5 Realities of Paid Blogging

I started blogging years ago, when blogging was not a word found in our dictionaries. I am a paid blogger, meaning advertisers pay me to post content on my website. It has taken me a very long time to build up my blogging readership as well as to learn effective means of promoting my work. I am often asked if it possible to make a full-time income as a paid blogger. I usually have to laugh at such notions, as some people believe that posting Google AdSense ads and having a "Hire Me" icon will result in a flood of paid blogging opportunities. Paid blogging is fun and a lot of work; mostly requiring a serious reality check before you will earn your first paycheck.

Initial Cost
It costs money to receive paid blogging opportunities. A free blogspot.com blog will not get as many lucrative offers. Your best bet is to purchase a domain name and web hosting plan. The cost of such a package is around $50 a year, depending on the companies you choose to deal with. A WordPress blog requires a WordPress theme. Many are available for free use, but more advanced and professional themes do cost money. A free WordPress theme is fine to start blogging and is customizable.

The initial cost of owning a blog for purpose of paid blogging may seem low. However, the point is that you will need to spend the money in order to have a desirable blog. It may take time to receive your first paid blog post opportunity; meanwhile the domain and hosting package you have will require an annual renewal.

Time Invested
A paid blog does not happen overnight. Many blog owners dedicate enormous amounts of time updating their websites, updating WordPress, fixing templates and blogging. There is no bigger turn off to advertisers than a stale blog with infrequent updates. Blogging daily eats up time but requires unique ideas and witty writing. Readers do not want to know about your lunch or mood swings. Creating original and interesting blog posts takes more than a couple of minutes a day.

A friend of mine used to spend several hours a day blogging and promoting his website. My friend blogged for a year on his website without seeing a dime in return. Are you willing to make the same sacrifice?

Building Traffic
A successful and appealing blog needs readers. Advertisers want to see a steady flow of traffic; preferably, the numbers of unique monthly visitors keep climbing each month. There are millions of blogs and websites online. How is your website different? Can regular web users locate your blog anywhere on the first search result page of Google?

Google ranks blogs by a secretive algorithm. Google Page Ranks are important to advertisers but require frequent monitoring by blog owners. A slap by Google means having a lowered rank, which automatically turns a paid advertiser away. Website promotion plays a role in higher Google ranks. Effective and not spam-like promotion through link building and SEO will help. As you see, promotion requires time and dedication as well. Do you have what it takes to become a successful paid blogger and marketer?

Advertising and Readers
Advertising and blogging are inseparable. Many bloggers place Google AdSense or Yahoo banners and text links on their websites. Readers most often dislike seeing a blog littered with AdSense. Google AdSense has a minimum payout of $100. The reality is that most bloggers will never see their first check. Meanwhile, they risk alienating and turning away readers with intrusive blog advertisements.

Quality vs. Paid Blog Posts
My readers often ask me about regular vs. paid blog post ratios. Is there a perfect balance to unpaid vs paid blog posts? I would say a ratio of 10:1 is a quality blog. Having one paid post among 10 unique posts will tell the readers that it is safe to come back. You will not force paid blogging upon them but you are willing to take a pay cut. Such ratio may not be ideal to those trying to make money quickly.

Writing 10 unique and unpaid blog posts takes time. Publishing one unpaid post per day and combining three paid posts a month will make you around $30 a month. The amount is an estimate, based on my SocialSpark's paid opportunities. Then again, the reality of blogging is that you may not see three paid blogging opportunities a month. Opportunities come and go; paid blogging is not a constant or reliable source of income. In that case, you will end up blogging free of charge yet again.

Should you blog for money? I would certainly recommend that you pursue this unique and evolving opportunity. However, be realistic and do not expect to make a full-time income with paid blogging. It is possible, but such bloggers maintain multiple websites and sacrifice daily to meet the needs of their advertisers. Paid blogging is fun and is a way to earn extra money, but it takes year and a massive amount of revolving traffic before it seen as a dependable source of income.

Source:
Personal Experience