Comments on: How Does The Simple Dollar Earn Money? Some Notes on Do-It-Yourself Self-Employment

By: Matt

Matt — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 03:27:15 +0000

This is a fantastic article. After reading this article and reading the book Crush It! that you reviewed, I finally understand how you can do this for a living. The fact that you release new and valid material every day amazes me. I’m pretty passionate about golf and have started a golf blog, but can’t imagine the determination it would take to write every day! Keep up the good work.

By: Megan

Megan — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:46:32 +0000

Interesting and insightful, thanks for this post Trent.

I read your posts through Google Reader and occasionally click through to read comments. How do Reader and other similar programs affect your income?

By: Cheap Like Me

Cheap Like Me — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 16:48:59 +0000

Great post – it is so helpful to others to hear both how profitable blogging can be, and at the same time, how challenging to get it going. Because I know myself how challenging blogging well is, I can tell how much work you put into your site.

By: Curt

Curt — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 22:16:31 +0000

Excellent insight. Thanks for sharing the truth about how hard it is to make money at blogging.

Your reasoning is why I have chosen not to blog for income, but to blog for influence and the opportunity to teach others about money and the economy.

My reward comes from the knowledge that I’m gaining from my research which results in better investments of my own.

This also gives me the opportunity to be very, very patient, in which I can blog for many years before earning a supportable income.

By: Mukesh

Mukesh — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 18:57:27 +0000

In the beginning of this article you mention about a previous article explaining how you earn income, can you put a link of that article? Usually you always put reference links and I don’t see that article in your timeline.

Thanks.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 18:17:08 +0000

Super helpful post. Thanks for all the nitty gritty details. It was super informative! Eileen

By: bethany

bethany — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 15:52:38 +0000

debthawk, I respectfully disagree.
You just need a website that people get something from and are willing to visit frequently. I make a nice side income from my blog, unnecessaryquotes.com which is really just a goofy idea, dedication (I probably put in an hour or two a day filtering submissions, writing captions and another hour moderating comments) and luck. I wouldn’t recommend “make a viral blog” as a viable career path, but you don’t HAVE to have a serious blog to make some money.

By: Kevin M

Kevin M — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:34:28 +0000

This might be too personal, but any idea how much you make per hour? Just curious.

Have you come close to the level of income from your previous job – either in any one month or annually?

By: Hayden Tompkins

Hayden Tompkins — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 10:53:49 +0000

That’s the other thing, you REALLY have to love and be passionate about your topic. Especially if you are going to spend most of your mental energy on it and not burn out. Ultimately, too, I think a deep need to express a specific message is critical.

By: Shannon

Shannon — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 10:47:34 +0000

GREAT post ! Keep up your excellent work. Love your being considerate in not overwhelming your site with ads and not selling “stuff.” Great content will always bring readers. Thanks.

By: Juli

Juli — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:32:33 +0000

I think you should put a top jar out. Why not? You’ve given me a lot of value, and I’d toss in a $5 occasionally. If one person feels that way, then I’m sure there are more.

No need to promote it, just toss it out there with a note once.

By: Adam

Adam — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:12:49 +0000

I noticed you recently switched from google search as well, does this automatically go away with adsense? or are you trying to break away from google completely for some reason?

By: TheDebtHawk.com

TheDebtHawk.com — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 19:48:14 +0000

Trent mentioned that you have to write about a topic that people care about. That is absolutely true. But, if you want to make money blogging, you also have to write about topics that make other people money.

I see people creating blogs about all sorts of topics that have little to know commercial products or services associated with them. This makes earning money from blogging much more difficult.

By: John DeFlumeri Jr

John DeFlumeri Jr — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 19:19:34 +0000

Nice article, Trent.

By: Eden Jaeger

Eden Jaeger — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:44:53 +0000

A million pageviews per month for $1,800 sounds pretty bad! I know that’s just a sample, and I’m guessing it’s on the low end, but still that is a bit disheartening for someone hoping to make some money with ads on their websites.

My latest project (linked in my name) is off to a fast start, but I’m only seeing about 200K pageviews per month, and the income from Google AdSense is incredibly tiny. Do you think AdSense is just not the best way to go? I know I need to give it more time, but I also don’t want to leave money on the table if I can avoid it.

By: Arthi

Arthi — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:06:23 +0000

Trent, perhaps, like Kristine mentioned in comment #7, readers will be willing to buy a book of frugal recipes and how-to’s.

You might consider that.

By: Arthi

Arthi — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:57:08 +0000

“maybe a thousand pages per month. At two tenths of a cent per page, that’s $5 for the whole month ”

I guess it is actually 2$, and not 5$ as mentioned.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:28:23 +0000

Same question, Trent: Does using an ad blocker change anything on your end?

By: Don

Don — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:04:33 +0000

If I use an ad blocker so I don’t see the ads, do you still get credit for an ad view when I come to the site, or does there have to be some feedback that the ad actually came up on my screen?

By: Trent

Trent — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 16:45:26 +0000

“How much time do you usually spend on this blog?”

I spend about fifty hours a week working. The Simple Dollar eats the vast majority of that time.