Are you making tons of money from your blog?

KHANG n. job

Blogging is more hobby than anything else. It is tough to make money from blogging in Malaysia and Singapore. Advertising pay peanuts (of course this is better than nothing!) and getting financial sponsors for the average blog is like getting your parent pay for your girlfriend/boyfriend's education (pure charity and luck).

I have embarked on an amateurish, arm-chair research into "blogging as a career". The closest a Malaysian (also a friend) gets to such blogging height is probably Kenny Sia. I have not spoken to him since a month or so ago (and our last conversation concerned some random message sent to his Facebook), but judging from his blog entries, he still needs his day job.

Of course, some might argue, this is his family business and it is paying him well, but I am also sure that if blogging offers very serious money here in Malaysia or Singapore, I think I can make a pretty good guess which side of the boat he would prefer to be on. Some may also say that Kenny gets decent deals (probably better than most people's monthly salary, plus a lot of fun) from his blog fame. Agree, but still, nobody would advise blogging as a full-time jobbie unless a more consistent stream of adequate revenues is identified.

How about our local blogosphere advertising agency, Nuffnang? Can they really help bloggers make serious money from advertisement? Possibly, but not yet.

You wouldn't be far wrong if you think that the money generated from Nuffnang ads for most bloggers pretty much serve as an ego-massager (and Sisuahlai is guilty of this!), and it ends as that. By ego massager, I meant bloggers can now claim (usually to parents and non-internet savvy people) that they can now make money from blogging. Technically, such claims are right, as RM0.10 per month for ads is also considered making money.

At best, for blogs that generate crazy amount of hits per day, the money earned from Nuffnang or from any other similar enterprises, can be considered as off-setting allowances. What is that? Well, just like is says on the tin, the money made is probably just about enough to off-set the expense and effort put into hours of blogging, and not much more.

Monetizing your blog is indeed very challenging. Most bloggers don't really see the point of making money from blogs, they blog because they love making friends through such medium, or the very least they enjoy sharing their writings and experiences with others. But for those who contemplate making serious money from blogging, the best time is probably to start now. Meanwhile, please keep the day job.

Why blogging will become bigger one day...

Microsoft predicts income revenue from ads to double in 2-3 years. Hence the recent unsolicited bid to buy over Yahoo!inc for a generous USD$44.6 billion!

Blogosphere is still largely an under-recognised medium for advertisements. Companies (especially Asian companies) are more willing to pay exorbitant fees for magazine advertising rather than popular blog advertising. This will change.

Blogging is the one of the most creative writing avenues around. Soon, you will see people paying good money for blogging consultation and big companies won't be able to ignore this. People will pay (have already paid) seasoned bloggers to speak in their academias and even in corporate meets.

And of course, we bloggers are mostly a shameless bunch. We parade ourselves on our sites and we don't give much thought about circulating our names/brands in any media opportunity. And nothing is more powerful than a group of kids (or adults who think like one) who believe in their own work... (like the story of Hush Puppies as told in the book Tipping Point).

So I urge you all to pick up a keyboard and blog! It's about time people take us more seriously. And we can all turn this hobby into a real pursuit of wealth and notoriety.

From the satan called SSL.

p/s I've recently acquired the domain name sisuahlai.com. I will share some of the pain (and joy of course) of building a blog on sisuahlai.com. Just like a reality series on blogging... more of less. :)