Making Money by Mimicking Success
Felicia | Apr 09, 2009 | Comments 11
The other day I caught part of the Oprah show. We were visiting relatives in North Carolina and the kids were a bit rambunctious so I couldn’t quite catch all of it, but the one part I did manage to see was the segment about a stay at home mom blogger who earns $40,000 per month from her blog.
As a matter of fact, that segment of the show caught my husband’s attention too. Apparently the blog is so successful that in 2005, she earned enough money to have her husband quit his job and work on her blog with her.
Inspiration and Imitation
That is an admirable goal and I fully believe that it is attainable by anyone who wants it bad enough. Whenever I hear about successful bloggers, I tend to visit the blog, get a lay of the land and spend a little time trying to understand what makes it successful. More often than not it’s a combination of the blogger’s authenticity and consistency of posting which gains a loyal following. In addition to the large following the blogger monetizes the blog in several ways.
I checked out the Dooce blog mentioned on the Oprah show and spent a little time reviewing the blog layout, reading her posts, viewing the comments (although the majority of the comments were closed), and analyzing the advertisers. When you view Heather B. Armstrong’s blog, you’ll see that it’s clean cut and the template is well designed and it’s not very busy.
Experimentation
In viewing her ads, I noted that she was using AdBrite as one of her monetization sources. So, in the greatest form of flattery (imitation), I signed up for AdBrite to give it a whirl. Over the next few days, weeks or how ever long it takes for me to get things just right; there will be a few experimental ads. The unfortunate thing is that the only way I can tell if the ads work is by going live. You guys get to see what I see (whether we like it or not).
Personally, I don’t care for some of the features, but I haven’t quite figured out how to configure them as yet, so if you get annoying pop up ads for a bit, please forgive me, I’m still working out the kinks.
Spousal Support
My hubby is fully on board and supportive of my online writing endeavors. Let me rephrase that. He was on board before, but after watching the segment on the Oprah show, he’s even more on board now. The thought of earning $40,000 a month is a surefire way to get family support.
If you haven’t done so already, check out Dooce. See what you can learn from this very successful woman. BTW, in addition to her blog, Heather B. Armstrong authored a couple of books.
Filed Under: Advertising • Blog • Earning Money • Freelance • Monetize • Motivation • Paid Blogging • Residual Income • Working from Home
Felicia,
I am always looking at successful blogs and I think readership is important! I guess I want to get a solid set of subscribers and readers before I start monetizing the site. Do you think Dooce makes all that in advertising? Or were there other sources of revenue?
Julie Ms last blog post..Mini-Blog Series:The Five People You Meet in Cyberspace
Hey Julie,
According to the Oprah site, “The site brings in a reported $40,000 a month in advertising and has become the family business.” So it sounds like she’s making that much money off of the site. Keep in mind, however, that the site has been around since 2001.
I believe she put a lot of work into the site over the years. If you check out the About page she writes “In October 2005 I began running enough ads on this website that my husband was able to quit his job and become a Stay at Home Father…”
She has authored a couple of books which adds to her income, but it seems that most of it comes from her website.
I’ve been a fan of dooce.com for a few years now and she makes the 40,000 in advertising though she has become so big now that she has written the books and one is on the best seller list. I keep saying I want to be her when I grow up, but I would be happy with 40,000 a year, much less a month. I think so many go to her for her blunt and witty writing style and her honesty. It does give me hope though, that it is possible to make real money online and that as long as I keep working at it and learning as much as I can, I too will create my own piece of the pie!
I’m pretty sure her books are compiled stories from her blog, right? The whole pregnancy/depression thing and all.
I haven’t read her books but the titles lead me to believe its all about her therapy sessions, her dad and emotional breakthroughs.
Looking at successful models is a good thing, but you have to remember that you won’t get the same results without the same inputs.
The greatest contributor to the huge monetary success of dooce is–other than that she has a time advantage by having started her blog back in the early blog days–that she got huge publicity. She anonymously blogged crap about her boss and got fired over it. It was being the first publicized case of being fired for blogging that got her a ton of publicity and, thus, tons of traffic and a following.
There are thousands of clever writers who blog out personal stuff and the vast majority will never make significant money on it. So if you’re trying to duplicate her success, you’ve got to add in the element of lots of free publicity.
Thanks for your input Alison.
While I admire Dooce’s success and would love to earn $40,000 a month, her writing style and mine are vastly different.
I make it a habit of reviewing all successful blogs (Problogger is another one I spend time studying). It doesn’t make sense to me to review, study, analyze and duplicate unsuccessful ones. I decide which attributes of each blog might work for me and leave other attributes alone.
My intent isn’t to follow in her footsteps and copy her success. There’s only room enough for one Dooce and one No Job for Mom on the internet. She has her style and I mine. I’ve nurtured this blog for too long to drop ship and take on her style.
When I reach $40,000 a month in income, my journey to success will look quite different from her journey.
Felicia:
Thank you for yet another blog post full of information that I can use in my burgeoning online endeavors. I’ve been reading you for a couple of months, and you’ve inspired me to get on board with eHow, Suite 101 and Demand (I currently write for all 3 sites).
I just launched my new online magazine, 21 Months (http://21months.com), and although I know it will take several months to even begin to see the fruits of my labor on both 21 Months and the freelance writing sites, your blog posts continue to inspire me.
Thanks again!
Christine Taylor
Christine I wish you all the best with your new on line magazine. I took a look and it looks like you’ve got a winner.
I’m glad I’ve been able to help you find some ways to earn money with your writing skills. Stick with it! It’s so worth it in the long run.
Thanks for this, I just came here and browsed and found this post and comments.
My blog is fairly new compared to hers but I see that perhaps if I stay focused and do some research then it just might work.
As long as you stick with it you have a better chance of success.
BTW, I love the name of your blog Tena.