Can Blogging Make You Rich?

Can You Really Get Rich by Blogging?

In this month's issue of Business 2.0 there is a great article titled Blogging for Dollars, which is featured on the front cover. The headline under the title of this article reads "It's not just a hobby - some small sites are making big money."

This article features several successful bloggers, including Michael Arrington. The 36 year old owner of TechCrunch is pulling in over $60k per month in advertising revenue. BoingBoing is expected to gross around $1 million this year. And Fark, which is managed by one guy out of Kentucky... is set to become a multimillion dollar property.

Nick Denton, Jason Calacanis and Heather Armstrong were also mentioned, among others. But I think the two stories that stood out to me the most were those of Fark and Dooce...

Dooce, owned by Heather Armstrong, is a personal weblog that is managed solely by Heather and her husband - a simple staff of two. According to the article, Dooce.com earns them enough money to live comfortably. What is Dooce about? Here's a snippet from her bio:

This website chronicles my life from a time when I was single and making a lot of money as a web designer in Los Angeles, to when I was dating the man who would become my husband, to when I lost my job and lived life as an unemployed drunk, to when I married my husband and moved to Utah, to when I became pregnant, to when I threw up and became unbearably swollen during the pregnancy, to the birth, to the aftermath, to the postpartum depression that landed me in a mental hospital. I'm better now.

We may not all have such an incredible personality, but Fark and Dooce are both examples of super-successful blogs that should at least serve as a great inspiration. There is nothing about these blogs that screams you can't do it!

To add to the motivation, the founder of Fark - Drew Curtis - says that his site should be generating at least $600,000 a month in the very near future. But before your eyes get glazed over with dollar signs and you set out to blog your little heart out, let me share with you what it takes to become a 'Rich Blogger'...

Saheli S.R. Datta (who blogs at Musings and Observations) gives a rundown of 7 criteria for successful blogging in the Blogging for Dollars article:

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Bloggers

• Focus intently on a narrow niche, ideally one whose audience has a predilection for high-margin products. That will appeal to advertisers.
• Set up your blog so that each post gets its own permanent URL, or permalink, and its heading becomes part of its permalink and page title. Write descriptive, keyword-heave headings, and be sure the homepage and all archives have links on every page.
• Think of your blog as database, not a newspaper-like collection of dispatches. your archived posts should be easy to find through Google and Technorati, so cite authors and publications by name, and use tags, categories, and keywords consistently.
• Blog frequently and regularly - if possible, at least half a dozen posts every weekday before lunchtime, when many readers take a break from work and check out the blogosphere.
• Use striking images in your posts. They liven up the page and attract readers, and if you use captions, you'll gain additional traffic by making it easy for Google Image Search and other visual search engines to index your illustrations.
• Enable comments and interact with readers; cultivate your audience - that's what advertisers will be paying you for.
• Make friends with other bloggers, online and off. Link to their posts and they'll return the favor. Other blgos may well send you most of your traffic.

At Performancing, Chris Garrett recently published an article about unrealistic expectations when it comes to blogging and blog success. He says, "Snake-oil sales letters are out there making all sorts of promises of instant riches via spammy scripts, guaranteed success plans and SEO-scheme-of-the-week. Do not believe it. If only it was true we would all be rich!"

Chris closes this terrific article with ten things to keep in mind:

If you are hoping to make a living out of blogging here are some more realistic tips...

1. Don't have any illusions about it being your sole income until you see evidence in your bank account
2. Diversify, do not rely on one blog or one income stream
3. Choose your niches carefully
4. Experiment with formats, layout and article types
5. Analyse your traffic and do more of what works
6. Market yourself and your blog, write killer headlines, linkbait
7. Network network network - a good portion of success comes from who you know
8. Consider a paying gig as well as your own blogs
9. Join a team or a network if you feel you haven't got all necessary skills but can write
10. Keep at it, the rewards take a while to arrive so it takes stamina

In addition to all of these great blogging tips, check out 10 Reasons Why Many Blogs Dont Make Much Money at Problogger. Darren Rowse gives ten "backward tips" - or ten negatives that you can turn around as a tip list, or make a point to avoid.

Best,