Wednesday, July 28, 2010

10 Ways To Make Money With Your Blog

If you want to make money blogging, then you'll be happy to hear that it is not that hard to do. Of course, the amount of money you make depends entirely on your ongoing efforts to publish a great blog, grow your audience, and continually test new money making opportunities in order to find the best ways to match your audience's expectations for your blog and your own goals for your blog. With that in mind, check out the 10 fairly easy ways to starting making money from your blogging efforts.

1. Join an Advertising Program
There are many advertising programs available for bloggers to join. One of the most popular online advertising programs and possibly the easiest to set up on your blog is Google AdSense, which offers a variety of pay-per-click text, display, and video advertising opportunities for bloggers. With a bit of effort, experimenting, and tweaking you can definitely make some money with Google AdSense.

2. Join an Affiliate Advertising Program
There are many companies that offer programs that enable you to sign up as an affiliate of that company and earn money. Amazon Associates is one of the most popular and easiest affiliate advertising programs for bloggers to use.

3. Join an Affiliate Advertising Network
There are a number of affiliate advertising networks that link online advertisers with publishers (such as bloggers). Commission Junction is one of the most popular affiliate advertising networks.

4. Sell Your Own Ad Space Directly to Advertisers
You can attempt to sell your own ad space directly to advertisers, but unless your blog is established with a sizable audience, it can be difficult to manage and make money selling ad space directly. Fortunately, there are sites like BuySellAds.com that link online publishers (like bloggers) up with online advertisers to make selling your ad space easier.

5. Publish Posts and Reviews for Pay
You can write blog posts on your own blog in exchange for pay, and there are several Web sites that link online publishers (such as bloggers) up with companies and individuals who want their products and services reviewed or discussed online. Just be sure to understand how to safely publish a paid post or sponsored review on your blog, so you don't negatively affect your blog's traffic.

6. Sell Merchandise
There are a number of Web sites that make it extremely easy for bloggers to create their own online stores where you can sell custom or stock merchandise and make money doing it! CafePress, Zazzle and Printfection are three of the most popular sites for creating your own online store.

7. Become a Professional Blogger
If you write well and can work autonomously, then you could work from home as a professional blogger! Fortunately, there are many sites where you can search for paid blogging jobs. Keep in mind, blogger pay rates can vary drastically, so make sure any opportunity you take matches your long term blogging goals.

8. Join a Blogging Network
There are a number of blog networks that include a number of blogs and bloggers all publishing under a larger brand or company. Many of these blog networks pay bloggers a flat fee per post or word that the blogger writes or the blogger receives a percentage of advertising earnings tied to the number of page views his or her posts generate (some networks even pay both a flat fee and a percentage of advertising revenues). As always, make sure the opportunities you pursue match your long term blogging goals.

9. Ask for Donations
While you're unlikely to make much money from donors, it certainly can't hurt to ask for donations on your blog. It's easy to add a PayPal donate button, and you never know who might be feeling generous!

10. Make Money without Ads
There are a variety of ways that you can make money from your blog without publishing any ads on your blog at all. Don't be afraid to get creative!

5 Tips To Choosing A Blog Topic.

Building a successful blog is a commitment in time and effort. Follow these five tips to choose a topic to write about on your blog that will put you on the path to reaching your blogging goals.

1. Choose a Topic You're Passionate About

A successful blog is updated frequently (often several times a day). If your blog has a chance at success, you need to keep your content fresh, which means you need to consistenly update your blog. Make sure you choose a topic for your blog that you feel strongly about and truly enjoy. Otherwise, writing about it will feel stale very quickly. You need to be able to stay motivated about your blog's topic for a long time.

2. Choose a Topic You Like to Discuss with Other People

Successful blogs require two-way conversation between you (the blogger) and your audience (your readers). As readers leave comments on your blog or email you to discuss your posts in further detail, you need to be responsive and receptive to them. Your blog's long-term success will depend on the sense of community you can create around it.

3. Choose a Topic You Don't Mind Debating with Other People

The blogoshpere is made up of people from all walks of life with varying opinions. As your blog grows, more and more people will find it, and some of those people may not agree with everything you write. Successful bloggers enoy discussing their blogs' topics from all angles and appreciate a healthy debate.

4. Choose a Topic You're Not Overly Sensitive About

As your blog grows and more people find it, many are apt to not just disagree with you, but actually disagree so strongly with you that they may attack you personally. You need to have a thick skin to deflect personal attacks and strongly opposing opinions.

5. Choose a Topic You Enjoy Researching

The blogosphere is constantly changing and one of the most unique aspects of blogs is their ability to provide fresh, meaningful content and discussions about a wide variety of topics. In order for your blog to be successful, you need to enjoy reading about your blog's topic and keeping up with news and current events related to it thereby enabling you to keep your blog's content interesting and relevant to readers.