Why most people can't make a living by just blogging

The great majority of of people that start blogging for money usually give up long before they are likely to receive the fruits of their writing. My personal estimate is that most bloggers that start off with great enthusiasm have their drive wind down after 3-6 months. After about 6 months I notice that bloggers that use to write several blog posts a day now only write 1 or less blog post a day. After those 6 months have passed and they don't manage to gather a following or have many visitors a day. Now their blog is only posted to about once a week or less - they are almost to the point of giving up on their money making blog venture.

What they don't realize is the fact that the more often you write in your blog the better the chance that your blog is indexed by the search engines. That along increases your chances people doing searches finding your blog. It also takes more than a year for a blog to gain enough posts and information for it to become interesting enough for advertisers to take notice and want to put ads on your blog.

Famous, money making blogs did not become that way over night. Often it took a year or more for a blog to get a following and regular readers.

My simple advice to you is:

• If you plan on blogging for a living, make sure you are in it for the long haul. Think more in terms of at least 9 months before you will see any income from your efforts. Once you see that you CAN make money by blogging you will continue - but it takes time.
  

Foreclosures in big cities

It certainly looks like the foreclosure situation in the USA is continuing it's downward spiral. Some people that have money are snapping up some great bargains in areas of the country were they believe are at or near the bottom of the real estate market. Florida in one state that is claiming to be at the bottom right now. Oregon on the other hand is worried that it has not found their bottom market and still has a way to go.

Many large cities that were founded on money and real estate prices are having a hard time rebounding. Las Vegas was really hard hit by the down turn. Here is more information about the Las Vegas Foreclosures.

Buying a foreclosed property is not all fun and roses. You need to do some homework on the property you are thinking about buying. If the house was foreclosed because of a second mortgage then you must be aware that the first mortgage on the property is still in force and will have to be paid.

What do you need to survive today?

Take a good hard look at your weekly expenses and figure out how much you need just to get by. If you already make that amount then you can skip this post and read another one. If you are not making enough to get by then how much more each day do you need to make?

Our family has a fixed monthly income and we just barely get by on it. On the rare occasion we might go in the red. It is by no means an amount that will allow us to save for a rainy day or even for the once a year property tax. In order for us to live with some sort of a bumper zone I make money by blogging and writing for the internet. All I need to make is $20 a day in order to save and have money for a few extras like going out to the movies once a month. Most of the time I make just over $20 a day but there are times when I make just $5.

I really enjoy writing articles for the internet and I write about what interests me the most. I don't tend to write diet pill reviews or technical articles about cars but I have had offers to do both. I feel that my articles are better received by my readers when I stick to subjects I am passionate about. Most of my articles are 200-500 words and fetch $5-$20 an article. I usually write a few of them a day. I also blog and now I am Twittering on Twitter. The blogs fetch another few dollars a day in advertising as well as income from Google Adsense.

I guess my next step is to up my daily goal to maybe $30 a day and see when I will achieve that.

Lessons learned about frugal living

If I had practiced my purchasing habits that I now have just 3 years ago I would have paid off all of my medical bills, a store credit card and had a substantial savings account. Even when I was earning a low wage I could have done all of that. So now I kick myself for not living more frugally way back then. If I go back even 10 years when our family's income was over $60K a year I now wonder what we wasted the money on.

The plain and simple truth is that we purchased things, lots of things. Many of those things are now broken, forgotten or have worn out. A few of those electronic things are now outdated and are no longer used.

I have learned not to purchase on a whim. Never go food shopping when you are hungry. Make a weekly budget and stick to it no matter what. Only pay for something in cash. If you don't have the money for it, it doesn't get bought. Stay away from fast food purchases. Make only 1-2 trips to the grocery store a week. Know the prices of food, clothing and gas so you can spot a good deal when you see one.

It takes a change in your lifestyle as well. If one member of the family does not like the cheaper brand of something rather than the expensive brand then tell them they just have to live with it or do without it. Many items were removed from our diets because they were just too expensive. We survived and so can anyone else that does the same thing.

Crazy and money making inventions

I think that almost everyone wants to be the inventor of the next "pet rock" and become rich and famous. The real fact is that the human race has new inventions everyday. Some are mundane, some lifesaving and others just plain useless and crazy.

We may laugh at the crazy inventions like chia pets, the clapper and the George Foreman grill but they have made millions for their promoters. Some of the best money making inventions have had something to do with exercise and fitness. You know about the Bowflex, the Total Gym and thigh master but what about Kettlebells and exer-rider? Will they ever be well known?

I was given a Healthrider years ago when it use to be "the" hot exercise piece of equipment to have. I soon found out why the Healthrider did not last as a long term piece of fitness equipment, it hurt your back. I talked to others that also had a Healthrider and they too developed back pain after using it for more than a week. It was one of those pieces of fitness equipment that was all hype and lacked proper research. They too gave up on those $400 Healthriders and soon I started seeing them at garage sales and fleas markets for less than $20.

A word to the wise, don't buy some new invention because of hype, wait a few months to see if the item will last and live up to it's claims.