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| No | 83% | 934 votes | Total: 1128 votes | |
| Yes | 17% | 194 votes |
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Add to FavoritesQuit your job to blog? Sounds like a ton of fun huh? I mean kick back, grab a cup of coffee and write about what you like. Write and write and write! No way! That kind of job just doesn't pay off. Sure it sounds great! I mean who wouldn't want to tell their boss off, lose the constricting business clothes and sit at home and play on the computer? But what happens when you start losing more money than you are making? Let's look shall we?
I have been through just about every money making scheme out there! I can't tell you how much money I have lost through those get rich scams. I don't even know! I can tell you it has been several hundreds of dollars if not close to a thousand. Some of it you can get back and some of it you just have to eat! If you decide to try one, make sure you get one that says 100% money back guarantee! You might not get it back if it doesn't work, but you can definitely take it to the BBB if they fight you and usually they will give you your money back if you threaten a little.
So how do paying blogs work? Easy! You get a website, tell all your friends and sit and talk all day about how Lucas Big Balls, left Sally Big Tears for Debbie Big Boobs on your favorite soap show. Mean while you get paid five dollars for every word you type! NOT! I mean I would be as rich as Oprah if that were the case! Here is how it really works!
You get a web page. Easy! There are lots of sites that will give you a free page. They are pretty easy to set up too. Then you decide what you want to blog about. OK, you probably have some good ideas. Now you will either get paid per click to your blog or you get paid per click on the advertisements. You can sign up for the ads to be placed on your site. Again free to sign up for.
Now here is the tricky part. When someone clicks on an ad you usually get paid between 1 and 3 cents. So how do you get a ton of people to come to your site and click on ads? You can't spend all day clicking them yourself because they can tell it's you! You have to go through an agency like "Google" to add you to their search engine. For everyone that clicks on your link, you pay the search engine agency. That's where you can start to lose money! You'll be paying the search engine agency more per click than you make! Even if 500 people visit your site, and 500 people click on those ads, lets say 1 cent per click, you're making 50 dollars. You'll actually go in the negative because most search engines charge 5 - 20 cents per click to your page. That's how it works!
I'm not saying people can't make a living off this. It has happened! I mean there is 17 year old girl who is now a millionaire just from clicks on ads that were hosted on her website. She had a great page geared towards teens and "MySpace". However for the average person it really doesn't work out that way. As the saying goes, "Don't quit your day job!"
Learn more about this author, Erin Botelho.
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Yes
Should you quit your day job to blog?
This is rather a complicated issue and the truth of the matter is it depends. It depends on your expectations, your plan, and how you are going to support yourself and any others in your care in the meantime. I am all for quiting your job to do what you love, but there are some realities that must be met first.
1) Why do you want to blog?
Do you want to blog because you see dollar signs and think that being a problogger is the coolest job title you have ever heard of aside from professional skateboarder or rollerblader? Well if that is that case then you should probably take a splash in the lake of reality. It is true that blogging can make money and good money at that. However, it is also true that it takes a lot of work to get from making nothing, to making enough to support yourself, pay the rent, and take care of any dependents.
If you want to blog because you love writing, have something to share with the world, and enjoy it then it might be something worth considering. You must approach the situation as someone who approaches starting a new business. It is true that the capital of this one is very little and can be done with nothing at all, it remains just as true that it is slow building both a blog and a business. If you go into it knowing it will take time to make money, then you can do it. It can be done, but it takes a lot of work, long hours (in the beginning), and perseverance.
2) How are you going to get from here to there?
It is good to have things planned out. It is okay if that plan has to adjust from time to time as you learn things. But it is best if you plan out what you are going to do. When are you going to blog? It is easy to get caught up in your at home duties, sleeping in now that you can, watching tv, or playing video games. You have to have a work plan to make sure you are getting things done. You need a where as well as the when. Plus you need a plan for your blogging. You need to know how you are planning on making money, when you can do certain things, and a wide variety of subtopics that you are putting under your topic to make it easier to write for your blog. Are you having one blog or ten or twenty. These are all good things to plan out. Plus you should plan out how much money you need to support yourself and or your family. This will let you have a goal to work toward.
3) How are you going to support yourself between now and then?
I am hoping the answer isn't live in your parents basement since I am not a big fan of living off of people, but whatever it is, you will need a plan of how you are going to support you and your family. It is ideal if at least one income is still coming in to the home or you have a significant savings you can live off of for awhile. It takes time before your blog will make more then a penny here or there and it is important that you have a way to pay the bills before you quit your job.
It is very important that you go through the answers of these questions before quitting your job. Being impulsive could hurt you and your family more then figuring out where you are and where you want to be. Blogging can be a great career choice, but it is one that you really have to have a plan to make a living off of it and you really have to be prepared for the work that it takes to get there.
Learn more about this author, Danelle Karth.
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