One Blog, 235 Hours Work And Zero Dollars Earned!
Check this out…
Rosalind Gardner picked up on a post at Caroline Middlebrook’s blog where Caroline says she spent 235 HOURS working on her blog in October, but earned $0 from it.
Oh my gooses!
On top of that, fellow British blogger Caroline says she ditched her job as a software developer in August 2007 and became a full time online blogger… and wants to earn a full time living from it.
Huh? An income from a blog to replace that of a UK software developer? That’s a lofty goal.
I’m no accountant… I pretty much hate juggling numbers… but I do like one number… profit… and even I can see that Caroline hasn’t got any.
As Caroline says, “I love that the blog has done well but all it’s doing right now is stroking my ego“.
Yikes.
And, “I slipped further into debt this month as I will every month until I am bringing in enough money to cover my living expenses“.
“Double Yikes” and “Flashing Lights With Siren Noises”!
Fortunately for Caroline, Rosalind gives here some excellent advice for monetizing her blog.
I like this story. It has some really interesting, fundamental truths in it.
If you like your blog being a hobby, and don’t want to make money from it, that’s fine. On the other hand, if you want to make a living online, you need to face some facts…
1: You have to exchange something valuable for money. If you have something valuable (a website to sell, a product to sell, targeted visitors to click ads) you can turn the asset into cash. Either create something valuable, or buy an existing asset and improve it.
2: If you don’t let anyone know you have anything valuable, you won’t make any money. This is marketing. There are a million ways to promote your product, affiliate links, website, blog online.
3: You have to bring together 1 and 2 to make a profit.
Nothing else will make you money.
And…
4: Don’t give up your day job until the profit is twice your day job’s income. Making money online is much riskier than going to an 8-to-5 job… so make sure you’re earning double your day job’s income and have a good cushion for when something goes wrong.
November 6th, 2007 at 11:37 am
Hi Neil,
Thanks very much for this post about me, it’s great that my story is getting around. Rosalind put up an excellent article with some superb tips but I think my intentions got a little lost along the way…
I never intended to quit my programming career for blogging. My long term goal is to create software that I market online an make a living from that. I also love Internet marketing in general so I have been trying out various thing in several niche markets over the last few weeks. Those are the projects I was trying to make money from.
The blog was merely there to tell the story and I had no intention to monetize it until I had built a readership.
The ironic thing is, that the very story about me not making money has circulated and made the blog very popular so I am now in a position where I could potentially earn more money from the blog (once Iget off my a** and monetize it) than from my other IM ventures!
Still, the blog is a one-off project. It does not scale well, it cannot be replicated, it cannot be outsourced, it cannot be sold. If it makes money that’s great, but it would be just a bonus.
Hope that cleared things up
November 6th, 2007 at 12:04 pm
Hi Caroline,
>My long term goal is to create software that I market online an make a living from that.<
Ahhh, OK, that makes more sense.
I’m glad to hear you have other irons in the fire. I was a bit concerned when I read the part about you “slipping further into debt”!
>the very story about me not making money has circulated<
I noticed that… it’s a good example of the social aspect of blogging working in your favour.
Rosalind let her mailing list know… which probably added significant momentum.
I wish you well with the transition from employee to working for yourself.
Neil.
November 6th, 2007 at 1:10 pm
Have you seen Rosalind’s blog in Fire Fox - yikes
November 6th, 2007 at 7:22 pm
Amazing how word spreads, eh Neil?!
I read Caroline’s blog, and there are some nuggets of valuable information, including her piece about having a blog commenting strategy.
She’s nailed the traffic bit - which is what many bloggers and business owners struggle with. Now comes the (relatively) easier bit of placing the right offer in front of the stream - and monetizing her hard work.
Also highly recommended is Caroline’s series about Twitter marketing - a must read!
All success
Dr.Mani
November 7th, 2007 at 4:01 am
I noticed Caroline cropping up in comments all over the place. Soon she will a celebrity blogger I think.
Andy
November 8th, 2007 at 11:22 am
The first thing that struck with this post was that she (hope I am right) left her day job to take up blogging.
Was she wrongly advised by one of those fake ‘gurus’ dotting the internet claiming that once you come online you start digging up dollars or pounds with little works?
Just wondering but a bit confused what motivated to take just a step without proper planning
However, I was very, very happy that she was advised by one of the best online marketers, Rosalind. Just hope she will follow through and I pray she gets out of her debt too.
November 8th, 2007 at 12:55 pm
Read Caroline’s reply…
“I never intended to quit my programming career for blogging.”
:-)
Neil.
November 8th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
Greetings Neil et al,
After detailing all the work she’d done to drive traffic to her blog, then commenting on the fact that she’d earned nothing from her blog in October, Caroline very specifically says in her post “Let’s get one thing straight here… I did not quit my job to launch a successful blog! I quit my job so I could earn a living online!”
So, I admit I find Caroline’s “I never intended to quit my programming career for blogging” followup here a bit confusing.
If one doesn’t intend to quit their job ‘for blogging’ but spends 235 hours working on their blog with the intention of making money online… which is it?
Besides, there’s no reason she shouldn’t be making money now with all that great traffic and loyal readers. Hope she monetizes soon!
Cheers,
Ros
November 8th, 2007 at 5:14 pm
Hi Ros,
Good to hear from you. Thanks for stopping by.
Yes, it’s a bit puzzling, and I don’t want to add to the confusion. If Caroline wants to clarify things, I’d be interested to know if there’s a business plan she’s working from.
Neil.