There are multiple ways you can blog for money these days. But you will want to pause for a second before you just start throwing up ads all over your blog posts. You need to come up with some goals and a strong vision for your blog first. You won’t want to compromise the integrity of your blog or your reputation just so that you can make money blogging. Once you have done that, then you can add multiple streams of income that fit within the guidelines of your vision of your blog without losing your followers.
In this day and age you do not need to have a highway full of traffic or be the town superstar to blog for money, you just need to keep your wits about your and keep within your vision. One of the main things you will want to do when starting a blog is to think about your interests and things that you are knowledgeable about and try to find an untapped niche. The easiest way to make money blogging will be to be seen as an expert within your under populated field.
Probably the most common ways to make money with a blog is to join some advertising programs. There are no shortage of these programs around today, so it should be easy to find some that keep within the goals and vision you have for your blog. Here are a few companies you can research for adding ads to your blog. Make sure you read their terms and conditions to see which ones are compatible with each other to allow you to add multiple streams of income:
AdSense
Chitka
Adbrite
BlogAds
Text Link Ads
BuzzLogic
If cluttering up your pages with ads is not within your vision, there are programs that you can use to make money with a blog that tap into your RSS feed. RSS advertising isn’t the most used, but it is starting to make its way to the blogging world. Feedburner is a nice little tool you might try that can help you monetize through your RRS feed. Pheedo is another company that utilizes RSS advertising that will help you in your quest to blog for money.
Affiliate programs are another popular source to help you make money with a blog. Through pre-programmed links that they provide you, they keep track of how many people you send to their site. Depending on their program they could pay you with a percentage of the sale itself, or for your readers clicking their ad. Some pay just for sending them new leads. Affiliate programs are a great way to blog for money. Simply blog about things that are of great interest to you and search for affiliate programs within that industry. There are a lot of companies that offer affiliate programs. You can search the companies websites or hook up with some companies like LinkShare, Commission Junction, or ClickBank who have already done the research for you. Amazon is a major player within the affiliate world so don’t forget to visit their site and see if you can make some money blogging with their wide variety of products.
Another great way to blog for money is through sponsorship of companies. Businesses will sponsor your entire blog or individual posts by purchasing advertising through you. This is growing popular every day and giving you a way to blog for money. It is becoming apparent to businesses how much influence bloggers have over their readers and they are starting to capitalize on this. You will probably have to build your following and reputation up before being able to use this source of income, but it is something to keep in mind while building.
If you love to blog and are serious about wanting to blog for money full-time, then you should check out freelance jobs. There are a lot of mom and pop size companies out there that would love to have a blog for their customers but do not have the time, patience, or knowledge to keep a blog active. This will take some persistence from you, some leg work and maybe some cold calls, but I think it could be very profitable for you once you build up your clientele.
If you love writing and have knowledge to share you can also write e-books, offer a online courses or hit the road with some speaking and consulting gigs, all good ways to make money with a blog.
Every one of these sources of income with help you blog for money. The trick is finding the ones that fit the personality of your blog. I am confident that through some research and maybe a little trial and error, you will be very successfully blogging for money. Remember, you never want to just use one of these sources, always try for a combination of them. You want to build unlimited and multiple streams of income. Do not chance your finances to only one source.