ProBlogger - Can You Really Make Money Blogging?

Every now and again I am pulled aside at a conference or am emailed and/or tweeted by someone wanting to get the “real” scoop on whether it is possible to make money blogging.

Is it really possible to make a living from blogging?
Is it just a small number of people making money from blogging?
Is it only really possible to make money blogging if you write about the topic of making money blogging?

I completely understand the questions and would probably want to add one more:

If it is really possible to make money blogging, how likely is it that you’ll succeed?

On one hand, we see hype on the topic. Periodically someone will claim to be able to make millions from blogging quickly. These claims are usually accompanied with the release of a product or service (i.e. they are marketing spin).

On the other hand, I also see people writing about how it is impossible to make money blogging (or that anyone claiming to be full time is either a scammer, a liar, or is selling something on the topic of making money online).

The reality is somewhere between these two extremes...

YES - it is possible to make money blogging. There is an ever-increasing number of people making money from blogging at a part-time to full-time level —however they are still in the minority.

Those who do make a living from blogging come from a wide range of niches, however one of the most common factors between them is that they’ve been at it for a long time.

There's much more to making money blogging than I can teach you in one email, which is why I have just launched a course teaching all my practical methods that have been making me money blogging for the past 20 years.

Make Money Course goes deep and gives you all the details:

the many and varied ways to make money blogging
how to create your own monetization strategy and
what to focus on first to develop your revenue streams

Tell Me More About Make Money Course

Meanwhile, let me go into a bit more detail to answer those original questions...

7 Things I know about making money from blogging

1. It is possible

I’ve been blogging for just under twenty years and for eighteen of those I’ve been making money blogging. It started out as just a few dollars a day but in time it gradually grew to becoming the equivalent of a part-time job, then a full-time job, and then into a business that employs others.

However I know of quite a few other bloggers who make a living from blogging, many of whom have not been blogging anywhere near as long as I have.

For some it is a hobby that keeps them in coffee; for others it is the equivalent of a part time job/supplementing other income from “real jobs” or helping their family out as they attend to other commitments (raising a family). For others it is a full-time thing.

2. There is no Single way to Make Money from Blogs

Bloggers making a full-time income are in a wide array of niches and all monetize quite differently — doing everything from selling advertising, to having membership areas, selling ebooks, running affiliate promotions, promoting their offline businesses, selling themselves as speakers, having book deals, and so on. Many have a combination of different income streams.

There are many ways to monetize a blog.

4. Many Niches Monetize

One common critique of the topic of monetizing of blogs is that the only people making money from blogging are the ones writing about how to make money blogging.

This is simply not true.

Here's a list of Australian bloggers who have spoken at ProBlogger Event and who all make decent money from blogging:

Nicole Avery (Parenting/Organization Blog)
Jules Clancy (Food Blog)
Nikki Parkinson (Fashion Blog)
Mrs Woog (‘Life’ Blog)
Gavin Aung Than (Cartoon Blog)
Cintia Gonzalez (Craft Blog)
Christina Butcher (Hair Blog)
Caz and Craig Makepeace (Travel Blog)
Nathalie Brown (Child Behaviour Blog)

The year before, we had others, including:

Lucy Feagins (Design Blog)
Emma Merkas (Dating Blog)
Chris Hunter (Motorbike Blog)
Phoebe Montague (Fashion Blog)

None sell products teaching others to make money blogging—all are on blogging on “normal,” every-day topics.

My own experience of having a blog about blogging (ProBlogger) and a blog about Photography is that it is my photography blog that is by far the most profitable blog (I’d estimate it’s ten times more profitable).

5. Most bloggers DO NOT make a full-time living from Blogging

Every time I’ve surveyed readers of ProBlogger about their earnings, we’ve seen that those making money from blogging are in the minority.

In a survey of 1500 ProBlogger readers we asked about their monthly earnings. What you’re seeing below is the spread of earnings from readers who are attempting to make money blogging (note: not all ProBlogger readers attempt to make money, so not all are included in these results).

Keep in mind that ProBlogger readers are generally newish bloggers—about half of those who took this survey had been blogging for less than two years.

So of those trying to make money blogging:

10% don’t make anything
28% are making less than 30 cents per day
A total of 63% make less than $3.50 per day

Let’s be clear—most bloggers who are attempting to make money are not making a living from blogging.

Having said that, of the 1508 bloggers surveyed:

65 (4%) are making over $10,000 per month (over six figures per year)
a further 9% were doing over $1000 per month (which is at least a part-time level of income)

6. It takes time to Build

When I dig down into the stats from the survey on income levels above, and do some analysis of those who are in the top income bracket, it is fascinating to look at how long they’ve been blogging.

85% of those in that top income bracket have been blogging for four years or more. Almost all of the others had been blogging for three or four years.

This certainly was my own experience. I blogged for a year without making money and once I started monetizing, it was around two years of gradual increases before I approached a full-time income level. It would have been four years before I joined that top bracket of income (over $10,000 per month).

Blogging for money is not a get-rich-quick thing. It takes time to build an audience, to build a brand, and to build trust and a good reputation. And of course even with four or five years of blogging behind you, there’s no guarantee of a decent income.

7. It takes a lot of Work

Longevity is not the only key to a profitable blog. The other common factor that I’ve noticed in most full-time bloggers is that they are people of action.

Passivity and blogging don’t tend to go hand in hand.

Blogging as “passive income stream” is another theme that we hear in many make-money-blogging products, however it is far from my own experience.

I’ve worked harder on my business than I’ve worked on anything in my life before this. It is often fun and gives me energy, but it takes considerable work to create content on a daily basis, to keep abreast of what’s going on in the community, to monitor the business side of things, to create products to sell, to build an audience, and so on.

The key is to build blogs that matter to people, that are original, interesting, and helpful. But this doesn’t just happen—it takes a lot of work.

Conclusions

Yes, it is possible to make money blogging. There is an ever-increasing number of people making money from blogging at a part-time to full-time level —however they are still in the minority.

Those who do make a living from blogging come from a wide range of niches, however one of the most common factors between them is that they’ve been at it for a long while.

There's more to making money blogging than I can teach you in one email, but I have just launched a course which contains all my practical experience making money blogging for the past 20 years.

Make Money Course goes deep and gives you all the details:

the many and varied ways to make money blogging
how to create your own monetization strategy and
what to focus on first to develop your revenue streams

Tell Me More About Make Money Course

Four Pillars of Blogging - Make Money Course

Make Money is the last of my Four Pillars of Blogging courses to help you build a profitable blog. It's the final stage of your journey to building a profitable blog where your hard work creating content, finding readers and building community literally pays off.

Currently, you can purchase these course individually for $49 USD each or upgrade at checkout to get ALL Four Pillars of Blogging Courses for just $99 USD.

Darren Rowse

ProBlogger

P.S. We're getting more reports from readers that email servers (particularly gmail) are filtering out the emails they actually do want to receive. To make sure you keep getting these emails, please 'star' this email, drag it to your 'primary' inbox, add darren@problogger.com to your email contacts address book or whitelist me.

PO Box 1181
Blackburn North Victoria 3130
AUSTRALIA

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