Can You Make Money Blogging?

In the last few days I’ve been asked THE BIG question about five times….

The answer is yes, of course you can make money blogging.  But I suspect what people are really asking is

In my opinion, I think it would be very difficult (and rare) to earn enough money blogging to consider it income.  In fact, surveys have shown that over 95% of bloggers earn less than $100 month.  There are exceptions to that, but if you are planning to start blogging for income, the odds aren’t in your favor.

How can you make money blogging?

1).  Affiliations:  these are companies who will offer you a “referral payment” if someone clicks on a link that is registered to you.  It’s a marketing strategy that companies will use to leverage the power of the blogosphere.

Here are a few examples of companies that I’m affiliated with:

- Logical Media:  I like this company since they send you regular e-mails on a variety of campaigns through which you can earn money.  I’ve been a member with them for over 8 months and I think they offer a good resource.

One caveat – Logical Media’s offers aren’t always super relevant to what I think GT and B readers would be interested in.  For example, today I received information on how to get Free Glucose Monitors and an offer to sign up for a DVD on Men’s Hair Restoration.  Since these wouldn’t normally be topics on my blog (at least not yet) I didn’t share them.  But feel free to check them out if you’re interested!

- Commission Junction: I like working with this company because they are affiliated with some top tier organizations like UPromise, Veggie Tales and TracFone.  Since these are products that I use myself, I feel comfortable having their advertising on my blog and earning a referral to them. 

- Amazon Associates:  Probably the largest affiliate anywhere on the web, Amazon has a comprehensive program.  You can have their “widgets” in your sidebar or create a link to a product.  Since most people already shop with Amazon, this is a good one to start with!

- Finally, Shop at Home, Swag Bucks, eBates, Cashbaq, and Mr. Rebates are all companies who provide you with incentives to get other people to sign up. For example, if you sign up for SwagBucks, the person who referred you will get some “swag points.”  Then you get referral points when you recommend it to someone else!  (these are my referral links so if you are interested in signing up, check them out).

2).  Sell Advertising space: 

Adsense is a very simple place to start, especially for Blogger users (since both Blogger and Adsense are owned by Google).  You can have Adsense advertising in your sidebar, after the posts on your blog, and in your feed emails.  You won’t make very much money (a few pennies a day in the beginning) but it will add up eventually!

There are other companies that “specialize” in blog advertising such as BlogHer and Divine Caroline/RGM.  I haven’t worked with any of these organizations, but they might be worth investigating.

3).  Non-Monetary Compensation through Giveaways and Product Reviews:

One other way to “earn” through your blog is through product reviews and product giveaways.  I’ve worked with several organizations and have quickly appreciated the value of the items that we were given to review (to see these check out my EF Hutton? series).

If you are interested in participating in something like this I recommend contacting MamaBuzz, an organization of Mom Reviewers that I work with. It’s very supportive community that will help you get started.

Of course, in order for any of these avenues to be successful you need to have people who read your blog. 

So I’ll end by sharing with you the best advice I’ve received….

You need to have good content and a stable readership before you’ll ever succeed in making money through your blog.

Set a goal for yourself on how many subscribers and followers you would like to have for your blog BEFORE you start monetizing (100, 500, 1000?).  Obviously this will force you to focus on your content and your niche in the blogging world – and that’s a GOOD THING.

Along the way you will probably realize that the best part of blogging is the people you meet and the friendships you forge — any financial upsides are just the icing on the cake!

I hope this helps answer some of the questions folks have.  If there is anything else you’d like to know about, feel free to ask!