Don't most blogs tend to be read by people in that country though? Perhaps there are subtle cultural differences in topics, language, style that make blogs more appealing to people who are culturally similar... for example, I know that Dell concentrates sales forces by geography to some extent, so that when you call from the South you get another person from the South and might be able to chit-chat about whatever Southerners like to talk about (mint juleps?)
Right, I guess my comment might even be insulting to some - if so, I apologize. I am in Denmark but I think wages here are pretty comparable to the US for many industries.
But, if what you say is true then surely you should consider writing a blog as described in the article?
I always observe how living in the first world changes the perspective of people... (latest example: " travel doesn't take a lot of money." http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1601857 ).
He's made a point about monetizing it from the beginning, so one can assume that he's earned more than just the $20k: he's trying to show buyers that it earns money, and the best way to do that is to have it earn money.
I could definitely use U$ 20.000, it's more than a year and a half of my (post-taxes) salary here in Uruguay.
(And yes, I should look into consulting, etc. HN is a great way to nag me to move forward and it's good advice).