Every time I teach a social media workshop, I get this question:
How can I make money blogging?
I feel like there’s this idea out there in the world that making money blogging is the latest and greatest get-rich-quick scheme. Get a blog, put some Google PPC ads on it and voila! Watch the cash roll in while you sleep!
Like most get-rich-quick schemes, this is a lot of hype, and not much truth. Like anything, blogging is work and it takes time and persistence to really make it pay off.
Certainly, there are examples of folks who make a living blogging: John Chow is the first one that comes to mind. He makes a $40,000/month income from blogging, but he also has 122,000 readers per month.
Guys like John are by far the exception rather than the rule. I asked Rebecca Bolwitt, Miss 604, who is Vancouver’s #1 blogger, about how she makes a living from her blog.
I think blogging more than anything gives me the visibility that leads to paid opportunities such as speaking engagements, consulting, or even building websites. My Google Ads and private ads have generated some revenue but it took me 7 years to get to this point because making money was never my focus.People know the brand I have built up and that leads to business opportunities for my company, sixty4media, which is my main source of income. I’m certain I could dive in further with advertising or paid content on my site, but it’s still a blog to me – something that I created because I love to write and share information. If I wanted it to be a business, I bet it even wouldn’t be as popular.
- Sell things off of your blog: an e-book or courses or some other product (ie: your artwork)
- Use your blog to drive traffic to your primary business (your blog establishes you as an expert in your field, which gives you credibility, and makes people want to hire you)
- Offer workshops or seek out teaching opportunities
- Hire yourself out to live blog events (you have to have good numbers to do this and to make it work)
- Create a membership site
Again, there’s no overnight get-rich-quick solution. The truth is, you need to put in the work and build up your numbers and your following.
For more information, check out this post by Darren Rowse over at Problogger (who makes a living from his blogging work).