Before people who write, blogs are those who have passion in writing and a will to express their opinions. Today bloggers are those who need extra cash to cover for their household expenses. Now, if you have the passion to write and express your ideas. Why not make some cash out of it? Writing a blog is easy. Creating a blog site is easy. As opposed to what many people believe, you do not need to have a Master’s in IT in order to have a blogging site of your own. In fact, many of these blogging platforms are free to use. You can choose from a wide variety of themes and easy to navigate features. More →

Certainly, all good and successful businessmen recognize the importance of regular, smooth and open communication. No business strategy will ever be effective if such is not carried out with an open communication. This paradigm highlights the advantage of being prepared with calling cards.
Doing business trips is one of the responsibilities that a businessman has to take. However, for most businessmen, such responsibility also comes with perks and privileges. Because of the frequency of trips for a businessman, phone cards are considered a must. Making local and international calls through phone cards are both economical and convenient. You can make a call anywhere you are, without having to incur unusually excessive charges and rates.

Through their phone cards, businessmen can call from their homes to their offices. They can call their clients, suppliers, customers, stockholders and partners. Inquiries and customer service are accommodated more efficiently. If the business owners or proprietors are out of town or out of the country, their subordinates can easily contact them for emergency or urgent matters. Even recruitment can already be handled by using phone cards. In fact, using phone cards can expedite almost all business transactions. In just one click, within just a few seconds, any businessman can have all the information he needs to proceed with his business operations.

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!

Blogs that have a loyal following can offer “premium services” to people who are willing to become members or subscribers. A perfect example of a blog that makes money through memberships is the Daring Fireball. One of the ways the blog makes a profit is by offering members a little extra including access to the:

• full-content RSS feed;
• feed for the Linked List; and
• John Gruber’s daily list of links and blurbs related to Mac, web, and design nerdery.

If you notice the perks are not that extraordinary. However, readers that really do enjoy your blog will be willing to fork out a little extra dough to be able to access this feeds and lists. If you feel that you haven’t developed such a loyal fan-base as John Gruber has (which realistically speaking is probably the truth) then you can offer other added features for members such as adding them in the blogroll, giving access to members-only articles, occasional newsletters, etc.

The point is that if you do maintain a worthy blog people will not feel ripped off at all for shelling out money and in fact will be more than willing to help you make sure that finances don’t get in the way so that you can devote ample time for your blog.

Asking for donations is one way that your blog can generate income for you. This method is often not taken that seriously, which is a mistake many bloggers make.

Bloggers often make the assumption that donations will not earn you any real money since no one will really bother giving anything more than a couple of bucks. While it is true that donations will not earn you a really hefty profit the few dollars that each impressed reader shells out still does add to your overall revenue. A business savvy person will realize that revenue from donations should not be disregarded and that every penny counts.

More than the several dollars it will add to your pocket though a major bonus of donations is that it can also serve as a measure of how much people value your blog and your writing. If you really do write that well and your subject matter is deemed relevant and worthy by your readers then more people will be inclined to give you donations so as to encourage you to keep churning out pieces for them to read.

Note though that this type of income stream is something that works best in conjunction with other ways of generating income. Do put a donation button on your blog but do not forget to use other methods if you plan to make lots of money.

Aside from the reputation, commission, costumer base, and statistics other factors that you should consider when joining affiliate programs include:

• Availability of New Products – Some affiliate programs offer a limited number of products. It is more desirable to join a program with a good product line and that updates its product line frequently enough. If the affiliate program you belong to does not offer new products your regular visitors will not have anything new to buy. Looking at the big picture it just won’t work. You might make hefty profit at the outset but your income will peter out towards the end. What you want to join is something that will prove to be sustainable in the long run. Make sure though that they also have very good quality control and that the new products they offer continue to be of good quality.
• Program Reward Schemes – Find out the other ways you can increase you income when you joining that affiliate program. More often than not the good affiliate programs pay you not just the flat commission but added commission for traffic sent by your referrals. Find out how good their referral program is as well.
• Payout Details – Before signing up learn about their payment scheme. How often will they send you money? What are the withdrawal options? How much are the fees associated with these options? How long does it take to process withdrawals?

And last but not the least when it comes to anything about money make sure you always read the fine print. If you miss something important you won’t have anyone to blame but yourself.

Joining affiliate programs was once the most popular way of making an incoming through blogging, until targeted ads came along. Now affiliate ads are still very much widely used as is just as profitable, if you join the right program and get the traffic you need to make a profit.

When choosing an affiliate program to join here are some factors you should always take into consideration:

• Reputation – What is the reputation of the affiliate program you are considering to join? There are plenty of affiliate programs boasting an incredible amount of revenue but if they are not reputable then don’t believe their promises. The amount they are stating is not incredible but incredulous.
• Commission – After weeding out the non-reputable ones it is time to look at the figures. Which program offers a good commission rate? Compare the commission rates and compute how much you are likely to make in each program.
• Costumer Base – Sure the commission rates may be high but if their target customers is different from your readers then more likely than not you won’t be making any money for them or for you. Some affiliate programs have a variety of products and different commission rates depending on the product you help them sell. Compare the commission you get with the kind of readers you have in mind.
• Statistics – Checkout the statistics they provide. Opt for an affiliate program that gives you the actual numbers. Not only will the statistics provide you with more information as to the probability of success with that affiliate program but it also shows that they do know what they are doing.

to be continued…

It is somewhat ironic that after contextual advertising took off giving businesses an alternative to the traditional way of advertising (renting ad space from websites) it was then that businesses, both large and small, came to realize the power of blogs in advertising and thus became more willing to rent ad space. The difference this time though is that advertisers have become more picky in the websites and blogs they choose to “rent ad space” from.

Renting ad space is really profitable. However, not all blogs will be able to really profit from this scheme. To be able to make a profit after all you need to be able to attract advertisers and prove to them that the space you are offering them will be worth the money they fork out. To be able to do this your blog must be/have:

• Really popular. Big companies (meaning big bucks) will only sponsor blogs that have high volume of traffic. This means that if your blog is really new and you’re still building readership then you’d better forget about this for the moment.
• Updated regularly and frequently. Advertisers want a constant stream of traffic for more ad exposure. While you might have tons of readers, if you only post once a week then your regular readers will only be visiting that frequently as well. Advertisers prefer blogs that are updated daily.
• A very good reputation. Some blogs may be popular but if they’re popular for all the wrong reasons then most advertisers will shy away from being linked to that blog. After all, your blog’s reputation will reflect on theirs.
• A solid theme. Businesses with the same target audience as you will be the ones attracted to your site. Without a solid theme your blog will not be as attractive since the ads might not be as effective.

If I wanted to write an entry just to make people feel good the answer to the question above would be a resounding “YES”. However, making people feel good is not my primary motive. My motive is to help people find a way to earn money through blogging and because of that I have to give an honest answer, which is a disappointing “MOST PROBABLY NOT”.

With the huge phenomenon blogging has become, millions of people flock on the web nowadays not just to check their emails but to check the blogs they subscribe to and read religiously. Blogs have become the morning paper of this generation. With such a large market it is no wonder many people fall into the trap of thinking that anyone can earn enough to make it as a full time blogger. The problem is that while there is a huge potential to earn big bucks, more often than not, the potential goes unrealized. Many bloggers earn enough extra money to making blogging worthwhile money-wise but not enough to quit their day jobs. Statistically speaking a vast majority of bloggers who try to earn serious income through blogs will not reach their target income.

The reason for this is simple. Like any line of business, many are just copycats who jump in on the bandwagon in hopes of getting rich fast but without any real notion of the work and skill it entails to be successful, and even worse, without any intention of DOING the work needed to make their blogs a success. So before you go quit your day job think about this and figure out whether you are ready to take on the challenge of blogging. If you know that you have the knowledge and skills to be a full time blogger then go ahead. If not I suggest you stick to your day job while learning the ropes until your blog starts earning and you can be pretty sure that you are ready to be a full time blogger.

With nothing but war and combat on their minds, it is only fitting that the US soldiers should be looked after with care especially on the mental aspect of things. It is not surprising to note that most of the soldiers are being attacked mentally as well, seeing nothing but blood and mass destruction in their war plagued countries to which they were assigned.

Barack Obama has observed such a breach in the efforts to uphold the overall well-being of these soldiers and has vouched for such aid in an effort to help the US troops to enjoy some mental benefits rather than spending them on ammunition and other necessary things in line with the impending war in Iraq and Baghdad.

“We cannot expect our young men and women to serve in our armed forces, if we are not making sure they get the treatment they deserve,” Barack Obama, Obama: Improve mental health care