I started blogging because I missed having an online outlet for writing. I had two sites in the past (late 90s) on Geocities, and even in that early age of the internet, the community and support was unlike anything I’d ever seen. I wanted that kind of support for my financial life, though I honestly didn’t expect my site to turn into anything. Like other commenters, I didn’t even know it was possible to make money from a blog unless I sold products.

A ton of weird career circumstances have led me to pursue full-time blogging and freelancing this year, way before I was really ready. So this is an experiment; I have no idea if I can succeed or not. But I do know this – even if the income disappeared tomorrow and I had to return to a job in my field, I’ll never quit writing. I don’t even care if anyone reads. I mean, it’s amazing and I love interacting with people, but what I get from writing is far more than I can give.

The joke I have with my husband (actually it’s his joke) is that if you write for people about saving and not spending you can’t expect them to buy anything advertised on your site!

I totally love the idea of keeping the ‘balance’. It may be true that content is king, and having to write about what you are truly passionate about is priceless, but the lack of knowledge on how to monetize your website will get you nowhere. Unless you are saying you are not a tad interested in making money online, there is no way to avoid learning the boring stuff (making money!) if you want to quit your day job.

For those who think that it takes years and years of effort to get your first check, you are half right. It takes years to find out what works and what doesn’t (unless you are lucky), but the possibility of making money within 6 months of a new blog launch is much higher than you think. I am saying this because it happened to me. I have to admit that it was pure luck for me to have stumbled upon a great niche and the combination of that and great keywords was netting me over $1500 per month within 3 months. The greatest reward was surprisingly not the money, but the fact that it CAN be done. And the only way to achieve this is to find the right balance Flexo mentioned in his article. Write with passion, but don’t be afraid to learn about how to monetize your blog (the boring stuff according to some of you). I hate learning about SEO, email marketing, PPC, affiliate marketing etc, but I know I have to if I want to quit my job, spend time with my family & friends, do the things I love to do, and change the world through blogging!

I hope I don’t sound arrogant or preachy because I am in no position to do so since I am still new like everyone else. My intention is to let everyone know that success might be just a step away, but you will never know unless you keep pushing. Happy blogging!

I wanted to chime in because I’m now making a living as a freelance writer as a direct result of writing an anonymous personal finance blog, but I don’t make a living from the blog itself.

I never did find that balance between quality and quantity you talked about. I went for quality every time, and as a result I only updated the blog a couple times a week. I probably wrote and edited each post too carefully, and therefore I couldn’t produce as much content as the search engines or the readers would have liked. I kept a default template from the blog software I was using, instead of designing something cleaner and more custom. I rarely included pictures, and I wrote things that were personally useful and reflective but maybe didn’t have as much broad interest as they should have. All these choices put a very definite cap on how much my blog was earning. It think at its peak my blog earned a couple hundred dollars a month–a nice sideline but very far from being a significant part of the household income.

I was writing it because I wanted to be writing something, and because I was a new parent and I was anxious about money, so writing a personal finance blog soothed my anxiety. Like you it was more for personal accountability and growth, rather than income.

Meanwhile, I watched bloggers like you and Nickel turn your hobby blogs into real businesses, and I felt like I SHOULD be treating it like a business, but I never managed to find the time on top of my day job and my family.

Eventually I quit blogging altogether, but not before it started to bring in money in a different way. People who read my blog and liked my writing began to approach me to write things for them separately. As a public portfolio, the blog was fabulous for me. When I quit blogging, I had one writing client and one online column for a newspaper. I landed both of them because of my anonymous blog. The freelance writing was soon paying more than my day job and my blog put together, so I reduced the hours at my day job down to almost nothing (and I still maintain my connection there because it gives me access to group health insurance prices.)

It was a bit difficult to shift from writing anonymously to writing under my real name. I still struggle with that a bit. I don’t write about money in my freelance career, and I sometimes wonder if I could use clips from my former blog to land freelancing work in that area. I’d have to strip a lot of personal information out before I felt comfortable sending those pieces to potential clients or to editors, though, and therefore I’d lose what made the writing good–the passion you’re talking about, the connection to my own experience.

I was one of those potential writers for this site who you mentioned in this piece. I agree with you that my stuff was very different in tone from what you’e achieved here. Writing under my own name, I’m not comfortable writing very personal stuff about my finances for the web. Some successful freelancers have done that–M.P. Dunleavey and others–but I would have to figure out what I was comfortable revealing and what I was not. The reality is, I might not be comfortable revealing enough to make *personal* writing about finances really compelling.

I started reading your blog in 2005. I admire the way you’ve built it up. I admire the consistency of your pieces. You have a high net worth now, but you still manage to produce content that’s useful for people who are trying to get out of debt, etc.

I’m looking forward to seeing what you do with the site now that it’s become your full time job.

I have an income goal but that is way down the list of goals. Money should never come first when blogging. As you said passion keeps you going and through the good and bad times.

“You need to strive for excellence in order to stand out both to readers and to advertisers. It’s not enough to write occasional uninspired articles, put up a few ads, and wait for the money to roll in.”

I’m not going to lie. I’ve written articles in the past that were designed to score high on SE rankings. Do you know what happened? 1. I became extremely uninspired. 2. The readers showed that they didn’t care by either not commenting or not returning.

I’ve come to the realization that I’d rather write a post that is useless for SE rankings but gets 20+ plus comments and has my readers interacting. In fact, a few weeks ago a post went up where the readers of Studenomics were helping each other solve a problem that I was useless with (due to not living in the States). I’m not an emotional dude or anything but I really loved that.

As per the actual writing tidbits here– I’ve come to accept that I’ll never be as articulate or smooth as a writer as Flexo or JD but I want my voice to stick out. I hope that they 20-somethings that read my blog don’t judge the many grammar mistakes. Instead I want my readers to relate to my voice and the issues that we all go through.

I do believe it is better to focus on one or two topics however and to be a little more patient when it comes to the rewards. I think to begin with I fell into a common trap of trying to reach too many audiences; which can in fact be a mistake. If you can concentrate on perhaps one or two topics, write with passion and provide quality content, then ultimately you should start to see some payback.

Obviously marketing your work correctly, like any other product, will bring rewards a little quicker but in the end it is all about quality; particularly if you want return visits.

I also enjoyed this peek behind the curtain so to speak. I think it was a very compelling post.

I have been blogging for over a year, and only in the last 3 months have I really focused, and worked on honing my skills. I’m able to make a small income now, which is lovely, but I’m working on figuring out how I can make that sustainable, and keep my passion alive.

Thanks for sharing this, it was to echo Erica, one of my favorite posts on Consumerism Commentary.

Your point about diversifying your income streams also well made.

Just throwing this out there…several people mentioned not being very good at using social networking sites and that their “significant other” was missing out on time spent with them — wondering if you can pull them in by asking them to help you with the social networking part of your blogging business? I’m no expert on blogging, but I do know that I like to help my husband with projects whenever he will let me.

Congrats to all of you for so many good results from your blogging experiences!

Having said that, I did get an email from a perspective advertiser who may want to link my site! So I may begin to explore Adsense and other ways to monetize the site since I’m about to “break the seal” and generate revenue for the first time.

I recently wrote a series on my blog about how I make money blogging because I had gotten so many questions about how I was able to make money with my blog. I know a lot of people go in thinking that it’s going to be a get rich quick type deal, but blogging is a LOT of work. It is definitely my second full time job.

I didn’t get my first payout with adsense until my fourth month blogging – but I’ve had a payout every month since then.. I think I’ve been blessed in that I reached payout faster than some people do, and I’ve been able to build up some decent traffic and a nice second income with blogging – which most people never do. My guess is that most people burn out and quit their blogs within the first 5-6 months when they don’t see the quick income they were hoping for.

Can everyone do it? I think that they can if they have the passion and do the right things. Some things I think people need to do from my experience so far (which admittedly is nowhere near Flexo’s level)

1. Focus on writing good content that converts into high paying ad clicks. Not all content is created equal. Write with a focus on other people – not yourself. If all you write about is your personal situation -as opposed to answering other people’s questions about financial (or other) topics – you probably won’t make much.
2. Choose a niche that pays well (if you want to make money.). Personal finance is a good one ;) You should be passionate about your topic, but remember – not all topics convert well for every income type. Adsense doesn’t do as well on a fitness site as it would on a PF site for example. You may need to find alternate sources of revenue.
3. Network with others in your niche, they can help you to grow, mentor you, and point you in the right direction.
4. Write a lot! it wasn’t until I had several hundred articles in my archive that my blog started taking off income wise. I’m now closing in on 1000 articles over two years, and the income is higher than ever. Having more articles in your archive means more google indexed content ready to come up in searches.
5. Do your best to not burn out – it can wear on you to write about the same topic day in and day out over years.. Take advantage of guest posts, staff writers and days off.

Wow, my comment is getting a bit long now.. But i would encourage everyone out there – if they’re thinking about it – just go for it. Don’t expect riches right away, and don’t expect to be quitting your day job anytime soon. But if you stick with it and work hard over the long haul, you can bring in some nice income to add to your bottom line.

To make more money writing, it is imperative to link to the social websites that was mention in your blog of stumble an digg.com. I am also a member of Associated Content that has ranked with Google News and was introduced to even more website to distribute the niche writing. Also the human element behind the writing is so important to keep your readers coming and that is why I write first for my intended audience and then use the free search optimization tools of Google Adwords to make the Google earnings rise even higher.

It is good to know that you were able to quit your day job but you had put in your dues writing before there was even Google Adsense. Good luck on your continued successed on Consumerism Complementaries.

Thanks for writing this post. It’s great for beginners to learn from more experienced bloggers. Congratulations on your success and on going full-time with blogging!

While I’m in a totally unrelated niche, in the last six months I’ve gone from “unknown” to actually networking with others in my topic. I’m pretty sure the blog I write now is on more blog rolls (and one fairly big one that I’m insanely proud of, ha) than the tiny finance blog I wrote for ten or so months. Even though I succumbed to paid posts and all that. So while I made money from blogging, technically, it wasn’t ever going to be sustainable. (If the blog was going to remain un-spammy, anyhow.)

Instead, it’s nice to know it *is* possible, if I keep at it. Not sure how it works in my niche, but I can imagine affiliate programs coming into it, and I’ve always wanted to try my hand at an ebook. I’m concentrated on sharpening my skills and getting my blog out there for now, still working up the learning curve.

Bottom line, for me, is I wouldn’t be doing it if I didn’t enjoy it. I mean, I’m doing it for free right now…. If I could ever make a little money off of it again, I’d be ecstatic. And mildly shocked…. Hah.

That’s one reason I’ve reduced my role at Get Rich Slowly. Yes, I love blogging. Yes, I want to write every day. But do I want to write about money every day? Honestly, I don’t. I want to write about cats and comic books, photography and Proust. I want the freedom to explore other topics. After nearly four years of writing about money, I feel like I’ve shared most of what I have to say on the subject. Yes, I’ve lost the passion. So, I’ve reduced my role at the site and looked for others who do have the passion (like the one and only Adam Baker!). It’s my hope that this helps the readers, helps the new writers, and helps me. A WIN-WIN-WIN.

Great stuff.

Hence perhaps if an advertiser wants to sponsor something on my site, or write about their product, I’ll just have them write about the product, unless I’m absolutely knowledgeable about the product.

If I were to ever think about blogging for a main purpose to make money, I’d quit tomorrow and never revisit. There are so many other things to do out there to make a TON more money, and much more quickly. It’s not easy making decent money on a blog, I absolutely agree.

My #1 goal is to just have fun. The second goal is to learn from the community. The third goal is meet some new friendly folks. And the 4th goal is to practice some creating writing. If money comes, great. If money doesn’t great, b/c the site is not about money.

All proceeds on my site get donated to charity partly b/c I don’t want to be swayed by money, and partly to help the local community.

Best, Sam

Just in 2 weeks we both see how difficult it is to drive traffic. I’ll be honest the thought of making money on the side would be great but I got into blogging and personal finance for 3 main reasons, potential side income is the fourth.

The first was to learn more about coding and programming aspects. I have an IT degree and wanted to learn more about the coding and web development that goes into blogging and the back-end (PHP, CSS, etc).

Secondly, I wanted to learn more about SEO. I ended up staying in school after completing my undergrad to pursue an MBA. After completing it, I became fascinated by personal finance and enjoyed advising others (family, friends, etc) on money (and computer issues…haha). Furthermore, I’ve contemplated testing and taking classes for the CFP certification. I also felt a strong passion for marketing and thinking like the end user while explaining topics in simple terms. SEO is one route to go with marketing and this field will continue to expand drastically and grow in detail over the next decades.

Lastly, I wanted to take all the information I had learned over the last few years, from blogs to books to classes to my own personal research and pass the info on. I’d love to help as many people as possible with their finances and make as much of an impact as possible, whether that be a few people or hundreds. Either way I feel drawn to see where it takes me.

Looking forward to hearing more Flexo! Great comments all around…it’s a learning world and if there is one thing I can say thus far about my experience in the blogging community then I’d say that it’s filled with some great people and mentors who will take the time to email you back and forth to provide any advice or help you need. Even if they are the big fish in the pond! I appreciate that… Cheers!

My success is nowhere near yours Flexo but the fact that I can make anything writing about personal finance gives me a thrill! Many days its tough though finding the time and the material. My toughest critic is myself which doesn’t always help matters.

Thanks for telling us your story. It reminds me that I need to get back to being more honest in my writing and developing my own voice. (And thanks for Consumerism Commentary which informs and inspires us!)

But it’s my blog and I’ll write as I want to!

I think that’s the right approach to take. You have no obligation to listen to anyone who says they have “the right answer” to the question of how one should manage a blog. (And you can substitute the word “business” for “blog.”)

I think these micro-networks, formal or informal, are extremely valuable.

Just please, please, please, don’t go start up another “how to make money online” blog, especially if you’ve never first actually made money online yourself.

Yeah, I think this is a terrible implementation of the self-marketing rule: “Fake it ’til you make it.”

Even a couple hundred dollars a month can be seen as a success depending on other financial conditions like cost of living. It’s all relative.

You’re absolutely right about hard work. With this kind of hard work, there is sacrifice. I’ve missed out on countless opportunities to spend time with my friends (to some of whom I am more of a stranger now, perhaps) and even my girlfriend, who would like more time with me, has to put up with my dedication to writing for this site and my other projects. In fact, I won’t be surprised if she stops putting up with it at some point.

Bar none, the best article I have ever read on Consumerism Commentary. Not necessarily because it talks about blogging, but because I can see hints of the “real you” in there. You thoughtfully mention your struggles, successes, and show the world who’s really behind this blog.

And you can see the results–many other PF bloggers coming out of the woodwork in the comments who read your blog, but who don’t typically interact with it–sharing their own struggles, thoughts, and successes.

Love it. Want to read more about you–blogging or not. And still would like to eventually meet you in person, too! :)

-Erica

My blog is now seven months old and I added the first ad recently. I’m sure I’ll expand, but it’s really not that important at this point.

I’m coming up on 6 months of blogging and don’t see myself stopping any time soon. Thanks to posts like this, the drive is still there.

Keep up the great work!

- Austin @ Foreigner’s Finances

Financially, I figure I’m at an advantage being so young (17) that I don’t need to make money like some older bloggers do. I can just focus on content 100% right now and worry about advertising when/if my traffic increases.

Anyway, after a couple of years at it I now feel well qualified to detect BS posts and comments as opposed to the real thing, and your post Flexo plus the comments here are definitely in the ‘true’ category.

I got some flack for a post I wrote a 18 months or so ago about how for most people blogging for money was like rural labour for $1 a day. I only got a couple of angry comments but I got some nasty emails about how I was being really negative and trying to pull of the drawbridge (as if I had one – even now a LEGO castle would have more of a defensible moat than Monevator!

People are entitled to their opinion of course and I didn’t mind the disagreement one bit, just when they started swearing at me, but here’s the thing – I doubt one of those nastier critics had made ten bucks from blogging, unless it was selling blogging guides to newbies. Anyone who has tries knows it is a long hard slog, or they were very lucky or exceptionally talented.

With my piece I wasn’t saying don’t blog, far from it. I’m all for self expression. I was saying don’t do it for money if the money won’t be there for a long time, if ever.

So I 100% echo what you’ve said.

I’m finally making some progress on income; I’m sure I’ve been bad at networking, promoting and maybe even writing. I know short articles about new credit cards would be ‘better’ than 1200 word articles about my hearing an old economist speak – better for monetization, better for google, and probably better for my long suffering readers! But it’s my blog and I’ll write as I want to! Money can come if it wants to and it would be great – and I will do some of this affiliate articles some day when I have time and can add value – but I can’t see the site ever earning me multiples of my day job.

Perhaps I am aiming to low, but as Darwins Finance says, aiming doesn’t really seem to work in blogging. All the success stories I can think of were surprised by that success.

Sorry for this novel sized comment! To close, huge congratulations Flexo on making it, and thanks for sharing.

Onwards and upwards!

I have advertising on my blog however this is very much a secondary consideration. I know I am competing against thousands of others and what I write about is always related to my own retirement investing research so is clearly not always relevant to a mass audience. That combined with the fact that it is only me writing after a 12 to 16 hour day and I know I will never compete with ‘professional bloggers’.