A lot of people are really perplexed about how people make money online. There are many ways to do this. Once my students take my free 7-Day Blogging eCourse, I schedule a time for them so that we can map out the many ways that they can specifically make money with their chosen niche.
For beginners just starting out, I will show them how to add Google Adsense to their blogs along with Kontera and Chitika ads. If these words are foreign to you, let me explain. There are two sides to the advertising equation. There are those who buy advertising and those who sell advertising. It’s a very simple concept. Most bloggers just starting out don’t care much about selling advertising; however, getting the money from advertising is something that can hold some interest. Adsense, Kontera, and Chitika are three types of services where you can apply to host ads on your blog. These services will look at your blog and serve up ads that match the content of your blog. For example, if you blog has content about artichoke recipes, you will likely attract ads about cooking, recipes, and such. You will accumulate money by providing meaningful content for your readers and when they click on your ads, you will make money from your blog.
Another popular way bloggers make money is by offering products on their website. It is very easy to affiliate with Amazon to open your own store with products supplied by Amazon and get paid a commission for each product sold from your website. Amazon takes care of fulfilling the order and collecting the payment and paying you the commission. You are even able to pick and choose which products you would like to offer on your blog. You can place one or two products in your sidebar or open a full store if you prefer.
Some people will create their own content and products to add to the offerings on the website. Your knowledge is valuable! You can easily create an eBook about a topic in your niche using Microsoft Word and then saving it as a PDF file. You can then sell that eBook on your blog or website. A friend of mine actually has created his own eBook store where he sells eBooks that others have written. You can find many eBooks at the Gutenburg Project to get your creative juices flowing.
Becoming an affiliate through Clickbank or Commission Junction offers many opportunities to sell other peoples products by posting a review of the product online. The way this works is by signing up with Clickbank and/or Commission Junction, finding a product that fits your niche and then writing articles about the product with links to the product that you’re reviewing. When people read your review and purchase the product, you get paid. It’s just that easy!
The main concept to keep in mind is to provide quality content, products and services for your readers. People are smart and can instinctively sense when something is not being represented accurately. Offer quality and you will receive quality in return. Just as a brick and mortar store has to sell quality merchandise that is dust free and something their customers want, you much do the same with your blog by providing up-to-date, fresh and relevant content on a regular basis so that your readers remain interested in what you are offering.