Can I really Make Money Blogging?

The question the mind of many blogger's, especially the ones who are really into it, is, "Can I really make money doing this?"
Good question. One that is not easy to answer, but the short answer is well...ahh...probably....maybe...it all depends....

There is no doubt there are some folks making pretty good money, in fact, big money blogging. However, from what I can figure out, they are the exception not the rule. But let's face it, that is true of almost any endeavor, especially creative ones like blogging. The cream rise to the top in almost all of these types of things, whether it is the entertainment business, writing, painting or for that matter running a business.

From what I am able to find out, there are a lot of people making a little bit of money from blogging, and a few people making a lot of money from blogging. It's a pretty good sign that the real movers and shakers are few and far between when we all know their names. I'm talking about bloggers like Steve Pavalina and Darren Rowse at ProBlogger. If you can believe what you read, they are making a nice living from blogging and blogging related things. In fact, Darren Rowse has said in his blog that he makes over six figures from blogging and blogging related activities.

I'm sure there are more, probably quite a few more, but when you consider the millions of blogs out there, it's not likely that there are millions of bloggers getting rich or quitting their day jobs to blog.

Another facet of blogging for money is the time involved. Serious blogging, where you hope to make enough money to change your life, takes a lot of time and effort, and in fact, that alone is life changing.

I personally spend upwards of 5 or 6 hours a night blogging, and that is not counting the weekends or my day job. I'd hate to figure out my hourly wage from blogging but I know this, it is getting a little better, slowly but surely. I'm just not sure I want to try and maintain the pace I need to maintain to continue to grow my blogs into a money making machine.

From what I can figure out, most bloggers are into this not for money, they are bloggers because they have something to say, and they are into blogging for the sheer fun of it. Bloggers are communicators and blogging is one of the most effective communications media around at this point in history. What makes it so effective is the fact that anyone can get into it. Anyone with a computer and a internet connection that is....

I suspect that bloggers like Steve Pavalina and Darren Rowse are bloggers first and money makers second. They too are communicators, and want to communicate. It's not necessarily what their particular message is, the message is what they really are trying to do. (that sounds kind of deep, not sure I understand what I am saying there myself LOL)

Of course, like so many things, I am sure there are more bloggers out there making a decent living from this, but they aren't talking. It also helps if your idea of a decent living is not thousands of dollars per day.

Diversification helps too. By that I mean, most of the 'successful' bloggers are making money from several income streams besides Adsense. Many are linked to affiliates, or selling a product of their own like an ebook, or similar type of thing. Still others are selling stuff directly on their blogs, or writing for magazines and newspapers as well as blogging. A few are even trying to do it by placing donation requests on their blogs. Others, like Steve Pavalina are making some of their income doing public speaking gigs.

But all is not lost. You can make some money blogging. Some money. It's also a question of what you really want. Are you blogging to make money or blogging just for the sheer pleasure of blogging.

So the answer is, yes, I think you can make money blogging, and I think for some, you can make a lot of money blogging. Not everyone does, but some certainly do, the hope we all share is to be one of the ones that does.....

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