Blogging is all the rage these days. Everyone has a blog about every topic imaginable. It’s a tough field as the internet is over saturated with writers. But as physicians, we have an advantage…our credentials. We are instantly experts of our field and that’s what many readers are looking for, someone who knows what they’re talking about.
Just what do you write about? And how much will you make?
The possibilities vary. It depends on how well you write, how well you promote your site, how popular your blog gets, and what revenue streams you enable.
When trying to blog for money, you have to keep in mind that you are writing for your readers. What are they interested in? What do they want to read about? Did what you write make sense for the reader or just for you?
In the medical field, we have so many things we could write about. I chose physician salaries. There’s also Health IT, entrepreneurship, health policy, medical news, medical gadgets, medical apps, opening your own practice, etc! If you’re a medical student, even you have a unique audience. Those who ever wanted to become a doctor will listen to you, your experiences as you progress through medical school, and rejoice with every success hoping that they too will achieve the same.
Writing is an art that requires patients, research, and editing. Read many blogs in and out of your niche area. Find a style that works for you and then learn from it.
If you can get your site up and running on several social media outlets, you could increase the amount of visitors to your site. More visitors means more leverage for higher priced revenue streams or click conversions on ads. Some ways you can use social media include :
- creating a facebook page
- linking your posts to twitter
- utilizing google plus
- listing your blog on several blog lists
- including your blog on all of your online personas
This is important. More visitors leads to more money. How? A couple ways. If your main revenue is through ads, then the more visitors that come, the more that may click on those ads. Each click leads to change in your pocket. The other way is by selling ad space. If your blog traffic is high, you can charge more for your ad space. Some people charge a couple hundred per ad space per MONTH. Keep in mind that these sites have a tremendous amount of traffic.
Well, there’s a problem with this question. If you end up using Google Adsense (it’s real easy so many do), don’t ever state how much you make. It’s against the Terms of Service. And it makes sense, right? You can be vague about it. For this blog, I can enjoy a Starbucks from time to time. Dr. Joseph Kim has 4 blogs total where he writes about nonclinical jobs, medical technology, mobile health, and medical smartphones. All in all, he makes SIX figures a year from them!
If you have a knack for writing and a topic you’re passionate about, you should look into blogging as a way to increase your income. It may not earn you a lot of money, or it might earn you enough to quit your day job!