pm
Interesting results indeed. Thanks for conducting this little poll.
slamy
January 1st, 2009 6:24 pm
I’ve started bloggng several month ago , but still i’ve got nothing, Actualy I need more money from adsense to day to day life. I thing it’s because i use Free stuff to do blogging, please give me sugestion.
http://blogfm1.blogspot.com
Santosh Puthran
January 1st, 2009 6:36 pm
Darren,
Blog earning is following the Pareto principle (80/20). 20% of bloggers make 80% of the money. So does it mean there are 20% of blogger who have a good content website.
Let’s hope the things change from year 2009. Happy New Year.
Regards,
Santosh Puthran
TwitDiscount – Tweeting Discounts and Deals for Shoppers in the UK
Send flowers to Bangalore
January 1st, 2009 8:41 pm
Interesting results! Good idea to earn something in your spare time.
Roy
January 1st, 2009 10:01 pm
I made over a $100 in October 2008, I thought it would the start of earning from blogging for me. But November & December wasn’t as good, I barely made it to $50 in November and $35 in December.
And I’m just talking about paid reviews, I have yet to reach my first payout in Adsense. I wish I can fully earn from my blogging someday too.
uwak
January 1st, 2009 11:45 pm
wow very great presentation daren……most new blogger still getting low income…
Jeet
January 1st, 2009 11:59 pm
That’s really interesting information :) So the 1%-2% people who said they make more than $10000 per month from their blogs make it only from ‘one’ blog?
More often than not I have seen people claiming to make a lot of money from blogging but their actual source of income is a network of sites or services and blog is just a facade to their business.
Happy New Year !
sony
January 2nd, 2009 12:09 am
bellow $10 have many reasons like lack of knowledge, still young blogs and many more. I would like to advice the people who started blogs just few months back, don’t worry about this pool. Just remember one thing “Rome was Not Build in a day”, i don’t know where it works exactly but here it works exactly. We can be Build Rome in one day if we have that much of knowledge and Skill. It takes considerable long span of time to acquire such knowledge. So learn well and apply what you learned so far.
All the best.
marky
January 2nd, 2009 12:53 am
Many people who starting a blog, want to make money with, using ppc program like google, referall program and sometime membership program.
But they think they would make 1 000$ a month at the beginning, that’s the reason why so many new blog appears each day, but the majority didn’t last, because the blog owner lose interest when then don’t make as money as they expect.
Raymond Chua
January 2nd, 2009 12:56 am
Glad to find out that I’m at the top 15% (though the earning is not much) but it’s much nicer for me to be in the top 5%
TechMata
January 2nd, 2009 1:07 am
I agree with Marky. Sad to say but it is not really easy to be rich just in 1 month or even a year just blogging. Experiment, experiment, experiment. Try, Try Again, Try Harder…
Happy New Year! ^_^
Dan Massicotte
January 2nd, 2009 3:15 am
It seems that those who get to $1000 make a big jump in a relatively small amount of time to the $20,000 and up. I’m shocked at the 9% for $20,000 and up.
Don’t forget that the 2007 figures were capped at $15K.
Thanks for the stats. You’re one of the best people to do the job of collecting the data.
Rich
January 2nd, 2009 3:53 am
I have been following your blog for quite awhile, and although the source may not be that scientific, I believe the result is realistic.
This is because in reality, making money online is NOT the priority of most bloggers. They enjoy more in socializing, blog commenting even if the blogs they leave comments in not within their niche, and other activities that does not directly relate to serious money making schemes.
While it is true that there may be some social bloggers (like you, Darren) who are making good here, and you are only among the few who are “lucky” enough I should say. This is because you have mastered the art of social networking, and has a unique charm.
For a more serious approach on making money online, I believe that one should focus in selling and advertising their products or services rather than creating useful posts but not attracting customers, ad clickers and online buyers. Furthermore, we must admit that “making money online from a blog” is now overcrowded.
While there are those who will honestly admit that they NOT are earning good money from their blogs, there are tons of bloggers are claiming on their blogs that they are earning but actually they are not. They are just saying this to attract visitors which they are using to make money.
Reality bites but here’s the kicker – Bloggers don’t make money, Internet marketers do.
NoFollowHorse
January 2nd, 2009 9:53 am
Your charts have really blossomed over the past few years. This year they look great, very crisp and easy on the eye.
You should do a followup poll on who had the biggest accomplishments last year. The ones that started with barely anything but still made it happen.
Alison
January 2nd, 2009 10:32 am
Thanks Darren for the information and analysis. I’m interested to see that a fair number of people earn $100-499 per month. That would be a great goal for me.
What would also be interesting is knowing how long various categories of earners have been blogging, what type of audience their blog appeals to, and whether there is a commonality with the way they are earning. They say the devil is in the details! I wonder if the money is being made from products they are marketing or from advertising. I do suspect that there are only a few significant earners in each niche.
Thanks again for what you do. This is the place those who do earn from blogging have told me to come to :-)
mike
January 2nd, 2009 11:34 am
Probably most of the people earning a lot have had the blog a few years. A lot of people give up long before then. You have to stick with it for many years to see the rewards I think.
panah
January 2nd, 2009 2:54 pm
Very interesting. I am surprised that 9% of folks are making 20K or more every month. I also think that a lot of folks combine what they make from blogging and what they earn because of blogging, there is a distinction. I wonder what the top earner for folks is? Can’t be Adsense, can it? :)
ekawaaz
January 2nd, 2009 5:07 pm
Its good news for those who wants to make some money even on part time basis by bloggigng. Wish you all a very happy new year.
Stef
January 2nd, 2009 6:16 pm
Darren, imo your poll should at least distinguish those who cannot manage to make money from their blog by those who are not interested in making money from it and include the first in the chart. Thanks for the results, though, very highlighting.
David Hutchison
January 2nd, 2009 6:20 pm
I’d like it broken down into topics – seems a whole lot of the industry is blogging about blogging and problogging. Obviously there are successes doing other topics – but many of the pros seem to be surviving on the backs of the would-be pros.
Remba
January 2nd, 2009 6:51 pm
I have blogging for 4 month and i just earn about $ 0,3 ! Ohh… How pathetic I’m !
Please visit my site !
Jon
January 2nd, 2009 7:37 pm
Although these stats are interesting, the fact that they cannot be verified means they aren’t worth the pixels printed on my screen. I don’t believe for a second that 9% of bloggers are making 20K a month.. I would probably peg that at less than one percent. I think what you discovrered is that 8% of the bloggers are hoping to make 20K a month.
Jon
http://WoodMarvels.com – Create Unique Memories
ViralWordpess
January 2nd, 2009 7:38 pm
Doing Over $20,000 a Month Using Multiple Blogs With ViralWordpress Plugin
Vern at AimforAwesome
January 2nd, 2009 10:31 pm
I’m at the 70%’ile.
I am going to try hard to take my Aim for Awesome blog to the next level but I wish I had a better feel for what is needed. I have done a wide-range of posts about everything from What is the Point of Life? to SEO to computer tips, to life tips, to meditation posts…
Is there room for another Steve Pavlina type blogger in my own style? It seems like there are thousands of those people out there… are there 10% that are making bank?
Or, should I focus at a more niche level on some specific area?
Maybe if we had a graph of what those bloggers making over $500 per month were focusing on with their blogs I’d have a better time of choosing a focus. Recently I got a PR 4 and that is enough motivation to keep going and try to make this work. Just need to know which way to go!
Any suggestions Darren?
Avon Blake
January 2nd, 2009 10:50 pm
Interesting stuff, thanks for this Darren. I’ve just scored my first advertising deal so I’m off and running quite nicely for 2009. Hopefully I’ll be in the $20,000 per month category by the end of the year!
Joy
January 3rd, 2009 1:24 am
I’m just in it for the fun and social aspect, and although I do have a couple of ads running, I am not expecting a payout of any significance. But if I wound up with a check in my hot little hands, so much the better. :o)
Michael Haltman
January 3rd, 2009 1:33 am
Hi Darren:
I wanted to get your opinion on affiliate networks as a way to increase the income from my blog. I use it and have found it to be very profitable, but don’t recall you mentioning it.
If you haven’t and would like someone to blog on it, I would be happy to. My blog is The Political and Financial Markets Commentator at http://politicsandfinance.blogspot.com, and I use Hydra at http://www.lynxtrack.com/afclick.php?o=5831&b=y301cm4r&p=14&s=33099.
I would appreciate your thoughts.
Mike Haltman
Stephanie
January 3rd, 2009 1:49 am
We have not monetized our blogs yet, but am hopeful to make some money on them in 2009! Thanks for the great overview.
Technewbeats
January 3rd, 2009 2:03 am
This is a good poll. However, is the result based on a single blog or a group of blogs? One should be able to make money if they work over a period of time.
Christian Cawley
January 3rd, 2009 2:45 am
I find this a very interesting result – I’ve recently begun writing for BrightHub and seen my blogging income rocket compared to what I was making when I voted in October – although thanks to the Christmas rush I made the most I’ve made on Amazon yet on one of my regular blogs.
With regards to the Blogging Bubble point – I’m surprised it hasn’t happened sooner. With autoblogs and content thieves slowly getting factored out of Google results, only the real, content-rich sites will and should succeed.
Jeff
January 3rd, 2009 4:56 am
for someone who is trying to make some money blogging I think that those numbers evidence to support that you can make good, part time or full time, money at blogging, and about 30% of the people do.
Claudia Snowden
January 3rd, 2009 5:20 am
Hi, Darren,
It was lovely to see you reach 2009 before us Yanks :) Reminded me of when I lived in Sydney, and my daughter was at uni in the States. It was a mental challenge to figure the 16 hour time difference, and led to some humorous convos at 5 a.m. Lent a whole new meaning to the old phrase “It’s ten o’clock–do you know where your children are?”
Writing, let alone blogging is hard work. No shortcuts that I’ve found. The time commitment is formidable, especially if one is still working an 8-5 job, especially to write your best at all times and then try to monetize on top of that.
ProBlogger is still the best for consistent, useful information. Thanks for your dedication–hope you’ll attend SXSWi this March, maybe our paths will finally cross.
Best,
Claudia
Fried Okra Productions
http://friedokraproductions.blogspot.com
ATLANTA WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER
January 3rd, 2009 5:34 am
after reading the comments it reminds me of the book “dip” those who do real well……DO REAL WELL
Rhett
January 3rd, 2009 7:03 am
I am new to blog publishing, but I think if your primary goal is to make money with the blog, and the primary thing on the blog is ads to make the money, it would be difficult to build a following. The blog needs to have content. And updated information. This takes time and I hope I can have the patience. I don’t need to make money with my blog, but it will be nice to get to that point. I come here because there is great info. I read the stories and then maybe click on an ad that catches my eye. I don’t come here first for the ads, I know where to find those. It is more difficult to find a good blog. Once I do, then I may start sampling the ads.
I hope to use my own advice with my blog.
Rhett
blogger.garagesalefever.com
Dorothy
January 3rd, 2009 8:42 am
I’m in the $10-$29 category for 2008, and my goal is to be in the more than $20,000 category by the end of 2009. The numbers show it’s possible. I have learned that shifting the way I operate is what gets me access to those kinds of results.
shobha
January 3rd, 2009 10:45 am
Now a days it has become so common to make money by blogging. This is one of the best ways to make money online.
cheers
tennis camps
Ragnarok Guide
January 3rd, 2009 10:48 am
I belong to the red group but hopefully be in the team violet next year
Selena
January 3rd, 2009 4:32 pm
I guess I’m in the red group, I made about $100 for 2008, but spent more than that on promotion,hosting. etc.
david
January 4th, 2009 2:40 am
With some of the figures people appear to be earning i can imagine a lot more people will try to achieve the same in 2009 as it is certainly one way to try to beat the credit crunch.
adsense alternative
January 4th, 2009 3:41 am
wow. Thats a good chart.
The good thing, i able to make money. Thats a happy moment to me.
The Virtual Consulting Firm
January 4th, 2009 5:09 am
Very Good, Interesting and Helpful Information, Thank you for collecting and sharing this information with us all, Darren! :)
We would Love to see a break-down by Industry or Niche orientation/Subject Matter, particularly for the Top Earning Blogs! :)
How about anyone else?
Thank you again, Darren, for all of this Very Good, Interesting and Helpful Information! :) and Everyone Have a Great Day! :)
Linda
January 5th, 2009 3:04 am
We must assume that most people do it for love and not money
qt money
January 5th, 2009 7:26 am
I am amazad at the figures , i am in the 0 to 0 bucks group , i didnt realize the sums of money people could make from blogging , must learn how to do it,as i find it quite good and i really enjoy it .
AJ Kumar
January 5th, 2009 2:44 pm
Being relatively new in to the game, I obviously don’t make anything off bloggin. But then again I experimented not long ago and made like $50 with EASE. I find it hard to believe that if you TRY to make money, 70% of people make jack Sh*t
My goal is to make myself famous, rather than sell my site out to ads, which I personally think is quire annoying.
Randy
January 5th, 2009 7:02 pm
At least my category is at $100-$499 but amazed about 373 made $20,000 or more. I wonder if some of them are just doing it part-time?
Derrick Siu
January 6th, 2009 11:09 am
Hi Darren,
Really interesting statistics and good to get a more balanced perspective on what is actually happening.
Would be really interested to know a breakdown of what people are making by niche – for example, how many are making money from internet marketing blogs, blogs about blogging, and niches outside of these seemingly popular and ‘big’ areas!
Any chance of incorporating that into next years stats?
Cheers,
Derrick
(one month Blogging Newbie)
http://www.TheNetExperiment.com
Chat
January 6th, 2009 2:00 pm
I wonder about the amounts that people are stating they make. The amounts over 500 a month are suspect. Blogs are cool and i’m sure do make money – but nothing makes money or garners respect more than an actual web application that the public finds useful. There are many users of our Free Chat that blog and do make money.
German Romance
January 6th, 2009 7:54 pm
Thanks for the statistical pie charts, it is interesting how similar the income this year is to last years income. Thanks, I’ve made sofar $6.30 with my site :).
TechMata
January 6th, 2009 7:55 pm
Same here German Romance ^_^
Sheamus
January 6th, 2009 11:51 pm
Darren, was any proof provided by your voters at all? I doubt it. It’s a crock, and it’s misleading to your readers.
There is no way in heaven or hell that 1/10 bloggers make $20,000 or more per *month* from their blogs. I’d be surprised if the number is more than 1/1000. It may be one in every million.
This isn’t an example of the ‘long tail’ – this is an example of how people lie in polls. How can anyone accept that pretty much as many bloggers (9%) make the same or more ($20,000+) as those bloggers earning between $1,500 and $19,999/month *combined* (10%)!? That only 1% of bloggers earn $15,000-$19,999/month but 9% earn more than that?
Come on.
The telling statistic is 37% of people were honest enough to say they make nothing. If one considers a second the average salaries of actors, in a range from zero to $20 million/picture, I’d imagine probably 37% make zero from that, too: now, do you really think 9% of actors make $20m/movie?
I didn’t think so. Probably 0.001% do. The difference is that this data is accountable. The poll herein is not.
Guess what: MY blog makes $20,000/month? Add me to that number! ;)
Darren, this has always been a great site – and I realise you’ve added a modest disclaimer in your opening above – but I think this is slightly irresponsible. Very few of your commentators above seem to have taken this as anything other than literally and it’s going to give people false hope. I’m all for people giving everything 100% but unless there’s some numbers backing up these kinds of polls, they’re inherently worthless, subject as they are to that good old-fashioned bit of human whimsy: lying. :)
Isn’t it possible for someone to do a poll like this and actually have the people involved provide some level of proof?
forlan
January 7th, 2009 12:16 am
it is difficult to find money at blog but you say 9% could get $ 20,000. i suggest you give any niche or topic which give the blogger more money. thanks before
Rose
January 7th, 2009 2:33 am
Wow 9% that’s fantastic!
I just started out, but I have an awesome blog.
Check out my book review blog at:
http://anothergreatread.blogspot.com/
Wink
January 7th, 2009 3:17 am
Bloggers who give away free stuff tend to earn more income than others, so I decided to host a contest giving away an iTunes Gift Card. Read about it here http://www.mightyaffiliate.com/2009/01/06/win-an-itunes-gift-card/
DoFollow Blogger
January 7th, 2009 1:13 pm
@seamus it is a poll get over it. First and foremost it is a poll that only includes people who chose to answer it. I am pretty sure the high end is somewhat skewed, but not as much as you might think. I easily have a hundred personal friends in my email contacts who make over $5k a month and half make over $10 and probaly 20 make over $20K a month. I am sure darren’s list of associates who visit his blog regularly doing that much is quite a bit bigger than mine so this end of the poll isn’t as skewed as you might think. You should also figure in the number of people making nothing that didn’t answer it If you add a few more thousand to that category the 9% really drops.
The second question to ask yourself is how many of these bloggers are making money and the answer is pretty simple, they belong to affiliate networks that not only pay out significantly higher than adsense, but they are making money on every affiliate they have signed up. If you look at some of my affiliates like motive I make 5.5% of what my affiliates make which today was just under $10 last I looked. Darren will make that percentage on the $40 I had made at that time. Since he is my go to guy when it comes to new affiliate programs I am sure he made a more than that off me. Now think about how long he and others have been doing this and how many people visit this blog alone.
While $20k+ is hard to imagine especially for anyone not even making $2k a month, it isn’t unreasonable that a site like this wouldn’t attract readers making that much and more.
Martin@TF
January 7th, 2009 10:42 pm
Its encouraging to see that if you put in the work and become a popular blog, the results are out there.
Martin
http://www.talkingfuture.com
Lizelle
January 8th, 2009 9:00 am
Now I don’t feel so bad after checking out these stats! There are a whole lot of people in the same boat as me!
Jenean
January 9th, 2009 2:06 am
I’m within the 12% category. Last year I blogged pretty regularly, but also had a 4 month inconsistent blogging period. I’ve since redone/revamped my blog and would really like be in the 6% category – then maybe I wouldn’t have to work two jobs. My problem is I haven’t found any cohesive articles that give a step-by-step on HOW to make money blogging, but then again I may have been looking under the wrong rock.
I enjoy the tips and resources that this blog provides – keep bringin’ it!!
Simon
January 9th, 2009 3:24 am
Well, it would be nice to earn enough from bloggin to give up normal job and work from home… nice to dream about.
Richard Wilson
January 9th, 2009 11:46 am
Very interesting post – nice job again. I recommend this site to many people. I quit my full time to blog last year and have moved up through those percentages quickly – I think you just need one single niche with lots of profits in the industry and you blog on that one single niche 3,000 times… build links and the money finds you. All of my 27 advertisers came to me, all my products were built through advice and emails from blog readers.
Buy Darren’s book!
Richard
http://HedgeFundBlogger.com
Health & Fitness Blog
January 9th, 2009 11:52 am
I just started 2 blogs that I hope will attract enough traffic so that I can start to make some money with ads. It would be interesting to find out how long it would take to make decent money from ads, if for example, you post every day.
Paulo
January 12th, 2009 6:15 am
I make about 30 dollars per month with my webpages and some blogs.
Ginger
January 12th, 2009 2:48 pm
Note: I have not read all the comments….
I would love to know how long the bloggers have blogged at both ends of the spectrum. Seems to me that you have to stick with it to be successful (naturally). Seems the numbers in the various categories fall off tremendously before the good money is being made.
I’ll have to come back and dig into this post, the stats and the comments. It is certainly food for thought. Thank goodness I am not a quitter. I do things for the long haul if at all possible.
Life is good. Currently I have “enough”. Maybe if I were hungry I’d be more inspired to earn the big bucks!
Thanks for the post!
Ginger
Sharaaz
January 14th, 2009 6:49 am
Thanks for sharing the graphs.
I hope to make a small income from my blog in this year.
Jake Brumble
January 17th, 2009 11:46 pm
That’s an impressive number of respondents.
A few Bloggers are revealing their income and sources and telling the story behind it, there’s a list of 60 of them here:
http://workhomebusiness.org/blogs-reporting-income/
Spencer
January 20th, 2009 3:57 am
This info is both motivational and demotivational. Most people do not earn much from their blog. yet some earn a significant amount.
Patrick Smith
January 22nd, 2009 6:50 am
Hello, Darren and everyone else.
I just started my blog and I’m just going to keep putting high quality content in it and when I’ve built up a relatively large audience and subscribers list I’ll add some ad stuff.
I’m just starting but I can tell you fellow commenters that using proper English and grammar in your blogging is very important. At least pretend that you’re intelligent… :P
The other really important thing is to be consistent. You don’t have to add a lot of content every day. Just keep consistently adding high quality content every once in a while. At least once a week. It’ll build up eventually and you’ll likely see a slow increase in your blogging profit.
Your blogging should be a side thing until its earning you enough money to quit your job. You should never quit your job and then start working on your blog. Build up your blog and once you are earning a sizable income you can safely quit your job.
By the way, my blog doesn’t have any content yet but I have a lot of know-how in martial arts and I plan to start adding stuff once I’m finished with my current freelance writing job.
Oh right! I forgot to mention that. I’m a freelance writer. :)
Anyway, if you know martial artist then please send along to my blog because pretty soon they’re going to see some quality content and information.
The address is: http://wayofthepenandfoot.wordpress.com. I’ll register my own domain in the next few months. I’m not spending a dime until I’m ready to make a dollar. :)
Good luck with all your blogging and my best wishes to you all.
Patrick Smith
http://wayofthepenandfoot.wordpress.com/
patrick DOT post DOT 534 AT gmail.com
Art Vandelay
January 24th, 2009 7:09 am
wooooow…9% earn over 20,000 a month! I’ve earned $1.05 in a little more than a month.
Patrick Smith
January 28th, 2009 12:44 am
In that case, keep adding more and more high quality content on your blog! Also make sure your blog is SEO. :)
Patrick Smith
http://wayofthepenandfoot.wordpress.com/
patrick DOT post DOT 534 AT gmail.com
tim
January 31st, 2009 9:04 am
Darren,
Very interestesting info. I am a cynic however and a statistician at heart. I do not believe that the 9% is an accurate representation of those who actually made over $20k in October. These jerks are just clicking that category to be clowntards. If you really want to conduct a relative and meaningful poll then you need to throw out all the highest numbers. Make a phantom “top” category and watch how many say they are in it. Another bit of proof: look how the graphs gradually go down as the income levels go up. And then an unexpected spike at the very end. Not logical.
Albert
February 2nd, 2009 3:25 pm
This comes to show how successful a blog can earn, if you are committed. This is a very inspiring post that will be idealized by millions of lone bloggers over the web, wishing to have the same out come as Darren. You deserve it, from the very start and I wish the income will grow even more.
ipanks
February 12th, 2009 2:03 am
in october 2008, i earn about $ 35, and january 2009 i earn about $300.yess its really helps me to make a better than last month.
Mohammad Afaq
March 1st, 2009 4:05 am
These amounts are shocking and show that majority of the bloggers are failing. I would try my best not to come in the Under $10 category.
———————————————————
Mohammad Afaq
Free Blog Traffic
Guitarguy
March 15th, 2009 10:45 pm
wow! that’s very usefull information. My aim is to achieve 2000$/months
craig
April 6th, 2009 6:07 pm
Blimey, i just came accross this and although i don’t currently do a blog it really is food for thought and just goes to show that as with anything persistance and endevour can lead to great financial rewards. Sure it is very difficult to get to the top but well done to those who have and those who are still trying.
romanzick
April 11th, 2009 10:42 pm
now ijust do it, and waiting the big canal rise me up. until then, im not rather think about money firt
flowers delivery Moscow
April 13th, 2009 5:57 pm
Writing, let alone blogging is hard work. No shortcuts that I’ve found. The time commitment is formidable, especially if one is still working an 8-5 job, especially to write your best at all times and then try to monetize on top of that.Probably most of the people earning a lot have had the blog a few years. A lot of people give up long before then. You have to stick with it for many years to see the rewards I think
Smoked Ribs Mom
May 23rd, 2009 1:13 pm
I noticed that the money starts out very slowly, a couple cents per day.. but as time goes by and backlinks accumulate and more posts get indexed, it does start to add up. Soon people see their first dollar, then the payment threshold, then all of the sudden it hits… and they start making more in one day than they did in the entire first year of the blog. This is why we need to have plenty of blogs and let them age. Never delete a blog because even if it sucks, and I have plenty that suck, you can use it for linking site. You can replace blogs at any time, but you cannot replace the time it takes to age one.
Ashish Kalmegh
June 2nd, 2009 11:28 pm
I even don’t come under 10 $ means I am unable to earn via blogging :(
I want to make money with blogging .
Check my blog if you have time and tell me how I can improve my earning !!!
I am waiting for your reply :D
Thank you
diabetics man
June 14th, 2009 1:45 am
I get money online from google adsense, it is easier to get money made from their own website compared to a free blog like blogspot. now I make a lot of focus on the web with various topics
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