A Simple Way to Make Money From Home

A Simple Way to Make Money From Home

There are a variety of ways to make money online, however not all of them are as simple as they sound. Getting started online can be a little confusing and overwhelming if you haven't tried it before. The good news is if you're not in a rush to become a millionaire over night it can be done.

Without a doubt you'll need to have a website, but have no fear, because if you're not tech savvy it won't matter. Due to the popularity of blogging, there are a multitude of free webpage generators that will allow you to get your own site up and running in just a few minutes.

The two most popular blogging platforms are blogger.com and wordpress.com. These two resources are very easy to navigate. Once you have your site set up, the next thing you're going to need to do is find something to sell on it. You can find tons of products to promote at Clickbank.com or paydotcom.com.

These two sites offer a large variety of digital products that you can sell and make commissions on. Signing up at either site is free and you can promote as many products as you like.

A simple strategy for making this business model work is to post articles pertaining to your market on your blog and place a link at the end of your article that leads to the product your promoting and ultimately to a sale. It's not easy, but it is simple.

If you're looking for a simple way to make money from home feel free to download the Automatic Money Machines free report and begin setting up your own multiple profit centers online.

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How to Market Your Blog in Six Steps

How to Market Your Blog in Six Steps

Service business owners across the U.S. are using blogs to promote their business, serve more people, attract more prospects, and retain clients. It's one thing to start a blog and quite another to market it. Follow these six steps if you want to increase traffic.

1) The first rule to remember is to always write quality content to your target market. Sub-par postings will turn away possible clients.

2) Let your readers subscribe to your newsletter or blog updates. Input a simple .php form in a prominent location and offer an incentive to join. Some advanced wordpress templates already have this feature imbedded in the code. Check out smashingmagazine.com for 100 great themes, some of which have this feature.

3) Now for the most time consuming task. Submit new feeds to the following sites.

a.blogsearch
b.blogarama
c.blogbunch
d.blogcatalog
e.blogcode
f.blogexplosion
g.blogflux
i.bloghop
j.bloglisting
k.blogrankings
l.blogtoplist
m.getblogs
n.globeofblogs
o.lsblogs
p.myblog2u
q.quickblogdirectory
r.sportsblogs
s.weblogalot, and
t.dmoz.

These sites will ask you to log in and create an account. That is why it takes so long to submit it to each of them.

4) Use Social Bookmarks. So many to choose from, so little time... Digg, del.icio.us, Propeller, and Technorati are the top sites along with Google, Yahoo, and MSN's bookmark sites. You should also add some bookmark capabilities to your blog. I use ShareThis for mine.

5) Once you have your blog feed listed with the major submission sites, it is time to spread the word. Take massive action and post quality comments to as many of the top blogs as possible. Make sure you're not spamming - just give good advice and leave good questions - and leave a trail of your blog everywhere you can.

6) Give your visitors a way to share your posts with their friends and family. The final instruction is to stay consistent and be patient.
If you have good content and a visually pleasing site, it will attract the right visitors and your blog will grow - right along with the rest of your business. It will likely take at least thirty days (probably more like sixty to ninety) before that happens. Be patient and keep moving forward.
Bill Tamminga, MBA, is the founder of Goal Revolution and a leading expert in business growth. His most recent publication is a business assessment and marketing tool for service business owners entitled Advanced Business Triage.

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Which is Best For Marketing - A Website or Blog?

Which is Best For Marketing - A Website or Blog?

From my point of view if I can market my products and services on a blog, I see no logic in wasting time and money on learning how to set up a slick looking website as there is no guarantee that it will get me any more customers than a blog would.

There is so much hype on the web that makes setting up a .com website look so easy but don't be fooled as it can be a daunting task and not something that can be accomplished in just a few easy lessons especially by someone with little or no knowledge.

If you have the money and the patience to learn all the tricks of setting up a slick website, by all means find an expert to show you if that's what you really want.
But for me I will stick to blogs for the sheer ease of setting them up. Also in the current economic climate it makes sense to use a free service like Blogger to save money.
A blog is the easiest to set up and manage and with the kind cooperation of Google, Blogger is provided free of charge. So for the newbie's who have no clue on how to set up and run a .com website, Blogger is the way to go.

Blogger is easy to set up and you are guided through one step at a time so you can't go wrong. Okay having said that, Blogger has got certain limitations for example your templates won't have buttons. But don't let that scare you away from trying because with careful tweaking of the templates you can easily set up a blog that looks like mine.

For a small charge you can tell me what you want in your blog and I will tell you how to set it up to look like mine with the buttons and we can even add extra columns if you want them.
Whichever way you decide to go, getting customers depends entirely on your effort in letting people know that you exist. The internet is overflowing with millions of websites and blogs all doing the same thing as you. All websites and blogs need traffic to survive, that is people traffic or people visiting the site. So how do you get traffic? You have to advertise on online and offline because if you don't advertise your site then it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack and the chances of being found are almost nil.

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Blogging Tips To Earn Money - Profit From Your Blog

Blogging Tips To Earn Money - Profit From Your Blog

These blogging tips are key for you to earn money online. If you want to profit from your blog, there are certain steps you need to follow in order to jump start your venture.

Whether you are a seasoned blogger that has not made any money from their blog, or you are a newcomer that wants to know the tips and trick to creating a profitable blog, you will need to spend a little time changing the way you look at blogs. There is good news, though, because it is very easy to take this new track.

Most blogging tips you have read are probably aimed toward enjoying what you write. While this is definitely a key to success, it will not put a dime into your pocket. If you haven’t realized that blogging can earn yourself some good money, now is the time to start getting serious about it.

To stat a successful blog, you first need to pick a subject, or a niche, that you are passionate about. You will be able to write blog after blog about a subject that you actually care about. Once you know what you want to blog about, then you can worry about how to make your money.

To get a better understandiWhile you are there, look to see how they are making their money. Some do it by using Google Adsense on heir blog and some promote affiliate products. They push affiliate products by different methods. Sometimes they will write an informative review about a specific product. Other times they will write a blog post and tell their readers that “Product A” can help them achieve what they just wrote about in the post.
There are dozens of ways to push products on your readers, but you must do it while sounding genuine, which means that you should try the product out for yourself before promoting it. By looking at what the profitable bloggers are doing, you will get a great understanding of how this works. Nothing is better than studying from people that it has worked for. It can be as simple as copying their ways at first, until you develop your own way of promoting.ng of how to write, take a look at a few of the Big Guns. This will show you what style of writing works.

The other way to profit from your blog is by having Google Adsense on your blog. I do not suggest that newcomers apply this method, so I will not talk about this is great detail. You can always dive into this area of profiting once you become an intermediate blogger.

You have to remember that readers buy from people that they like. If you come across as informative, personable, and willing to help, readers will be more than happy to take your advice about a certain product or service. These blogging tips are the beginning to your success. Keep it simple and straightforward. Study what is working for the long time bloggers and write about something you are passionate about. These are all simple blogging tips that can help your achieve your goal of being able to profit from your blog.

Are you really interested in making money with your blog? Keep reading...
Blogging Tips- Adam Woodham is the author of this article and lists the surefire tips and tricks you need to make money fast with your website or blog, using the bulletproof ways of Blogging To The Bank 2.0. Blogging for money has never been easier

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Tips to Monetize Your Blog and Make Money Blogging

Boost Your Blog's Income Potential with These 5 Blog Monetization Tips
Many bloggers want to find ways to generate an income from their blogs. Following are five tips to monetize your blog and start bringing in some money from your blogging efforts.

1. Advertising

Including advertisements on your blog is the most obvious way to derive an income from your blogging efforts. Ads can come in the form of text links or banner ads, and advertising options are available that you can easily tap into through pay-per-click, pay-per-post and affiliate programs online. Google AdSense, Amazon Associates, eBay Affiliates and Pay-Per-Post are just a few of the most common advertising programs available to bloggers.

2. Merchandise

Another simple way to monetize your blog is by selling merchandise through a service such as CafePress who will work with you to create custom items for you to sell through your blog.

3. Reviews

Bloggers can make money by reviewing products, events, businesses and more through blog posts.

4. Ebooks

A great way to bring in some revenue on your blog is by writing an ebook and offering it for sale through your blog. Ebooks are particularly successful for bloggers who have positioned themselves as experts in their fields and advertise their ebooks as additional or exclusive information just for readers of their blogs.

5. Donations

Many bloggers add a donation button to their blogs asking readers to make a monetary donation to keep the blog alive. Donations are also solicited with clever taglines such as, "If you like this blog, why not buy me a cup of coffee?" The donation link leads the reader to another website such as PayPal where the individual can easily make their donation.

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Tips to Writing a Blog Post That's Scan able

Create Easy-to-Read Blog Posts

One of the realities of writing content for the web is that people don't stay on any page for very long. Typically, web surfers scan a page and determine within a few seconds if it's worth staying on that page and reading further or if they should click away and try the next page they can find. With that in mind, your blog posts should be written and formatted in a way that makes them not only visually appealing but also scan able. Make sure your visitors know what you're writing about within a couple of seconds by following the tips below for creating scan able blog posts:

1. Pay Attention to Titles

The first thing your visitors will notice are your blog post titles. While it's great to use clever titles sometimes, make sure you have enough clear and concise titles, so visitors don't have to search very far to know what your blog posts are about. Also, remember that search engines weigh your blog post titles heavier than the content of each post, so take some time to consider search engine optimization when you name your blog posts.



2. Use Headings

Using the "heading" formatting options in your blog post editor not only makes your content scan able because it breaks it into smaller pieces with clear headlines for each section, but search engines also weigh text published using a "heading" format heavier than non-formatted text. Make your headings relevant, clear and search engine friendly.

3. Make Lists

Bulleted and numbered lists work equally well in turning text that could be published as long paragraphs into easily scan able content. Use lists whenever you can to break up long blocks of text.

4. Use Bold and Italicize - But Not Too Much

Bold and italics work very well to draw attention to specific text within your blog posts, but when they're overused, they become useless. Instead of drawing attention to the most important parts of your post, they make your post cluttered and more difficult to read.

5. Go Easy on the Links

Links can be very helpful in directing your readers to more information. They're also helpful in search engine optimization because search engines weigh linked text higher than non-linked text. However, too many links can have a negative effect on the readability of your blog just as too much bold or italics can. Use links but don't overuse them.

6. Use Images

Images are a great way to break up a text heavy blog post. They can help to draw attention to a specific post, add color to your blog, and help with search engine optimization. Don't use too many images though, or your posts get cluttered and your text gets harder to read rather than easier. Also, make sure you only use images that you have permission to publish on your blog. There are many websites that offer free photos to use on your blog. Take some time to learn about copyright and fair use laws before you publish images in your blog posts.

7. Write Short Paragraphs

Blog posts are easiest to scan and read when paragraphs are short. In fact, one or two sentence paragraphs are perfectly acceptable and usually welcomed by blog visitors. Short paragraphs add white space and visual relief to text-heavy blog posts. Remember to keep your paragraphs short.

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Tips to Write Blog Posts

How to Write Posts that Get Noticed and Keep Readers Interested

One of the most important keys to blogging success is providing exceptional content. Follow these five tips to make sure your blog posts not only get read but make people want to come back for more.

1. Choose the Appropriate Tone for Your Blog

Every blog has a target audience it's written for. Before you start writing blog posts, determine who your primary and secondary audiences will be. Who will want to read your blog and why? Are they seeking professional information and discussions or fun and laughter? Identify not only your goals for your blog but also your audience's expectations for it. Then decide what tone would be most appropriate for your blog, and write in that tone and style consistently.


2. Be Honest

Blogs that are written in an honest voice and truly show who the writer is are often the most popular. Remember, a critical component to a blog's success is the community that develops around it. Represent yourself and your content honestly and openly and reader loyalty will undoubtedly grow.

3. Don't Just List Links

Blogging is time-consuming, and sometimes it can be very tempting to just list links to other online content for your readers to follow. Don't fall into that trap. Readers don't want to have to follow a breadcrumb trail to find something interesting to read. In fact, they might find they like where you lead them more than they like your blog. Instead, give readers a reason to stay on your blog by providing links with your own synopsis and point of view about the content of those links. Remember, a link without context is a simple way to lose readers rather than retain them.



4. Provide Attribution

Don't risk being accused of violating copyrights, plagiarism or stealing content from another blog or website. If you found information on another blog or website that you want to discuss on your blog make sure you provide a link back to the original source.

5. Write in Short Paragraphs

The visual appeal of your blog's content can be just as important as the content itself. Write your blog posts in short paragraphs (no more than 2-3 sentences is a safe rule) to provide visual relief from a text heavy web page. Most readers will skim a blog post or web page before committing to read it in its entirety. Text heavy web pages and blog posts can be overwhelming to readers while pages with a lot of white space are easier to skim and more likely to keep readers on the page (or to encourage them to link deeper into the site).

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Tips to Choosing a Blog Topic

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.

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Tips to Choosing a Blog Topic

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.

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Give Your Blog a Boost in the New Year or Anytime with These Blog Resolutions

Give Your Blog a Boost in the New Year or Anytime with These Blog Resolutions

While the beginning of a new year is a great time to give your blog a boost, the resolutions listed in this article can actually be used anytime. Whenever you feel like it's time to take your blog to the next level by increasing traffic, creating a better reader experience, or any other improvement you want to make, take a look at this list for inspiration. These aren't necessarily quick fixes but rather actual resolutions - changes in behavior - that can help your blog in the long term.

1. Increase Posting Frequency

If you only post once a week, bump that up to 3 times. If you post everyday, try to post twice a day at least three times per week. Every additional blog post provides new content for existing readers to view and new entry points for search engines to help new visitors find your blog. Follow the link to learn all about blog posting frequency.

2. Respond to More Comments

Comments are what makes blogs interactive, social and different from static websites. If you only occasionally respond to comments left on your blog posts, try to respond to at least half of the comments you get. If you already respond to most of the comments left on your blog, try to respond to every comment left on your blog. You can follow the links to read more about blog comments and blog conversations and communities through comments.

3. Clean Up Your Blogroll

A blogroll is a great way to connect with other bloggers, but it's useless (and possibly annoying) to your readers if the links aren't helpful or don't work. Take some time to periodically test the links in your blogroll throughout the year to ensure they deliver value to your readers and actually work. You can follow the link to learn more about blogrolls

4. Clean Up Your Sidebar

If your sidebar is cluttered with too many ads, useless links, and images and information that isn't useful to your readers, you need to delete the unhelpful excess. Take some time throughout the year to check the contents of your sidebar ensuring it's fully optimized to provide value to your readers as well as the results you want. You can follow the link to learn about 15 popular sidebar items.

5. Learn Something New

If you want to grow your blog's audience, a great way to do that is to introduce something new to your blog. For example, if you haven't learned how to create a podcast or vlog before, learn how and add it to your blog. You can follow the links to learn how to create a vlog and how to create a podcast.

6. Try Something New

If you don't have time to learn something new, you can still try something new on your blog. Blog contests, guest bloggers, polls, and blog carnivals are just a few suggestions of new things you can try on your blog at anytime. Follow the links to learn more about blog contests, guest blogging, polls, and blog carnivals.

7. Try a New Promotion Method

If you want to grow your blog, then you have to take time to promote it. If you haven't been submitting your blog to social bookmarking sites, participating in social networking, using Twitter or another microblogging tool, commenting on other blogs, or participating in forums related to your blog, then you should start! Follow the links to learn more about social bookmarking, social networking, Twitter, increasing blog traffic and free blog promotion

8. Network More

Networking is one of the keys to blog success. As you meet more bloggers, communicate with other people in the blogosphere, and become better known online, your blog will grow. Take some time to use the social networking and microblogging tools available to you to grow your blog indirectly. To learn more about social networking and microblogging, follow the links for more information about Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter, Plurk and Jaiku.

9. Enhance Your Blog's Appearance

The visual appearance of your blog can have a big impact on whether or not visitors stay once they find it or return later. Take some time to evaluate your blog's appearance, and add enhancements or revisions to make your blog look better than ever. You can follow the links to learn where to find free Wordpress themes, where to find free Blogger templates and where to find free photos to use on your blog

10. Upgrade Your Blog's Functionality

There are a number of ways you can upgrade your bog’s functionality. If you're currently using Blogger.com or Type Pad, you might want to consider moving to Word press. If you're using the free version of Wordpress.com, you can switch to Wordpress.org and gain a significant amount of additional functionality. If you already use Wordpress.org, you can add plug-ins to give your blog a boost. Follow the links to read a blogging software comparison to help you understand the difference between the various blogging platforms available. You can also follow the links to read more about blogging with Wordpress, Blogger.com, Typepad, Wordpress.com vs. Wordpress.org, types of blog hosts and how to choose a blog host.

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How I Make Money from Blogs

How I Make Money from Blogs

It’s been a fair while since I talked specifically about my blogging earnings. I decided a year or so ago that I wasn’t going to put specific dollar figures to my income any more in public - however as I get a lot of questions from readers asking for updates I thought I’d share where my blogging income has been coming from lately.
All I will say in terms of dollar figures is that I am still well and truly earning over six figures per year from the following income streams.
The following is a ranking of my top 9 income streams for the fourth Quarter of 2006. It is a summary of the income from my own personal blogs - ie income from b5media (where I am an employee as well as a shareholder) is not included - either is income from Six Figure Blogging (which continues to sell at a reasonable rate) or any speaking or consulting work that I do (very little these days anyway).
I’ve also included a little information on how I use each of these income streams and which products that they offer work best for me which I hope is helpful for others looking to monetize their blogs or websites. Note - Some of the following links are affiliate links.



1.Chitika
While they don’t work on every blog (for example I don’t use them here at ProBlogger) and there is a traffic minimum to be accepted by them Chitika continue to be my highest earner. They offer a variety of ad units and income streams - the top three for me are eMiniMalls, Related Product Units and Shoplincs. They continue to work best on product related sites. Place RPU units at the end of posts (they give a good option for people to click on when they finish reading and experiment with linking directly to products in your shoplinc
from product reviews (of the same products) on your blogs. I’ve written plenty of Chitika Optimization tips.


2. AdSense
When I survey bloggers about the methods that they use to make money from their blogs Google’s AdSense is always the number one response. It is a quick and easy way for bloggers of all sizes to display ads that are relevant to their content.
AdSense is a ‘contextual’ advertising program where publishers simply add a piece of code to their blogs that helps Google analyze what your page is about so they can serve ads on that topic. This increases the chances of your readers clicking the ad which increases the chances that you’ll earn something from them.
AdSense also provide a variety of other income streams to bloggers including a site search tool (you make money by people searching your site) and referral tools (where you can make money by recommending Google products).
AdSense is how I earn around 35% of my income as a full time blogger and I would thoroughly recommend it as a way of monetizing a blog - especially for those just starting out.

The most popular form of advertising on blogs is AdSense (according to a few studies that I’ve seen) and for me it’s a reliable earner that brings in a significant level of income (just under what Chitika pulls in each month). While I use referrals and their search product on some of my sites I find that normal ad units are producing the best income for me - particularly rectangle (250 x 300 pixels) ones placed close to content with a blended design. For tips on optimizing AdSense on your blog .



3. Text Link Ads

Perhaps the biggest mover for me over the last 12 months in terms of my earnings has come from TLA. While they have a ceiling in what they earn per site they are another good solid earner for me - particularly now that they’ve added feedvertising (RSS ads) which out performs any other type of RSS ad that I’ve tried. I’m hearing from many bloggers that TLA is their biggest earner now. It works best on sites that have been around for a while - you don’t need big traffic to be accepted - but having a page rank and some search engine presence helps.



4. Amazon Associates

The forth Quarter of each year tends to be a good one for me when it comes to commissions from Amazon. The last quarter is a time that people are in a buying mood in the lead up to Christmas - smart placement (deep linking inside posts) can bring great conversions. The key is picking relevant products to promote. Read more tips on affiliate programs for blogs for a few other tips on optimizing Amazon.


5. Private Ad Deals
I don’t do a lot of private ad deals (it’s something I should focus upon more but there are only so many hours in the day) but when they come in they can be significant (if you have decent traffic). I’ve just signed two deals on my digital photography blog with Apple and Adobe for the next couple of months so I suspect this one will leap up next quarter.


6. Miscellaneous Affiliate Programs
My blogs have a variety of smaller affiliate programs running from them. I try to find quality products that relate to my topics that I can genuinely recommend - often via reviews. Some of the better converting products that I’ve recommended this last quarter included - Digital Photography Secrets (a camera technique series), Pro Photo Secrets (a photoshop product) and SEO Book(Aaron’s legendary resource).


7. ProBlogger Job Boards
Not spectacular earnings but growing. I see this more as a service to readers than an income stream at this point - however it does pay for itself and bring in a few hundred dollars each month.


8.Performancing’s Partners Network
The now defunct ad network did bring in a few hundred dollars last quarter. I was sad to see this close as it offered an interesting alternative.


9. BlogAds
I don’t use them much these days but they do bring in a little each month. I noticed BlogAds decrease in performance for me around the time they went to the new version. I’m not sure if it’s my problem or theirs but apart from one blog I rarely see any sales these days.
How Much Do I Spend?
A question that I’m regularly asked when I do such posts is ‘how much do you spend’ to earn what you earn?
The answer is ‘very little’.
I do experiment occasionally with using AdWords to promote my blogs - but don’t have the time or patience to get into it heavily (the biggest month I’ve had with AdWords ever is $100 - just over $3 a day). Other than that I don’t do any paidpromotional activities and my costs are really just hosting related and the normal ISP and office costs.

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How I Make Money from Blogs

It’s been a fair while since I talked specifically about my blogging earnings. I decided a year or so ago that I wasn’t going to put specific dollar figures to my income any more in public - however as I get a lot of questions from readers asking for updates I thought I’d share where my blogging income has been coming from lately.

All I will say in terms of dollar figures is that I am still well and truly earning over six figures per year from the following income streams.

The following is a ranking of my top 9 income streams for the fourth Quarter of 2006. It is a summary of the income from my own personal blogs - ie income from b5media (where I am an employee as well as a shareholder) is not included - either is income from Six Figure Blogging (which continues to sell at a reasonable rate) or any speaking or consulting work that I do (very little these days anyway).

I’ve also included a little information on how I use each of these income streams and which products that they offer work best for me which I hope is helpful for others looking to monetize their blogs or websites. Note - Some of the following links are affiliate links.

1.Chitika

While they don’t work on every blog (for example I don’t use them here at ProBlogger) and there is a traffic minimum to be accepted by them Chitika continue to be my highest earner. They offer a variety of ad units and income streams - the top three for me are eMiniMalls, Related Product Units and Shoplincs. They continue to work best on product related sites. Place RPU units at the end of posts (they give a good option for people to click on when they finish reading and experiment with linking directly to products in your shoplinc

from product reviews (of the same products) on your blogs. I’ve written plenty of Chitika Optimization tips.

2. AdSense

When I survey bloggers about the methods that they use to make money from their blogs Google’s AdSense is always the number one response. It is a quick and easy way for bloggers of all sizes to display ads that are relevant to their content.

AdSense is a ‘contextual’ advertising program where publishers simply add a piece of code to their blogs that helps Google analyze what your page is about so they can serve ads on that topic. This increases the chances of your readers clicking the ad which increases the chances that you’ll earn something from them.

AdSense also provide a variety of other income streams to bloggers including a site search tool (you make money by people searching your site) and referral tools (where you can make money by recommending Google products).

AdSense is how I earn around 35% of my income as a full time blogger and I would thoroughly recommend it as a way of monetizing a blog - especially for those just starting out.

The most popular form of advertising on blogs is AdSense (according to a few studies that I’ve seen) and for me it’s a reliable earner that brings in a significant level of income (just under what Chitika pulls in each month). While I use referrals and their search product on some of my sites I find that normal ad units are producing the best income for me - particularly rectangle (250 x 300 pixels) ones placed close to content with a blended design. For tips on optimizing AdSense on your blog.

3. Text Link Ads

Perhaps the biggest mover for me over the last 12 months in terms of my earnings has come from TLA. While they have a ceiling in what they earn per site they are another good solid earner for me - particularly now that they’ve added feedvertising (RSS ads) which out performs any other type of RSS ad that I’ve tried. I’m hearing from many bloggers that TLA is their biggest earner now. It works best on sites that have been around for a while - you don’t need big traffic to be accepted - but having a page rank and some search engine presence helps.

4. Amazon Associates

The forth Quarter of each year tends to be a good one for me when it comes to commissions from Amazon. The last quarter is a time that people are in a buying mood in the lead up to Christmas - smart placement (deep linking inside posts) can bring great conversions. The key is picking relevant products to promote. Read more tips on affiliate programs for blogs for a few other tips on optimizing Amazon.

5. Private Ad Deals

I don’t do a lot of private ad deals (it’s something I should focus upon more but there are only so many hours in the day) but when they come in they can be significant (if you have decent traffic). I’ve just signed two deals on my digital photography blog with Apple and Adobe for the next couple of months so I suspect this one will leap up next quarter.

6. Miscellaneous Affiliate Programs

My blogs have a variety of smaller affiliate programs running from them. I try to find quality products that relate to my topics that I can genuinely recommend - often via reviews. Some of the better converting products that I’ve recommended this last quarter included - Digital Photography Secrets (a camera technique series), Pro Photo Secrets (a photoshop product) and SEO Book (Aaron’s legendary resource).

7. ProBlogger Job Boards

Not spectacular earnings but growing. I see this more as a service to readers than an income stream at this point - however it does pay for itself and bring in a few hundred dollars each month.

8.Performancing’s Partners Network

The now defunct ad network did bring in a few hundred dollars last quarter. I was sad to see this close as it offered an interesting alternative.

9. BlogAds

I don’t use them much these days but they do bring in a little each month. I noticed BlogAds decrease in performance for me around the time they went to the new version. I’m not sure if it’s my problem or theirs but apart from one blog I rarely see any sales these days.

How Much Do I Spend?

A question that I’m regularly asked when I do such posts is ‘how much do you spend’ to earn what you earn?

The answer is ‘very little’.

I do experiment occasionally with using AdWords to promote my blogs - but don’t have the time or patience to get into it heavily (the biggest month I’ve had with AdWords ever is $100 - just over $3 a day). Other than that I don’t do any paid

promotional activities and my costs are really just hosting related and the normal ISP and office costs.

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EARN MONEY EASY WAY FROM ONLINE

Hi You have come to right place. I will show you step by step, how you can earn Money from online at your home. That's really easy. Internet and Google AdSense program has made it true for you.

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