Can You Really Make Money Blogging? (Part I)

This question, quite possibly, might be the most widely asked question from moms who get into blogging. This may not be the first question that they ask, but at some point moms want to know if it's really possible to monetize their blogs. It's a question I began to ask within a couple of years of blogging.

Tell us how we can blog for money, Ana!

When I initially started blogging it was merely to provide myself with a creative outlet to express my thoughts. Writing has always been a passion of mine and since I had loads of time on my hands at that time - I was bedridden due to pregnancy - I decided to carve out a place in blogosphere where I could empty my brain of all the many thoughts running through it. It never dawned on me that other bloggers would find my writings interesting. Come to think about it, my ramblings were a collection of eclectic posts from a hormonal pregnant woman. How intriguing could that be?

Because I am an extremely nosy inquisitive person, shortly after beginning my blogging adventure, I became curious about the writing of other bloggers in the vast universe of blogs. It took only about an hour of traipsing around blogosphere to discover that this new world was immense and diverse and this completely intrigued me about its presence. I became hooked to blog hopping from this point on and within time I even courageously left comments, which lead other people to my blog.

So, your blogging story was cute, but what about making money??

I know you want to know the nitty-gritty and I'm going to get there. The truth is the answer to this question is multifaceted. Back to my personal blogging story: After becoming an active participant in blogosphere, I started noticing that people hinted at making money blogging. Of course this tickled my ear. What! I could do something I loved and get paid too?! Sign me up for this gig quick and I'll take that paycheck with at least 3 zeros on the end of it!

I began paying close attention each time I heard a whispering voice about mom bloggers making money. But soon discovered that those blogs that were making money had something big that mine didn't have - huge followings. Despite the fact that my blog lacked the necessary traffic, I still didn't loose hope in finding ways to monetize my blog. However, in time I realized that it wasn't so important to concentrate on making money on my blog, but instead it was more important to concentrate on content and defining my brand. Defining your brand? What do you mean by that, you may be asking?

Content, brand...yeah it sounds good. But are you saying you can't make money in blogging?

No, not exactly. Actually, I'm not saying that at all. Since I'm sure you're dying to know, I have made money blogging. What I brought home certainly didn't put me in the ranks of top mom bloggers - far from that. However, in the best case scenarios I brought home enough to pay a car note - say around $200 a month. Here's the really kicker though... In my most profitable times (and I say that loosely since I never made enough to call myself a professional blogger) my focus was on defining my niche and honing in on content. Moms, the truth is you have to have a solid voice that is compelling and different to stand out. It doesn't mean that you have to talk about a topic no one else is talking about (Although, why not? There are loads of subjects to choose from.) However, whatever it is that you blog about make it "uniquely you". Share your about your passions, your experiences, your view and it doesn't matter if another blogger has shared something similar, we aren't carbon copies so if you speak from your experience it immediately becomes exclusive. You don't have to write like a Huffington Post editor, but at least proofread your work and gosh-darn-it use spell check. Ok. Ok. Ok. So I need to take my own advice on the last two. *jotting note to self*

Since the title says "Part I", I guess we won't find out the good stuff until "Part II"?

Patience, my readers. In part two of Can You Really Make Money Blogging? I'll share honest, tried and true methods that I've utilized in the past to make money on my blogs.

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