Since Darren Rowse dropped the bomb on the blogosphere, announcing that he had made nearly $15,000 in one month from Google AdSense—I think a lot of people began to wonder, “Is this really possible?”

The thought of making that kind of money through blogging sounds like a dream.  One in a million.  But is it?

I recently launched The Alaska Blog as a way to test out Google AdSense and making money through affiliate programs.  I figured, it would be no loss if I didn’t make any money, the site is a way for us to get out and enjoy Alaska more and share it with the world.  (Note: the blog is just four days old today, but I promised I’d chronicle my journey!) So, we’d have fun and meet other Alaska enthusiasts if absolutely nothing else.  I’d also be armed with first-hand knowledge as I consult with my clients who are interested in making money through blogging.

At best, I had hoped that I would gain a little Google love by blogging about the subject matter (given that Google loves blogs, right?).  And as a result, perhaps at some point be able to provide opportunities to local businesses to advertise on the site.  Of course, I’m predicting that this will take several months if it’s possible at all.  The search word “Alaska” is a highly coveted keyword as you can imagine, tourism being the third largest industry in the state.  But nobody has really done the blogging angle—so it just *might* work. I figured, what is there to lose?

First, setting up the site was a time-consuming task.  I am glad I’m a web designer, I’ll just say that.  I decided to purchase a commercial license of Expression Engine so I could take advantage of some of the powerful features that are included—photo gallery, stats, forum, etc.  I considered starting out with WordPress since it’s free, but I figured eventually I’d migrate—might as well get off to a good start.  The design needed to be appealing.  Considering the subject matter, I felt it was important to have an inviting, friendly look and to provide lots of images, “eye candy” as it were.  So I did my designer thing and went through several design concepts before I settled on the one that felt right.

Then I decided I’d need to generate some traffic.  I signed up for Blog Explosion to see what kind of response I’d get from that.  I purchased 1,000 credits and spent some time surfing through the member blogs and participating in their monthly contest (to gain points) to get things cooking.  I also have been using ping-o-matic regularly, I’m still not sure what this even really does, but I figure it can’t hurt.  I’ve been seeking out other Alaskan bloggers and leaving comments, inviting people to visit the site.  I also signed up for the Blogathon to raise money for a local charity, so everyone in my address book received the announcement of the site launch and the event.  And, much to my surprise, in it’s fourth day online I have had over 1,000 hits.  I don’t think that’s half bad for a new blog that doesn’t post “timely” content (read: Harry Potter book 6 blogs). 

Now, that in and of itself is not necessarily impressive.  Since I am not targetting Alaska enthusiasts, I was concerned that the quality of my visitors wouldn’t be all that great even if the quantity was.  However, something rather unexpected happened—I started to receive emails thanking me for starting this site!  Some had been to Alaska, some live here, some dream of visiting.  The emotional response was something I hadn’t expected.  That alone makes my efforts worthwhile.

The next step was to set up Google AdSense and apply for some affiliate programs.  I looked into blogads, but aparently they are only taking new members through sponsorship.  I’ll check back with them down the road, I’m just not there yet in terms of google rankings and loyal readership.  I did apply for a few programs through commission junction and some others, but nothing to report there just yet. 

My first day with Google Adsense, I made a whopping 27 cents.  I think playing with placement and formatting is critical to success, and I intend to experiment until I figure out what works best.

Even though I am not getting rich just quite yet, I am encouraged.  I know first hand that it sometimes takes months to gain any type of readership and traffic to a blog, but given my current CTR and traffic trend, I expect that this will be worth it eventually.

Another unexpected benefit since putting up this blog is the traffic it has sent to Endeavor Creative.  I received an inquiry a couple of days later for an interesting commercial project as a result. 

I am really not sure if this information is helpful to anybody just yet, but maybe down the road, if I achieve success with this, it will be more important to have recorded the progress from the very beginning.

My thoughts about “Pro Blogging” thus far are:

1.  It’s important to write what you know, and have passion.
2.  It’s important to choose a topic that people are interested in.  I’ve heard that niche topics are best, but I’m not entirely convinced that’s the only way to do it.
3.  It’s important to consider the quality of the keywords that will appear in the AdSense ads, checking the Overture Bid tool has been my guide there.  I know which topics are of interest to advertisers, and I can plan accordingly.
4.  One blog is probably not enough to make a living at this, unless you happen to win the “blog lottery”—Time, patience, perseverence, hard work and constant research, adaptation and original, quality content development seem to be the key.

Even though the thought of making a living at blogging is appealing to so many, including me, I am convinced that this is hard, hard work and nothing short of it.  This is not “get rich quick”—but if you have something to say, and people want to hear it, advertisers will undoubtedly take notice.

But, I’m just going with my gut so far.  So stay tuned.