300,000 Visitors per Month to Make a Buck - Is the ProBlogging Dream Dead?

[Alvin]

I just did some quick numbers using my Adsense earnings and traffic...it seems that based on the averages, to be able to grow my blog to the US$3000/month I want, I need to increase traffic on my 2 year old blog to 300,000/month - that's a 1511% increase!

Am I being too unrealistic in wanting to make a living and a profit problogging? Is this venture no longer something worthwhile doing for both love and profit?

[Savage]

I get asked that question a lot, so a while back I wrote an article with my answer:
http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/200...-a-black-belt/

To sum up: Yes, it's totally unrealistic. If being unrealistic bothers you though, you should have given up when you were just a little spermie.

Seriously... a 1500% increase may seem terribly difficult, but those kinds of multiples are very achievable on the web, especially when you don't have a lot of traffic to begin with. I remember when I made $53 my first month from Adsense, I would say to Erin, "I only need a 20 times increase to pass $1000/month. That's not bad."

Of course you have a lot more competition to get established today. When I started blogging, there were less than 10 million blogs. Now there are more than 100 million. That's a lot of spermies looking for an egg.

[brooke]

It seems to me that when you reach a certain traffic level, your options open up as far as monetizing. If you look at the revenue sources of many of the probloggers, adsense is only a small part of the picture. I don't think you necessarily have to achieve the amount of traffic you are thinking to make that much more money, because as you grow, adsense will most likely not be your main source of revenue.
Just a thought.

[Addict]

One of my favorite quotes is from Tim Ferris's "The 4 Hour Work Week" (and I'm quoting off the top of my head here):

I slip undetected into Princeton with SAT scores 40% lower than the average incoming student and after being told by a guidance counselor that I should 'be more realistic.' I conclude that I'm just no good at reality.

I think setting big, even unrealistic goals is awesome as long as you're motivated by them. If you get discouraged easily when you don't complete goals, it might be a bad idea. And you shouldn't really set an unrealistic goal and depend on it working. I wouldn't quit my job and expect to become a full time blogger in two months. However, setting the latter as a goal could be interesting.

As far as your particular goal, I don't think you're that far away. From everything I've heard, it gets easier and easier to push traffic as you get bigger. Right now, I get about 20 visitors a day and getting additional traffic seems hard as hell. If you're only a 1511% increase away, you must already be making some amount of money and that has to be encouraging I'm sure.

As Steve has said, it definitely is now harder to make a good income from blogging because of increased competition. I see no reason however that it should be impossible.

[Alvin]

I do believe I just got my ass kicked by Steve Pavlina

I just re-read your post Steve - and being a martial artist myself I'll have to agree. Even after 8 years of practice I still feel like I'm a noob, although I can pull off the occasionally skillful move.

I'm just feeling impatient lately, I suppose. I want things to move fast for me - because I want to make enough to have the time to do the things I want, afford what I want and give my family a better life.

Well, those are my dreams and I intend to keep going at it. I suppose the answer is the ProBlogging dream isn't dead...but I'd better get a lot better at it!

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

I get asked that question a lot, so a while back I wrote an article with my answer:
http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/200...-a-black-belt/

To sum up: Yes, it's totally unrealistic. If being unrealistic bothers you though, you should have given up when you were just a little spermie.

Seriously... a 1500% increase may seem terribly difficult, but those kinds of multiples are very achievable on the web, especially when you don't have a lot of traffic to begin with. I remember when I made $53 my first month from Adsense, I would say to Erin, "I only need a 20 times increase to pass $1000/month. That's not bad."

Of course you have a lot more competition to get established today. When I started blogging, there were less than 10 million blogs. Now there are more than 100 million. That's a lot of spermies looking for an egg.

[webwhiting]

Hello Alvin,

It is going to take a lot of work but it is not impossible. As Steve said check out his articles on blogging and making an income and check out my blog sites listed in my signature below. I found some information yesterday that can help you on your way and I put it on several of my blog sites.

Stay encouraged.

Arlene Whiting
Infopreneur
P.O. Box 1972
Boothwyn, PA 19061
484-904-2035
apreneur-the-issueformation-corner
Infodocktor
Incomedocktor

[tejvan]

The first $100 is the hardest. It gets easier as you get established. Try having a few different blog so you don't run out of inspiration

[TheIronStar]

I'd have to disagree with the martial arts analogy.

The would-be martial artist would have serious trouble if he could not generate income to cover his costs during all the time that he is incapable of generating sufficient revenue (unable to draw spectators, unable to fight at the relevant level, etc.). And training is costly; even if it's offered at minimal monetary cost, opportunity costs exist.

Analogously, something has to cover the costs of weblogging during all the time when the weblogging activity is not making real money or even being self-sustaining. I'd suspect that it's quite reasonable for a would-be 'blogger to ask about how long he'll be 'under water' (and therefore likely spending long hours doing something else that does pay more immediately and effectively while putting the bare minimum into the weblog) and how high a payoff he'll achieve.

The question becomes then, when does weblogging become efficient and cost-effective? "Hard work" is one thing, but if the ante to play at the gambling table involves a degree of resource allocation that lends itself to few alternate options, people will always ask if it's worthwhile to gamble the resources and absorb the opportunity costs.

[ticktockclok]

Blogs have saturated the Internet; blogs with regular podcasts will get you noticed.

[AdsenseMoney]

I m blogging for last 4/5 months, have 5000 traffic per month all total.
But for last month i was ill badly, and can not write or work for the blogs, so my traffic fall.
Now i m trying hard, but very less visits r geting..... any idea how to get traffic fast?

[Tayrak]

Alvin- Lots of good stuff you have there. As for making money. Well, I have adsense too and the first thing I asked myself was if I was hitting on this site what would compell me to click on ads. Well let me see-I don't want to be a life coach--that's what most of your ads are for. They are good ads but not what I want. Those are the only ads I see and they are only one unit, that's not much for a site this big.

So you are going to want to get some other advertising up there. I don't know much 'cause I'm just starting out. But perhaps some books?? I'm trying different ads with my site but google is limited even with the referral ads. Looking outside of google is probably a good idea, and something other than PPC will likely be necessary. Mix it up.