Making Moolah

I must apologize for not posting anything much lately, I've been too preoccupied with other stuff to come up with a post or two for this thing. I almost posted something yesterday but thought I'd give it some more time, to mull over what I was thinking. Today I am still mulling it over but wanted to at least share what I was thinking.

The New York magazine online had a very interesting article this week about blogs and blogging. In it, it explains not only the phenomena of it, but also how there are folks who actually make money on their blogs through advertising. Being a pastor, there are times I daydream about finding a hobby that can also bring in a few extra bucks every now and then. I know pastors who have extra hobbies, some make things, a couple go to garage sales (to fulfill that inner need to shop) and then fix up what they buy and resell them.

As I have been thinking about how to use a blog to make extra advertising dollars, I have been looking at ways to increase traffic to my blog. One way is to submit articles to reddit.com and digg.com. These are peer sites where you submit any article you want (and many come from personal blogs) and see if it is interesting enough to people to come to your blog. If they like what they see, they might bookmark you and come back.

Another way is to blog about a top 10 search for the day. That can be hit or miss, but if you blog about say, Anna Nicole Smith, then when someone searches on Google or Yahoo for her, they might find your article, go to it, and check it out.

There are downsides to successful blogging. One of them is when a whole lot of whackos leave unsightly, odd, or just down-right mean comments on your blog. Some folks can say the darnedest things without batting an eye, other folks will be talking to themselves as they are typing their angry outbursts at what you say. If you're easily offended or get concerned that your mom will read your posts and comments and be offended herself, you'll need to figure out a way to manage those comments.

Another downside is this: You have to keep doing it. You can't post a few every now and then. You can't do what I've done this week and miss a week's worth of posting because you've been preoccupied with other things. Successful blogging is blogging 4-5 times a day or more. The most successful bloggers begin at 6am in the morning and stop at 7 or 8pm at night (or later!). These are the folks whose only job is blogging. And they are the ones to make the 5-7 figure incomes from advertising on their blogs.

Anyways, what if there is a way to make extra bucks and not work your tail off. Or, maybe there is a happy medium in it. Go to that article at the New York magazine, maybe it'll help spark a creative idea. And, if that happens, come back here and let me know what you've come up with. Remember, karma is good for us.