Can You REALLY Make Money Blogging (Without Blogging About Blogging?)

can you make money blogging, (and is the only way to make money blogging by “blogging about blogging”?)

Let’s lay this rumor to rest; settle this debate, once and for all. And let’s do it so thoroughly that you never have to ask this question again.

First, the more basic question – is it realistic to make money blogging? Can you make money blogging?

YES!

Now, once you dig into it and you read the ridiculous rumor that it’s only those who “blog about blogging that make money”, you might have any more pressing question.

You might ask:

Can I really make money blogging WITHOUT blogging about blogging?

I’ve tried to address this before – the idea that the only way to make money blogging is by “blogging about blogging” because honestly, this rumor bugs me.

It bugs me, not just because I DO blog about blogging, but because – if it’s true – it calls into question the character of every single person who claims that blogging is a legit way to earn an income. (So that includes me – of course.) If you can’t make money blogging in any other niche, then anyone who claims blogging is a great way to earn an income is lying.

Here’s the truth:

You absolutely CAN make money blogging in MANY niches. (And… there’s more than one way to do it too!)

The rumor that you can’t is perpetuated by bloggers who are trying and FAILING to make money in their own niche.

But it IS just a rumor.

I understand that it’s frustrating to be pouring your heart and soul into something and not seeing the results you hope for… It might feel, to these bloggers in this situation, like it must be true that you can’t make money blogging unless you’re blogging about blogging.

After all, all the bloggers that they are following are showing them their income reports that detail income coming directly from blogging niche products and blogging niche affiliates. But let’s understand something about blog income reports.

They are not REALLY written to inspire. They are not written to keep the blogger accountable, or as a way for the blogger to track their growth, or any of the other reasons given as “reasons why I’m sharing this income report”.

Blog income reports, written by bloggers who blog about blogging, are written to make conversions. They are a marketing tactic.

And that’s OK.

I’m just wanting you to understand that the blogger who is teaching blogging has a rock solid reason to share an income report. The blogger making just as much on their health blog, or their food, blog DOES NOT have a reason to share their income with you.

In fact, it’s downright weird to think that someone writing exclusively about parenting would bother posting about how they made 10k last month. (Unless they were trying to break into the blogging about blogging niche. You can read my blog income reports here.)

So, the income reports we have to look at tend to show a trend of just bloggers blogging about blogging earning income. It feels like a leap of faith to accept that bloggers in other niches are earning great money too.

I’d like you to just trust me on this…

But I get that you want proof, and I get why.

So let’s have some of that too.

(THIS POST PROBABLY CONTAINS AFFILIATE LINKS. OUR FULL DISCLOSURE POLICY IS REALLY BORING, BUT YOU CAN FIND IT HERE.)

CLICK TO PIN THIS POST ABOUT MAKING MONEY BLOGGING ON PINTEREST FOR REFERENCE LATER! 

I never intended to blog about blogging

I’ll present myself as exhibit A –

I learned to blog and eventually (about 9 months in), I started earning a consistent income from my blog (around $5000/month). I was blogging about home life, saving money, and health issues. (I didn’t have kids yet, and the mom focus came later.) My income was coming from ads and affiliates (mostly surveys and a few random things).

Other bloggers asked me questions about the things I was good at – pinterest especially – and these questions grew into my blogging about blogging.

I had things to share – things that would hopefully help other people make money blogging. My entire “blogging about blogging” business is a complete ACCIDENT.

I only got into it because I was already successfully earning an income in another niche.

My mom niche blog still makes $5000+ / month

While I DO blog about blogging, and I do make good money blogging about blogging, I also continue to earn money blogging about mom things. If you visit my blog, you’ll notice that the vast majority of my posts are about mom niche things. (The blogging stuff is only on there because I don’t have another place to put it. It doesn’t get awesome page views.) Pregnancy, postpartum, saving money and home making are the big “money makers” on my blog.

I consider my blogging about blogging income a separate entity – almost a separate business entirely – from my mom niche income.

My MOM niche blog income is actually, I believe, more interesting than my blogging niche income.

For instance, my mom niche income is stable (still around $5000+ / month) WITHOUT an email list. That’s right… I just blog and promote the posts. No creating freebies, collecting subscribers, no emailing, no engaging on social media… the money that my blog makes in the mom niche is actually pretty passive / easy money. (I do more WORK for the blogging niche income.)

My blog still makes most of it’s money with ads and affiliates… and the very odd sponsored post. (If I did social media a little harder, I could do a lot more sponsored posts… but I just don’t have time /energy for Facebook or Instagram.)

I you want more details on my blog’s income, get access to the 2019 + 2020 income reports here:

I share my blog’s income + (what I consider) success pretty openly, but I realize it’s one thing for me to tell you about MY experience, and a whole ‘nother thing for you to be convinced that my experience is something that can be replicated.

So I searched ’round the internet (I didn’t have to search far… it took me a grand total of 15 minutes) and rounded up some of my close friends and a few awesome acquaintances, all of who CURRENTLY earn an income from their non-blogging about blogging niche blogs.

These people are living breathing examples of bloggers who are making money in other niches.

A few of them ALSO have blogging about blogging blogs, but that doesn’t negate their other niche blogs. (In fact, if anything, I believe it validates their blogging about blogging blogs. Wow, that’s so many times to say blogging in just a short amount of words.)

I asked these bloggers if they would share a little bit about their blogging journey with me, and also some of their best advice for making an income with a blog.

When bloggers who are legit making money in another niche give you real blogging advice – listen to them. Ok?

I’m not going to pretend that there’s not an epidemic of bloggers blogging about blogging because they think it’s an easy (or the only) way to make money.

And some of those bloggers don’t have a clue what they’re talking about – they’ve never monetized another niche before, and they probably don’t really know how. They’re just regurgitating the advice that they’ve read, and passing it off as blogging wisdom.

Don’t listen to those people.

Also, there are a ton of bloggers out there in every other niche not making any money either. (THEY are likely the ones perpetuating the rumor that you can only make money blogging about blogging. Because that’s how it seems to them when they’ve tried and failed to monetize their blogs.)

The bloggers you will meet on the following pages (and their advice) are the real deal – they can be considered trustworthy teachers because their paychecks vouch for the fact that they know what they’re talking about.

These bloggers represent many niches and they come with differing amounts of experience. You’ll notice that the bloggers who’ve been at this the longest are the ones making the most money.

That’s how it works – in almost any career, those who’ve been at it longer, have more experience, earn more.

So I emailed these bloggers four questions (and not the standard “how do you make money on your blog” questions). I wanted insights as to what makes them successful when so many blogs aren’t… and I loved reading their answers. I hope you do too!

I know bloggers who have been at this for less than 2 years, and they’re already making good money blogging!

And some bloggers I know have been doing this for many years, and they make crazy good money blogging, in niches OTHER than “how to make money blogging”. This is a REAL job for these people.

Because they all shared such great advice, and none of them were stingy with their advice, this post is over 13000 words – I’ve broken it into pages to make it easier to focus on. I strongly suggest reading EACH of the stories, and taking into account what these bloggers are telling you about how to make money logging – in niches OTHER than “blogging about blogging”.

Some of them make money with products, some with sponsored posts, some with ads.

Some of them have AMAZING page views, some of them have very mediocre page views.

Some of them have focused on SEO, some have worked hard on their mailing lists.

There are MANY ways to find success as a blogger.

One thing they all have in common is that each of these bloggers shared GREAT advice with me – for new bloggers who want to make money blogging! Here they are – in order of newest blogger to longest-time blogger:

MEET JUNE – MINIMALISM + HOMESCHOOLING NICHE, 16 MONTHS IN, MAKING $1000/MONTH

MEET KATIE – MOTHERHOOD LIFESTYLE NICHE, 18 MONTHS IN, MAKING $4000/MONTH

MEET JENNIFER – DIY / CRAFTS NICHE, 19 MONTHS IN, MAKING $20,000+/MONTH

MEET TRACY – SIMPLE LIVING NICHE, 3 YEARS IN, MAKING $2000-$3000/MONTH

MEET JAMIE – MOMMY NICHE, 3 YEARS IN, MAKING $1000/MONTH – PASSIVELY

MEET ASHLI – LIFESTYLE NICHE, 3 YEARS IN, MAKING $5000+/MONTH

MEET CAROLINE – MONEY FOR WOMEN NICHE, 4 YEARS IN, MAKING A FULL TIME INCOME (NOT SPECIFIED)

MEET MIKE – HIKING & BACKPACKING NICHE, 6 YEARS IN, MAKING $95,000 PER YEAR

MEET LENA – LIFESTYLE NICHE, 7 YEARS IN, MAKING FULL TIME INCOME (NOT SPECIFIED)

MEET DEBBIE – FLOORING AND HOME DECOR NICHE, 9 YEARS IN, MAKING $6000-$8000/MONTH

MEET HANNAH – LIFESTYLE NICHE, 9 YEARS IN, MAKING $2000 – $4000 /MONTH – IN 10 HOURS PER WEEK

MEET JENNIFER – ALL THE NICHES, 12 YEARS IN, MAKING A FULL TIME INCOME (NOT SPECIFIED)

MEET HILARY – PARENTING NICHE, 14 YEARS IN, MAKING 6 FIGURES PER YEAR

MEET PAUL – HEALTH + FITNESS NICHE (AND OTHER NICHES), MANY MANY YEARS IN, MAKING $40,000/MONTH

If you read through all these interviews and you still don’t believe that you can make money blogging without “blogging about blogging”… then you should probably not start blogging (or quit if you already have).

(BUT if you read through these interviews and you GET that this a great way to make money – then what are you waiting for? Start your blog today – here’s my free step by step course on how to start a blog!)

Click here to pin this post on Pinterest, so you can read these interviews again later!

CLICK “NEXT PAGE” BELOW TO CONTINUE

NEXT PAGE