I’ve been researching articles of people who make a living blogging online and comparing what they do and there are some interesting similarities and also some very obvious differences. Most bloggers whose sole income comes from their blog earn what they do through advertisements like AdSense, Chitika, YPN, Auction Ads, Kontera and others.

The blogger I came across who doesn’t monetize his site with advertising is Jason Kottke who, according to Wired, derives his income from reader contributions. A quick gander at Jason’s blog shows a very clean design and no advertising whatsoever. He must be doing well with his current business model as he left a job at a Manhattan financial services firm to pursue blogging full-time. Would you pay to read one of your favorite blogs, and if so how much? A site like ProBlogger has over 20,000 RSS readers… what if even half of them sent in $20 to Darren if he switched to a donation model- that’s a $400,000 payday!

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