I don’t know if punching a rabbi in the mouth means I am going to hell but it was the fastest way to make sure he stopped bothering my little sister.
Can’t say if there is a statute of limitations on these things or if this requires more than the average confession to remove the red from my ledger either. Fortunately I am confident that more than a few of you will stick around to read the rest of this post.
That is because there is significant interest in learning how to make more money from blogging and I used the hook of punching the rabbi in the mouth to draw you in.
Boring Blogs Built Upon Boring Topics
There is a low barrier to entry in this field so anyone with an Internet connection and a desire to start blogging can sign up for a free account on WordPress.com, Blogger, Tumblr or any of the other free platforms out there.
Add the idea that Blogging is a simple way to make easy money and you can see why we have witnessed another Internet gold rush in which people have rushed to try and claim their stake.
It is also a big part of why the blogosphere is cluttered with a ridiculous number of boring blogs that are built upon boring topics. The reason many bloggers go for the low hanging fruit is because it is easy to write about how to make easy money while working in your pajamas.
Some of them try to dress it up by using terms like passive income streams but very few of them will tell you about how passive is the exact opposite of what really happens.
The bloggers that are making money from blogging either worked their butts off or they got lucky. There really isn’t too much in between.
Many people haven’t figured it out so they are churning out the same content as a million other people with the hope that they will magically find the formula for success.
Most won’t get there, but we’ll save that for a different day.
Blogging About Blogging Drives Traffic
Blogging about blogging drives traffic. Click through the archives and you will find multiple posts about blogging.
- Your “Captcha” Is Killing Your Comments
- Writer’s Block Is A Myth- Lord Wilner’s Castle
- Are You Out Of The Loop About Google Plus Communities?
- The Art Of Commenting
- Does Your Blog Need A Mission Statement?
Those posts generated multiple email exchanges, comments and consistently drive traffic to the blog because bloggers love to read and talk about blogging.
If you are interested in using blogging to make a buck the next question should be how much money did I make from or because of those posts.
Heck, if you are like me that would have been one of the first questions I would ask of a blogger who writes a post or posts about how to make more money from blogging.
How Much Have I Made?
The answer to that question is none of your business. It is enough to pay some bills but not enough for me to be relaxing on the beach in the picture, but I am ok with that.
If you are really interested in making money as a blogger I can provide you with some answers, suggestion and guidance.
Blogging Business Models
There are multiple models that include being paid per post, advertising revenue shares, an hourly rate or a salary.
Since compensation packages are not uniform you can’t take what I share here as being gospel and need to spend time evaluating any opportunity you are presented with.
But just to give you some food for thought here are things to think about:
- How long does it take to write a post? If you are being paid a set amount per post it should be easy to figure out how much you are earning per hour. You might be surprised at what that number is.
- Revenue sharing can be tricky. If you don’t have access to analytics you don’t know how much traffic the site receives or what sort of conversions are being generated from the ads running there.
- Sponsorships or salaries can be very nice because the numbers are easily understood and it becomes far less complicated to figure out whether you are working for less than minimum wage.
What about you? Do you have any experience here that you would like to share? Put it in the comments and let’s talk about it.
Hi Josh,
Blogging is a way of making money because I made money through blogging and still I am making. If you have good blog, you can monetize your blog in various ways.
Hi Omar,
If you can make it work you and are happy with it than that is great. I think there are lots of opportunities to do so, it is just not as easy as some people claim it is.
I agree with you that many bloggers focus more on blogging topics because that is what drives traffic and comments. I wrote about this a few days ago. I think if you want to make money blogging, you must from the start decide on what business model you want to use. Your blog should only be a vehicle to drive your business. I have taken statistic of blogs about blogging and discover that not many of them are making any money. Use your blog to build a business and you will see the money come.
Hi Chadrack,
Exactly. I don’t believe many bloggers are earning the kind of money they claim to be. It is not passive income for most, it is hard work.
There is nothing wrong with hard work but I like to have a clear picture of what it is I am trying to accomplish so that I can focus upon it and not be taken off the primrose path because I was misled by myself or others.
I keep earning money from blogging, but it’s not the reason why I blog, and it’s not enough to keep doing what I’m currently doing. To me, affiliate marketing has been where the money has come from, but I’m considering other options, like paid ads and creating my own product this year.
Hi Jens,
I wonder about affiliate marketing. I have made some money from it but not much. I haven’t focused on it much which probably contributes to it, but I part of it is because I am skeptical about how much can be made there relative to how much work is put in.
That is not to say it can’t be lucrative, but I don’t think it is as easy as some people try to make it out to be.
I like the idea of building and marketing our own products.
Josh, business models are more than the elements which everyone is aware of, people discard the human element like knowledge and core competency, for this reason successful business models can rarely be replicated.
Your idea of using low hanging fruits in this context is really appealing.
Kumar
Hi Kumar,
It is always a mistake to ignore the human element.