Advice for Beginner Bloggers

Tip #1: Don’t Quit Your Day Job


Can you make money through a blog/website? Yes. Can you make a lot of money? Yes. Consider, for example, the story of Ashley Qualls. This teenager’s eight dollar website (whateverlife.com) turned her into a millionaire. Such success is theoretically possible for anyone, which makes the Internet a very exciting medium. Post something online and it could be read/visited millions of times, making you rich and famous (or infamous, as the case may be).

But this is the exception, not the rule. I think there’s some naivety regarding the amount of money a new website/blog will make. Maybe some people believe all they have to do is start a blog, post an ad code, and wait for the big checks to come.


Sorry, but it usually doesn’t happen this way.


Web advertisers generally pay pennies per click (“cost per click” CPC) or pennies per thousand impressions (“cost per thousand” CPM). You’ll need significant traffic to make money from CPC or CPM advertisements. There are other ways to make money (affiliate programs, etc), but all of them require traffic, and lots of it.

You’re probably not going to start out with this kind of revenue-producing traffic.

Take my first blog, for example. I started out with some major advantages. I had hundreds of students’ email addresses, which gave me an instant reader base. Since then I’ve subscribe hundreds more. I’ve been able to promote my blog through radio. I even advertise my blog online.

The result: KuyaKevin.com is now getting 500-1000 hits a day (this includes hits that I get through online advertising). And it still doesn’t make a profit. Advertising revenues do help me offset my advertising costs, but that’s about it.

My blog may never make a profit, and that’s fine with me. Why, then, do I blog? Two reasons: 1. I love to write 2. It is a way to minister to others.

That’s enough for me.

Here’s my point: consider blogging a hobby, not a guaranteed source of income. If it becomes profitable, great! It may help supplement your income, and you might even become a professional blogger. If not, you are expressing yourself and having a great time doing it (enjoyment is supposed to be the point of a hobby, right?).

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