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It is extremely unlikely that we shall earn money from the act of blogging alone - though it is possible, as we will see later - but rather from the residual activities associated with same. These activities may include advertising which we allow to be placed on our blogs, selling products on our blogs for commissions or setting up other web presences to promote our blogs from which we also earn an income. Let us therefore look at each of those concepts in greater detail.

It is very important that when setting up a blog we do so with a hosting company which is compatible with our computer abilities and the requirements we have for our blog. We are probably also going to be looking for one which hosts our blog for free, especially if we are just starting off. I have tried a great many hosting sites since I began working online professionally but there are only two which I continue to use. One of those sites is Blogger, Google's blog hosting site, and the other is Today. The advantages of these sites are that Blogger allows you to add your Google AdSense ID to your blog and relevant ads are subsequently automatically placed upon it, from which it is possible for you to obtain pay per click revenue. Today is the site which I mentioned in the introduction which actually pays you to blog. You will be paid one dollar for each accepted post of one hundred words or more, one per day, for the first thirty days of your blogging career. Subsequently, your blog as a whole will be reviewed and payment increased or decreased depending upon its performance.

There are a great many companies on the web which allow us to sign up with them as affiliates and sell their products on our blogs and websites for a commission. Sites such as Amazon and eBay are household names these days and both have very appealing such programmes. There are also other sites which we may wish to consider joining in this respect, however, such as Cafepress and Clickbank. Cafepress is basically where you create an online store with a design of your own creation and sell such as t-shirts, mugs and bags with the design emblazoned on it. Cafepress allows you to create your own profit margin and they produce and ship the items on your behalf. Clickbank is a digital download site for such as e-books, where customers rather than receiving their product through the post, simply download it through their PC. Both sites have significant potential.

Probably the best way to make money from blogging, however, at least in the short term for the novice, is by joining other sites upon which we can promote our blog. Sites such as Helium - the one you are viewing at the moment - allows you to write articles upon the subject of your blog and link to your blog on your profile page. Sites such as Squidoo and Hub Pages allow you to construct mini websites and both have a fantastic array of money making tools pre-built for you to employ along the way. If you are a resident of the United States - and only if - then the sites Gather and Associated Content also offer income generating opportunities.

I hope that we can therefore see that the setting up of and posting to a blog although in itself doesn't generate much - if any - money, the activities associated with promoting it and optimising it offer us fantastic opportunities for making money in the long term beyond our wildest dreams.

Learn more about this author, Gordon Hamilton.
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