Merchandising, or as I like to call it – good old sales, is another way you can earn a few extra dollars. The funny thing is that while many blogs arise to promote their businesses having a really popular blog can lead to a new business. Yes, here’s where the fun begins now we talk about not just business blogs but blogging businesses.

If you are thinking of selling items on your blog though be warned that this money making method will only work if your blog is: 1) already popular and 2) you can come up with a product worth buying.

If you do already have a business and came up with your business blog but it seems that your blog is more popular than your website then you can open up a “store branch” on your blog and sell the best or latest items there. The two sites (your business site and your business blog) need not always have two entirely separate functions but hand in hand could really help boost your sales.

Quick Update on Filling Up the Donation Jar

A great example of a blog that does rake in money through donation is I Can Has Cheezburger(ICHC). If you haven’t heard of it then go visit to see why. Starting from April, if I counted all those frylets and nuggetlets right (and I doubt I did), ICHC should have made at least $1900 in donations. Not bad considering they also have lots of sponsors. See? If you really do have a fun blog people will shell out money to help make sure your creative juices keep on flowing!

Here’s the link to their donation page.

Donations & Pixlet Support from Our Awsum Lolfrenz

Oh. And of course they’re also a perfect example for this day’s post on merchandising. As you can see above they sell shirts that show people love for ICHC. The ICHC store sell shirts and collectible buttons.

Hmmm. I wonder if I can get a frylet for this post? Nah. It’s $5 and not link love that will get you a frylet!

Blog Networks have become popular for a good reason. By collaborating with other bloggers, either as independent bloggers or as company bloggers, blog syndication becomes a lot easier giving you a wider readership as well as more incoming links.

Joining blog networks is not always easy though since many of the bigger and more established networks do not just let anyone join with new bloggers’ only able to jump in on the band wagon after being invited by a member blogger. There are even blog networks that do not allow new bloggers to join at all and simply encourage participation from non-member bloggers in the comment section. Although networks like this won’t give you much exposure in terms of writing by commenting regularly on such blog networks you can hope to gain much too since other readers will probably check your blog out. Despite the difficulty in joining the more established blog networks there is really no dearth of networks to join since there are plenty of newer ones that are looking for new bloggers to join them. However, when signing up to join newer blog networks make sure that they satisfy the following criteria:

1. They are composed of reputable bloggers – You do not want to be associated to spammy, low quality bloggers.
2. The network generates a healthy amount of traffic – Otherwise the network (hence you) won’t really make any money.
3. The payment model used makes sense – The network might make money but will you be properly compensated for it?
4. Their reputation regarding payouts is good – Will the money reflected on your account actually reach you?

What is one big reason that customers ignore some print ads, flyers, brochures, and similar media from businesses? I would say that the idea that these materials are merely pushing the company’s agenda on me – that they want to sell me their product or service. Sometimes, customers just get tired of it all.

That is why you should take on a different approach in your business blog. Do not think of your blog as merely another way to sell your company to your readers. More than that, I believe that a business blog should be a venue for people to interact and share their enthusiasm about a certain thing – in this case, the field of expertise of the company.

For example, your business offers spa services. Aside from promoting your massages, scrubs, and other treatments, why not treat your blog as a place where you can have interactive exchanges with other people who are passionate about health and wellbeing in general?

What would happen then is that not all of your posts will be news about your latest promotions. Nor will they be about your latest products. Instead, you can sprinkle your business blog with discussion topics like “What is your health and beauty regimen?” Or perhaps “What do you like best about spas?”

I am sure you can come up with more creative topics than these. Try taking this approach in your blogs and you will see how your readers will interact with you more.