Can I Really Make a Living by Blogging?

Blogging as an Occupation

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Getting a job as a professional blogger is much easier than starting at ground zero with your own blog. Those who get a job with an established company can earn a good living right off the bat.

How Much You Can Earn

As for running your own blog, a survey of 1,000 bloggers by Blogging. com in 2012 found that 17% are able to sustain their lifestyle or support their family with their blogs, while 81% never make even $100 from blogging. The other 2% spend less than 2 hours a day blogging but make more than $150K (Tim Ferriss types).

How much you could make would depend on several factors, including how often you blog, the quality of your content, how competitive your topic is, and how effective you are at building an audience and generating traffic. Plus a generous sprinkling of luck.

Dear Lifehacker, As a side project/experiment, I’ve started my own blog. The problem is, now that I … Read more Read more

A blog itself isn't really a business—it's more of a platform for other income streams. Your content alone won't likely make you money. Instead, you'll have to get advertisers, sell services like consulting or speaking, use affiliate marketing to get a percentage of sales from links people click on your blog, or maybe offer products like ebooks or premium content to actually generate income. ProBlogger has an excellent post about these different ways you can make money.

Success Won't Come Quickly or Easily

Don't let this discourage you, but just know it could take months, if not years, to start making a living with your blog. Heed this advice from blogger Amy Lynn Andrews and Angela of the Coupon Project: