“If my blog has ((insert daily number of impressions or page views of your blog here)) how much should it be earning?”
“如果我的博客每天有……展示量或访问页数，那么它可以带来多少收益呢？”
This is one of the more common questions I get asked by bloggers just starting out with making money from their blogs.
这是许多博客新手想通过博客赚钱时向我咨询的主要问题之一。
On one level it’s a valid question to ask – after all if you’re going to put time and energy into building something it’d be great to know up front what rewards might be awaiting you.
从某种层面上来说，这个是必问的重要问题——毕竟如果你打算投入时间和精力创建某个东西，事先了解回报如何是非常有必要的。
On another level – it’s an almost impossible question to answer because there are so many factors to take into consideration.
从另一个角度说，这个问题几乎是回答不了的因为要考虑的因素如此之多。
As I look across the blogs that I am involved with (around 100 in number if you count b5media’s 80+ blogs) there is a massive variation in the earnings that blogs are pulling in. It is very difficult to make sense of it as it not just a matter of traffic levels.
纵观我参与的博客（算上b5media的80多个的话有近100个博客了），每个博客产出的收入差别巨大。这个差异不仅仅由于流量，个中缘由错中复杂很难理清。
For example – As I write this I’m looking at the earnings for January of three blogs that I have some involvement with (I don’t get into what specific blogs earn so don’t ask) and here’s what I see:
比如——写这篇文章时，我查看了三个我参与的博客一月份的收入情况（具体收入多少我没细看，别问我），一下就是我看到的：
Blog A: For the month this blog had a total of around 20, 000 page views from about half that number of visitors (ie they viewed 2 pages each. The Total earnings of this blog (all from contextual advertising) was $790.91 (USD).
A博客：这个博客1月差不多一半的访客查看了20000左右页数（平均每个访客查看两页），该博客的收入（均来自内容广告）为$790.91（美元）。
Blog B: This blog had just over 40, 000 page views over the month, this time from about 13, 000 visitors. It’s total earnings from contextual advertising (same amount of ad units per pages as the other) was $99.08 (USD). it also earned around $35 from an affiliate program.
B博客：这个博客1月期间，大约13000个访客产生了超过40000页面查看。来自内容广告（每个页面的广告位置数与其他博客一样）的总收入只有$99.08（美元）。联盟广告也带来了35美元的收入。
Blog C: Our last example is a blog that had around 160, 000 page views over the month from around 80, 000 visitors. It earned $515.12 from contextual ads and somewhere in the vicinity of $2, 500 from affiliate programs.
C博客：最后一个例子是一月份大约80000访客产生将近160000页面查看的博客。内容广告带给它$515.12的收益，而联盟广告的收入为$2500左右。
Factors to Contribute to a Blog’s Earnings…
促进博客收益的因素：
It’s pretty obvious from those figures that there is no ‘normal’ earnings based upon traffic alone. Many factors are obviously at play. Let me unpack a few:
从上面的数字中可以明显看出仅看流量，收益没有相应的规律性。显然，很多因素都在起走用。让我来介绍几个：
1. Traffic Levels: While the above examples show that traffic is not the only factor at play in determining the earning capacity of a blog – it is a significant one. Whether you’re earning money from your blog directly or indirectly you are almost always going to increase your earning potential by increasing your readership.
1. 流量：虽然之前的案例说明流量不是决定收益大小的唯一因素，但它确实是一个重要的因素。不论你是直接还是间接通过博客赚钱，你几乎都得增加读者量从而加大多赚钱的潜力。
2. Source of Traffic: Of course all not all traffic is equal when it comes to earning an income online. As I mentioned in this earlier post, blog traffic largely comes from a three sources – Loyal Readers (including RSS), Search Engines and Referral Traffic (from other sites).
2. 流量来源：不可置疑，并非所有流量对网上赚钱的贡献度都是一样的。正如我在以前的文章谈到的那样，博客流量主要来自三个渠道——忠实读者（包括订阅），搜索引擎以及推介流量（即来自其他网站）。
Each type of traffic will have a different impact upon your earning potential depending upon your earning strategies. Lets look at each in turn:
每一类流量由于策略不同，对博客赚钱潜力的影响力也不同。让我们来一一了解：
Loyal Readers – loyal readers are a wonderful thing to have on a blog because they can add a sense of community and participation. In terms of income generation they are often good if you’re attempting to earn income from your blog via indirect methods. In my experience of picking up consulting and speaking work and even in developing products for sale – most the the opportunities have only come from established relationships that I’ve managed to build with readers.
忠实读者——博客有忠实读者是一件非常棒的事情，因为他们增加了博客是社区感和活跃度。至于从博客上赚钱，如果你想试通过间接的方式的话，他们也常常很有帮助。从我获取咨询和演讲工作机会、甚至拓展销售产品的经验中，我看出大多数机会的产生均由于已经和读者建立起了牢固的关系。
Loyal Readers have also been known to respond to affiliate programs as a result of the trust and relationship that you might have built up with them over time. The longer term and more loyal your reader is the more weight your recommendation is likely to carry. Of course you won’t keep readers loyal for long if your recommendations are not on the money so be careful with that.
随着时间的推移，你和忠实读者之间逐渐建立起了信任关系，他们更容易点击联盟广告。时间越长，读者越忠诚，你所推荐的东西被接受的权重就更大。当然如果你推荐的目的老是为了赚钱，读者的忠诚度恐怕不会长久，所以一定要慎重。
On the downside – loyal readers are generally not good for advertising in most forms. When a reader sees your blog every day Ad-blindness tends to kick in pretty quickly unless you’re pretty creative with your ads they often go unseen.
从负面上讲——大多数形式的广告都不适合对忠实读者投放。当忠实读者每天来到你的博客，很快就会变成广告视盲，除非你的广告十分有创意，否则他们通常会视而不见。
RSS readers are particularly difficult to monetize with ads on your blog as so many of them rarely see your blog if you publish full feeds rather than excerpts.
博客上的广告尤其难以赚到订阅读者的钱，因为如果你发表的是完整的文章而非摘录的话，他们大多数几乎不用打开你的博客。
Search Engine Readers – readers coming to your blog after searching for a keyword you have used are a very different type of reader to the ‘loyal variety’ when it comes to what they respond to. Anecdotal evidence seems to indicate that visitors from SE’s quite often only stay on sites fleetingly. The typical SE users is in search of specific information and if they find it quickly they might stay for a little while but if they don’t they are likely to click on link to something else that might be a better source of information or hit their back button to return to the search engine.
来自搜索引擎的读者——对广告的态度，用你使用的关键词搜索进来的读者与“忠实类”读者非常不同。大量证据似乎都表明来自搜索引擎的访客通常只在网站上短暂停留。搜索引擎用户常常是在搜寻某种信息，如果很快找到了，可能会停留久一点，但如果没有，他们很可能会点击另外更准确的信息源的链接或者点击后退按钮回到搜索引擎。
This makes them almost the opposite of loyal readers in terms of indirect income earning methods. It’s very difficult to build your profile if people are one off 10 second readers (unless you’re good at making them come back).
这就使得他们对你间接赚钱策略的反应与忠实读者几乎相反。要在停留不过10秒的读者心中树立你的形象是一件非常艰难的事情（除非你很在行让他们再次光临）。
When it comes to more direct income earning methods SE traffic is traditionally more responsive as they tend to be more aware of your ads (if they are well placed and designed) and they are actively looking for information and things to click on that might give them the info they are searching for. This is especially true for contextual advertising like AdSense which can show ads on your site that are triggered not only by what your content is about but on what people came to your blog searching for in Google (or so some people believe).
就更直接的赚钱方式而论，搜索引擎流量的响应度往往更高，因为他们正积极地查找可以点击的东西从而找到想要的信息，所以他们更容易留意到广告（如果广告位置显现而且创意很好的话）。AdSense的内容广告尤其如此。AdSense平台显示出，不仅博客的主题，人们来到你的博客的搜寻的东西是什么也会导致触发网站上的广告（至少有些人相信是这样的）。
In terms of affiliate links – SE traffic is less likely to click them as a result of your profile but could be open to them more just because they are there. They can be hit and miss depending upon your topic
对于联盟广告——由于博客主题的原因，来自搜索引擎的访客点击它们的几率更小，但是只要他们在网站上就可以多向他们展示。他们可能会点，也可能不会点，这取决于你博客的主题。
Referral Traffic – It is difficult to make generalizations about this category of traffic because it depends a lot on the type of site that is linking to you and the way in which they do it.
推介流量——这个类别的访客行为很难推测，因为主要取决于链接到你博客的网站的类型以及链接方式。
For example the last two times I’ve been linked to from Slashdot brought incredibly different results in terms of the money earned from the traffic. On one occasion there was barely any discernible difference in my AdSense earnings despite having 10 times the traffic I normally would get in a day. On the next link up earnings increased proportionally with the increase in traffic (it was and probably still is my best earning day ever). I can only really put this down to the difference in tone of the linking post at Slashdot and the type of post that I’d written (which in the later case probably triggered more relevant ads).
比如，我的博客有两次被链接到Slashdot，这两个链接的流量带来的收益大不相同。一个与AdSense收入几乎看不出差别（除了流量比平时扩大了10倍）。另一个带来的收益与流量成正比（是那时直至现在博客最赚钱的一天）。我把它归结于推介到Slashdot上那篇文章的口气和类型的差异（后者可能触发了更相关的广告）。
In general, traffic from larger sites like Digg and Slashdot don’t convert too well with advertising and affiliate programs. There is an opportunity however for capturing these first time readers and converting them into loyal ones which as we’ve said above is good for indirect income earning down the track.
总体上来讲，大型网站如Digg和Slashdot引来的流量不会在联盟广告上转化得好。但这也是一个让你可以抓住这些首次访问者并把他们转变成忠实读者的机会，而忠实读者，正如之前说到的，会比较配合后续的间接赚钱策略。
4. Income Stream:The actual method you use to monetize your blog impacts the amount you might earn. This is pretty obvious so I won’t go on about it too much but it’s worth saying here as it’s a definite factor in mix when looking at other factors.
3. 收益流——实际上，你用博客赚钱的方式会影响可能获得的收益量。这是显而易见的，因此也无需我讲太多，但是在此提及一下也是很值得的，因为对比其他因素来讲，它是比较确定的一个因素。
5. Topic: In the three blogs that I mention above I would say the major difference in their earning capacity was their topic.
4. 主题：我敢说前面提到的三个博客收益多寡的差异主要在于它们的主题。
Blog A has a pretty specialized topic that not many would be too interested in (hence it’s lower traffic). On the other side of things it has well paying ads in YPN on a per click basis and triggers ads that are very relevant to the topic. As a result despite it’s low traffic it earns quite well.
A博客主题相当专业化，感兴趣的人不太多（因此流量少）。但是从另一方面看，它在YPN上的点击付费广告效果很好，触发了跟主题非常相关的广告。所以即使流量低它的收入也很不错。
Blog B has a very popular topic but there are very few advertisers interested in buying ads with those keywords in contextual ad systems. As a result it’s Click Through Rate (CTR) is very low and click values are low also. It’s also yet to generate enough traffic to make much from impression based ads (although there is potential here – it’s a reasonably newish blog). As a result while it has more traffic than Blog A it’s earning considerably less.
B博客的主题很大众化但是在内容广告系统里愿意买这些关键词做广告的商家非常少。所以点击率（CTR）很低，点击的价值也小。它产生的流量也不足以通过展示付费广告赚到很多（但是也有潜力——毕竟是个相当新的博客）。因此，虽然它流量比A博客大，但赚得少之又少。
Blog C is again on a popular topic which doesn’t convert brilliantly in contextual ads in terms of CTR and ad value. It does have a reasonable reputation in it’s niche and affiliate recommendations are responded to well by readers (and they have a good value per sale also which doesn’t hurt).
C博客的主题也很大众化，由于点击率和点击价值低，它的内容广告转化也不理想。在它的领域里它确实是拥有相当好的赞誉，而且读者对联盟广告的响应度也不错（每一个订单的销售额也很好，但即使这样也没用）。
Why Topic Matters
为什么主题会有影响呢？
Contextual Ads – Different topics and keywords within topics will trigger different ads in contextual ad programs and as a result will earn different levels ‘per click’ (I write about finding high paying ads in AdSense here).
内容广告——不同的主题以及主题关联的关键词会触发内容广告系统里不同的广告，所以会产生不同级别的点击价值（我在这儿讲过如何寻找AdSense上高回报的广告）。
Affiliate Programs - Similarly, different topics will open up different levels of earnings when it comes to affiliate programs. For example a blog about books that uses the Amazon program is only ever likely to make small commissions per sale as the average book might only be worth $20 and the commission with Amazon is generally in the 5-8% range. On the other hand I know of publishers in the financial website game who use affiliate programs that can pay out at $100 per sale.
联盟广告——同样的，不同的主题在联盟平台上也会产生不同级别的收益。比如，一个关于书籍的博客投放亚马逊的广告每单获得的佣金多半只有很少，引文书的平均价格只有$20而亚马逊给的佣金大致只有5-8%。而另外一些我知道的金融博弈网站的发布商通过联盟广告可以获得每单$100的收入。
Indirect Methods – Obviously different opportunities (with different income earning potential) arise for bloggers with a profile in different niches. For example a blogger known for his movie review blog might not have much demand for consulting work but could find a way to syndicate his blog to magazines or newspapers. A blogger with a good profile in the PR industry might not get picked up as a writer in magazines but could land himself a well paying job or some consulting work.
间接方式——不同领域里的博客的机会（赚钱的潜力）显然不同。比如，以影视评论文章出名的博主可能不会很需要顾问类的工作，但是可以和杂志或者报纸成为联盟。而对公共关系领域里在行的博主多半不活成为杂志写手，相反却可以给自己弄到一份报酬不错的工作，比如顾问。
6. Age of Blog: – a good wine matures with age – as do many profitable blogs (and most profitable businesses for that matter). There are many reasons why this is the case and while some blogs do seem to rise from nowhere to dominate the blogosphere – most do not. Here’s a few reasons why blogs tend to get better with age:
5. 博龄——一杯好的葡萄酒需要岁月来沉淀，许多回报高的博客都是这样（赚钱的企业也如此）。有许多原因导致这种情况，少数博客在圈子里从默默无闻变成赫赫有名，而大多数还是一如既往。下面讲讲随着时间的流逝，博客为什么会变得越来越好的几个原因：
Quantity of content - I find myself saying this to new bloggers repeatedly but don’t expect to get a lot of traffic to your blog until you have a substantial level of content in your archives. Of course quality of content is vital, but at least at some level numbers of posts do count and unless you’re going sell your soul and to get into splogging quantities of content take time. I’ve written more on this here and here (series).
内容质量——我发现我不断地告诫博客新手们说过，没有大量优质的文章就不要企图获得很多流量。内容质量无疑是关键，而文章数量在一定程度上也有影响；如果你不想好好做，充斥大量垃圾内容的博客也需要时间。
Search Engine Optimization – While some SEO experts claim they can have you at the top of Search Engines quickly (and some can), sustaining high rankings through legitimate (white hat) methods means building a site over time. Climbing the rankings in SE’s is the result of many things including good content (lots of it) that gets links from others – both things that take time.
搜索引擎优化——一些搜索引擎优化专家宣称他们可以让你排到搜索结果的前列（有些确实做得到），但通过合法方式（白帽）获得高排名同样意味着要花时间创建网站。搜索引擎上排名的提升是许多因素的结果，包括（大量）优质内容以及外链——两者都需要时间的积淀。
Reputation – Building an online profile and presence takes time n the same way that it takes time in real life. People look for consistency in your blogging overtime and will want to see that you not only talk the talk but walk the walk. As you do this you’ll find your readership grows.
名声——在网络上树立形象和态度跟在现实生活中一样需要时间。人们看重博客一贯的稳定和连续性，都想看到你不是光说不干而会付诸行动。只要你这样做，你就会发现你的读者慢慢变多。
Network – Connected with a good reputation comes networking opportunities. Two years ago if I had wanted to start a new blogging project with someone else I would have had little chance of convincing anyone to join me – but since that time I’ve worked hard at my relationships with fellow bloggers (and other online and offline contacts) to the point now where my problem is becoming too many opportunities to collaborate.
社交关系——好的名声和社交关系密不可分。两年前，如果我想和其他人创建新的博客，我能说服他人加入的几率可能很小——但是从那时开始，我就很努力地和同行的博主（以及其他线上、线下同行）搞好关系，现在我的问题变成了可以合作的选择太多。
Web Smarts – I shudder when I look back at my first blogging efforts and how naive, ill-informed and poorly run they were. I have a long way to go when it comes to learning about the web, blogs, design, writing etc – but over time my own skills and knowledge in these areas have grown. You can read all the books, blogs and articles you want on blogging (and I’d encourage you to do so) – but so much of what you can learn about blogging for money has to come from on the job experience – which again only comes with time.
网络知识——当初第一次写博客的经历，我想想都发抖，现在看来它们是那样的无知、孤陋寡闻、经营不善。我花了很长的时间学习关于网络、博客、设计、写作等的知识——但是随着时间的前进，我在这些方面的技巧和知识都增长了。你可以阅读所有关于写博客的书籍、博客文章（我强烈建议你多读）——而你想了解的关于写博客赚钱的知识也来自他人的工作经验——后者又是时间的产物。
7. Time Invested: Lastly I’ll add that the time a blogger is willing and able to invest into their blog is a factor worth considering. I’m fortunate enough to have been able to work myself into a position where I can blog full time. This didn’t just happen overnight (I attempted to describe the process here) but as I was able to put more time into it the rewards increased. This is a bit of a catch 22 situation of course (the more you earn the more time you can put in and the more time you put in the more you can earn) but it’s a principle I’ve discovered that is worth adding into the mix.
6. 投资时间——我讲的最后一个值得考虑的因素是博主愿意并且能够投入的时间有多少。我很幸运可以全职写博客。写博客没法一夜暴富（我曾在这儿尝试描述这个的过程），但是只要我能投入更多的时间，回报就会增长。这无疑有点进退两难（赚得越多可以花的时间就越多，花的时间越多赚得就越多），但我发现这个规律还是值得考虑进来。
So How Much Can a Blog Earn?
博客到底可以赚到多少？
I’ve been avoiding the question for over 2000 words now and I’m not about to put a definitive answer on it except to say that every blog is different and the evidence that I’ve seen from interacting with thousands of bloggers and their blogs over the past year is that bloggers are earning anything between nothing at all and millions of dollars. The upper end of the spectrum is of course rare and those earning very little are in the majority, but bloggers earning decent income is becoming increasingly common. Here’s a couple of recent ProBlogger polls that might illustrate how the spectrum is spread in their earnings of AdSense and Chitika.
关于这个问题，我现在已经绕了超过2000字而且还给不出确定的答案，只能说，每个博客都不一样，在过去几年里我和上千位博主就博客的问题进行过交流探讨，我发现的一个事实是有的博主几乎一无所获，而有的博主收入上万。高端收入者当然很罕见，大多数都赚得很少，但是博客带来可观收入的现象正越来越常见。最近Problogger进行的几次调查或许可以说明AdSense和Chitika上广告的收入范围是怎么分布的。
I’ll finish with this:
以这句话作结吧：
Probably the best way to find out what you can earn from a particular blog is to start that blog and test the waters.
或许弄懂博客到底可以赚多少最好的办法就是开始创建博客试试水。
Give yourself a time limit of a few months to get a feel for the topic and see how it goes. While it’s important to realize that a few months is not really enough – it is enough to get an understanding for whether it’s a topic you feel you can sustain, what the click values and CTR might be in contextual ads and even to get a feel for what type of readers you’ll attract. If the signs are good – invest more time into it – if they are not, consider trying something else.
给自己几个月时间感受下情景，看看它是如何发展的。你得明白几个月时间足够了，这很重要——它足够让你了解你是否能坚持这个主题，内容广告的点击价值和添加率有多少，甚至感知到你将吸引怎样的读者。如果一切顺利——投入更多时间吧——如果感觉不佳，考虑做点其他事情去吧。
That’s my 2 (or 2000) cents worth on the topic of how much blogs can earn. What’s yours?
我这个关于博客可以赚多少的话题值2（或者2000）美分。你的呢？
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