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Can Translators Make a Dollar a Day Blogging?
Thread poster: OG Pete
OG Pete
OG Pete  Identity Verified
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Reply to Heinrich Jul 8, 2013

Heinrich Pesch wrote:

The logic of advertising on the net is viewers seeing your product and (mostly unconsciously) preferring the product when shopping. Contrary to what most of us believe it is not the clicking of ads that is needed, just people seeing the ad. On television it is the same, you see the ad, like it or not, but it will influence your decision later.
I have been using Adblock since years and never see any ads on the net, so this logic does not apply to me.
If Google thinks your blog is worth a buck a day why not take it. Indeed it is comparable to having 40k on a usual bank account, but nobody keeps so much money on a bank account but invests in shares or funds and should so get at least 5/d.

How many blogs on translation the net can support? I don't follow any blogs but get the free edition of Jost Zetzsche's newletter. I have no need for more info, as I read this forum on Proz.com regularly.

Successful bloggers will get money straight from advertisers, as long as people don't learn to use Adblock.

Google receives about 10 cents from me every month from my use of GT. I don't know where the rest of Google's money comes from.


Thanks, Heinrich!

So maybe long-term I could sell permanent advertising space to an advertiser content with people just seeing the ad. If it were just an image file with a link, wouldn't it evade Adblock's filter? BTW Adblock is allegedly starting to "whitelist" certain advertisers.
I'm not so sure about the return-on-investment from publically-traded shares or mutual funds these days. But you're right - a return of 5% per year seems more realistic over the long term. A dollar a day at 5% would be like having only $7,300 in the bank [365/0.05=7300]. So my argument depends a lot on the relatively low US-dollar interest rates that we have now.
I'm not sure how many translation blogs the Internet can support - thousands? I'll be happy as long as it continues to support me in my little niche.
I signed up for Jost Zetzsche's The Toolbox newsletter, thanks for the tip. I'll look into getting money straight from advertisers.
I don't know how they make their money either, unless somebody is paying top dollar to advertise on people's search results and blogs
 
OG Pete
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Metrics Jul 8, 2013

Balasubramaniam L. wrote:

When they can make much more by just translating?

I have tried my hand at making my pot of money by blogging and have got nowhere with it. In fact, I have not earned a single penny from my blogs. I have several blogs and I was very active on blogosphere for sometime, until I realized that it was a major distraction to my translation activity, which is my main source of income, and I weaned myself out of the habit.

Technically it is possible to make money out of blogs. But if you are a translator, then that is not for you, for business level blogging is a full-time activity requiring skills that are far removed from the skills required for translation. For example you should know how to write using keywords that are most popularly looked up by major search engines. This kind of writing is soul-killing and no self-respecting writer or translator will take it up.

Only those for whom earning money is the sole end in life would want to make a career out of this kind of blogging.

The true joy of blogging comes when you are free to write as you want, without the pressure of having to earn x dollar a day. You do it because you feel you want to express yourself, and the only reward that you would like to have is like-minded readers making intelligent comments on your posts. This kind of blogging too can promote your translation business, but that is an indirect fallout.


Thanks Balasubramaniam!

I like your idea about measuring success in terms of the number of readers making intelligent comments on your posts. Maybe the goal should be a "comment a day" and not a dollar a day. If that's the case, I'm already doing very well! The Google+ comment integration is really working wonders for my comment count.

I do not intend to make a full-time activity out of blogging unless I reach $100 a day in ad revenue first.

I guess what I needed was a metric to measure my progress by and motivate myself with, as well as justify the time spent on it. Unfortunately, I find it hard to measure and visualize the "indirect fallout" of blogging unconstrainedly and from the heart. I'm addicted to numbers, I guess.

I don't see making money as the sole end of the venture or of life. What I see in blogging is a way out of having to translate all the time.
 
philgoddard
philgoddard
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I used to have a blog... Jul 8, 2013

And I tried Google AdWords for a while. The blog was getting about a thousand hits per week, but the click-through rate was a fraction of one percent, and I think I netted about ten dollars in six months.

Don't forget you also have to pay tax on the income.
 
OG Pete
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Your Blog, Phil Jul 8, 2013

philgoddard wrote:

And I tried Google AdWords for a while. The blog was getting about a thousand hits per week, but the click-through rate was a fraction of one percent, and I think I netted about ten dollars in six months.

Don't forget you also have to pay tax on the income.


Wow, a thousand hits per week! Where did the majority of your visitors come from? Was it a translation blog too? Is it still up?

Thanks for sharing your experience! It makes everything seem more doable
 
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