Does anyone make money blogging and if so how do you do it? I have been blogging for a couple of years and have not been able to make not one red cent on it. I have signed up for Adsense but my account always says $0. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks.

Toni

Yes, I've made money from Google Adsense and also through indirect sales, meaning people have gone from my blog to other websites I own and purchased products and services.

How often do you post to your blog?
What is the topic?
Do you have incoming links from other people who blog?
How many visitors do you get on a monthly basis?
Do you read other blogs and leave comments on other blogs?

These are just a few of the questions you need to consider.

To give you some idea - I own several blogs and although I don't write to all of them every week I have at least 3 or 4 updated weekly and one of them every single day (my photoblog).

I have several thousand visitors reading my blogs, many of whom are regulars.

I have a good Google Page Rank and Alexa Ranking with some of those blogs.

I have people linking to my blogs from theirs which shows Google that others have interest in the blogs.

My topics cover the following (one blog per topic): virtual assistance, Melbourne (where I live), photography, gardening, a bible study and SOHO (small office, home office). These are just some. The Virtual Assistant one doesn't have Google Adsense on it but the others do. And each blog leads visitors to the others.

I hope this helps.

Hi Thanks for responding....

How often do you post to your blog? I try to do at least one posting per week but do not always hit that target...well, rarely do I make that target but I am working on doing better now...

What is the topic? It is a blog about being a parent and some of the ups and downs encountered. Most stories centered around my kids, but I also have some day to day or personal and opinonated stuff as well.

Do you have incoming links from other people who blog? No, how would I go about doing that?

How many visitors do you get on a monthly basis? Not many...maybe 20 or so

Do you read other blogs and leave comments on other blogs? I read other blogs but do not leave comments on them. Is that important?

I have several thousand visitors reading my blogs, many of whom are regulars.
How on earth did you get so many visitors to read your blog? Any tips you would like to share? I am obviously doing something wrong.

I have a good Google Page Rank and Alexa Ranking with some of those blogs.
How did you get the good page rankings? Do you pay for something in order to get that good of a ranking? What is dependant upon?

I have people linking to my blogs from theirs which shows Google that others have interest in the blogs. I definitely do not have others linking to my blog. What's the best way to go about that?

Sorry I have so many questions. I am new to this and have heard that you can make a little money from blogging but never knew how to go about doing it.

Ok, Toni. You have a long road ahead of you. I've been blogging for 5 years now and in the beginning I had to set a calendar reminder to remind me to write a post. So that's your first goal - regular writing.

Next, find some forums where your target audience hang out. If you're writing about parenting then find forums on that subject and make sure your blog address is in your signature block. When appropriate add to a discussion with your thoughts and then if you've written a blogpost that backs that item up, give a link to it. For example, yesterday on another forum there was a discussion about people copying websites and plagiarism. In 2007 I'd written two lengthy posts on this subject with relevant links to help victims. I was able to add to the conversation and then added the links for the two blogposts. This brought in quite a few visitors. Be careful not to do it unless relevant to the conversation otherwise it may be viewed as spamming.

If people feel what you write about complements their blogs and is relevant they will link back to you. Likewise, if you find blogs you feel relate to your blog, then add them to your blogroll. The blog owners will notice as it will show up in their stats.

Yes, it is important to leave comments on other blogs - providing you are adding to the conversation. Make sure you always leave the link for your blog in the name/url section as it will bring in more visitors.

No, I have not paid for the Google PR or Alexa PR. This has all happened over time and is measured by the popularity of my blogs, the number of visits, searches done at the search engines, and so on.

So, you can eventually make money but not a lot and there is a lot of work involved and time. Unfortunately you can't shortcut the time thing.

Now, for those who make a lot of money blogging. They usually get paid to blog on particular topics and they already have proven blogs with tons of visitors and usually have adverts that attract attention too. I know a couple of these guys in Australia and they'd be listed in the top bloggers globally.

Thank you, Kathie. I am taking notes and will put what you have suggested to use. Thanks for taking the time to share with me.

Toni

This is an excellent post with great information for those, like myself who don't blog for money.

Thank you.
Janine

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Glad to be of help. Another hint as well - make sure you use the same username consistently when posting comments on other blogs. It doesn't hurt to use it on your blog too. Why? Because if someone wanted to Google you to find out what you'd been up to and where you'd been they can google that username. Try looking at kathiemt for example and you'll find the forums and social networks I hang out at. It's about developing a presence online.

Another great idea. I never thought about that. Thanks for the tip.

Toni

Wow! That's solved a few blogging mysteries for me too! I'll have to make a point of posting more often than once a month! Using the same user name never struck me before either, I'll have to re-think my strategy.

It's all about branding. So think carefully about your username as it will be with you a long time. And you want to use something that's not common so you won't get confused with others. Eventually other bloggers and those who comment on blogs will get to know your username and will seek to read more of your writings if they feel you have something valuable to contribute.