Blogging For Money

Why even blog to earn money? Some might ask that question, wondering why on earth would anyone want to earn money from what was originally seen as a leisurely past time. That might be true back in the days when weblogs first came on the internet scene, but the blogging world has certainly moved on since then. Many bloggers do earn some income from their blogs, enough to sustain a living while at the same time pursuing what they enjoy the most: writing and maintaining their blogs. There are also those “purists” (mostly from the lifestyle genre which I personally find distasteful and disgusting) who believe that one should not be earning a single sen from their blogs, that it should remain free and away from any sort of advertising influence. You can usually identify these people, since most of them are actually opinionated enough to state their “stand” against internet marketing or any form of paid blogging on their blogs, to the extent that they are willing to shut down their blog when they are unable to pay for their domain name or hosting space.

I guess everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I find it really crass when these cesspool “purists” start to rant, rave and bitch about how they are the guardians of blogging morality and ethics, and how those who have ads on their blogs or do some form of paid blogging in one way or another are “selling their souls”, so to speak. Of course, if bloggers were to follow their way, it will not be long before everyone goes bankrupt or lose interest in blogging simply because the “hobby” does not pay for itself.

Ask yourself this question: what do you think funds authors such as JK Rowlings, Stephen King and Sidney Sheldon to commit themselves to writing and produce their best-seller works? Blogging is another form of “writing” and certainly I do not see how is it a “crime” to earn money from blogging to sustain your interest full-time. After all, there are bills to pay, mouths to feed and computers to repair.

However I should caution that earning money from blogging to sustain blogging should be differentiated from blogging solely to earn money. The latter will not keep you going for very long (believe me, I tried) but the former will renew your motivation to continue blogging about the things you love and you will no longer look back onto the days where you have no choice but to rely on free blog hosting services such as Blogger or Blogsome. So for those of you who are looking to earn money from your blogging, you should ask yourself whether you are blogging solely for money or whether you are looking to earn money from blogging in order to continue doing it.

If it is the latter, then good for you and do continue blogging. I will continue sharing my experiences in future posts, God willing.