Reality Check: Blogging for Money
by David Peralty on January 28th, 2008 
11 Comments
Darren Rowse recently wrote a post that I think every blogger writing in hopes of making huge money online should read. The post is a reality check of sorts, reminding people that it is long, hard work to make Darren Rowse type money online.
While it’s true that I have built my blogging to a point where I’m able to earn good money blogging there are many things that an article like the one in the WSJ didn’t (and couldn’t) mention about how I was able to build my blogging up to this point.
The impact of this missing ‘back story’ is that much of the reality of blogging for money goes unseen by those looking at blogging as a potential income stream – leading some to naively enter into blogging with false expectations.
Of course when these expectations are not met things can get ugly with disappointment and anger being a common reaction. What disappoints me as a blogger writing on this topic is that I regularly see other bloggers feeding their readers with hype and false hopes about how easy it is to make big money from blogging. This only adds to the distance between their reader’s expectations and the reality of blogging for money.
I really enjoyed this post by Darren, and I highly recommend that everyone read it, if for nothing else than to understand why after two years, I am not a millionaire.
thanks for the link David.
ah, yes. i caught that article. a very good one.
True. True. I could not agree more. I am just re-starting my blog and I am just psyching up my mind not to expect too much. Thanks!
do somebody have a list with the top 50 article directories in usa? if yes – please send an email to chschneider03@web.de. thx
Nice, thanks for the information David. It really helps. :D
Hi David,
Small world this post. Last year I was on Darren’s site reading his articles and came across a similar article he wrote, discussing how much money do bloggers earn blogging…
It was a good reality check, because as you say, I think LOTS of bloggers have a way overly optimistic viewpoint of what it takes to make good money blogging, and how much work is required.
I was inspired by Darren’s article to add a whole segment to the front of a video series I created, entitled “7 Ways To Make Money With Your Blog” (the URL is in my comment name for those of you curious), talking about the realities of earning an income from blogging.
Like you, I’m no blogging millionaire myself, although I do earn a fairly comfortable full-time income from the internet industry, including some blogging efforts, and IMO if you want to make Darren Rowse or John Chow mad money from blogging, you’d better be in it for the LONG haul, and be a good, interesting, entertaining writer – otherwise forget making the big $’s.
Thanks for your comments, and great to see someone else agrees with me on this subject (which tends to get blown out of reality by the hype merchants!).
I think that making money from a blog is the same in many ways to making money from other means. Is it impossible? No. Is it lots of hard work? Yes. Does the amount of work necessarily reflect the payout? Nope.
On my blog, my primary goal is to have a place to express myself through some of my writing and to share information. Second is to generate some sort of supplementary income. I will be pleased if I make just enough to pay for the domain name at the end of the year. Not only that, but I would consider it to be a success if I made just that much.
Nothing in life equals easy money, nothing legal anyway. Blog because you enjoy it, blog because you have information to share, blog to expand your social network. Over time, if you do a good enough job you may get a little extra spending money. But do not quit your day job.
Mike
Dropthemike.com
Internet Industry Talk
Not expecting too much is the best way to blog. Its a long way to make money.
I think a little bit money is possible, but to earn a lot of money it takes more than an blog.
Topic of your article is very interesting, i have bookmarked your blog
regards
fluflaken