Getting Rich Blogging is a ‘High Tech Fairy Tale’
By Anna Johnson on February 14th, 2009So says infamous blogger, ‘Fake Steve Jobs’ (aka Dan Lyons) who writes in Newsweek that he tried to get rich blogging but failed miserably, with nothing to show for his efforts except an extra 20 extra pounds.
As reported in ValleyWag, Dan Lyons says he tried blogging to get rich by posting 10-20 items to this site, ‘The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs.’ But even on his biggest day – when more than 500,000 people hit his website – he only managed to earn about $100 through Google’s AdSense program.
That month, when Dan’s site attracted some 1.5 million people, he made only $1,039.81. Such poor income results inspired Dan to strike an advertising deal that paid better wages, but never enough to justify quitting his ‘day job’ as senior editor of Forbes.com.
Dan shut down the site when Steve Jobs appeared to be in poor health, but even so, he walked away feeling burned out.
As ValleyWag points out, Dan hasn’t really done too badly out of his blog. After all, there is the Newsweek column… and the book deal that resulted in ‘Option$: The Secret Life of Steve Jobs’ getting published.
But if Dan is disappointed with the money he made directly from blogging, maybe he could have learned a thing or two from those who DO make a good income from or associated with blogging.
Choosing the right niche (i.e. one with paying customers), selling ad space, promoting affiliate products, and developing and selling your own products or services, are all tried-and-true ways to monetize a blog.
But let’s not skip over the first one: choosing the right niche. Perhaps Dan chose the wrong niche. Perhaps a parody of Steve Jobs wasn’t the stuff of which blog riches are made.
Or perhaps he approached blogging too much like a journalist (his background) and too little like a marketer…
Source: Owen Thomas, “Totally Gives Up on Blogging,” ValleyWag, February 8, 2009
