# Blogs as moneymakers



## Tea_mama (Nov 7, 2012)

Hi all,

I was wondering what platform most of you use for your blogs (blogspot, wordpress, etc) and also, those who are making money (even if it's just a little) how did you go about starting that? I know there are things like affiliate links and reviewing certain products, but how does one begin? TIA!


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## katlupe (Nov 15, 2004)

I make some money, but not enough to live on. I write several blogs, but my two main ones are do the best. I put affiliate links in the text and on the sides........not too many though! Readers don't like it to look like a newspaper.

I have several places that I work with as an affiliate. Some of them are ShareaSale, Amazon, Net-Performance-based, Netrition and Blogsvertise. 

All you have to do is go sign up on a link you will see on their site for affiliates. I have Google Adsense ads on my blogs too. That is slow for me, but it adds up eventually.

I have found some bloggers who write books or sell products use affiliates too and I have signed up with some of them. 

My first blog is on Blogger and the others are on WordPress, which I self-host. 

At first just write your posts and do it as much as possible. Don't write a few and then not again for months. People will come back and they want a new post. 

Good luck!


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## Tea_mama (Nov 7, 2012)

Thank you! When you say you self host, do you mean you pay the fee (I can't remember what it is) to drop the "wordpress" name out of your domain? For example homesteadingontheinternet.com instead of homesteadingontheinternet.wordpress.com ?


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## katlupe (Nov 15, 2004)

Tea_mama said:


> Thank you! When you say you self host, do you mean you pay the fee (I can't remember what it is) to drop the "wordpress" name out of your domain? For example homesteadingontheinternet.com instead of homesteadingontheinternet.wordpress.com ?


Yes, I use the Wordpress software, but I am in control of my blogs myself. One reason is that Wordpress does not like you to make money off your blog if they are hosting it. I use a hosting company (MediaServe) to host 3 blogs and 2 websites and it is only $10. a month altogether (not each).

Another way I have made money off my blogs is by writing about food, and how I can it or making frugal meals. The store that I shop at, asked me to put their link in my text, and they give me a gift card monthly for doing so. The post is not even necessarily about their store, just the recipe mainly.


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## Tea_mama (Nov 7, 2012)

katlupe said:


> Yes, I use the Wordpress software, but I am in control of my blogs myself. One reason is that Wordpress does not like you to make money off your blog if they are hosting it. I use a hosting company (MediaServe) to host 3 blogs and 2 websites and it is only $10. a month altogether (not each).


So is MediaServe hosting your homesteadingontheinternet.com blog? Did you pay the money through Wordpress or through MediaServe? Sorry so many questions......


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## supernovae (Jul 14, 2014)

Here is what i've done to make money on blogs.

1. Update every day
2. Market it every day - Twitter/facebook/forums
3. Community involvement - i go to "meetups" (meetup.com), conferences, i talk at conventions and get involved with every aspect of the community i can.
4. sell advertising spots or use some adsense type service for blogs.

I found in the end though, unless i sold a tangible good, i was just selling myself and i could make "Easier" money by writing for established blogs since i wasn't in this for starting a full time business anyway as i already worked full time. So now i get paid a few hundred per article i write for others and i update my personal blogs with much less frequency but more intimate with people who actually know me where my paid posts are for corporate/work/business blogs..

i also found the more i tried to get sponsorship, the more i my readers left.. they wanted to read someones personal thoughts in the end and not some blog that gives the appearance of selling out.

If you decide to keep blogging, analytics is important. You want to know what draws your users, why type of content has the longest reading time, what type of content draws the most crowds and when you start building up an ecosystem around what you know, then you can target those specific demographics as well.


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## katlupe (Nov 15, 2004)

Tea_mama said:


> So is MediaServe hosting your homesteadingontheinternet.com blog? Did you pay the money through Wordpress or through MediaServe? Sorry so many questions......


I pay MediaServe, not Wordpress. Their software is available through MediaServe. Most hosting companies have various blogging software options available.


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