If your a believer that writing pay posts is a great way to earn an online income from your blog, then here is a list of web services that pays you to write for them. This list will be periodically updated, so if you have a paid post service I have missed, let me know and I’ll add them to the list.

LinkWorth

Unlike some other services, we pay our Partners up to 70% for each LinkWorth post written. Access to thousands of advertisers hungry for reviews. A variety of payment options. Receive payouts monthly by check, PayPal, direct deposit, or Wire. Automated advertising management. An easy way to sell paid blog posts.

Sponsored Reviews

Earn cash by writing honest reviews about our advertiser’s products and services. Write reviews in your own tone and style, and gear them to your audience’s interest.

ReviewMe

Get paid $20 – $200 to review products and services on your site. You control what you review.

Shvoong

The more abstracts you post at Shvoong, the more chances to attract readers. Create link to your abstract elsewhere(on blogs, forums, your personal homepage, or other sites). Spread the word by joining our “Invite a friend” and/or “Affiliates” programs, and earn bonuses equivalent to the invite members’ royalties, up to $100 for every new writer.

Smorty

Get paid for blogging. Write your opinion about peoples products, services and websites on your blog. Get paid weekly.

PayPerPost

PayPerPost is an incredible new self-service marketplace that allows you to get paid to blog about the products, services and websites you love. You can easily earn $500 per month or more with your current blog!

451 Press

451 Press is always looking for bright, talented writers who want to have their voices heard. We are looking for writers with unique voices to contribute to our growing network of blogs. Our blogs cover a wide range of topics. If you have a passion for a subject then we just might have a place for you.

Be A Guide (About.com)

All About.com Guides are freelancers  who work online and set their own schedules, giving them the flexibility to log on from anywhere in the world whenever they have the time. With no time sheets to fill out and no time cards to punch, working for About.com gives you the flexibility to write when you want, even if you have a full-time day job.

BlogBurner

So here’s how it works:

* You create an account with us.
* You create an account with Google Adsense.
* You login and write content to your “blog” on our site.
* You try to write as often as you can.
* We publish your content to our site.
* We serve ads on the pages that have your content.
* Half the time you make money on the ads. Half the time we do.

Bloggerwave

We’ve got advertisers that would like you to write about their products or services. So you do. In your blog. And get paid!

Blogitive

Once you are approved to the Blogitive system, you are given access to opportunities from companies to post about their news releases. You are paid per posting.

Blogsvertise

Once approved, your blog goes into the assignment queue. The blogsvertise administrator then assigns writing tasks for what our advertisers want you to mention in your blog.

Blog To Profit

Blog To Profit connects you with advertisers that are interested in sponsoring your blog, you post to your blog and get paid!

Creative Weblogging

Get paid to blog with us at Creative Weblogging! We are one of the largest blog networks, with over 135 blogs in five languages.

DayTipper

If you have a tip that is insightful, helpful, and original, DayTipper will publish it and pay you $3 (US). You write the content. They share it with the world.

Digital Journal

Unlike most websites where bloggers post for free (and the company takes in all the ad revenue), DigitalJournal shares a portion of its advertising revenue with all Citizen Journalists. With an always-growing cash pool, every single Citizen Journalist gets a chance to compete for a share of the cash pot. The more you contribute, the more you earn.

Helium

Earn a share of the advertising money earned here at Helium. If you write well, and write often, you earn even more recognition and reward.

LoudLaunch

Earn more with your blog. Get paid to participate in relevant, high quality, online advertising campaigns from top companies.

Squidoo

Every lens carries Google AdSense ads. Those are used to generate royalties for the whole co-op (ie, everyone gets a cut). If you want to increase your direct royalties, though, you should consider adding commercial modules that the visitors to your lenses will appreciate.

Weblogs Inc

Looking to get paid to blog about subjects you love? Tell Weblogs what you’re passionate about and they’ll find out if there’s a fit!

Wise Bread

WiseBread is one of the top 5 personal finance blogs. They give their bloggers 100% of the advertising revenue they earn on their blog posts.

B5media

B5media pays you to write about what you love. they’re one of the largest blog networks in the world. With a goal to be the biggest. Want to help? It’s easy to apply.

Rate This Article: Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

In the 20th century, people got inspired to write their own articles and diaries online. This phenomenon is now been referred to as blogging.Currently, there are news blogs, tech blogs, sex blogs, commentary blogs, drug blogs and other teenage blogs. The news and documentary blogs are sites that consist of links and posted arguments and ideas.

You can create your own blog by using blog hosting websites or through the use of blogging software. Creating blog pages is also much easier than a conventional website. It has features that can let a person create a website blog even if he or she has little or no knowledge about html or other formats used to create a website.

You can easily post a topic in blogs and can also be easily updated. Here is what a blog typically consist of.The title or headline of the post, the body or the main content of the post, a message box for the comments of the readers, a link or URL of the article, and the date of when the post was published in the blog.

You can also add categories for subjects that the post discusses, and a link to other websites that refer to the post.You can also create a blog in a journal format where you can keep all your personal everyday activities in the internet. You can restrict on who can and who cannot read your blogs by creating a sign in page where it will require a user name and password from the reader.

A blog can also be used to make extra money online by adding some affiliate program or an Adsense program in your blogging web page.You can create and maintain your own blog by using different systems. There are many software available in the market that enables you to create, maintain and even delete your own blogs.

Technical specialties and skills, not necessary. Publishing freedom, an advantage. All that is needed is for you to have a witty mind, a desire to share ideas and part of your story, and a bit of knowledge to toggle into the internet. Grammatical errors are welcome. No editors and publishing companies to please. Journalism without rules or guidelines to follow and what is best is that readers could post a comment or be inspired to write one too.

Maintaining your blog is also important to keep readers loyal and interested in reading your blogs. There are blogging software that has features that lets you easily update and maintain your blogging website.

A friend of mine is a blogger. She would entertain herself by posting blogs on her web page. She told me that blogging is an advantage for her to speak up to the world of the things that is keeping her shut. And I quote, I am an internet junkie. I am not a big fan of journalism or any kind of writing.But it all changed when the blogging fever entered internet society. I appreciated it more when I felt everything that’s written are real and not just a compulsory decoy to deliver information. Right then, I became a part of a bigger picture.

Comments, A comments box should be included in your blog software.This keeps the readers happy because it allows them to participate in the topic. This is where they post comments and suggestions regarding your article.Web based.This is very obvious. You are making a blog to let others read about it in the internet.You want your blogging software to instantly make your blogs and updates available online.

Finally, list your blog to popular blog directories. Some of these directories can charge you a listing fee while some offers it free. It is fine to pay for it since it will largely benefit your blog.These steps can guide you through your blog making. It is hoped that this article provided significant ideas and information about blogging. With this technology, you can now have the power to tell your stories and express yourself.

Rate This Article: Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

A blog, or weblog as some call them, is simply a special kind of website. The main page of each blog consists of the most recent entries with the newest at the top. It will also usually include an archive on the side, as well as links to the authors favorite blogs or websites. They sometimes include a biography of the author, or a link to one.

Typically, each entry is simply a chunk of text, a paragraph or two, that usually includes links to other pages, audio clips, and the occasional video clip.

Unless the author has disabled them, you can also leave comments on the entries. (Thankfully you can limit who can leave comments and what they can leave.)

The verb to blog simply refers to the act of posting entries to a blog. However, the term blogosphere has come to mean the ENTIRE phenomenon of blogging – all the blogs, all the links between the blogs, as well as all the topics being written about blogs.

BLOG was Merrian Webster’s Word of the Year for 2004. This title is given to the one word searched for the most on their website. Here’s the definition:

Blog: noun [short for weblog] (1999) : A web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer.

So, you may be wondering what blogs are for, hmm? Most people use blogging essentially as online diaries or journals. Simply a place to post musings and record day-to-day happenings, perhaps to keep friends and family up to date.

However, many bloggers focus on online developments rather than personal ones. Their blogs consist mainly of posts about -and links to- other websites, including other blogs.

Then, there’s looking at free blogs versus paid blog hosts.

Many blog hosts will let you post your blog for free. Usually this means they will display ads on your page. Not usually a huge deal, but distracting none the less. If you upgrade to their paid account, you’ll get no ads, and extra features. This usually costs around $3 to $10 a month, but don’t be surprised when you find $30 a month accounts. Those are for majorly serious bloggers though! Try out a blog host for a few weeks, and if you like what you get, consider the upgrade, its almost always worth it if you’re serious about the blogging thing.

Blogger:

http://www.blogger.com

Blogger was launched in 1999 by Pyra Labs, and was one of the first blog publishing tools and greatly helped to popularize the phenomenon while positioning itself as the industry leader. Early success led to Google acquiring Pyra in 2003. With Google’s money and resources behind it, many of the features that were only available to paying bloggers became offered for free.

Blogger is often credited as one of the major reasons for blogging’s popularity, and for good reason. Blogger is the epitomy of easy to use while offering a huge feature set for users of all levels. Comprehensive how-to’s and help pages, moderator capabilities for group blogs, posting via Word documents, Blogger has it all. With new features being added all the time, I highly recommend Blogger to everyone. From the beginning first timer, to the person who has been blogging for years. If you’re looking for a free blog, go to Blogger!

By default, all blogger blogs are hosted on http://www.blogspot.com

BloggerBot: When Google purchased Picasa in 2004, it allowed Blogger to incorporate photo sharing with the utility Hello. Featuring BloggerBot, Hello allows you to post pictures to your blog, as well as manage and search through the ones on your PC. This is really useful for photoblogs, which we’ll get to later.

BlogThis!: This is a great, clever little tool. When you add this option, you’ll get a BlogThis! button on your web browser’s links bar. When you find something you find interesting or cool or whatever, you press it. The link will automatically appear in a mini-Blogger window, and you can add your comments then press Publish Post. The new post will go directly to your blog, and you never have to go to the Blogger website.

Word verification: By turning on this option, users can cut down on comment spam. This is a great tool, if you don’t activate it, you’re going to get a ton of great new comments. Okay, so maybe they wont be great, but you’ll DEFINITELY get a ton of them! It’s ridiculously annoying. A word verification keeps malicious software from being able to post rude or random comments to your blog automatically. It’s a great feature to have.

TypePad:

http://www.typepad.com

TypePad is the hosted alternative to Six Apart’s server-side software Moveable Type. TypePad has attracted quite a following with it’s smooth interface, rich features, and well-designed templates.

It comes with a full set of features, and will help you set up your photo albums, and automatically generates thumbnails and individual display pages.

TypePad unfortunately isn’t free, so I don’t suggest it for the beginner. I only suggest paid sites to those who know what they’re getting into, and who are sure they’ll make use of the features that require money. You can try it out for 30 days with their trial before choosing one of three membership levels. There is basic for $4.95/month, Plus for $8.95/month, and Pro for $14.95/month.

Basic:

Gives you one web-log with unlimited photo albums, category and date archives, access to a library of pre-designed templates, as well as the ability to post by email, phone, or mobile-device.

Plus and Pro: These give you the ability to host multiple web-logs and also give you access to a variety of extra tools.

They also have a Premium version now for $29.95 a month, and this is what TypePad has to say about it:

For serious bloggers who want even more. All of the control of Pro, with three times the storage and double the bandwidth. Plus, access to the TypePad Insider forum and special TypePad Insider web-events.

TrackBack: Gives you a list of those who have placed a link to your blog on theirs, and also gives you some information as to the content on the blog’s linking to yours.

TypeLists: You put in your favorite movies and music, and TypePad displays a thumbnail and a link from Amazon.com in your sidebar.

QuickPost: This is kind of like Blogger’s BlogThis! button, QuickPost puts a icon in your web browser’s links bar, allowing you to quickly post about a newly discovered website.

LiveJournal

http://www.livejournal.com

Live Journal was created in 1999 by Brad Fitzpatrick as a way of keeping his friends up to date. Since its creation, LiveJournal has grown in a big way into a hugely popular blog host and online community. In January 2005 it was purchased by Six Apart, the owner of TypePad and Moveable Type.

LiveJournal is open source, meaning that if you have the knowledge, you can tack extra features on as you see fit.

LiveJournal has a very strong sense of community, making it easy for you to join and organize groups with other members, and it also has a “friends” feature. You add people to your “friends” and it alerts you when those friends post to their blogs.

The website is well organized, and allows you to search for people by region or subject.

To-do lists let you file tasks and projects, and it also has a built in password protection feature so that you can choose whether you’ll display posts to everyone, to specific groups, or to no one but yourself.

Paid LiveJournal accounts cost $3 a month, $15 for six months, or $19.95 for a year. With a paid subscription you get an email account, a personalized domain name (beautifullyhaunted.livejournal.com instead of http://www.livejournal.com/users/beautifullyhaunted) for example.

You also get advanced template customization, embedded poll tools with automatically tabulated votes, and multiple user profiles. You also get a site-tracking service that shows you how many visitors you have (and where they’ve come from) and ScrapBook, LiveJournal’s photo hosting service.

Text Messaging: LiveJournal offers a unique texting service to its paying customers. Once you’ve set it up

Xanga

http://www.xanga.com

Xanga is a powerful community and social networking tool. It’s one of the most popular blog hosts for teenagers and young adults. A free Xanga blog comes enabled with comments, a guestbook, and pages for entertainment reviews. It even has a events page. To encourage interaction among it’s users, Xanga makes it extremely easy to join blogrings and to subscribe to other users blogs. Along with comments, users can award “eProps” to posts they particularly like.

Xanga Premium starts at $4 per month and gives you more powerful versions of the tools basic users have. It also gives you additional design and customization options. Premium members can also download a complete copy of their blog in case they want to store it somewhere other than Xanga’s servers.

XTools: This is just like Blogger’s BlogThis! and TypePad’s QuickPost. Add this “bookmarklet” to your browser’s links bar and you can use most of Xanga’s editing tools without having to log in via the Xanga homepage.

There is also the option for “Moblog” hosts. The term moblogging was coined by Adam Greenfield in 2002, and is used to describe posting to blogs via an internet-capable portable device, such as a cell phone or PDA. Usually, it works like this…

Snap a picture with your camera phone, and write a few descriptive sentences for the pic. Then, email the picture and text to your blog, and voila, your blog is immediately updated. It really is that simple. A few of the possibilities for such blogging are http://www.buzznet.com (buzznet is primarily a photoblog host, but offers some of the best moblogging tools around) http://www.easymoblog.org (Open source) and http://www.textamerica.com (does a good job of making moblogging simple and accessible.)

Rate This Article: Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

While it’s been around for several years, professional blogging has skyrocketed to the top ranks of online money makers. While blogs have been around for quite some time they are now becoming a major source of income for many people out there. Blogs are extremely versatile, you can blog about anything! This makes them great for anybody.

When it comes to professional blogging there are a few distinctions to be known. Firstly, there are the types that blog for companies. There are a lot of companies that hire people who are professional bloggers to maintain their blogs. These people earn lot’s of money writing about that companies products and the company itself. While not everyone does this, it is another great way to earn money blogging.

There are the professional bloggers out there who write on various important topics, such as current events. and get paid to do so. I would have to say that part of this group writes because the topic they are writing on is something they feel passionately about, however they do not get paid to write in their blogs.

The other part of this group is similar to the first, they write because they are passionate on the subject, however they are also making an income out of their blogs.

The next type is the one becoming rather popular. This type consists of people who earn money blogging full time while at home. They blog about anything and everything and earn a sustainable income off of their blogs.

It took me a few years to discover the true potential of this type of blogging, but what I found out was that I not only enjoyed working but i loved it! It took a bit of time for me to iron out the kinks but there are tons of way for any individual to earn money simply by blogging.

If you are making the decision to become a professional blogger there are plenty of options available for you. I personally enjoy blogging from home on several different topics that I like to do in my free time.

There are many ways to monetize your blogs so that they can earn you money, and countless ways to publicize them and bring in the traffic you need to be a successful professional blogger.

There are plenty of people willing to teach you what they know, the main problem I came across when first learning how to become a professional blogger was weeding out the good information from the bad. My advice is, if anyone is offering to sell you their products do a thorough search on them. Google their name, and their product and see what people really have to say.

Good luck, and happy blogging!

Rate This Article: Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

Millions of people have online blogs. Blogging has become the preferred method to share your thoughts with the online community. As a communication tool, or just for fun, blog are great things to have. However, there are ways you can turn the entertaining blog pastime into a lot of money.

Making money with your blog is not a new idea. Some people run business blogs that talk about their industry, advertise their ecommerce website sales and specials, or do straight sales of products. There are five quick and easy methods to turn existing blog traffic into big money.

Method One: Adsense of PPC Advertising

Google Adsense and other PPC (pay per click) advertising services pay you a certain amount of money every time a person clicks on one of their links. After you sign up, the company will give you a small amount of code to copy and paste into your blog template. When people visit your blog and read about their favorite topic, they may decide to click on the Adsense or PPC ads. Each click earns you money.

Method Two: Affiliate Programs

With affiliate programs, you earn whenever someone clicks, signs up, or makes a purchase through your affiliate link. You can sell products on your blog through affiliate programs and earn a commission on each sale.

It is easy to include an affiliate link in your blog post. Writing a bit about the product or giving it a personal recommendation is a great way to earn with affiliate products.

Method Three: Product Sales

Besides selling products through affiliate programs, you can also sell other things through your blog. You can purchase products wholesale, use a drop-shipper, or sell handcrafted items through your blog. Posting about the product in your blog may get visitors excited about the product.

Method Four: Text Link Sales

If you have a good amount of blog traffic, you may be able to sell text advertising spot directly through your blog. There are also websites you can sign up with that match text advertisers with blogs of interest. You would be paid a sum of money to post text ads on your blog.

Method Five: Posting Blog Ads

Much like posting text ads, there are also companies that match bloggers up with companies and websites that want advertising posted on blogs. These ads usually include an entire blog post touting a product or service, or a “brought to you by” or “visit our sponsor” blurb at the end of a blog post. You will earn money with your blog by writing and placing these ads.

These five methods of blog monetization will have you making money with your blog in no time. Each one is easy to implement in an existing blog. Blogging is very popular on the internet today. If you are already blogging, you might as well make money with your blog as well!

Rate This Article: Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

Blogging for money has become a new trend, but unlike other trends that come and fade away, paid blogging is here to stay! Blogs have become a powerful tool in online advertising, and a competitive market for those who wish to work from home. There are networks for blogging geeks, mom bloggers and those with a lot of opinions on social and political issues.

Never have people been in charge more than with blogging for money. Advertisers will pay you to review their products, or to post good buzz about their companies. There are numerous ways to earn extra income just through traffic and placing advertising on your page. A blog is a potential money making machine, and anyone can start blogging with just a click of a mouse.

There is a lot of advice online on how to start a successful blog, where to look for paid hosting or even free blog hosting. How and where to purchase domain name registrations for a blog, and companies to register with that pay for blog posts. These are all topics covered and rehashed over and over again. Starting a blog is easy, but starting a small business with a paid blog is even easier.

Owning a small business is part of the American dream. You too can be a successful small business owner with these simple steps;

1. Register Your Business

Online searches of registering a business name will give you results on DBAs, LLCs and Corporations. While LLC and Corporations are good ways to register a business, they are not needed for a person starting out with paid blogging. A DBA (Doing Business As) is sufficient enough to start a small business using a paid blog. It will give you all the legal rights to the business, as well as the ability to open up separate business checking and Paypal accounts. It will also allow you to file taxes using the business name.

The DBA does have legal limitations. Although chances of you getting sued over a blog are slim, under a DBA your personal assets would be considered in any litigation case.

To register a DBA, you can check in with any County Clerk Office. The fees for registering a DBA vary from state to state. Some will allow you to register a DBA for $70, while other states do not charge a fee.

The business name you choose can even be based on the domain name of your blog. For example, Sandysbeautyreviews.com can register as Sandy’s Beauty Reviews. A paid blogging business can be filed under a business license for freelance writing. A clerk would be able to advice you on the best category to file the business name under.

2. Tax Filing

All US residents and citizens that are employed or earn income must file taxes. This is something we have been told from childhood, and everyone understands that not filing income taxes is illegal.

Associated Content and other paid blogging sites require authors to submit tax forms and even provide their social security number for tax filings. You as the individual earning the income from articles and paid blogs must report it to your accountant and pay tax on the blogging income. Failure to file taxes on blogging income can be considered as tax evasion, with serious penalties and even felonies.

This might scare you away from paid blogging, but there is no need to be afraid of blogging for money and reporting it for taxes. In fact, blogging for money shows that your household is bringing in extra income. This will help you in the long run, especially if you are applying for any sort of a loan or even a home mortgage. It shows that you are capable of bringing in additional income to the household and will be able to pay the loan payments on time.

Taxes are not scary, especially with a good accountant that can properly file the tax returns for you. In the long run, you will benefit financially and on your credit report as a paid blogger.

3. Tax Write-Offs

As a small business owner, a paid blogger, you will have the advantage of saving money by writing off deductions on your taxes. Small businesses are allowed to deduct services and products that they have purchased for the business. Not sure what all fit’s the category? Here are some deductions you can claim on your taxes as a paid blogger:

Web Hosting and Domain Name Registration – In order for you to run your business, you have to pay for web hosting and domain name fees. You can deduct this from your gross income and not pay taxes on it.

Internet / Cable Connection – A blogger is incapable of posting ads for its sponsors and advertisers without connecting to the Internet.

Paypal Fees – While companies pay you through Paypal, Paypal charges you fees for that service. You can deduct your Paypal transaction fees.

Health Insurance – A small business owner must provide his or his own healthcare insurance. Speak to your accountant about the correct healthcare plan for a small business owner and you will be able to deduct it off of your taxes!

Amortization – Your vehicle, mileage and even gas can be deducted under small business tax. While the amount may vary due to your business being mainly online, there are percentages of your amortization that can be deducted off your taxes.

Meals and Entertainment – Do you meet up with other bloggers and socialize? Do you meet up with local businesses and discuss online advertising for their company through your online blog? The meal you purchase during this business meeting can be included as your tax write off as well.

Advertising – Do you pay others to advertise your blog online, or even submit ads to the local newspaper? Well, the fees you pay for advertising can be deducted off your small business taxes.

Other – Speak to your accountant about other deductions that can be considered under your small business. You would be amazed at the amount of money you can save while showing an additional income for the household and owning your own business!

Being a paid blogger is exciting, it will allow you to socialize and meet many other smart individuals that are capitalizing on this great idea. However, being a small business owner is even more exciting! A successful paid blogger can turn their blog into a full time, work from home, money making machine. There is a lot of pride that small business owners have, and with hard work come great rewards.

In all. you too can own a piece of the American dream by being a paid blogger, but you can do even more by turning it into an actual small business. Paying taxes is not scary, and it is in fact required by all of us. Correctly reporting your income and filing taxes can be very beneficial to you individually and financially.

Rate This Article: Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

What is RSS?

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and it is a way of allowing your blog visitors to have your blog posts automatically delivered using a method of their choice rather than having to manually visit your web page every day to check for updates. This is particularly helpful when somebody reads many blogs as they can use a tool called an RSS reader to read all of those blogs in one place.

Each separate blog will publish a unique URL, this is the RSS feed and is what any visitors will need to use to subscribe to the blog via RSS. All of the blog platforms, including WordPress, have RSS technology built in already which is great as this means that there is very little that you need to do to set it up. The chances are, in fact, that if you’ve already chosen the theme to use, you won’t have to do anything at all.

What you should look for is that the RSS icon is prominently displayed in the top part of your blog theme. If the reader has to scroll to see it, pick another one. Make sure the icon is fairly large and prominent. Basically, you want to ensure that your reader’s eye is drawn towards it. If it is hidden away then it won’t get used.

Full or Partial Feeds – Which to Choose?

RSS contains a feature that will allow just a small section of your post to be sent to the RSS feed, then if the reader chooses to view the whole post, they must then follow the link to your website to be able to read it. Watch out though as the WordPress default is to publish the entire post to the feed. You can check and change your settings by going to the WordPress Dashboard, then going to ‘Settings’ and then ‘Reading’.

There are pros and cons to both full and partial feeds. If you allow the RSS feed to publish the whole post, your reader won’t need to visit your web page any more – they are able to access all your posts straight from their feed reader. You may find this doesn’t suit you as it does mean that your readers aren’t going to see the ads on your site. However, this has now changed since Google set up a way of allowing ads to be embedded into your feed directly.

Now there is something to understand about RSS readers – these are people who understand the Internet, they know what RSS is, they have chosen their RSS reader, they have decided to subscribe to your feed because they want to hear what you have to say and so they are far less likely to click on an ad than somebody who arrived at your website from a search engine. Also, these people are hungry for information which is why they are using RSS in the first place.

Using an RSS reader allows them to read all their chosen blogs nice and quickly without having to navigate around a bunch of websites. If you make your RSS feed partial in order to force the reader to click through to your site, you are likely to find that many of your readers simply don’t bother to click and may even unsubscribe. In other words – your content does not get read.

It is my recommendation that to grow a social blog and to build a loyal audience that are going to read absolutely everything you ever write, you must make the feed a full one. On the other hand for a heavily monetized and commercial blog that does not require such a large readership, a partial feed would be better.

On-page ads, however, are not the only revenue that can be generated by your blog. When you have learned how to utilise your blog to create much greater revenue streams, it will not matter whether your readers follow your posts on your website or via an RSS feeder. With this in mind, a full feed would be my recommendation.

How To Use Feedburner

If you are using the unchanged WordPress theme then you will not need to do anything for viewers to be able to subscribe to your feed. However there will be no way to see how many readers have subscribed. If this is an issue and you want to know your subscriber number, then a Feedburner service will allow you to be able to track it.

The Feedburner service is completely free and is run by Google. It is also incredibly easy to set up. All you need to do once you are signed up, is give your original blog’s URL to Feedburner and it will create a new Feedburner URL for you to use. You can then edit your WordPress theme to use the Feedburner URL instead.

What is Google Analytics?

Google Analytics is a nice piece of software that allows you to track all kinds of stats about your website such as how much traffic you have had, what keywords are used to find you, other links that point to you, the location of your visitors and a lot more. It’s damn good software and it’s completely free!

When you are signed up, you will have to insert a website profile for your blog. All you have to do is just add the URL of your blog and maybe reset your time zone if you wish. It will then give you some code that you will need to display on your web pages – Just click on this code and copy it to the clipboard.

You can manually add the code on to your WordPress blog but this will involve editing your theme files, but if you change themes, you will then have to do it again. Alternatively, I would recommend Semiologic as this will manage your Analytics for you. The download page shows complete instructions about how to use the plugin, so it need not be repeated here.

Rate This Article: Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

Almost anyone would say if they had the opportunity to work from home they would take it. With the internet being more popular than ever, blogging for extra income has become more popular than ever. But is it really a practical or even possible idea?

First, I would like to mention that blogging to make additional income is entirely possible. There are a number of available hosts that allow you a free domain name through their site. So everything you do in regards to setting up your blog is 100% free. Depending on the site there may be an additional cost for add on features, so take a look around before you start to blog. Currently the most popular blogging platforms are Blogger and WordPress. If you want a blog on your personal domain name, you can always purchase a domain and hosting account but that is completely your decision.

But just because you can blog for additional income doesn’t mean that it will actually generate income. A generalized and/or personal blog will probably never generate income. Instead when you create a blog you will have to choose a theme or niche so other people with similar interests looking for information will find what you are posting.

Once you find a niche you want to blog about, you have to find a way to generate income. Are you going to sell items, have an affiliate program, advertise, etc. to make money? And how are you going to promote these items to sell.

After you have determined the first two factors, you have to promote and continue to post to your blog. This is where most income generating blogs loose steam. Creating an income generating blog takes a lot of time. You will spend hours of unpaid work just to make that first few dollars or even cents. Blogs of this type need to be updated at least once a week and be active in social networks. Most blogs will not generate income (or generate very little) within the first year of their publication.

In summary, here are the top 10 things to expect when starting an income generating blog:

1. You will not get rich (quick or otherwise)

2. It takes a lot of research – to figure out how your site is going to generate income

3. You need to blog about something specific, and something people are looking for

4. You will put in a lot of time, and not be paid

5. A lot can go wrong – from site templates, to hosting, and advertisements

6. Your blog will not generate income for at least a year

7. Your income generating blog may never generate any income – blog for fun, and if the income flows that is secondary

8. Expect to make at least one update to your blog a week

9. You will have to be active on social networking sites

10. You have a lot of competition trying to generate income the same way you are

If you are willing to put in the time and effort to blog to make additional income it is worth the shot. After all if you are using free hosting and domains you have nothing to loose and everything to gain. Keep your expectations reasonable, and blog because you love to!

Rate This Article: Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

Blogging might seem hard to the untrained eye, but it really is the easiest thing in the world. Blog is the word that derives from the term Web log, or online journal. Many people have them, including celebrities like Rosie O’ Donnell. They seem to be confessionals of sorts, a place to vent without being seen if you don’t want to be. Blog are also journals that people are free to read. It’s if a teenage girl writes in a journal and then; she publishes it to everyone but her parents. Some blog can be made private, like if you were just writing in a diary, but it doesn’t make sense to create a private blog. Blogs are primarily made for at least one person to read. If you are interested in creating a blog, but you aren’t sure where to start, this is for you.

Here are ten tips to finding happiness in writing a blog. You don’t have to be a published writer and you don’t even have to be a high school graduate. Just follow these tips and you’ll become a successful blogger to at least someone thousands of miles away.

1: Find a free blog site: There are hundreds of free blog sites on the internet. Most of them will help you along the way, giving you features like colorful backgrounds and telling you where to put information about yourself. My recommendations are Myspace, Yahoo 360 and Blogger/Blogspot.com. Blogger/Blogspot.com is through Google, so you can probably Google yourself.

2: Go incognito: If you don’t want to be yourself or worry that what you might post can get you fired (that’s a possibility), you can be someone else. The good thing about the internet is that you can be anyone in the world, but you can’t get money from it. That’s fraudulent. Myspace requires that you create a profile through their site. With Yahoo 360, you’ll have to use your e-mail account information, but it’s a less private version of Myspace. That’s fine as long as you don’t do anything fraudulent. I also don’t advise this if you are planning to post something criminal, like your wishes to kill someone or harm children. But, that would bring us to…

3: Keep it light: People do not want to read about harmful things, except if they’re fiction. If they aren’t fiction, seek help and refrain from making a fantasy into reality. Most bloggers write about their personal lives and that’s fine. If there is something bad happening in your personal life, please feel free to vent about it and get it out. You will most likely get advice or condolences or well wishes. But, don’t turn to violence. Chances are that someone will report you to the police if you post something that doesn’t seem like fiction and seems quite awful.

4: Fiction is fine: If you are an aspiring writer and want to talk about your book in progress or a book that you’ve just read, that’s fine. I can’t say that many people will give you feedback, but you’re still getting the word out there. Like I said before, at least one person will read your blog and that is one more person that had read it before. You’re creating an audience. You won’t get paid for it and it’ll take time, but it will happen.

5: Take everything with a grain of salt: Chances are that you will probably have someone say that you suck. Don’t let that ruin your day and don’t let that make you leave a message on their blog that includes all of the four letter words that many people can’t say. There are always going to be negative readers, but they’re not the be all to end all. Negative readers only do that to get a reaction and the best reaction is no reaction at all.

6: Keep it simple: The last thing that people can handle is a blog with so many colors, it’s keeping their attention away from the content that you’ve posted. Fun colors are okay, but don’t have ten different colors on your blog. If they’re bright, then it’s not only distracting but also blinding and it’ll keep people away from your blog. You’ll end up being known as the person with the really colorful blog.

7: It’s not an everyday thing: The good thing about blogs is that you can stay away from it for a week and come back to it like it’s second nature. Blogs aren’t supposed to be a full time job. They’re supposed to be a release from all of the stress of the day. If you don’t feel like writing in your blog, you don’t have to. It’ll always be there.

8: You can always delete an entry: Say that you ranted about a co-worker or a best friend but then, you mended fences with said person. The good things is that you can always delete the incriminating entry before they ever find out about it. Or you can change it around to only say positive things about that person. That’s the benefit to having a blog whereas in a diary, the ink is permanent and it’s hard to erase everything you’ve said.

9: Famous people do it, too: If you tell someone at your work or within your circle of friends and they tell you that you’re a geek for being a blogger, you can tell them that some famous people have blogs. Rosie O’Donnell, who’s now a co-host for ABC’s The View, has a blog. Author Laurell K. Hamilton also have a blog as well. You can rest assured that they pretty much stick to these rules, too.

10: You can put anything in a blog: Blogs can be unrequited love letters, stories that you’ve written when you were 10 or chronicles of what you’ve done for the day. Blogs can be anything that you want them to be. Five to twenty five years later, you can always go back to your blog and probably make them into a book when you become rich and famous. Or you can finally start charging for people to read all of your confessions of way back when. Trust me, people would love to read your secrets once you become rich and famous, and you can always control who reads them.

Blogging is not that simple, and it’s less likely to make you run out of space in your diary, ink in your pens or give you carpal tunnel syndrome. It’s less likely that you will end up so frustrated, you’ll scribble over all of your work because the thoughts won’t come out correctly on paper. With blogging, all you need is your thoughts. Now, I advise that you look back at some of those diaries or swim through your subconscious and if you’re really ready to expose your secrets to the world, prepare your fingers for some typing. I know that I’ve been a blogger for a little less than a year and it’s like a release to me. It’ll be a release for you, too.

Rate This Article: Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

Blogging is easy to start. Sites like www.blogger.com, www.wordpress.com, or www.typepad.com allow you to create professional-looking sites with little to no technical experience. But before you start pouring out your soul and clever words ask yourself “why am I doing this?” After all, you can also blog readily at MySpace or LiveJournal. But even there, ask yourself “why am I doing this?”

What is My Purpose for Blogging?

Be honest with yourself. Do you want to do this as a hobby and post pictures of your family to share with relatives and friends around the country or globe? If so, that’s perfectly fine. Or do you want to make money blogging? That’s understandable as well. But either way, you have to really ask yourself “why am I doing this?”

My wife blogs, but she doesn’t know it. Silly her. She journals on our laptop about each day’s stresses and joys of being the mother in our family of 4 adopted children, 2 guardians, 1 grandchild and 4 dogs. Her purpose for writing each post, in a Word document, allows her to process our daily grind as a family. The more clearly you know your purpose for blogging, the more able you’ll be to create content for your readers.

My purpose is to make money! Yep, even when my wife rolls her eyes at me. I’m looking at blogging as an income source and a way to begin displaying my marketing background, my writing background, and my life as an adoptive dad. I knew when I started I would have to learn a lot. And I’ve gained many new technical and web skills during my almost 2 months of serious blogging. Oh, and the money? My purpose right now is to create quality content and attract readers and I know the income will follow.

Your purpose for blogging may be to make money – but not from the blogs themselves. Rather, you can display your credentials and attract people to your store, product, service or consulting firm.

What do YOU Want to Say?

I emphasize what do “you” want to say because there are hundreds of thousands of blogs being created each week. Okay, millions. WordPress actually states the number of new blogs created in specific time periods. My bet is most blogs will become virtual ghost towns because they weren’t well-planned and they were started on impulse. I will bet about 45%. There’s a reason I use that percentage but I won’t digress now.

My “Hey, Don” blog at Don Biz Blog is becoming a source of tips and how-to info related to 4 or 5 specific topics with a different theme each week. During mid-June, another site linked to me and I discovered it was a woman in Philadelphia who has done quite an impressive web site and blogs using almost the same themes! But she’s not me and I’m not her.

We both have our different personalities. I’m treating “Hey, Don” as a source for creating feature-style or human interest articles, drawing on my journalism background. So what makes you different from the other millions of blogs existing? Ask yourself, “why would someone read my blog not just once, but two or three times?”

I had a wonderful compliment from the creator of The Hip Mom MySpace place to say she really liked my blog and she would be a frequent reader. I will ask her what she likes about my site and what brings her back.

I see myself as a writer who enjoys interviewing “the experts.” I hope that comes across in my blog.

How will You Produce Quality Content?

I believe you should launch your blog with about 3 – 5 original posts in the first day or two if you’re wanting to start off strong. Then, post once a day. After that, post a minimum of 3 – 5 times per week. Your content should be targeted. Readers need to know what to expect when they visit your blog and why they should return.

Do you plan on writing all your own content? Do you plan on writing brief posts and linking to other sites? Try to think that through at this stage.

How will You Design?

Okay. I’m not a designer and it’s painfully clear when youmy blog. However, I’m not terribly unhappy with it. I knew I wanted to teach myself some basic design and using such a user-friendly site was fine with me. But design also means placement of links, text and ads if you monetize your site. Fortunately, you do get to play around with the site after it’s up. But start with a pen or pencil and paper to lay out your site. There is a helpful design article available at Pro Biz.

Who is Your Audience?

Blogging is sharing your thoughts, feelings or expertise. It is offering information and/or entertainment. Who do you envision reading your thoughts? What do they look like? What are their hobbies? What do you want them to do once they arrive at your site? What action do you want them to take – read and comment or buy a product from your site? Is it clear?

In college, my classes included short story writing. In fact, literary author Michael Chabon was in a couple of my classes at the University of Pittsburgh. Sorry, I had to drop a name. A roommate asked me, “would you keep writing even if no one reads it?” Okay, I’ll write for God. But He doesn’t need to click on to my blog. But that’s an important question and it does go back to your “purpose” for blogging. I won’t go in to the many ways you can attract readers. However, if you write a clear theme, develop quality content, and post sincere comments to other blogs then the readers will come over the weeks and months to follow. You can use many of the strategies you’ll also find in the AC forums on promoting your content. Develop a MySpace and YouTube accounts with links to your blog. You just want to make sure you’re attracting the readers you’re talking to.

Blogging success when it comes to making money is all about attracting a high volume of targeted traffic. The more page views then the more advertising dollars you can command or the more paid clicks you’ll generate on the affiliate programs. But if you’re blogging is a hobby then – ah, we’re back to your purpose again.

Relax. Have Fun and Enjoy Learning.

Serious blogging is work. Writing to simply express yourself and have an outlet for the world to see some posts and friends to see others is therapeutic. You can do both. If you’re not blogging to become the next celebrity income earner then that’s okay. Either way, pause to ask yourself “why am I doing this?” then jump in again and keep blogging.

Rate This Article: Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.