1. Sell ad space on your blog
2. Write articles for other companies/blogs/individuals
3. Syndicate your blog posts to other blogs/Sell Blog Subscriptions
4. Sell your own things on your blog
5. Sell third party goods online

1. Sell ad space on your blog

One of the most popular ads is GoogleAds: https://www.google.com/adsense (although they pay you only when someone actually clicks on the ad) and the Yahoo Publisher Network https://publisher.yahoo.com/portal/login.php

Selling ad space is fairly easy to do; just create a section on your blog that describes the benefit for companies/individuals to place an ad on your blog. 

One word of advice though: When you start this adventure, do not fill your blog to the gills with ads – it will not look very professional. Your readers need to see what you can offer first before they will buy anything from you or off your blog. 

You can spot a newbie, right-away by the imense number of ads running on his/her site, trying desperately to make some dough. People do not respond well and they will leave your site fairly quick before you can even write about your expertise. 

Here’s an example from the highly acclaimed blog called doshdosh (http://www.doshdosh.com/advertise) 

Dosh Dosh Advertising Page

Same can be done for a website. The more traffic you have the more you can charge. 

If your blog has low traffic you can always go to TextLinkAds or TextLinkBrokers. Even better connect with your network in Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter and let them know you are offering ad space on your blog for a minimum of $XX amount per month. You will be surprised of the response you get. 

2. Write Articles for other companies/blogs/individuals

This usually frightens some people but you don’t have to be an expert in a particular field.

You’ll have to show proof that you: 

 - are a creative blogger
 - have articles you wrote and published on your blog, ezines or squidoo lenses
 - comment and are active on other blogs as well
 - are proficient using social media, plug-ins and add-ons
 - have a basic understanding of simple SEO rules

The best way of all is to show that you are a pro is creating, maintaining and actively contributing on your own blog. You should have at least 3-4 months under your belt and a minimum of 30-50 good articles consisting of 250-500 words each .

The core subject or theme of your blog does not matter as long as you write frequently and professionally. Obviously check for grammar. Write well and write often. 

3. Syndicate your blog posts to other blogs/Sell Blog Subscriptions

If the information posted on your blog is in high demand you might want to think about syndicating your blog.

You can accomplish this through 3 easy steps:

 a. Find out what your blog’s feed is (it should look like this: http://feeds.feedburner.com/your-blog-name-here)
 b. Customize your feed through the feed dashboard
 c. Finally – publicize your feed to your readers.

Others have started blogging and got so popular that know they sell subscriptions. See problogger.com 

Again, based on how popular your blog is, the amount of money you can charge can vary. Initially start small and as you add more value you can increase the dollar amount you can charge.

4. Sell Your Own Things

In the fortunate even that you already have something to sell on your own, you’ll have to have some additional tools along side your blog: 

 - If you are selling digital assets (e-books, art, photos, music, etc.) you’ll need an ecommerce shopping cart and a PayPal account.

The alternative is http://www.payloadz.com or http://www.payloadz.com

 - If you are selling physical, tangible products you’ll need all of the above, a FedEx account and…lots of boxes.

The majority of bloggers sell their ebooks and books, usually directly from their blog using a simple PayPal account.

5. Sell third party goods online

This is the part where beginners make the mistake of selecting products that they enjoy disregarding their reader’s likes and dislikes. Chose the products your reader base enjoy and look for. If your site is about web design don’t post ads for MP3 players or mortgage adverts. 

People that come to your site seek your advice in whatever you are writing about so offer them the things that augment your articles and the entire theme of your blog. 

Look for products to sell by signing up as an affiliate. For instance I host my blog with JustHost. I love their customer service and I think it brings a lot of value to every webmaster out there; I therefore promote their company on my site, of course getting a little money for that. 

Other sources where you might find good affiliate programs: 

Clickbank: http://www.clickbank.com 
Commission Junction: http://www.cj.com 
Hydra Network: http://www.hydranetwork.com 

Once you set this up, you’ll need to promote your blog so it increases in traffic and thus your chances of selling directly from your site. How can you do that? See below a list of articles talking about that. 

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The idea of writing about negativity in the cyber world came after watching a documentary called “Heckler” on HBO. The show was put together by comedian Jamie Kennedy as a response to the merciless treatment he encountered from the blogging community after the release of his movie “Son of the Mask”.  The documentary was an interesting piece of television, exposing the devastating effects the critics and their comments have upon actors in general and Jamie Kennedy in particular.

The idea of defending Jamie Kennedy is far from me and this article is not intended to polish his or anyone else’s image. I am merely pointing out that even if you disagree with someone’s performance, I believe you lower your writing standards to morally attack and individual based on the simple fact that his/her performance in some kind of theatrical act was poor or lacked enthusiasm at the box office. 

Are we so morally handicapped that we chose such a vitriolic attitude towards our fellow men just so we can have our 15 minutes of fame? Do we feel obligated (some might call it “the right to an opinion”) to obliterate someone’s character by wishing death upon them? Seriously? Just because a movie was not really up to viewer’s standards? I wonder what would this world be if very actor would be Oscar material.

It takes a fool to destroy 10 things but 10 smart ones to create one thing. – Romanian Proverb

At least Jamie Kennedy tries to create something – comedy, movies and ultimately a successful career and I wish him all the luck. What do these so called “critics” have to show for themselves?  Scahdenfreude.

So what does this have to do with blogging? Well, I happen to believe that bloggers employ a mighty sword – the written word; very often those who have nothing to create chose to abuse it and cause unnecessary pain. If you don’t like something, shouldn’t be enough to simply state that? I thought freedom is about being entitled to your opinion but it’s also about being decent and respectful.

It is widely believed that creating controversy and behaving like jack-asses, the spot light turns towards us, elevating our egos on the plateau of expertise and mystery generators. Pepper that with a dust of intellectual irony and a pinch of comic wisdom and you got yourself a savory concoction of self-indulgent pie a la mode.

My advice – be the better man (or woman) and leave these acid comments buried deep in that dark part of your reptilian brain. Don’t succumb to this destructive behavior by joining forces with non-creators. Instead do something constructive and each day be at peace with your conscience that you have made a positive impact upon this green earth.

Describe and take position when you don’t like a person’s performance, a service or a product but don’t just attack the person. It is immoral and considered poor form. Your blog might be popular but at the end of the day, people will still think you are a jerk. Can you live with yourself knowing that you are the source of pain inflected upon another human being? I guess lots of people can.

I can’t. 

Her are some rules I picked up from www.therealitycheck.org. This was posted by Patricia Nordman in the article called “Accepting our Fellow Men and Women”:

1. I WILL MIND MY OWN BUSINESS. This is the cardinal rule of tolerance. What we don’t know perhaps can’t hurt us, but what we do know can hurt others when we pass it on for the sake of some excitement. If someone confides in us it is our duty to treat his confidences as a sacred trust. 

2. I WILL REMEMBER THAT I AM NOT INFALLIBLE. I cannot possibly be aware of all the motives and circumstances that cause a person to act as he does. Were I forced to wear the shoes of someone whom I am tempted to criticize or condemn, I might find the pinch even more unbearable than he does.

3. I WILL VALUE INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES. It would be a dreary world if we were all alike. There are people who want to go where the action is, and people who prefer to contemplate what the action is about. We need both kinds. We need people of differing tastes and abilities.

4. I WILL DO MY OWN THINKING AND FORM MY OWN OPINIONS. Too often our first impressions of people are colored by what we have heard about them, in all probability from prejudiced persons. We can’t always avoid hearing gossip, but we can refuse to be influenced by it.

“Building quality content without marketing is like locking Shakespeare in a room to write for himself” – Michael Grey, SEO Expert

Content without marketing is nothing.

See the 5 Golden Rules of Blogging
You write like a pro but you’ve got no idea what you should do so people flock to your blog and read your unique pearls of wisdom. Is that you Blogger? I know that’s exactly what I was worried about for a long time. Well, I’m here to give you some shortcuts so you don’t have to go through the pain and aggravation I had to endure.

First of all remember this:

The more you try to sell your blog and convince people to follow you, the more you will encounter their resistance. People buy you first, your expertise and the experience you so eagerly display in your posts.

How do you get them to like you? Simple – give, give and when you are done give again. People love free stuff and when they see your willingness to help and provide resources others are charging for, they will not only like you, and they will follow your posts.

Great article how to establish trust online.

So, before you do any type of promotion, start thinking about the things you can offer for free; resources you know you can offer to potential visitors.

To help you out, here’s my list:

• FREE 30 minute consultation on (insert your own text here) web design, SEO services, marketing critique, etc.
• Answer and help people find solutions on Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, etc.
• Offer a free report, eBook or whatever else you have in your expert panoply.
• Organize a contest and offer a free book to the first 5 people what post significant comments on your blog for the next 30 days. Don’t forget to post the results at the end of the contest.
• Write for other blogs and give your honest opinion about the topic at hand. Just commenting “Thanks that was a great post” will not make you too visible and will not convey that expert aura you are after.

In a way, you are already promoting your blog but you are not really engaged in direct selling at this point. The more detached and nonchalant appear vis-à-vis your scope of getting more traffic to your blog, the more people will appreciate and want to come back for more.

Also, although many blogging experts advocate the “create a controversy” approach, I tend to “navigate” towards a softer approach and command attention through my willingness to extend a helping hand rather than criticize and spew controversial remarks.

Do all these things for several months and you’ll see significant improvement in your traffic numbers. Guaranteed.

In the land of the web, things are no different. Learn the “native language of the web” and all the web surfers will read and understand you better.

5 Rules of Blogging

Here are the 5 Golden rules to harness the power of a good blog post:

Rule #1 – Avoid Corporate Talk

The Big bang Theory is one of my favorite TV shows. Sheldon is one of the characters and he is constantly using geeky, condescending yet scientific language that turns everyone off. Sure – it’s funny on TV but can you imagine working with a guy that says:“We shall be in need of a time readjustment in order to meet the scheduled deadline” – instead of saying – “We’ll be late”.
 
Every time I read a puffed up, superlative brimming text on a corporate website I immediately assume the following:

1. These people are hiding behind words because their products and/or services are crap.
2. They think they are smarter than me – that’s why they use fancy corporate lingo. I don’t need to be patronized.

Here’s a list of words I could do without on corporate websites:
Leverage, utilize, best of breed, solution, etc. Same for acronyms like SERP, EOM, etc. If you really have to use them, at least spell them out in parenthesis (i.e. SERP – Search Engine Results Page, etc.)

Rule #2 – Write for your Audience not for your Ego

Assume your audience knows nothing about the subject so explain everything in layman’s terms.
Provide the whole story with plenty of details.
Use illustrations, pictures and portfolio samples.
Make the post interesting so the audience is captivated by the story

Rule #3 – Use short paragraphs

Pick up a newspaper and analyze the way the columns are constructed. Count how many words each sentence has; you’ll also notice that paragraphs seldom have more than 3 or 4 phrases.

These chunks of text are easier on the eye allowing it to travel from one to the other, especially when white space is intelligently used (just like the text you are currently reading).

Rule #4 – Use Bulleted Lists

They should be short and punchy. Group them together logically and don’t get too wordy. Also, use 1 or 2 lists at the most and mix them with the paragraphs.

Rule #5 – Reading Level

As in newspapers and most sitcoms, the reading level should be on or around 8th grade level. The news are slightly more advanced but not by much. Watch CNN and copy their reading level into your website or blog.

And there you have it – the 5 Rules of Awesome Blogging.

Find out the 3 category of blog readers so you understand what’s at stake here.

Blog Building Blocks

I tend to believe it’s a combination of both; without a nice lure there is no fish at the end of that line but no matter what the lure is – if the fish doesn’t deliver your reader is gone in about half a second. Even if you write a killer headline, you still need to write something that adds value to your readers in the body of your post.

So why are title and content important? Because each of them should accomplish 2 things:

1. Attract Readers to Your Blog
2. Attract Search Engines to Index Your Blog

Here’s how you can accomplish both:
1. Write headlines that have a hook and attract the reader’s attention. With that you will get immediate eyeballs for your post. Use questions, be controversial, provide numbers, etc. Examples of great headlines with a hook can be found at Jay Abraham blog.

2. Write content that makes other bloggers link to your post. Inbound links are important components of the Google algorithms that will allow you high rankings within search engines. This is the sure way search engines calculate where to rank your content. (Maybe you find this post interesting enough and perhaps you’ll want to link to it, right?)

For other in-depth information about blogging see this article