Tips to Make Money from Your Blog

With the economy the way that it is, every little bit helps. You have a blog, so why not make money from it? Some bloggers tout a steady income somewhere in the six-figure range, but that's only possible if you have a huge following and a ton of traffic. You also have to be somewhat of what I like to call a "shilli vanilli"--a shill, or a used car salesman. While that might work for some people, I prefer the natural route with a little kick-start. Here are some resources to get you started.

Sponsored Blog Content Networks

These are sites that connect you with advertisers who pay you to write about their product or website. The key to this is finding a product or website you like. You write about it, post it, and get paid for the content.

PayPerPost: https://payperpost.com/blogger_signup.html
Sponsored Reviews: http://www.sponsoredreviews.com/
Review Me: http://www.reviewme.com/bloggers.php

Pay Per Click Ad Networks

These ad networks work by advertisers bidding for keywords. Words that are highly sought after get higher bids and bloggers whose content matches those keywords earn more per click.

Google AdSense: http://www.google.com/adsense
Yahoo Publisher Network: http://publisher.yahoo.com/
Microsoft Ad Center: https://adcenter.microsoft.com/
Adbrite: http://www.adbrite.com
Kontera: http://kontera.com

Product Based Pay Per Click

These are the same as above but they focus on products. They match up relevant products to the content you write.

Chitika: http://chitika.com/
TTZ Media: http://www.ttzmedia.com/
WidgetBucks: http://www.widgetbucks.com/

Affiliate and Associate Programs

Affiliate programs let you pick specific products you want to promote and you make money from the sales. This works when you find a product you believe in and want to recommend it.

FruitFul Time: http://www.fruitfultime.com/fruitfultime_affiliates.php
Commission Junction: http://www.cj.com/
Clickbank: http://www.clickbank.com

Those are some resources to get you started. Of course, there's always selling your own ad space by putting up an Adrates page, which is probably the best way to go if you have a lot of traffic. That way, you can tailor campaigns to fit your advertiser's needs, and you're in charge of who advertises on your website or blog. But, if you don't have a lot of traffic, you can still make money from promoting affiliate products or using pay per click ads. You have a blog, why not make money from it? Try a few things out and figure out what works best for you. There will be trial and error, as with anything, but you'll have a better idea of what your readers respond to, and you'll get paid to write what you love!