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April 24, 2005

Blogging 101 - Make A Little Money

By QBlog in Blogging 101

Yes, you can make money from your blog. There are several ways to generate a little cash with your blog but I'll highlight five of the most popular methods.

Before I go into any more detail I should mention that unless you run an extremely popular blog, have the right kind of audience and are Jason Kottke then you will not make a lot of money with your blog. At best, you can hope to make enough to cover server fees, domain registration, software upgrades, licenses and other expenses associated with running a website. And when you do make money, keep in mind that Uncle Sam (for U.S. residents) will want a nice chunk of your blog cash.

PayPal Tip Jar
One of the best ways to get blog funds is with the PayPal Tip Jar. Like the tip jars used by coffee shops and street musicians, the PayPal Tip Jar is a way for people to directly support something they appreciate. Setting up a PayPal Tip Jar is really easy, just setup a PayPal account and let others know which email address should receive the funds.

If you'd like to put a nifty PayPal button on your blog (like the "Make a donation" one I have) then insert the following code into your template:

<form action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post">
<div align="center">
<input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_xclick">
<input type="hidden" name="business" value="support@youremail.com">
<input type="hidden" name="item_name" value="Support My BLOG">
<input type="hidden" name="no_shipping" value="1">
<input type="hidden" name="no_note" value="1">
<input type="hidden" name="currency_code" value="USD">
<input type="hidden" name="tax" value="0">
<input type="image" src="https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/btn/x-click-but21.gif" border="0" name="submit" alt="Make payments with PayPal - it's fast, free and secure!">
</div>
</form>

Of course you should change the appropriate fields to reflect your specific details.

Google AdSense
Google AdSense has quickly become the most popular and (for some) lucrative way to make money from a blog. According to Google:

Google AdSense is a fast and easy way for website publishers of all sizes to display relevant, unobtrusive Google ads on their website's content pages and earn money. Because the ads are related to what your users are looking for on your site, you'll finally have a way to both monetize and enhance your content pages.

To get hooked up with AdSense you must fill out Google's application which includes a lot of personal information, mainly for tax purposes. Once you're approved just follow the helpful instructions and start placing ads on your blog. Google ads use something called Cost Per Click and Pay Per Click. CPC/PPC means that advertisers only pay when their ad is clicked and then you get a percentage of what the advertisers pay Google for that click. This differs from impression-based ads which charge advertisers based on the number of times an ad is displayed, not clicked. Google doesn't use impression-based ads.

BlogAds
According to the BlogAds website, this form of advertising is a way to reach an audience that MSM (Main Stream Media) can't (or won't) reach:

You need to woo the early adopters that traditional media can't reach. You need to engage 500,000 opinion makers, not pester 100,000,000 nobodies. You need Blogads. Read by fanatics, pundits and journalists, blogs increasingly set the insider agenda. Use blogads to engage where opinions are made.

I like BlogAds and understand their potential but they're primarily appealing to a certain type of audience — political and web-centric. I'm not discouraging anyone from using BlogAds, I use them here and am pleased with them so far, but they're more hit & miss than the Tip Jar or Google AdSense.

Like Google AdSense, you must apply for inclusion in the BlogAds program but unlike Google, BlogAds has certain requirements. You really need to have at least 1,000 daily unique visitors before you can use BlogAds. If your blog doesn't generate that much traffic, then you probably won't be using BlogAds.

Amazon Associates
I don't know much about the Amazon Associates, even though I'm using it on this blog. I had to apply with Amazon and after getting approved, go through a few basic steps to set it up and install it on my blog template. The way it works is that you put a link (or ad) on your site and if someone clicks the link and then buys the resulting product, you get a cut of that sale. Pretty simple. There are many associate style programs but Amazon's is probably the most popular.

Sponsorships
I'm not aware of any specific applications that facilitate sponsorships. Most seem to be custom-built and unique to each blog. The concept of sponsorships is to sell (or rent) premium real estate on your blog to the highest bidder. For example, the extremely popular blog BoingBoing is sponsored by Wired, Speakeasy and Space Ghost (among others). Their ads appear in very visible spots, under the words "Sponsored By." The theory is that both sponsors and the blogs that host their ads share some common interests, values and goals. This isn't necessarily true but it's a bit different than straight advertising... I think.

Anyway, sponsorships are developed entirely by you so the accounting, reporting, security, billing, etc. is all on you. This may be more hassle than you're willing to deal with but it can be the most effective way to make money from your blog.

Some Considerations
Before you rush out and start trying to get rich from your blog I'd advise you to sit down and consider how money can impact your blog. More importantly, think of how the perception of money can impact your blog audience. Even Boing Boing has been "under attack" for "selling out" and not being forthcoming about its ad revenue (according to some). I'm not going to argue one way or another about blogs and money but just want you to carefully consider the ramifications before you move forward and develop a strategy based on that awareness.

Before I did anything related to money on this blog I decided that full disclosure was paramount and that my goal was to cover costs, never make a profit. But that's my decision. What you decide is entirely up to you. Just know what you're doing and why.

Blogging 101 publishes every Sunday and provides blogging tips, advice and tutorials for blog newbies and veterans alike.

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skelaxin

Posted by: skelaxin | April 29, 2005 8:00 PM





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