How Blogger Makes Money?

Like what’s in your mind, advertisement like Google Adsense and etc. Oh, that’s not the end. If a professional blogger just depend on the pay from Adsense, they will surely die of starvation. Yes, there are many success stories about generating great income from Adsense but remember it is not easy. And like what Warren Buffet says in earnings, “Never depend on a single income”. What if your profitable and the only source of income, the Adsense couldn’t meet your expectation like usual?

The major income: Articles, review and so on…

I have a few friends which are full time bloggers (blogging for living). Their blogs have great value in specific markets like travelling, gadgets, food and etc. About 30% of their articles were paid articles. Still not having the complete idea, huh? It means they are paid to write those articles like introduction, reviews, ratings and so on.

Why on earth they are paid to write those articles? Ok, let’s have an example, Sam wanted to be a blogger. First, Sam started a blog which posting articles related to a specific market – in this scenario, IT gadgets like smartphones and tablets PC. He regularly posting new articles for all those interesting stuffs related to gadgets. After sometime, he has gathered a number of fans or readers that are interested in his blog. If one who googled “IT Gadget” or related keywords in Google, Sam’s blog could be easily found in the first page of the search result.

Phone vendors, or region distributors or marketing firms see value in Sam’s blog. If Sam could have written an article about their new product, it will outspread as word of mouth. So, they contacted Sam and hope he will write an article regarding their new launched phone. Sam would be paid according to the number of words in the article. It depends on how both of the parties deal. Some bloggers have their standard of quotation, for example RM1 for one word with at least a thousand words in the article then it would be RM1000. This is not the end of the story yet.

The Bigger One: Real Live Events Participation

The numbers of readers which follow Sam’s blog continue to grow larger since some phone vendors or those within the gadget network has given priority to Sam about the latest information which the public seldom aware of. Sam’s authority increased very much and phone vendors even invite Sam to their events which include transportation, accommodation and of course attractive allowance per daily basis. Don't forget, the allowance does not include the pay for the article.

This is not a dream to get to this point. I know a fulltime blogger has been sponsored to fly to attend the Samsung Galaxy S4 Event in New York City. A blogger which write travelling articles was paid to stay in a 5 star hotel by the company for a week in Maldives just to produce an article review. There are lots more bloggers been pulled out to attend real live events such as being the judge of a certain contest and etc. Bloggers are paid to attend live events and writing articles regarding it. If they need to travel far to attend the event, acommodation and transportation is always been provided.

Conclusion, serious bloggers basically make money through
1. Online Advertisement - for example Adsense
2. Paid to write articles
3. Attend real live events

If in Taiwan, it is common to see bloggers attended TV shows and some even have contract with the TV station. Although is not so common in Malaysia, but still there are bloggers attended TV shows. Some are even judges of certain contests. It is hard to determine how much could a blogger earn, however to make a five figure income in RM is not a difficult task.

Final Advice Before Starting a Blog

Write niche blog that is focusing on something specific. Don’t mess your blog with all kinds of different topics because it will be hard to grow the number of followers to follow your blog. Have a vision as your direction so you can work out to achieve it. Be prepare and we will move on to How to setup a blog.