Make Money Blogging in Your Spare Time

With the new year just a few weeks away, one of the most popular resolutions to make, is to make more money or to start a business in the new year. No matter how many people attempt to make the resolution, only a small fraction will take the plunge to actually get started, while even a smaller fraction will actually make any extra money in the new year.

A very simple way to start making a few extra dollars online in the new year, is to start a blog on the side. While you probably won’t get rich off blogging, you can definitely start a fun project on the side that “could” grow into something much more. The actual cost of creating a blog is only a few dollars ($7 a year for a domain and under $10 a month for web hosting), so there is a lot more upside then potential down side.

For those of you that have never created a blog, or still unsure where to start, I’ve created five different categories for you to choose from. Even if you start a new blog and only post once or twice a week, that is still 50-100 posts per year! By continually adding content to your blog, you are also building a resource which could turn into a nice long term revenue source. The categories listed below are in order of “revenue potential”.

Blogging for Passion

We hear it all the time, do something you are passionate about and the money will follow. While this may be true in some situations, it doesn’t apply to everything. However, if you are just starting a blog and have no idea where it could go, or how long you will stay interested, you might as well write something you are passionate about. This will not only provide quality content that you really know about, but you will want to stay active with your blog and it won’t die out for lack of interest. Depending on how many other people share your interest, and the success of your blog, the potential in this area can swing either way.

Revenue Potential: Varies based on topic/blog structure…

Personal Blogging

As expected, many bloggers have started out with their own personal blog, before trying to make a blog that makes money. Having a personal blog is a great way to teach yourself how to use the WordPress platform, while building a blog of your own. Once you have a good understanding of how to make posts, pages, use plugins and different themes, you blogging potential is limitless. If you are going to start a personal blog, you should not expect to make money with this type of blog.

Revenue Potential: 1/4 – A personal blog is made for exactly what it sounds like, “personal”. Personal blogs should/can share your every day experiences, posts about you and your family, and can be your online diary to share with the world.

Sports Blogging

This one can easily fall into the “blogging for passion” category. It isn’t enough to simply watch our favorite players and teams on TV, but we also want to have our own thoughts and opinions and meet with other fans of our teams. Having a sports blog about your favorite team or player, is a great way to start a blog that makes you want to keep writing more and more content. If your sports blog gets enough attention, you may even be able to score some free game tickets, press passes or interview a few sports players. Revenue wise, sports blogs are tough because there are so many, but many sites offer affiliate programs where you can earn commissions on any referred sales for sports tickets, memorabilia, apparel and sporting goods.

Revenue Potential: 2/4 – The majority of sports blogs out there are providing information, pictures and the latest news and scores. How many times have you visited a sports site with the intention of buying a product? Probably not many, if ever. If you end up creating a high traffic sports blog, you may be able to sell direct advertising on the blog as a revenue source.

Reviewing Household Items and Purchase

Shopping and review based blogs are definitely a big money maker. When customers are looking to purchase a new product, or see a commercial on TV, before paying for it, they want to see what other people are saying. Blogs about products, services and customer experiences are a great start for creating a revenue generating blog, but you are also providing a useful resource in the process. If you are going to blog about products you buy, you can easily link to Amazon’s associate program and earn a commission should anyone buy through Amazon, after clicking on your site. In addition to direct sales, Google Adsense and coupon affiliate program would work well on product review blogs.

Revenue Potential: 3/4 – A review site is for product reviews, and this is exactly what people search for online before making a purchase. For a customer to search “product name reviews”, they are already in a buying mode. Make sure your review blog provides them with the information they are looking for, and a place to purchase.

Niche Blogging

A different, but very effective methods for making money with blogs, is through niche marketing, or mini sites. The concept of niche blogging is to create a blog on a small specific topic, then being one of the best blogs in that niche (mainly to rank high in search results). If you wanted to make a niche blog about “red widgets”, you would want to get an exact match domain name such as “redwidgets.com”, write specifically about red widgets, link to Amazon red widgets products you could buy, adding Google Adsense to your site and so on… Having a tight niche blog is a great way to teach yourself how to blog, while giving you the best chance for making some money in the process.

Revenue Potential: 4/4 – Niche blogs and sites are built specifically to generate revenue and sales based on the tight focus of the product or service the blog is based on. Search Google for any specific toys or products, and you will most likely find a few niche blogs in your results.

No matter what type of blog you start, the main point I’m trying to get across is that you must GET STARTED! Don’t wait another year and find yourself making the same resolution.

I’ve created a ton of web sites and blogs over the years, and many of them I was really thrilled about starting up, then fizzled out and got pushed to the back burner. However, a good amount of those web sites and blogs still make me money months and even years after I’ve touched them. It’s all about building content that people are searching for. Remember, a blog or web site works 24 hours a day, 365 days a year… if your blog makes just $1 a day, that’s an extra $365 a year… and over $1,000 if you can earn just $3 per day!

We can all use a little extra money during the holidays, but imagine getting a few small checks everything from your own tiny blog? It is possible for even the untrained blogger, you just need to get started and take action.

For a step by step guide of how to get started as blogger, or how to make more money with your blog, download my free 137 page ebook, “Six Figure Affiliate Blogging“. You can also submit any blogging questions you have to my “Blogging Q&A” post.

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Trouble Choosing a Niche? Start a Personal Blog

“I’m having trouble deciding what topic to blog about.”

This was a statement I heard three times at the ProBlogger meet up in Brisbane a couple of weeks ago and is a problem that many PreBloggers face.

I’ve written numerous times about how to choose a niche or topic to write about but it struck me while talking to the Brisbane folk asking the question that the biggest factor in helping me to narrow in on my own niches was having a personal blog.

When I started blogging in 2002 I had no intention of doing it professionally. Instead I, like almost every other blogger at the time, started a blog (pictured below – no longer active) which was quite personal in nature. In many ways it was an extension of my brain and was simply a place to talk publicly about what I was thinking about, learning and experiencing in life.

As a result I wrote about many topics including spirituality, culture, photography, starting a church, movies, holidays, family, emerging forms of media and blogging.

It was a bizarre mix of topics and I know that some of my readers struggled to make sense of my somewhat eclectic interests – but as I look at the three blogs that I currently operate today I see the roots of them all in that first personal blog.

I blogged on that first blog for a year and a half before starting any other blogs and before I even began to think about making money from this medium but while that particular blog didn’t make much money (I played a little with AdSense on it but it never really worked) it was probably my most important blog in shaping what I now do.

Why was that personal blog such an important place for me?

A few thoughts come to mind as I look at how important that first personal blog was.

1. A personal blog can be a testing bed for ideas and niches

In many ways that first blog became a testing bed and launch pad for new blogs. ProBlogger is a great example of this. After a couple of years of blogging I began to start other blogs and experiment with making money from blogging. As I did so I also began to journal some of the lessons I was learning about blogging on my personal blog. I started a blog tips category and got to a point where I had 50 or so posts in it.

These posts were quite popular and in time I realised that my blog tips were resonating with and helping more and more people – to the point where they perhaps justified starting a blog on that topic. This led me to registered ProBlogger.net and start this very blog.

The great thing about launching ProBlogger this way was that I’d already worked out that there was an audience for the topic, I already knew that I enjoyed writing about the topic and I already had 50 or so posts that I could transfer over to the new domain.

In many ways when I started ProBlogger I was able to leapfrog over some of those startup headaches that many bloggers face because I’d already tested the idea on my personal blog.

2. A personal blog gives you a place to find your voice

Over the years I blogged on my first blog I experimented with many ways of blogging. Not only did I chop and change that topics I covered – I also wrote in different styles and voices and was quite playful and experimental in working out what types of posts connected most with readers.

3. A personal blog helps you understand blogging

The other great thing about that first blog for me was that it gave me a taste of the technology and culture of blogging. I was very overwhelmed by the technical aspects of blogging in those early days and quite intimidated about putting my ideas on the web. I was also confused about how to find readers and interact with them.

Starting a blog is the best way to learn about blogging – until you experience the process of publishing a post and having people read and interact with it you’re not really a blogger.

The great thing about learning all of this on a personal blog is that people’s expectations may not be quite as high as if you launch a ‘professional’ blog.

Are Personal blogs for everyone?

I’m not convinced that everyone should have a personal blog to help them launch their new blogs. For me it was helpful but some bloggers are much more ready to launch into niche focused blogs without going through that process.

However if you’re convinced that you want a blog but don’t know what topic to focus in on then a personal blog might be a step forward to help you find your voice, identify topics and to learn the ropes of blogging itself.

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Speaking at Industry Events

Today I spoke at Affiliate Summit East 2010. As you are blogging one way to attract new readers and a larger audience is to speak at events. At events you have the ability to share your knowledge in a face to face way with people. There you can truly interact and get such real time feedback on your ideas. While at Affiliate Summit I spoke on a panel with Murray Newlands, Tim Jones, Eric Schechter and Kris Jones. Out topic: Increasing Engagement / Connecting with your Audience.

One nice thing for me, in writing these posts here on Blogging Tips is that I can interact with a whole different audience who if I write something well may be inclined to learn more about me and my personal blog. However, even if I don’t attract anyone to go read my blog it is still valuable to go and write somewhere else to hone those skills. But that aside, I’d love it if you checked out my blog. Another great thing about writing for this blog is that I can explore ideas that are not explored on my personal blog and by interacting with the comments on each post I learn as much if not more than I put out there for you to read. Blogging Tips has some really savvy and intelligent readers.

Our prior to our panel we sat down and discussed a few questions that we would ask in the session. These are just some of the questions that we talked about. I would love to hear your take on how you would Increase Engagement/Connect with Your Audience as you answer these questions below in the comments. I think we will find some fantastic ideas from the readers of Blogging Tips.

Advertisers seek bloggers that have a large and ENGAGED audience…

Q #1 – What are some tips for improving engagement and connecting with your blog readers?

Q #2 – How important is it to come off as personable and accessible with your readers? What are some tips for getting more personal with your readers?

Q #3 – What are some proven strategies for increasing the # of comments on any given post?

Q #4 – Should the audience focus exclusively on Facebook and Twitter to drive traffic and engagement to their blog…..or utilize other less popular social networks like Flickr, Ning, etc.

Q #5 – Can’t an overreliance on social networks be a bad thing for attracting advertisers since most of the engagement is taking place on the social networks and NOT your blog?

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