What does it take to make money blogging?

[Laughing Ninja]

So I always see new bloggers (myself included) on this forum and others asking how to get rich blogging, and the more experienced bloggers inevitably dash their dreams against the rocks by telling them it's not realistic.

So I was watching this interview with the guy who does The Oatmeal, and he said something that made me further realize how impossible it is to get rich blogging. He said he gets between 3-5 million unique hits a day, and he makes about $1000 a day ($70k on black friday).

However, only 20% of that is from adsense and about 80% from products he sells.

That means that for every 3-5 million unique hits, he only gets about $200 from adsense!

That doesn't bode well for people like me, with my 10 uniques a day.

Clearly, money is not a good reason to blog, and blogging is not a good way to make money.

[bloggerican]

Well, AdSense isn't the only way to make money and The Oatmeal author knows this. That is why his other monetization technique is to sell his own stuffs and it accounts for a huge percentage of his earnings (if you noticed).

Let me put it this way for you, so please bear with me a little.

If you get 1,000 visitors per day and only 100 of them click on your AdSense links, you'll probably earn $10 (or even much less) for that day (assuming you get $0.10 per click).

On the other hand, let's say you get 1,000 visitors per day and you have a link to your product and only 100 of those visitors click on it but only this time, only 10 of them decides to buy it. Assuming one of your product costs $10, you'd make $100 on that day.

So you see, for both monetization model, you get the same amount of visitors and the same amount of clicks but you will be making 10 times more for the second model. Which route would you take now?

Before anyone starts flaming me, I would like to reiterate that 10 out of 1,000 visitors is like getting a conversion rate of 1%. Do you see how small my assumption is and how real this can be for your blog (assuming that you have the right traffic and a good offer)?

So, if you are really passionate about your blog and you really have something of value to offer your readers, ask them for the sale. You never know until you ask. Just don't give up on your passion and your blog.

[BlogDiva]

There is nothing wrong with planning to monetize your blog...but if you start out with that intention you may be disappointed. Your initial goal should be to write, deliver information, and connect with readers. Monetization comes later, as a bonus...or maybe never comes

[Laughing Ninja]

Originally Posted by BlogDiva

There is nothing wrong with planning to monetize your blog...but if you start out with that intention you may be disappointed. Your initial goal should be to write, deliver information, and connect with readers. Monetization comes later, as a bonus...or maybe never comes

Exactly what I was getting at. Thank you!

[bloggerican]

Originally Posted by BlogDiva

There is nothing wrong with planning to monetize your blog...but if you start out with that intention you may be disappointed. Your initial goal should be to write, deliver information, and connect with readers.

Agree with you on this point. Nothing further to add.

Originally Posted by BlogDiva

Monetization comes later, as a bonus...or maybe never comes

Like you said, their is nothing wrong with planning to monetize your blog but why does it have to come later?

Frankly, I don't see the logic behind it. If you want to or planned to monetize your blog, you might as well do it right from the start.

[Laughing Ninja]

I think what was meant was "successful" monetization comes later

[JonathanQ]

Originally Posted by BlogDiva

There is nothing wrong with planning to monetize your blog...but if you start out with that intention you may be disappointed. Your initial goal should be to write, deliver information, and connect with readers. Monetization comes later, as a bonus...or maybe never comes

Good point. A lot of people quit because they spend a lot of time trying to monetize their blog and when they earn next to nothing they just back off.

Anyways, I want to ask, if you are a new blogger, after how many months of work do you expect to earn about even $50 a month if you post lets say 2-3 times a week.

I know most of you would answer that it depends on the site, but i'm asking this generally.

[Laughing Ninja]

Well, in general, with 2-3 posts a week, I guess it would depend on the content and monetization method, but I'd guess well over a year or over two years.

[JonathanQ]

so, the better alternative would be to get a set of let's say 2-3 blogs to speed up the process and have a great linking and marketing strategy like going to related forums?

[christov84]

Id say content so the search engines can do all the hardwork of marketing and linking for you