using a blog to make enough to move out of parents house?

[allen080105]

has anyone done this before? I've seen different threads on here about people moving back in with parents and trying to start a blogging business but I haven't seen too many success stories. I have ideas as to why, seeing as I'm trying to do this myself, but I just was curious to see if anyone had done it already.

[The Big D]

I think trying to get a profitable blog is about a 1 in 1000 shot at this point IF you do everything right. If you do anything wrong, it's a 0 in 1000 shot.

Sorry to be pessimistic, but that's how I see it. The boat sailed two years ago.

[mikethedrummer44]

That's not true. It's still easy (well, not easy) to make a blog that generates enough money for you to do whatever you want. It's just not in the way you might expect. PM me if you want some me to send you some links that'll get you started!

[aelle]

What is your goal? Building a profitable website, or moving out of your parents' house? If it's the second, there are more failproof and faster ways of doing so.

Originally Posted by mikethedrummer44

That's not true. It's still easy (well, not easy) to make a blog that generates enough money for you to do whatever you want. It's just not in the way you might expect. PM me if you want some me to send you some links that'll get you started!

I'm interested. You don't want to post them here?

[The Big D]

Originally Posted by aelle

What is your goal? Building a profitable website, or moving out of your parents' house? If it's the second, there are more failproof and faster ways of doing so.

Bingo. A job comes to mind

[allen080105]

Originally Posted by aelle

What is your goal? Building a profitable website, or moving out of your parents' house?

My goal is a combination of both. I want to make the website profitable enough to be able to support myself financially so I can move out and I wanted to see if anyone had had success with building a website that generates a full income while at their parents' house...shoot or even friends/relatives houses. I've seen many try it, not see results and give up on it, but I haven't seen too many success stories.

[The Big D]

Originally Posted by allen080105

My goal is a combination of both. I want to make the website profitable enough to be able to support myself financially so I can move out and I wanted to see if anyone had had success with building a website that generates a full income while at their parents' house...shoot or even friends/relatives houses. I've seen many try it, not see results and give up on it, but I haven't seen too many success stories.

I think that there can't be too many success stories to see. Ballpark numbers, it takes a 10,000+ Alexa rank to make $100,000 a year from adsense. People will quibble with those numbers a bit, but they're in the right neighborhood. Between 1 in 100 and 1 in 1000 sites in the upper reaches of Alexa are blogs. Since the definition of blog varies, there's a lot of slop in that number, but everyone can agree that there's a TON more porn, search, corporate sites (including various online sales/auction), and non-blog or meta-blog social media represented.

Do a little math on those numbers, and you get that there's roughly between 10 and 100 blogs making $100,000+ a year from Adsense. Even if I'm off by another factor of 10, that's a sobering number. Given the absurd number of blogs out there, you can guess what the success rates must be.

[mikethedrummer44]

Well, I did post the links in another thread, but the thread got deleted and I got warned for spam. So I'd rather give them in a PM so I don't have this problem again.

I think you're looking at it the wrong way, The Big D. Yeah, It could take ONE massively successful blog to make $100,000 a year, or it could take 50 small blogs. You don't have to put all your eggs in the same basket, as the saying goes. Go out and buy 100 domain names in non-competitive niches, fill them with content, and some of them WILL succeed. Learn from those, and make more. How much money you make online is completely up to how hard you want to work.

[The Big D]

Originally Posted by mikethedrummer44

Well, I did post the links in another thread, but the thread got deleted and I got warned for spam. So I'd rather give them in a PM so I don't have this problem again.

I think you're looking at it the wrong way, The Big D. Yeah, It could take ONE massively successful blog to make $100,000 a year, or it could take 50 small blogs. You don't have to put all your eggs in the same basket, as the saying goes. Go out and buy 100 blogs in non-competitive niches, fill them with content, and some of them WILL succeed. Learn from those, and make more. How much money you make online is completely up to how hard you want to work.

If you're filling 100 blogs with "content", you are a spammer using auto-generated content, or never update your blogs with meaningful articles. No one is writing frequent high quality articles for 100 separate outlets.

[mikethedrummer44]

Well, you don't fill 100 blogs in one week. You work on 20 or so a week, get those stable, work on the next 20. Work at whatever pace you like. If you DO fill them with spam content, they won't rank well, and you won't make any money. Kinda defeats the purpose!

[runningbird]

So you personally have around 50 blogs that make about $2,000/yr. each?

[mikethedrummer44]

No, lol. I don't personally have that many blogs. I can't quite afford to register that many domains yet. But the point I was trying to make is it's not a one shot thing. It's not like you get ONE BLOG and if you fail at making that earn you money, you lose. You get as many chances as you like.

[James81]

Originally Posted by mikethedrummer44

Well, you don't fill 100 blogs in one week. You work on 20 or so a week, get those stable, work on the next 20. Work at whatever pace you like. If you DO fill them with spam content, they won't rank well, and you won't make any money. Kinda defeats the purpose!

How do you fill 20 or so blogs in a week?

I have enough trouble filling one blog with 4 to 5 posts a week?

Ahem, let me rephrase....It's time consuming enough to fill on blog 4 to 5 times a week with VALUABLE (or what I consider to be valuable), useful, relevant, and quality content.

***

that being said, I've heard of your technique before, but I rarely find people who do more than just keyboard jockey the theory of it rather than actually BE successful at it.

And the ones that do, know a crapload about SEO, marketing, etc.

The point? Building a successful blog (whether it's one or 20) is something that takes a lot of work, time, determination, and consistency.

[mikethedrummer44]

Well, I'm not going to try and convince you otherwise. Yeah, it's hard to fill 20 blogs a week. But if you treat it like a job and work full time, it's possible. Making money online isn't for everyone, and if you don't think it's possible, that's cool with me. I'm just trying to help someone who is actually willing to try and make it work.

As far as people knowing a "crapload" of SEO, it's really not as complicated as most people think. There's only so much you can learn about SEO, and it doesn't take too long.

[runningbird]

Agreed, but 50- 100 successful blogs - even that make $1,000/yr. each would be a monumental amount of work, I think. However I don't think that having a successful blog is that hard. One blog I've noticed from stevepavlina forums is hunternuttall.com. If you look at the alexa rank and unique daily visitors here: hunternuttall.com >> $4,700 >> Website Worth Calculator >> Calculate your website value !!! , they are, respectively, about 200,000 and 15,000.

15,000 unique visitors a day with a 1% CTR and $.0.20 per click would be about $11,000/yr. And that is almost enough to move out of your parents' house.

[James81]

Originally Posted by mikethedrummer44

Well, I'm not going to try and convince you otherwise. Yeah, it's hard to fill 20 blogs a week. But if you treat it like a job and work full time, it's possible. Making money online isn't for everyone, and if you don't think it's possible, that's cool with me. I'm just trying to help someone who is actually willing to try and make it work.

But you said yourself that you aren't successful at it. So how exactly can you give advice on how to be successful at multi-blogging if you aren't yourself successful at it?

[The Big D]

Originally Posted by mikethedrummer44

No, lol. I don't personally have that many blogs. I can't quite afford to register that many domains yet.

OK, so let's be clear - you were passing yourself off as an expert (and presumable success story) at making money with blogs, but you don't have the ~$5000 investment required to get these blogs going.

So you haven't actually had the success you implied you had with this blogging thing?

[The Big D]

Originally Posted by runningbird

Agreed, but 50- 100 successful blogs - even that make $1,000/yr. each would be a monumental amount of work, I think. However I don't think that having a successful blog is that hard. One blog I've noticed from stevepavlina forums is hunternuttall.com. If you look at the alexa rank and unique daily visitors here: hunternuttall.com >> $4,700 >> Website Worth Calculator >> Calculate your website value !!! , they are, respectively, about 200,000 and 15,000.

15,000 unique visitors a day with a 1% CTR and $.0.20 per click would be about $11,000/yr. And that is almost enough to move out of your parents' house.

This level I believe is more achievable. However, $11K doesn't seem like that much for what's involved - that site looks like it involves about 2 books worth of text. Even given the lower editing requirements for blogs, that's a LOT of work and the payoff is in line with or below working a good "regular" job.

[joyfulgrowth]

Originally Posted by runningbird

However I don't think that having a successful blog is that hard. [...] 15,000 unique visitors a day with a 1% CTR and $.0.20 per click would be about $11,000/yr. And that is almost enough to move out of your parents' house.

And where would those 15,000 visitors a day come from?

Even if you are an expert in a topic that nothing has been written about on the internet yet and that is of burning interest to many people, 15,000 every day is quite a bit.

[The Big D]

Originally Posted by joyfulgrowth

And where would those 15,000 visitors a day come from?

Two years ago when that site was done, "if you build it, they will come" might have been a feasible approach. People weren't so set in their online ways with respect to blogs. Unfortunately, as I said earlier, I think that boat has sailed.

[joyfulgrowth]

I don't think it is completely impossible - there are still miracles and surprises. But I guess starting a blog these days with the intention to have it pay your rent - hmm.

I like what Steve wrote about focusing on your desire to contribute rather than on how to make money quickly.

[joyfulgrowth]

> using a blog to make enough to move out of parents house?

Don't "use" a blog.

[mikethedrummer44]

Originally Posted by James81

But you said yourself that you aren't successful at it. So how exactly can you give advice on how to be successful at multi-blogging if you aren't yourself successful at it?

I never said I'm not successful. I consider myself extremely successful for where I'm at in life. Yeah, I've only made $7 blogging. But I started LAST MONTH, and you need AGE to get authority with your domains. You can't just start a blog today and tomorrow have it making 3k a month. That doesn't mean you've FAILED though. How can I give advice? Because I've gotten blogs from non-indexed to on the front page for certain terms. If I can do that, I can do it for any term given enough time. SEO is all the same. If you can do it for one term, you can do it for any. The time and amount of effort required is the variable factor.

As far as the $5000 for domain names, you don't need to run your blog from a purchased domain name. Yes, it's easier, but you can also use free blogs. Many people do that, and I can show you a blogger blog that makes 9k a month. Man, seriously. If you don't think I'm "qualified" to give advice, then by all means, don't listen to me. I don't care if YOU think it's possible for ME to make money blogging.

[The Big D]

Originally Posted by mikethedrummer44

I never said I'm not successful. I consider myself extremely successful for where I'm at in life. Yeah, I've only made $7 blogging. But I started LAST MONTH, and you need AGE to get authority with your domains. You can't just start a blog today and tomorrow have it making 3k a month. That doesn't mean you've FAILED though. How can I give advice? Because I've gotten blogs from non-indexed to on the front page for certain terms. If I can do that, I can do it for any term given enough time. SEO is all the same. If you can do it for one term, you can do it for any. The time and amount of effort required is the variable factor.

As far as the $5000 for domain names, you don't need to run your blog from a purchased domain name. Yes, it's easier, but you can also use free blogs. Many people do that, and I can show you a blogger blog that makes 9k a month. Man, seriously. If you don't think I'm "qualified" to give advice, then by all means, don't listen to me. I don't care if YOU think it's possible for ME to make money blogging.

Man, you've spent how ever many hours of your time for a month and made $7? Sure you may have hopes, dreams, a plan, whatever. But you can't legitimately claim expertise at something until you've actually has at least some success.

[mikethedrummer44]

An online business, or blogging, is like any other business. It takes time to get things going. Yeah, Bill Gates is making BILLIONS every year. How much did he make when he first started his business? Didn't Steve make $17 during the first 6 months of his blog? Look where he is now. It's an investment of time. You get what you put in. Yeah, I spend anywhere from 4-5 hours a day just blogging. All I have is $7 to show for it. But I KNOW that in 2-3 months, I'll be making enough money that it'll all be worth it -- and then some. That $7 means a lot more than $100 I would make at a job, because they're all "love dollars."

Did I ever claim expertise? I said I knew how to get a website onto the front page of google. I've done this.

[The Big D]

No, you said:

It's still easy (well, not easy) to make a blog that generates enough money for you to do whatever you want.

So unless $7 is enough to do "whatever you want" then you pretty much bullshitted us. You may think it's easy, or at least doable, but you don't know. You're pedaling hopes and dreams, not facts.

Oh, and getting a website on the front page of google is trivial if the term in question is unpopular enough.

[mikethedrummer44]

I said it's still easy because there are thousands of people who DO make money. If you'll notice, in the parenthesis I said (well... not easy). This is because I haven't quite been doing this long enough yet.

As far as "bullshitting" you, where did YOU get the information that says making a blog is a 1 in 1000 chance? Have YOU tried making a blog that generates money? If you have, you must have failed miserably. Even if I do fail, which I won't, I'll still know that it's possible.

I never claimed to be an expert on making money online. I never claimed I make huge amounts of money online. That was all your assumptions.

It's not trivial. That is the whole backbone of making money online. Ranking high on google for a non-competitve term.

[allen080105]

Originally Posted by joyfulgrowth

> using a blog to make enough to move out of parents house?

Don't "use" a blog.

Maybe I should have been more detailed in the original post but I meant using a blog as a medium to genuinely contribute to visitors while generating enough income with the blog to support yourself.

The original goal was to see if someone had done that before while living in their parents house. If there was someone who had done it, I would have wanted to know how they kept themselves in a state to take positive, effective action towards writing/marketing/networking. So far, I'm seeing that keeping myself in a positive state is the most challenging part.

[The Big D]

Originally Posted by mikethedrummer44

As far as "bullshitting" you, where did YOU get the information that says making a blog is a 1 in 1000 chance?

I got it by comparing the number of blogs started with the intent of generating income (at least in the 100's of thousands) to the number that a generating real income (in the 100's). The logic is above. You can choose to disagree with it if you like, but my reasoning is clear and accessible to everyone.

Have YOU tried making a blog that generates money?

No, I have FAR more effective ways of making money. However, I have run websites to distribute specific information that I wanted distributed, so I am well versed in SEO, traffic levels, etc. I even threw on adsense out of curiosity, so I know something about that. And I know that what you're suggesting is spammy, pie-in-the-sky nonsense. All hopes and dreams, and not enough cold hard cash to buy a decent lunch.

I don't think it's a coincidence that you were busted by the mods here for spam.

It's not trivial. That is the whole backbone of making money online. Ranking high on google for a non-competitve term.

OK, great. Get back to us when that works for you.

[mikethedrummer44]

Lol. The reason I was "busted" by the mods is because I posted a couple links that teach SEO. This was because I saw a lot of questions regarding the subject, so I thought it would make things easier. Seeker5 didn't agree, and we talked it over using PM. Obviously it's not a huge deal, or else I'd be banned. You think I was spamming affiliate links or something? Lol.

I've always came to these forums to get and hopefully give positive advice. I assumed that allen was a complete beginner at blogging, which turns out to be false. I remembered how I felt about 6 months ago when I found this blog. I knew after reading about Steve's blog that I wanted to make money online. However, I had no idea where to start, and it took me another 5 months before I figured out everything I knew. I used to think that I had about a one in a million chance of making even a penny online. So when I saw this post, I thought I'd share what I did learn after the six months of searching.

Maybe you're right, though. Maybe I should have some proof before asking advice. I just know that had I had an opportunity to take a shortcut 6 months ago, I would have jumped at the chance to take it.