by Melissa Rachiele

Created on: January 14, 2007   Last Updated: May 08, 2007

Yes! You need to write a quality blog that people will want to read and develop a strong reader base. You also need to attract new readers and to get yourself listed in search engines. Only then should you try to monetize your blog and watch it, at least, pay for itself.

1. It helps to register your own domain name, one that will garner a lot of search engine hits. Canned sites like writingup are good for beginners, or for cross-promotion (get a fan base at your writingup site, then suggest that they also read your other site), but have severe limits.

2. Write high quality posts about topics that your readers will be interested in, and that other people on the Internet might want to search for more information on. Analyze your posts with a program like textalyser to see if your keyword density is high enough to garner search engine hits.

3. Add affiliate links to products your readers are likely to actually be interested in. Sign up for google ads or other such programs.

4. Sign up for blog carnivals and festivals to increase your hits. Post on message boards where people share your interest and include your link in your signature.

5. Submit old blog articles to associated content as non-exclusive articles. This will bring in a few extra dollars per article and increase the visibility of your blog.

6. Try to post every day. Even if it's just a short post with a news article or a link, it will keep your readers engaged.

7. Sign up for a few (FEW) of the astroturfing sites that pay you to promote products on your blog. Some out there include payperpost, blogitive, and bloggingads. Be very honest with your readers about what these posts are, and don't clutter your blog too much with them.

The whole process is hard work, but you should be able to start making some regular money this way. And remember, this becomes passive income, so the older articles on your blog will continue to earn you money forever, so long as you continue to maintain the newer articles.

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