How to Start Making a REAL Living with your Blog

In today's world, it seems that almost any topic is open for debate. While I was gathering facts for this article, I was quite surprised to find some of the issues I thought were settled are actually still being openly discussed.

There are many bloggers who make incomes of several thousand dollars per month from their blogs. These are not casual bloggers who only want to see their words and their name online or who just want to put forth a point-of-view, these are serious bloggers who have made blogging into a full-time (or nearly full-time) job.

Here are some of the ways they make money from their blogs and ways you can also blog for bucks:

Advertising! There are many advertisers waiting for you to approach them, these are programs such as Google's Adsense (https://www.google.com/adsense/) where you allow companies to place their ads . . . ads related to your topic . . . on your blog. Each time one of your readers clicks on an ad on your blog, you earn a small amount of money (a predetermined amount). A slightly different approach is used by companies such as CrispADS (http://www.crispads.com/). With this type of service, you tell them how much you want to charge for advertising space on your blog and they will attempt to find an advertiser who will pay that price (plus a commission for the go-between company). These are just two of a large group that is expanding daily.

Blog Feeds! RSS (Really Simple Syndication) and ATOM Feeds are two of the dominant blog feeds. The object of a blog feed is to distribute every new post you add to your blog to a list of subscribers; you make your blog posts available to RSS or ATOM, people who want to read your stuff on a regular basis can subscribe to your posts and read them on a news reader. The latest trend is to include advertising to these blog feeds and, as before, if your subscriber clicks on an ad that is included with your feed, you get some money. There are no BIG bucks here yet but its a rapidly growing field.

It seems like new information is discovered about something every day. And the topic of blogging is no exception. Keep reading to get more fresh news about blogging.

Affiliate Programs! Online companies have been offering affiliate programs to bloggers for years, some of the big ones are Amazon, Linkshare and Clickbank. They work by providing you a unique URL that you add to your blog. Any readers that click through to the company and buy something are providing you with a commission. Another version of the affiliate program is the “mini-mall” concept offered by companies such as Chitika eMiniMalls. The mini-mall works (like the affiliate program), through a link on your blog that takes your reader to a page with a variety of merchandise -- all sales earn you a commission.

Sponsors! Large corporations are very aware of the blogosphere and of the growing number of people who read blogs and, in response, they are using blogs to advance their business interests -- blogs may never replace the Michael Jordan-type superstars for corporations but blogs are already gaining many fairly lucrative corporate sponsorships.  If you have a blog that is dedicated to a particular topic, e.g., digital cameras, that is published on a regular basis, that has a good readership and is recognized as an authoritative source for digital camera information, your blog may draw the interest of a corporate sponsor and you may be approached to run their advertisements for new products on a long-term  basis.  If and when you reach that point you know you've made it to the big time, professional blogger's league.

Your Product! The methods mentioned above are just a few of the very many ways you can start making money from your blog . . . but there is a catch!

As you probably noticed every scheme mentioned and every other money-making blogging scheme you'll find requires a great blog . . . a blog that draws hundreds of  readers (as a minimum) on a regular basis. To reach this stage of readership you need a blog that offers the reader some type of unique, quality content.

If blogging is to be a money making business for you, you'll need to treat it like a business by dedicating your time, energy and creativity to its success. Also, like any successful business, you need a product or service that is a 'customer magnet.' Your “product” is your content: it could be news or information or entertainment but whatever it is, it must be unique and interesting.

So now you know a little bit about blogging. Even if you don't know everything, you've done something worthwhile: you've expanded your knowledge.

James Mahony is the founder of A Guide to Blogging A site dedicated to blogging

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