Even though the idea of blogging started off as simply having a place from which to share your ideas with the world, it quickly blossomed into a pastime that can be turned into a profitable career. If you want to pursue a career as a professional blogger, you will quickly find out that your best bet for making money is renting out advertising space on your blog. Some of the more exclusive and most popular blogs can get away with charging people for their content, and there are some that sell their services through their blogs – which you’ll see on some of the best tutorial-based blogs for example – but generally speaking, if you are going to make money from your blog, you need some advertising.

If you believe that you have reached a point in the life of your blog at which you are ready to make some money from it, here are some tips to consider in your quest to become a profitable professional blogger through advertising.

It’s all about traffic

No matter how great your design is and how nice your blog looks, if no one is reading it, then it is useless to advertisers. In order to build a steady readership and a significant amount of traffic, you need quality content and you need to have new content coming in regularly. It is a very simple concept – the more people visit your blog and the longer they stay, the better your chances are of finding advertisers who want to promote themselves on your blog. In order to get these visitors to come to your site, you need to promote it. Promote your blog through your social networking profiles, send it to family and friends, and contact other bloggers you may know who might be willing to help you get your blog off the ground.

Another good way to get some traffic coming in to your blog is by submitting guest posts to other, more popular blogs, which will provide clicks and visits to your blog if people enjoy reading what you have written for others. Putting up some money yourself to advertise on other, more popular blogs that are similar to yours is an excellent way to increase traffic as well – if you have the money to spend on that.

Get familiar with statistics

If you are going to pitch your blog to advertisers successfully, you need to know what you are going to tell them. You need to start monitoring your traffic professionally and begin creating sales reports of the progress your blog is making. Once you hit a plateau of about 100,000 visits to your site each day, you will have a leg to stand on when you are pitching your blog to companies that might want to advertise with you. For a professional report, you need to let them know what your blog is about, what the content focuses on, and how that relates to their products or services. You also need to let them know the statistics related to your traffic. You can use Google Analytics to help you present a lot of this information related to traffic, which is a free service that offers detailed analysis of your site’s traffic.

Offer free advertising

If your traffic is not really where it needs to be in order to pitch your blog to potential advertisers, then you might want to consider offering some free advertising for the time being. It might seem counterproductive at first glance, but it is actually a very common an effective strategy. If you do not have impressive traffic stats, offer some free ad space to an advertiser that you would like to have advertising on your blog. You can give them a free trial period – three months of free advertising, and if they are satisfied with the number of clicks and visits they are getting by way of your site, a fee can be negotiated.

Remember, no one but you and your few, chosen free advertisers will know that the service is free – which can give off the appearance to other potential advertisers that this could be a good place for them to advertise as well. Creating the illusion of a bustling advertising business can only get more potential advertisers intrigued by your site and spark some real advertising offers to come in eventually.

Get into affiliate advertising 

Affiliate advertising through Google Adsense tends to be where the money is at for a lot of smaller bloggers. With Adsense, you are essentially creating an account with Google and allowing Google to place ads in certain places on your blog. Whenever a visitor clicks on one of the ads, you make some money. This can be a great source of money if you have a decent amount of traffic, but not enough to get serious advertisers interested yet. However, you need to really try to use these ads sparingly and place them in areas of your blog that will not ruin the reading experience for your visitors. Going overboard with Adsense ads and cluttering your blog with them usually does more harm than good.

Research your competitors and draft a pitch

Take a look at blogs that are more successful and more popular than yours, but deal with similar subjects. Find who is advertising on these blogs and put these advertisers on the top of your list. When you draft a pitch for your blog, these will be the first advertisers that you will contact, because you are already certain that they like to promote themselves on blogs that are similar to yours.

Your pitch should be comprised of everything you have gained from the first four steps of this blog post. Be sure to present your blog and its content in the best possible light and make it clear to everyone what your blog is about. Present the statistics related to the progress that you have made in attracting traffic since your blog’s inception, and even put together some educated predictions of what heights you expect your blog’s traffic to reach within the next year or so. Put together a list of all of the companies that have already advertised on your blog, but of course do not mention that they advertised for free if that was the case.

Do not talk about money or prices in this pitch, because the only thing you can do is undervalue your blog. Web advertising is not an exact science, so you never know how valuable your blog looks to a potential advertiser and how much they would be willing to pay in order to get some ad space on it.

Remember that when you are looking for advertisers, you are actually advertising yourself, so be sure to never undersell your blog because its value and worth as an advertising spot can vary drastically depending on the eye of the beholder.

Guest article written by: David Lazar is a blogger at >CometDocs.com. With a background in journalism, he enjoys writing about and following a variety of topics, including careers, technology and new media. 

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Many of us would like to try out working from home in order to save and/or earn (extra) money, but some do not think that they can really do it.  Those who express their interest in this matter, however, become highly discouraged by the start up costs.  However, you should be aware that many of those costs can be compensated by the earnings that working from home brings.  Working from home is not some scheme on how to get rich quickly, but it is something that can potentially free you from your debt and if you are really up to the challenge, it might even become your life-changing career.Still not convinced? Below are 3 ways how working from home can help you save and even earn you more money:

1.  Cutting back on commuting expenses

If you normally commute via public transportation or drive your car to work, you will certainly realize that you will be able to save extra money when you work from home because you will no longer need to lay out for your daily commutation expenses.

2.  Food and clothing

Food and clothing are two factors that are crucial for us when it comes to office work.  However, if you work from home, you can actually save money on food by preparing your own lunches and eating out less every day.  As for clothes, when you work from home, you do not necessarily need those formal and expensive clothes anymore. The beauty of many work-from-home jobs is that you can work even while on your pajamas.

3.  Making the most out of that extra time at home

Many people who never experienced telecommuting think that those who are working from home have lots and lots of time to spare.  However, that is not exactly true. Those who work from home typically had their time sorted out wisely so they can do their work AND still accomplish many other things to help them save money throughout the day.  Below are a few ways how people who work from home can save more money:

• Do some minor home maintenance yourself.  Instead of calling every repairman to your home whenever something goes wrong, why not try fixing it yourself first?
• Learn to cook delicious and inexpensive home-made meals.  There are many reliable recipes you can use online.  This way, you avoid dining out often and your family will definitely appreciate your efforts.
• Shop around online and find the best deals for ongoing expenses such as phone, cable, discount stubs, insurance etc.

Working from home, for most people, typically means getting an extra job from their office or getting another side job that can be totally unrelated to their main work in an attempt for earning more money (so that they can enjoy being debt free or simply experience the feeling of having that extra money on their savings account).

If you have that classic 9-5 day job, you can still opt to try telecommuting part time by managing your time wisely.  Who knows, maybe you can make the most out of it and even switch your office work to telecommuting full time in the future.

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Is it just a coincidence that all of us need to work from 9 to 5 during the working days of the week?  Truth is, our early ancestors have brought about this belief that we need to at least work 40 hours a week.  Many of us stick to this as a way of life, even if many of us admit that we do not like it.   However, for someone like Timothy Ferriss, you can actually deviate from this kind of thinking and still experience a happy and fulfilled life! See for yourself – all around the world, there are many individuals who start from zero but still end up leading successful lives and doing what they want. It is very possible!This kind of new lifestyle will let you manage your time and energy so that you can accomplish things differently yet more efficiently.  This is very crucial because you would not want to overwork yourself more than necessary.  Many people normally think that you have to be rich first before you can work less, but the truth is, you must be working less before you become rich.  You should live your life now and “do” the things you love most (not “buy” the things you love most).  Doing things that you love will absolutely make you a genuinely happier person, not buying things.Below are 5 simple steps on how to work less and still manage to live the good life:

1.  Write down what type of work you would love to do and figure out how much time do you want to spend on the most significant things in your life such as your beloved family and dear friends, your job, your hobbies, etc.  Depending on what your hobbies are, you can even turn them into a business.

2.  Start saving money so you can pay off your debts.  Keep only one or two credit cards for emergency purposes.  Do not buy things that you do not really need.  Being debt-free can lessen your worries and therefore make you an organized and happier person.

3.  Do things differently.  Think outside the box.  Do not do things like everyone else if you know there is a better way how to do it.  If you go with the flow and do what everyone else does, then you get what everyone else has.

4.  If the steps you have laid out towards achieving a happier life seem difficult to achieve, change them a bit so that they are delightful and fun to do.  You have to think of ways how to remain passionate about your goals.

5.  Overcome your fear of failure.  Whatever you do, negative thoughts will always weigh you down.  Find ways on how to improve your strengths and do something to overcome your weaknesses.

You can actually build this kind of ideals in your life gradually, by taking it one step at a time.  Plan a new step each day of the week and see where it will lead you.  Plan steps that will definitely change things, new steps that will take you to a fulfilled life where you make your own rules!

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This blog summary & income report for June is heavily delayed and I’m sorry about that. I wasn’t sure whether or not I was going to post it as I’ve decided to stop posting these. But, I figured I’d just include June also since I would then have published income reports for 2 years, ever since TechPatio launched in the Summer of 2009.

My goal with this blog (and still is) was to find out if it was possible to make money online – and if so, how much one could make. If you go back through the income reports from the past 2 years you’ll find that I’ve made over $5,000 in total. My hourly wage, you’re asking? I have no idea, but I’m quite sure I could have made more money cleaning dishes somewhere in Europe – but this “job” is much more exciting and rewarding in many more ways than just money. For example, you make connections with other bloggers and readers – people you would otherwise never have known.

Also keep in mind, the effort I put into this blog is nowhere near what is possible – if you’re serious about it and you’re willing to spend a few hours daily, you can do even better than I did!

So, thanks for your interest in the blog summary & income reports and also thanks to this german guy for including my reports in his monthly summaries on his blog as well.

Let’s get to it – the results from the last income report (for now, at least) are as follows:

Conclusion: June ’11

It’s a new record in income!! I still haven’t reached $500 in a month, but this time it was close. Previous records were almost just as high, but $495 is (as far as I could count) the highest income in a month, so far.

As for traffic, it’s around the same as last month.

Top 5 Most Viewed Posts: June ’11

Below you’ll find top 5 most viewed posts last month. When a post has been published doesn’t matter, it’s how many views each of them have had in the previous month. Here they are:

1. The Best AirPrint Compatible Printers
2. Caroline Wozniacki Breasts
3. 10 Best Printers for Macs
4. Funny Pictures: Google Street View Launched In Denmark
5. HTC Desire HD vs HTC Mozart – Froyo vs WP7

If you’re a blogger/webmaster – how was last month for you? Leave a comment below & get a free do-follow* link back to your site!

I reserve the right to “no-follow” links if your site is not yet indexed in Google or if your site seems questionable or just an attempt to spam. In almost all cases, a real comment from a real human being will get a do-follow link, unless you enter keywords instead of your name, which is not allowed!

Related Articles:

• May 2011: Blog Summary & Income Report
• March 2011: Blog Summary & Income Report
• February 2011: Blog Summary & Income Report
• November 2010: Blog Summary & Income Report
• June 2010: Blog Summary & Income Report

Can you see blogging as a full time revenue earner for you? Do you see yourself blogging full time, eschewing day jobs? Are you interested in blogging for dollars, with the intent of joining the legion of blogging millionaires? How much can you realistically make out of your blog? Here are 6 lessons to learn by heart in your endeavor to blog for dollars.

1 – Increase Advertising

Use programs such as Blog Ads, Market Banker and Text Link Ads to find advertisers. Even though you have to give up a cut of your revenue, you can earn via cleverly placed text and banner Ads. Fastclick.com is a good option to explore if you have high traffic; you can earn revenue per impression.

While you’re at it, check out the Chitika eMiniMalls system. This system is one of the biggest blog income earners in recent times.

2 – Don’t Ignore Google Adsense

Many bloggers use Google Adsense to run Ads. Google Adsense Ads depend on your page content and the type of Ad; you’re paid per click. You may never become rich because of Google Adsense but you will experience a steady stream of revenue that ticks in as you promote your blog. To make money through Google Adsense, you will need to blog on topics that pay well or generate very high traffic.

3 – Become An Amazon Associate

You can become an Amazon Associate and link to Amazon products or pages via text, advertisements or images. You’re paid a commission if your readers click the product links on your blog. You can earn commission for publicizing the products and if an actual sale takes place through your blog.  Adding Amazon Associate to your income mix is a good idea as it will supplement your Google Adsense and grow with your blog. You can choose which products to promote with your blogs and tailored Ads. Couple of weeks back I started an Amazon affiliate site where I promote bistro md and diet to go products sometimes using coupons available for them. This has brought me huge success and I am sure it will work for you as well. You can choose any product from millions available at Amazon!

4 – Don’t Forget To Explore Affiliate Programs

Amazon is not the only affiliate program you can explore. You can explore several other affiliate programs whose focus might be on different products and regions. You can enjoy different payment options; pay per click, product referral and lead generation. The important thing is to find a match between the affiliate program and your blog’s niche. You can explore Affiliate Sensor, LinkShare.com and Clix Galore.

5 – Blog About Businesses, Products Or Services

You can start what’s called a ‘business blog’ by talking about businesses, specific products and services. Companies are finding that blogs make a cheap way of communicating with their customers. Businesses will pay you to blog about them, their products and services on your blog.

6 – Ask For Donations

You might wonder why anyone would want to donate money to your blog. You can ask readers to donate to your blog and offer something of value in return. It’s not a charity business; readers can get temporary exposure on your blog while you make a little money by sharing the limelight. You can set up a donation button and use any one of the several e-wallets that are available, such as PayPal, to collect donations. You can display the total amount you’ve received and also provide a list of permanent links to the websites of the people who’ve donated. Some people will donate just to see their name on top of your donators list!

Guest article written by: Saksham, a technology lover loves to write on gadgets and occasionally shares useful coupons. He currently blogs about special deals for diet plans such as Bistro MD coupons and diet to go coupons. Specifically his blog offers you updated bistro MD coupon codes and regularly updated list of diet to go coupons, the perfect diet plan.

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The blog summary & income report for May has been “slightly” delayed mostly due to me forgetting about it – so sorry about that, but here it is…

In the next blog summary & income report, for June, I have an announcement to make also. Since we’re currently in the middle of June, that report will of course not be posted for another few weeks – but stay tuned.

For now, here’s the May report:

Conclusion: May ’11

Compared to April, both visits and pageviews dropped with a few thousand. Income went down with around $130, so May was somewhat a slow month.

Top 5 Most Viewed Posts: May ’11

Below you’ll find top 5 most viewed posts last month. When a post has been published doesn’t matter, it’s how many views each of them have had in the previous month. Here they are:

1. The Best AirPrint Compatible Printers
2. Caroline Wozniacki Breasts
3. 10 Best Printers for Macs
4. Aperture 3 Performance Fix – Make Slow Aperture Run Faster
5. Funny Pictures: Google Street View Launched In Denmark

If you’re a blogger/webmaster – how was last month for you? Leave a comment below & get a free do-follow* link back to your site!

I reserve the right to “no-follow” links if your site is not yet indexed in Google or if your site seems questionable or just an attempt to spam. In almost all cases, a real comment from a real human being will get a do-follow link, unless you enter keywords instead of your name, which is not allowed!

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• February 2011: Blog Summary & Income Report
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Good day, everybody. We’re in the middle of May, so I’m quite late with blog summary & income report for April, I must admit. Sorry about that, but better late than never, right?

So, here you go…

Conclusion: April ’11

Visits went up 24% compared to March, pageviews up 22% and income up almost 10%, so bottom line, I’m happy with the April performance. I was, by the way, also away on vacation for a few weeks during April, so a BIG THANKS goes out to all the guest posters on TechPatio which helped keep the site “alive” while I was away and couldn’t do my regular updates.

April 2011 guest articles submitted:

• The Best AirPrint Compatible Printers
• 7 Tips for Updating Your Office’s Computer Hardware
• Home improvement – making it easy with mobile apps
• 5 Web Apps That Helps You Manage Your Finances
• SPY GADGETS: Very Beneficial to the People
• Is the NYT iPad App Really Worth the Monthly Fee?

Top 5 Most Viewed Posts: April ’11

Below you’ll find top 5 most viewed posts last month. When a post has been published doesn’t matter, it’s how many views each of them have had in the previous month. Here they are:

1. Funny Pictures: Google Street View Launched In Denmark
2. New Cookie law might require users to “opt-in” on Danish websites
3. Aperture 3 Performance Fix – Make Slow Aperture Run Faster
4. Barclaycard “Balance Transfer Sale” 2011
5. Caroline Wozniacki Breasts

If you’re a blogger/webmaster – how was last month for you? Leave a comment below & get a free do-follow* link back to your site via CommentLuv!

Do-follow links on the “name field” has been removed due to heavy abuse recently. People doesn’t seem to respect I’m asking them to use their name and not keywords. So from now on, only CommentLuv links are do-follow, that way real bloggers will be able to benefit from do-follow and not having to share “link juice” with people who think their name are keywords.

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I just got word from famous blogger Yaro Starak that he and video expert Gideon Shalwick are closing their very popular blogging video course.

It’s called Become A Blogger Premium and teaches absolute beginners how to make money with blogs by following a proven formula.

The course contains over 50 step-by-step training videos, instructional audios, a roadmap report and coaching calls with Yaro and Gideon.

THE IMPORTANT PART: the program in its current format closes forever on friday May 6th 2011 and there is a special closing down discount if you join this week.

Click here to learn more and join now!

WHY JOIN?

Here’s what you will discover as you study the course -

• How to set up a blog from scratch.
• Optimize your blog for free traffic from search engines.
• Install plugins-including which ones you shouldn’t be without.
• Locate and insert images into your blog.
• Add AUDIO and VIDEO to your blog.
• Produce “magnetic” content.
• Market your blog through MULTIPLE traffic sources.
• What methods to use to make the most money.
• …and much, much more!

This course has been studied by thousands of members already over the last two years, so it is tested material with many success stories. Including me, yours truly, who launched TechPatio.com while taking the Become A Blogger course. TechPatio is making me over $400 per month on average for the last 6 months – and I’m sure you can make even more than that if you have more time to invest your blog, than what I’ve been doing.

Just because this course is closing doesn’t mean you have to study all now. If you join this week you have ongoing access and can study the materials as quickly – or slowly – as you like. The only condition is you have to decide by friday or you won’t be able to sign-up anymore.
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Good day, everybody. It’s 11th of April 2011 and it’s time for another blog summary & income report, covering the month of March, last month.

Usually I post these reports a few days into the month  but this time I’ve been busy recently, busier than ever before, so it wasn’t until now I was able to compile the report and turn it into a blog post.

So, here you go…

Conclusion: March ’11

Compared to February, visits are up, income is up. March is a few days longer than February as well so it has to be expected, but in general I’m satisfied.

But, it still hurts the creative side of me to see how few people are buying the amazing e-books from Craft & Vision. They are just $5 each in PDF format, so you can read them on pretty much all modern devices with a screen. If you’re a creative person, especially in the field of photography (no matter what skill level you might be on), be sure to check out the Craft & Vision ebooks.

Top 5 Most Viewed Posts: March ’11

Below you’ll find top 5 most viewed posts last month. When a post has been published doesn’t matter, it’s how many views each of them have had in the previous month. Here they are:

1. New Cookie law might require users to “opt-in” on Danish websites
2. HTC Desire HD vs HTC Mozart – Froyo vs WP7
3. Funny Pictures: Google Street View Launched In Denmark
4. Aperture 3 Performance Fix – Make Slow Aperture Run Faster
5. EU’s Cookie Law still being chewed on – might end up requiring users to “opt-in” for browser cookies…

If you’re a blogger/webmaster – how was last month for you? Leave a comment below & get a free do-follow* link back to your site!

I reserve the right to “no-follow” links if your site is not yet indexed in Google or if your site seems questionable or just an attempt to spam. In almost all cases, a real comment from a real human being will get a do-follow link, unless you enter keywords instead of your name, which is not allowed!

Related Articles:

• February 2011: Blog Summary & Income Report
• December 2010: Blog Summary & Income Report
• May 2011: Blog Summary & Income Report
• June 2011: Blog Summary & Income Report (the last report to be published – it’s been 2 years)
• April 2011: Blog Summary & Income Report

Yeah yeah I know, I’m a bit late with the February report. I’ve been busy with real life stuff the past few weeks so I gave this report update low priority until I would have time to do it – which is now, so here you go…

Conclusion: February ’11

February is a short month compared to January, but on an average daily basis, February was better than January in terms of traffic. Also in terms of income, actually, despite a slightly lower overall income for the month compared to January.

All in all, I’m satisfied with February.

Top 5 Most Viewed Posts: February ’11

Below you’ll find top 5 most viewed posts last month. When a post has been published doesn’t matter, it’s how many views each of them have had in the previous month. Here they are:

1. EU’s Cookie Law still being chewed on – might end up requiring users to “opt-in” for browser cookies…
2. HTC Desire HD vs HTC Mozart – Froyo vs WP7
3. Funny Pictures: Google Street View Launched In Denmark
4. Aperture 3 Performance Fix – Make Slow Aperture Run Faster
5. Gmail Tip: Trick Gmail Into Checking Your POP3 Accounts Often

If you’re a blogger/webmaster – how was last month for you? Leave a comment below & get a free do-follow* link back to your site!

I reserve the right to “no-follow” links if your site is not yet indexed in Google or if your site seems questionable or just an attempt to spam. In almost all cases, a real comment from a real human being will get a do-follow link, unless you enter keywords instead of your name, which is not allowed!

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