I’ve recently been thinking similar thoughts to yours. Blogs generate traffic by generating quality content, and generating quality content takes serious time.

People seriously underestimate the amount of time that goes into writing posts, and people looking for that 4HWW ‘passive income stream’ think that a blog and twenty-page ‘information product’ will have them set for life.

I was wary to accept advertising because I didn’t want readers to think that we had joined “that group,” but then realized it was stupid to pass up free pizza money. I guess I could eat it while writing posts… 🙂

Anyway, the moral of the story is that bloggers need to blog for themselves and their readers, and if advertising comes along so be it. (And it will if the readership is there, which will be there if the content is there, etc.)

I agree and when I look at the blogs I stay reading longterm its the small bloggers. I am forgiving when they don’t post on a regular basis because the content is SO much better.
I’m a regular reader (who typically doesn’t comment) but I love your reader comments too. Somehow you spur them into some depth about the topic you are writing about.
Keep it up!

Your blog is a specific methodology for retiring early in life. It will have intense interest from readers, and many of those will follow your posts. Only a few will do what you have done. Many will do a “part” of what you have done. Many more will find gems of wisdom they can use to fight their own financial battles. So while your blog is specific in mission, it is widespread in useful information.
As I noted in an earlier post, people are looking hard for “approval” to exit the consumer rat race. The recession has provided that, and it is a growing trend to use that financial meltdown to do some opting out on one’s own. It is like a safety relief valve to people. “Wow, times are tough, we are saving every dime”. Now its ok to say that because everyone else is doing the same. Before 2008, it was being a failure not to spend, spend, spend. People knew back then they were headed 90 mph down a dead end street.

Hmmm, great analogy and points. I currently tend to view my blog as a self-improvement aid.

In some ways, I’m actually paying for putting my ideas and thoughts out there (my blog isn’t profitable yet, although it could be with the addition of advertising links).

Like most things in live, I blog for a multitude of reasons, one being that I will be able to create something that will generate income in the future. And in the future I plan on handing this blog over to my son, so he can have a source of income stream in college.

In two years, I’m going to start another blog for my daughter too (or at least I hope).

As much as I view blogging as an self-improvement source, I have to agree, some weeks I’m more creative than others and during those slow weeks, it is a bit of a pain sometimes…

I do better than I expected as far as the “income” part goes but it is not at all passive. And content-wise, I lean slightly to the Jacob/ERE style of production. I write some really in-depth stuff sometimes and I’ve spent more than 4 hours working on some posts. I promote here and there, but usually I don’t have the time that others have (or the retweet luck), so my own blog also gets less web-time than some others.

It’s passive only in the sense as Andy says, that if you have to leave it for a week or so, you still make pizza money, but it does start dwindling. I think the week-long analogy is more or less right. I can imagine if I let my own blog go for a month without new posts, etc. traffic would probably drop in half quite easily.

@Financial Samurai – Between 3 and 8 times. The best approach is to use the scheduler and space out the posts. I think readers hate irregularity more than fewer posts. [I usually don’t use the scheduler.]

My main blog is by no means passive however I do have sites that earn a nice side pot that only get updates once a month or so and they do just fine…. So yes and no to blogs and passive income.

[…] Retirement Extreme: “Blogs as Passive Income, no way!” – Great analysis on the properties of blogging, from a truly great […]

Passive income is one of those “you’ll know it when you see it” types things. Few things are truly passive in that they will make money forever with little to no effort.
On the other hand, blogging definitely is scalable in that the exact same effort could produce an almost infinitely greater result.

I think there is, subject to individual capacity, some inverse correlation between promotion and writing. I’d absolutely wish it was possible to outsource promotion. I know some do that, but I think it is a dangerous path to take. I know from myself that I am far less likely to take net working serious if I get contacted by the writer’s PR agent than I am if I get contacted by the writer.

” I estimate that my blog can go for just about one week before the locomotive starts losing steam.”

That’s one of the many problems of depending on Google for traffic. You, sir, need an email list.

If I were you, I’d remove the 21 day makeover from the site and repackage it as an autoresponder course.