I did not start blogging in order to make money, it was an outlet for my thoughts, and if a couple of people read a post or even made a comment that was enough for me. It still is.

Every blogger who reaches a certain threshold of visits probably thinks about the monetization question. Some decide against it, some have a go for fun and others mine every spare inch for money-making. As usual I’m ambivalent.

You might remember my little advert campaign for that music-responsive vibrator thingie, but that was more of a joke really and I didn’t make any money from it.

Apart from that, any products that I have written about on here have not been sponsored or affiliate-linked or pay-per-clicked or pay-per-posted. I’ve just posted about things that interested me and told you about them in the same way that I would tell a friend, without expecting commission or something. Friends help each other, right?

At this point I still feel the same way. This blog is like inviting a mate back to my house. We hang out for a while and have a good gossip. I’ll give you a drink, some munchies and may even cook you a meal if you’re lucky. We’ll watch a movie, listen to some music and bitch about silly folks. While you’re in my boudoir you’ll probably notice some of my books, cds, dvds, etc. If you like something I’ll probably tell you where to get your own, but otherwise you can just enjoy it at my place. That’s cool too, cos I like having you around.

However, a girl’s gotta pay her bills. I pay a small monthly fee to host the blog, and I also buy cool pics from istockphoto, and spend other money on my baby from time to time. That’s cool though, hobbies cost money, and I’d probably be spending my hard-earned on other frivolities anyway.

On the other hand (I’ve got three hands apparently) I’m starting to get fed up of my job and I’m thinking of the possibility of becoming a full-time blogger… (crazy, ain’t it??) When you see 13-year-olds making money online you start to wonder if you could do the same. I don’t even want to make thousands of dollars a week like John Chow, just enough to replace my current income would be amazing.

So, are we agreed? That I’m nucking futs!? Good.

And to summarize, if
a) I want to make money blogging
b) but not primarily via this blog

Then the answer is to start a new blog, which will hopefully cover its own costs, plus those of this one. So that’s the next step. And I’m working on it.

This post was instigated by a couple of companies who have contacted me offering me cash to blog about their stuff. I admit that I’m tempted, but I also feel like I could lose my credibility if I took that step. I don’t mind being sent stuff to review, if I’m not under any obligation to write about it and only if appropriate to my blog’s niche, but getting paid for it makes me think of those dumb pay-per-post reviews of services of which you can be sure that the blogger has never actually used the actual service.

This whole issue has brought to mind this interesting exchange, which has been attributed to Winston Churchill:

Churchill: Madam, would you sleep with me for five million pounds?

Socialite: My goodness, Mr. Churchill… Well, I suppose… we would have to discuss terms, of course…

Churchill: Would you sleep with me for five pounds?

Socialite: Mr. Churchill, what kind of woman do you think I am?!

Churchill: Madam, we’ve already established what kind of woman you are. Now we are simply haggling about the price.

So what do you think?

This post was sponsored by a troupe of dancing monkeys and their grizzled menfolk. Of course they live inside my head, so they don’t count.

Written by PJ | Posted in Uncategorized

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