WAYS I MAKE MY MONEY FROM BLOGS

Blogging for money has probably become common knowledge to you if you have been around the ‘make money online subject’ for a while now. However, I have done extensive research on the subject and I know now that there are many ways you can get started on your money making career just as I did. I believe that this year will see many more bloggers making more money from blogging.
Here is a piece of advice for what it’s worth: Spread your revenue generating points across many options, as it is not wise to put all your eggs in one basket. This is even getting easier to do with the new and better opportunities that this year has brought. These are some of the opportunities:
a. One of the latest and newest trends in the world of blogging has been the addition of newer and more effective advert programs; the most popular is still Google ad-sense. However some other vibrant advertising schemes are now springing forth. Some of these are Chikita’s eMiniMalls and widgetBucks, TextLink Ads, Azoogle ads, Intelli Txt, DoubleClick, Tribal fusion, Adbrite, Clicksor, AdHearUs, Kanoodle, Pheedo, TextAds, Bidvertiser, FastClick and ValueClick. The good news is they come with a variety of options to choose from. There are still some future advantages to benefit from with MSN Adcenter and YPN, both with beta testing and with other advert systems currently in developmental stages. Note: YPN exists only for US publishers. You might also want to sample BlogAds – which is one of the first blog specific ad networks. Another resource you might want to explore will be the use of RSS adverts. Although I am yet to come across any blogger who has made money through this avenue, I believe that with the form of awareness that blogs are currently getting, it will only be a matter of time before bloggers begin to get some profit through this medium.
b. Sponsorship: Now, like I said earlier on, the new improvements in the whole bloggers’ planet have heralded some new improvements. Now, bloggers can receive sponsorship from advert agencies that wish to advertise directly on your blog. Another option will be when you are paid to write on specific topics. You could either be paid to write sporadically or regularly, depending on what the company in question is looking out for.
c. Make use of Affiliate Programs: there are affiliate programs that you would like to promote on your blogs. You might want to subscribe to the large affiliate programs like Amazon, Commission Junction and LinkShare. However, you should be aware that there are a lot of smaller affiliate programs that thousands of bloggers are subscribed to.
d. Digital Money Making Terminals: This year has also seen a lot of bloggers making money from digital resources like e-books, tele-seminars and courses. These have shown great promises as additional sources of income to bloggers. I once ran an online course on my blog and it fetched me quite a lot of side bucks.
e. Network Opportunities for bloggers: A blogger can now join a bloggers network. This has the advantage of increasing the blogger’s reach while still earning money in the process. Here, bloggers can make money in two ways: writing for himself or writing for others. It is quite good to write for yourself but writing for others comes with some advantages. For instance, when writing for others (companies, for example) you don’t have to bother about the setup, administration, SEO optimization, promotion and other technical stuff.
f. Blogging for Businesses: With the increase in fame of blogging, many businesses are beginning to turn to the blogging side. While some may convert some of their internal staff into bloggers, some of them will employ freelance bloggers to write for them. If you are interested in this form of income generation, you might want to check out bloggers for hire.
g. Writing, But not blogging: now, bloggers can branch off the blogging field and milk other opportunities. Now a blogger who knows his stuff can write for magazines, non-blogging websites as well as for good old newspapers. You could even write and publish books. In fact, recently I met two of my friend bloggers and they were lamenting that they were the only bloggers they knew who didn’t have publishing contracts.
h. Donations from Appreciative Audience: I know that once upon a time, Tip Jars and donation buttons did little nothing for the blogger’s pocket, but these days, bloggers are now making money from donations and tips from appreciative readers. A real-life example is Jason Kottke of www.kottke.org . He was able to quit his job and become a full-time blogger from donations he received.
i. Blog flipping: This is simply “Selling Blogs”. You could design a blog, write on it, and sell it. It works, believe me. You could either sell it as an individual, or via a network.
j. Merchandising: I mean from this that you could sell branded products like T-shirts through programs like Cafepress. While my merchandising was not an earth-shaking success, I can tell you that it is quite a good avenue of revenue generation. It works especially well on blogs with fanatic followers.
Consultation fees: Some bloggers can now make money online via consultation fees. Once you have established yourself as an expert in a certain niche, you might just as well earn money speaking on your related field and being a consultant there. I have a friend who charges $200 an hour on a subject that he knew nothing of barely 18 months ago.