One of the things we have heard time and time again since blogging began is the famous quote: “I will never support a blogger”. Of course, this refers to financial support, just in case anyone is guessing…
Working online since 2006, we have seen many trends come and go. The ways people make money online have evolved. The ways people spend money online have evolved. The entire internet seems to reinvent itself every few years, throwing out all the rules and adopting a new culture that keeps things fresh.
Bloggers work hard. Ok, not all of them, but most of them. Some of them work the equivalent of 2 to 3 full time jobs just to make ends meet. They create content that literally fuels the internet, without which the entire web would be a homogenized boring mess of corporate advertising with little substance or saving grace. Bloggers provide humanity on the web in a world otherwise filled with Google and Facebook bots.
We have spoken to many bloggers who have tried to appeal for support using various methods. Some try the BUY US A DRINK button. Some opt for Patreon. Others just plain out beg for spare change…anything to pay the bills. Almost without exception, the response from their loyal audience is “I would never support a blogger. I like your stuff… I just feel that I am entitled to it for free”.
You should know that everything free costs 2 times more in the long run!
Bloggers are smart. They know the web. They will not work for free forever. If reasonable appeals do not work, many bloggers instead choose to utilize the only options they have to make money: deception and desperation:
They create email harvesting lists and they sell your contact information to 1 million companies to spam you for the rest of your life.
They install pop-ups all over their site to prevent you from navigating where you want to go. NO. YOU CAN NOT GO. NOT YET. YOU ARE MY HOSTAGE. Lol.
They link to malware and virus infected sites that download all sorts of nasty things to your device. Next thing someone somewhere is accessing your bank account and posting porn on your Facebook page…
Others simply try to sell you all sorts of crap you don’t need.
At best, honest bloggers will fill their website with ads and more ads until you can not differentiate between content and crap.
People complain all the time that the internet is ruined compared to the “good old days”. Do you know who has ruined the internet? Everyone who refuses to see that failure to support artists results in suffering for all. It is that simple. Some people paint with watercolors. Some people paint with photographs. Others paint equally vivid pictures with words and life experience.
Think of everything the internet has given you “for free”, namely Facebook and Google. These are the most evil companies on Earth and have harvested your data and personal info for sale to any bidder. They know you better than you know you and this is NOT a good thing.
If you enjoy a blogger or social influencer, help them out. Support them. They work hard to help make your life better, more entertaining, more engaging and better informed. Of course you can not support everyone, but you can help to support someone. How many bloggers do you really follow? It does not take much. Just try to be open to the very important idea that the person writing the content you love is a real individual with real bills. They want to live also. They are not in this business to make a financial killing, In fact, most bloggers stop writing due to one simple fact: They can not earn enough to live at all. It is sad.
The net provides so much hope for people who are struggling to earn a living in underdeveloped countries. Without this hope, people will turn to far worse options to live, such as drugs, prostitution and virtual slave labor for a soulless conglomerate. Can you really justify complaining about supporting a struggling blogger with a few dollars a month when you might spend $10 a day on gourmet coffee at Starbucks each and every day? This money would actually provide a very good life for a human being in many countries! If you feel it is not your job to help, then whose job is it? All hope for humanity is lost…
This post is in no way an appeal or a complaint. It is just something that everyone who uses the internet should know. If every quality, hard-working blogger who asked for a dollar got it, the net would be a much friendlier place. Instead, all that free consumable content costs everyone lots of aggravation and costs others everything…
People ask us all the time if we are rich or if companies or our readers pay for our travel. The answer is no. We pay for everything and we are certainly not rich. We afford our lifestyle because we do not spend money on useless crap. We are not driven by materialism. We are driven by the all-consuming desire to collect life experience and joy. Whatever else we must forgo is well worth it.
We blog because we love to share our lives. We also want to document our journey for our own sake as we get older. The memories might be all we have some day. We are not in it for the money. However, if a time comes when we can actually make a living blogging, we will thank each and everyone who supported us along the way. We know in our hearts that because of these people, we can bring a powerful, positive message of love, compassion, understanding and earth preservation to even more readers around the world. For this, we will be thankful!
In the meantime, we work hard. We try to earn by taking amazing photos and selling or licensing them for a very low cost. We work in web development and as social influencers. We use our education to provide various services that people need and we do these things better than anyone else. As we said before, we have created the life we want purposefully. It is not an accident that we do what we do. It is also not an easy path, but it is OUR path. Our experience and expertise literally makes other people’s lives better. We provide many opportunities to work with people and do a great job for them. Please remember us whenever you or a friend can benefit from our skills. This is how we live. We work for it!
Do you support your favorite blogger? You should! Bloggers are one of the last touches of humanity on an otherwise sterile, corporate-controlled web…
