I get excited when I see a new blog launched and I don’t see it as competition. The blogging world economy is roughly about $3 billion and I’m only looking to get $10,000 per month out of that pot of money, so $120,000 per year. As you can see, there is plenty of room for my blog and your blog. If fact, I think your blog will help me make more money and my blog will help you.
A Rising Internet Lifts All Blogs
Like the expanding universe, the blogosphere is expanding too, creating more opportunity for me and you. More and more people are coming online and we have an enormous advantage in being able to read and write in English, the language of the internet.
Right now:
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The global blogging economy is approximately $3 billion.
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The global blogging economy is projected to hit $5.3 billion by 2032.
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600+ blogs exist with more on the way every day.
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4-5% of bloggers make over $100,000 per year.
Let’s look at that last bullet point because it should make you excited. If you were in a room with 100 bloggers, 4 or 5 of them would be making $100k+ and I think that is good odds for us. First, many blogs out there are not launched with the goal of making money. I’d say about half of the 100 bloggers in the hypothetical room aren’t even competing to be a $100k+ blogger. I think if you start a blog with the goal of being full-time, I’d say it’s more like 8-10% odds of being one of the full-time bloggers in the room.
You Will Be A Full-Time Blogger, Guaranteed
Then there is a simple way to guarantee you will be one of the top bloggers in the room: outwork everybody and don’t stop! Do you want to know the true odds of going full-time in blogging? The true odds for going full-time is 100% for somebody who dedicates themselves to the craft. Don’t you see why I get excited when more people launch blogs and don’t see them as competition? It’s because the truth is there is no competition.
All I see is more opportunity! If we grow the blogging space, it’s a larger place for us to operate in. If you set out to watch every single piece of content on Netflix you wouldn’t have enough hours left in your life to do so…yet do you ever hear of anybody complaining that there is too much content on Netflix? No way! It’s the ridiculous amount of content that draws the users in. More content = more users for me and you. We are not competitors. We are associates with a common goal: to make a full-time living writing words, baby!
All you have to do is put in the work and not stop.
Here’s A Trade Secret: More Blog Posts = More Money
There is a very interesting blog post at the Productive Blogging blog, in which a survey shows blogs with 1,000+ posts are making on average $7,981.67 per month. Obviously, this doesn’t mean fill up your blog with slop to get to 1,000 posts as quickly as possible. The takeaway is odds of success are high for a blogger who stays consistent and stays dedicated to the craft.
If you stick to a 3x per week posting schedule, which is 156 posts a year, it will take you approximately 6.4 years to get to the 1,000 post mark. At the moment, 3x posts per week is the most I can produce while keeping article quality high. Once I’m really locked in I think I can product 4x posts per week, but I’m not ready to go there yet although I need to do everything in my power to get there as quickly as possible.
Obviously, it’s not only about posting a lot. It’s about building a social media platform, guest posting, and all the other things you know you need to do to build your blog. If you do all that and stick to 3x posts per week for years success, in my opinion, is guaranteed.
Few more interesting findings from the mentioned survey:
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Average monthly income based on age of the blog. 3-5 years = $1,044.91. 5-10 years = $2,621.24. 10+ years = $5,624.91.
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Average monthly income based on number of posts. 100-299 = $547.70. 300-499 = $5,086.46. 500-999 = $6,315.79. 1,000+ = $7,981.67.
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Average monthly income based on page views. 10,000 – 24,999 = $584.25. 25,000 – 49,999 = $1,033.70. 50,000 – 99,000 = $5,965.33. 100,000 – 499,999 = $9,395.65. 500,000+ = $18,950.
It almost seems like hard work over a long period of time equals positive results, which is great news! Working hard and putting forth effort is something that is completely within your control!
Don’t Listen To The Naysayers Who Say “You Can’t Make A Living Off A Blog Anymore These Days”
Or with an air of wisdom they will tell you, “Making a living off of blogging is hard, hard work…might want to consider using your time for something different.” Oh thanks for that wisdomy wisdom!
Because making a living the current way I’m making a living isn’t hard? 16 years of education so I can have a 45 – 60 minute commute to work each day, crammed in a workspace slightly larger than a closet, and earning a paycheck that just covers my modest expenses? Naysayers are saying that is a better alternative? I’d rather take a shot at blogging and fail then take no shot at all.
And, if by some miracle you blog works out (it will) the upside is tremendous! You will have the freedom to work when and where you want. You can take that month long trip to Alaska over the summer with your family because why not? You can take that steeply discounted cruise that leaves from Miami tomorrow because you don’t have a boss to tell you that you can’t. You can go to the gym at 11:00 AM because that’s when you want to go. You can go camping with your family on a Wednesday because that’s what you would like to do.
Oh, but the naysayer remind you that it will be “hard” to get to that point. No shit, Sherlock! But it will be worth it! And you’re gonna go the distance and get there and the naysayer can stay in their crappy job until they get hit by that heart attack. Because that’s, I guess, real living!
For the rest of us, going full time in blogging is guaranteed as long as you don’t give up. That is true and that is real. I will see you on the other side, friend.
Blog on!