7 Things I know about making money from blogging
1. It is possible
I've been blogging for just under ten years and for nine of those I've been making money blogging. It started out as just a few dollars a day but in time it gradually grew to becoming the equivalent of a part-time job, then a full-time job, and more recently into a business that employs others.
2. There is no single way to monetize blogs
Most of these bloggers are full-time (or well on the way to being full-time bloggers). They come from a wide array of niches and all monetize quite differently—doing everything from selling advertising, to having membership areas, to selling ebooks, to running affiliate promotions, to promoting their offline businesses, to selling themselves as speakers, to having book deals, and so on. Many have a combination of different income streams.
3. There are no formulas
From time to time, people have released products that claim to be formulas for success when it comes to making money online. They outline steps to follow to "guarantee" you'll make money.
In my experience there is no formula.
Each full-time blogger I've met in the last ten years has forged their own path and has a unique story to tell. They have often acted on hunches and made surprising discoveries along the way.
4. Many niches monetize
One common critique of the topic of monetizing of blogs is that the only people making money from blogging are the ones writing about how to make money blogging.
5. Most bloggers don't make a full-time living from blogging
Every time I've surveyed readers of ProBlogger about their earnings, we've seen that those making money from blogging are in the minority.