What’s the difference between a blogger and a problogger? Good question, simple answer; one doesn’t make any money, the other does. Unless you’ve used up your life’s savings in luck and scored a really nice contract, everyone starts their blogging “career” as, well, just a blogger. A small, no-exposure, amateur blogger.

Making the leap from that to problogger — the boy who makes money — is a delicate step that must be taken at precisely the right time. Here’re a few pointers.

1. First find your tribe

There’s no point in expecting an income from your blog if you don’t already have a large and dedicated audience. Make sure that your daily hits are of at least a modest number — 500 minimum — before you even think about moving to problogger status. Otherwise, you’ll be one hell of a flaming failure.

2. Build a solid foundation

You can’t just enter payroll status without preparing your blog for all the weight it’ll be creaking under when those payroll-producing readers visit your blog, especially if your site is image or video intensive. Make sure your host is reliable and can handle large amounts of traffic.

Besides, ad networks don’t like hosting ads to websites that don’t work half the time. Have a good host. Media Temple, WordPress Premium, or even Virb are ideal.

3. Sign up with an great ad network

Yeah, there’s Google AdSense and whatnot, but a contract with a specializing company like Fusion Ads or Ad Deck will pay in far fatter checks. That, and they’re just more customizable, more flexible, and way more attractive than Google. Try to strike a deal with someone like them. If that doesn’t work but you still want some ads, then I suppose you’ll just have to settle for the standard. AdSense it is.

4. Stay away from the snooze button

You now have readers and advertisers to satisfy. You know what that means? You can’t afford to slack off. Your payment depends on steady and increasing traffic, and that traffic depends on regular articles, articles of only the finest quality, of course. Deliver.

5. Don’t just create, communicate

Once you’re at problogger status, just writing articles rarely cuts it. You’ve got to stimulate your audience, and you can do so by involving them. Be informal and communicative with your readers on not just your blog but social networks, too. Host a few contests and giveaways, and always, always be on the lookout for openings into new markets. Keep them busy, give them a reason to come back.

6. Expand or collaborate

There are some probloggers who do all the work, everything, by themselves. They’re a one-man operation. If you have the time for that, then cool, but you likely don’t. If you’re going to make significant income by blogging, you’ve got to publish several articles every day, keep your readers involved, and make sure everything behind the scenes is running squeaky clean.

That’s a lot, especially if you work another job. Consider teaming up with another blogger or at least someone to handle the technical stuff or socializing.

How to make the leap from being a blogger to Problogger

About Dylan Taylor

He’ll have you know that he has big feet and sexy hair. When not posting pictures of his oversized shoes on Twitter, Dylan is either writing, socializing or sleeping. He lives on the East Coast and loves design, technology and new media. The man has quite the female fan following, maybe even a tad too much if you ask us. On wwwireframe, he covers new media and pop culture.