blogging for bucks (part 1)

This information is for the most ambitious loggers who believe that their entries are worth money. Well, why shouldn’t they be? Your blog is internet content, and Internet content has a value. How much value you realize from your blog depends on several variables, the most important of which is traffic. The more traffic there is passing through your site, the more chance you have to turn those eyeballs into money.

Does this all sound too mercenary? That’s fine, too. Many people who write personal blogs have less interest in making money from their online diaries than they do in selling stale bread. I don’t mean to compare your blog entries to stale bread. Perhaps that wasn’t the best analogy. My point is that blogging started as a giving activity, and it still is for most individual bloggers. For most people, trying to generate a revenue stream (as they say in the business world) from their hobby blog is not worth the trouble.

But an equally valid point is that any site with even a handful of readers can serve as a modest home business. Making money can be a hobby, too, even if your ultimate goal is just to cover blogging expenses. In the case of a basic TypePad account, as an example, that means earning a few dollars a month from your blog. I know people who never imagined they would turn a blog into money, tried it, and did indeed recoup those few bucks every month. Chances are good that a few dollars per month is the high end of a blog’s earning potential — let’s be realistic. But the attempt has the side benefits of making the blog a little more professional in appearance and making the blogger a little more professional, too. If you’re making 50 cents a month to start,
you might be motivated to reach one dollar, and move forward from there. In the effort, you’re likely to make your site look better and explore the marketing tricks that bring more traffic. With more traffic comes more influence in the blogosphere, and suddenly you’re on your way to the next level in the blogging lifestyle.