I tend to violate some rules that those who say they make a lot of money from blogging believe are essential. This is one of those times, but I’ll get back to the main subject in a minute. First, the latest progress from my offer on being available for doing an interview has led to two new posts elsewhere. The first is an interview I did with Olawale Daniel on his blog TechAtLast blog. The second is a guest post I wrote for Mitchell Allen of Morpho Designs titled “70’s Music – The Last Days Of Innocence“. I hope you check them out and thanks to both of you.
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In previous interviews I’ve done, I’ve been asked this question about making money by blogging a few times. I used to always say that it was never really my intention to try to make money by blogging, and lived by that, even though, before this year, I always popped in an affiliate ad, just in case someone saw something they liked and decided to check it out. I can easy say that was NOT been successful, which is why I dropped it. I still run some banner ads here, but I’m sure they’re being missed by almost everyone as well.
I now have to modify my statements from back then a little bit. I still don’t try to make money off “all” my blogs, but I do try to make money specifically off one blog, and encourage others to help my income on others. It’s time for a breakdown because I’m going to be the one to tell you an amazing truth about making money online, but especially with blogging; it’s not going to happen the way you think it will.
I have earned a few dollars here and there from this blog over the years, but very little. I’ve sold a couple of affiliate programs, know I sold one of my books (up there to the top left) from this blog, and made, I believe, a whopping $1.35 from Adsense before it was pulled from this blog. That’s it; almost nothing. I’ve made nothing whatsoever from two of my blogs, those being my Syracuse blog and my SEO blog. The first has no advertising on it so far, and the second is just past 3 months old.
My main business blog, Mitch’s Blog has made more money than the other 3 blogs, but not how you’d think. What it’s done is helped me get a speaking engagement and a presentation to a company that both paid fairly well. I have also sold a couple of books on management and one of my CD series from that blog, but the first two things I mentioned makes it my biggest money maker by far, if not my most consistent. See, the purpose of the business blog is to show authority in my fields of business, and it worked well enough to get me two projects that paid nicely. So, I can say I made money online, even if it was for offline projects.
My finance blog, Top Finance Blog, is my most consistent money maker, and in some ways more in line with how some people might think of making money online; sort of. I make almost all of my money on that blog through paid advertising. Companies pay me to put banner ads on the site. They pay me to add their links to previous posts, and some pay me to put a post on there that they wrote. Some even pay me to write a special post for them, knowing it’s going to cost them more because y’all know me, I’m going to write what I want to write about when I want to write it unless I’m getting paid. Even though I have a couple of products on that page and my own banner ads, they don’t generate anything close to the advertising.
That’s not how I saw it coming when I started that blog. I always believed that if I wrote in that niche that I would sell all sorts of products and information geared towards it. That’s how it all began with me as well, having all kinds of sales stuff on there. What happened instead is people with business interest in the financial niche wanted to be a part of it as its rankings and position increased. If there was ever anything to be said for the power of finding a niche and sticking within it, this is it for me. I didn’t manifest income in the way I thought I would, but I’ve manifested it all the same. Now, before you run off trying to do the same thing, let me make this point clear; I’m not “yet” making enough to live off on that blog, and unless I totally write only that blog I don’t think I ever will. But it’s a nice income, and though the last 7 days are kind of a fluke, I did make close to $500; I’ll take that for now. 🙂
Can you make money blogging? Yes you can. Do I recommend trying it? Can’t hurt, as long as you know what the realities are. My finance blog will be 3 years old in December, and it’s taken that long to generate enough interest so that it can make money. If you’re looking for a quick hitter it’s rare that it will happen, so don’t hurt yourself trying. If you have the time, you’ll make something.
And now it’ll probably be another 7 to 9 months before I touch this topic again. lol
Excellent post Mitch. I appreciate you telling it like it really is.
We need this in the real world to help counteract all of the fluff being published online.
Great job, friend. 🙂
Mark
Thanks Mark. There’s so much out there that tells people how easy it is to make money online, and it’s not all that easy. Every once in a while I feel I just have to tell it like it is.
Very interesting post, Mitch. I’ve experienced the same thing with my blog. I haven’t made much passive income, but it has generated paying writing clients so I can’t complain about that at all.
Hi DeAnna; great seeing you here again. You just re-emphasize my point that blogging can generate money even if it’s not the way people think it will work out. That’s as good a reason as any to continue blogging and trying to write content that’s good enough to attract readers and hopefully impress them as well.
Making money from blogging isn’t really easy and I think most people that try to do this fail, because expect stable income really fast which can not happen. A good way is to offer services or sell, those two are the big money makers, but actually I’m consulting a company which is making money from their blog network in completely different way, however investment there is huge and they own more than a 1000 websites.
Carl, one could make money going the 1,000 website route, but man that’s a lot of work and maintenance and upfront costs; not me! lol As to the other, I think the ads that come out telling people how easily and quickly they can make money when they have no real understanding of it gets people where their greed factor is, and that’s unfortunate. I’ve written posts on this blog talking about things I’ve seen and scams I know people fall for; it’s too bad.
Actually this make sense, as if a website make a dollar, income from many websites can cover the cost and of course cross linking between the relevant one nearly guarantee that earning will be much higher. I am doing similar thing, but on smaller scale – about 40 website which require minimal effort after everything is established.
About the ads and guides to make money online, well this is going for century and I am certain that 99% of this systems have never been tested or have been used so many times that it wont work anymore.
Carl, if they were making a dollar a day I’d agree, but we both know that most websites are hit or miss, and trying to maintain 4,000 websites on one’s own is an expensive and almost impossible proposition, and I think I’m being kind here. No way I’d do it, though I have a friend that has just over 100 websites.
Hi Mitch,
I bet this post as one of the best articles I read today. I also agree with you that making money through blogging needed lots of efforts,money as well as its consistency.
Thanks Nichole. Nothing is ever as easy as someone else says it is, especially making money.
I think the key to making money online is to be versatile. When you start out you think you know how you will make money, but in time you discover ways that you hadn’t considered.
Hi Mitch,
Good to read about your experience of making money by blogging. I think many newbies believe that if their sole motive is to make money by their blog they will make money, I think money comes only if you give back knowledge and share your experience in the field.
That seems to be the case Shiva. So many gurus tell people how easy it is and how fast money can be made, and it’s not that it’s not true but it’s very rare, especially in today’s world where there’s so much competition for each dollar. It will take awhile in many cases, and some folks will never make any significant cash.
making money in internet via blog is one of the best choice however there are others as well like making surveys, fiverr, and many more
This is exactly what i did – set out to solve problems and provide information. visitors came, and so did advertisers. now, i make my primary income from my blogs and have for the last several years. and i am by no means one of the “big fish” in my niche in terms of traffic, but i am in terms of quality of information.
Making money blogging comes down to your ability to provide lots of high-quality, relevant, easy to find information to as many people as possible, answer questions, & solve problems. you also have to run it like a business, etc., etc., but that is the cornerstone.
All this is of course, based on the premise that you are doing what you believe in.
Exactly John. I think it also takes some originality and energy, something that’s sadly lacking in many areas. However, I love blogs where the writer is engaging, and I love to share them when I can. I’m for all of us making money, even if in different ways.
Nice earnings on the finance blog, but 3 years is a lot of time and a lot of work. This is why I prefer starting something that I’m really passionate about, concentrate on that project and if 6 months passes and it still doesn’t earn a decent profit, I just sell it for a nice sum, therefore generating traffic eventually.
Cristian, I never even thought about selling a website until I finally sold one last year. It’s an interesting way to make money, but you know, I’m one of those folks who, at least most of the time, doesn’t think I’m earning back what I put into something as far as time and effort. I mean, the site I sold last year wasn’t for all that much in the long run, but I didn’t have the time to make it work better. Still, I don’t mind that it took 3 years since I went into it with one thing in mind and it’s ended up working in a much different way.
In Russia, many webmasters selling links.But this is not the best way. But this is not the best way.
Dear Mitch Mitchell,
I was wondering on a similar note, Having your own blog allows you to be able to express your opinions and share information with people all over the world. And many of these people are often ready and willing to spend money!
Cheerio