A few years ago, the word “blog” did not exist in most people’s vocabularies, and now it seems that everyone is expressing themselves with an online journal. You may have heard stories about people making money with their blogs. It’s true! Here are some tips on how to monetize your blog.
Google’s Adsense program is a great way to get started. Submit an easy application at www.google.com/adsense. Once you are approved, you just add some html code to your blog and small text ads will appear on your blog. Google will display ads that share a common theme with your blog. When one of the people reading your blog clicks on an ad, you get paid! The amounts vary, and clicking the ads on your own blog is strictly prohibited.
Affiliate marketing is another great way to make money by blogging. Most companies have an affiliate program, where they pay people to advertise their product online. In most cases, you will be paid a percentage of the sale of an item. Most affiliate programs have many different ads you can choose to include, ranging from full-color graphic ads to simple text ads. You can find affiliate opportunities through Linkshare (www.linkshare.com) and Commission Junction (www.cj.com).
“Pay per post” is somewhat controversial, but still a way to make money blogging. When you are being paid to post, you are actually paid to write about a certain product. In a nutshell, you can register your blog with a company and they will give you a list of things you can choose to blog about. Once you have completed your post, you send a link back to the company and if they accept your post, you will be paid. There may be certain guidelines to be approved, such as the amount of time your blog has been online, how many times you have posted in the last 90 days, and if it is indexed in search engines.
The most important thing to remember is to keep your target market in mind. If your blog is targeted to stay-at-home moms with young children, you will want to keep your ads focused to things that would appeal to them. Do not try to create a blog that appeals to the masses. If you have several different target markets in mind, it will be easier and more profitable to create several different blogs that cater to individual markets.