No one seems to mind that lawyers or architects are paid handsomely for their work, yet there are many people who expect bloggers to work for next to nothing (or nothing at all).
This is partly due to how easy it is to start blogging. It takes someone less than 10 minutes to get a blog online and for people to start sharing their ideas with others. What people forget is that there is a huge difference between blogging and blogging well.
Many website owners do not recognize this. For them, the priority is getting content for their websites at the lowest cost possible. A quick look at the latest job listings on the ProBlogger job board confirms this, with many job listings there offering only $10 for a 500 word article.
The cold reality is that many website owners out there do not place much value what bloggers do. Some of the top blogs on the internet would think nothing of spending tens of thousands of dollars on a website redesign, however they continue to pay their writers wages that a McDonald's burger flipper would reject.
Doing It for the Love and Not for the Money
I was reminded of this recently whilst reading WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg's announcement that he had purchased WPTavern and WebToolsCollection.
One of the first comments stated that it was great to see that the former owner of WP Tavern, Jeff Chandler, was back writing for the website. Jeff is a great guy who is popular amongst the WordPress community for reporting WordPress related news and generating interesting discussions.
Unfortunately, he never made the jump to becoming full time online. Even though he was running one of the most popular blogs on WordPress, Jeff continues to work at a grocery store every day, a position that he frequently tells readers how much he hates.
Jeff attempted to make money through WP Tavern on many occasions though never seemed to be able to make it work. The fact that Jeff was doing everything he could to monetize the site seems to have been lost on the commenter. The commenter, Rob, said:
Glad to see Jeff is back in action. Truly an authentic voice in the WordPress world, doing it for the love of WordPress and not just to make money like so many other “bloggers”.
The commenter may not have meant the above statement to suggest that focusing on money is selling out, however that is how it came across to me, and that is what many other people have suggested in the past.
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Blogging With Passion Helps Create More Valuable Content
I do agree that loving the subject you write about is key to your success. If you love the topic you are writing about, your passion will shine through in your writing. There are many bloggers out there who write every day because they love their subject matter. I respect that, however I also respect those who make money through blogging.
Perhaps a few readers of Basic Blog Tips are blogging because they simply love doing it, however I expect most of the people who are readers of this blog are looking for advice on how to make money and improve their writing skills.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with this. For many of us, it is not even a choice. Unless you come from a wealthy background, in order to devote yourself to your passion (be that writing, painting, acting or athletics etc), you need to make money from it. You do not have a choice. Families are not supported by good intentions. How understanding do you think your bank would be if you told them you couldn't pay your mortgage because you are too busy following your dream?
For most of us, devoting ourselves to blogging means that we need to make money from it. It doesn't mean that we do not love the subject we are writing about. We are simply doing what most other people can only dream of and getting paid to do something we love. Writers aren't giving their books away for free, screenwriters aren't writing screenplays for million dollar movie productions for nothing, and newspaper editors don't work all day long for the love of their art. They all get paid, as should bloggers. The bottom line is: Doing what you love does not mean you should not be paid appropriately for it.
Do Not Devalue Yourself
I am sure you all agree with me on this issue though it is something I feel strongly about. It is also something which I think it worth reminding ourselves of time and time again. Making money through blogging is not selling out.
- Placing banners on your blog is not selling out.
- Earning a commission through referrals is not selling out.
- Making money through blogging does not mean you do not love your subject matter.
Your readers have the right to disagree with you placing banners on your blog, however, ultimately it is your decision and more importantly it's your right to do so. You are giving away content for free and the world will judge you based on what you write, not whether you have advertisements on your blog.
Therefore, do not worry too much about how others view you. We cannot control how others value us. If a client thinks one of your articles is worth $25 instead of $100, you will find it difficult to change their mind. What you can control is how you value your blog and yourself. By agreeing to work for an amount that you are not happy with, you are selling yourself short.
It is important to not place your goal of earning money above everything else. Your reputation takes time to build up but can be lost in just a few minutes. Therefore, you should not take your readers for granted and recommend products or services purely on the basis of earning a commission. If something is great, say it is great, if something sucks, say it sucks. In the long term, you will gain much more by having integrity and being honest and transparent about everything you do.
What You Do is Important
In order to understand your own worth, you need to understand how important your work is to others. With blog owners focused on keeping costs down, they sometimes forget the fact that quality content can be the difference between a good blog and a bad one. The articles you write for clients are vital to their website's success.
Your articles help readers too. Someone, somewhere around the world, is reading one of your articles right now. You have helped them in some way, whether it be resolve a problem they had or simply entertain them for 10 minutes.
It is something we should always remember when dealing with others and responding to criticism. Do not forget that what you do online is important to others and never devalue yourself. By doing so, you are only cheating yourself.
Good luck,
Kevin
Blogging should always be about helping each other and helping your readers.
Do it for your fans always as the money is your motivation! 🙂
Blogging is about creating connections and I feel like videos do just that.
I just created my own first video and I feel I am going to be able to connect much more with my audience.
Thanks for the article Kevin!
Samuel from internetdreams.com
Great to hear Samuel. I started doing video blogging a few months ago. It’s a great way to connect to readers. I’m currently taking a break for videos because I have a bad Internet connection here. Looking forward to getting back into it.
Are you publishing the videos on your blog?
Nice to know you do video blogging too!
I just created my first video yesterday, but yes, I am planning to publish them on my blog.
Cool. I am far from an expert but I quickly realised the best way to improve is just to record more and gain more experience.
Same here,
I am only going to get better and that’s all that matters 🙂
Hey Kevin ,
Some bloggers have completely rolled out the idea to make money from their blogs, possibly because they make it big somewhere else. I don’t see anything wrong with trying to monetize ones blogging activities. However, I respect everyone’s position.
I don’t think I can ever get myself in writing for peanuts. Well, it’s a business for some to do rehashed articles for $1 per 500 words. No quality, no value.
Hi Enstine,
My hope is that blog owners will be forced to hire good writers because of the changes made by Google. They can no longer rank highly with recycled or spun content.
🙂
it’s true.You should do for love if you wanna do something well.
Such as writing a blog,you should write for your readers.
I don’t like spinner,I prefer original content,even it’s not so attractive to me.
now I need more life experience to rich my content source.
Kevin, great post. We should not feel guilty about having a few banners along the side of our blogs/websites. As long as we don’t have many that readers can find our posts 🙂 I have to be inspired to write a post – something I just learned or want to share with others to help them on their journeys online.
It is very difficult to write about something that you are NOT passionate about. It will show through to your readers too!
“Someone, somewhere around the world, is reading one of your articles right now. You have helped them in some way, whether it be resolve a problem they had or simply entertain them for 10 minutes.” – Very inspiring!
Glad you liked the post Lisa.
Like you, my best posts come when I inspired. I have went through the motions and written a post when I wasn’t in the right mood and the outcome was never as good.
Thats true writing and reading for knowledge and fun is better than doing it for money, it keeps you and your content fresh and healthy
Love what you do and it will be good to you in return) There has to be a balance everywhere and in everything. Right, like you said passion about what you do will bring you to the top bloggers level))
Yeah. Essentially, you do not have to make a choice between writing about what you love and making money. Aim for both.
There is lot of hot discussion going here.
Blogging: People who are just here to earn has made it hard for real bloggers to survive. The money earners emphasis on rephrased spinned content with good marketing and SEO techniques to make the blog rank better than the real bloggers who experiment and write.
For me Blogging should be considered a way to express your idea or experience in a way that can help people.
I think you have mis-interpreted what my article was about. You’re suggesting it is hard or bloggers to survive because some people are trying to make money?
Heh, Guys, I still thinking that blogging nowadays is even easier – there are a lot of information – write about everything you want any time and no censorship… but another beast comes – lazyness, its very attractive to look for a piece of information in Google. So everyone now is a Blogger (even to reviews I treat very carefully )
Agree with your views. Now most of the newbies have money as the first thing in their mind which brings them to blogging… and it does not take too much of time for them to finally quit. Even I remember questions from my fellow mates about how much I earn. :p
I wish they could know what a blogger actually learns from blogging..
I am getting the impression some of you did not actually read my post. I am not suggesting making money from a blog is bad, quite the opposite.
I know so many newbies that got into blogging thinking they can make money. They quit after a few weeks because they didn’t. I kept blogging because I like doing it AND I’m making some money (not a lot yet).
It takes motivation and patience and if you do these things, good things will come
That is the key thing to note. You love blogging but you are also making money from it. I currently blog more than 30 hours per week. I could not do that if I was maintaining other websites or working a full time job in an office. Making money through blogging allows me to make a living doing something I enjoy. 🙂
The number one thing that makes any new blog fail is when they visualize the profit first. There is a lot money in blogging but before going there? one should have the passion and love for his works and blog. without passion, your blog is not going anywhere. Thanks
I agree that you have almost no chance of making it big as a blogger if you’re just doing it for the money. You may be able to fake some articles for a while, but without heart you’ll burn out long before you’re making a significant income from your work. Consistency is huge and without passion, may not even be possible.
I agree that your blogging topic should be your passion. My blog is about exploring international culture in the US and it’s my passion, but I do lose hope when noticing that there may be no money attached to my craft. The best part of blogging for passion is that if you don’t make money with your blog, you’ll still find deep seated satisfaction with pursuing your passion.
I see no reason why you cannot make money through your blog. As long as you can develop a readership, you can monetise the site in some way.
We have to follow our passion, money automatically follows us right! At the starting, every one doing it for passion, but when they realized that their blog makes them money, they are killing their passion and doing it for money very blindly.
You are absolutely right; we must not make haste to come to our point for money making; first we must win the trust of readers and secondly we must portray money making as our secondary objective while our main aim is to help our readers; thirdly we have to make strategy that shows we are not selling our products or marketing others but actually we are solving the problem of our readers by recommending them the best products
You are right Kevin.. Primary objective of blogging is to share our thoughts and of course money will generate automatically once our blog gets famous!.
Hi Kevin – thanks for a very balanced article. We started blogging in 2008 purely out of interest and to present an alternative social commentary about politics in South Africa and abroad – making money was never the intention. Although the site is monetised now (somewhat!) the feeling of satisfaction we get when we get a personal contact from one of our readers commenting on the value of a particular article, or a request to quote the content in magazines etc, is second to none. The bottomline line is that appreciation of your effort often comes in non-financial terms for bloggers.
I agree. It is always good to see revenue increase however I still love the feeling I get after writing a long article and seeing people leave comments. 🙂
hi Kevin,
All fair points. Ages back when I was in School, I used to do blogging for fun. No financial pressure.
However in later years, I had two choices. Continue with blogging and earn money, or do something else for living and perhaps if I get time, blog on the side.
I chose to go on with blogging full time. So, making money online was a priority now.
I agree with you, unless you get paid yourself you can not contribute. The money has to come.
cheers!
I think a lot of people out there forget that. 4 hours writing an article for someone else’s blog is time you could be working for yourself and relaxing with friends and family. People need to value the time of good bloggers more.
@Wonkie – I agree – getting some recognition for your efforts is what it’s all about – and to me, it really doesn’t matter whether it’s financial-based or not. I blog because I love it and enjoy the interaction with other journalists in the industry.
You shared with us the most awesome tips Pal !
thumb up for this great post !
thanks for sharing
have a nice day ahead
😀
Mostly bloggers think that they do it just for making money they donot understand one basic thing that helping others is like helping , the more you help others the more you are helping yourselves in making your blog better.
Yes…but there’s only so many hours in the day…and people will always try and take advantage of those who try and offer help for free.
Hey Kevin,
You make a great point about not devaluing ourselves. We work hard at blogging and writing which is giving others knowledge and resources they may not otherwise get.
Using advertising and affiliate marketing to generate income is not selling out. For me it’s a way to help pay for my time, effort and costs of having a blog that helps others succeed so that I can continue to keep offering free information. I think it’s a fair exchange 🙂
Nice post.
Liz
Exactly. If we could not make money from blogging, most of us could not afford to spend hours researching topics and writing detailed articles. The alternative would be charging for content.
Very well written post by Kevin on the Value of your Blog and important thing is Initially Blogging doesnot pays but at the End of days it pays and many of them are doing Blogging and are earnings in Tons.
Regards
I do agree with your points, though I think for the love of blogging, it should also combine with financial benefits that the blogger can enjoy investing more time and effort in making higher quality content. Thanks for sharing your thought, I think they are really interesting.
Good post and good pointer and reminder what blogging should be all about. Blogging at least in the initial phases should be passion but later you can try to make money from it. But if you are doing it for the money then its not going to work out.
Real a good post.Thanks for sharing your thoughts…..:)
Amazing article Kevin. You don’t get many people speaking up for how touch it can be for a blogger. Having referral links or advertising definitely helps pay some of the bills, considering the potential for millions of people to be affected by a blog post.
In my last big blog (which I sold last year), referral links generated around 75% of the site’s income. I simply could not have devoted so much time to that site if I wasn’t earning something back. 🙂
Amazing stuff man! One should give proper respect and value to blogger in the community. I have seen many people going online proper, and quitting their real time jobs. However, I am agreed that there is a big difference between blogging and blogging well.
That is what many blog owners forget. You can find people out there who will write 1,000 word articles for $5 or $10; however the quality will be poor.
Hello Kevin,
Actually I am a copywriter for a couple of technical websites blogs. I am specialized on automotive topics. Being specialized in a technical area it is an advantage from the business point of view. Of course, not every blog owner wants to have a highly technical blog post, but the one who needs this kind of topic would definitely pay high because she/he would provide an exclusive information for her/his readers.
Yeah it depends on the blog in question though technical authors always get good rates within their niche. Sounds like you’re making good money 🙂
Yep, you definitely need to have the passion to create value content otherwise it’s hard to help readers with your content when you just want another post to be published. And when you’re doing something that’s you enjoy, you always find a way to improve it but nothing else.
Thanks – Ferb
This post restored my confidence as blogger; so far I was just wondering what to do next if I am offered peanuts for blogging for others; but now I came to know you can run your own blog simultaneously doing freelance blogging and when you establish you then just focus your own blog to earn dollars instead of peanuts
I think that’s the best strategy. Unless you have no job to support you, it is usually better to develop a blog of your own to help raise your profile. Then when you start freelance blogging you will be able to charge higher rates.
Hi Kevin,
This will seem off-topic . . . I just learned this term recently: TL;DR (too long; didn’t read). I also discovered that people do a search on an article for that term, hoping the author has given them the one sentence synopsis, so they can then jump to the comments and make a relevant statement! (Yes, I read it, but the value is so important, I wanted to add that TLDR acronym for the seekers!)
So for anyone skipping through, I’d tell them my favorite takeaway from your article is this:
I’m amazed at the backwards advice some writers give to bloggers and would-be writers that tells them they should be happy to get a few bucks just to “break into the field” or “get their names known.” Thank you for taking time to point out that the opposite is true for both bloggers and those who engage them to write.
Thanks for the comment Vernassa. I had never read about that before. I’d rather people who skipped my articles just didn’t leave a comment. Glad you liked the article 🙂
This is a wonderful piece of advice. The knowledge i have acquired in this article will help me in my blogging career although blogging seems difficult and challenging most of the time, but you have encouraged and show me the way to go.
Hello Kevin!
I’ve just check my blog’s value!
It’s about $10, ~ domain’s price 🙁 i’m try to incrase my value by post and seo! And i think you post is usefull for me!
thank you!
I love this line “Blogging With Passion Helps Create More Valuable Content”
Blogging can only be fun and interesting when it’s done with passion. It has helped me a lot. Also having passion and love for blogging has made me rate and value myself and that of my blog. This has been a major source of inspiration.
Nice article Kelvin
Great post Kevin and an important subject that needs to be talked about more. When it comes down to it, it’s whatever resonates with you when it comes to blogging. If you want to monetize your blog great, if not, that’s ok, everything is on you.
One thing I like what you said is that everyone has their own opinion. You will go nuts trying to please everyone. So stick to your guns, do what you like, and everything will be alright. No matter what people says, because in the end it’s all on you.
Blogging with passion not only will help you to have deep knowledge about your subject but you can also enough money to manage your blog easily.
Hey Kevin,
It’s been a while since I read a post that says “blogging is not about money, it’s about passion”. Lately, many blog posts have the titles which makes anyone excited to blog because of money. Blogging is far more beyond money, it’s about passion and dedication to inform everyone about something. Blogging is expressing what you feel, see or hear about something and sharing it all to the community. Yes, blogging may or may not give you a lot of money, but it’s a decent job to have. It’s decent because blogging is one way to circulate information among’s others. Being a blogger, I’m proud to say that I blog because I like to Blog. Money may be a side reward for it, but whether my blogs give me money or not, what’s important is I blog to give information and to help those who needs the information that I have.
It’s nice to find out the blog for a Google search about valuing blogs. Just loved the content flow and how you have been giving the voice through this post. Always loves reading this blog and something I highly encourage all our FernandoMedia fans on twitter.
Thanks for the great work and will be reading some more good articles today during the lunch time at work.
Actually it does not matter what other thinks , Mostly bloggers will continue to do what they want and it does not matter for them what other thinks business is a business , Many of the bloggers do it just for money but it only happens when you love blogging so i say do it for love and also earn money.
Good stuff! Most definitely agree with you on the first, its amazing how many bloggers put making money and getting rich overnight as their priority when starting off – how can one expect to be successful in blogging when they’re starting off on the wrong foot? Yes, there’s money to be made through blogs, however it’s not as easy as many think it is, neither is it a quick-fire way of earning.
There is something else that you eluded to that I’d like to reiterate – there is nothing worse than someone bragging about how thorough their “program” or “membership site” is and they have absolutely no credentials to back up their claims. It’s like someone told them that they can make money from a membership site so they create one hoping that WE will join and provide all the valuable information. Most of the time these people don’t have a clue what they are talking about they just purchased a product they saw someone else promoting ….