Blogging for Money

by on May 30, 2014

Blogging for money is a hot topic in the online writer community. There are definitely success stories out there, as well as throngs of disappointed writers. So, how do you match your expectations to the realities of blogging? Make sure to read up on what the skeptics have to say, and always consider the source. Don’t limit your reading to people who are trying to make money by blogging about how you can make money blogging!

That being said, some blogs of this kind are valuable if they show you how much money they are making and from what source, or if they have good discussions going on with other people engaged in the same endeavor.

The consensus seems to be that if you want to make a full time living at blogging, you have to work full time. At least for several years. The skeptics and the responsible salesmen alike, will agree that it takes years to build up the quantity of quality content that it takes to attract serious traffic. It’s best to make long term plans for ramping this side-business up until it eventually becomes your main gig.

Just as a full time blogging income requires full time work, blogging as a passive income strategy requires what most other passive income strategies do – hard work over a long period of time before you can rest on your laurels.

But before you get depressed and give up on blogging for money, here are some great things to consider.

You can maximize the positive outcomes from your effort by taking a look at all of your goals and hobbies and identifying some reasons for keeping up a blog that you feel good about, even if you aren’t getting paid right away.

Choosing a topic about which you have a lot of passion and knowledge is important. Successful bloggers report that they post several articles per day, and keep up on reading similar blogs, related news stories, and books.

Could blogging be a source of free advertising for your current business or hobby? If you’re a plummer, you could write about how to run your own plumming business, or a self-help how-to blog. (You know they’ll end up wanting to call the expert eventually!) Blogging is a great way to establish display your expertise.

If you hate the old 9-5 and prefer to surf the bohemian couches of Europe and Thailand, why not write a how-to for the like-minded, or post a travel-log and photos for friends and family. These kinds of blogs have been known to develop into success stories. It’s the old “do what you love and the money will follow” trick.

Let’s say you want to know how to get book published or get a recording contract. As any kind of artist, you can use your blog as your portfolio and press kit. You can use it to court writers agents and publishing companies, galleries, book stores, and fans. Establishing an on line fan base is always a great selling point when you are looking to publish or showcase your work.

Once you decide on a topic for your blog, your particular angle will depend on your book marketing goals. If you want to give out teasers in hopes of selling a product, then of course, you won’t give your best content away for free. But if you want your blog itself to make money, and even if you just want good traffic, then giving out the best possible content is important. Think about actually being helpful, entertaining, or uplifting to your readers, not just about advertising. As with any other money-making endeavor, you get rewarded when you offer something of value.

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Personalized Book Making

by on May 30, 2014

I’ve been interested in writing poetry since I was a little kid. I started out writing haikus when I was eight. I used to write about nature all the time and I kept a book of the haikus I’d written as I collected them. I loved counting out the syllables to fit words to the form. I later wrote all types of poems but this was the first form I found. I got my first lesson in how to publish your own writing because my mother decided I should make a booklet of my haikus and send them to relatives for Christmas.

My sister had written some poems too, and we used a copy machine at my Dad’s office to put together our own little books. They were a huge success with the relatives we sent them to, or so they said. Years later when I had friends who were writing their own zines and publishing little chap books, I wanted to self publish some of my poetry, so I learned more about publishing a book myself through the use of Kinko’s and tape, staples, and glue.

I knew a lot of poetry slamming poets because I used to delve into that scene myself at times. Almost everyone I knew was trying to publish their own books.

My partner at the time was also learning book marketing on his own by making a bunch of silly little books that were supposedly for children. But really any parent would be annoyed if they went to get a book for their child and got one of his. He would randomly choose words from the dictionary and use the same selection process to choose random pictures from a collection he made that didn’t really go with the words at all.

He made a book called ‘A is for Walrus’ which was supposedly a loveable alphabet book for tots. But it really was a weird random art project for adults to read and laugh at.

He inspired me in my own quest to self publish. It can be a lot of fun to make a project for yourself where you put it all together. I enjoyed doing the folding and maneuvering that is needed to make books.

Years later for Christmas presents I joined a friend in her project of making home made journals for friends out of discarded paper and string using a hole drilling machine. This took me even further in my learning process of how to publish books as the books we made turned out pretty official looking.

We could have sold them if we wanted to, we were told this by everyone we gave one to. To me though it was basically a fun crafts project to do where I would end up with personalized presents I could give to the people I love.

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Thoughts On Saving Things

May 30, 2014

I miss the once popular art of letter writing.  I used to keep up lengthy correspondences with many of my friends and relatives.  These days, like most other people I know, I tend to only correspond with people via online writing such as e-mail, blogs, or one of the so-called community websites like MySpace or […]

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Pick A Topic

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There are so many great book marketing websites out there to explore on the internet.  It’s a wondrous and seemingly inexhaustible resource.  It doesn’t matter how old you are, or where your interest’s lie, if you have a computer with an internet hookup and you know how to type you can spend hours and hours […]

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Books Helped My State Of Mind

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I lived down the street from a great used book store called ‘Twice Sold Tales’ for a number of years.  They stayed open all night on Fridays and Saturdays and put all of their books on sale for half off from the hours of midnight until eight in the morning.  I used to go buy […]

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Become a Successful Online Writer

May 30, 2014

Writing online can be a way out to earn some extra cash and thus helping to take care of the expenses.  An online writer has the job of writing online blogs, articles, typing, data entry etc. and in turn he gets paid for the work done. Interesting thing here is that you do not need […]

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Making Friends With Small Business People

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The city I know the best has a wonderful outdoor market that has been around since the early twentieth century.  Local farmers sell produce and flowers there year round.  There are many little stores and restaurants in the market too, all underneath some large canopied roofs.  When I worked downtown I used to buy my […]

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Tips for Book Marketing Online

May 30, 2014

The Internet has opened the possibilities for book marketing in ways that authors of the past could never have imagined. Previously, if you wanted to promote a book you would have to depend on methods such as getting positive reviews from critics or taking out ads in the newspapers. Today, however, you can not only […]

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