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Has the Economy Impacted Your Earnings?

Posted By Darren Rowse 12th of September 2009 Reader Questions 0 Comments

The news continues to be full of economic gloom and doom (although here in Australia we seem to have avoided being in recession and there seems to be some confidence around) yet I continue to talk to bloggers whose income is actually on the rise.

But is this just a few bloggers who’ve avoided a downturn in their earnings (and seen them rise) or is this more common?

I’d be interested to hear your experience. Is blogging income up? Down? About the Same?

If there’s been a change what’s been behind it? Is it a decrease in advertising CPM, a change in traffic levels or more to do with your own change in focus?

My Situation:

Back in March I wrote a post on how the economy had been impacting my blogging. Things are similar now – I’d summarise my own earnings as:

  • Overall they’re up (around 15% on last year)
  • Ad Revenue has been a little down on the last few months when it comes to private Ad Sales
  • Ad network revenue has been up quite a bit (I’m filling in a few of the private ad spots with them but also seeing more advertisers targetting my photography blog via AdSense)
  • Affiliate revenue has continued to grow (partly because I’ve had an increase in traffic and partly because I’ve focused more upon affiliate marketing)
  • Diversifying by releasing the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Workbook certainly was helpful in making up for some of the private advertising revenue lost

In short – things have risen. I think because I’d been expecting the worst I decided to do some diversification. This has led to an overall increase – mainly because the decreases were not as bad as I’d expected and the diversifications paid off. In a strange way the economic downturn has actually been beneficial to me as it forced me into this diversification and new income streams.

How’s it been for you?

PS: Check out this post I wrote late in 2008 called – 13 Tips to Recession Proof Your Blog.

I guess I took my own advice in many of the points (particularly with points #7 and #9) and it paid off. I still think point #1 is key – keep building your blog, keep increasing the quality of it’s content and you’ll position yourself well for when things do bounce back.

About Darren Rowse
Darren Rowse is the founder and editor of ProBlogger Blog Tips and Digital Photography School. Learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Comments
  1. well i started earning in recession lol so can’t say if it has impacted on my income may be i would earn more if it was no recession time

  2. Yes, in a positive way. I live in the UK, but Google used to pay in Dollars (up until part way through the recession). The conversion rate of USD to GBP earned me extra. Also, I’m now employed as an SEO and blogger, and that’s because the company that employes me has less money and are looking for more ‘creative’ ways to bring traffic, rather than PPC.

    So my self employed earnings and job have been helped by the recession :)

    (although who can say what would have happened if the economy had gone the other way!)

  3. Now my income is very poor…. :( need some money to overcome…
    trying my best.

  4. I started blogging in the middle of the crisis so ‘crisis’ is the norm for me.

  5. The income from my blog is laughably low. Since I started during the recession, I’ll blame it on the recession. Yeah, that works :)

    (Or maybe it’s the fact that I don’t focus a lot of time and energy on revenue maximization)

  6. This recession pushed me to do more because I am afraid that it will affect my income. Result? My income goes up, too.

    You’re right, this recession is beneficial in some ways. :)

    More power to you!

  7. I think there’s an impacted in my earning especially adsense..
    My earning is down about 10%.

  8. I’ve been blogging less than 3 months, so I don’t have a reference to compare to. What I do see as a possible trend is increased traffic for those in the MMO niche. It seems like with people losing their jobs or with jobs not paying as well, MMO would be on the rise. I’m not in that niche since I have zero experience making money online.
    I have always been curious where pro bloggers get most of their income (CPA, CPC, CPM, etc..), so it is interesting to see how diversifying has helped your income.

    For new bloggers, some of the ads aren’t really available (not enough traffic). What do you recommend for new bloggers to start with?

  9. I was hit quite hard, the worse part is that my blog is automotive related and the automotive industry was one of the worse to suffer with the economical crisis.

  10. My revenue is up significantly from last year. I attribute it to growing the blog steadily and not focusing on the news. The recession here in the US has probably helped my site. I write about DIY and home improvements and many people are doing things themselves right now to save money.

  11. adsense earnings were affected really really bad … but it is showing signs of improvement these days ..

  12. Some people grow in spite of recession, some people falls in spite of good economy. To me, i feel i grow in this difficult time…

  13. It is hard to tell with adsense, coz i received at least 2 emails on ‘free’ USD100 advertising money for adwords from google itself.

  14. I started my blog on recession day, so I can’t say anything about it, except that I’m making some good money online now… Just wish to make a 6 figures income soon :)

  15. I’m glad that my overall income is much better than previous year.

    I took Darren’s advice last year to diversify my income streams and it have come up great.

  16. Initially my income dropped, but now it’s higher than it ever has been. I’ve just kept working on the site and now my income is more then double what it was last year!

    Like Todd my primary web-site is about home improvement and renovations, so that could be a trend. My click through rate is up, as is the pay per click.

  17. My earnings are significantly higher than they were last year. I attribute this to focusing on creating quality content that people can actually use to increase their own money making blogs performance. My affiliate earnings are much higher than previously, probably because I take great pains to point out that they are affiliate links of sites I use and that by clicking on them, people don’t sacrifice any cost or function, it’s another win-win situation- which I am constantly on the lookout for.

    Another thing that I think makes blogs like mine and Darren’s do better in times of economic troubles is that many people have found themselves without work and are turning to the internet economy, specifically blogging, to supplement their income and/or provide some relief from rising levels of debt, higher costs of living, and lower incomes.

    Certainly, I’m not yet pulling the six figures of many A-list bloggers but News Notion manages to keep me housed, fed, and clothed and once in a while I even take a trip to the movies or out to a nice dinner.

    In a few weeks I’ll be taking a low budget trip across three continents and I might point out that I don’t have any other job. Part of this is that I know how to travel cheap, but even if you are traveling cheap, you have to have some money coming in…

    Right Darren?

    Anyway, this is a rather rambling comment when I could have just said “Up!”

    All the best,

    R.W. Jackson

    p.s. I happened across a blog that was calling you a shyster last night Darren and I have to say that the way you responded to her and conducted yourself was beyond admirable. I’m no sycophant, but seeing things like that gives me hope that civility might someday prevail on the wild wild web. ~cheers.

  18. My earnings are way up since last year. Of course my blog is a personal finance blog, talking about how to manage your money better – and that’s the kind of advice people happen to be looking for when times get tough. So the bad economy has been great for my blog! Go figure.

  19. Yes some how this will give some impact but however my other projects cover that and altogther I do not have any deficit in my earning.

  20. There was an initial jump in revenue with the release of Bing but that has turned into some very slow months as Bing modifies their search results and Yahoo! goes away.

  21. I’m with Technology Slice. I’m too new to be making much money right now, and my topic areas are very competitive.

    By “new,” I mean inexperienced and suffering from wrong beliefs. I know the money is out there, but I haven’t figured out how to present myself as the best value in my topic areas.

  22. Mine’s dropped, since I mostly rely on advertising revenue and my main sites are dependent on either political news (and it’s an off cycle) or Google referrals (and one site has really fallen off their radar inexplicably). But the drop in ad buys would be there, regardless.

    Further, one can’t simply compare earnings to last year but earnings per 1000 pageviews (or whatever). If your traffic has doubled and your income has gone up 10 percent, you’ve been hurt by the economy even though you’ve “grown.”

  23. I think that we can compare earnings over last year as an overall, rather than per 1000 pageviews.

    It means that despite the recession the revenue for the business (or blog) has still continued to grow. For personal reasons I have probably been doing less work on my blogs this year than last year, but what work I have done has increased the pageviews, and has increased my overall earnings from the sites.

  24. Being a new brand I can say, I have nothing to base my revenue against just yet. However, I do wish I had gotten into the game before the major layoffs began prompting everyone and their brother to become bloggers for money. The ponds is full for us guppies, but, I am staying afloat and learning as I go.

  25. My earnings are down 40% :(

  26. I’ll be honest; the economy has actually pushed me into the creation of my blog. Though I have not lost a job like many others have I feel that I need to diversify my income and blogging is a way to do that without heading down to the local mall and signing up for a weekend shift.

    In four months my blogging income is microscopic compared to my day job but every month it improves. I figure by next year I’ll have a bit more income diversification and little more peace of mind.

  27. The industry I have worked for the last 30 years is being hit really hard this year. The bicycle industry slipped through 2008 pretty well because of high gas prices but this year 2009 has been really ugly. Sales are way down. A sign of the times I guess.

  28. My blog is a week old so I can’t say that the recession had an impact on my blog. I really hope the recession will not hinder my blog from earning any money. I only have a few ads up right now and still have a lot of learning to do when it comes to monetizing my blog.

  29. I happy as I started my blog since some weeks only :D so I didn`t witness it

  30. The crisis did not change my financial position.

    I work for small businesses and my services are in a price range which are mostly still payable. The services are also imperative for the SB’s continuation, so long term relationships with clients have been under almost no pressure.

    On the other side, finding new clients has been somewhat less easy, meaning that probably the main reason that I haven’t felt the recession so clearly is because I work alone …

  31. Hi Darren. What I noticed is that sources of income are changing especially as more folks get into the same field therefore providing alternatives to our target revenue sources. Although with strengthened relationships with key target audience (old and new), new opportunities come up to make-up for those that dwindled.

  32. Being diverse is always the best thing. I have made up for lost income in other areas. And adding the extra income streams has been fun.

  33. adsense earnings were affected really really bad

  34. My earnings are definitely up – I attribute it to growing pageviews and diversified advertisements coupled with teaming with other bloggers (one might say competitive, but I prefer the term “complementary”) in my niche. Moreover, I think consumer interest in my niche has increased despite the economic downturn and that helps too.

  35. I hadn’t seen any changes on my online earnings.

  36. Thanks for the economy’s help, my income is down to the bottom. I heard that every time when after the olympic game is over, there will be a Financial Crisis. I don’t know if that is true, but this 2008 Beijing Olympic Game really effort economy a lot.

  37. My earnings are continuously going higher than they were last year. I am continuously focusing on creating quality content.Really a nice & informative post.Thanks for sharing.

  38. I have made up for lost income in other areas, too. and I started blogging in the middle of the crisis so ‘crisis’ is the norm for me

  39. Yes, I can say that Economy impacted my earnings because there is a lot of down time in the developing field at this moment otherwise there would have been lot of earning opportunities in this field……

  40. Some people grow in spite of recession, some people falls in spite of good economy. To me, i feel i grow in this difficult time. Nice stuff.

  41. Darren,

    Being creative makes you recession proof.

    Depend on outside conditions for earnings and you’ll be ruled by those outside conditions; ie – recessions.

    Create, create, and create some more. This is the content which you speak of. Don’t compete.

    Seek to add value with every action and your earnings will continue to rise.

    RB

  42. Interesting to see people’s responses. I have quite a few web properties, and overall revenue from the blogs is up due to advertisers looking for more affordable ways to get links/traffic. I have seven advertising options on my busiest blog which pretty much leaves it open to any budget.

    From a business perspective my sales are going to be triple what they were last year, as I am focussing on consulting, reports and education rather than services. These are more affordable, easier to package, and provide a long term investment for businesses who are super-careful on how they spend their budget at the moment.

    My motto in any climate is to find a solid common ground where both parties get a win-win and then really push that philosophy in my marketing. Has really paid off this year.

  43. My earnings are not impacted wheter recession or not … maybe because small earning … Thanks for sharing.

  44. I would say Yes! it has affected some how as My Google Adsense earnings are not good as compared to what I used to earn a year back.. The reason could be that Advertisers are paying less or something else.

    Regards,
    Typhoon a.k.a Sushant
    http://www.smartbloggerz.com

  45. Impacted or not, my challenge is really to be consistent and persevere that maybe someday my earnings will help my family. Who knows right.

  46. The recession has a negative effect on new bloggers more than old ones.

    New bloggers are often still dependent on their job as a primary source of income. I’m new to the blogging world myself so I’ve been doing it in my spare time.

    If you can only blog in your spare time, remember that you’re in it for the long haul. Don’t try to do too much at once or you’ll get burnt out. I wrote a post on avoiding burnout as a blogger here: http://www.farawayfreedom.com/avoiding-burnout-a-bloggers-worst-enemy.

    Last week was tough for me. Its a 40 hour a week gig with an hour commute each way. I would have about 2 hours before work and 2 hours after to work on setting up my site. Because I’m new, I still need to work out all the kinks with html, writing good copy and setting up Adsense.

    Anyway, about the recession, yeah, it sucks. I sold marketing services over the phone to local businesses last year when the economy was really bad, and one of their favorite rebuttals to give was that they were cutting back on advertising because they weren’t getting any business. But that just creates a downward spiral because they cut back on marketing, which lowers traffic, which lowers sales, which lowers money available for marketing, and so on.

  47. I read, studied, and memorized the great post, 13 Tips to Recession Proof Your Blog, and put the ADVICE into ACTION. As a result, I’ve actually seen earnings increase and traffic go up on my various blogs.

    Basically, ProBlogger has taught me to focus on content and to not put all of my eggs into Google’s basket. It’s still my favorite basket, mind you, but there’s a lot to be said for having plenty of baskets!

  48. Yep, it’s been gloomy for my ad earnings. It went down some 30% compared to last year’s figures.

    Hopefully, things will rosy up once the economy recovers.

  49. I am new blogger, my earning is increasing.
    Don’t know what will be the impact in coming days.

  50. Crisis means two things, disaster and chance.

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