Usually when people talk about getting paid to blog, they usually refer to getting money indirectly from their blog site. Most good blogs are about some particular topic and as such they can then advertise different products that they think their readers would be interested in purchasing. If you look on the bottom of sites that offer products / services, you may see something for "Affiliates"; these are essentially people that have websites in which they want to advertise that product or service. They in turn will pay their affiliates a certain amount of money (usually a percentage of whatever was purchased) each time someone makes a purchase by going through the link on your site (they may also pay a small amount each time anyone clicks on the link, but the purchases are usually the key to making money). They may have an account that the money gets deposited to and rules about how much needs to be earned before those funds can be transferred into your own bank account -- similar as what happens with FC.
Additionally some local stores, restaurants, etc. can help you create coupons for their service that use a particular promo code. Then whenever a coupon is used, that promo / coupon code can be traced back to your blog and again you get a certain amount of money for each coupon redeemed. I said local shops / restaurants since these tend to be smaller business that only have a one or two owners. They may not have a website and most of their sales are not on-line. But they may still wish to advertise on-line, esp. if your blog has an article about their establishment.
If you are writing about MLMs or other on-line ventures that offer referrals (like a blog about your favorite site, FC
) you can also make money via getting referrals signed up under you using your referral links. If you do try this, make sure you try to have your articles as helpful as possible so people can see how they can make money for themselves and won't get frustrated and leave after a few days. OldBuddy does an excellent job with his videos and blogs, if you want a good example.
One final way to get paid thru blogging is by actually getting items to test and write about. You may not get any actual money, but instead you get the product for free. For example, if you're blogging about photography, you may get the latest Cannon camera by writing about it. Usually for these freebies, the company must feel that you have a reputable blog that many people read, so something like this may not come around until after you have established a name for yourself.
One of the keys to all of this is that you have to help your reader. If you are trying to blog for profit, don't get too fixated on the financial aspect, but rather just write something that is informative and entertaining to your reader. If your reader enjoys what you have to say, they will become recurring fans that will read all of your articles. Then if you write something about how awesome some product is, your readers are more willing to trust what you have to say, value your opinions, and be willing to purchase that item based on your endorsement. Imagine walking down the street and having someone you don't know try to sell you a CD from an artist you haven't heard of.... you'd probably just walk right on by. But if you recognized that salesperson as being Bret Michaels or Jason Aldean, you may take a closer look at that CD. The reason is that you trust that these musicians know other good artists and only endorse those they too like. Similarly you want your readers thinking of you as being an expert in the field you are writing about and thus will trust you when you say to purchase some product or sign-up for some site. If you come across as being genuinely helpful, people will value your expertise better than if you always spew praise without taking a look at both the good and the bad.
Similarly with your site design... Don't inundate your articles with all sorts of advertisements, but rather only have a select few off to the side or at the bottom of the page. Too many ads looks tacky and your reader will think that you are just out to get money, not provide any real help. If on the other hand you have a sizable article with many helpful insights and/or tips with a few ads scattered around the page, then your reader will be drawn to what you have to say, form a good opinion about your worth, and may therefore pay more attention to the ads you do post. Also make sure that the ads have something to do with your blog; esp. if you are talking about a specific product, make sure you have some ad for that product (and perhaps of a good competitor). It doesn't mean all ads have to be exactly the same, but just in terms of what readers of your blog would be interested in. For example if you have a blog "The Bar Hopper" that discusses different bars around the country etc. your ads don't all have to be for particular bars, but could also be for e-cigarettes, pool sticks, darts, and even taxi services. These are all products that bar-goers would be interested in even though you may not write an articles about these items.
Community Forum
Topic: Can you get paid to blog on line? (Read 2980 times)
April 11, 2009, 06:28:15 pm
