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The $14,436.45 that Got People Talking

Posted By Darren Rowse 21st of July 2005 ProBlogger Site News 0 Comments

Well after a couple of days away speaking on a conference (where I could only access the web via dial up for a few minutes per day) I’m back home to survey my blog’s status.

I always seem to time my going away for a few days (or longer) to those times when my blogs seem to be ‘hottest’ and this time was no exception.

ProBlogger.net has been something of a frenzy the past week with links in Aussie Newspapers, from prominent bloggers through to the infamous slashdotting.

The results of such attention have been quite amazing. There are many trackbacks to follow up – my inbox is full of requests from bloggers wanting links, consulting, advice etc (please don’t be offended if I take a while to reply and if I can’t help at this time) – readership here is way up on normal (peaking on Sunday at around 60 times the ‘normal’ levels and calming down today to 5 times normal) – hundreds of new readers have subscribed to my weekly newsletter (I’ll write it tomorrow hopefully).

It seems that everyone has something to say about my earning $14,436.45 from blogging. The opinions are just so varied and the conversation around it is actually quite rich. Whilst there have been a few unpleasant comments and emails in the main the response has been incredibly positive.

I thought I’d point you to some of the conversations and comments the past few days have:

• Scrivs writes Getting Rowse Money – ‘You must keep in perspective how long Darren has been doing this and how frequently. Could you honestly put in 12 hours a day, 6 days a week? I know I couldn’t. I would simply go insane. But think if you did?’

• 282 people ‘dug’ the story at digg with an array of comments ranging from wondering how I’ll spend it through to doubting it can be done.

• rianjs.net writes – ‘I must have read every ProBlogger.net article on making money blogging, and most of it’s pretty reasonable and doable, if you have the time to devote to actually writing.’…

• Escape Velocity makes some good comments about my ‘secrecy’ on which of my blogs make the most money (maybe I am being a little paranoid – not that there is really any real secret if you’re willing to dig into ProBlogger a bit.

• Warren Kinsella writes – ‘This guy says he makes ten big ones a month blogging. Not sure I believe it. There’s the faintest whiff of Ponzi scheme, here. Or is there?’

• Jermexpress writes – ‘It surprised me as I never believed that one can actually make a living from blogging. It’s one dude in a million but his success is proof that one can really have fun and live well if you put quality efforts into whatever you’re doing.’

• Retire Young and Wealthy writes – ‘…I don’t know if I could put that much effort into blogging. I would prefer to maintain a website, that you don’t have to keep adding entries to and doesn’t require too much maintenance.’ You’re not the only one – I’d love to have a passive income from a static site too – however the fact is that very few sites ever do achieve this. Search Engines like fresh content these days so sites that don’t update don’t tend to rank well over time. The idea of ‘easy money’ online isn’t one I subscribe to.

• Andrew says he’s not calling me an ‘outright liar’ but does write – ‘I am calling bullshit on guys like this (links to Problogger). I don’t buy it. Call me jealous, call me skeptic, call me whatever…but I am not going for it. When a company that has 75 some-odd targeted blogs, and a working staff, is happy to pull down $1,000 per day on Adsense, I am not ready to hop on the $15,000/month from three sites bandwagon just yet.’ Ok Andrew – let me spell it out again. I have 20 blogs. I earn the majority of my income of three of them but they all contribute to the overall figure. If you’d like to pop around and check out my cheque stubs from Google I’d be more than happy to show you. I’m getting a little over people not calling me a liar…

Other mentions included Site-9, My Money Blog, Blog Herald, Genuine Blog, Blogging Tom, WebKEW, GoldGrad, L’actu des Blogs, Poynter, Synastry and Sierralog (some of those might a little translation).

Thanks for the many words of encouragement and links (these are just some of the more recent ones to send traffic and trackbacks).

Now let’s get back to blogging…

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. […] Sounds incredulous but it’s very well true. Darren of ProBlogger.net just got his biggest monthly cheque from Google at the amount of $14,436.45 […]

  2. I wonder if those who are skeptical of you Darren, just doing that to raise their numbers in terms of page views.

    I mean come on now, anything is possible, obviously you work hard cos’ when I look at the bottom of your blog, it’s like 120+ pages of entries.

    Last time I checked, I thought blogging was about doing something big and really expressing yourself. All this negative talks makes me question some bloggers and why they are in it in the first place.

  3. Don’t forget SYNTAGMA’s review of your triumph, Darren ;)

  4. Congratulations Darren!

    Now that you’ve actually revealed the amount you earned, why don’t you post it at AdMoolah.com? I’m sure AdMoolah’s user would love to have that kind of inspiration!

  5. Points of Presence

    – IDG CEO quoted in Wired: “Every blogger is a rock band without a record contract.” (I guess I’m supposed to dislike that comparison, but strangely it agrees with me… because indeed I am looking for “a record contract”, to…

  6. That doens’t really surprises me, I know sites that earn 25.000$/month: only by adsense… And they target local vistors while problogger targets global vistors.

  7. If you want to earn more you should place the ads above the article not below it.

  8. Great Fortune For Fellow Blogger…

    You have got to check out this guys fortune. He has been able to turn several blogs into money makers using google adsense. His name is Darren, and his site is called Problogger.net and he gives out some really great advice. I have been trying to foll…

  9. People are so quick to judge.

    It’s only natural for you to want to keep your edge in the field Darren. Your much more transparent than most people, why I keep reading. I’d keep those blogs you make the most money on secret too. Its not hard to work out which they are. :) Like you’ve said earlier, it will only encourage more people(including me) to duplicate something similar.

    Kevinius, the impression I get with proBlogger is that its more about the content and building readership, brand and possible consultancy work than making money directly from this site because of the topic. That’d be my guess as to why he hasn’t put the ad above the fold cluttering things like some of his other blogs.

    There’s wisdom is his ways, different blogs require different marketing techniques. Its not like he’s strapped for cash and needs to whore this site either. :)

  10. I have to congratulate you. And also I have to thank you for being courages enough to tell us all about your earning. True enough, many has much to say about it … some good, some bad.

    To me, I think you are an inspiration. While others are on broadband, you are on dial-up, quietly blogging away 20 blogs at one go, making good living from it.

    With all the 20 blogs, yes, I believe your number. I build mini content sites, and about to start podcasting. Having gone through the experience, you win some, you lose some. And with the exposure that I see you are getting (even before this stir-up), I am speculating that maybe the 3 blogs are contributing to half or more from your total.

    Anyway, I like what you continue to share about blogging and earning income from it. Keep the posts and the newsletters coming. You got me hooked. I converted into a loyal reader.

  11. Well Andrew at least might get some extra clicks – i clicked to his site, but I won’t be going back.

  12. Thanks for the mention! I will definitely have to buy you lunch when I am in Melbourne next. Or, may you will be auctioning off your time on Ebay – Warren Buffet style.

  13. Well, I’m a long way from making five figures a month at this, but I made $1.07 yesterday. Considering the blog has only been up for three days, I am proud of that. I am encouraged and will continue to blog away.

  14. […] l blogs into money makers using google adsense. His name is Darren, and his site is called Problogger.net and he gives out some really gr […]

  15. Hi,

    How did this guy do it ?, it is all in his stats just look at all the refferals from google he gets, just look at his stats and look how he configs his pages for good positions in google. He has a unfair adavantage he is spamming google with product keywords. Just have a good look in his stat it is all there for you to work it out. I have noticed that since this big money announcement he is bragging about, people are catching on to what he is doing and his positions in google aren’t as good as normal. Any way I have tried to level the palying field and help a few sites out by telling them how he does it and to check his stats.

    Regards Dean

  16. Nice read, and congrats at the 14k. You made me feel special:

    “I know of quite a few other bloggers who earn well in excess of $10k per month. Whilst it’s not the norm by any means (and I’m realistic to my readers about this – most will never make that level of income)”

    100% correct, it is possible to earn insane amounts of money with blogging and all that stuff. GL with your website! Btw. I would like to know how many visitors you got, on all your blogs together – if possible, shoot me an eMail.

  17. Actually telling people about this has probably doubled the earnings from all of the publicity!

    ——————-
    http://www.id34.com

  18. I wish Pete. It barely changed things at all, even on the day it all went public and got picked up by some big sites.

  19. […] While reading problogger.net a few months ago, I read how Darren earned $14,436.45 in one month just by blogging. Not that I dreamed to earn that much but perhaps I can recoup my $175 a year domain/hosting expenses from years 1998 and thereafter. Domain registration and hosting were very expensive in the years 1998 -2001. I was aware that my daughter had 2 semi-abandoned domains with a few subdomains having a Google Page Rank 6 for many years now. She also recently acquired a new blog domain . I smelled a window of opportunity. So I asked her if she wanted her sites monetized by Google Adsense. […]

  20. This stuff is empowering.
    It has an amazing effect on me.
    :)

  21. I want 14,000 $ too! :D

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