This article is part 5 in series of how to set up a blog series. In part 1 of the series,we learned how to set up a blog,in part 2 of the series,we looked at how to write to attract readers,in part 3 of the series,we looked at where and how to get ideas for what to write on your blog,part 4 of the series we looked at how to optimize on page SEO to attract traffic to your blog. In Part 5 of the series, we looked at how to optimized off page (outside your blog SEO for increasing traffic to your blog). In part 6 of the series, we looked at how to set up an off page SEO and Google Page rank. In part 7 of the series, we saw on how to get more traffic to your blog website. In part 8, we will look at how to monetize your site to make money from your blog, writing and visitors.

See previous post in how to set up blog series: How to Set Up Blog:Part 7- Get Traffic to Your Blog

Part 8 – Monetizing Your Blog

Now that you have great content that readers likes and traffic to your site, it is time to monetize your blog so that you can make money from it. You can monetize your site from before, but it will be futile as you will have little content and little traffic to make any impact. However it is personal choice. Whenever you are ready to monetize, here are some great tips that I have learned.

You have been working hard to produce good-quality, original content on your blog and you have attracted a decent amount of traffic by doing so. However, money is not going to appear out of thin air just because you have traffic. You have to turn your traffic into money.

Make Money With Google Adsense:

There are several ways to generate profits from the visitors of your blog, and Google’s Adsense program allows you to do so with ultimate ease. First, visit their website at http://adsense.google.com/. You’ll find out more about their advertising program there, but here are some extra bits I’d like to tell you.

First, Google’s Adsense program is a really useful way to monetize your blog because when users finish reading your newest post, chances are they want to leave your blog because they have nothing else to do on your blog. If your Adsense advertisement block is visible on your blog, they might see advertisements relevant to them and click on them to exit your blog. Ka-ching! You’ve just cashed in on your first virtual cents!

But yes, your profits will only be cents if you don’t “do it right”. This involves placing your Google ads in the right places and ensuring they blend in to your site so that they appear more like links rather than advertisements to your visitors. Consult the page https://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/static.py?page=tips.html to see the “heat map” of your blog. The “hotter” a certain area, the greater the chances of someone looking at your blog.

Once you get a Google Adsense account, you can change the color of your advertisement text and links. You will want them to match the colors on your blog. If your blog’s text is black and the links are red, do the same for the ad blocks too! It’s that simple. One thing to keep in mind that some keyword will pay higher compared to other so, make sure you do your search on free keyword tool to know if your niche is profitable or not.

One thing that most blogger like about adsense is, people do not have to buy a product, if they simply clicked on product links, you will make some money. However, Google is notorious for canceling the fraud links so make sure you do not click on your own ads or ask your family or friends to do it, according to Adseense TOS or you will risk losing your adsense account.

Make Money With An Affiliate Products:

Another way to earn profits from your blog is to recommend products to your readers. When your visitors buy from the merchants you recommend, you get to keep a little commission too. This is known as affiliate marketing and it is very easy to start because you don’t have to create your own products or services.

Anyway, let’s refer back to our technological gadgets blog example. Let’s say you discover this Gadget X on a merchant’s website, and they offer an affiliate program. What you would do is to create a post in your blog and do a mini-review on this Gadget X. Rip it apart and point out its benefits and bad points, if any, and include a link (which is given by the merchant) for the visitor to purchase the Gadget X online.

If your visitor clicks and purchases the gadget, the merchant will track from the link that the purchase is referred by you, so they will send you your share of the profits. Imagine if 1 out of every 100 visitors you get purchases this product, and you earn $27.00 commission from each purchase! If you get 10,000 visitors in a month that would be a $2,700.00 pay check for you just for writing about ONE product.

How to Find Affiliate Program for Your Blog Niche:

Now, affiliate programs are very nice ways to generate profit, but how do you find affiliate programs that are related to your blog’s theme? Easy, just go to Google and search for <your niche> +”affiliate programs”. Another slightly better way is to go to http://www.associateprograms.com/search to look for affiliate programs in your niche.

The two ways mentioned above are basic ways to generate profits from your blog. We’ll be discussing other great, profitable ways, so keep your eyes peeled!

Stay tuned for next part in How to Set up a Blog Part 9 : How to Set Up Blog:Part 9:More monetizing Blog Ideas and Tips