@VuthaSurf – It can be very hard to get people to click ads without changing your whole approach to emphasise them, which damages your long term readership … Adsense has a lot of downsides

@Sage – Great stuff, stick at it and produce valuable content then it will come, just don’t try to rush it

@The Internet – Yes the commitment level increases as your income needs go up

1. Those that just want to supplement their career income as much as possible with blogging as a “hobby” and;
2. Those that go all the way and fund their lifestyle from internet cash flow.

Both are very different and require a separate commitment, and I would suggest skill level.

You have a great site here. Thanks,

The Internet Cash Flow Guy

@Ajeet – Yes, after a year or so, but many people are not looking for something long term, they read earnings announcements and look forward to seeing it fall into their lap right away

@Jermayn – Darren I think you mean

@Balendu – Agreed, it is a business not a money-faucet

I would like to think that anyone who blogged about a topic of their passion for a year would start seeing some results in year two. Or am I deluding myself?

@Stropp – Yes he would do well to blog but he was looking for immediate income

@mooiness – It looks so easy, rephrase a popular “make money online” post or two, some paid reviews and bam! Unfortunately reality is not quite as appealing

@Jen – Aah, yeah I think you are right

@Jeff – Agreed, my in-laws are at a point where $1k would cover all their bills, and I am sure there are some who would make that amount work even better. Just getting to $1k a month though is a hard slog unless you have a budget for advertising.

@Michael – I think very often those who sell the dream have a vested interest in misleading people

@David – Non-blog sites are not obsolete

@Slade – Great comment and I agree wholeheartedly. My income is 100% dependent on blogging but it took me a long while to get to this point and I have to keep it up every day to maintain it.

@mark – The good thing about blogs is when they fail they rarely incur lots of debts and they don’t usually put employees out of their jobs

@Nathania – A year though is too long for a lot of folks who think they can quit their jobs right now and make it rich. They see income reports and say “I want some of that, looks easy money”. It’s anything but in actual fact but blogging is still seen as an easy path to *cough* “making money online”.

@Adnan – That is excellent performance for a few months. All credit where it is due, that is very good going. How many could repeat that? Few I would guess.

@Khalid – Yup, blogging is a fantastic networking and profile building tool, and that can build opportunities you never dreamed of. It’s about creating value and providing real solutions FIRST.

@Mark – Exactly, even when you do everything right it takes months to earn more than a few hundred dollars because it can take that long just to get indexed, generate traffic, build subscribers, find appropriate ad tactics and aff deals …

@m – Glad you liked it

@Brad V – Keep at it if you enjoy it, after a while you will be able to pay your hosting and maybe buy some toys, but put the reader first and you will be rewarded

@Sephyroth – Yes, and that is something I advise also. My specialty is indirect monetization but my advice is to work all three routes to protect your income and make it so you don’t have to work 18 hour days.

@derek – It’s the best approach, when your blogging income stabilises and you have several months pay in the bank then you can look to go full time. It is remarkable how motivating it is when you do leave your job – no safety net!

@Douglas – Yeah I have only one live blog right now that uses direct monetization (dslrblog) and it took around 8 months to beat $100/mo and that was when adsense was easier to earn at (seems to have slowed lately). On there I use a mix and am still tweaking but I could never live on the income. I use it to buy camera gear

Definitely not recommended!

I think I can finally cover my cable/modem bill each month but that is about it, lol.

The approach that I am taking is to keep the full-time job and work my tail off on the blogs. If I am able to build them up to a point where they can replace my income then I would leave the full-time job. While I’d love to take the plunge and devote all of my time to the blogs, I cannot do that with a family to support. That might mean I never make it but I will certainly never stop trying!

I agree as well – especially if you go the freelance route. While there are a few jobs that will give you a guaranteed income, a lot of what I have seen so far is arrangements where they pay you a percentage (generally 40%) of the advertising revenue your site generates. I know that in one person’s case (though I don’t know how much they were promoting themselves), over the course of 4 months, they made a grand total of $5.

I think that if you’re in blogging to make some cash – either primarily or on the side, you definitely need to diversify your revenue streams.

Maybe one day I’ll make some money off it. But until then, it’s definitely a money-losing venture for me (I gotta pay hosting bills, etc).