Quick answer – not me.
I read a fascinating blog post on Problogger, where he affiliately bitch slapped (in the nicest possible way) a – sorry – another “Buy this product and I’ll show you how to make money easily blogging” product. In the long run, the long and windy road less travelled is always the better route.
He argued successfully that blogging isn’t always about making money, but actually having fun along the way. About the programme (which is $67 a month), Darren states this:-
“If your dream is to build something that grows your profile as someone with authority in your niche, or to land a job or book deal, or to get invited to speak at an industry event, or to be quoted in mainstream media about your topic, or it’s just to build a blog that has loyal readers who keep coming back because you’re helping them…. then perhaps this isn’t the type of blogging model for you.”
That’s it when it comes to blogging. Blogging to make money is actually quite dull. Hell, why have so many “Make Money Online” bloggers have fallen to the wayside? The persuit of cold, hard cash – whilst profitable – isn’t the best course of action amongst your common man. Look at supremely wealthy investors based in cities. Yes they’re loaded, but the general concensous amongst people are that they’re hated as a group. To quote Frank Turner: “I’ve got friends who are bankers, and it’s an easy rhyme to call them wankers”.
Blogging is bloody hard work. Maintaining a blog is hard work, promoting a blog is hard work. However it can be rewarding. Blogging hasn’t bought me – after 7 years – a full time sustainable income yet. However, in the past 7 years I have gained the following from blogging:-
- A full time job as a web marketer.
- A part time job traveling the country working with a British Wrestling company.
- Beer money.
- Weekends away being wined & dined in London.
- A girlfriend for six months.
- Mentioned in the Guardian, Twice
- Two Interviews on BBC Radio Wales.
- A column in The North Wales Weekly News.
- Video Games.
- Professional connections.
- People in strange cities to go with for pints.
- And – dare I say it – Friends.
The above list are things that I’ve gained from blogging. Personal gains. All of which I’d say are things that money can’t buy.
But I’m Lazy, I Want To Earn Money Sitting On My Arse, Can You Help Me?
I will say there are ways to achieve at least some money per month without doing sod all. In fact, I have 3 sites that have done it. I will show one site in a later month that:-
- Makes me mid $XX a month figures without me putting any time/money on it.
- Is well liked & respected by Google.
- Emerged from a graveyard of sites that have tried & failed.
Okay, not a million like some programmes promise (it’s actually the lowest earner of all the sites I’ve produced), and there have been many failures along the way, but it is probably more than people’d ever earn from these programmes. I’ll show you how – for free – in a later post.
Tags: Blogging, make money blogging | Comments: 11 Comments
Rhys Wynne, the author of this blog, is a 20 something web designer from Colwyn Bay. 
My list of what blogging has gained me is similar to yours, though I gave up video games awhile ago.
But seriously, the money is like a bonus. I think my love affair with WordPress would exist with or without the potential to earn income online, though the extra $$ is certainly a nice motivator.
Hey Rhys,
Sod making money from blogging, tell us how it got you a girlfriend for 6months, was it some kind of time-share competition?
I only started getting serious about writing my own blog 6 months ago and I have to say I wish I started earlier.
If I don’t make any money with my blog the people I’ve met through the blog and the experience I’ve gained will be plenty which could then potentially be applied to a ‘real job’ in future. Better yet, I hope I never have to apply for a job again – either by making money through my blog(s) or getting a job through the many many contacts I’ve made.
(well it’s too late now, I made 2xad sale this week – my first piece of revenue for my blog – exciting! Gota start somewhere
Money is just something we need, to eat! It should hopefully not be the no.1 driving factor for blogging.
Sarge | BeginnerBlogger.com
What Darren forgot to mention was how many book deals B5Media have from their blogs.
Sometimes I think I’m in a minority (not wanting to make my fortune from blogging) and then of course I see entries like this…
Hey Rhys!
I linked to this post from your Twitter account. I’m curious as to why you’re chuffed and amazed at the response to this post…
Cheers!
- Don
(Hey Sarge!)
@donpower It went viral for a bit earlier on today, in that a lot of people retweeted it, got a lot of visitors, was really happy
I personally only want to start my blog to have somewhere to put down all my thoughts and ideas and hopefully help other people who have only a little internet marketing/seo experience to learn what I have learnt. I’d love to have someone use a couple of my tips on their eShop and suddenly increase conversions. I don’t want money. Though for making a bit of poket money, Squidoo isn’t half bad. I set up some lenses to put the free stuff on I made (PSP brushes and Scrapbooking freebies) and they get a lot of traffic and earn me money for it. I also put the amazon module on and somebody purchased 2 books which earnt me a nice commission! All for no effort. I recommend it!
Totally agree about the hard work aspect – blogging ain’t the route to easy riches. But you can (if you can work full time at it) create a full time income from a blog within a year. I did it, and my wife did it with her blog, and we started a year ago.