Recently, discussing why a writer might have a blog (in “Confessions of a serial blogger”), I promised to say a little bit about how some bloggers make money.
First, let me stress that a blog can be useful to you without making money. It can keep you in touch with readers, support a book, and update a book or magazine articles. And it is good off-site storage for useful information for yourself and others.
However, if making a bit of money from your blog is convenient, there are several ways you can do it:
1. You can allow clickable ads on your blog, through Google’s Adsense program. You must add a couple of little software tools first, after which Adsense does all the rest, and sends you money when your account reaches over $100. Generally, Google’s search algorithms will select ads for your blog that relate to the topics you write about.
2. You can affiliate with an online bookstore and then you get a small commission when a reader buys a book or other items as a result of your referral. The way they know is that your code is part of the link itself (not that anyone but you is likely to notice that because, as a good blogger, you would of course embed your link). For this system to work, you must remember to get the link you are using from your Amazon account.
3. If you treat your work as a ministry, you can install a PayPal button, and people may send you money. It is surprising how many people do, if they like the blog and are hoping you will continue.
4. Some bloggers are paid to blog, usually about news. If you can offer expert commentary, you could offer your services to a news site.
Most bloggers find that blogging is only a modest source of income at best, but if you are a writer living on a pittance, you may be wise to take advantage of one of these opportunities.
I would be interested to hear whether bookstore owners or publisher find blogging useful to their business. Anyone out there?
© Denyse O’Leary
