Comments on: Building a blog to retire off the proceeds? Think again! http://www.u-g-h.com/2009/02/09/building-a-blog-to-retire-off-the-proceeds-think-again/ Distracting the Mind with Information Overload Mon, 16 Jan 2012 21:10:29 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Sly http://www.u-g-h.com/2009/02/09/building-a-blog-to-retire-off-the-proceeds-think-again/comment-page-1/#comment-73104 Sly Tue, 10 Feb 2009 21:33:12 +0000 http://www.u-g-h.com/?p=2900#comment-73104 It seems like true (monetarily measured) success is an exception even in the cyber world. Last week one of my blogs had an insane traffic spike and served up a quarter of a million pageviews. Between the two ad networks that I use, I managed to rake in a whopping thirty bucks. I watch my traffic stats daily, counting my remaining visitors as they vanish into thin air, as quickly as they appeared. It seems like true (monetarily measured) success is an exception even in the cyber world.

Last week one of my blogs had an insane traffic spike and served up a quarter of a million pageviews. Between the two ad networks that I use, I managed to rake in a whopping thirty bucks. I watch my traffic stats daily, counting my remaining visitors as they vanish into thin air, as quickly as they appeared.

]]> By: Jay Dwivedi http://www.u-g-h.com/2009/02/09/building-a-blog-to-retire-off-the-proceeds-think-again/comment-page-1/#comment-73095 Jay Dwivedi Tue, 10 Feb 2009 16:33:25 +0000 http://www.u-g-h.com/?p=2900#comment-73095 What you quoted from Daniel caught my attention because he was clearly not doing many things right: "On that day more than 500,000 people hit my site—by far the biggest day I'd ever had—and through Google's AdSense program I earned about a hundred bucks. Over the course of that entire month, in which my site was visited by 1.5 million people, I earned a whopping total of $1,039.81." These numbers are pathetically low and I feel so bad for him that he got all this free traffic and did not know how to monetize it (and he is not alone because an average blogger according to Technorati pulls in a measly $5K a year). I want to emphasize (to potential bloggers and anyone who wants to understand if blogging is a way to make a living) that many online publishers (yours truly included) do so much better and we are talking at least 10X better than him. How? The key is picking the right niche and sadly enough (and contrary to expectations) politics or humor or business or technology are not. The most profitable niches that we operate in are what don't get a lot of bloggers excited: beauty, makeup, health, relationships, etc. What you quoted from Daniel caught my attention because he was clearly not doing many things right: “On that day more than 500,000 people hit my site—by far the biggest day I’d ever had—and through Google’s AdSense program I earned about a hundred bucks. Over the course of that entire month, in which my site was visited by 1.5 million people, I earned a whopping total of $1,039.81.”

These numbers are pathetically low and I feel so bad for him that he got all this free traffic and did not know how to monetize it (and he is not alone because an average blogger according to Technorati pulls in a measly $5K a year).

I want to emphasize (to potential bloggers and anyone who wants to understand if blogging is a way to make a living) that many online publishers (yours truly included) do so much better and we are talking at least 10X better than him. How? The key is picking the right niche and sadly enough (and contrary to expectations) politics or humor or business or technology are not. The most profitable niches that we operate in are what don’t get a lot of bloggers excited: beauty, makeup, health, relationships, etc.

]]> By: Karen215 (Karen Moser) http://www.u-g-h.com/2009/02/09/building-a-blog-to-retire-off-the-proceeds-think-again/comment-page-1/#comment-73069 Karen215 (Karen Moser) Tue, 10 Feb 2009 01:13:07 +0000 http://www.u-g-h.com/?p=2900#comment-73069 Great info Owen: http://tinyurl.com/d9g4xa Great info Owen: http://tinyurl.com/d9g4xa

]]> By: KimMoldofsky (KimMoldofsky) http://www.u-g-h.com/2009/02/09/building-a-blog-to-retire-off-the-proceeds-think-again/comment-page-1/#comment-73052 KimMoldofsky (KimMoldofsky) Mon, 09 Feb 2009 19:08:23 +0000 http://www.u-g-h.com/?p=2900#comment-73052 RT <a rel="nofollow" href="http://twitter.com/owenc">@owenc</a> Building a blog to retire off the proceeds? Think again! http://tinyurl.com/d9g4xa (h/t to <a rel="nofollow" href="http://twitter.com/table4five">@table4five</a>) RT @owenc Building a blog to retire off the proceeds? Think again! http://tinyurl.com/d9g4xa (h/t to @table4five)

]]> By: hyderj (Hyder) http://www.u-g-h.com/2009/02/09/building-a-blog-to-retire-off-the-proceeds-think-again/comment-page-1/#comment-73051 hyderj (Hyder) Mon, 09 Feb 2009 18:40:43 +0000 http://www.u-g-h.com/?p=2900#comment-73051 RT <a rel="nofollow" href="http://twitter.com/OwenC">@OwenC</a> From the Honeypot: Building a blog to retire off the proceeds? Think again! http://tinyurl.com/d9g4xa RT @OwenC From the Honeypot: Building a blog to retire off the proceeds? Think again! http://tinyurl.com/d9g4xa

]]> By: sherrilynne (Sherrilynne Starkie) http://www.u-g-h.com/2009/02/09/building-a-blog-to-retire-off-the-proceeds-think-again/comment-page-1/#comment-73050 sherrilynne (Sherrilynne Starkie) Mon, 09 Feb 2009 18:40:16 +0000 http://www.u-g-h.com/?p=2900#comment-73050 RT <a rel="nofollow" href="http://twitter.com/OwenC">@OwenC</a>: From the Honeypot: Building a blog to retire off the proceeds? Think again! http://tinyurl.com/d9g4xa RT @OwenC: From the Honeypot: Building a blog to retire off the proceeds? Think again! http://tinyurl.com/d9g4xa

]]> By: John Lynn http://www.u-g-h.com/2009/02/09/building-a-blog-to-retire-off-the-proceeds-think-again/comment-page-1/#comment-73066 John Lynn Mon, 09 Feb 2009 17:21:12 +0000 http://www.u-g-h.com/?p=2900#comment-73066 Interesting points. Does give some nice perspective. Lately I've come to realize that if you're not passionate about your blog topic, you'll absolutely fail. Being passionate about making money blogging isn't enough to keep you going. You have to be passionate about the subject you're blogging about. Unless of course you're blogging about making money online, but we won't go there. Interesting points. Does give some nice perspective.

Lately I’ve come to realize that if you’re not passionate about your blog topic, you’ll absolutely fail. Being passionate about making money blogging isn’t enough to keep you going. You have to be passionate about the subject you’re blogging about. Unless of course you’re blogging about making money online, but we won’t go there.

]]> By: Owen http://www.u-g-h.com/2009/02/09/building-a-blog-to-retire-off-the-proceeds-think-again/comment-page-1/#comment-73065 Owen Mon, 09 Feb 2009 17:06:46 +0000 http://www.u-g-h.com/?p=2900#comment-73065 @Alex: I guess it depends on who your audience is. You're more likely to get clicks than actual purchase behaviour, but one needs to match their monetising options against their target audience behaviour (example, note .. no Adsense on *this* blog, but I use it on others) @Alex: I guess it depends on who your audience is. You’re more likely to get clicks than actual purchase behaviour, but one needs to match their monetising options against their target audience behaviour

(example, note .. no Adsense on *this* blog, but I use it on others)

]]> By: Mrs. Mecomber http://www.u-g-h.com/2009/02/09/building-a-blog-to-retire-off-the-proceeds-think-again/comment-page-1/#comment-73064 Mrs. Mecomber Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:25:55 +0000 http://www.u-g-h.com/?p=2900#comment-73064 Very good post. I like how you brought out the non-monetary benefits, too. Sometimes, it's difficult to measure how successful a blogger is. Money is but one element. But although the blogger saw a burst of money that month, this recognition may have brought future deals, too-- things like product reviews, TLAs, etc. Those things come over time and are difficult to measure within, say, a month's time. Also, our workforce seems to be changing. It no longer seems that ANYONE can get steady, full-time work anymore-- not like the olden days, when FT work included benefits, vacation pay, sick pay, and a beefy retirement fund once you turned 65. Those days are over. For the under-40 crowd, the reality is that we have a handful of smaller jobs here and there and everywhere, and hopefully they all add up to enough to earn a living. Blogging is one element among many that hopefully adds up to be something larger. Very good post. I like how you brought out the non-monetary benefits, too. Sometimes, it’s difficult to measure how successful a blogger is. Money is but one element. But although the blogger saw a burst of money that month, this recognition may have brought future deals, too– things like product reviews, TLAs, etc. Those things come over time and are difficult to measure within, say, a month’s time.

Also, our workforce seems to be changing. It no longer seems that ANYONE can get steady, full-time work anymore– not like the olden days, when FT work included benefits, vacation pay, sick pay, and a beefy retirement fund once you turned 65. Those days are over. For the under-40 crowd, the reality is that we have a handful of smaller jobs here and there and everywhere, and hopefully they all add up to enough to earn a living. Blogging is one element among many that hopefully adds up to be something larger.

]]> By: Alex Newell http://www.u-g-h.com/2009/02/09/building-a-blog-to-retire-off-the-proceeds-think-again/comment-page-1/#comment-73063 Alex Newell Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:05:13 +0000 http://www.u-g-h.com/?p=2900#comment-73063 Well I guess to challenge this I should be earning a full time income from my blog - which I am not (yet). Many bloggers are clueless when it comes to monetising their blogs. Adsense can only earn a few pennies per click so why not use banners for clickbank products that earn you $30 rather than get 30 cents from Google? Well I guess to challenge this I should be earning a full time income from my blog – which I am not (yet).

Many bloggers are clueless when it comes to monetising their blogs. Adsense can only earn a few pennies per click so why not use banners for clickbank products that earn you $30 rather than get 30 cents from Google?

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