The world today has been affected by an economic downturn. Many people are looking for additional income. There are people who can’t quit their job. Many people are looking to earn extra money. There are also millions of people who have become unemployed. Blogging is a means to meet these ends.

There are different ways that bloggers can make money from blogging. They include advertising, RSS advertising, sponsorship, affiliate programs, digital assets, blogging networks, business blogging, non business blogging, merchandise sales and blog flipping.

Advertising programs may include things such as text link ads and Google adsense. This is a revenue source that comes from advertiser based revenue sharing. There are several methods that are used for compensation. The main three are CPA or cost per action, CPC cost per click or CPM cost per mille. CPA is an online pricing model that where the advertiser pays for each specific action or sale. CPC is a model that websites use when the advertiser pays the host based on the number of times the ad is clicked. This is usually used when advertisers bid on keywords for search engines. CPM is when the publisher makes the ad available on the website. Compensation is based on the number of times the page that contains the ad is viewed.

RSS Advertising is advertising embedded in RSS feeds. This is an area that is just getting started but seems to be growing. The thing that is attractive is the growth in RSS feeds. People today want information on the go and just in time RSS feeds fills that niche.

Sponsorship of blogs by advertisers is a revenue source that has become more popular. Sponsors pay the content artist in return writing posts reviewing or discussing the advertiser’s service or product. These are known as sponsored conversations. There are also “adopt a blog” programs where content artists take over and manage abandoned blogs. The sponsor covers the cost of maintaining the blog while the content artist keeps up with the labor and day to day maintenance.

Another method that a blogger can generate revenue is through affiliate programs. Affiliate programs are when a business provides rewards or compensation for visitors, customers or referrals that are brought to the business by the affiliates’ marketing efforts. Four core players in the industry are, the merchant, the network, the publisher and the customer are the main four core players. Examples of the larger affiliate programs are Amazon, Linkshare, and Clickbank.

Digital assets are an increasingly popular method of revenue generation. This includes the sales of books, courses and tele-seminars. These can include any number of topics and media sources. There are many different methods of distribution that are available. This is a revenue stream that I believe will increase in the future.

Blogging opportunities involving networks are a method where content artists receive compensation by blogging or writing for and with other content artists. The payment models will vary with the topics and the networks. It may be difficult to start writing for one of the larger blogging networks but there are plenty of smaller networks that are looking for writers or content artists. Writing for a network has advantages in the areas of promotion, administration, reduced cost and SEO as well.

Non blogging writing opportunities are becoming more and more available. Magazines, newspapers and non blog websites are looking to use bloggers for their writing needs. This is usually an example of someone with a mature blog that someone has seen and liked their work. Some content artists have also published books.

Business blog writing opportunities are on the rise. More and more businesses are starting blogs and are hiring internal staff to manage the blogging duties. This is sometimes also done by outside consultants. These consultants will manage several blogs for different companies.

Flipping blogs has become more and more popular. Content artists have developed and nurtured blogs to a point where they have grown in page rank and value. They have been approached to sell the blog. This also happens when someone has a group of blogs that are tied together in some way and are sold as a package.

The selling of merchandise can be another method of income generation. Content artists sell t-shirts, cups, etc to make a few extra dollars. These products can be branded to your site or to promote your favorite team or hobby. These methods don’t always have a large degree of success but everything can add up.

Other opportunities for income streams become available almost daily. All content artists should work to stay abreast of these opportunities.

Discussions about making income with blogs is something that Mark Talbot has been involved in for several years. He has been involved in internet businesses for over 10 years at different levels.

Tagged with: Article Writing • Blogging • business • making money online • making money with blogs • marketing • starting a blog

Filed under: Article Writing

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