One way people make money online is by blogging. As you can see on this blog I’ve got my own domain name, blogging software installed, many blog posts and then some advertisements. Think of a blog as an online magazine. The whole point of a blog is to create a site that will get people involved so they’ll keep coming back day after day. One example of a great use of the blog format is tmz.com. They update several times a day and have plenty of user interaction. This makes their visitors hungry enough to keep checking back to the site throughout the day. The more visitors they get the more times the advertisements load and thus the more money they make. So does the idea of a blog seem interesting to you? Read on for how to make money by blogging.

Setting It Up

Many people get their start blogging on free blog hosts. There are several around such as blogger.com, tumblr.com and wordpress.com. But you don’t want to stay stuck there forever. Sure it’s free, but you are bound by the terms of that company and they can delete your blog or choose to ad their own advertisements. To make money blogging you need to buy your own domain name (about $10 / year at godaddy.com) and get your site hosted (about $10 a month at dreamhost.com). You can install wordpress from within the control panel of your host in no time, as they usually have one-click installers.

Content

Now that you have a blog, you need to fill it up with content. Pick a topic that you are passionate about. The reason is because you’re going to be writing a lot about it throughout the years. You can choose a topic you know a lot about or you can choose one that you’d like to learn more about. Populate your blog with lots of useful blog posts. You can even schedule future blog posts so that you don’t have to keep updating the site on a schedule.

Monetize

Let’s talk about how to make money from your blog. Once you have a blog set up with content, you’ll need to start placing advertisements on them. How many to place? For new sites, you should have very little in the way of ads. The reason is that your number one goal at the start of a new blog is to build up readers. One surefire way of getting them angry is by blasting large advertisements all over the place. One popular place where bloggers generate revenue is by using Google’s Adsense program (google.com/adsense). They pay you a certain amount (anything from a nickel to a few dollars) every time a visitor clicks on an ad, regardless if they buy something.

Promotion

Once you have your blog set up you need people to visit it. It makes no sense to create a wonderful blog if nobody is going to see it. It’s like having the greatest store in the world in the middle of the desert. You need to tell people about your site. It is not recommended to  purchase advertising to promote your blog, as you’ll most likely lose money doing that. One good way of getting the word out is by using social networking. Create a Facebook fan page and a Twitter page for your new blog. Then let all of your friends know about it. Hopefully they will spread the word too and you’ll establish a strong user base.