Can You Make a Living Blogging
May 30th, 2007 by Michael Gray in SEOIf you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Read my top posts or learn more about Michael Gray. Want more frequent updates follow me on Twitter. Thanks for visiting!
Today’s question comes from Joe Tao who asks:
“Is it a truth, based on your experience, that anyone can make a living blogging if they understand how SEO works”
OK it’s a bit of a big question, but the short answer is yes. However you will need to have a game plan, and here’s how I’d approach the problem.
The first thing you really need to consider is your subject matter. Rand did a much better job covering that than I could so check out “Blogging in an Oversaturated Market is Usually a Poor Decision“. When deciding what to write about there are two schools of thought “write about what you like” or “write about what’s profitable”. It’s something of a catch-22, it’s much easier to write about something you like, but there’s not always money in it, and let’s be honest how many of us are really interested in the intricacies of reverse mortgages. My advice try to find something that interests you and step up to a slightly wider focus where the money is. For example maybe you really enjoy raising African cichlids in your aquarium, I’d step up and cover freshwater aquariums as whole and focus (maybe 10-25% of total posts) ever so slightly on your specific topic of interest.
Once you’ve got your topic down, work on your writing. You don’t need to be a Pulitzer prize winning author, but you do have to be interesting. Don’t think you can use your mad SEO SKILLZ to compensate for lack of quality content. You used to be able work around it, but those days are drawing to a close, and at this stage it’s not a long term solution, or something I’d advise starting today. What if you can’t write, take a community college writing course, read and learn from people who can write online. Hiring someone is an option, but that can get expensive, and not really viable if you’re boot strapping, if all else fails try to take advantage of family members whenever possible.
Next up I’d say come up with a realistic posting schedule. IMHO the bare minimum you need to update your blog is at least once a week. I’d recommend 3-5 times a week if possible, and if the subject is right daily is ideal. It doesn’t matter to some people, but I’m a big advocate of publishing on a schedule as much as possible. For some readers knowing you publish something new every Wednesday is important. If the leading bloggers in your space are updating daily and you can only get the time to blog once a week you’re going to have a hard time competing. Try to take advantage of pre-blogging or remote posting whenever possible. I’m not going to recommend you post from your job … but I can tell you I did it and lots of businesses got their start on some one elses time … not that I’m recommending that … nope … not me
One of the hardest things many bloggers face is keeping on target, people get lured into thinking they can be the next dooce and blog about their lives. Remember the link to Rand’s post a few paragraphs ago, the first question he asks is are you a top writer, unless you really are that good a writer, advertisers won’t be interested in buying space on your lifestyle blog. Your friends may read it, but you’ll never attract hundreds or thousands of readers writing Aunt Millie’s Christmas letter and you won’t make a living blogging. Until you have at least 1000 subscriber stay 100% on target, after that you can deviate ever so slightly, anything more than 10% scares me professionally.
I’m a big fan of using wordpress because it’s well supposed has lots of plugin’s you can use, and it’s written in PHP and cheap and easy to do yourself or find someone to do it for you. That said out of the box it’s not search engine friendly, here are some tips to help you fix that. Next realize many of the templates are wonka-doodle. Find a good clean one and work from there, take out the crap, add in only what you need, and for heaven sakes use CSS dammit. Don’t add any more widgets or other nonsense if you can avoid it, those things usually don’t help. I like liquid layout but check out Fluid, Fixed, and 1024 Resolutions and Maximizing Profits With Website Design and Layout: Part I for more discussion. Once things are rolling if you have the skills or budget to create a distinctive web design that builds your brand.
Next come the discussion of how many blogs can/should you run. If you’ve never run a blog/website before stick with one until you are really really confident. If you have I’d say three is my recommendation and if you go beyond five you’re crazy unless you really know what you are doing or are paying high quality writers. IMHO it’s better to have one or two exceptional blogs instead of five to ten mediocre blogs. Mix things up a bit with the subject matter, you don’t want to have the ‘South American Knitting Blog’ and the ‘South American Crochet Blog’, it just looks funny.
Next you’re going to want to start promoting your blog. Do the usual stuff, like adding your blog address to your email signature, link begging from your friends, and so on. Most blog directories require you have at least 6 months posting history to get listed, so put that on hold for now. Cover whatever is hot in your industry and try to get the attention of A-Listers in your space with comments or trackbacks. Use things like Google trends and Yahoo Buzz Log to spot tie in’s and blog like there’s no tomorrow. Try to take advantage of events in real life, especially TV, don’t be afraid to shell out a $100 on some PPC for a few days, to gain some readers, lots and lots of people totally miss that as an opportunity, and don’t forget predictive SEO. Go to an industry event do some live blogging, meet up with people and build some connections, try to get interviewed on the radio or podcasts. The press release is not dead and try to put out a few year and make it as enticing and exciting as possible.
Develop a flexible social media strategy. For a new blog social is by far the quickest way to jump start the process of getting readers. Make it easy for people to bookmark/submit your website using these services. Write stories that are directly targeted to each of these services regularly/monthly. Prime the pump by submitting yourself or asking friends but don’t be a spammer/beger. Only submit the good stuff. Clueless where to start here is a guide to using Digg and Delicious. Plan social bookmark targeted stories and follow them up with good content to keep the readers/subscribers coming back. Monitor trends, adapt, react and grow.
There you have it my quick, down and dirty 10 mile up plan for making a living blogging. If you want me to go into more detail on something drop a comment or question in the comments section, and I’ll see if I can answer it or elaborate it into a full post.
Sphere It
May 30th, 2007 at 8:07 am
Great post. I like the point about not starting too many blogs at one time. Blogging is a lot like dating . . . playing the field can get you in trouble.
http://www.romancetracker.com/10-reasons-why-blogging-is-like-dating/
May 30th, 2007 at 10:06 am
Great post. We debated how often we should post blogs on our site for a while. We try to stick with posting on daily basis. That can get difficult when you have about a million things to do. But I can see the numbers go up whenever we keep that up.
May 30th, 2007 at 10:07 am
Nice post Michael. I totally agree about doing 1 or 2 sites weel rather than splogging 10.
@Romantic: interesting comparison.
May 30th, 2007 at 12:15 pm
Why are you trying to discourage my life dream of becoming a mini Heather B. Armstrong and blogging about my trips to the grocery store?
Don’t be a dream crusher, Dad.
May 30th, 2007 at 1:32 pm
I have 6 blogs, and ideas for an 7th and 8th blog.
I believe the more blogs you have the more you can earn and the more you can end up making a living with.
I currently make a decent addition to my current job, and I were to lose my secure job I could essentially attack the blogging world with all blogs.
Think about it this way:
if there are opportunities for paid blogging and you can make 5 to 10 dollars a day with 1 blog (through paid blogging alone) imagine 8 blogs…or 10 blogs.
The question of content is easily answered. If you talk about things you love, then writing is fast.
May 30th, 2007 at 1:52 pm
Really interesting post with some great links in. I’m just trying to absorb it all now as I’ve recently started my own blog. Let’s see if I can make any money…
I was wondering what ways you feel are effective for monatising a blog? Affiliate marketing, adsense/advertising, donations etc
Or does it depend on the blog?
I don’t know whether to have no adverts at all on my blog so as to not put off potential readers or just ram in full with as much advertising as I can.
Do you think indirect monitisation, building up authority in your field and getting work through that is more inportant than advertising etc?
Cheers,
Adam
May 30th, 2007 at 2:17 pm
You can make money from blogging, but making money only from blogging is a tall order, especially if you have no other streams of income to rely upon.
PPC, PPP, and other advertising ventures can bring in the dough. Still, unless you are an “A” blogger you may find it difficulty making much of a living strictly from blogging.
May 30th, 2007 at 3:39 pm
A few more to add to your list:
If you blog about something that inspires you it is much easier, sadly, my interests are not easily monetized but even @ $50-100 a day (google adsense) it is enough to get my son in the best schools and programs. Become an expert and help people find items and information online via blogs.
Think “multiple streams of income”, my main income comes from a product I make out in my garage and sell via Google organic search. Thanks Google!
Boy do I rely on Google, dangerous and rewarding at the same time!
Can we quit with the “great post” comments? If you do not have anything to offer shut the hell up!
May 30th, 2007 at 3:43 pm
Oh, that last comment was a joke, wouldn’t want to ruffle anyone in here. =P
May 30th, 2007 at 3:45 pm
Michael, great post! Yet another example of why we keep coming back for more. Thanks for sharing!
May 30th, 2007 at 3:48 pm
Exactly
*out*
May 30th, 2007 at 7:15 pm
“Blogging in an Oversaturated Market is Usually a Poor Decision“ - I don’t agree with that and the fish example. Why? Because a strictly specific blog addresses a market so small it can’t convert in enough money.
May 30th, 2007 at 9:19 pm
The question was:
“Is it a truth, based on your experience, that anyone can make a living blogging if they understand how SEO works”
The answer is no.
It’s possible to making a living blogging, but it’s not possible for anyone who understands SEO to maing a living at it. In fact, there are several other things that are more important than SEO if you want to blog for a living.
1) Consistantly great writing
2) Expertise in the field you’re writing
3) Networking with other blogs/sites in your field
If you want to learn more about earning money from blogging, I would recommend ProBlogger.net
May 30th, 2007 at 9:57 pm
and there is a problogger.net link dropper, wonder how much he pays that guy?
May 31st, 2007 at 3:31 am
Its not easy and its not impossible either.
Inorder to make a successful living out of blog
1. Identify the target community
2. Identify the target topic.
3. Good writing siklls
4. Content that attracts readers attention.
5. Update regularly with fresh content, so that visitors can keep coming back.
Plus lots more to do.
May 31st, 2007 at 4:07 am
What broad (or specific) areas or subjects would you say don’t have much blogging competition right now? Are there any such areas left you think?
May 31st, 2007 at 1:44 pm
Thank you for this great post Michael.
I just returned(very late last night) from a back country trip to the rocky mountains, logged into my blog to write a post and found a few *new* incoming links and one of them led to this post.
With regard to my blog, I am keeping track of everything that I do to realize this self-actualizing dream. I plan to publish a book, at the appropriate time, on “how to blog for a living” and provide consultancy to would be bloggers based on this experience. Creating a sort of self-fulfilling blogprophecy of which this post is a milestone along that “Way”.
Again, thank you for your excellent response,
Joe Tao
http://taoofjoe.com/
June 1st, 2007 at 4:10 am
Wow - the perfect guide to blogging. I especially love the addition on the whole idea of using social media optimization. Are there any good articles on SMO that I could even possibly condense and add to my site? I love these ideas, they’re all pure gold. I especially think that all people should market themselves through social networks such as MySpace as well as Ryze, LinkedIN, etc. - This would help build up your profiles online quickly
More comments to come…
June 5th, 2007 at 6:39 pm
this is great (sorry arron), i’m definatly going to bookmark this one.
but i too would like to know how you reccomend monetizing a blog - through ads, paid blogging, affiliate marketing, all of these?
June 7th, 2007 at 4:08 pm
I suppose you could make a living from just one intensely popular blog, but in reality you may need a few blogs to make enough money. Either way, it’s not going to be easy.
June 12th, 2007 at 11:58 pm
To make a living blogging is everybody’s dream. It depends on your traffic, the topic of your blog and how you monetize the traffic.
June 21st, 2007 at 5:23 am
Make a living by blogging is possible, but it takes hard work and patience.
Good luck to all bloggers.
http://lovedirectory.blogspot.com
July 11th, 2007 at 2:52 pm
Michael-
This post was extremely helpful. I would love to hear your perspective on using your blog in support of a website. As a new blogger my goal is to bring in additional traffic to my website which is how I currently pay the bills. The longer term goal would be to monetize both my blog and my site.
Best,
Howard
July 20th, 2007 at 3:50 pm
The hits on my blog fluctuate with the seasons, seem to be unrelated to the content. I post daily.
August 1st, 2007 at 10:34 am
Excellent guide. To all of the new bloggers out there, Michael Gray knows what he’s talking about. Soak it in.
November 9th, 2007 at 4:53 am
Thanks.
I’ve been blogging for a few months.
I think my writing is OK.
My big question is getting traffic. Just writing well (or as well as I can) doesn’t seem to work.
I’m not sure about the comment on lots of blogs strategy? Do you think this works?