When every professional blogger starts a blog one of their first thoughts is generally, “Can you make money blogging?” The answer is yes, but the way to get there is probably longer than most people would like.

I spent the first year blogging asking myself that question over and over again, “Can you make money blogging?” and then other pertinent questions, such as “Can you make money blogging?” Oh, to run into me on the street is like finding the crazy blogger in life. I think all I needed was a tin cup as I evaluated the pro’s and con’s of blogging to myself in my own internal, and sometimes external dialogue.

So, now that we have this little “Can you make money blogging” conversation, should we discuss the options or are we good? Just kidding! Writing this early in the morning listening to Lady Gaga’s “Paparazzi” is making me loopy!

Can You Make Money Blogging Quizblog money

What I realized is that you need to take more quizzes to determine how you can be making money by blogging. I know, just what you want to do on this beautiful, rainy day. Take a test with the schmoozer! Fear not, we shall find out if your fears are warranted.

  1. Are you willing to spend at least 1 hour per day 3 times per week for one year (Or the rest of your life, whichever comes quicker) working on your blog?
  2. Can you come up with a list of 100 articles to write about for your chosen topic(roughly one year of content)?
  3. Do you have a plan?
  4. Are you willing to learn how to do this blogging thing?
  5. Are you interesting? Have someone who knows you answer this. If you do not feel comfortable asking anyone this question, you have your answer.
  6. Are you doing this for something greater than the American greenback (or euro, or peso)?
  7. What happens when you spend 6 months blogging and find out you only had 500 people visit your site? Will you re-focus or quit?
  8. Are you willing to spend 1 year, 2 years, 3 years without huge success to make your blog a long term financial success?
  9. Will you kill your first born for greater success. (OK that was a trick question, because I wanted to make sure that you did not answer everything yes without thinking.)
  10. Do you have a support system to encourage you to keep blogging?

How many questions did you answer yes to? Was it at least 6 yes’s? The fact is you have to be prepared for success with blogging. It is not a snap your finger and watch the money roll in type endeavor. Instead, there is a lot of trial and error to determine what works best for your blooming blog business.

Can You Make Money Blogging With These 5 Strategies?

  1. Sell your current services. One of the best things to do with blogging is to use it as an extension of your current services. I am a social networking schmoozer who helps businesses increase their revenue by using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and WordPress. Surprisingly, I blog all the time about those topics. It is not a crazy coincidence. Maybe a coincidence, but not a crazy coincidence.
  2. Use the second oldest profession. Advertising. It feels like ads have been around forever. They are not going away anytime soon either. Why not profit from them? A quick way to do so is through Google Ads, but as you grow you can also have people approach you looking to pay for ads on your site. Cool feeling indeed!
  3. Affiliate Marketing is another approach to look at. Ever make money for giving a recommendation? That is the principle behind affiliate marketing. Some of the links that I mention are affiliate products. To get started with affiliate marketing check out these sites: Peerfly, ShareASale, CJ, and ClickBank. Surprisingly enough, I am an affiliate with all of these products and get referral income from Peerfly and ShareASale for each successful affiliate I recommend.
  4. Network Marketing has been taking off over the past few years. As traditional business models have begun to fail, networking marketing has fit a niche which replaces people’s income with long term referral income. I recently joined Iwowwe(see extremely large banner on the right). One word of awareness is that be careful who you work with, because there are some companies that were real sharks.
  5. Sell Products/Services This is similar to number one, except I want to put a twist(ooh, maybe a little vodka in that twist). For all those who tell me they can not sell their product online, I now call thee out! Come out! Come out! Join us on the blogosphere. You can always create side products to increase your customer base and use it is a foundation for future deals with prospects. Write an e-book, hold paid online webinars, start a membership site. Whatever you do, create something easy based around what you are doing now that can sell online. It is a lot easier today with WordPress.

With this in mind, your fear firmly displaced, it is time to start your blog. After all, we did answer that age old question, “Can You Make Money Blogging?”