The Un-Sexy Truth About Making Money Blogging

October 9, 2010 - Last Modified: April 1, 2014 by Hesham Zebida 4,385

I am guilty! I admit it.. I never hold records of my blog earnings, so.. I am lost in the making money system! This is really bad because I don’t know how much I am earning from my online business, I have no idea what’s the average of my blogging profits, and it’s extremely dangerous because I never knew how much I spent on my business, I didn’t know the truth about making money online, I hope you are not doing the same mistake! You really don’t want to have a bad experience at the end!

Before you continue reading, This post has loads of my aff links! (Just want you to know!)

Most bloggers think they can blog and earn lots of money!

Well.. it isn’t going to work this way!

And.. Yes! I know.. we all wants to key making money from blogging, but you need to know the ugly face of making money online, which is spending money (first!) Then work hard to to make money! Then.. Work more harder to make more money!

It’s Time to Take Business Seriously

This is not just talking, it’s what I’ve started already to do, and I think you also should start recording your expenses and earnings reports.

One thing I remember from the accounting classes in college was “expenses and earnings”, expenses always comes before earnings, this is why I suggest you start with writing down all expenses first, at least you will not be disappointed at the end of the process if you discovered a high expenses rates compared with blogging earnings. Check out this Blogging for money infographic:

To do this, I’ve created a folder on my laptop, I started to make my first draft of my income report or diary or what ever you like to call it, I use a simple Microsoft Excel spreadsheet to do it, I will fill the cells with my expenses and earnings, but I think one document will not be enough, so.. I will have to create more than one doc, each file will hold data about a particular way. I know this sounds crazy, more tasks and extra work, but in this online money making niche we really need to do a lot work!

Here some examples to help you planing your folders and documents:

Blogging Expenses

I will make it short, and summarize blog expenses to only three points:

Web Hosting and Domain
Blogging Tools
Education

Web Hosting and Domain Name

I really don’t want to remember those hard days while deciding which web hosting service is more reliable to host my sites and blogs, and which hosting plan to go for, anyways when talking about web hosting, it makes sense to start small with BlueHost or HostGator shared hosting. then you can decide during the first year of blogging while shared hosting plan still fit your blog and business size.

I also suggest you buy domain name through GoDaddy, they have the best Domain Name management tools and interface ever. Click here to get a Go Daddy $7.49 Sale for .COM Domain Names!

Blogging Tools

This is a huge topic, there is tons of awesome blogging tools out there ready to serve your needs, you just need to know which tool is the best for you. basically stay a way from free stuff as much as you can, keep your blog premium by buying hot blogging tools, services and products that has support, these stuff like:

Premium Theme Design, take a look at some Thesis Skins!
Premium Wordpress Plugins, I use ScribeSEO and Ninja Affiliate
Keyword Winner SEO plugin for WordPress
Pro Stats and Tracking Tools, I use CrazyEgg and some other services
Email list management service like Aweber, I also use popup domination

I have a list of stuff I am using on my blogs in case you decide to do some blog shopping.

Education

First of all, I know you can be a successful blogger by learning alone, but it could take you years to understand what it takes to be successful, and this is big waste of your time, Education and being part of active communities like ProBlogger.com and ThirdTribeMarketing.com is very important for every blogger wants to reach the top.

One of my jobs was to build, develop and manage online communities, this explains the high average of guest posts on FamousBloggers, and why it became a favorite place for guest posting. I am trying to remind myself with some useful personal experiences and things I’ve studied that helped me a lot with blogging , it could be something like:

Photo Semiology, it helped me to pick images for articles publishing
Media Staff Training Program
Electronic Journalism training
Professional Web Site Design course
Basics of PHP coding
SQL Data Base
And several business classes at College.

You can see from the list above there is nothing about blogging itself, I didn’t really need to study the how to blog, or how to start a business, but I still need to learn a lot about making money online which is a huge topic!

So, here is a list of recommended Blogging Education

In this list, you will find the best blogging courses, SEO resources, Social Media, e-books, workbooks, online money making guides and memberships

Income Blogging Guide Membership – Andrew Rondeau & Joel Williams
31 Days to Build a Better Blog – Darren Rowse
Guest Posting Workbook – Chris Garrett
SEO Copywriting ebook – Glenn Murray
3 Day Money – David Risley
Amazonian Profit Plan – Paula and Wanda
Twitter Dummy Guide – John Paul
Facebook Ads Guide – Jonathan Volk

Blogging Earnings

I think everything under the “blogging umbrella” should be considered blogging earnings, E.G. I’ve got a freelancing job through my blog, this is a blogging income because if I don’t own a blog I wouldn’t get such opportunity. some people will think different about this, but this is my personal opinion. Also read Kristi’s post on BlogEngage to learn more about the truth of making money online! (great resource)

Although, you will face the problem of categories your earnings from different blogs or websites associated to the same service, E.G. If you have one publisher account at an advertising network or an affiliate network, and you run ads or place banners on several blogs, you will need an easy way to track those ads or sales individually in some cases, this will help you to study the performance of your blogs or sites to be sure of what’s working for you better and makes you more money.

Here is how I setup my earnings reports:

Paid reviews and Advertising
Products and Services Affiliates
Sell Own Products

Paid Reviews and Advertising

I think most of bloggers started their blogging life with paid reviews and placing advertisements like Google AdSense, some of my friends are satisfied with the results, but most bloggers are struggling and they always looking for better ways to increase their income. some times I ask myself, is paid reviews a great way of making money online? I used to do cheap reviews on my other blogs when I first started blogging, and earnings was great because it was a different time, and I was living in Egypt where the dollar equals 5.7 Egyptian Pounds, now things have changed, and also opportunities are limited by the market, so.. I do paid reviews only when it’s about a good product or service, it must be in-depth and honest review, and I should get the price I ask for.

Earnings from advertisements are cool, but still not enough to pay off my living expenses!

After a few months of blogging, I discovered low income, this is not really working for me, so I jumped to the next level immediately!

Products and Services Affiliates

This is the real beginning of making money from the internet, I’ve been lucky marketing some products and services and recommending them to my blog readers and friends. I’ve doubled my earnings in a few months, and now things are getting better and better each day, so .. honestly, affiliate marketing is getting my attention more often.

There are three main affiliate networks I am part of right now, I believe you know about ClickBank, ShareSale and E-Junky, these are affiliate networks that you can find 1000s of product to promote. So, be sure to join.

Sell Own Products

From a step to another, blogging, the marketing, and finally thinking of producing your own product and trying to sell it, this seems to be the best way to do things, I am talking here about the step by step process. Some people would jump in producing a product then trying to sell it, but they face a problem of how and where etc. One of the benefits of blogging is to build an active community to help you marketing your products and earning with you at the same time.

I have one product at the mean time, it’s related to Thesis Theme, I deliver Thesis Skins in a form of a membership site, if you are a Thesis Theme user and run several blogs, so maybe you can spice it up with one of the 4 Thesis Skins you can download for only $29.99 before 25 Oct 2010, this is an awesome offer and will never happen again. I’ve got so many feedbacks to change my strategy and pricing, and I am going to follow these great feedback.

Oh! I also have an affiliate program for Thesis Skins with 50% commission at the moment, you may signup to start making money together!

The real funny thing I would like to share with you is while developing the site, I’ve sold to a few memberships, that was really awesome!

Again plz, Why Holding Income Records is useful?

Note: The more details you are able to save in your files, the better results you will get out of it! Allow me to explain..

Comparing earnings from last months to see how your plan is going!
This will help on reporting your Tax income
Saving records of all your advertisers contacts in one document for fast reach.
The list can be really long.. you may add in the comments!

I hope this post help you to understand the process of making money online, and to find the truth, there must be expenses for any successful business, the online money making niche is like any other business, you must think of expenses and earnings to know your real profits.

P.S. Feel free to republish or use the “How Much you earn from your BLOG infographic” on your blog or site.

About Hesham Zebida

Follow @hishaman

I create websites with WordPress, and I develop Schema Plugins to help SEOs. I am a social network lover. I am also the night creature who works hard to keep this project up. Owner and founder of the Famous Blog.

{ 80 Responses }

Hector M says:

Great collection of resources. Highly relevant. Problogger of Mr. Rowse is perhaps the best resource for new bloggers to start off with and an example that having a specific blog is much better than having different blogs with low quality content.
Luqman Hakim says:

I just started my blog and didn't really count my expenses! I am currently paying for hosting, domain & autoresponder.
ben 10 says:

I suggest you start today! your list should pay itself!
AkashArora says:

Well Your article is really very Sexy ;) and useful too. Well I am a new blogger and I really enjoy reading the online truths about online money. Can you tell me only one thing - " Which is the best method of earning online money " Well I need only 1 answer. I know many peoples says ' Google Adsense' but I think Affliate marketing is best to earn lots of money however I don't have experience with both.
- Hesham Zebida says:
  
  My answer is create and sell you own product!
Pierro says:

Thanks for the blogroll and shoutout. You’re on my reading list as you provide great info and you blog regularly. Keep on bloggin’
Ashish says:

Great post! popular plugins deliver great performance. I've been using some plugins listed here and they're really of great use.
Farrell John says:

I also suggest outsourcing some of the tedious tasks especially the SEO part of your blog. It may cause you a bit more but it is really beneficial in the long run and it will save you lots of time to be spent elsewhere.
Eddie Gear says:

interesting insights Hesham, however I believe if you have the determination to succeed you will eventually make money online like me.
Amanda Gordon says:

Of all the make money online courses that I have spent (mostly wasted!), there is one truly amazing product and that is mentioned in your list. Amazonian Profit Plan is simply amazing. I like their simple approach and I love their checklist for choosing products for niches. I had never heard about 3 day money before. I will check it out - it does seem interesting.
Sameer says:

Starting off a blog purely with the intention of making money isn't the best way to approach it. The blog ends up being a showcase of what not to do SEO. It all comes back to the good ol' fashioned but time-tested option of publishing quality content.
Vijayraj Reddy says:

Keyword Winner and ScribeSEO are my fav wordpress plugin...
Fran Aslam From Onlinewriter says:

Hi Hesham: What a wonderful info graphic. I have seen a few info graphics but this one is amazing. Your blog post is awesome, I know you do not think it is a great post, it is because it is the expectation of a writer. All best writer do want to add more and more to the information they are providing because while writing the post their sense of giving is extremely high. I liked the post and then I loved the comments too. This is the only advantage to the last comment writer, as I got to read all communication about the post. Take care, thanks for serving the blogging community so well. fran A
Jon says:

Love the post. This is how I often feel. Like I am stumbling forwards, lacking direction. Today I was listening to the radio and the Bee Gees came on with Staying Alive. It seemed like the anthem for my 'net business. I am Staying Alive. So hard to organise. But maybe this is why it works?
azis says:

I never thought about this. Now it has changed my mind, I'll start writing list of the expense I realease. Thank you Hesham, it's simple but definitely will help me alot for the future of my earnings.
John says:

Wow that was a pretty impressive explanation of how you are going to turn around on the income and and expenses. You must be making a decent amount of money though blogging if you never had to pay attention to it.
TJ McDowell says:

Our blog is under the umbrella of our photography business. I haven't really made enough to get a payout yet with Adsense, so the income part for me right now is easy. The expenses part all fall under our photography business, and we keep track of reciepts and stuff for the business there, so that's not too tough either. I guess it will get a lot more complicated if the blog ever really takes off and I start having expenses specifically for the blog that are not studio related.
Alex Dumitru says:

This is a really comprehensive and helpful post :)
Chris says:

Awesome articles, and thanks for the warning on all the affiliate links lol. I agree that you need to keep track of your numbers. I used to own a forum and once I started properly tracking income, I was able to increase my income by figuring out where to put money and where to stop putting money. With my new blog, I still am loosing money hand over foot, but at the same time it is new. It is an extension of my SEO, Marketing and Web Design business so the income from that supplements all expenses. Thanks for showing some of the different sources of income. Does Clickbank actually make a decent income for bloggers?
Kristi says:

Thanks for including my post in this one, and nice infographic representation of the blogging revenue accounting!
Michael Aulia says:

Wow, superb post! I'm still having trouble in creating my own product to make more :) I guess that's why I'm working in a programming area and not in design (due to lack of creativity!)
Colleen says:

"This is not just talking, it’s what I’ve started already to do, and I think you also should start recording your expenses and earnings reports." Not only is this a good idea for seeing where you are making money, but also where you are losing money. That is to say, some money making ventures are a time suck with little return. Knowing where these are is good. Nice (and long) post Hesham. Curious,- where did you get that cool post image of the cartoon accounting dude? :)
Alex says:

Hy Hesham, You really wrote a loong post :P, but it's length was necessary to include all the information you had to share with us. All people starting to blog should now that this isn't all flowers and cute puppies, if you don't have a plan expect hardships and if you are not taking making money online with blogs serious, you will never make any money online. By the way, this point "This will help on reporting your Tax income" why would I do that :)), I am keeping my profits down low, but having a record of your expenses and incomes it's a must for a easy assessment on how your business worked and how could you improve it be spending less on some things or earning more from some sources. P.S. is this intended "...we all wants to key making money from blogging...", if not I suggest "...we all want the key for making..." :P
Andy says:

Nice little infographic in there dude. Broke up the text quite nicely, and really helped get your point accross.
Andreas says:

Before starting a new blog to earn money, researching the right niche to make profit is definitely an important step, just like the foundation of a house. If you build the house without foundation, it is most likely to fall down in windy weather.
Tinh says:

I have not taken blogging as business as I just think blogging is my part time job and in the near future, it can be my real business too :-)
Isabel Rodrigues - Pro Blogger Journey says:

This is a perfect example of a well written and detailed post. What I like most of the post Hesham you wrote it for your readers and not just with the motive of making extra money from affiliates. If as a blogger I have to make money online blogging, you have showcased an excellent lesson for all the new bloggers out there :)
Julius says:

Hey Buddy, nice post. I am also very much liked the graphic ;) I agree too few people keep track of their expenses and also of their income. One of the best ways to do it for me is to simply always move emails in an income/expense folder. That way at the end of the month you will know what kind of expenses and income you had.
icechen1 says:

True, but I would say the starting point of any serious blog is "Researching" your niche and your market before getting domain and hosting.
Matt Rhys-Davies says:

Hi Hesham, It's my first time stopping by here; but as someone who's just started entertaining the prospect of blogging for a revenue stream -this article is a goldmine! You've definitely hooked a new subscriber here. Cheers, Matt
Claudia says:

A great article for those who wanna monetize their blog. Regarding the Income Records, this may become a problem. For me is a problem because I`m addicted to the records and spend valuable time trying to complete it. Hope is only my problem :)
Richard says:

If you want to make money with a blog, it's best to start with the mindset that it is a business. However, if that's not your main focus, then just enjoy your blog as a hobby. I like the flow chart you have on income vs. expenses. It really breaks it down.
Slava says:

Hesham, I take it from your article that you don't spend any money on promotion?
Lennart Heleander says:

Hi Hesham, A very good and well written article of how important it is to have control over their income and expenses as a blogger. You must see it as a business and pay taxes and other expenses before you can count the profit.
sujith says:

Good article. Making money online through legal way is not an easy task. Once you are in a right track, then more doors will be opened in front of you to earn more.
Kimi says:

I don't earn money much from my blog lol. At first i didn't want to monetize, but then i can sell Thesis for a few sales, people hire me, so i am addicted to make money from my blog. I didn't believe that we actually can make money from blog either, but now i do. It is actually making me lazy somehow to interact with world outside. Just wait for my youngest daughter to go to Kindergarten, and if there is a job out there, i would prefer doing this job than blogging. Because i can then socialize with real people offline. Thanks for this nice post!
Patricia says:

Hi Hesahm I think you have covered it all well. I did a small biz management course that our govt offers and I would encourage anyone here in Oz to do something like it before starting up their business. The success rate for startup businesses doing these courses is about 85% for those that don't about 5% are still going after a year! So many people spend more than they earn. That may be okay when starting up a business but unless we get into profit then we won't have a business to speak of. Accountants are usually good with managing other people's money eh; maybe not their own lol Patricia Perth Australia
- Hesham says:
  
  Hi Patricia, this article is not perfect or anything, I just realized a HUGE missing part! This part is your own work! Time you spent working on your blog or website, this worth a lot of money if you calculate one year of working hours! I just realized that I spent almost $100.000 on my online business during the last year! this makes me one of those people who spend more than they earn! I really appreciate your advice Patricia, you are so right! and yes.. accountants are messing with their own money some times haha! We will met again soon in another blog post about this shocking fact! till that time.. enjoy your weekend!
Gera says:

Hi Hesham, Just lately I began to see blogs managed really as a business. Everybody says I earn something but how much you had and you’re investing. It is like that posts about “I increased 500% my traffic” but you don’t see any proof (Google Analytics or similar to check). Some bloggers should add to the equation more expenses in ghost writers, facebook ads or external ads, etc. Incredible your post and the infographic too. As part of my work is in business I can say that your post is really excellent and keep going with your good work. Cheers, Gera
- Hesham says:
  
  Great add Gera! Thank you for the reminder, I actually spent earning of several months on advertising FamousBloggers on some other blogs, also I can add sponsoring blogging contests to the list of expenses! Ah.. the fact that I am an accountant make me more guilty than anyone else haha Great weekend mate!
Devesh - Blokube.com says:

Hi Hesham, What an amazing post hesham. The infographic looks awesome. Great Job. To be honest, i started blogging just to make money online, i thought it would be very easy. I write some content and put some ads, but it's not like that. But now i found passion in this field. I think blogging is just much more then making money at least for me. Thanks for sharing this wonderful post Hesham. Keep Rocking.
- Hesham says:
  
  This is the story of my life :) Same exactly happen with me, don't be shy to say it.. we don't blog for fun, we blog to make profit ;)
Angel says:

Amazing article Hesham! One of the very few times that I added an RSS Feed to my reader, only from one article! You couldn't have said it better, we all hear numbers from bloggers and affiliates and thing it's easy to create wealth out of thin air with blogging. But as you beautifully explained in this post, that's not the case... Let's take hosting for example, $7/Month should do right? That's what I thought when I started and now have a dedicated server($210/m), server maintenance and security($100/m) and amazon S3($100/m). And that example can be applied to all other expenses. People think just because we run with checks here and there, that it's easy or that every penny we get, it's pure profit. Talk to you soon! Keep it up :)
- Hesham says:
  
  Hey Angel, Thank you for putting together an example, cool.. my article was missing this :)
  "run with checks here and there"
  It was amazing that some fellows was analyzing my blog and trying to figure out my profits by counting ads and looking into my traffic, but this is not the truth haha P.S. I recognize your avatar from SERPd, enjoy your weekend, and sure we will talk latter!
Jeevan Jacob John says:

Great Article You got there Hesham ! I don't make that much of a money. I have made some via Sponsored Tweets, via ads placed on my site. I think I will make more money if I am able to write better content (= better rankings and ratings). I think I can also make money via E-books. I haven't my first one yet. If it is a hit. You got me. I am going to sell my next one. But I think I will wait until I am able to switch to WordPress. Even if I don't have any experience, I think keeping records is a good idea - it will surely help you to evaluate yourself - to identify your strengths and weakness. Anyway, Great Article. Thanks for taking time writing it ;) Jeevan Jacob John
- Hesham says:
  
  I am sure you will do good Jeevan! All these are good ways, and the most important thing is to learn SEO for this great content, and start to build your email list! Good luck buddy!
  - Jeevan Jacob John says:
    
    Thanks for the tip, Hesham ! I will sure do check on SEO when I switch. Thanks !
    - Jeevan Jacob John says:
      
      Oh, Forgot. Advanced congrats on writing 200 posts. I know that you have only reached 199, but its advanced ! ;)
      - Hesham says:
        
        haha I was looking into this number right now and you surprised me with your comment! Many thanks :)
Suresh Khanal says:

A nice dissertation. Though online money making is not really 'get rich quick methods'. These are the real business shifted to online world. This has brought equal opportunity to everybody regardless to geographical existence and economic conditions. This equal opportunity has offered the relative benefit to the third wold countries like mine. * Small Investment Business : Blogging does not require heavy investment (monetary). A few hundreds dollars can buy everything required to run a blog comfortably. Even I go for hostgator hosting (shared one), godaddy domain name, premium theme and some paid plugins, it won't exceed the level of hundreds. *Huge return After a blog is set up and running well, when I could make $100 on a month, I was extremely happy. It covered the costs and now from next month the whole amount is profit! Google Adsense alone has started to return to return more than $200 - happy money and other earnings the text link advertisements are heavy addition to the sum. *Third World Benefit $400 is Rs 30,000 in my country and this is the salary of secretary of government (one of the top official). The market and lifestyle here is not that expensive and this money can easily help a small family to live happy and comfortable. So, though it is not easy, but it is not that hard to earn a few hundred dollars per month through internet and this money helps to reduce poverty! Everything has multidimenssion.
- Hesham says:
  
  I agree that personal blogs may not require heavy investment, but we your blog grows you will discover sooner or latter the opportunities you've missed because you didn't invested in your blogs! P.S. Just to give you a hint, to run this blog and my other online projects last year exceeded $91.500.00 (I am not kidding or over estimating) I understand what you mean when you said "salary of secretary of government", I understand the situation :) Thank you for the great explanation! I really appreciate it!
Mani Viswanathan says:

My expenses would increase once I start focusing more on building an Email base. Would switch to Aweber then.
- Hesham says:
  
  I suggest you start today! your list should pay itself!
Hunter says:

Great article, it really shows how difficult it is to make money blogging. thanks
- Hesham says:
  
  Actually making money from blogging is not easy, and this is a fact! I am trying to send the message to those who didn't get it! Thanks for stopping by Hunter

The Un-Sexy Truth About Making Money Blogging

It’s Time to Take Business Seriously