this blog makes 40K a month

[dearmama22]

I was watching Oprah some time ago, and she said that dooce.com makes 40K a month.

So I was looking at this blog, and I just don't get it. I don't understand how it is THAT popular and how it is possible that she can make THAT much money. I, personally, don't even like her blog. In fact, I think there are some of us on here that have better blogs than she does!

I'm not trying to be rude, and I mean no disrespect to her, I'm just trying to figure it out.

I guess it's like how people invent some of the wierdes, craziest, stupidest things yet they make millions off it.

[Ceinwen]

I'm biased because I absolutely love Heather Armstrong, and I think Dooce is hilarious.

Having said that - $40 K is huge coin. I'm assuming that's what they receive from the advertisers on her blog?

I knew they made serious money when she first said that her husband didn't work outside the home - he managed her blog.

[alegna]

That is serious $$... I wonder if that includes more than just the website though? Book sales? Speaking engagements?

-Angela

[Limabean1975]

I'm a fan. Yeah, it's ALOT of money and seems insane for a blog, but she has a large loyal following. A few years ago she spilled some intensely personal stuff about severe PPD that lead to hospitalization, and I think she helped alot of people face their demons/ know they are not alone....that triggered alot of loyalty.

eta: I do hope they are saving alot of it, because I really don't think it can go on forever. The blog bubble will burst at some point.

[MeepyCat]

Yeah - I adore Dooce (although I don't check her everyday), and I can't quite see how she makes what she does. She does, however, have the most popular personal blog on the internet, with readership in the millions, which means that her ad revenue (even if she's limited to the same fraction of a penny per click as everyone else) is probably pretty substantial. And please note - I don't think she's limited that way. She has a thing up that suggests to me that she's being paid to endorse her camera. She sells books. And on and on.

I think it would be a mistake to think "hey! Dooce makes $40K a month! I can too!" Dooce was a very early adopter, and has worked really hard. Most personal blogs are read by a few dozen people, all of whom personally know the writer.

[dearmama22]

I think the money is just from the website. If you go to the advertising page at the bottom of the page you can see how much it cost to run an add. It's pretty insane, it's like a couple thousand dollars for a few days or weeks or something like that.

I agree, I hope they are saving that.. but considering 40K is more than I make in A YEAR... gosh.... but you're rights, eventually the whole blog thing will stop or at least there is no way she could go on like this for the rest of her life. Can she?

It supports her family. They don't " work" besides this. I'm just trying to imagine, writing about my personal life, being funny and making some big bucks. wow.

You should check out the advertising page though, and see how much it cost for what, it's pretty interesting.

[dharmama]

i had never heard of her until very recently.

she and i are both in a new chicken soup for the soul book ( and another contributor was going on and on about how dooce was her hero etc. so i went and checked out her blog.

i kind of had the same reaction as the op. huh. ok.

but the more i have been studying blogs, while building my own, the more i believe that there is a magical combination of content and "personality" that can just absolutely take off. and she certainly has it!!!

[marsupial*mama]

I have been following a few successful blogs for a few years and, of the few I follow, I find the more successful they become, the less appealing the 'personality' behind the blog became. I haven't seen the Dooce blog mentioned (will look it up unless someone can provide a link ) but if she can remain authentic AND charismatic with all that success I think she deserves every penny. There's not much new content anyone can write for a blog anymore.

[lisarussell]

Just to take a peek at her blog initially, yeah- no big deal. But here's the thing, she's been blogging since before she met her husband. She started off as a young woman who just moved to LA and was working in a job she hated. She talked some smack about her employers and was fired- the press picked up on it before blogging was a big deal and she got a HUGE amount of followers because she was blogging during the turmoil. Then she meets her husband and she's blogging about their falling in love, then the wedding, then the pregnancy and at that time it was all unique- and she's real and raw and it was so unique at that time. Post-partum depression BIG TIME- she was hospitalized for it- and blogged it.

I thought the $40k included her book sales & speaking engagements, I'm not sure.

Either way, she blazed a trail.

Read her from the beginning, you'll fall in love.

[patty_g]

This is the first exposure I had to her:

http://www.dooce.com/2009/04/07/word...t-vaccinations

And it turned me completely off. I have no interest in reading anything else because although I know plenty of people IRL who have a similar opinion, the way she stated it was (to me) just really patronizing and insulting. I didn't know she has a big following. It just rubbed me the wrong way. And I'm not one to only read stuff that I agree with or that agrees with my ideas/ideals but still...

[zonapellucida]

one must wonder why. but it takes all kinds and ditto patty g

[Smokering]

I have been following a few successful blogs for a few years and, of the few I follow, I find the more successful they become, the less appealing the 'personality' behind the blog became. I haven't seen the Dooce blog mentioned (will look it up unless someone can provide a link ) but if she can remain authentic AND charismatic with all that success I think she deserves every penny. There's not much new content anyone can write for a blog anymore.

I agree. You know, I hate to say this because it seems somewhat blasphemous, but am I the only one who feels this way about... Pioneer Woman? I know, I know, and I love her, but... Lately she's been seeming very, well, rich. All that stuff about renovating the Lodge, and lots of pictures of her gorgeous home... don't get me wrong, it's beautiful and I'm glad she has nice things, but it does make her seem a bit less accessible and down-to-earth. And the site has just seemed kinda slightly - corporate, recently? A bit too big and bustling? I can't pin it down, but it leaves a bit of a sour taste in my mouth these days. Still great photos, still beautiful cooking tutes and she's still funny and nice, but it seems a bit too celebritified, maybe. Or something. I dunno, maybe it's just sour grapes! (I'm one of those newbie my-mummy-reads-my-blog bloggers.)

I read Dooce once after hearing about how she was The Most Famous Blogger Ever and realising I hadn't heard of her. The site was engaging enough that I read several pages, but I haven't been back. Meh; I dunno; she was good, but. Still, it's immensely cool that she can make a living off it! Now, if only...

[muttix2]

Originally Posted by patty_g

This is the first exposure I had to her:

http://www.dooce.com/2009/04/07/word...t-vaccinations

And it turned me completely off. I have no interest in reading anything else because although I know plenty of people IRL who have a similar opinion, the way she stated it was (to me) just really patronizing and insulting. I didn't know she has a big following. It just rubbed me the wrong way. And I'm not one to only read stuff that I agree with or that agrees with my ideas/ideals but still...

I hadn't heard of her prior to this post, or if I had, I promptly forgot. I went to check it out, saw the above video in the sidebar and read the corresponding post. It turned me off. I have enough mainstream people in real life. I don't want to waste my precious "me time" reading about yet another mainstream mom.

[muttix2]

Originally Posted by Smokering

I agree. You know, I hate to say this because it seems somewhat blasphemous, but am I the only one who feels this way about... Pioneer Woman? I know, I know, and I love her, but... Lately she's been seeming very, well, rich. All that stuff about renovating the Lodge, and lots of pictures of her gorgeous home... don't get me wrong, it's beautiful and I'm glad she has nice things, but it does make her seem a bit less accessible and down-to-earth. And the site has just seemed kinda slightly - corporate, recently? A bit too big and bustling? I can't pin it down, but it leaves a bit of a sour taste in my mouth these days. Still great photos, still beautiful cooking tutes and she's still funny and nice, but it seems a bit too celebritified, maybe. Or something. I dunno, maybe it's just sour grapes! (I'm one of those newbie my-mummy-reads-my-blog bloggers.)

I read Dooce once after hearing about how she was The Most Famous Blogger Ever and realising I hadn't heard of her. The site was engaging enough that I read several pages, but I haven't been back. Meh; I dunno; she was good, but. Still, it's immensely cool that she can make a living off it! Now, if only...

I like Pioneer Woman but rarely visit her blog. It is too big, there are too many different sections, to keep up. Plus, I might be wrong, but I don't think her whole posts show up in Google Reader and I rarely read blogs that don't show the whole post in Reader.

[dearmama22]

I guess if you followed her from the beginning when she was in a mental hospital and stuff, you might feel differently. It was probably interesting to read about someone's experience on that. She also has a very simple blog- which goes to show you don't NEED something fancy for it to be good.

For those that read it regularly, does she post every day? Is it really just about her personal life? Her experiences/thoughts etc.. ?

[Erinity]

I have her in my bloglines, and there's often 3 posts a day, a few picture ones, one of her dog usually, a personal post every few days. She's amusing and honest. She get a lot of crap from haters, tons of e-mails that can get very rude. She sometimes posts them.

I think her honesty with post partum was what got me reading. She's not one of the first blogs I read when I open my bloglines, but rarely do i clear it out without reading it over.

[fek&fuzz]

Originally Posted by muttix2

I like Pioneer Woman but rarely visit her blog. It is too big, there are too many different sections, to keep up. Plus, I might be wrong, but I don't think her whole posts show up in Google Reader and I rarely read blogs that don't show the whole post in Reader.

Her whole posts show is in Google Reader. I just subscribe to the whole thing, so all posts show up in one feed subscription. I love her.

[Aufilia]

I wonder if she really makes that much every month, though? I've heard that before and it drives me nuts because at the time I read that my husband's business website, which is also ad-supported, was just as popular according to alexa.com, and he's lucky to bring in 1/10th of that. Though that could be because his marketting person (himself!) shouldn't be in marketting at all.

[lisarussell]

Here's my dirty secret- I hardly read ANY blogs anymore. I'm not going to say I don't have time- life is no more or less busy now than it was before- but I'm just not interested. I've never been a regular Dooce reader, I don't find her very entertaining. I only know what I know about her because I poked around to learn WHY she's successful. I'm sure that if I wrote more about my house foreclosure, and losing the business, and wondering how we'd feed the kids last summer, maybe I'd have more followers, too. Pioneer Girl- I think I've been there 2 or 3 times. My reader is overflowing- I still subscribe to ones I like, but I rarely read them EXCEPTION- my IRL friends, I always try to read them before I'm going to see them, so we don't have to "catch up" on much with ten thousand kids around

[momma-molly]

I think I saw the same Oprah as you, dearmama - I'd never heard of her before either.

I think it's a pretty interesting blog, but I'm not super impressed. I'm sort of a blog snob, which is ironic, because my blog is still so raw and new, but anyway...

Good for her, I guess.

I'm jealous.