On a conservative basis, I’d say that monetization from my blogging alone amounts to somewhere in the mid to higher 4 figure range per month.

Which is a pittance compared to some of the “Super Bloggers” out there.

There’s a lot of talk these days about how much the top bloggers make, especially in the light of Business Week’s “Bloggers Bring In The Big Bucks” story.

Although I know Darren Rowse and Jeremy “Shoemoney” Schoemaker and visit Mario Lavandeira’s PerezHilton and Pete Cashmore’s Mashable, the names on the list were alien to me.

It’s a testament that blogging is an open field and you pick your niche and can do well with it.

But if you’re clued in to the power of blogging, you’d realize that the payoff from blogging comes outside of blogging.

If you listened in to the episode of the Net Income radio show where Shoemoney had Matt Mullenweg, part of the team which developed the WordPress blogging platform, the real money comes as a result of having blogged, rather than because of blogging.

If you missed that episode of Net Income, you can check it out:

As an example, Darren Rowse is a founder of the B5Media blog network, which receive venture funding earlier this year and Shoemoney’s income also comes from promoting CPA offers and developing AuctionAds with partner-in-crime Dave Dellanave AKA Dillsmack. AuctionAds was recently acquired by Media Whiz for an undisclosed sum.

Personally, blogging is a platform to network and form joint ventures, it’s given me the opportunity to “meet up” with several influential super affiliates and information marketers and importantly, clients. Meeting up at events in a face-to-face context is just a way of cementing the relationship.

If you want to exploit blogging to its fullest potential, you need to look at it as more than just a website to pimp adsense or affiliate offers, it’s value as a branding platform is infinitely greater.

I’ve always enjoyed the impressionist paintings of Claude Monet, and his works are still enjoyed nearly a century later. It’s likely they’ll continue to be enjoyed for generations to come. All accomplished with a paintbrush and paint.

Similarly, a blog is just that, a tool, just like Monet’s humble paintbrush.

In the hands of an individual with extraordinary vision, you can do much more than what you thought was possible.