When does a blogger turn into professional blogging

July 1st, 2009 Kevin Quinlan No comment

There is no magical sign when a hobby blogger turns into a professional blogging unfortuantly the most basic and obvious sign is that they are now making some money. This of course might only be one dollar and need to wait six months to reach the minimum payout to ever see the money.

Professional blogging is not as common as most people think. Not everyone is going to be the next ProBlogger. Very few bloggers are able to convert a part time blogging gig into a full blown professional blogging career. The starting point on the road is the decision to monetize a blog. Most people feel that a blog needs to have a certain level of normal daily traffic before it is really monetized. The reason for this is that advertisements can scare away readers. Especially early on when the blogger does not have enough traffic to bring in private advertisement opportunities or affiliates on their blog.

The other thing is that not all blogs really can lead to professional blogging. Not all topics will demand one million readers a year just because the niche might be too small or on the other side, the topic overkilled. You can be the top result for all of your keywords but if no one is searching for them, what does it matter?

So when does a blogger turn to professional blogging? It really just depends on what the goal of the blog is. This is a decision that any good blogger should set on day one. Set goals of traffic. Set goals on page rank. Set goals on subscriptions to their feeds. Once these goals are achieved then they should monetize the blog.

The theme selected should also be able to support monetization. Some blogs look like crap when you put advertisements on it or they are hidden and no one clicks on them. Deciding from day one you will someday want to make money and be a professional blogger can shape your approach to your design.

Decide early on. Is professional blogging in the cards for you and your blog or are you content as a hobby blogger?