“How much do you make from your site?”

– Question I always get asked

How to make a blog that pays for your vacation

Other men frequently send me emails asking how much I make from blogging. Although this is a little rude, I’m happy to answer.

Enough that I don’t have to worry about extra spending money.

I’m not Pat Flynn or Stefan Pylarinos, where I claim to make $50,000 a month of “one weird trick.” But I do well enough that I can go out to eat and see a movie if I want.

Right now I’m living in Lima, Peru and could survive for the rest of my stay off blog money alone. This is a place where a full meal costs $5.

To put this another way, blogging paid for my entire trip abroad (sans airfare and rent).

Was it hard to do?

Not really.

My site gets a lot less traffic than most of the big guys.

I’ve never had a million visitors a month and I don’t actively promote my work. Aside from writing posts I don’t do a whole lot with the site.

Why you could build a site that’s more profitable

One of my most popular posts is titled Not drinking won’t affect your sex life. If you were smarter than me you’d turn this idea into a whole blog on its own. Personally I don’t go to clubs any more, and picking up girls isn’t that big a priority.

But, if you’re a guy who doesn’t drink and likes to go out, this would be a great niche for you.

There are millions of creative things you could do for your site. That’s just one of them.

You could do something else like buy a self-help or fitness book and blog about your progress with it. This isn’t the most original idea, but it could still work.

Is running a blog worth the effort?

After picking my brain about all kinds of technical stuff that I know nothing about, aspiring bloggers almost always ask, “Is it worth it?”

If you’re only in it for the money the answer is no. Getting a part-time job at the mall would probably pay more than your first year of blogging.

Anyone with a passion for their subject matter will do fine. Running 30 Days To X paid peanuts for my first year, but I loved every second of it.

Money grows

Your small earnings get bigger and bigger over time. $10 a month, which would be on the low end of the spectrum, is still an extra $120 a year. $100 or $200 a month, which is pretty easy, will make you enough for a nice vacation anywhere in Latina America or Asia.

Two ways to turn a profit

Another question that I always get asked is, “How can I make money online?”

There are two really easy methods:

• Affiliate marketing

You’re going to buy a lot of stuff throughout the year. Books, movies, video games, soap, this list goes on and on.

A normal person would see this as a burden. You know it’s an opportunity. Programs like Amazon Affiliates let you link products and earn a commission off of every one of them that you sell. You probably won’t make a killing, but you can earn enough to offset your expenses.

I bought a copy of The Boron Letters and really enjoyed it. Posting a review of what I learned from the book allowed me recuperate some of the money I had spent.

• Offer a service

Most of my income comes from the Internet. Copywriting and authoring articles has paid for almost everything I currently own.

If you have a skill there’s no reason that you can’t monetize it online.

You don’t have to do article writing either. You could offer to make artwork, do web design, or provide consultations.

Tons of bloggers have been successful with this.

Two ways to build more traffic

The third most frequently asked question that I get is, “How do I get more pageviews?”

Two of the most effective tactics are as follows:

• Publish daily

Since the start of the month I’ve been posting new content twice a day. This might be a little excessive, but it has driven traffic up considerably. Readers want something new. If you don’t publish they don’t show up. It’s that simple.

• Link to others

I wrote an article about James Altucher’s great college advice. Once it was up I Tweeted the article to him. He shared it with his 114 ,000 followers. My readership increased.

You can’t be annoying or spammy, but doing something like this can improve your traffic.

If you see something you like share it. And don’t be a afraid to credit the author.

Where to store your profits

All my blogging money goes into a special savings account. This makes it easy for me to keep track of my earnings. You could put it with the rest of your cash, but I really wouldn’t recommend this.

Depending on where you live you can declare your site to be a side business. This means that any expenditures you have, like buying a domain name or ordering books to review, can be used as tax write-offs.

I’m not an expert on this subject, but it’s something that anyone with a blog should look into. Being able to keep track of expenses and revenues can lead to some major savings during tax season.