Get rich blogging!!! Or something...
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I have no idea what kind of effect this post is going to have but I felt like writing about it for quite a while. I suppose I should start with some disclaimer to make sure I'm not trying to smut-talk anyone. This post is merely a critical view on things and not intended to talk bad about anyone discussed in it. I don't have any background information /facts or whatsoever. Just going on intuition and common sense here.
I'll Take You By the Hand and Teach You Step-by-Step Exactly What You Need To Know and Do To Create, Build and Grow Your Own Popular Blog That Consistently Pays You $1,000 to $5,000+ Every Single Month Whilst You Have Fun Working Just Two Hours a Day Simply Writing About Your Favorite TopicsYaro Starak
This post is about 'professional blogging'. For quite a while I've amazed myself at statements being made by people such as Darren Rowse and especially Yaro Starak. And there's more people like Yaro who claim that one can make thousands and thousands of dollars just from blogging. Style-wise, blogmastermind.com looks like many of the spammy looking 'make money fast while doing fuckall!'-websites the internet is full of. Apparently this design style works, whether the service delivers what it promises or not. Endless large-font promo-texts, unstyled hyperlinks (typical!) and tons of 'testimonials' that try to convince the viewer that a fat ass monthly income is waiting for them to be earned. All they have to do is.... run a blog...
I guess I (or at least my blog that is) must be an EPIC FAIL in the monetizing department.
I guess after well over 3 years of serious blogging and after acquiring a pretty nice following of readers I'm finally at the point where I dare to say this site has become a respectable blog. I worked hard for it. For over three years. It's still nothing like a lot of the 'A-Bloggers' but I'm quite proud of how things are currently going with my blog. People link to my work, Occasionally they even steal my work (always a good sign!) and every now and then I meet total strangers at conferences who turns out to KNOW my blog. Not too bad if you ask me!
Damn Marco, you must be about to quit your day job!
Hmmmm... not just yet, unfortunately. After over three years of hard work I make some money with this blog. It covers my hosting and it allows me to buy an occasional extra for myself on the internet. It's definitely nice. I'm definitely doing better than a lot of my fellow bloggers. So let's make one thing clear: This post isn't a complaint. Far from it. It is however meant to be some sort of reality check. Does the money I make from this blog pay my rent? Hell no. Does it pay for my food then? Nope! Does it pay for my nights in the pub? Maybe... barely. I guess you're getting the picture. It makes me some pocket cash. And that's about it! I'll have to stick to being a web developer. And honestly I don't really mind!
I guess I do most of the things that the sites that promise their users an excellent monthly income from their blog. I have different kinds of ads, I've played with affiliate plans, I'm fairly 'topical', I have chosen a niche and I try to write useful and valuable content. Yet the mountains of cash aren't there. And even if I'd one day earn 10 times what I earn now with this website I still wouldn't even consider quitting my job.
I know people who are running more than just one blog with more visitors than I have an they too aren't able to make a full living out of it. And trust me, those sites are doing great. So... what are we supposed to think when we're reading that we can earn an income of thousands of US dollars a month by only spending a few hours a day writing blog posts? You tell me!
Or maybe one can get rich from blogging after all!
I may be doing it all wrong, and so may a lot of other bloggers I know. Maybe we all have to plaster our blogs with ads? I'm not sure. I'm sure I could double my monthly revenues by becoming a total ad-whore but it would probably also chase some of my readers away. Sometimes I think I'm already 'pushing it' with the amount of ads I'm currently running. I'm not going to try. One last thing came to mind when thinking about writing this very article. Maybe there IS a way to earn thousands of dollars blogging. Maybe the money is not in blogging about what I'm passionate about. Maybe it's something else. I'm pretty sure the guys I mentioned in the beginning of this post aren't lying about their earnings. But I don't think the claims about making tons of money with one, two or even three blogs hold any water. Maybe there's only one way: Blogging about how to make tons of money with blogging. I'm sure the hunger for cash among the people subscribing to sites talking about earning heaps of money generates a good amount of cash. I suppose I'll stick to my own subjects.
Before I sign off I have a question for all of you fellow bloggers:
Are you getting rich from blogging yet?
Happy blogging / money making / dreaming about a $5000 / month income from blogging!
At 07 December '07 - 21:57 Elliott Back wrote:
“Problogging” is overrated. You have to put in all your efforts to get into the 5-6k range a month, when just doing it “on the side” you can have more creative freedom and still make enough to help offset your expenses.
At 08 December '07 - 01:32 Darren Rowse wrote:
I think your experience is similar to most bloggers. Last time I surveyed readers at ProBlogger:
http://www.problogger.net/archives/2007/..
I found that the vast majority earn very little (if anything from blogging). There are some who make quite amazing money – but they are in the minority.
Speaking as someone who writes about making money online blogging as well as other topics I can tell you that there’s less money writing about blogging than many many other topics. While a small number of those who write on the topic make good money from it I’d hazard a guess that a similar % of people make little money from that topic as those that make little money from other topics. I personally don’t make anywhere near as much from that blog as I do my others. Any time I’ve reported earnings it’s always been largely from other blogs.
I agree with you that there is quite a bit of hype about making money from blogging out there. However I personally attempt to give a realistic view of it and have written many posts which are about not expecting to earn millions and to attempt to show that most bloggers who do go full time with it (the minority) take years to build to that level. Here’s a sample of what I try to write periodically:
http://www.problogger.net/archives/2005/..
I should say however – that while I write these type of posts regularly that they are rarely linked to by others – instead people like to take note of posts that talk about how much can be earned and ignore the reality check ones.
Anyway – just a few thoughts.
Blog on!
At 08 December '07 - 02:16 Henri Karrenbeld wrote:
http://www.bugbash.net/comic/96.html,, last panel ;
) ;)At 08 December '07 - 05:18 Marco wrote:
Thanks so much for stopping by and taking the time to write an elaborate response!
I know that you’re not trying to promise people miracles on problogger.net.
I actually read your articles myself every once in a while as it’s interesting to see what advertisement works best for people. Good work and as you said there’s enough of ‘reality check posts’ in place. I’m also pretty convinced you have to work quite hard for your money just like all of us. No 2 hour-a day with a lappy on the beach blogging I don’t think
On the darker side of things these reality checks are completely absent though.
I think it’s flat out wrong to promise people thousands of dollars a month from blogging (on one blog!). To the golddiggers reading this: It’s not gonna happen folks! Even Darren says so! Because of that a promise like the one I blockquoted in this article simply pisses me off. It’s a lie. This stuff only happens to one in a million (or less) because of some sheer luck or a lot incidental hype. Xiaxue is a nice example of this. So yes, it DOES happen that an ordinary person with an ordinary blog gets ‘big’. It just can’t be accomplished in ‘ten simple steps’ (that one will get access too after paying someone money, oh the irony!!!). And that’s the point I’m trying to make in this post. There’s no gold out there people. Stop digging! But keep blogging!
At 08 December '07 - 05:23 Marco wrote:
Again something that’s definitely a lot more work than just writing some dumb stories every day. You worked a LOT harder than that
So I suppose you’re another pro-blogging testimonial about the money in blogging being highly exaggerated and overhyped.
At 09 December '07 - 05:55 Max wrote:
- Create A Very Long, Very Hard To Read Page — Use Centered Text, Start Each Word With A Capital, Go Crazy On Caps And Red — Promising Visitors That They, To, Can Make Money From Blogging – Make Sure You Only Divulge Your Great Tips After They Pay – ... – Profit!
(no, really, isn’t that scheme as old as the world?)
In the few years that I’ve had AdSense on a site, it has not even crossed the 100-dollar-mark. That site (it’s down now) wasn’t very busy, but still.
Making (serious) money from blogging is not realistic for most of us, and I don’t really mind.
At 30 June '10 - 21:24 Andrew wrote:
If I ever got to a point where expectation and acceptance of moderacy was the norm for me I’d probably just end up shooting myself in the face. Really, life isn’t worth living if you’re going to live your life like that.
But the most tragic part about these kinds of people is that they want to spread their realism to other people like some kind of harbringer of moderacy.
The point is this. If you want to work hard blogging and making money with a small network of blogs you certainly can. It’s a long hard road but worth it in the end – there’s nothing like huge monthly passive income checks.
If you don’t think there’s any money in blogging and you’re not willing to keep learning, practicing, and fine tuning then there’s not going to be any real money in it for you. Throw in the towel and spread the world that making money blogging is a myth.
At 01 July '10 - 19:55 Marco wrote:
The only people that may make some money with this whole ‘Get Rich Blogging’ nonsense are people like you. The people that provide services to those that dream of getting rich blogging.
I’ve been blogging for 8 years now and I’ve been working in the commercial internet industry since 1996 so everyone trust me: You’re not gonna get rich with your blog any time soon. Sure you’ll make some nice pocket money if you do well but don’t expect any of the miracles that people like Andrew promise. Except for the one-in-a-million exceptions like TechCrunch / Mashable etc. maybe. Better hold on to that day job of yours.
So, is making money blogging a myth? No.
Is making a LOT of money (as in being able to give up your day job or even becoming REALLY rich) blogging a myth? Yep.