How I Won’t Make Money Blogging

If you’re looking for a post about how I make money blogging, this isn’t it.

If you asked me why I started blogging, I’d tell you that I’m doing it because I enjoy it. There is an element of truth to this: I do enjoy the process of blogging. Besides, some corners of the internet will tell you that blogging is dead. If you want to make money online, you have to turn to other things.

That said, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to make some money blogging. It’s just that if I’m going to make money blogging, I want to do it on my terms. Will I get rich? Probably not. But if I can make enough money to cover my expenses, that would be amazing.

When I say that I want to make money blogging on my own terms, what I mean is that there are a few things I absolutely refuse to do. Even though conventional wisdom says that these things can help drive traffic or make money for bloggers.

What do I refuse to do, you ask? Well, let’s talk about them.

Creating video

Conventional wisdom seems to be that blogging is dead and the way to make money online is to start a YouTube channel and either rely solely on that or use it in conjunction with a blog.

I confess that I watch a lot of YouTube. And I mean a lot. However, I have no desire to start a YouTube channel of my own, at least not one where I show my face.

There are a few reasons for this:

1. The biggest reason is that I have mixed feelings about being on camera. I recognize that this is the internet and people can be cruel. While I wish I could be the sort of person who could ignore the haters, I can sometimes have thin skin / be sensitive. I’m fully prepared to be trolled without plastering my face on the internet. However, if I’m going to be trolled, I’d rather be trolled based on something I wrote rather than what I look like or how I talk. That might be superficial, but it’s the truth. Additionally, I feel very awkward on camera. I’m sure that’s something that I can get better with overtime, but I still don’t want to go through an awkward phase on camera.
2. I don’t have a decent setup. I know, I know: you can always start with your phone and buy more expensive equipment later. But the fact remains that the expectation is that I will buy more expensive equipment eventually and I don’t really want to.
3. The ins and outs of video editing/production/etc are not things I’m particularly interested in learning.

As I said, I watch a lot of YouTube. I have a huge amount of respect for people who create content for YouTube.

I’m just cheering those folks on from my corner.

I’m working up the courage to maybe post pictures of myself on the internet (maybe here? Or Instagram?), but I don’t see a YouTube channel in my future.

Interestingly, there was a time when I said there was no way I’d start any kind of YouTube channel, period. But I guess I’m an example of how things can change. Recently, I started playing around with streaming myself playing video games on Twitch. So far, streaming myself on Twitch has been an awkward experience: I’m not that great at video games and I hate hearing the sound of my voice on recordings (as a side note: if you’ve ever felt that your voice sounds different on recordings than when you hear yourself talking, you’re not alone! There’s actually a scientific explanation for it). Along with my Twitch channel, I set up a YouTube channel for the sole purpose of archiving my old Twitch streams because they disappear from Twtich after a period of time. I guess the moral of this story is never say never.

Creating a course

I feel like I’ve come across a lot of online content creators that make a lot of claims about making money online. “I make six figures on YouTube” or “I’ve become a millionaire from TikTok,” they claim. “All you have to do is buy my course to find out how!”

I’m not saying all these people are scammers. But I do think that sometimes these course promotions give off MLM energy.

I recently fell down the rabbit whole of YouTube videos featuring common internet scams, and learned about the concept of MRR courses. And those sound scammy as hell. There’s no way I’m buying into that. I don’t see how something like that could possibly be sustainable. Plus, how do you sell something online if you don’t have an audience?

Furthermore, if you became a millionaire from recording videos for YouTube, why aren’t you doing that rather than peddling your course?

How do I know that what worked for you three years ago is something that I can realistically replicate now?

If I have these questions, it wouldn’t surprise me if others have these questions as well.

I don’t feel comfortable creating something like this and trying to sell it to someone else.

In conclusion

There are a number of ways to make money blogging. Some of these techniques sound like things I’d be interested in. That said, there are some money making techniques that I refuse to incorporate into my content creation life. These include creating video and creating online courses. If that means leaving money on the table, so be it.

I will find some other way to make money blogging.

Updated: May 17, 2025 @ 4:21 am