Interesting. Thanks for verifying that. I was all worried that I had missed something important, and doomed myself by mentioning what I’ve made so far.

Actually after doing a little more research, I see the rules have changed. When I first started with Adsense in 2004 (I think?) we weren’t allowed to divulge our earnings. Now we are, but we can’t divulge our CTR or other stats.

I shpekenze good Englisss.

I checked out the Google Adsence Terms of Service, but I didn’t see anything about nondisclosure of income. The only nondisclosure clause I found was this one, and it doesn’t appear (to me) to include income:

9.1 You acknowledge and agree that Google (or Google’s licensors) own all legal right, title and interest in and to the Services, including any intellectual property rights which subsist in the Services (whether those rights happen to be registered or not, and wherever in the world those rights may exist). You further acknowledge that the Services may contain information which is designated confidential by Google and that you shall not disclose such information without Google’s prior written consent.

If your brain is not fried after trying to make sense of that, you are a better person than I am!

Anyway, I also have a feeling that it is illegal to tell contractors they cannot disclose their income. It is certainly illegal for employers to do so, at any rate (according to Nickel and Dimed, the chapter on Wal-Mart if I remember correctly).

You know it was a long time ago, but I’m pretty sure I signed a non-disclosure and agreed not to divulge.

Deb, why aren’t you at liberty to say? I hope I didn’t overlook some clause in the contract that said I couldn’t disclose my income (or lack thereof).

That isn’t to say it happened over night. It took years of playing around with Ad placement and working on ways to bring in traffic. If you take the time to really learn about blogging, you can earn a great deal of money.

In fact, I think I’ll get started on today’s discussion.

Not everyone is going to get a $132k check from Google. That is the exception. but $100, $250? There are thousands of people who get those kinds of checks now.

If you have traffic, you can make money from AdSense and other advertising networks, affiliate programs, etc.

*dies*

That’s all right since the web site’s not a blog and isn’t updated frequently. But if I used Bidvertise, I could’ve already withdrawn the 10 bucks. Wonder when I’d get to 100. LOL

I started doing Adsense six months ago or so, and so far my account is up to about $40. You’re not missing much.

Failed get-rich-quick schemes aside, though, did you try my advice for getting the Adsense ads to work?

Another tip — try putting the ads into the template, instead of the post itself. The ads on my blog are actually above the post, rather than being in the post itself.

Deb’s blog is one of my daily reads, too. In fact, since she started her community-building contest, I think I spend way more time on here than I should.

For me, blogging is a convenient mix of personal and business. I started keeping a journal when I was 10, but I stopped about two years ago. I started blogging shortly afterward, and my main blog has pretty much taken the place of journaling. What I like about it as opposed to journaling is that it keeps me a little more focused. When I know nobody is going to read it, I tend to write certain subjects to death.

Blogging also is great marketing for me. Because blogs are updated so frequently, they earn higher slots in search engine results, and can boost the main site, too. If you Google “Colorado freelance writer,” my blog is third on the list, and my homepage is right under it. That’s an improvement from six months ago, and a vast improvement from a year ago.

You are talking about “Local blogging” which is a very cool thing. We have the founder of the Cool Cleveland blog network speaking at BlogWorld about how he launched and built a successful local blogging outfit.

This is why I love blogs. Great conversations!

Thanks again to Deb for getting it started.

No, it’s not what you were talking about, but you made me realize that there have to be other Saint Paulites out there with blogs, and just collecting them in one place is a good thing to do. That way, we can read each other’s stuff, more or less like exchanging greetings on the sidewalk.

That’s my problem with the blog world, I guess. It seems so very disorganized that I’d like to make something a shade more sensible of it. The terrain of the internet is a lot more warped than the hills of Saint Paul, and finding that one blog that might make sense to me is much harder than I’d like. Do you care what color my neighbor paints her house? Well, I do! So one level of organization is geographical.

Ah, well. I do have work to do today, but I’ll get on this idea soon enough.

BTW, I’ll never be a “famous” blogger, but I do answer my e-mail!

You have said a couple of times now that you aren’t too impressed with the quality of blogs and yes just like millions of teenagers plinking away in their bedroom there are millions of bloggers who stink. But they are trying. Many will give up, many will keep practicing. Just like I am happy to teach my nephew some new licks on the guitar, I am happy to teach any blogger who wants to know how to do it better. Every “famous” blogger I have ever emailed to ask a question has replied.

We are all part of the same club of content creators and there are millions of fantastic blogs out there on just about every topic you can think of.

You mentioned you have written a book. We have two exhibitors at the show that can turn your blog entries into a book and print copies one at a time. Shared Book and Blurb. I had no idea they existed before we launched the show.

NOW you’re talkin’! To me, it’s about taking charge of our lives and getting it away from the publishers/media outlets that have run things their own way for a period of time.

I wrote a book, yes. I did it for my kids, and then I published it in part as a “Master’s Thesis”. It tells people that I can write. I have a blog for a similar reason, all in all. You want to see what I’m all about? Go look it up.

I use Author’s Den despite being a terrible, terrible blogging platform because it has my entire portfolio, or the parts I want up. I like how it is organized. The blog? Ug.

The problem I have is that while this allows me to take some control over my own life, my community life is not necessarily included. News and information about the rest of the wonderful people of Saint Paul is lost in the ether and very hard to find. Taking the appropriate control is not, to me, a personal matter. It is political.

Now, my blog will never be all that popular. I’ve written 200-400 word entries for people on real estate topics, and I find that rather vapid. I’d rather drone on as if I’m holding the floor for some period of time. I like to think I have something to say, so I just say it as I feel like saying it.

Is there a point to it? I like to think there is. About 400 visitors per entry seem to think so, which ain’t bad.

Will it ever make money? No, I really doubt I’m cut out for it. But having one tells people I have a few braincells that can be rubbed together to create some kind of spark. That’s something right there.

What I what from the ‘net that I do not have now is a sense of community that better overlaps the real community of people I run into. I have my fans around Saint Paul that I run into once in a while, and that’s great. It’s getting this whole thang together in a way that renders the question of who owns what paper in this town relatively moot that I care about.

I won’t ever be a rockstar, no doubt. But I can take some control over my Saturday night and not spend it being entertained by someone else’s stuff – unless I want to be. That’s a good goal to have. Making money at it? I’ve played gigs for nothing more than beer (on Tenor Sax) and that was great, so being able to do that as a blog writer is a good goal.

As for paying the bills? I’ll look elsewhere, unless someone has a better idea. I’m really not that impressed with the quality of blogs in general and if I’m gonna have to tell my stories a certain way to make it profitable I suddenly have to weigh this against more lucrative ways to go.

It comes down like my rants against book publishers – if I have to spend a lot of time learning their rules and proving myself worthy, I have a huge opportunity cost. Sorry, I have a mortgage to pay, and I’m not wealthy. But I can use my blog to make my other opportunities happen – on my own terms.

If you’re down with this kind of blogging to, I apologize for thinking you were promoting it as a profession. Thanks for all you do!

To answer your latest question there are tens of thousands of people who make at least a part time income from blogging. There are millions who get “some kind” of monetary compensation. Google made FOUR BILLION dollars last year on Adsense. Far more than they make via search.

But there is much more to this event than making money. Again relating my own personal experience. I was spending money on my blog before I ever made a dime, and I never made anything more than a few dollars. I was a “prosumer”

The best analogy I have found is the music industry. Maybe because I was an aspiring musician once. Think of the tens of millions of teenagers around the world who buy guitars and drums and want to be rockstars. Most never get outside of their bedroom or garage. Still a very large group, millions in fact play local clubs, partys, weddings, etc. Many of these people make a living doing this, some do it just for the fun of it. Tens if not hundreds of thousands break into a rare space of playing large venues and make good money. Then you have the smallest group of rockstars at the top of the heap who have it all fame, money, etc.

Most (certainly not all) have one thing in common they begin playing because they love the music and love the way it impacts them and the people around them. It empowers them and many believe they might just be able to change the world through music. Live Aid, Farm Aid, Band Aid etc.

We might not all become rockstars but just about anyone can buy a guitar and try.

Blogging is very similar in that regard. Until very recently people were for all intents and purposes unable to share their content with anyone beyond their closest circle of friends and associates.

You had to work for a newspaper, radio or TV station, magazine or land a book deal to publish or broad cast. There was no middle of the road for content creators.

Blogging and now video blogging and podcast have made the ability to publish and broadcast affordable to anyone who wants to.

You don’t have to be good, you don’t have to be rich. Just start practicing and creating.

Some people will make the big time, others will be middle of the road, and still more will be blogging for an audience of one or five. Thats fine.

We all want to use the same tools and techniques the pros use and learn from them.

Blog on!
Rick

Book suggestion: “How to Swim With the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive” by Harvey MacKay

That is great, and I do appreciate your ability to make that work. To be honest, I’ve avoided the online world for making money (other than to sell Amish made furniture) because there are so many sleazy people around. When I was a kid, I was taught a series of rules about swimming in the Bay when there were sharks around. The first rule is a simple one: Don’t swim with sharks. If you can make it work, Mazeltov!

I get about 200 hits a day on my own li’l blog, but I have no idea how to make money off of it. I suspect that I have nowhere near enough traffic to even consider it. Despite my background in SEO I haven’t bothered to do any of that, so I might be able to goose it up a bit. Even so, I would guess that you’re just one shade wrong when you say someone needs a unique perspective – mine is probably a bit too “out there” to ever be profitable. I managed to get some of my local fans out to help me at blogcave.com, so perhaps I could enlist some help to promote my bizarre ramblings.

It’s just that I read so many blogs that are pure dreck and I have to wonder about the future of this industry. There are about 4 that I read every day, including this one, and thousands that I just can’t see the point to. My favorite remains the guy who couldn’t make money at online porn so he decided to try blogging for bucks – a generation ago, he’d be hustling on the streets rather than the internet.