If any blogger is telling you that it costs no money to start a blog and actually earn money, they need a reality check. In fact, if you’re reading this article and you’ve read articles like it, it’s good that stumbled upon this one.
“It takes money to earn money.”
I don’t know who originally said it, but it’s absolutely true. Investing isn’t just money, but also time and effort. You might not have a set wage when you first blog, but all that time invested could be money earned doing something else. You’re also paying for a domain, and hosting. You’re also taking time to customize your site and install the functionalities you need for it.
While you aren’t paying yourself to create your articles and set up your site, that does translate into money. Think about it. If you work 40 hours per week on your site, at the standard minimum wage of $7.50 US Dollar, that is $300 of work done in a week. In one month, that’s $1200. If you are bragging that you made $1000 in one month blogging, you’ve given yourself a pay cut. In the content creation marketing community, well written articles with 500 words individually sell between $15 to $50. So… that $1000 you made, starts looking like chump change.
Maybe it’s some marketing ploy, but anyone trying willing to blog and entice people to subscribe to their product or boost their image, it’s not impressive. If you are trying to put together an article about bootstrapping your blog or business, don’t be misleading. It might not seem so misleading to you, but for someone not business savvy or a total newbie at blogging, or maintaining any business… it really is misleading.
It’s great if you are making money, but think logically on:
- Time spent
- What your rate per hour or per word is
- If your work is producing a return on investment
I’m not going to lie. You definitely shouldn’t be overestimating your blog work when you start. It might be hard to put a price on your work, whether it be per hour or per word. However, if you have a regular job and intend to hopefully work for yourself one day, you need to put together a business plan for your blog. You will need to justify your time spent versus how much money you really earned. In doing so, you can see if your blogging or your website business is the path to take in your career.
Blogging isn’t glamorous, and takes a lot time. It’s not a get rich quick scheme. If you believe it is so, you’re living in a delusional world.
Do you blog professionally? Do you give advice to bloggers? Have you seen articles misleading bloggers about making money while blogging?
I don’t blog professionally but I work in a world where I work primarily on an hourly basis and I blog as part of my website, which promotes my law firm. You can basically take what you have said here and apply it to any other business start up or decision as a business owner to outsource business functions. I mostly agree with your point here, with the two caveats that (1) the alternative revenue opportunity may not exist; and (2) it may be financially advantageous to take the immediate higher pay in the short term but less advantageous in the long term not to spend your time building your own business.
I think blogging is a great business model, Nile.
But it needs to be conceived as part of a larger plan.
While relatively few people actually “make money blogging”, I believe it can easily be the cornerstone for very lucrative online pursuits like affiliate marketing or team building if you represent a business opportunity.
Blogging is not done for a wage, but is entrepreneurial in essence, and when viewed in that context, I think it’s one of the most potentially lucrative online avenues to pursue.
You are right, of course, that there are people who promote a misconception that just blogging, in and of itself, is an easy road to riches… or even profits, as you point out.
Hi Nile,
My blog is less than a year old. When I first started, I had no clue what blogging was. I think that the best way to run a blog is to have a bigger plan with your blog.
While I think that it’s possible to make money with a blog, I don’t think that you should rely on it completely.
The blog should be used as a middle man for your main business. I tend to use it as a journal of what I’m doing online.
It takes a lot of hard work to keep a blog up, but I’ve found it definitely worth it. Thanks for sharing these tips and I hope that you have a great day.
Hey Nile!
I would add to “it takes money to make money” BUT “don’t spend you money signing up to be a “pupil” of some self-proclaimed “blogging guru” – you don’t need to spend hundreds (I know a dude who spent USD $3000 on some nitwit advice). Nile, your business plan is a great first-step and “thought parachute” for those who would otherwise jump blindly into spending with gurus and fiverr schemes that in the end will likely get them kicked out of AdSense forever and de-listed on Google.
Happy Holidays!
Dave
Well you said it correctly.I entered into this stream by hearing that there will be no cost of money and you could earn a lot of money without investing anything. Sooner i came to know that those are some of false words any way thanks to that man who made me to choose this path. From blogging you could earn double what you initially invest. Initially it need more time and some amount of hard work, the truth is that hard work will be in the form of $$$. Mam you had done something great, newbie bloggers would know about it after reading your post. S
Yup well said , the time we spend is what we get in return in terms of money . Really an useful article to read.
Nile,
Someone told me a long time ago “You need a plan!” Blogging is great as a home base where people can come and interact with you. It’s great to show your content with others, but without a plan it is useless.
Even newbie bloggers need to have some kind of opt-in base to start their list. It can be a free thing or a newsletter. For me, the money is always in the list. And through a blog, people can get to know you and hop in on that list.
That’s where we can engage people and then share our business opportunities.
Some people think all they have to do is blog and money will roll in! Nope…Ya gotta have a plan!
-Donna
Hi Nile. I’m so glad you said this. There are sooo many people who seem to think that you can just put up a blog and they will strike it rich. Most of us who have been blogging for awhile have heard many, many stories of all the rich and famous bloggers we know who struggled for years before finally getting it right. They were in debt and living on pork and beans and Ramen noodles, but they kept at it until they got it right. That is certainly the antithesis of ‘get rich quick’. Thanks for making a great point.
All the best,
Leslie
Writing is a craft that has to be practiced and learned – and at it’s core blogging is writing – I don’t think I really understood that until I started writing a blog. It’s not just he physical time you spend doing the writing – it’s the time you spend researching your topic, even coming up with a topic when your mind is a total blank. It’s something I recommend that people try out for a while before committing themselves to it – first find out if it’s something you have a passion for – because without that it’s hard to keep grinding out posts week after week.
What a great article Nile…it seems any online industry…blogging, coaching, product development etc… there are a few who talk of how easy it is and tell you if you aren’t rolling in the cash working a couple of hours a day you are doing it wrong…and truth is it all takes investment, time and effort…and energetically speaking money and time are so connected…I love how you have told it how it is and it makes me sad when people don’t value their time in creating blog posts, products, programmes etc. as they are giving away their time for free and distorting their ability to make money…well as you have to value something based on all variables!
Good point with showing the math. Sometimes people just don’t get the bigger picture and the truth is in the numbers!
Money can never equal time but when it comes to Blogging then there are some niche when you can say that Money equals Time.It takes less time but make us earn $$$$
Well, i am new blogger. But i can say that its feels great to belong to this community. You can earn money for sharing your writing. It’s awesome.
I don’t blog professionally, but rather my blog is a place to share what I have to offer. I haven’t been able to give it my all for quite some time now, but I’m hoping to get back to my original vision for my blog, in 2014. Overcoming inertia in one area isn’t easy when one’s energy is being spent elsewhere, Important stuff, not “busy work”, but overbalanced, to be sure.
Willena
Very well written,
Hardwork always get back to the good results, i mean to say the time we spend in blogging get back to us with money..
If you think about it, if it was so easy to earn money from blogging, without spending hours and hours creating valuable and creative content, then everyone would be rich! But that’s not true, it takes a lot of commitment, and a lot of pain, to have a healthy blog that grows step by step. Being patient is the most important success factor. Keep up the good work to all of you bloggers that are taking your business seriously!
Yes. It does pay for the bloggers time. Provided that the blog is unique and creates value to internet
Well said. The calculation given about the rate per hour is true… But the work or blog we do multiplies as the times goes by.
Wel said..The hour of work we do here will pay more in future
I have a feeling that more people earn better money writing content for other peoples blogs than they do for their own 😉
I blog for fun but write professionally for my day job. My blog earns no money and I really do need to think about ads to pay for domain name and hosting costs. It’s just as well that I enjoy what I do and didn’t start blogging to earn money.
I have seen those sites that promise riches and I have to laugh at them.
Nile,
This blog post came at a perfect time for me. I will be presenting a webinar this week about using blogging and social media to boost your practice, for therapists. So helpful to hear you say that blogging does not easily make us money. Buy it IS valuable for building your authority, establishing your expertise and sharing your unique message with the world. I think the best strategy is to combine writing for your own blog with writing articles at established article sites that will point back to your blog and guest blogging on other sites.
Warmly,
Dr. Erica
Exactly, that is the best strategy. So, the better the material, the more likely you’ll be first on most peoples’ tongues. 😉
Hi Nile
You are right blogging is not free, we are spending our time on blogging and researching to write something valuable for our visitors but this is also true that blogging is one of the best way of earning through internet and best part is we can choose subject as per our choice.
Very nice article, A unique and very well written content really makes a blog stand out.
I’m definitely finding you have to spend money to make money in the business!
Love your site and am always trying to read up and learn more about business ideas. This is most certainly not an easy task (blogging). Your passion had better be high and love what you write about. I think that is the biggest reason so many give up so soon. They expect it to be easy and that just isn’t the way it works.
Thanks Nathan! I agree with you… blogging takes a lot of dedication.
Awesome post Nile! I totally agree with you that you have to invest a lot of time and effort in blogging. And I really like your sentence “It takes money to earn money.”
How long have you been blogging for? Thanks again! I loved your post!
I’ve been blogging over 13 years now.
Time = Money
Blogging is a time consuming profession and you can easily earn money by doing a job as per your education but for blogging you need lot more patience..
Time is equal to money. This phrase is absolutely true. In the contrast of blogging it becomes more. Without hardworking and patience there is no money in blogging. Thanks for sharing nice and motivational post.
Thank you for this “priceless” information! Due to my job constraints (I work 2 these days) I don’t have a great deal of time to devote to the blog. However, I really like your idea of a business plan. It can certainly be accomplished by setting and sticking to specific goals and evaluating progress 🙂
That didnt work for me. I have been blogging since last 1 year but still struggling to get an adsense account. I don’t know where will it take me to but I am determined to succeed.
As I recommended in another comment… perhaps you need to go back to the basics on SEO and revamp your posts with better content… as well as better spelling and grammar. Google isn’t really asking for much, but there are a lot of people not reading and picking up the correct information.
You’re spot on in this article Nile. Blogging is always just one part of the business anyway, I don’t believe you can make money “just” by blogging. Even very long time 6 figure bloggers like Problogger – do a lot of activities apart from blogging, like teaching and speaking, writing ebooks, and other activities.
You are right. Blogging isn’t glamorous. Writing itself isn’t glamorous. People sometimes have the perception that being a blogger and writing is easy. It isn’t. Time does equal money and when you are a beginner blogger/writer you are basically working in the red for a long time with no guarantee that it will ever pay off. I dislike that sometimes people make it appear that it will be easy to be a blogger or a writer. You are right that it is delusional. You better be prepared to spend a lot of time alone and in front of your computer and most people can’t do that. You better have the strength to get through the times when things are difficult and not living up to your expectations because they will come and they will be difficult.
Thanks for this post and stopping the perception that blogging is easy. The first 6 months tend to weed out most people.
By starting a blog and working on it, we are infact investing in the future. We may not earn money from the blog right now, but soon in the near future. So, every effort made by a blogger is valuable and not free.
After all, Blogging is something which is long term.
Thanks so much for the long over do reality check Niles!
Your analysis so very much reminds me of some of my rather snarky buddies that incessantly love
to brag about how much so called return they earned on certain individual stocks!
And how their approach of stock investing is so much more superior to my mutual fund stock investing approach!
But for some odd reason, they rarely if ever mention any of the less than stellar individual stock picks, that simply bit the dust!
Instead, they’d try and have you believe that, the 38% return they grossed on this one particular stock, out weighs the other ten straight losing picks they’ve had!
And it’s basically the exact same mindset at work here! So they grossed $2,500 in one month, (or X),when it’s taken them 300 plus hours or more to get there!
And as you expertly pointed out, even at the current minimum wage rates per hour, they’re still running at a loss!
Nothing like a dose of reality to get you moving in the right direction!