This is a question I’ve thought about quite a bit, especially in the past couple of months. I’ve been blogging less often, and spending less time reading blogs, too, because I simply don’t have the time in the face of other priorities. The question is a good one, though, because it gets to the root of why we are blogging in the first place. Finding an answer can help to focus our efforts and make us much more efficient.
One way to look at this is purely financial: how much are we making per hour spent on blogging? How does this compare to your day job? If you’re making $25 an hour at your day job, but only making an average of $5 an hour blogging, is it worth it to you? Don’t answer yet, because I’m sure many of you will start off by saying how you’re not blogging for money. Income is a terrific incentive, though, and many bloggers continue blogging because of the financial benefits, even if they didn’t start out with that goal in mind.
The financial aspect of things is a powerful one. I’m amazed sometimes by the lengths I see people going to make money on the internet. I’m not talking about people who are making big bucks, but those who are making relatively small amounts, say, less than a couple hundred per month. Sure, this amount can be significant for a lot of people, but is the time spent earning this money actually worth it?
If you spend 10 hours per week filling out surveys, etc, on get-paid-to sites and it’s making you $50 per week, is it worth it? There are a number of people out there doing this and often making less than the $5 per hour that this example gives. Why not just get a part time job that makes more than that? Even figuring in taxes (which you’ll eventually have to do with your blogging income, too), most part time jobs will pay more and for less work. If you work at a job that makes tips, like delivering pizzas, tending bar, or parking cars, the amount per hour of work is likely to be significantly higher.
I understand that there are other, less tangible benefits to blogging. It can be a nice stress relief as well as a way to develop a network of friends around the world. I like this aspect of blogging a lot. At the same time, it’s appropriate to ask how much return you’re getting from the time you spend on your blog, or in any other pursuit. If it’s becoming a hassle for you and it requires a lot of time that doesn’t necessarily result in a significant benefit, then it’s time to reevaluate.
Ultimately, blogging is just like any other part-time job or hobby. There are reasons why you do it. As your life changes, take another look at the time you devote to these activities and make adjustments if the fit is no longer right. Remember that you are in the driver’s seat.
I don’t think you can use the ‘dollars per hour’ formula unless you are already a very well established blogger who has a regular income coming in. I’m a new blogger and as such I spend quite a long time doing it at the moment and I haven’t even started to monetize my blog in any way, so I know exactly how much I earn – $0 per hour!
But I see the time spent now as an investment into the future of the blog. Right now I read a ton of blogs, I spend time commenting like I’m doing right here, I spend a lot of time crafting out my own posts – all in all it’s several hours a day. Though long term I don’t think I could keep all that up as there other projects that I want to spend time on so I would hope that over time I wouldn’t need to read quite so many blogs, and my own posting frequency may reduce without sacrificing quality.
You are absolutely right. I started off blogging without any financial expectations and have graduated to making some, not a great deal mind you, but enough to keep me interested in it. Like any other opportunity costing, this activity is also to be costed and a benefit analysis done to see how much time you can spend on it. If you do that on an on going basis, you can not go wrong.
Yes, it is not just that I am in the driving seat. I have to remember that I am. It can become a mind numbing habit otherwise.
I tried to limit my time blogging by putting a schedule for myself, but that didn’t quite work for me. I agree with Caroline that the hour-dollar works for a non-problogger; it can be frustrating if that was the main motivation behind your blogging.
Hi Caroline. I agree. It takes a lot of time to get a blog started, especially when you’re learning how to do it along the way. When I first started blogging, I spent an incredible amount of time researching and trying things and just trying to figure out what I was doing and how things worked. Down the road a bit is when you have to decide how much your time is worth.
P.S. You have an interesting story. Good luck with your blog!
Hey Music. That’s right. It sure is a motivator to keep going once you start seeing some money trickling in. That first check from Google is pretty sweet, too.
Hi Lorna. Yeah, blogging can be a hugely frustrating activity if you’re just looking to make money. It definitely sucks up a lot of time and the returns can often take a very long time to show up. In fact, I don’t think I would recommend it as a way of making money unless someone loves the topic to begin with. Otherwise, it would be pure torture. Thanks for your comment!
Well, I can say that it’s up to you to decide how much time you should spend on blogging. Every person determines this limit for himself/herself.