A blog is sometimes said to be simply a way to reflect your inner self online where the public can see and read. Blogs are written on any topic from a rant on high gas prices to what you think about the new president. The interesting thing is that frequently, blogs written for enjoyment can actually become money-making endeavors for you. The money you make from your blog depends on the time and energy you put into it as well as the popularity of the topic and the real personality that you infuse into the written word.
Writing diaries and journals has been a popular activity since paper and pen were readily available. So when the internet rolled around, it only made sense that writers put their words on the computer. These diaries or journals weren't called blogs until Joran Barger phrased the term "weblog." It was through a simple joke from a blogger, Peter Merholz that cut weblog into we blog. Other bloggers began picking up the word blog and soon it spread like wildfire.
It was in the political realm and news reporting that made blogging famous. The fall of the U.S. Senator Majority Leader Trent Lott in 2002 was widely attributed to bloggers. The bloggers brought to light some comments not made public by the media. Senator Lott was forced to step down from the controversy.
It wasn't just politics that bloggers were interested in. Dan Rather, the news anchor of CBS, reported about President Bush's military record. The validity of the documents presented was called into question by bloggers. In depth research revealed the documents to be forged and the "rather popular" Dan Rather was fired over the incident. CBS was forced to issue an apology.
You don't have to write a blog to make money off of a blog. When bloggers get bored of writing their blog, or traffic has dropped off, they often put their blogs up for sale. You can sometimes purchase these blogs including the domain name for a very reasonable price. After a bit of investment in time and effort, sometimes these can be turned around as being much more valuable than their original price. At times it can be a very quick turn around and some have reported that this can be done without having to write a single additional word on the blog. We personally believe that a little elbow grease in polishing a rough product can always allow its underlying shine to come through more powerfully.
The goal of many advertisers is to get customers to buy their products. To do this, they spend millions on advertising. You can profit from those advertising dollars by allowing those advertisers to place ads in your blog. Ad revenue sites such as Google Adsense, and Adbright can help you start earning ad dollars very quickly. Some think that the trick is to pick ads that fit the blog content, however in reality Google scans your blog and knows what kind of content ads to place there already.
The great thing about ad revenues is that you can be collecting revenue, even if you have ignored your blog for quite some time. If however, visitors have been commenting on your blog and keeping it alive or constantly changing for the search engines, then you traffic will be increasing along with your residual income. There are tricks and tips to the size of the ad format relative to its surroundings and the placement of the ad that can make up to 400% more money for you, so before you run out and just put Google's adsense on your blog, read up on this a little more.
Affiliate marketing is another revenue generator. You sell the products from your blog for a percentage of the profits. Your blog can be a platform for this potential gold mine. Use your blog to emphasize why the customer should buy this product. It helps a great deal if you are familiar with it.
Some of the affiliated marketing sites you can look at are Commission Juncton, and LinkShare. Linkshare has a one time cost that is a little expensive, however most of Commission Junction is free, and clickbank the massive info marketplace is definitely free. These groups have a massive variety of products for you to choose from. Your blog can be the platform to showcase related products that sell themselves easily.
The biggest mistake that bloggers sometimes make is to overload the blog with too many products. The content should reflect what you are selling. Consider selling like items in one blog and starting another one for different types of products. Diversify to give yourself the most chance at making money.
Getting traffic to your blog is the most time-consuming part of the process. Recruit friends and family to display your blog link on their sites. Use your blog link as part of your signature in forums and your email. Don't forget the power of those social networking sites.
Yahoo and MSN search engines prioritize blogs. To keep your blog on top, keep adding new content. Alert your readers to new content by submitting your blog to many of the ping services available. New content will automatically send a ping/alert to the 100-200 search engines particularly if you have added more ping services than the default rpc.pingomatic.com that is set up in your blog writing options area. This will re-prioritize your blog to higher levels in the search engines.
Making money from your blog is a realistic and achievable goal. It does take some work and elbow grease type investment to figure out the combination that works best for you. When it does succeed, its often a pleasant surprise to see small checks coming in continuously.Many of the ideas mentioned above are general commonsense ideas. Some of you may have known about them, and for some there may be just a little new information here. Understand however, that while these are all great ideas, implementing them in exactly the right way to make a ton of money is typically a trial and error process that many of you can relate to. Suppose however that there was a way to cut through the wasted trials and use an existing formula that simply works? Read a review of 5 of the web's best known blog authors, whom all make 7 to 8 figure salaries from their blogs.
