The answer to “what is blogging for bucks” would seem to be obvious. It’s some sort of combination of blogging and making money. But there are really two extremes of “the dream” of blogging for bucks.
One one end of the extreme: a person dreams they can blog about any topic they like using their own favorite writing style, and then, somehow, by posting a few ads and a “donate” box somewhere on their blog, money will rain down on them. Maybe, in the extreme, they imagine a book or newspaper publisher will approach them, offer to bind a number of blog posts inside the covers of a book, turn it into a best seller and money will rain down on them.
This person blogs: they will probably never make any decent money.
On the other extreme: a person selects a blog specifically because it’s a potential money maker; they might, for example, describe a commercial product that sells online, like cameras or computers. They set up blog software, and then, day after day, they blog about new cameras available in the market place. They then fill their site with google ads and affiliate links, and make money when people shopping for camera click on ads sold by camera vendors.
The bloggers writing these blogs probably make decent money. But is this really blogging?
Oh, my question isn’t “Is setting up a camera blog a good or bad thing?” What I mean is, is it “the dream” you, a blogger, had when you said “I want to make money blogging?”
If it is, great! You can probably make money. If it’s not, well, then you’re in the same boat as loads of others who dream of blogging about topics of their choice and making a little money. But, strangely enough, there are things you can do to make a little money while adjusting your personal blogging either moderately or slightly.
My goal at this blog is to describe the things I’ve learned, and show how those are integrated at my blogs. They only make a modest amount of money- but they make more than similar blogs in similar niches. And, maybe that’s all you want to do!