Is creating a blog for monetization worth it?

[Pixabit]

I have a domain which I am considering turning into a blog. I will either write posts or pay someone to post on it weekly. I am just wondering if anyone here has any experience with non-personal blogs and monetization?

I am not sure how many readers I would potentially gain or how much traffic I would receive from search engines. I figure if I can get a decent page rank and some traffic, I can sell text links and add either YPN or google adsense.

I am not looking for huge figures, but hypothetically around low $xxx per month.

Does anyone have feedback from experience they can offer?

[Tyler]

I don't have any experience in this, but I'd imagine that it'd be quite difficult. Users usually read personal blogs for entertainment or information. Company blogs or blogs on products are usually just there for supplentary information; hardcore fans can check on what's new on a certain company or business, for example.

I think that creating a blog that isn't personal would be extremely hard to get regular traffic to. You'd be relying solely on SE's, and even then, you're going to need a lot of regularly updated traffic.

Personally, I'd much rather create an informational site over an informational blog...

[L146705]

$xxx per month will be difficult to get, I guess you could get a bit of money from it.

[Ted]

I make low $xxx from one personal blog about credit cards with text link ads. Adsense adds some small change to this figure. The traffic is so low on this site it's too embarressing to say out loud.

If I had 100 blogs with similar succes then I'd have a $xxx,xxx income

[Sam]

www.johnchow.com

He seems to be able to pull it off.

[Nomar]

yes, he is making more than $ 1,000 a month..

he is doing very well..

im setting up a blog myself to.. just a personal blog.

im new in web development.. just started and hoping i can make some money online to :)

[webmonkie]

www.johnchow.com

He seems to be able to pull it off.

This site is more than a blog. He does gadget reviews with pictures.
A site like this takes lot of time and money. If you don't have vendors providing the product you will be spending your money on the products you are going to review.

:rolleyes:

[Nomar]

My blog is getting more and more visitors.. for the first time im getting more than 100 unique visitors a day... I hope to get my blog real big some day

[iworkforthem]

Personally I have two blogs - Internet Famous (http://www.internetfamous.net) and Yummy King (http://www.yummyking.net)

The first is my personal space where I do my infrequently blah blah... The other is my second attempt at making some money of blogging.

Truth... you can definitely make $$$ of your blogs. But the trick is how to make enough to do it full time. Take for example if you have a blog that make $0.50 a day, one month you will make $15. How much do you make now? Let's say $2000. You need to have at least 135 blogs to cover your existing earnings.

Or here's wat I recommend, you have a couple of blogs which you have interests in and make it well. Write quality contents, make plently of links and friends. Chances are you will make more $$$ from it.

$$$ should never be your motive to start a blog, it will die a miserably death. :cool:

[Allen.H]

The reason why many so called entrepreneurs/publishers/webmasters stay away from or leave the blogosphere after a short amount of time is that they aren't willing to admit that they can bring nothing new to the table, on a daily basis.

You gotta realize, the blogosphere is a no bullshit industry; If you don't have anything that wasn't on Gizmodo, Boing Boing, or TylerCruze.net last night, your chances of gaining traffic, not to talk about making substantial amounts are as big as Saddam Hussein knocking on your door tomorrow morning, dancing with your grandma.

I don't like to talk too much about my earnings, I'm guy that saves the calories for writing on my own assets rather than boasting on a forum i just joined, but since i said and "preached" on a no bullshit approach - In December I've made 4 green figures, from blogging, and mainly from one blog. And no, that's not a credit card/mortages/finance blog.

I think that creating a blog that isn't personal would be extremely hard to get regular traffic to. You'd be relying solely on SE's, and even then, you're going to need a lot of regularly updated traffic.

What do you say about a one man show blog that serves 1.2 million page views a month?

Solely on SE's? come on, where did Reddit, Fark, Digg, Boing Boing, Neatorama, Delicious go? don't you think they can raise your traffic and revenue significantly? Oh, and if your content wouldn't be unique enough to reach any of these, don't bother with opening a blog.


I don't have any experience in this, but I'd imagine that it'd be quite difficult. Users usually read personal blogs for entertainment or information. Company blogs or blogs on products are usually just there for supplentary information; hardcore fans can check on what's new on a certain company or business, for example.

I can guarantee you that at least 35% of internet users can't tell a blog from a website, more than 80% don't care.


$xxx per month will be difficult to get, I guess you could get a bit of money from it.

I've had days with low $xxx. It's fairly difficult to get at the beginning, impossible with your attitude.

Truth... you can definitely make $$$ of your blogs. But the trick is how to make enough to do it full time. Take for example if you have a blog that make $0.50 a day, one month you will make $15. How much do you make now? Let's say $2000. You need to have at least 135 blogs to cover your existing earnings.

Or here's wat I recommend, you have a couple of blogs which you have interests in and make it well. Write quality contents, make plently of links and friends. Chances are you will make more $$$ from it.

$$$ should never be your motive to start a blog, it will die a miserably death.

No offense there, but that is about the worst advice on blogging i have ever heard. A blog that's making 0.5 dollars/day?? 135 blogs??? why not making one blog that makes $135/day. It's not a wonder trust me.

$$$ was one if not the main motivation for starting my current most successful blog, and it's not dying a miserable death.


Regards,
Allen.H

[Tyler]

Allen,

I congratulate you on your blogging success, but I feel that you may be the exception to the rule here. Of course I could be very wrong - maybe blogging is indeed an untapped gold mine - I really don't know much about the subject.

Perhaps you have found a working formula, but for the vast majority of webmasters, in my experience they will do a lot better with a website than creating a blog for money and trying to generate continual passive income from it.

Perhaps you could share some of your blogging secrets though - I could definitely squeeze more income out of my own...

[Allen.H]

Tyler, thanks for your words.

I congratulate you on your blogging success, but I feel that you may be the exception to the rule here. Of course I could be very wrong - maybe blogging is indeed an untapped gold mine - I really don't know much about the subject.

I have to say here that most really successful bloggers are an exception from the rule, because they have something that other million or so blogs from their niche doesn't. That's why i wrote before this is a no BS industry. I don't think it's an untapped gold mine - i think it just takes a bit more hard work, dedication and attitude than websites, and it pays less in the short term, tons in the long.

Perhaps you have found a working formula, but for the vast majority of webmasters, in my experience they will do a lot better with a website than creating a blog for money and trying to generate continual passive income from it.

See, that's a wrong attitude - there is no working formula with blogging. If you try to stick to a formula, you're basically saying " i'm gonna do exactly what this guy does cause it's working for him", it's like the time when John Chow's blog got wildly known in the blogosphere, people were downloading the theme he uses like crazy..."because John Chow was using that, and John Chow rocks". When i see 100 or more blogs with the same theme just because one well-branded guy suddenly became so well-recognized, it makes me smile. (I usually smile cause i don't want to be upset)

And you are right about the second part, most people are better off creating websites, creating static content and either developing it or selling it, because blogging is an entirely different manner when it comes to the approach.

Perhaps you could share some of your blogging secrets though - I could definitely squeeze more income out of my own...

Maybe sometime when i have the time I'll post here or at my blog, some sort of a list that should sharpen my points. If you want specific help with your blog, feel free to contact me privately.


(By the way: somebody just hacked your pokerforums.org!)

Allen.H

[charley]

I find forum better than a blog. In terms of earnings, forums do very well.

Blogs cannot cater to many categories. But forums can have many in them. So does the earnings also increase as a result of diversity.

[SgtRumble]

I have had create success with making money with my blog. I post for several different blogging services and sell blog posts and advertisements as well.

[boron]

I have had create success with making money with my blog. I post for several different blogging services and sell blog posts and advertisements as well.

Would you mind to share some blogging services which currently pay for posting and what rates can be expected?

[SgtRumble]

Would you mind to share some blogging services which currently pay for posting and what rates can be expected?
These are Companies I have been paid by.

https://payperpost.com rates $5 - $75 per blog post
http://www.blogitive.com $5 - 10 per blog post
http://www.loudlaunch.com $10 per blog post
http://www.blogtoprofit.com $5 per blog post
http://www.blogsvertise.com/?rid=b722 $5 - 10 per blog post.
I also post at forums like this one and find freelance work form time to time.

Hope this answers your questions

[darkcrunk]

But do they Really pay ?

Dont they have requirements, like , Blog must be 1 year old, must have PR 5 + ??

[rjp]

If you create a blog strictly for money then you're probably not going to stick with it because a blog is something you should be passionate about. This passion creates good unique content that people will want to read, and thus the money will come along with that. You should start there first and go for the money second. If you've got no one visiting then what's the point anyway?

[rjp]

Let me also add that I agree with Tyler that a regular website that doesn't require as much hands on maintenance is a good way to go, too. This is how I started, and I love how I build some things and then they operate on their own. I like to blog too, but they're way more needy than a website. Most people, however, have to blog because they don't have the technical know-how to build a website.

[killafawk]

ok i wanna add my 2 cents to this. Everyone thinks blogs arn't worth the time, but they very much are worth your time. To be honest tyler your blog could earn you so much more money if you just posted something new everyday. i know this is hard because of how busy you are, but if you really want a blog to work you gotta update at least once a day. personally i like to read your site, i go there all the time, but since you only update like every few days it kinda upsets me. and i forget about it.


And let me say this. If your a new comer to the internet and you wanna make money. MAKE A BLOG. WRITE ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCES. thats the easiest way to get off the ground. and if your blog is a success then you can refer people to your site and already have a reader base ready to check out your other projects.

Blogs are the way to go.

[Sam]

Lol, Tyler's not a busy guy, he only "works" 2-3 hours a day.

[killafawk]

Lol, Tyler's not a busy guy, he only "works" 2-3 hours a day.

well if thats true then hes his own reason the blog isnt working out for him! there are people who blog and make just as much money as someone with premium sites.You decide what you want to make off your blog and then you go for it. if you dont add content then dont expect much off it.

if you aint a blogger then mabe you should hire someone to write content for you and then just post it. Do whatever but blogging works you determine how much you make.

btw sam havent seen you on in awhile you get my pm or are you working on that artical?

[SgtRumble]

But do they Really pay ?

Dont they have requirements, like , Blog must be 1 year old, must have PR 5 + ??

They truly do pay and as far as requirements go most only require that your site be indexed with Google.... PR is a plus on some of them but not necessary.

[Sam]

well if thats true then hes his own reason the blog isnt working out for him! there are people who blog and make just as much money as someone with premium sites.You decide what you want to make off your blog and then you go for it. if you dont add content then dont expect much off it.

if you aint a blogger then mabe you should hire someone to write content for you and then just post it. Do whatever but blogging works you determine how much you make.

btw sam havent seen you on in awhile you get my pm or are you working on that artical?

Yes, I'm sorry, but I have been very busy lately and I want to give you guys a quality article (I'm still in school + work).

Anyways, about the blogging, blogs are the easiest way to make money, in January my blog (one) made 5000+ USD, so anyone who says they aren't worth it, is ignorant.

[boron]

...want to give you guys a quality article...

... in January my blog (one) made 5000+ USD, so anyone who says they aren't worth it, is ignorant.

Something we should know? Articles to write - and get paid? $5000/month with a blog - short explanation?

[profitline]

Boron,

Sometimes people who really make money online, like blogs don't explain on what niche and product they have done, and since sam is busy i guess he had his reasons to keep it short.

[camuk19]

I dislike blogs geared for monetization from the start, in my opinion only begin monitization when you've built up a decent userbase.