Mashable is a news blog created by Pete Cashmore in 2005 and is now one of the top blogs in the world. His success story can become a lesson for all bloggers who are eager to learn how to make money blogging online. It is one of the blogs I visit to get blog layout ideas and news on new blog improvements. Although his blog is a Wordpress blog and mine is based on Joomla, the thought process behind blogging is the same: content is king, good layout will keep readers from leaving and social media buttons will increase the loyalty of your visitors. Today I thought about looking how Mashable looked like in 2005 when Pete published his first posts and how his Wordpress blog was developed during the last 5 years.

Being an online gambler for several years but just a rookie blogger, I often wonder whether there is more money to be made in the blogging business than in gambling. I decided to do some calculations and find out if I should blog instead of gamble the last 5 years. The result was extremely promising and I am now considering changing the path of my career! Or maybe not...

According to my 5-month old poll, more than half of the online gambling blogs make money! In fact 33% of my blog readers seem to own a gambling blog and actually not just for the fun but for the money as well! What is even more surprising is that more than 15% are making more than $500 per month! Blogging and correctly monetizing a gambling blog proves to provide a side income for some gamblers. It surely is welcome when a downswing kicks in!

Blogging is very popular lately while online gambling has always been popular. Quite a few gamblers write in their own gambling blogs nowadays judging by the emails I receive daily. A gambling blog may also provide additional income to its owner although it will take time until it becomes significant. There may be times though when a gambler turns to his blog for peace of mind and a less stressful occupation, which might actually make more money than his gambling activities. Let us compare the blogging business with the gambling business.

Designing your gambling blog is about choosing the template, arranging positions and making it graphically pleasing. Most bloggers spend too much time selecting the most confusing template instead of thinking what kind of visitors their gambling blog will target and what its main purpose will be. Depending on the target group and the blog's content, the designing of the blog should speak for itself. However don't over think about designing in the beginning, since most ideas will come up as you will be adding content into your blog. The most important element you should seek for is the template's capabilities and expandability.

This gambling blog is now about 5 years old and during these years I learnt how to register a domain, where to host it, how to design it and how to monetize it in order to make money from it. I have come across many betting and poker blogs but very few make money for their owners in my opinion. Although a sports bettor or poker player starts his blog to share his experience and knowledge, there is also great potential for additional income by blogging. So, I decided to start up a series of blog posts sharing blog tips that I have found out during these years and possibly help gamblers to take advantage of their blogs.

So, you want to design or already have a gambling blog. You post your experiences in sports betting, trading, online poker, casino games, anything that's gambling really. Friends and relatives don't understand your passion and you need to get in touch with people that share the same passion. Great, how do you find them and more importantly how they find you?