Can I Really Make A Living By Blogging?

[Turk.]

Question:
I?m thinking about starting my own blog. I don?t expect it to make me stinking rich, but what are the chances I can quit my day job and make a living just by blogging? I see all these success stories, but how much money can I really make? Signed, Burgeoning Blogger

Answer:
If you?re passionate about a subject and you have decent writing skills, blogging definitely could be an alternative career path for you. The short answer is, yes, it is possible to make a living ? a very good one, even ? by writing online. On the other hand, the hard truth is most of the millions of bloggers today don?t make enough to support themselves just with their blogs. Let?s take a look atwhat?s involved.
Blogging as an Occupation

How Much You Can Earn


Source

Any pro blogger here, so share your experience. :)

[cooky560 Veteran]

While I'm not a pro blogger, the pie chart you included suggesting that the majority of bloggers make less than $99 suggests it might be a hard if not impossible market to crack. If you can survive on less than $99 then its fine I guess (y)

[riahc3]

Hello,

No. Unless you have several traits, noone cares about your blog.

Some if not all of those traits in no order are:

1: Famous

2: Hot chick

3: Something political with alot of comments going back and forth

4: A tech blog that details highly technical procedures

5: Warez scene blog

6: A lot of news in general

Im sure Im missing a lot but...you gotta basically bring something new and innovative.

[T3X4S]

Hi.  I have a blog & I collect over $15,000.⁰⁰ / month

You can too !  Just send $29.⁹⁵ To receive my How to Rip People Off Over the Internetz book

 

Act Now & I'll throw in 2 microfiber towels !  1 towel, so many uses !

 

 

riahc3 list is pretty good - just look at all of the blogs/reviews through neowin -- how many do you follow or click through ?

[riahc3]

Hello,

Hi.  I have a blog & I collect over $15,000.⁰⁰ / month

You can too !  Just send $29.⁹⁵ To receive my How to Rip People Off Over the Internetz book

 

Act Now & I'll throw in 2 microfiber towels !  1 towel, so many uses !

 

 

riahc3 list is pretty good - just look at all of the blogs/reviews through neowin -- how many do you follow or click through ?

Thank you.

I have a even better/thought question: Why would I want to read your blog? If you can't give me a good and convincing reason why I should, there is your first problem :)

[cork1958]

Simple answer is no!

 

Anyone with half a life wouldn't even bother looking at any blog to begin with!

[Skiver Veteran]

I try to follow a friend (he's more my friends brother but I know him enough I think) who I don't believe lives off his blog but uses it quite a bit. If you don't mind lengthy reads he normally has some good stuff to say and I know he is pretty successful.

 

 

http://www.viperchill.com/

[+InsaneNutter MVC]

It?s certainly possible, some larger rival sites to mine must be rolling it in. In the picture above I would be ?The part time professional?. You can certainly earn some extra money to make it worthwhile, however I wouldn?t feel comfortable with it as my only source of income.
 
Example ? Once Google Adsense didn?t agree with something on my site and it was three months before I managed to get adverts back. So just like that you could have no income at all if blogging / running a website was your only source of income.

Other ad networks the average person can sign up to use pay peanuts compared to Google in my experience too.

 

Simple answer is no!
 
Anyone with half a life wouldn't even bother looking at any blog to begin with!

 
That?s total nonsense,

So you don't read reviews on something before purchasing it? or Google how to do something?
 
If your blogging in general about your life chances are no, your probably not that interesting. However if your creating useful / relevant content people will read it.

[leesmithg]

Only people that make money from blogging I have found are either related to MP's, royalty or famous chefs.

 

You could stuff your blog with adverts, however, most of us us ad-blockers which get rid of 99.99% of ads.

[game_over]

Hello,

No. Unless you have several traits, noone cares about your blog.

Some if not all of those traits in no order are:

1: Famous

2: Hot chick

3: Something political with alot of comments going back and forth

4: A tech blog that details highly technical procedures

5: Warez scene blog

6: A lot of news in general

Im sure Im missing a lot but...you gotta basically bring something new and innovative.

 

^ This, you need to be a hot chick or have a niche..  i used to read a blog that i generally wasn't interested in because i thought the blogger was hot, she posted photos of her traveling, i loved reading it.

 

Then there is people like iJustine(apple gaming fanatic hot chick), Perez Hilton(a controversial celebrity basher), Chris Coyier (CSS Tricks) who started off blogging, they are now involved in a lot more but started off writing posts.

 

It's all about quality posts, i tried to help some guys get a show business blog off the ground and after years it was still only getting 1-10 hits per day, they were throwing mass amounts of posts at it about show business that you can get on any other site, not really connecting with audiences or giving anyone a reason to visit the site, they spent a lot on it and didn't make a penny.

[MikeChipshop Member]

You need to have something special to make it in the blogging world. Some people just have something about them that makes people like them and follow them.

[Torolol]

Hello,

2: Hot chick

thats right, like a certain blogger on tumblr ...

[leesmithg]

Turk, find a hot chick, ask for some pictures of her then write in a females name.

 

Scatter a few images of her around, when she is  looking business like make sure she got sexy glasses on.

 

I like and prefer my women with glasses, makes them better looking and educated.

 

Don't go pr0n but go pretty first name and posh double barrelled surname.

 

Lucy Watson-Phillips

 

Or Anna-Beth Windsor

 

Or make up your own.

 

Real Estate agents in England do this all the time.

 

Their real name might be Ward Homes, but you see pretty for sale signs like Jane Ashley, Lisa Dawson, Marie Williams appear.

 

Ring the number you get through to Ward.

[Draconian Guppy]

kenrockwell.com  and bythom.com are succesful blogs, HOWEVER they are niche as stated above (photography focused)

[Turk.]

or Lym Smith-G :) Well source shows Author would be Melanie Pinola-G :)

[fusi0n]

My wife actually makes a good bit blogging.. She has a full time job, but she writes all over her blog post after hours or during the weekend and has it setup to post on certain days.. She is always getting free stuff in the mail also to blog about.. 

[Draconian Guppy]

My wife actually makes a good bit blogging.. She has a full time job, but she writes all over her blog post after hours or during the weekend and has it setup to post on certain days.. She is always getting free stuff in the mail also to blog about.. 

anything worth reading? link us!

[STNN]

If you are really good at what you blog, like an expert on the subject then yeah. I wouldn't start out as full time until you know it is working out for you

 

 

anything worth reading? link us!

 

I blog a little bit myself mostly about things in my life or interesting news/articles i find on the internet. I won't say i make a living but the few bucks actually don't hurt and i get to write what i like http://steyny.blogspot.co.uk

[+Majesticmerc MVC]

Assume no. For every blog that has a large following, there's hundreds upon thousands of failed blogs that didn't gain any traction. Doesn't mean you shouldn't start one though, even if you don't make a big impact, you might find the occasional comment thanking you for helping them, and it might well turn a crappy day into a slightly better day :)

Anyone with half a life wouldn't even bother looking at any blog to begin with!

The first part of your answer was correct, but that line is total crap. There are plenty of blogs out there that are worth reading. Reviews, professional tips (especially for coders) and just generally interesting stuff. There's swathes of garbage out there, but there's plenty of good blogs too. XKCD Blag is good, Coding Horror used to be cool, and I'm sure there are plenty of others that are worth reading.

[T3X4S]

I always thought about starting a blog.  Then realized nobody would want to read someone going off on everything that bugged him.  So I didnt.

Unlike many of my Facebook friends - I know the finer details of my life arent worth mentioning.... I have no delusions of grandeur and am not good enough of a storyteller to make the mundane seem monumental...

[PNWDweller]

Nah - money is in making apps like Flappy Bird and releasing them with ads.  ;)

 

I have a personal blog I write on but never for profit or anything else.  Just for family and friends to read.  It was private for a long time, but recently have been making more public posts.  The site has been online for 5 years now and no traffic really (Because I never submitted to search engines and those that do hit my site are spam bots). 

 

I think personally that the blogosphere is way too saturated and you have to have a good enough topic nobody else has covered to make it anymore. :)