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Bloggers, Blogging, Blogs, CA, Likely, Making Money, Supply and Demand
Last night I was asked the question, “Can you make money by blogging?” In Part 1 of this article I gave the answer, but I probably should elaborate.
Paul Kiser
Disclaimer: I am not now, nor have I ever been a card-carrying professional blogger.
I have never made a dime (penny, nickel, quarter, etc.) from blogging. As such, I can’t speak to those who are raking it in by blogging….but I suspect that there are not many profiting from blogging. Why?
Make Money By Blogging? NOT Likely!
First, the market for blogging is a supply and demand thing. The Internet gives access to anyone who has an connection, a device to connect, the capability to use the device, and the ability to read and write. That’s how many potential bloggers are out there who want to talk about something. The number of consumers of blogs is relatively small because there are not a lot of people who care about the thoughts of someone else, unless they are saying something really interesting or teaching something that the reader wants to learn. Simply put, the supply of bloggers and blogs exceeds the demand for their work and therefore there is no market.
To put it in financial terms, even if you could get a reader to pay you $0.10 (ten cents) to read one of your blogs one time you would need 2000 readers a week, or 286 readers per day to make $200/week at blogging. I’m probably not a great example, but I work pretty hard at producing blogs and on a good day I have 20 readers.
Second, blogging is like acting or teaching. Your value as a blogger is determined by your ability to entertain or teach, or both. Few can blog so well that they can gather the audience to read their work, and even fewer could gather an audience willing to pay for the privilege.
Blogging is about Branding. It tells the world who you are and what you think. Blogs may help others understand the value (skills, knowledge, and experience) of the blogger, which may lead to new job opportunities, or if you’re really good, a blogger might get paid for speaking or consulting. There are ways for groups of bloggers to combine efforts in a mega-blog site that uses advertising to pay the bloggers, but that is for people who have established themselves as great bloggers.
For me, blogging is about enjoying the process of writing and expressing my thoughts….but if anyone wants to pay me…….
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