Get Paid For Blogging
Whenever I let people in on this little gem, they are amazed that it's even possible, i.e., that someone can get paid for blogging. But it's true. There are several ways in which this can be implemented. But lately there are some "murky waters" with regards to this subject. So care is needed before implementing.
Services That Pay To Post
There are companies that act as go betweens for bloggers and people that want what's known as back links to their blog. If you were a blogger looking to get paid, you could reach out to these services and see if anyone is looking to have a post placed on your website. You would also agree to link back to their website within the post that you wrote about them.
This is great except that you are essentially advertising and you must disclose that you are getting paid to write the post on behalf of the company that is paying you. To many of these types of post on your blog, and search engines are going to start flagging you as being overly promotional. Besides, how much value are you really contributing to your readers when you do this kind of stuff? It's not bad to do this once in a while but you shouldn't focus your whole money making strategy on it.
Guest Blogging
You and I are both bloggers. You contact me and ask if I want to exchange posts on each others' blog. Sounds like a great idea to me. So I get busy writing about whatever I feel like and he does the same. We agree that within a specified period of time to exchange the posts so that they can be put on our respective blogs. The idea behind this is there is usually a bio box that will contain links back to each others' sites.
Sounds like a great idea, no? Google has lately declared war on guest posting although it can be up to your interpretation about what Google means by going after this practice. Here is Matt Cutt's blog post that gives his position of what Google is planning with that. It is largely vague and wide open for interpretation. My feeling is that he says you can still incorporate guest posting you just shouldn't make it your primary marketing strategy and you need to be aware of the risks. As is always the case with a situation such as this, webmasters will err on the side of caution with this so it will lead to a flurry of requests to have blog posts on guest blogs removed.
You may be wondering how guest blogging can lead to getting paid. There are really two methods: one is direct and the other indirect. The direct method involves when you have a high ranking authority site and someone contacts you to tell you they will pay you to put a post (with a back link to their site) on your blog. The indirect method is that over time, with quality websites containing blogs of your posts and back links, you will increase your traffic which can lead to sales (however you happen to monetize your website).
One thing is clear. People need to proceed with caution and truly consider what the bang for the buck is and the return on investment if possible. I know that services dedicated to matching up guest posters with bloggers got hit particularly hard. As usual, the few do the most damage and hurts the rest of us.
Advertising on your Website
Placing banners on your website or letting Google do it via Adsense seems like a great (and passive) way to make some extra money. And it can make money. But these days, people have become blind to these ads (appropriately called ad blindness). And if you place too many of these types of ads on your website, search engines are probably going to flag your website as being overly promotional. It's okay to have some strategic placement of advertising on your website but it's probably wise to not go overboard.
Actually, I am a big fan of not doing any advertising when I first start any website. When you think about it you have no ranking in the search engines at the beginning and without ads, Google has no way of flagging you as being overly promotional. This gives you a much better chance at gaining authority much quicker.
There is another type of advertising called media buys (and sells). Essentially, this is very similar to Google's Adsense program only the terms of ad placement are completely negotiable. And it can be structured in by a set fee per month or pay per click, or by the number of impressions, etc. Obviously the more authority your website has the higher you can command on the price of the ad. With this, you want to heed the same advice about limiting the number of ads that you place on your website so you don't get flagged.
Affiliate Marketing
Retailers and other product vendors and service companies all know that there are millions of blogs that exist today and more are popping up every single day. It's in their best interest to get their products onto these blogs in the form of advertisements and banners. In exchange, if the visitor clicks through that link and purchase the product or service from a vendor, they will pay you a commission on the sale. It works out well for the blogger and the vendor and the customer pays the same price whether they buy through the affiliate or directly from the vendor.
But that arrangement has opened its own can of worms in that many affiliate marketers as they are called, would write whatever they could write about the affiliate vendors in such a way as they get the sale. They would review products that they never even bought or they would falsely make claims that the product could do things that it couldn't etc. The Federal Trade Commission has really cracked down on the disclosures that are necessary to maintain these affiliate relationships. Again, it's the few bad apples that ruin it for the rest.
A New Sheriff in Town
Maybe not a new sheriff, but a much more forceful old Sheriff Google. Blogging has largely changed with the most changes occurring recently. So it's probably fair to say that it's not as easy as it used to be. But as it was in the days of the wild, wild west, things probably did get better for everyone with enforcement of some ground rules. If you learn those ground rules and are willing to play by them, you will actually find it a fairly easy to start making some money with your blog over time.
As I stated before, when my website first starts out, I don't employ any money making techniques. When my website gains some traction then I typically use (strategically of course) a combination of the above methods when it comes to monetizing my website. I have also learned methods on how to be even more strategic with affiliate marketing all while keeping within the good graces of the search engines.
