Not a straight test of affiliate advertising etc, but it's obvious that the effects of the economic downturn and credit crunch don't just affect big business and mainstream media.
Not only do advertising budgets get cut first when businesses need to cut costs (Even though a lot of people advise spending your way through hard times to make the most of the opportunities), but a lot of the products that tend to be advertised online and on blogs are those that are the first to be cut from individual's spending.
After all, if you're worried about your job, feeding your family and paying the mortgage, are you going to invest in some new software, upgrade your iPod, or buy a new blog template for example?
So it's going to be tough for any blogger who is looking to create a primary or secondary income - at the same time, there is still a huge amount of opportunity:-
Besides creating money saving blogs and tips, there's also another benefit to the fact it's harder to monetise blogs - less competition.
The harder it gets, and the more people realise the amount of work it can take to make a decent revenue from blogging, the less people will be keen on spending the time - especially if they're already struggling. After all, most people could make far more by simply getting a second job delivering pizzas etc.
Which means those people who keep pushing, and keep going are likley to reap more of the rewards that are left. And as you can see from my previous earning reports, I'm definitely doing this more for fun than to make myself rich - but if less competiton increases my earnings, I'm not going to complain!
