So, is blogging profitable? And if so, how do you make it profitable? How long does it take to become profitable as a blogger? All these questions are hard to answer since almost anyone can build a blog from anywhere in the world. Will they all become profitable? Most definitely the answer is a resounding no. But what’s the difference between those who create profitable blogs and those who don’t?
A profitable blog makes money; more money than is spent, too. To make a blog profitable you need to monetise it some how. Many bloggers monetise with advertising such as the Google Adsense program. Others use affiliate marketing. However you monetise your blog, you’ll need traffic to make your monetisation method pay. So the two main “musts” with a blog are monetisation and traffic. But that’s not the full story either.
Is Blogging Profitable?
Blogging can be very profitable yes. Some bloggers make 6 figures through their blogging efforts. But that’s undoubtedly a minority. The vast majority will struggle, or do it just for fun! Unless you’re committed to your blog, you’ll probably make nothing or very little.
You’ll need traffic and some monetisation method to make money from a blog. Without either of these it’s dead in the water. Most bloggers will use affiliate products or advertising to monetise their blogs. Or, they’ll use a combination of both. To get traffic to a blog means creating content and getting eyes on it. Ultimately a blogger wants Google to recognise their content and show it on the free search engines at the top of the page. If this happens, traffic will come! But it’s a big “if” rather than a “when”.
Before Google starts ranking your content it needs to see you and it needs data! Google has thousands of ranking data “points” on which to judge your blog content. If there’s a better blog post for the same topic, it’ll favour that instead of yours. Or another, similar post might have thousands of back links or is from an older, more authority site. There might be thousands of blog posts just like yours too; so depending on your topic, you may have little chance of getting even a look-in with the search engines.
Is Blogging Profitable? Monetisation Methods – Adsense
With Google Adsense, a blogger can place a piece of code on their content. Google turns that code into a specific advert which is appropriate for your specific content. For example, say your blog is about handy crafts. Google will show your visitors adverts relating to that particular topic. When someone clicks on your advert, you’ll make a small commission.
This is usually only tiny amounts: less than a $1. But this will depend on your blog topic. More competitive topics will usually have more expensive advertisements. So if an advertiser pays $10 per click, you might earn $4. If they pay $1 per click, you’ll earn only a few cents.
Unfortunately the more expensive topics are usually well over prescribed already. This means you’ll have a tough time getting your content ranking or seen easily. Less competitive topics usually have lower advertising costs associated with them. A site about Forex marketing for example will be hard to rank for with a blog. But it will pay a larger amount for an advertising click than a site about mushroom harvesting, for example.
Whatever topic you choose, rest assured you’ll need a huge volume of traffic in order to make a good monthly revenue from your blog. More expensive advertising is much more competitive in terms of search traffic. Less expensive topics will give you more scope for getting free traffic but less revenue per click.
Blogging With Affiliate Marketing
Most bloggers will use affiliate marketing on their blogs to monetise. Affiliate marketing lets bloggers promote other people’s products for a share of the revenue. With an affiliate blog you can make a lot more than you could with Google Adsense. But it depends on how you go about it. Some blogs are intended for monetisation with Google Adsense. Others are made for affiliate marketing. Of course you can use both strategies side by side.
Affiliates will promote products and services which match their particular blog topic. For example if you owned a travel blog, you might advertise hotels, taxi services or travel related purchases. If your blog was about gadgets, you could link your blog to gadgets from Amazon, for example.
Affiliate marketing can be profitable when used in conjunction with a blog. However, it again will depend on the volume of traffic you can attract and the particular type of visitors you attract.
Is Blogging Profitable – Type Of Traffic & Email List
With a Google Adsense blog your topic isn’t that important (more on this later). Google will attempt to monetise your adverts for any given topic you choose to write about. But with an affiliate product, your topic is going to attract a certain type of visitor. Ideally you want every visitor to purchase an affiliate product from your site! But in reality that isn’t going to happen. Only something like 1% of your visitors will ever buy something from your site. But you can increase this percentage in a number of ways. The main two strategies are:
- Write content which attracts your specific customer “avatar” – the perfect type of person who not only likes what you’re selling but desperately needs it.
- Encourage your blog visitors to opt in to your email list – once on your email list you can follow up with subscribers and build a longer term relationship.
With the right kind of traffic and a hugely enticing sign-in offer, you can get more of your visitors to join your mailing list. From there you can build relationships and extend the time period with which someone might make a purchasing decision. On a blog, someone only has a few minute to buy something. Once you’ve got their email you can sell something even years later to this same blog visitor.
Blogging & You – Choice Of Topic
Although your blog topic isn’t that important as far as Google Adsense is concerned, it’s vitally important if you want to succeed (and be profitable). Having made the mistake of blogging in a topic I knew nothing of, I realised how difficult this can be. If you at least have an interest in a topic, it makes much more sense to choose that topic over one you think might be profitable.
Choosing a topic because you think it might be profitable is a big mistake when it comes to blogging for profit! I know that sounds ridiculous! The reason is because it takes a huge amount of time and commitment to make a blog profitable. Expect to be blogging for several months before you start to see any results at all! Imagine blogging every day for several months about something you absolutely hate – or have zero interest in!
Having worked for an airport parking company I was writing about airports and parking for 6 months straight! Despite looking for the most interesting bits about the subject, I was super miserable and had had enough! I also built a blog around the mushroom harvesting topic – which I knew nothing of. I had to research every post I wrote. Eventually I gave up having made next to nothing from it. Choose a topic you love (or have a passion for) and you can keep going long enough to make it profitable. Without the passion, it’s much harder.
See also steps to start a blog for profit.
