Future Prospects of Making Money Online From Blogs

There is much talk in the Internet about blogs being a cool and easy way to make money. So many are dreaming about making a living through blogging while others like me think of doing it as an extra income stream. But what is the future prospects of making money online from blogs?

Out of curiosity I went to check out Paula's List of Blogger Salaries which Problogger linked to a few weeks back. It was a random sample of bloggers who are making money from blogs with their reported incomes. Apart from the tempting figures, I learnt some interesting things from that post.
 

• According to PQ Media the blog advertisement marketplace (through which bloggers make money) was estimated to be $36.2 million in 2006, and expected to grow to $300.4 million in 2010. This means there is no room for more than a dozen six figure bloggers and a few hundred five figure bloggers. This explains why there are only a few full time bloggers.
• John Chow is dead right when he says in his ebook on making money online that, "99% of the blogs on the web cannot make more than $100 a month." The figures in that list and the number of full time bloggers (i.e. probloggers) proves this.
• Blogs can be a very useful tool for other online and offline businesses. Most of the top earner in Paula's list are not bloggers but online marketers who have a blog in their websites which they use to promote their main businesses.
  

So, despite so much talk about blogs making money and many bloggers reporting to make four, five and even six figure incomes, making a living through blogs is not very realistic even in the future.

But blogging can be a very good part time job. A good, hard working blogger can expect to earn a few hundred dollars a month by blogging.

Considering these facts we will have to expect blogging to continue to be a hobby, social space, and a part time revenue stream in the future too.

PS. I think in many ways we can connect today's making money online hype with the Gold Rush of 1849, which brought would-be miners from around the world to the prospecting fields of California. During the Gold Rush there were riches to be made but plenty of money was spent trying to acquire them. Interestingly in California the people who sold metal pans to the prospectors often ended up doing better than the prospectors themselves. In the same way in the blog gold rush a few will win by blogging, while others will win by providing blog services and technical assistance and blogging about how to blog to make money online.

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