Does This Blog Need a Bailout?
by Shiny Things
In other words, would I accept a substantial chunk of money if some angel investor came down to earth and offered it to me?
You’re damn right I would. Last year was my first year as a full-blown blogger that posted regularly (almost every day…and for a while at the beginning three times a day), participated in carnivals, and commented on other blogs.
The stuff all bloggers do.
So I decided to do a little roundup of 08 to see how my numbers stack up. This being a personal finance site, I figured I would share the “P&L” behind the site.
In other words (I seem to dig this phrase right now), how much did I make and how much did I spend on this site? And after all that, does it make sense to continue?
I Spent
- Hosting: $69.40. I had a coupon at the time so I saved quite a bit of money on this with Dreamhost. They also threw in the domain for free. This year’s bill, however, was almost twice that. Sheesh.
I Made
- Adsense: This picked up as the year went by, so hopefully 2009 will be better. Especially when you read about other bloggers that are disappointed with their $2000/month income. Jeez.
- ING Referrals: Love promoting ING because when you use something and really believe in it, it’s a cinch.
- Online Stuff: This is stuff like MoneyExchange that I found out about from networking with other sites and such. Just one-time deals.
- Amazon.com: This is from people clicking on my Amazon links and eventually buying something. It ain’t much, but it’s something.
- Other Ad Revenue: Ads on the site, other deals, etc. Not much but in the future it could add up to more.
- TOTAL: $347.07
Now, it may seem like I came out OK, but I really didn’t. One thing I’m not counting here is all the time I put into the site. I would estimate it at around 400 hours for the whole year. That means I’m earning around 70 cents/hour, which is NOT good.
On the flip side, I’m also not counting the one huge thing that this site has gotten me: my new job. I don’t want to get into numbers, but it got me out of a job I wasn’t happy with and it boosted my salary by a very healthy amount (around 21%). So that makes it a little easier to swallow the 70 cents/hour number.
The original reason for this post was to find out if running this site was “worth it” financially. The numbers can be fudged any number of ways, but I’m really excited to see what I can do with the site in 2009. Besides, I already paid my hosting dues for ’09 so I gotta make that money back now.
If someone came along and offered me a nice amount of money (oh, say, around $100,000) that would be nice too. And don’t listen to what sites like these say….their estimates are way off.
Any takers?
Just kidding…
Or am I?
PS: BripBlap was kind enough to send me the link (via twitter) to the site that computes how much your blog is worth. It says I am worth 45k. Not bad! For those that don’t “get” Twitter, here’s a great example of how it can help you out.
January 15th, 2009 at 2:01 pm
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January 18th, 2009 at 3:51 am
Hang in there. It took a good 2 years before I started to see an uptick in revenue. A lot depends on what your main goals are.
If writing a pf blog is your main goal, and not the money, then keep going like you are. If making money is the goal, niche this blog to one aspect of personal finance and become the expert in that area.
There are too many pf blogs these days to get noticed (possible, but a load of work). A niche site will never grow into a huge blog, but it will likely be a lot more profitable. Or you can do what I did and simply take your writing on this blog and rewrite it a bit to make a host of niche sites – that’s probably the easiest way to make money writing about finance these days.
January 18th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
Wow, that’s great about your new job! I’m glad you were able to have your blog lead you to a great opportunity! Now I wonder who would possibly be disappointed in $2000 a month in Adsense…. that would be a curious response for a very healthy return.
January 18th, 2009 at 9:14 pm
Hang in there, WC! You are a good writer, and you have a good product here. 2008 was a crappy year for a lot of us, particularly the second half. Hopefully things will turn around by spring and summer. Keep plugging away–a lot of success at blogging is found through sheer attrition, outlasting everyone else.
January 18th, 2009 at 11:27 pm
Thanks for sharing your personal finance stats, but what I’ve found interesting is how unstable the traffic and revenue can be for bloggers. One month you can earn $50, then land on MSN or another PR1 site and surge $500. This is not the 9-5 job where you receive stable checks every month. Or, at least not for myself.
I do think the most important aspect has been to work more efficiently and manage time wisely. Have you learned any posting or writing tricks over the last year?
January 19th, 2009 at 7:34 am
Thanks for all the kind words. I’m definitely hanging in there for now, I think I just needed to vent a little bit.
Thanks for the support!