Confessions of a Six Figure Professional Blogger

You Can’t Make Six Figures By Blogging

May 6, 2009 | Blogging, Feature, Making Money

Say what? You mean, after all this time where I show you how to make money with your blog, I spill the truth that you really can’t make money this way?

Not so fast. Of course, there HAS to be a catch. And there is. :)

One thing I want to make sure that people realize is that when you make money as a blogger, you’re really not making money by blogging.

Oh, Say It Ain’t So!

In my April income report, I said I made $21,677.92 last month. But, how much of that did I actually make from the physical act of blogging? The answer isn’t $21,677.92. Far less actually.

See, blogging is simply the art of writing. Building traffic. Generating conversation. The only income that comes directly from these things are advertising and some affiliate income. Perhaps that is why so many aspiring probloggers never think beyond these two sources of income.

The truth is that most of the income potential from blogging lies in what you do AROUND your blogs. You use the blogs to build up traffic then you funnel that traffic into offers.

3DayMoney is a video course I created. It makes me money. It is not a blog. It is a product I send my blog traffic to.

PCMech Premium is a membership site built ON TOP OF my PCMech blog. So, people come to PCMech and then a percentage of them are funneled off into my membership program.

Making Offers = Income

Most bloggers make the mistake of confining themselves to the paradigm of (1) write a crapload of stuff for free, (2) build up traffic, (3) throw up ads, (4) cross fingers and hope it works.

It can work. It does work. Last month, it looks as if I would have made (on the high side) $10,437.38 if I did nothing but that. That’s advertising and affiliate income combined. These income streams are based primarily on eyeball quantity and a percentage of them converting through little to no action of my own other than simply content production. Also, keep in mind that much of that affiliate income happened because of my mailing list. So if I simply sat there and blogged and didn’t have a list (which many bloggers don’t), I would have made only $6,858.66 (advertising only).

The other $11,240.54 I made last month was because I have my own products. I make offers. And I sell things to my audience.

Is that technically making money by blogging? I’ll let you decide.

But, I will tell you this. If you want to magnify your income substantially without necessarily having to build up a blog to many thousands of visits per day, this is how you’re going to need to do it.

If you enjoyed this article, you might also like...

  1. Blogging Income Report: February 2009
  2. January 2009 Blogging Income Report
  3. April 2009 Blogging Income Report
  4. Blogging Income Report: November 2008
  5. March 2009 Blogging Income Report – The Last?

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  • travisamorgan
    I'm going to go out on a limb and call it, "Monetizing your passion."

    :)
  • Very well put! You've obviously developed a great blend of the right ingredients, but you have got the added advantage of being a good writer. That's one area that many people struggle with.
  • I agree. Your blog is a tool that can help to accelerate your business in marketing your products or other people products as in affiliate marketing. Most people I know make real money from their flagship sites or homepage.
  • You are right you need different streams of sources to make your money on the internet. Thanks for the information. Greg Ellison
  • WOW have a been getting knocked over the head with this A LOT lately. If anyone needs more encouragement to do this, it is also called having multiple streams of income...:)
  • Endlessly Eye Opening.
  • I'm just waiting for the David Risley Infomercial ;-) lol

    -Stan
  • This has been very interesting and it was very informative.
    It sounds great. I think I will give it a try.
  • I think you offer some great advise and although blogging is one of the best home jobs it is not always as easy as people initially think. It does take hard work and interaction.
  • I like the way you condition our minds with your knowledge. Blogging is not easy, especially if you're committed to writing authentic, original content.

    Getting past the writing is a challenge for many of us. Why not compile an ebook to sell if we're writing so much, right?

    Thanks David. I wish one day you respond to one of my comments. I'd like to hear from you personally.
  • I figured that the old, write content and see who clicks on my ads, routine was not the route to real money making. If you write interesting content, do the work of marketing, get the traffic, then it's all about what you do with it next. Makes perfect sense.
  • Oh man!, I figured out recently it would take me 6 months to get up to $3000 to buy an imac from blogging!. You could probably buy one every hour!.

    If I made $21,677.92 a month, which interestingly is just under what I make a year in my day job, I would have more computers than the Apple store. I mean I may not be married any longer after that, but that just makes another space for another computer!.;)

    She knows im only joking!;).
  • Nice article David,

    I have to agree with @Chris about being ecstatic with a a couple thousand a month from blogging. I think its a great idea bringing this topic up. It made me question where my money is coming from and where I want future money to come from. Im trying to figure out the thin line to walk between creating an information resource surrounding a product, versus a Frank Kern(ish) landing page. I enjoy blogging and have a couple of blogs, but its time to think smart and monetize some hard work.
  • Totally agree with you again David. I see blogging as a way to build a captive audience and then slowly introduce them to other services and products you create. Blogging in itself is just a means to build one's credibility in a particular niche while informing and hopefully entertaining readers. The rest is Internet Marketing.
  • I've definitely noticed a turn to a lot of bloggers making money through other means like membership programs. It's something that interests me, but I just don't know it applies to my blog. Doesn't mean I'm going to stop trying. Still trying to come up with new and innovative ways.
  • Mike, I think the big thing is to tap into your market and ask them what they want. Identify their goals, problems, etc related to coffee (since that's your topic) and see if you can put something together to help them.
  • I have never really heard it described like this before. But it sounds like it's not much different than any other Internet business when you break it down. Blogging is an avenue to sell your products and ideas. Just like an eCommerce site would market and sell products, you as a blogger market and sell products to your audience either directly or through affiliate type programs.
  • Brent, definitely. Internet business is internet business. Blogging as a lead generator is so much more powerful than simply blogging for eyeballs and chucking banners in their face. :-)
  • Man, I would be perfectly ecstatic with $6,000 a month from blogging. Hell, I'd be happy with $1,000. Anything's better than what I'm making now.

    Cheers!
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