I have a dream to make a decent income off of blogging. There, I said it. When I tell people this in person, most look at me in a strange way, thinking that I have lost my way. Some think that I just want to be lazy. Others are just curious how one might go about making money from a blog. One of the most common reactions is one that looks down upon blogging. While my friends are excited to see the success that I have already made, most don’t understand why I can see blogging as a serious and respectable business model.
1. You Can Make Money with a Blog
Despite what people think, you can make decent money with a blog. It’s not easy by any means, but it is possible. If you build you your readership and work on your Search Engine Optimization, it is possible to get hundreds of thousands of visits each month. While I am no where near this in traffic, I already have a pretty steady income from running my blogs. I have friends, who have been doing it for a few years, that are now making thousands of dollars each month – just from one blog.
2. Blogs focus on Content and the Reader, not on some product or service
While some businesses market products or services, a blog offers content. Sure, there may be ads on the page, but it’s primary purpose is to provide a great resource for viewers. Traditional businesses have no choice but to market products or services that people could live without, using merchant accounts to process the transactions, and pay employees. With a blog, the business model is much simpler. Write great content. Build readership. Sell advertisement. Getting paid to provide valuable information to everyday people just sounds good. Who wouldn’t want to do that?
3. “Everything” is Going Online
Last, but certainly not least, is the fact that everything is moving towards online. In the past 10 years, more and more things have moved online. There is now online bill paying, social networks like facebook and twitter, news, etc. More people are spending hours a day online than doing anything else. It only makes sense to connect with people where they spend the most time. While some people question the future of blogging, it only seems reasonable for people to spend more time looking at blogs as the world is more dependent on the internet. It’s hard to see it going out of style anytime soon.
While some people may question my interest in blogging, it seems to be a viable way to earn a modest living and focus on the things that interest me. I may expand my internet reach to provide other services, but for the time being, I am focusing on building up my blogs’ reputations and traffic.
Do you think blogging is a viable business model?
I fight this same fight. While I’m not looking to make blogging my primary income per se, I am looking to make a nice side gig out of it. When I tell people I’m going to go to work for an hour and they see me typing away they think I’m crazy and kind of devalue what I’m doing (likely without meaning to). I keep telling myself that good websites will be like the real estate of the future in that they should become more and more demand as much of the world comes online for the first time, and business realize there is more and more value to be had in online advertising.
Very few blogs are big enough or can generate the income to provide full time income. The ‘new’ model seems to be to have a bunch of blogs that, combined, can give that income level. The problems are that this takes that much more time and it saturates the web with information and such.
I hope to be able to make a decent side amount at least from blogging. It is fun and if I can make money doing it I’m not going to complain. If I hit it big who knows what will happen.
blogging can be a great business if you are dedicated to it and keep consistent posting. i think consistency is most important in successful blogging.
I got that same reaction from my co-students when I attended the Kaufmann Fast Trac New Venture class. No one could understand the business model – no one could picture how I could make money!
Hi there, I am totally agree with you.
For me earning extra from the blog was rather amazing – almost like whisking up wipping cream – nothing, nothing and then unexpected and a pleasant surprise.
Perception is changing. With more people able to quit their jobs, and blogging about it, blogging becomes more and more desirable and mainstream. Give it another 3 years!
I think blogging is the kind of business that people need to jump into slowly. It takes time to learn the business model and how to get the most out of it. Unless you have a mentor, it will likely take a long time to build it to the point where it can be a primary business.
I think blogging is becoming more reputable as more people do it. I know when I started most people didn’t get it, but now that I make income from it and have branched into other things because of it e.g. author, public speaker etc… it is accepted and people ask me how to do it, tell me how lucky I am …
It takes a while to build, but with more mainstream media exposure of bloggers, blogging is going t be more reputable.
I agree with the fact that a blog should be all about content, and of course, about the readers, and not about some certain product or service. I think the bloggers should also write about their likes, or maybe write about the theme of their blog, the sole reason why followers are following your blog.
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