There's so much on the web that has been written about making money online that it becomes pretty scary to try each one of them. There are some posts that claims to help you get rich in a matter for few days while others require you to just pay some amount of money then promises to give you with such a high ROI (return of investment) that it's almost impossible to believe them. Well here's the thing, if it's something unbelievable, then most likely it isn't.
Making money is not something you can work on overnight and then you wake up in the morning with loads of cash on your bank account. In order for you to have a stable stream of income online, you have to really know what you're doing. I know someone who has just recently retired and told me he wants to make money online and wants to see a quick ROI. Get rich quick schemes simply isn't the name of the game, because in that game I assure you, you're the only one who'll lose.
Now with such a warning given, this post is not about making money overnight. It's about how I actually and really made money online.
1. Turning Passion into Monetization
You must have heard a lot of people making money with their blogs such as Abe Olandres of Yugatech, Carl Ocab of CarlOcab.com (yes, the kidblogger who dominated the keyword "make money online" for awhile until he started spending more time updating his Facebook status than updating his blog).
I wouldn't be surprised if he'd unfriend me on Facebook with this post, haha. Seriously, this kid has made more money than any other adult bloggers could! And yeah, his last update of his blog was last February 19th, 2010 while Facebook status update was "Today at 9:56pm" But this might also tell us that he has made more than enough money on his blog that he could spend all of his spare time social networking, eh?
Other bloggers that are constantly making money with their blogs (actually their niches are more of a community to me) are Pete Cashmore of Mashable and Penelope Trunk of Brazen Careerist. These people didn't decide to make money and then got millions of money from their blogs (yes, Penelope Trunk actually said she's making millions with her blog) the day after. These people knew what they wanted to do, knowledgeable about what they do and keep on doing it. They didn't just wrote a post then abandoned their blogs a week after (though Penelope admitted she's guilty of not being able to post as often as she'd want and expected to). In order for one to make money out of their blogs, they need to gain readers and establish some authority on their niches. Yaro Starak, Seth Godin, Jeremy Shoemaker and many other bloggers and actually internet marketers are known to be the gurus or experts in their chosen niches and that's the secret to their stable online income. Darren Rowse of ProBlogger.net shared that he and his wife agreed that if he will not make money out if his blogging, he would have to get a real job. Luckily a few months after, or should I say as fruits of his persistence in his passion, he became one of the most trusted "ProBlogger" and is now making tons of cash through blogging.
Now, think of something you're really passionate about. Assess as to how much knowledge you know about the subject and if you think you don't have more than enough, extend your current knowledge by researching and visiting existing blogs about your interest. Once you think you have more than enough to share that people would deem relevant, that's when you can start a blog and blog and blog. I am not asking you to write everyday of your life, just make sure that people who visit your blog would see constant relevant updates.
2. Advertisements
Most of the blogs that I have mentioned would have an ad or two posted on their sidebars or within their posts. Through affiliate links and advertisements that they incorporate to their niches, they could direct potential clients to their sponsors or buyers of their ads. This is where the money goes in. Everybody wants to get a link or two in an authoritative blog, right?
But if you're like me who is just starting (yeah when compared to them who has been writing for who-knows-since-when while I just started almost a couple of years ago), you can start by looking for sites that helps bloggers to post pay-per-click ads like Google Adsense (that means every time someone clicks on the funky little "ads by Google" within this blog, I get paid for each click). Another program that I found to be reliable is Ben Spark's SocialSpark. During the time that #nickjonassideboob was a trending topic on Twitter, I had PPC ads from Socialspark on my blog that earned me $23.00. I know, it may not sound too much but why, I love blogging about Miley Cyrus and it's a passive income that people gave me when almost 25,000 people visited my blog that day!
Be careful not to clutter your blog with too much advertisements as this could annoy your readers. Accept only advertisements that are relevant to your blog's niche and something that your visitors would find useful or putting advertisements in your blog would only lose you avid readers.
3. Resume
Penelope Trunk often discussed in her blog about how everyone should use their blogs as a resume. Hiring managers would have a better idea of how you think and respond to daily challenges in your life. Penelope even quoted Jason Warner, head of North America recruiting for Starbucks and author of the blog Meritocracy.net., "Blogging has given me an outlet to think about things differently," says Warner, "and I am convinced that blogging makes people smarter."
Many times in my blogging life did I meet people that has helped me in myriad of ways. These people have become my mentors. There are also people that email me about how my posts have helped them in some ways.
Did I mention that I got my first online VA job through my blog? You see, if you direct a hiring manager to your blog and he likes it, then he'd most likely like working with you.
Treat your blog as your investment. Write interesting and useful tips or things that others would find beneficial. Don't clutter it with too much rantings and ramblings. Let me ask you, when someone Google's your name, do they find someone they'd like to work with?
Do you find the post informative, fun and helpful? Then what about buying me a drink?
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