Wanting to be a Professional Blogger is Ok
By plonkee • Apr 28th, 2008 • Category: Better Blogging TipsThe King of professional blogging is probably the Australian blogger Darren Rowse. He’s one of the first people to write about professional blogging, as well as running his digital photography school blog, and being seriously involved in b5 media. When he asks a question, people take him seriously.
Recently, in response to Seth Godin, Darren wrote a post about whether there is a new breed of bloggers who are blogging primarily for the money, and whether they will or are having any success with this approach. A number of the commentators seemed to assume that anyone who is initially looking to make money from blogging (rather than starting without any income ideas) is not a *true blogger*.
One of the problems with people in general who are enthusiastic about a particular thing that they do, is that they assume that theirs is the only good way of doing it. This is especially true when it comes to money. The creation of works of art is supposed to be sullied by considerations of finance, and I guess a lot of people think of blogging that way, but there’s no reason why everyone should.
There is nothing wrong with blogging for fun, and not making money from it. There is nothing wrong with blogging for fun, and then discovering that you can make money from it. But there is also nothing wrong with starting a blog in an attempt to make money. You aren’t destined to fail just because you want an income and think you can get one. You aren’t worse for doing so.
Although I spend a lot of time blogging, I don’t blog full time. I have another job. One that I really, really enjoy. One that I’m good at. One that I would like to be involved in, even if I didn’t need the money. The fact is though, that I do need money to pay my mortgage, bills and to have some fun. And I took the job because I needed an income and, because I thought I would like it. I think that’s normal for many people when they are looking for work.
Why can’t blogging be the same? Doing something because you think you can make money at it, isn’t worse than any other reason, as long as you are actually good at the job. Suppose you want to be a hairdresser because you think you can make money doing so, as long as you can actually cut hair well, what’s the problem with your desire to make money?
Blogging can be a hobby, but it can also be a job. The best bloggers are likely to be ones that engage their audience and keep them hooked - and that can be independent of any desire (or lack) to make money.
Photo by tris via Flickr
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I agree with there being nothing wrong with wanting to get into blogging to make money. Money does often motivate people, especially when they can pair it with some other topic they enjoy.
Ultimately you have to provide value to the reader/seachers and that is what it is about.
I guess the assumption is that a blogger who is only motivated by $$ won’t get past the first few months where they make zero dollars.
You’re right though - if someone is motivated to do something then who cares what those motivations are?
Mik
It seems to me like even people not out to make money can get really disillusioned after the first few months if no one’s reading or write useless posts because they’re looking for attention. Those doing it as a professional sidejob (or full-time) may be more disciplined. Maybe. I think it depends on a person’s blogging experience and expectations.
Anyway, I like what you’re saying. Nothing wrong with making money on a passion. The key, in my mind, is to do it tastefully so that you don’t drive people away.
I’m glad I’m not the only person to think like this. It’s true that I didn’t start blogging for money originally, but I’m also not as good (in terms of both success and quality of output) as other people who did. Motivations are not as important as product I guess.
I started out blogging for fun but now I know you can make money off of it!
Amanda<3
So long as you put out good content then it shouldn’t matter whether it’s for money. Blogs in general are free to read so the reader is already ahead of the game I think. And probably most of us who have made a few dollars still aren’t making much of an hourly wage when you look at how much time goes into a quality site (I hope people think mine is quality).