So I just had an interesting discussion with Sylvia about this article.

The article lists a few blogs featured in a recent Business Week article and speculates on how much money they make.

But we weren’t so much talking about the article itself, as the comments. Comments like:

“I hope I can make money like that with my blog.”

Sylvia took the viewpoint that most of the commenters will never make money because they have simple “What I did today” blogs. And nobody but close family and friends really wants to read that.

I took the viewpoint that anyone and any blog can make money. All you need to do is put the time and effort into it.

After about ten minutes of discussion, it became clear why we were disagreeing.

Sylvia’s point was that “What I did today” type blogs are never going to make money unless they change. My point was that blogs change and evolve all the time, and you just need to put a little more thought into how you evolve your blog.

So, in answer to the question “How can I make that kind of money with my blog?” the answer is simply: “Change it.”

But the real question you should consider is can your current blog be evolved to make money? Now, if you have an incredibly interesting life, then it may simply be a matter of adapting your writing style to appeal to a wider audience.

But if your blog consists mainly of “I got up. I fed the cat. I went to school. I came home, fed the cat and went to bed.” posts, then it may be time to consider starting a new blog. Find a subject that interests you - something you can write about with passion. Something that readers beyond your immediate family might want to read - and then stick to it.

But Sylvia was right - if your blog consists mainly of posts telling the world you fed your cat twice today, then the only way to make money from it is to change it fundamentally, so it appeals to a wider audience.

It’s up to you whether that change involves adapting, evolving or starting again from scratch.

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