How much can you make?

[trick-r-treat]

Is anyone here actually making any decent money at blogging? Is it at all possible? If so, where would I be able to actually see a blog that someone is making lots of money from?

[malique]

I Make Money Online by Telling People How Much Money I Make Online - John Chow dot Com (http://www.johnchow.com) ;)

[Jeremy]

Is 4-figures a month considered "lots" of money? Your definition is a bit vague. Some people would consider making 100 bucks a month good for a blog, while others wouldn't want to do it if it paid less than $5,000/month. But the bottom line is that with some hard work and enough time, yes you can make decent money doing it. There are a few who pull down six-figures doing so.

But like anything, it won't just happen overnight or without effort. You get out of it what you put in, and over time it can yield some nice rewards.

[bsd13]

Like anything else the potential is unlimited it all depends on what you do with it.

[SageMother]

Is 4-figures a month considered "lots" of money? Your definition is a bit vague. Some people would consider making 100 bucks a month good for a blog, while others wouldn't want to do it if it paid less than $5,000/month. But the bottom line is that with some hard work and enough time, yes you can make decent money doing it. There are a few who pull down six-figures doing so.

But like anything, it won't just happen overnight or without effort. You get out of it what you put in, and over time it can yield some nice rewards.
I totally agree. One of the real challenges is sticking with y our concept long enough to see money. I think it is better to simply write what you wish to share and build a following without thinking about the money. Otherwise it is too easy to give up when your statistics don't convert to cash.

[ammulu]

It all depends on you personally, how much you are wanting to make in a month. I would say rather $100 per month would really be good for my blogs because of the amount of time and effort I put in for these sites. I would be happy and satisfied with that money.

[Evan]

There is a book called the Winner Take All Economy or something like that.

In markets where value is not tied to commodities or life terribly strongly then you get a few hugely recognised individuals or companies making astronomical money and huge numbers making very little. This is most clearly seen in industries like entertainment and sports.

The winners may be very talented but luck surely enters in as well - not to mention skill in business.

Blogging is somewhat like this. And those who got in early have a huge advantage. It will be some years yet before things settle down - it is still very young.

My guess is that it will settle down into a few niches (already emerging) with a few big winners in each. You provide quality, do your best at business and are prepared to capitalise on the breaks when they come along. With luck you may end up very wealthy indeed. Putting in the spadework is often rewarded fairly well if not incredibly.

That's my view of the situation at this stage.

[Evan]

Darren Rowse has a post about this.

A Reality Check about Blogging for Money (http://www.problogger.net/archives/2008/01/23/a-reality-check-about-blogging-for-money/)

[davemcnally]

I would definitely suggest blogging for other reasons than money as mentioned above. If you are doing for through interest in your chosen niche then the content is going to be of a better quality and you are more likely to build a profitable site.

[erikko]

blogging matters to me, money is just a consolation to my passion

[SageMother]

I would definitely suggest blogging for other reasons than money as mentioned above. If you are doing for through interest in your chosen niche then the content is going to be of a better quality and you are more likely to build a profitable site.

I think it is also important to avoid relying on Adsense for income. Adbrite and other similar programs are more flexible as far as your content and you can drive traffic to the ads as you see fit.

[Liza]

My 2 cent, it is very possible but you have to put in a lot of work. Make sure you have good, fresh content. Position your ads strategically, have a follow up product to sell. Stuff like that.

[Evan]

Yaro Starak runs an internet marketing blog (focussed on blogs) where he has talked about how much money he has made and how he did it.

It's called Entrepreneurs_Journey. He worked part-time at first. It took him several years to mostly rely on income from his blog (though he has other irons in the fire so it's a bit difficult to know).

It's easiest to find him by googling his name rather than his blog.

[SarahG]

A lot of these bloggers that make big money online aren't necessarily making their income from blogging. I make money off AIS (automated income stream) sites, sites set up selling products, or contains information and articles with relevant ads and affiliate links in use. Unless someone happens to sign up via an affiliate link on my blog, I don't actually make money blogging, but I make a small sideline income. I don't rely on it to live as I have a fulltime business, but a business partner of mine earns around $50-70k a year from his online ventures, very little of it from his blogging.

[trick-r-treat]

Wow! Thank you, everyone, for your valuable responses. I guess what I was trying to find out was, can you actually make enough money to sustain yourself on blogging alone. It looks like the answer is yes, but of course, it takes time and effort. Which is understandable! I certainly wouldn't think you could just throw any old blog out there and expect to get rich off of it. But, even getting 4 figures a month would be an incentive to keep at it!

[ammulu]

Yeah Trick-r-Treat, it would surely take a while to make good money out of blogging. But, you can really make some good income. I wasn't really able to make up to 4 figures per month yet.

[Liza]

You have to spent much time on it, that's the kind of time I don't have to dedicate just now. But if you do, just go for it.

[tater03]

That is my problem I don't have as much time as I would like to spend on it and try to make the big money. Maybe someday. But the way I look at it here is every little bit helps in our household.

[SageMother]

Blogging helps build skills that are useful for making money in other areas. If your writing improves through blogging your options for "ghost" blogging and writing website content go way up.

Thinking of your blog as your portfolio is never a bad idea.

[fatnewt]

Blogging for money is just like any other kind of web publishing for profit. If you have good content (or content that appears to be good) and are able to get visitors to it, you can make money.

"Anyone" can do it, but it does take dedication and some talent to do very well.

Personally, I don't make much off of my blogs. But I'm not really trying to (I've barely monetized my blogs, actually).

[ernan]

Is anyone here actually making any decent money at blogging? Is it at all possible? If so, where would I be able to actually see a blog that someone is making lots of money from?

hmm. making money blogging is hard if you have no experience yet in affiliate marketing, moreso if the traffic on your blog is not "that much".

so far, in three months of blogging i have earned at least $99 in advertising revenues enough to pay my another 6 months of my web hosting bills. but i'm hoping. :bigsmile:

[tater03]

I can see how it would help you with your writing skills and open up other online writing opportunities. Especially when you have something to link back to to show your writing ability to potential employers.