Starting a Blog: For Fun and for Profit

Think blogging is “just for fun?” Think again.
 
Blogging is fun, but it’s not “just” fun. It’s also lucrative. Successful bloggers earn $5,000 to $10,000 or more every month — enough to support themselves and their families full-time.
 
They also enjoy the freedom of being able to work from any spot on the planet with an internet connection. Tahiti, Hawaii, Japan, Argentina, Thailand… the world is wide open to people who blog for a living.

Most would-be bloggers struggle with the question, “What should I blog about?” If you love to travel, that answer is easy. You’re circumnavigating the globe, seeing places that most people only dream about. You’ve got a story to tell.

Your blog readers will love perusing your travel stories, seeing your photos, and even watching your videos.

Perhaps you’ve already entertained the idea of starting a blog, but you imagined that it would be just for fun. Perhaps you’re not sure how your blog could actually support your jet-setting lifestyle.

Let me take a moment to explain a few things — and debunk a few myths — about blogging. Hopefully this will help show you that blogging can earn you the income you need to cruise the seven seas.

Myth #1: Bloggers don’t earn money.

The best way to bust this myth is to show you examples of the many, many bloggers who do.

Derek Earl Baron, whom I’ll tell you more about this week, has been traveling the world nonstop since 1999. He started by spending a few months teaching English or taking a gig on a cruise ship. Then he put together an e-book about his travels that was so successful, he was able to give up his part-time jobs. That’s when he started a blog called Wandering Earl. Within 18 months his income more than doubled, to $2,500 per month, as his blog readership took off.

Derek is one of many people who make a full-time living as a blogger.

Steve Kamb, who writes “Nerd Fitness,” a blog at the intersection of fitness and travel, doesn’t report his income online, but he’s been blogging full-time for several years. His blog has 43,000 subscribers, which is higher than the subscription rates of many newspapers.

Who else earns money blogging?

• Crystal Stemberger, a Texas-based personal finance blogger, earns between $10,000 and $17,000 every month (between $120,000 and $200,000 per year).
• A financial advice blogger who writes under the pseudonym J. Money earns about $125,000 per year from his blog through a combination of advertising and affiliate sales.
• Pat Flynn, who writes a blog about earning money online, earns almost half a million dollars each year.

Myth #2: You need to be an expert to blog.

Guess what your most important credential will be? Your readership. Blogging is a democratic process. It doesn’t care what degree you have, or what letters you can put after your name. All it cares about is your ability to gain readership. In blogging, the proof is in the pudding.

Myth #3: It takes a lot of set-up to get started.

You can get started for less than $100, simply by buying a $10 to $15 domain name (the name that goes after the www in a web address) and paying about $70 for a year’s worth of online storage for your posts, photos, videos, etc.

Got an internet connection and about $100? You have all the equipment you need to launch your blogging career.

[Editor’s Note: Learn more about opportunities to profit from your travels (and even from your own home) in our free online newsletter The Right Way to Travel.]