I was researching weekly resources one day, scrolling through bloglovin’ and Pinterest, when I started to wonder, really wonder—is anyone still blogging for fun? Or is everyone actively trying to make money from this endeavor that was once primarily a hobby? Obviously, this idea of doing something for fun is so subjective. For one, just because your blog makes money doesn’t mean you’re not having fun. And just because a blog doesn’t make money doesn’t mean it’s not a ton of work, or even something that could be treated as a job or is already part of your business. (I first noticed this concept with handmade business and selling on Etsy—most makers start off crafting because it brings them joy, but they open a shop because who wouldn’t want to do what they love even more?) If you love writing or sharing creative content, then being able to make money blogging is the dream. But the thing is, there are certain rules—whether they’re loosely defined or specific strategies—that a blogger who makes money follows and a blogger who doesn’t might not worry about, and it has an effect on their content.
I think a lot of people start blogs because they have some knowledge they think would be cool to share. Jenn and I both love sharing resources that we’ve accumulated over 8+ years each blogging in the lifestyle space. Passing that knowledge on is an amazing feeling—if my experience can help someone even in the smallest of ways, I’m happy. So I think that’s a huge reason that at least in the past, used to motivate people to start a blog, money aside.
Lately I hear less and less about how people want to share their experience and more about how people want to make money. Where the intention used to be laidback and somewhat vague—like “I just want to share what I’ve learned”—it’s more like “I want to get paid for this knowledge”. This isn’t a judgment whatsoever, of course, observations.
When I think of this whole concept—making money blogging—I can’t help but think of being 18 years old, fresh out of high school, wanting to share my experiences through writing. I went on to get an English degree, DIY blogging all the way, knowing I’d one day be a “Writer”, with no idea what I’d actually be doing. In fact, it was long before I made the connection that being a writer might mean being a blogger.
In Big Magic, Elizabeth Gilbert talks about the consequences of relying on your art to make money. Sure, if it happens, it’s amazing—it means you just might not need that day job. But if it doesn’t? There you are, churning out content your heart isn’t in, just trying to keep views up so you can keep supporting yourself. It’s one thing if you’re in it to make money and you truly love every post you write and everything you post. But when you jump into digital content simply to make money without having any drive or passion behind it, your content may look a little different than the hobbyists before you.
What do you think? Is anyone blogging just for fun anymore? Would you still blog if you never made money from it? We’d truly love to hear your thoughts. Stop back by on Wednesday to see the 4 things that change when you start monetizing your blog.
We’ve blogged for fun and for money. Right now, we’re doing a bit of both!
Stéphanie says
Good question! I have been blogging for nearly 4 years and don’t make money from it so I guess I’m still doing it for the fun. I love everything that I learn in the blogging space: design, content, promotion, photography, etc.. ; But it’s true that we have lost the spontaneous pleasure of sharing just for the sake of sharing in the online world.
I hope it’ll get back to it somehow.
Oh and can I take this opportunity to say a big thank you for the lovely monthly wallpapers that you share. They are always so pretty!
Sue Burpee says
I am, I am … still blogging for fun. I’m a retired English and creative writing teacher who missed the interaction of the classroom, and now use my blog to share stories, and talk about fashion, books, and travel. I’ve been blogging for a little over three years and have been tossing around ideas in my head about where to go with my blog now. How to grow my readership, and whether I should monetize or not.
I’m sometimes inspired by what I read on other blogs, and sometimes dismayed, usually by the poor content, especially the writing. And I’m often put off by blogs which are so very obviously just for making money. So I am waffling big time over whether to go down that road. Or not.
I stop by here often to read your articles. Blogs like yours have helped me immensely. So I’ll be interested to hear what else you have to say about monetizing.
Kiersten Childs says
I still blog for fun! I have hardly any followers and I don’t get many comments and that doesn’t really matter to me! I enjoy writing and being creative. I like that since I blog for fun, I don’t have to follow deadlines and post every week or day. It’s a nice stress reliever for me.
Juliette | Namastay Traveling says
I go back and forth between this a lot. When it comes down to it, I write for me and to have these memories somewhere where I can access them anytime I want. But, also, it would be such a missed opportunity for me to not see what my little blog could become if I refrained from making it profitable. Who knows. As long as you love it and share that passion with your readers, it’s worth the time not matter what, money or not.
Sara says
I’m blogging for fun, but if I was to start making money off my blog I wouldn’t complain! haha. I started my blog as a place to post my personal photography so that I would have a place to share it that wasn’t my photography business blog. I know not a lot of people read my blog, but I still like sharing home tours & shopping guides!
Angela says
Beautiful blog, Sara! You could start by joining a few affiliate programs if you haven’t (and want to possibly earn a little $) for your shopping guides. It might not pay off until you have more views, but it will be nice to already have them done, and you never know!
Alexandra says
I blog for fun! I just like sharing my little world with friends and family. Sure, I’ve thought about making money from it, but it’s not something I’m pushing – if it happens, it happens, but I’m just enjoying creating content and learning all things blogging related :)
Angela says
Love your posts on your blog! I think that’s the way a so many of us started… If you create great content, you might end up with a little income, but if not, you’ve still created great content to share. :)
Annika says
I started my blog a year ago as more of an online portfolio. I will be job-hunting this summer after 15 years of being out of the workforce and my old portfolio just isn’t relavent anymore.
I have gained some new skills and learned a lot over the past year so in a way it has been fun, but mostly educational for me. I did end up building a new website for my parish as a result of blogging and I gained some insight into SEO strategies that way.
I love the resources and thoughtful posts you provide!
Mitzyann says
This is a great question! I am a new blogger. I’ve been blogging for about a month and before starting my blog I did plenty of research on what it takes to start a blog and how to do it. The amount of content out there on monetizing a blog and driving traffic is insane. It is actually overwhelming and somewhat discouraging.
I choose to blog as a hobby. I love to write. I don’t blog consistently because I refuse to force myself to do something that maybe at the moment is not serving me. That my hurt the success of my blog, but I want it to be fun not a chore.
Kelsey says
Good question. When I first started blogging over ten years ago, it was purely for fun. And it was such a different world back then! There were link exchange sites, site of the month awards, and lots more commenting without doing it for “marketing” purposes.
I do it mainly for fun right now. I don’t have much of a following like I used to back in the day. I use the same name that I use for my Etsy shop so that what little traffic I do get can also possibly journey over to the shop. And although I’m not trying to blog as a business, I did sign up to an affiliate program. I don’t plan to saturate my site with ads and links or try to make it super profitable. I just figured that even if it’s for fun, why not make some spare change if possible :)
Lauren says
I’m all about blogging for fun. I post what I enjoy posting. I couldn’t imagine following the current trend in blogs right now and posting what everyone else seems to be posting. That’s just not me. I’d rather be the only one looking at my blog but enjoy what’s on it than have a 1,000 followers and be miserable every time I have to update it.
Danyell says
I agree! My blog is entirely for my own experiences and memories. I want family and friends to view it, but all the other viewers and passerbys are just new happy friends, not numbers and stats.
Leah | A Relaxed Gal says
I’m one of those still blogging for fun. I work in a creative industry for my full-time job, but don’t get to work on creative projects much anymore. So my blog is a way for me to have a creative outlet and get what I’m not getting at work. It’s also a place for me to share my knowledge and experiences with others. While I would love to be making money from my blog it’s not my sole focus for my blog.
Angela says
That’s how I feel about working in a creative industry too. It’s nice to have that as your day job, but sometimes you just want an outlet for other creative pursuits :)
Sam says
I’ve been blogging for over 10 years and most of those I was a ‘hobby blogger’. As a woman I realise I was totally underselling my experience, knowledge and value I was giving out. I think this is a common thing amongst other female bloggers. I’m about to launch a new website which helps other non-bloggers and current bloggers to put their business hats on (yes, another one but I’ve rode the wave far longer than most!). Blogging for profit can be incredibly liberating for many I know – and the good ones are able to combine the pleasure factor and ability to serve. I think it’s a very common ‘tall poppy’ mentality to assume people are miserable because they are chasing followers or that hobby blogging is in some way more meaningful. It certainly isn’t! I think you just have to genuinely follow what makes you happy. I also think it’s brilliant that blogs are more professional now, they look nicer and put the reader first. This has been a really great thing for the craft and business of blogging, lead mostly by women! I celebrate that and see it’s not a ‘trend’ (ouch!) but a natural, organic process which has been an ongoing process with the rise of handmade and that whole culture which sprang up in the early noughties and beyond. If you do it long enough, you stop looking at it like a hobby and take it seriously and as blogs often went hand in hand with this niche, it was only a matter of time they followed the same ‘trend’. It was great watching ‘little’ blogs like Design Sponge etc go from a very niche blog to what it is today. All power to Grace and those like her :)
Angela says
That’s a great point. We also love that this has been a space dominated by women and one where they can control their careers (and hobbies) too. It definitely provides many opportunities. Thanks for sharing!
Kendra says
Yes Yes Yes 8 years and going strong! I blog about motherhood, family life with my toddlers, travel, health & fitness, fave products. It’s a bunch of randomness and I love being able to share about anything that tickles my fancy!
It’s been an active choice to keep it “just for fun”. I’ve turned down deals that have come my way beacuse I have experienced what it feels like when your passion becomes a job (I’m a photographer). On the flip side of it I have done a few trades. We recently went on a mini weekend vacation thanks to a trade that I was really pumped about. Blogging has opened many doors for me over the years which I’ve been tickled about but yeah no actual $ in my hands thus far. I’m a never say never kind of person so I’m open to it but at this very moment I’m happy with where things are at.
Angela says
That’s a great attitude to have!
Barbara Radisavljevic says
My very first blog started as a non-monetized adjunct to my business. The other early blog was a visual gardening journal which was purely for fun. In 2009 I discovered Squidoo and HubPages and learned I could make a few dollars from my writing. I also made good money at Bubblews while it lasted. Then Squidoo and Bubblews both went down and HubPages remade itself into a shadow of what it had been and it was no longer fun. I decided if I were going to write without having fun, I’d just as soon do it on my own sites and I started more blogs. I started the new blogs about the time I had to shut down my online bookselling business. I’d had to take it offline for two months due to a surgery, and it never recovered. That’s when I got serious about blogging for money and started more blogs.
Angela says
That’s a great point. When you are making income as a writer you also eventually have a choice, do you want your blog to be your platform, or do you want to get paid to write elsewhere? I ended up doing a little of both, but with most of my income coming from writing on other sites. Thanks for sharing!
Brooklyn W. says
When I started my blog I didn’t start because I had something I wanted to share – I just wanted to start a blog and make fun blog posts! It’s literally just a place where I can show some creativity in my writing and photography, no matter how random the post it. I’d love to make money off of it someday, but I feel like I have no time to get started on that and like I wouldn’t have time to keep it going if it wasn’t my only job. So for now, I’m okay with it just being a hobby.
<3 Brooklyn
| latidoblog.weebly.com |
Carina B says
Wow!
Angela, I totally see myself when you mentioned “…wanting to share my experiences through writing. I went on to get an English degree, ”
Today, I have finally published my first blog which was about a year in my thoughts… since I was writing for my Master’s program – when I decided to enroll in the creative writing classes.
I am ‘green’ in this business but the kick off was important to pushed me into an action mode.
Of course I want to get some money out of it by showing my work with Bijou. But, my blog is more than that! It is about sharing experience, thoughts, opinion, and Bijou – of course.
Check it out at https://carinabe.wixsite.com/carinab
… and share your thoughts. Tks. BjBj
Rachel says
I still blog for fun. I’ve been blogging since I was a pre-teen and Xanga was the thing. Sometimes I feel a little silly because everyone is really only using blogging as content for their careers, which is great, but mine is just what I’m doing, haha.
Angela says
Oh my gosh, yay for Xanga! That was totally us too.
Joy says
I recently started a blog just for fun. I’ve been a SAHM for years, and was looking for a creative outlet. By blogging, I’m encouraging myself to practice writing, photography, and design. I plan to spend a year creating the best content I can, then if I can start making some money, well…I won’t hate it! ;)
Danyell says
Yes! I only blog for fun. I blog to keep my own memories and share things with family who are states away. I hardly have any viewers… I do wish that would change… but my blog is not meant to make money or appease the “blog standards”
Kitten says
I’ve been blogging for about 10 years and have yet to make money off it :) So I’m blogging for fun! ^^ But honestly the past few months I’ve started looking up how to make money etc mainly because as a blogger you do put a lot of work into your blog so part of me feels, why not make a little something something ^^
xo Kitten ♥ The Howling WolfHeart
Victoria says
This was a great post and I agreed with so much of what was mentioned. It does seem as if people don’t blog for fun anymore. The big bloggers seem to be traveling the world and blogging from a new place everyday while the medium sized bloggers seem to be giving “tips” on how to become a better blogger. And the small bloggers can’t seem to make it to medium size without selling themselves. Of course, there are exceptions to everything but that’s what I’ve been observing.
I blogged unofficially for about 4 years, then stopped and started blogging officially and have been for the past 5 years. Have yet to make a dime from it. Not to say I hope it won’t happen but I definitely continue to blog for the fun of it because I just love it!
Angela says
That’s such a good summary of the general trend of big vs medium vs small bloggers!
Torrie says
I used to want to try and make money off my blog and researched it out a lot and posted a lot and tried doing paid sponsorships of other blogs a lot…but in the end, the best thing I did for myself was just decide that I wasn’t going to try and make money off of it. It’s so funny how that one shift in thinking (because I’d never made money off of it, so it’s not like anything changed outwardly) really helped me rediscover the joy that I’d first found blogging.
Now I’ve been blogging for almost 10 years (although regularly only six and a half), and my main goal is to find joy documenting my life’s journey and to forge connections with people I might not otherwise meet in real life. Win win, for me!
http://autodidacticambitions.blogspot.com
Ann Kroeker says
Great question you posed here! I’m enjoying perusing the responses of writers who blog for the fun of it, to share stories with family and friends, and to develop a writing habit. Your excerpt from Big Magic adds an interesting element to the conversation.
Paula, The Geeky Shopaholic says
I’ve been blogging for seven years and I’ve never made money from it. I love to write and create and that’s why I blog! It makes me happy! :)
Nora says
I have had my blog for over a dozen years and kept it a hobby. I like to share crafts, recipes, our house, and random bits of life. I used to post five days a week, but am down to about two. The amount of daily views I have (that was never much bigger than a 1,000) is down to about a 1/3 of what it was in previous years.
I actually wrote sometime in the last year that I was kind of feeling like the only hobby blogger left. And, because I enjoy reading about the business of blogging, I often think that I am doing it wrong nowadays. I don’t have endless supply of unique ideas, the most Pinterest-able of images, or host amazing web-seminars on how to do something.
I just have fun with it. I like redesigning it and keeping it organized. And I feel so lucky to have a place to share when I’ve made something that I am excited about.
I’ve been blogging for more than a 1/3 of my life and hope to continue for years to come.
Angela says
Your blog is gorgeous! I’ve realized that with all of the business of blogging info it can seem like there IS a right way to do it, even from a hobby standpoint. But then I distance myself from that by talking to people outside my blog friends and realize it’s still changing so much and there’s never going to be one right way to blog. Thanks for sharing your experience!
Diana says
I’ve been blogging since I was 15. I love the writing and the creative aspect but now days blogs are cheap. Everyone has one. It’s hard to keep writing when the market is so saturated with blogs and no one notices you.
xoxo Diana http://www.dianavilic.com
Jenn says
I started it for the fun and to share, with no goal to make money, because I genuinely love helping people have the best food experience possible. It makes me sad when I tell people what I do, their first question is often “how do you make money?” But your words ring true – just because it doesn’t make money, even if you have no desire for it to do so, doesn’t mean it’s not a lot of work. A lot. And there are aspects that aren’t fun, just plain old work. But if you want your product done well, with followers (can’t help people that don’t know you exist), you have to keep producing high quality content, even if it stops being fun some weeks or if some weeks you’re just tired. I think that’s the struggle – figuring out why this “hobby” as suddenly become a “job” – especially when you’re not meeting your overall goal of helping people. Sigh… big questions… back to the blog!
Terry Benson says
I started blogging for fun 2 years ago, as I approached retirement. I’ve always enjoyed writing and photography, so blogging seemed like a natural extension of my creative interests. I mainly document travel experiences and I use my own photography. Sometimes, I’ve done posts about my take on aging, retirement, or on life in general. I love that I don’t feel pressed to follow a routine and that I can make a blog post when the spirit moves me. I have few followers but accumulating a ton of followers was never my goal. I enjoy reading back and reliving experiences and thought processes along the way.
Desiree says
I love this post. I have had an interest in blogging and even had my own blog for a while. But I stopped cause I think I had unrealistic expectations that eventually I was going to make big money off of it and have tons of followers. ( Yeah right. So did not happen.) But after reading this post I would love to get back into writing/ blogging for fun and see where it takes me. No profit involved for now.
Angela says
Thanks, Desiree! I’ve started doing more writing and photography just for fun and not income lately and I’m feeling a lot more inspired myself. It’s easy to get unrealistic expectations especially in blog world where there are so many people telling you it’s easy to make an income. There’s certainly a lot to it and it is incredibly time consuming! I’m glad you’re getting back into it for fun.