Can you make money blogging?

I get asked this question a lot. Plus I know this subject has been written about over and over, but I thought today I’d give you my 5 cents worth…

Do I make money from blogging? Sometimes, but not a lot.

Well why blog then? Because blogging is a vehicle to making money.

Sounds a little wishy-washy does’t it?

Well, let me explain…

I bet you’ve heard it before – there’s money to be made in blogging. Yes, true, but there isn’t a lot of it (but the Aussie blogging landscape is building on that!).

There’s only a small handful of bloggers who can truly say they make money solely from blogging. And where does that income come from?

• Sponsored posts
• Sidebar advertising
• other affiliate links

I don’t particularly do any of those very well. I sometimes get offered sponsored posts, but they are very sporadic and overall they don’t give me proper income. I rarely have paid sidebar advertising. So, I would say I don’t earn money just from blogging every day. Occasionally I get some free stuff, but that’s not going to pay the bills. I’m talking about cold-hard cash! Ha!

BUT… I DO use blogging as a vehicle to make money. Blogging every day allows me to draw on income from other sources. This is what I think bloggers should have in mind before they believe you can make money from blogging. You can’t start a blog with the intention of making money straight from it.

How do I get income then?

• I design blogs
• I teach people how to blog and use social media

These are the things I do daily to earn me money. I use my blog to draw clients in. I see a lot of successful bloggers also using their skills to make money and use blogging to draw their clients in. For example, bloggers can be interior designers, stylists, book writers, journalists, publicists, teachers, crafters, speakers, entrepreneurs… they blog to supplement their skills (and in turn their income).

Be something first, then use blogging to flog it AND if some extra income comes in because you’re blogging then that’s a huge bonus! The sponsored posts and sidebar advertising will follow once you’ve established yourself…

This is how I treat my blog. It’s the force in the background giving me jobs and income.

However, I don’t want you to think I am being negative because I am not! Blogging is my most favourite thing in the world. I do it for so many reasons! I love being part of the blogging community and I love watching blogs grow, people succeed and people pushing the ‘norm’.

Before you think it’s easy to make money from blogging, have a think about what else you could bring to the table… What are you good at? What else could draw money in? Those sponsored posts and sidebar ads are sometimes few and far between for the majority (but I welcome them when they come!).

And, why do I blog every day? Am I at the top of my game? Tomorrow I’ll talk more about this…

Have a great blogging day! X