Facebook Pixel
Join our Facebook Community

How I Make Money Blogging

Posted By Darren Rowse 15th of November 2007 Blogging for Dollars, Featured Posts 0 Comments

How I Make Money BloggingBelow you’ll find my latest update on how I make money blogging (this is something I post about every few months – although it’s been a over six months since I last did it ).

Also note – I go into a lot of detail on how I make money blogging in ProBlogger the Book.

How Much Money Do I Make from Blogging?

I get asked how much money my blogging makes me on a regular basis. These days I don’t go into specifics about it – all I will say is that it continues to be well over six figures per year (but less than seven figures). What you’ll find below are my top income streams – ranked from highest earnings to lowest.

Keep in mind that this is a summary of all of my blogs (not just ProBlogger). It does not include any income that I earn from b5media where I’m paid a salary as VP Training.

I hope you find it useful to see the mix and variety of ways that I earn a living from blogging.

1. AdSense

AdsenseDespite not using it here at ProBlogger any more I continue to use AdSense with real effect on my other blogs. While I do use AdSense Referrals and their search feature it is their normal ads that work best for me. I have them all set to show image and text based ads and find that 250×300 pixel ads work best (usually with a blended design).

2. Chitika

ChitikaLast time I did this sort of summary Chitika ranked #1. This time around it has been overtaken by AdSense – not because Chitika slipped in how much it earned but because AdSense went up and because I also replaced a few Chitika ad units with WidgetBucks ones. Chitika offers a range of ad units that I experiment with. I find their eMiniMalls work best and that Related Product Units are also good. Their Shoplincs product isn’t performing as well as it once did for me – mainly because I’ve been promoting it less and have driven less traffic to it. Over the time I’ve been using Chitika they’ve now earned me over a quarter of a million dollars!

3. Amazon Associates

Amazon-Logo-1
This has been one of my big movers in the last 12 months. I used to make a few odd dollars from it – however in recent times it has become a significant earner for me (as I’ve shared previously). This quarter it overtook TLA as my third biggest earner – largely on the back of me directing traffic to Amazon from my product related sites – mainly digital cameras. While the commission on cameras is only 4% this adds up when those that you refer buy higher ticket items.

4. Private Ad Sales/Sponsorships

private-ad-salesThis includes ad sales of the 125 x 125 ads here at ProBlogger as well as a couple of private ad deals that I did with sponsors on my camera blog (including sponsorships with Canon, Kodak and Adobe). This area has jumped up since last time also as a result of the new design here at ProBlogger and our expanded sales team at b5 who now sell ProBlogger’s ads for me.

5. Text Link Ads

TlaThe income from TLA has dipped slightly over the last few months simply because I took the decision to stop selling them here at ProBlogger and most of my other blogs. This was because I wanted to focus more upon selling the 125 pixel ads instead and felt that the ads I was attracting were not as relevant to this site as they could have been. As it turns out this might have been a good move because it seems Google has been penalizing blogs that run them lately.

6. ProBlogger Job Boards

Jobboardheader The job boards here at ProBlogger continue to grow each month in the number of advertisements that are being bought. This enabled me to invest most of the money that they’d earned a while back into getting a new back end for the boards and to redesign them. It hit me today that the boards are now bringing in around $1000 a month in revenue which is pretty nice considering that they are now so low maintenance to run! I’ve just given a development team a new brief to expand the job boards in the coming month so stay tuned for some new features coming soon which could see this revenue increase and more importantly for it to become an even more useful resource to readers.

7. Miscellaneous Affiliate Programs

miscellaneous affiliate programsI run a variety of affiliate programs on my blogs – most of which bring in smaller amounts of money that don’t really justify a category of their own. These include – – Digital Photography Secrets (a camera technique series), Pro Photo Secrets (a great photoshop product) , Yaro’s Blog Mastermind Mentoring Program, SEO Book (Aaron’s legendary resource). This area is set to continue to grow in the current quarter with me having had reasonable conversions from the promotion of the excellent Teaching Sells course.

8. Miscellaneous Advertising Programs

miscellaneous ad networksI also play with a number of other ad networks. Some I run as tests to see if I should review them here – and some are just advertising that run in the background on some of my smaller blogs. These include AuctionAds, Feedburner RSS ads, Vizu (a poll advertising system), Kontera and Bidvertiser. Together these don’t add up to major earnings for me – not because they are not good, but because I don’t use them heavily (a blog can only run so many ads on it).

I think that that covers most of it. Since last quarter I’ve also been experimenting with WidgetBucks as well as one other ad system that is still in a closed beta test. I’m certain that WidgetBucks will feature in next quarter’s list because I am getting good returns on that so far. In fact at it’s current earnings it’ll debut at at least number 4 on the list and perhaps even at number 3.

How Much do I Spend?

As mentioned last time – I don’t spend a lot of money in order to bring in my income. I do have some basic blogging costs (hosting etc) and play around with a limited amount of advertising (AdWords and StumbleUpon) but rely more heavily upon word of mouth and organic ways of drawing income into my blogs. I also have some costs in paying writers on a couple of blogs – but these don’t make up a massive part of the overall earnings each quarter.

Want to Learn More about How to Make Money Blogging?

Check out these resources that have been written specifically for bloggers wanting to make money blogging.

  • ProBlogger the Book – where I and Chris Garrett sum up all of our basic tips about starting up a profitable blog.
  • Blog Mastermind Blog Mentoring Program – one of the best coaching and training course going around on blogging.
  • Blog Profits Blueprint – a free report on how to build profitable blogs.
About Darren Rowse
Darren Rowse is the founder and editor of ProBlogger Blog Tips and Digital Photography School. Learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Comments
  1. Can anyone tell me the ratio of Adsense’s success to failure?

  2. great…you give me more inspiration with your idea..!!!!! Thanks

  3. I am currently earning about 2 dollars a day

  4. Hi Daz,

    Love the post, read it about 50 times over the past few months.

    Thought I would share with you how I make a living blogging;

    1. Adsense. This makes up about 80% of my income.
    2. Commission Monster + DGM Affiliate Marketing. 20% of my income.

    I am yet to have personal advertisers as yet but am quite happy with earnings to date, per month I am clearing about $2000 in side money from my full time job in online advertising + growing.

    Blogs and sites I run include;
    http://www.savingsguide.com.au – Saving Money Tips.
    http://www.companyguide.com.au – Business Directory.
    http://www.ajwilson.com.au – My personal blog.

  5. …thanks from reading your posting, I already using amazone 2 days ago…..

  6. That was a good list on how to make money on blogging. As of now I am using the Google Adsense and for me it is the best

  7. A new Adsense alternative worth considering is Netklix.

  8. devilcalledlove,

    What makes Netklix any better? How long has it been around? Does it have a better financial turn over than adsense?

  9. I just started a new website and companion blog – due to an over abundance of TLA. LOL There is some money to be made with this method, but over time it really detracts from your content. Early on everyone was all about “key words” and of course they wanted their TLA sandwiched into a sentence within a block of content. This may have worked well for the advertisers – but it always bugged me as a web developer and writer. I guess the word that I’m hinting at is – deception. That form of advertising seems deceptive to me… almost as if we think if we disguise the link within content, the reader won’t realize it’s an advertisement. So I’ve gone back to the graphic ads in the side bars. In my experience they offer just as much earning potential. As a surfer, I expect to see graphic advertisements, but you never really know what awaits at the end of a key word click.

  10. I’m interested in learning through what sites do you find bloggers to pay to blog?

  11. hey, great..hope u continue earning much more..Now i everyday earning about $3 dollars.

  12. Thank you for this very informative article. It helps a lot, especially to novice bloggers like me.

    But I have something to say about Widgetbucks. I have it in my four blog in the last four months and so far I have “earned” $0.006 from them. Yes, four months. My blog has a very small traffic but if I compare my earnings from Widgetbucks with what I earn from Adsense and Adbrite, I get to think that probably Widgetbucks is not counting properly the impressions and the clicks. In the last four months in the four blogs I have I got zero clicks from Widgetbuck whereas with Adbrite and Adsense I got many clicks. I think I’ll just remove Widgetbucks from my blogs.

  13. It is impressive how well you do from your blogs and the different ways in which you promote them. How did you get on with WidgetBucks?

  14. Nice article there darren. Actually, i was searching for things that can replace google adsense. Because i really hate the customer support. Anyway, i might try adbrite or other things. I have alot of affiliate programs but dont usually earn from them.

    http://www.resourcesandmoney.blogspot.com

  15. I am using the Google Adsense and for me it is the best,because I earn whit this a pack money.

  16. Good information, Darren. I use most of those myself but you’ve given me some new ones to consider.

  17. It must be useful to me if i have a job on net less stress. I really want to have extra income for my family.

  18. Thank you Darren for this information. I will surely rely on Adsense as my starting grid and hopefully my growing blog will qualify for the other sources of income you have specified.

    I have also linked you through my post here:
    blogpayouts.blogspot.com

    Thanks again!

  19. All of these are PPC, actually there are many ways for making money blogging like Pay per Post or Snorty but still i found a very good information here, like Chitika ads sense, i might giviing a try on that one so thanks

  20. Those are cool program which a beginner need to join besides adsense….thanks darren

  21. Rix Dezine says: 09/28/2008 at 7:46 am

    Today I posted my first blog and was inspired not only by your book but from the money you can make. Thanx

  22. Well, it depends on the person. Blogging is not always for money. But it keeps the ball rolling. At least, we hope that we can cover the hosting cost and the ISP fee from blogging. Otherwise, the cost would have to be covered with other offline earnings.

  23. It’s a good idea to higher writers to write on blogs. I think you can earn more using this technique. 5 persons can always write more than 1 person.

  24. straight to the point article darren, thanks again for the valuable info :)

  25. I wonder if I can do it on wordpress.com blog or do I have to move to wordpress.org? can any one give me ideas?

  26. Dimitri, I’ve run a wordrpess.com blog called fracas for two years, and I can tell you that wordpress.com does not allow you to monetize your blog. As such, I’ve been working on a self-hosted blog called fraccers (which my name links to) where I am free to do as I please.

    If you want to know more, stop by fraccers or fracas.wordpress.com and leave me a comment. I’ll direct you to more information about wordpress.com if you should need it; I’ve written about it a few times and would be happy to help you out.

  27. I never have earned from any of this, frankly. (oh yes, except Adsense). Thanks darren for sharing!

  28. Wow! I never know there was many more opportunities than adsense! thank you my friend! :}

    I as well am starting blog with my own friends at http://woorkathome.blogspot.com/

  29. Nice insight…on top of being penalized by Google for TLA, I have also found their support to be terrible. I don’t like to use Adsense very often, but I do like Amazon.

  30. This is one topic…which can never satisfy anyone..as no one will be ever happy with their own…advertisement program. because everyone need more…!!! :D

    though right now im using bidvertiser..and once my blog will reach 10000 hits i wil move to some big shot …advertisemnt company..!!! :)

  31. Hey Darren, that was an absolutely PHENOMENAL post. I really can’t tell you how many times I’ve actually read this post over time. I keep checking back just to see if there’s any changes.

    Anyway I just simply wanted to say thanks. You provide a lot of amazing content here.

    Kenney

  32. i’ve follow making money program above,but i have difficulty reach at the first search engine.I need your help and support,thanks

  33. This helped me out darren, you rock again…And i am into this things…

  34. I know you get this a lot Darren, but excellent post man. Very to the point and helpful.

  35. A very nice site to learn I’m new to all this looking around other site mine is so poor think I need to learn more

  36. You are very master and many experience getting money online…..so you don’t need spending money to promote your blog/web for getting much money….very nice posting,thanks

  37. Can you have google ads and affiliate links on the same site?

  38. I use Adsense for my site, because it seems to be the easy to use. It is true that Google takes a big part of the pie. Is there any other ads system that pays more than Google?

  39. I’m just a begginer, but i’m gonna try to use all those programs you use.

    My goal is gonna be to make just 10% of what you make! LOL

    Regards…

  40. I too am just wrapping my head around many of the tools. I feel like the market is too saturated to get into it, but I think finding that solution that at least can ease some financial burden would be fantastic. even a 4 figure extra income would be nice. haha

  41. Great blog, fantastic information. I came across this blog while looking at books in Waterstones – UK.

    What I’ve learnt so far from your valuable information, I’ll be attempting to improve the earning power of my blog: http://www.capitalrobert.blogspot.com

  42. Social Networks and Social Cause. More and more we are seeing huge swings with respect to human voice. A Social Network (such as the one we have for College Football Fans) is a great example whereby the people can stand up to the Corporate World and voice a vote for change.

    Twenty two months ago Hillary was eyeing how to beat McCain to be the first Woman President in the USA. Ahh, she failed to see the power of the leveraged internet and voice of the people is no longer just the TV although still strong. The internet is where everything is transacting today. President Elect Obama figured it out and leveraged this throughout his campaign of twenty plus months.

    Today the College Football Season crowns a champions decided by the BCS Committee. What a farse. No playoff for all those MILLIONS at stake? We say FOUL. We say let’s vote via a Social Network we established this year. Click on our link and see for yourself the power of what we are doing with a Social Network design.

  43. Thanks for sharing this article! I checked the job board out and found some posts relevant to my line of work. I’m bookmarking it and I’ll be visiting it often in the future.

  44. Hi Darren,

    Thanks for providing great source on make money blogging. I am not familiar with many of the options you provided but I had an experience with ‘Chitika’. I know that it allows publishers whose websites have a good range of search engine traffic only. Can you suggest any other alternative in such cases??

  45. Definitely the Long of Long Tail blogging. Nicely done.

  46. I just making little money from google ads…. triple up in two months by using tips from your blogs….thanks

  47. I am running the same ammount of chikita and adsense ads and adsense generates more than 200% of chitika.

    1:200, something strange because I have seen a lot of good reviews about chitika, but for me it is a space loss, hope some chikita generates more because I will have to delete their banners.

    Monthly Profit
    Google $500
    Chitika $22
    Widgetbucket $19

    All of those ads are in the same pages and have the same sizes of those from adsense.

  48. I will try all of the program to get money. But, my problem is my blog don’t have pagerank.

  49. Very nice work. I have been debating for some time to try something like this. At the present time I have bought a domain and messed around with it for a few mnths but did not recieve even a penny of revenue, in the past 2 months I have used godaddy for cash parking and OMG it cost 3.99 to park and I made a whole 1.99 things are not looking good for the home team. Well I shall post back later if anything changesthanks for the info again.

A Practical Podcast… to Help You Build a Better Blog

The ProBlogger Podcast

A Practical Podcast…

Close
Open