The other day I was reading a blog post called Why You Can’t Make Money Blogging and it made me stop and do some thinking about my own blogs. As many of you know I have been MIA for a few months due to a new job and my computer dying. Now I use to make enough money where I would have been able to do something about the computer quickly, but unfortunately over the last few years my income has gone down and I was not sure why.
Last year I started making some changes as I was working a full time job that I drove 4 hours a day to get to and from on top of working 10-12 hour shifts. I just didn’t have time for my blogs! I decided then to combine two together to help me manage my business better. Now though I think it’s again time to make some changes. I’m working on deciding what I want to do, but I wanted to share with you some of the changes in blogging and how you make money blogging that I have seen since I started blogging eight years ago.
Mom bloggers have exploded
If your a mom and blogging you are almost guaranteed to get more offers then any other blogger when you start. I am not a mom blogger but I get passed over for things I use to be able to review without a problem, of course I had to wait 2 years to get those reviews, where new “mom” bloggers can get it within a few months. This of course is because of a media perception, not because a mom blogger is actually better then other bloggers. (note I have nothing against mom bloggers, just misinformed companies)
Advertising has changed
It use to be that you could stick up a few Google ads and make a good amount of money if you had some decent traffic, now people realize that these are ads that you can make money off of and for some reason, people don’t like the idea of you making money off of them, so they don’t click anymore. In fact many just install ad blockers so they never see your ads.
Sponsored Post are Huge!
Advertisers have realized that sponsored post are the way to go now. They can get people to see the post unlike classic banner ads and they can get customer engagement and feedback. The only issue with sponsored post is that some readers don’t like them and you also want to make sure they are all no-follow links. Even if you consider it as being paid for your time, if the post contains a link, Google will consider it a paid link and penalize you for it.
Disclosure is a Must
When I started blogging I didn’t have to worry about disclosure, but now it is required if you have any attachment to the product. This means you have received money, a product or service with a review expected.
Have you been a blogger for over 5 years? What changes have you seen?
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