I realized that the reason blogs have been successful is because bloggers blog for pleasure and if that was not the case the content on the blogs would not be compelling as it is right now.

In the end if blogging is done for pleasure everyone wins the blogger and the readers.

With the pie chart I still think bloggers are far from making money just by affiliate programs and advertising. It would be smarter to get a business license and sell the products that you are talking about. Video games for example…

And I think I don’t take it too seriously either. Practicing my English and my writing skills, thinking out loud. Pure pleasure.

I would say I do a bit of both. I have a wee map of where I’m going. I would say it’s more about social networking though. I had an old boss who said that about 80% of our time at work is spent on socializing (or maybe it was higher. It seemed like a huge amount!) It’s not that we aren’t productive, but we are social creatures.

Blogging with helpful blogs that actually help people first is way more enjoyable for me. I love blogging on my hiking blog because I love hiking.

I still enjoy blogging for my websites as long as people are getting a lot of value out of the posts. My promotions are almost entirely simple recommendations and reviews of my actual results with a product.

Websites are viewed more for making money.

However, I think blogging for profit is gaining steam. I for one started with websites, but am now focusing on blogging. After all, people who already love blogging probably would like to make money doing it if the knew how.

I’d be interested to see this same poll results in a couple of years. I think the results would be very different.

Very though provoking.

It’s nice to see the ‘make money online’ is not so important. From the way things are discussed around the blogosphere it sometimes seems this is the whole of the blogosphere. A nice reality check.

I’m an all-of-the-above kind of gal. I started blogging in 1997, back when “blogging” wasn’t officially invented yet. It gave me the opportunity to keep in touch with other parents whose children were dealing with the same medical condition as my son. Since then, I have blogged to promote my business, my employer, to make money, etc. It’s a great way to stay in touch with those I know and to become acquainted with those I don’t.

–Melissa

My take is that if you are using a blog to “promote your business” I feel blogging seems more like a larger piece of a business strategy, or 5 pieces of a 50 piece puzzle.

When I hear “to make money from my blog” it seems more like the person feels their blog is one of the main, if not the main piece of a very small puzzle.

The more I learn about blogging, business, and entrepreneurship the more I buy into the perception that if blogging “for pleasure” does not fit somewhere, it’s going to make writing/blogging tough.

Most people feel a general vibe from writers, whether it’s a blog or not. If the writer is not enjoying it, I think many people can tell, besides you’ve just made a piece of your life miserable.

Although I must admit I like reading the occational snarky rant myself.

Enjoying reading everyone’s opinions. Great post as usual Chris.

Vicky H

You get better at writing by writing. And the more I write the more I develop my writing voice.

So making money from my blog(s) is always something in the back of my mind. But I don’t think making it the priority will make it happen. I think Marc and Angel’s comment says it right….you put hard work and attention to something and hopefully money will come from it.