That's right, "blogging" is a career these, so much so that popular personal finance blogger Mr Money Mustache put it on his list of 50 jobs that pay over $50,000 per year.
Maybe you've decided that you want to get in on this gold rush. Who can blame you? It's the 21st century, everyone's making money online! So you go to Wordpress.com, sign up for a free account, and just start writing. Maybe you even buy your own domain name, and start tweeting about all your new posts. If you build it, they will come, right?
And don't forget to sign up for an affiliate account at Amazon. That way, when you link to all the books you're reading and thinking about, your readers will go and buy those books, and you'll get a nice cut. Money in the bank!
Oh wait, that's a terrible idea. Here's a screenshot from my Amazon affiliate account this morning. I've been blogging for over 6 years.
So what can you do instead?
Here's an idea: use your blog to think and write about new ideas, things you're learning, books you're reading, decisions you're making. Write it for yourself, not for an audience. You'll get smarter. Use your blog to showcase your skills, the fact that you can think and write coherently. Then make connections with people, point them towards your blog, and see what happens.
It's much less glamorous and interesting than chasing the dream of "passive income", but it's much more reliable.