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| No | 83% | 934 votes | Total: 1128 votes | |
| Yes | 17% | 194 votes |
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Add to FavoritesLet's get one thing straight: blogging for money equals a day job. Why would you change your current day job for another? Because it gives you more. More satisfaction, motivation, encouragement. It ignites your passion and it allows you to maintain a certain quality of life.
If you quit your day job and you march home with your cardboard box with all your personals, thinking 'I will create a blog and I will write my heart and brain out. I will devote eight solid hours to my craft, I will set up my google adsense, my adbrite. I will do everything by the book', truth is, you will be disappointed.
Keeping a good and profitable blog requires so much more than just writing and I will name a few extra-writing tasks that might prove that leaving the day job before the right time might be a road to catastrophe.
1. Writing for the web requires research. Long gone are the days when you slipped out a rant from the depths of your troubled soul, when you made affirmations that were non supported, when you got away quoting someone inaccurately, or linking doubtful sources. Blogging or writing for the web today is almost the same as writing for a printed media. Especially if you're writing for money. Credibility is of the utmost importance.
2. Dealing with IT issues: This alone will take much of your time. You need to know how to set up your ads, which ad companies will be best for you and won't discourage your readers. How to maximize the use of your statistics, such as google analytics or your hit and visitor counter.
What other tools do you need, do you need a host? an online photo or file storage application? Does it cost? What about spams? Do you need a paypal account?
3. Marketing your blog. Whoa! Do you know that apart from writing, you need to visit and read and bookmark and comment and link and trackback and tag all over the place (in your niche of course) to get your blog noticed? Blogs need branding as well. You do know who Dooce is don't you? She blogged for a couple of years before she was able to say she supports her family with her writing.
4. Write, revise, rewrite, publish. Long gone are the days when you wrote and published only to visit your own blog and find horrible typos and spelling mistakes? One article will take time, and if you calculate how much money you made from adsense during the first three months, let's say .35 cents vs. the time you spent polishing that article, it's not a very good business to begin with.
5. Public Relations. This is related to Marketing your blog, but I put it separately because of its growing importance in the medium. Events such as BlogHer, South by southwest and other blogging summits, are important to build your brand. It might come later in the game, but just check out the prices to attend one of those conferences. They are not free for a reason.
These are the main areas that you will need to consider while trying to build a blog and eventually switch from your day job to your other day job: blogging for a living, so why not do this a little at a time?
Everybody has some downtime at the cubicle, you can do all this in small bouts of time, without risking your financial stability or facing disappointment.
Learn more about this author, Luisa Fernanda.
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Yes
Yes, if you love what you are doing passionately and genuinely want to get on with it. There are many reasons why a writer should follow her/his dream and bog away.
1. The Internet presents a golden opportunity to express yourself in unprecedented ways without the editorial straitjacket of someone else's idea of what you should write or even how you should write it. You also have an instant global audience, especially one which is likely to be interested in your subject matter and specific expertise. An audience which is guaranteed to grow as they get used to your subject, bookmark your page and pass on your items to others.
2. There are thousands of ezines hungry for content which will help to give you valuable publicity in the early days when the money will be tight but there are also paying sites like Constant Content, Helium and Associated Content that can slowly build the income while you hone your craft and take advantage of every writing opportunity. Don't worry about the quality of that content at the beginning. It will certainly improve as you grow in experience and confidence. There are enough successful, expert writers around to inspire you.
3. For those more technology savvy, building your own website, which is then stuffed full of your articles and with paying Google Adsense to support them, is the best move because the more traffic you have coming to that website to click your adverts, the more money you're certainly going to make - and it will be all yours. You can even sell the articles individually once you have written a few and built up a catalogue.
4. Writing is an ideal way to share your knowledge, build your reputation and improve your writing skills all at the same time. By concentrating on your writing, you will increase your market, your revenue and your potential much quicker than trying to do it from the sidelines. It will take some hard work, but so does everything worthwhile in life.
5. There is nothing to beat the glow of satisfaction when you see that first stream of money coming in to reward that effort. Nothing at all!
Personal success
I feel highly qualified to write this article today because in late January I joined Helium with great expectations. But I laughed out loudly in some derision when I saw the first 2 cents earned by my articles 7 days later, especially as we deal in pounds in Britain, which are currently worth twice the dollars. I promised myself not to leave my day job in a hurry to get my cents. I worked out that, at this rate, I would hit the first $25 pay day some time in mid-2010! In February I made 80 cents, March it was $1.20 and April saw it rise gradually to $2.13, still low but a definite increase. I suddenly saw the potential and what was possible when I hit the end of May and $10 registered on my screen. I could not believe that 2 cents could turn into $10 so quickly. Excitement began to creep in, especially when Helium changed its site, and I took it more seriously and began to write more earnestly. I was also gradually working out what earned and what didn't. My own craft was improving.
This morning, at 3.30 am, I was mesmerised in front of my screen as the money slowly changed to $25.01, my FIRST eligible payment from Helium, and THREE YEARS early! Not only that, but it also registered $12 for the first week of June, more than I earned for the whole of May. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. It was an awesome moment mainly because of the sheer potential for what is possible at this rate. I had gone from earning two and a half cents per day in February to $1.46 cents per day in June. From $25 acorns I already see myself as the first British Helium millionaire writer. The cynics might scoff, but after the last three months, I believe anything is possible and have my own targets for the rest of the year. So watch this space closely!
The final thing you need to leave your day job to blog is obviously the self-belief, confidence and faith that you can do it and make it work. Believe me, you really will move mountains with such an attitude. You have to forget thoughts of mortgage or any negative financial burdens when you start because you need to think SUCCESS every step of the way to come out fighting. It will be a little hard at first in the early months, and you might even doubt your rash decision to leave your cosy nest, but, like me this morning, the moment of realisation that you are truly on your way will be simply magical!
Learn more about this author, Elaine Sihera.
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