Making Money at Blogging in 2011
So you are interested in making money at blogging. Be warned: this is not easy in the slightest. As a matter of fact, any blogger will tell you it is extremely hard, and for a few hard-working, lucky people, an actual full time job. Your first step through quality content, and proper syndication, is to attract visitors to your blog before you can even begin to think about making money. If you have a good following, there are several ways to add revenue streams from blogging. Perhaps some of these options will work for you.
Google Adsense
https://www.google.com/adsense
Google Adsense is the first and foremost way of trying to convert your blog into a revenue stream. After you sign up using a Google account, you can publish advertisements from Google’s affiliates into your blog articles, RSS feeds, mobile applications, and on-site search queries. Google will examine the content of your articles, and then display ads most relevant to the content. Adsense works on a cost per click model, where advertisers will set a cost per click, which can range from 1 cent to eight dollars. When a user clicks on an ad that is displayed on your blog, you will get paid the cost per click into your adsense account. Be sure not to click your own ads, or do anything that violates the terms of use. Google moderates this closely, and you will get banned.
Amazon Associates
https://affiliate-program.amazon.com
If you like to blog about products or services that Amazon sells, Amazon Associates is a commission based affiliate network that offers anywhere from 4% to 15% commission, based on the number of items you sell. Using Amazon’s product widget is a great way to display the products photo on your website, plus if anyone clicks on the picture and buys the item, you get the commission! The only thing left for you to decide is whether you want to review cheap products and hope for more clicks or expensive products and get less clicks.
ClickBank
http://www.clickbank.com/promote_products.html
ClickBank is a commission based program like Amazon, but the commissions tend to be higher. This service does not have the scope of Amazon, but you can be paid weekly by direct deposit, and their motto is: “Get paid on time, every time”. Who can argue with guarantees like that? If you don’t mind a smaller selection, and are willing to trade the selection options for a higher commission, then ClickBank is for you.
There are other options for more niche specific blogs. If you write about specific interests or knowledge bases (which most good bloggers do), you may want to research what type offers would match the flavor of your blog.
For example, Internet Wisdom (the blog you are reading) is written by the team at KMH Kreations (the company that sponsors this blog) and writes about internet technology, in the areas of expertise which include:
- Website Design
- Social Media Management
- Content Management Systems (WordPress, Joomla!)
- Inbound Marketing (newsletters, blogs, social networking)
- Technology News (Apple, Google, Microsoft, etc.)
So for a company like ours, finding complimentary business affiliates would include companies that sell services like:
- Web Domain Registration and Hosting (IPOWER, Host Gator, 1@1, etc.)
- Social Media Enhancement Software (Wibiya Toolbar, Tweetadder Pro, etc.)
- “Do it yourself online” eBooks
- And many other options…
The key here is to find complimentary businesses, which are businesses that sell products or services that enhance your blog, or work together with your business if you are blogging for a company. Stay away from competitors! The biggest mistake you can ever make while blogging is to advertize something that takes your visitors away from your website, without compensating you for the loss. The competitors will get free advertising and you will have thrown away potential leads/followers/readers for nothing in return. You should always stand behind your product or service, but trying to push the competition is just bad practice. For example, Wal-Mart has a “price match guarantee”, not a “please look here and compare our competitor’s prices guarantee”.
So what is the key to making money online through blogging? Write good content, get traffic, and then find complimentary business relationships that are both beneficial to you (the publisher) and the other company (the advertiser). After that, stick with the writing, and give it time (even though we all want to get rich quick).
