Author: Sean McGoldrick
How Much Money Do People Make Blogging?
Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008 @ 9:08 am
We all know that it’s possible to make some money from blogging. Some people even manage to make a very comfortable living from it. Since October last I’ve been trying to achieve an average income of $400 per week. I haven’t reached that yet, having achieved an average of $60 instead.
I was interested to read a recent post on Problogger.net by Darren Rowse where he mentions the Wall Street Journal article that said he earned $250,000 per year and says they’re in the right ball park.
The same Wall Street Journal article reported that the Mongabay.com was making approximately $200,000 per year, mainly from Adsense.
Of course most people don’t make anything like this. Surveys asking people how much money they make blogging are a popular item on many web-sites. The results from these surveys are usually along much the same lines (and don’t forget that the results exclude people who earn nothing):
Example Survey #1
How Much Money Do You Make Blogging? (easywordpress.com/…)
* Less Than $500 A Month (80%, 186 Votes)
* More Than $3,000 A Month (8%, 19 Votes)
* Less Than $1,000 A Month (6%, 15 Votes)
* Less Than $3,000 A Month (5%, 12 Votes)
Example Survey #2
How Much Money Do Bloggers Earn Blogging? (problogger.net/…)
Under $10 (26%)
$10-$29 (12%)
$30-$99 (13%)
$100-$499 (19%)
$500-$999 (8%)
$1,000-$1,499 (4%)
$1,500-$2,499 (3%)
$2,500-$4,999 (4%)
$5,000-$9,999 (2%)
$10,000-$14,999 (1%)
Over $15,000 (9%)
The results from surveys 1 and 2 are broadly similiar. Most bloggers (70%-80%), claim to earn less than $500 a month.
My own position (see graph above) is broadly similiar to the vast majority of people who try to blog for money. In my case I have just completed my first quarter (13 weeks) blogging during which time I have earned $786 or just over $60 per week on average. This would add up to an annual income of $3,144 from blogging. (See How to Make Money Online for a breakdown of programs I use to make money blogging.)
January 29th, 2008 at 6:47 am
I want to earn more than $100 a month…
January 29th, 2008 at 9:46 am
Well, who doesn’t Glenn?
Mind you, with your design skills you have a better chance of making money online than many of us. I’ve been thinking about changing my theme on this blog. After having a look at some of yours I think I might be downloading one soon. 
February 23rd, 2008 at 5:07 pm
If you achieved your goal to make $100 a month then you want $200 a month. It never stops, believe me!
May 1st, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Okay. I’m getting really old. I didn’t know you could (or even should) make money blogging. I just found out how to make money taking surveys and writing on Helium.
I’ve made approximately $100 so far this year for both these prospects.
I’ve made about three times this every month for mystery shopping (and could do more even while working full time). That’s 80% service shops and 20% reimbursement shops.
The BIG money is on eBay which I’ve been doing for two years and love it.
All of these things are interesting to me and add a good solid supplemental source of income, if you’re willing to put in the effort.
So, PLEASE - someone - explain how blogging works as a capitalistic venture.
Thanks,
John
July 5th, 2008 at 10:36 am
John, you don’t have to choose. You can also do a blog AND ebay. If you advertise an occasional ebay auction on your website/blog, you get an affiliate fee for whoever purchases after clicking your link and you also get a nice fee if someone signs up thanks to you. I think it was 25 dollars or something. Now that’s easy money!