How to Make Money from Blogging

When I talk to people about blogging for business, which I tend to do

(a lot!) it’s usually only a matter of time before someone asks me ‘How

do you make money from blogging?’ or, more directly, ‘How much are you

making from this blogging activity?’

I suspect what people are really asking is ‘Is there a way I could make serious money from this blogging stuff?’

Up till now, I’ve tended to respond by launching into an explanation of

how blogging is, in my view, more of a communications tool than a sales

tool and if you try too hard to make money directly from the blog you

can risk driving people away, which defeats the purpose. And etcetera.

I find this approach is very effective for rapidly inducing eye-glazing

or a sudden realisation by the other person that they need to be

somewhere else, right now.

So I’ve been looking for a better way to answer. I think I’ve just

found part of the answer, at a blog whose political/ideological

orientation is not mine. Over at Right Wing News,

publisher John Hawkins comments wisely that if your primary motivation

is to make money, you should not bother with blogging. But he has

provided a useful list of ways you can practically or theoretically

generate income from your blog. His 10 Ways to Make Money Blogging are, in summary:

He comments quite helpfully on each of these.

The picture painted is not very encouraging for people who are thinking of making a living from blogging.

But for another view, not contrary, but perhaps more encouraging for the aspiring professional blogger, my fellow Australian, ProBlogger’s

Darren Prowse, who is a full time blogger, says he makes a six-figure

income and has a few very interesting articles on the subject of making

money from blogging, such as How Much Do I Earn from Blogging?  His answer to that question - a six-figure income - is much more interesting than my answer currently is, which is ‘Well, it’s early days.’