Why You Can’t Make Money Blogging | Hacker News Reader

Why You Can’t Make Money Blogging

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I'm sick of articles claiming you can't make money blogging.

1. You can (I have).

2. It's not easy. I took the cheaters route by working for already well established blogs, but plenty of bloggers who have started in the past few years are doing well (people like Allen Stern or Louis Gray, who were late to the game, come to mind) -- they just work their asses off to get there.

3. It's true that most bloggers won't make money off a personal blog directly (i.e., via advertising). But many will make money _indirectly_ via consulting gigs, other work offers, speaking engagements, book deals. Blogging is one of the absolute best ways to raise your profile in your field and create demand for yourself.

3a. Even Dan Lyons made very good money from Fake Steve -- not from ads, but how about that book deal? All those speaking engagements? Even his switch from Forbes to Newsweek was likely influenced by his blog's success. He conveniently leaves all that out of his article, though.

To be fair, the article is agreeing with you. It's interesting that advertising is no longer considered viable for blogs... I thought a fair number of blogs ended up making significant sums that way (e.g. steve pavlina). Isn't that the case any more?

I think it is ... it's just harder the more saturated your niche gets. If you have a unique voice/point of view and are willing to put in the work (long hours, lots of hustling), you can still make a living blogging. (Bearing in mind that "make a living" means different things to different people and is variable based on cost of living where you live.)

Josh, appreciate the shout-out. Of note, I am not making money blogging through advertising (See #3 in your comment), but I am enjoying doing advisory roles, which haven't paid off yet, and there might be opportunities for eBooks and real books, speaking opps as well. It does take work, but I am definitely not in it for the money.

But many will make money _indirectly_ via consulting gigs, other work offers, speaking engagements, book deals.

And, of intense interest to many of the folks here, by promoting your business. I sell relatively few copies of my software to people coming from my blog (maybe $100 to $200 a month, mostly when the blog accidentally captures a searcher) but a stupendous portion of my early traction was among folks who were reading it. They're also a constant source of kick-in-the-pants for motivating me to keep going -- got to have something to write about, naturally.

The blog also generates opportunities that wouldn't otherwise come my way. I mean, Google didn't ask for my cooperation in a case study because they have a closet bingo fan on staff. (That is, again, monetizable mostly through the business -- although I got a sweet laptop bag out of the deal.)

This article has nothing to do with the title, and their point is that an internet business needs a business model. I would like the 5 minutes I took to read it back. Thank you.

thank you for this summary. i was about to quip about how my blog pays my rent..

The article has everything to do with the title. The point with the business model is also a response to a discussion going on in the blogosphere lately. In that frame of reference the title is calling out pointless negativity of aome other blogger. Without that frame of reference the whole article is the answer to the title: you cannot expect making money without a business model and so on.

I simply disagree; in my mind a blog has a business model like any other content provider.

A blog has difficulty making money not because businesses won't pay for advertisement, but because it is hard to attract enough eyeballs to get a good payday.

-Jer

The article doesn't state that a blog would have difficulty making money because businesses wouldn't pay for money. However, the article explains why Fake Stev Jobs didn't earn much dough despite the fact that he attracted a lot of eyeballs.

Also I don't think a blog has a business model inbuild. Slamming ads on something can be part of a business model, but is not a whole business model.

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