Internet entrepreneur Jason Calacanis and Alan Meckler, chief executive of Jupitermedia Inc., debate whether Bloggers Can Make Money? on WSJ.com.
Alan Meckler makes the obvious point that most blogs are not commercial viable. I would add - nor are they intended to be. They serve a limited purpose, being today's equivalent of a diary. I don't think that's a bad thing. One of Leonardo Da Vinci's secrets to creativity was to keep a journal. Blogs work great for keeping a record of ideas, things that interest you, and topics for further investigation.
Jason Calacanis thinks blogs can be monetized by advertisers. He makes the point that you might expect to make "half a living" from blogging if you had 500,000 page views a month - which isn't easy. With a RPM (revenue per 1000 page views) of 3 to 10 dollars you end up making $1500 to $5000 per month.
Mr. Meckler makes the point that with the ad-based revenue model, and his relatively popular blog he would make about enough to buy a candy bar every month.
If you moved out of the ad-based revenue model and into a business to business area you might have a better chance of making money. B2B is where you write a blog on some niche topic...maybe growing bonsai trees, catching fish with magic fishing lures or making furniture out of willow branches, how to make money on the internet, develop buns of steel etc. - and advertise, or sell your own, items associated with that activity.
If you take away the possibility for making money from blogging I don't think it makes any difference at all to the vast majority of bloggers. They are doing it for fun, as a way to share ideas, vent, learn...and they can buy their own candy bars.
