Is it Possible to Earn Money Blogging?

Is it really, truly possible to earn money blogging?  We have heard so many times from so many people that it is very hard to earn money blogging.  But people claim they are doing it.  Some bloggers say that they earn anywhere from $100 a month to $1000 or more in a month.  And here we are newer bloggers asking the question, "How can they possibly make that much in a month?  What is your trick?  What is the secret to your blogging success?  Can we do it too?"

And when we first sign up, we get our blogs enabled with Google Adsense, hoping to earn a lot of money.  Then we are greatly disappointed when we earn say 87 cents a month.  That is so depressing.

But I blog because I love it whether I earn or not.  But, I kind of got a little curious last week and found some sites to get their ads on here and I could possibly get paid.  Linkshare and Clickbank  are both free.  But can you actually earn is the other question.  So, I just decided to get some of them that I wanted on here.  I think I am going to go tomorrow or later this week and maybe delete a few of them.  It looks like I might have some of them in there two times by accident.  And I'm not sure if I want a few of them on the blog.

And I was supposed to have Infolinks on here but I can't even see it, so I probably won't even bother.

But the things I really wanted to get on here are more towards to top of the blog.  My products and my etsy shop and Zazzle store, Fancy Photography.  None of the other advertisers will be going on top of that stuff.

Earlier this year, I took all this time to get this post for my paper dolls on this blog and my other blogs.  It took a while to do and is very far back on my posts.  Paper dolls for Sale would probably be the post.  I took the time to upload all the pictures and get the pay pal buttons on the blog.  And even at first I got them on the side of the blog and it just didn't look right.  So I created a post for it.  But unfortunately, the post goes back to January or February and you usually don't see it.

I don't know how to get it as a stand alone page.

But now this week, I've been figuring out how to copy and paste the codes for my items that come from me and not some other company.  I first figured out how to get the follow me on pinterest button.  That was cool.  Now anyone can go and see all the yummy foods and other visuals that I re pin.  I usually go there at least once a day and get click happy.

Then, I figured out how to get on the blog hop.  That was kind of cool.  The title and the link are there, but I don't see a picture or button showing up.

Then, I went to etsy and tried to find out how to get a button for my new etsy shop on the blog.  That was cool.  Earlier, I had figured out how to get the etsy app on my face book pages but not the blog.  Was so glad to figure out how to do that. My Etsy shop is new and no sales yet, but I'm going to wait it out and hope for the best.  I've got nice unique products.  Nobody can make paper dolls quite like mine.  And the bottle cap knitting markers are fun and useful.  And I think I have a few other products.  I still have to get some more products in there.  I was slowly adding them in as you have to pay Etsy to show your stuff.

Sorry, a few of the paper doll pictures are sideways.  That's a digital photo mishap.  I thought I had rotated them and then they still didn't end up getting rotated.  I thought it was getting saved, but evidentally not.

Then, I kept trying to figure out how to get the like us on face book button on my blog.  I still don't think I found the exact button, but I think I came close with finding the face book badges.  That's good enough.  I would imagine that would take someone to my FB pages to view and see if they like it.  And I can see my picture for each of my FB pages on my badge and it shows how many people that like them.  Which isn't that much right now.

But the Authentic Life Blog page is increasing which is cool.  So for anyone who has a face book page you can do it too.  I think the point of the pages too are to keep sharing, sharing, sharing.  I've clicked like on a bunch of other mom blogs FB pages and other things I like and I go and comment under my FB pages.  It's cool and fun to share.

Over the last few days, I started sharing some of the posts that my face book friends post.  Some of the pictures are so funny.  One guy on face book always shares lots of funny pictures.  One week he shared a picture of a really skinny piggy bank after paying for gas.  That had me cracking up.

And I tried to ask how to get the like us on FB button in the help center under my questions, but nobody ever answers my questions there.  I almost just have to go and find a question that is similar to mine and get my answer there instead.  I don't know why nobody answers mine.

But we all know that Facebook is most likely run by a machine and all they could care about is their advertising $$$$$.  They don't give a hoot about what made them who they are today.  US.  The people who post on all of the walls sharing our opinions.  They could give a rats ass about us.

It could ultimately be their downfall someday, when something new and better comes along.

Then, tonight, I figured out how to get two of my Zazzle products on the blog and my Zazzle Store button, so you can see a revolving banner of my products.

I love the Don't Sell Me at the Pawn Shop baby onesie.  I did the jewelry photo session a while ago and then got the products in the store and thought up the saying for the baby items.  My boyfriend thought it was so cute.  And I finally sold one.  Of course Zazzle gets most of it, as they are the ones that actually get the image on the products and do the shipping.  But on the t-shirt that's like the onesie, I made $1.60.  That was kind of cool.  Of course you don't get a check until you reach $50.  Which could take a while.

But it's a free site anyway.  So if anyone is into art or photography, I would suggest trying it out and creating a store.  I've heard of a few people being really successful with it.  But you have to do a lot of advertising.

Just as when we write on our blogs, we also have to do a lot of advertising and promoting.  Which also includes commenting on other blogs and joining forums and other sites.  Putting the word out there.  If you don't do a thing and expect people to come to you, it's not going to work.

That's not the way of blogging.  And we all also know that sometimes it can take years and years for a blog to become successful and earning money at it.

But I am so glad that now I have my items on the blog.  I would much rather have my stuff here instead of some unknown advertiser trying to make a buck or more from me advertising for them.  But I will try them out and see what happens.  If nothing comes of that, I can always choose to delete their ads and cancel my account with them.

But everything is good to at least give it a try and see if it proves successful for you.  I like some of the products from Clickbank and would even consider buying one or two of the books for myself at some point.

And someone told me a way to earn more from it is if you can get people to guest post for you or people that want to advertise on your blog.  But I don't really know too much about that at this point.

I'm still sort of a newbie.  My blog hasn't reached a year yet.  That's coming up in the fall.  When it hits that day, expect to see a few birthday cake pictures on the post.  Ha.  Ha.

Well, I've got to get going for tonight.  My cats, Luna and Ella are waiting for me.  They are missing me for sure.  And next weekend when I'm with my boyfriend, they will miss me even more.

Jennifer Jo Fay

Copyrighted June 10, 2012