I love WordPress. I’ve tried nearly every CMS and blogging platforms out there and I always come back to WordPress. I just like how extendible and configurable it is. You can do just about anything you wish to do online with it. Including creating your very own online store!

Two themes I’ve tried that make it easy to create an online shop are:

• Crafty Cart – This is a pretty looking theme that enables you to have an online store using your WordPress installation. It’s perfect for crafters, artists, and other creative type online businesses. You can come up with individual shopping pages and there’s a shopping cart where buyers can easily view their purchases. The best part of this theme: It’s completely FREE!

• Market Theme – This is a fully functional eCommerce WordPress theme that integrates with a variety of functions – including Paypal, Google Check-out and e-Junkie. It comes with all the plugins that you need to get it working. Individuals can buy it for $55 standard license (you can use it on one or more of your own site – but not for other people). Developers can buy the $150 developer license to use for client work.

Do you have a WordPress-enabled eCommerce website? What theme and plugins do you use to make money online with your WP-powered online shop?

This post is originally from Just Make Money Online. Please respect copyright.

eCommerce WordPress Themes

An anonymous JMMO reader recently sent me an email with the subject line “Help Me” and it contains this message -

I have had a blog for 4 years and am FINALLY now looking to make some money off it. I am going to have a web designer recreate it, but can you help me out to make some money off it? Do you make money off yours?

I receive a lot of this type of messages. As in, A LOT.

And, no matter how many times I receive and try to respond to such emails, I always find it a bit difficult to come up with the right answer.

It’s not because I don’t know what to say. In fact, I pretty much have the same answer each time.

I just find it difficult because it makes me feel that these people want a “magic answer”. A simple solution on how to rake in the riches from blogging.

The problem is: There’s no easy solution. No magic answer.

Yes, I make money off my blogs. I run a few, you see. Not as a full time job, mind you. So, I don’t get to spend much time on them. But, that’s just how I like to run my online life at the moment. Much as I love it all, I’m keeping a bit of a distance, as I explore my other interests and live the rest of my life.

I know other people have decided to make this as their full-time gig. I know I have in the past. That’s why I know it’s possible to do it.

So now, how can I help others make money off their blogs? Well, that’s one of the biggest reasons I maintain this site, JMMO. It’s a way for me to write down different ideas on how to make money online. It’s how I try to guide those who are starting out and experimenting in finding ways to make some money from the web. That was the reason I started in this MMO niche in the first place some 4+ years ago. I don’t see myself as a “business” or “marketing” blogger. I mainly do this because I receive so many questions and find a number of leads and ideas in this field. That’s why I keep going with this blog.

But, I digress.

Now, back to the main question: How do I help this person to make money off his/her blog? There really are so many factors with making money from one’s blog.

The longevity of the blog is one important aspect – although not the most important one. A new blog will always have a bit of an uphill battle, as it tries to build content and readership. A four-year-old blog, hopefully, will have enough readers, PR, content, and pageviews to attract monetisation.

So, my next suggestion is to learn as much as you can about making money from blogs. There are so many things written out there, of course. And, JMMO alone has several ideas that I shared over the years. Since there are a number of posts to go through here, perhaps, checking the “Best of JMMO” page might be a useful start. For bloggers, the “Making Money in the first 6 Months” might be a good place to gather some ideas.

Don’t go overboard with the research! Just get enough information to help you gain some confidence about implementing ‘best practices’ — then get in to the action. Make some choices when it comes to revenue models. Then, try to implement them bit by bit. Experiment, take notes, then try some new things. Rinse and repeat – until you find the right formula for your particular circumstance.

If you set some realistic goals, then hopefully, you will begin to see the results of your labour. I wish you all the best with it!

This post is originally from Just Make Money Online. Please respect copyright.

Money Chat: Finally Jumping in to Making Money from Blogging

If you’re thinking of different ways to sell links on your WordPress blogs, here are some plugins that you might find useful -

• WPTextAds – This is a nice WordPress plugin that enable you to sell direct links on your blog. There are 3 types of ad link sales available: homepage, site-wide, and per post. Its free version has a limit of 2 links per type of ad. If you want to remove the limit, you can pay $127 per license (per blog).

Also see: JMMO’s WPTextAds Review

• OIO Publisher – This is like an all-in-one D-I-Y advertising platform for WordPress blogs. It contains several features such as: zone-based text links and banners, in-text links, reviews, and affiliate marketing. It’s affordable at $47 per license, which you can use in all your blogs. You can even use it on non-Wordpress blogs if you have a server where you can install it as a stand-alone app.

Also see: JMMO’s OIO Publisher Review

• TextLink Adder for WordPress – This is a simple advertising plug-in that you can use to sell links on your blog either by post or site-wide. It has a lot of limitations, including lack of automation, but for folks who are looking for a free options.

If you have other WordPress plugins that you use to sell links on your blog, do share them in our comments section too.

This post is originally from Just Make Money Online. Please respect copyright.

WordPress Plugins For Selling Links on Your Blog

When my online friend, Deb Ng, first approached me about her ebook – Beyond Blogging: Using Your Blogging Skills for Bigger and Better Things – I was immediately intrigued. So, with a brief chat and a request – she sent me a review copy, which I didn’t get to read thoroughly until recently due to my crazy changing schedules and lifestyle.

Anyway, admittedly, my initial expectation was to read something that’s more on the “inspirational” side of blogging. Perhaps, it was due to the title “Beyond Blogging” and the subtitle “… for Bigger and Better Things.” While the book does have an inspirational feel and effect, the main message of the ebook is primarily about how to make the most out of blogging by using it in business and/or making money from blogs in various ways.

Once that message is established, the rest of the ebook reads in an easy, practical manner. It offers a few useful tips to break in to professional blogging — and how to turn your own blogs in to a profit centre. Or perhaps, use your own blogs to land other lucrative jobs.   

Here’s the basic outline of the ebook (with my short commentaries):

Chapter 1: Blogging for Dollars (an overview of different ways bloggers make money with their blogs, such as affiliate marketing, etc).

Chapter 2: Blogging Skills (these are the different things bloggers do and/or use to become effective in what they do)

Chapter 3: Beyond Blogging: Where your blogging skills can take you (offers an interesting array of blogging-related jobs that you might be able to land)

Chapter 4: Where and How to find “Beyond Blogging” Jobs (includes a list of blogging job boards)

Conclusion

Anyway, if you’re interested, Deb’s book is currently for sale at US$10.

Also, Deb has kindly offered one (1) free copy of Beyond Blogging to JMMO readers. If you’re keen, just leave a comment in this post and answer the question: Why do you like blogs/blogging?

Deadline for this giveaway is on Monday, 9th March 2009. All commenters’ names will be put in to a virtual hat – and we’ll announce the lucky winner next via random draw.

Good luck!

This post is originally from Just Make Money Online. Please respect copyright.

Beyond Blogging: An eBook Review (+a Giveaway!)

If you decide to blog for a content network (such as b5media), the only primary skill you need is creating content. Of course, knowing how to research, promote, market, and network will be very useful too. But, they’re ‘extra skills’ rather than primary ones.

However, if you want to ‘go at it alone’ as a blogger, then you probably have to brace yourself and consider yourself a business person from here on. And, like any other business, you have to learn how to wear several hats at the same time.

Some of the skills that independent bloggers need to equip themselves with are:

1) Technical skills: Make sure that you know all the basics – from purchasing domain names to setting up a weblog, from troubleshooting issues to maintaining servers. Other technical skills might also include: the use of multimedia (photos, videos, etc), computer maintenance, and formatting your content.

2) Creating content: No matter what topic you decide to have, the best of your time will probably be spent on writing blog entries. Editorial skills such as planning content, proofreading and creating tight copy will definitely come in handy.

3) Promotions and Marketing: Yes, if you want to make money from blogging, the work doesn’t end with setting up your blog and writing your content. Knowing how to promote your blog and increase your readership is a very important part of the job. SEO, networking, and press releases, are just a few of things that will come in handy.

4) Advertising: Regardless of what type of advertising you choose to have, some basic knowledge of what works will help you. Finding out all about the different ad programmes – from AdSense to running your own ads – will definitely be beneficial.

5) Research. Knowing what works and what doesn’t in terms of tools, networking, content, topics, etc. A good deal of research goes in to these matters.

6) Networking. This is more than just promoting or marketing. It’s also about making those necessary connections to help you succeed as a blogger. You have to meet people and connect in various levels.

7) Design. Unless you have the money to outsource designing your blogs, you will need a certain level of design skills to create logos or headers, blog buttons, and even templates. Yes, even if you get free pre-made templates, chances are, you’ll still need to learn how to tweak them.

Accounting/Finance. Being able to keep financial records and make sense of money being made and spent on your blogging business is a very important part of the job.

9) Administrative. Yes – be prepared to have plenty of paperwork. Even if you’re the only one working on your blog. And, be prepared to do more paperwork when you involve contractors, etc.

10) Business Development. In order to make your blog successful and profitable, independent bloggers should learn how to ‘take things the next level’.

I’m sure other folks might be able to think of other useful skills like project management, legal guidelines, and desktop publishing, among others. And, no, you don’t need to be an expert in all of these things to make money from blogging. But, as I said, some basic knowledge of these skills will definitely come in handy.

Image: Microsoft Stock Photo

This post is originally from Just Make Money Online. Please respect copyright.

10 Basic Skills of Independent Bloggers

Since I’ve been sharing various highlights from BlogWorldExpo ’08 (here, here, and here), I thought I’d also share with you this article from the BBC on Making Money with Blogging. Writer Ewan Spence shared some of his own take from the Expo – including painting a nice picture of blogging as an income generator (“Larger companies are seeing advertising revenue drop, while bloggers are seeing their incomes rise.”). He also shares some of the things that seem to work for bloggers. Oh, and yes, b5media also got a nice mention.

Also something that may be of interest: Technorati’s State of the Blogosphere 2008 results. Some really interesting feedback on blogger demographics.

Image source: BBC

This post is originally from Just Make Money Online. Please respect copyright.

BWE and Making Money with Blogging

I haven’t been writing about blog-for-pay sites for a while now. But, since I recently encountered Blogitive, I thought I’d share this with you.

Anyway, from what I can see, it’s similar to Pay-Per-Post, where advertisers post ‘opportunities’ and bloggers can use those opportunities by blogging about the products/services advertised in exchange for money. Each ‘opportunity’ gets a monetary value. According to Blogitive, they have different payments but they average at around US$5 per post.

This is open to all people with active blogs (at least 3 months old, updated approximately 3x a week). And, they pay weekly via Paypal with no payment threshold.

I’ve never had any personal experience using it, so I’d appreciate feedback from folks who have checked it out more closely.

This post is originally from Just Make Money Online. Please respect copyright.

Blogitive: Blogging for Dollars

The Pepperjam Network has been named as one of the Top 100 fastest growing privately-held companies in the USA by Inc. 500 recently. That’s an honour that they’ve received 3 years in a row. And, they want to celebrate their success with bloggers through an incentive program.

According to Pepperjam:

The Blogger Incentive Program pays bloggers $10 for every post they make about Pepperjam Network news or tools. You also get an additional $7 for every new affiliate your refer to our program. Top blogger affiliates are making thousands of dollars per month as part of our incentive and referral program.

So, if you want to take part, sign-up with Pepperjam today. You even get a $10 sign-on bonus once you’re accepted in to their program!

And, once you’re a Pepperjam affiliate, you can then blog about their Inc.500 listing success – and get an extra $10. So, that’s a good extra $20 in your account. If you end up with affiliates signing up using your link, you even get more affiliate pay-outs.

Sounds good?

To read more about Pepperjam, I’ve blogged about them right here.

This post is originally from Just Make Money Online. Please respect copyright.

Pepperjam’s Blogger Incentive Program (+$10 Sign-on Bonus!)

A few months ago, I received this email from Jennifer Hofmann of Inspired Home Office -

Hi Shai -

I just looked through a bunch of your posts about how to make money blogging. I learned a TON! [edit]… am still learning the basic strategies behind blogging.

I have a question about making money from blogging that didn’t seem to be covered in your lineup. It’s a bit protracted, but see what you think:

When I’m not blogging, I’m running my business (the Inspired Home Office). My marketing strategy for the business is developed from Robert Middleton’s approach by Mark Silver at the heartofbusiness.com.

The strategy works like this: Use my website to describe the problem potential clients are facing and then offer them a complimentary product that can help them. In the process, I gain their email address which then allows me to email them regularly with other helpful info and also market my products and services.

This isn’t new, of course, but this model has been very effective for me so far. However, what I’m wondering is how my blog fits into that system. If potential clients are getting all the info they need from my blog, is there an incentive to get them to visit my site? Have you seen models of how websites and blogs can work cohesively?

I’m all ears!

- Jennifer

This is a common question from online business people who are using a similar niche in their websites and blogs. How do you make websites and blogs work together?

In fact, I remember a colleague who once asked me the very same question. She was running a popular website on writing and was venturing in to the world of blogging at the time. Since she started a blog on the same topic (writing), she was wondering if she was actually taking away traffic from her website.

My answer to this: Create two totally separate products with your website and your blog. Even though there might be some overlap, there’s room for creating a healthy relationship between the two.

Most websites tend to be more like “brochures” or “online shops” – they don’t usually get updated on a regular basis. Blogs, on the other hand, tend to be updated regularly. Use your blogs to direct traffic to your website and vice versa. Write about unique, short items on your blog – and point to a more comprehensive resource on your website. When you create good, unique articles on your blog, remind people about the products and services you also offer for sale on your website. Or, you can run a website that incorporates a blog section, like Sandra Magsamen.

Anyway, some examples of individuals who managed to create a relationship between their websites and blogs successfully include:

• Anne Wayman of The Golden Pencil (freelance writing blog), who also run About Freelance Writing (website).
• Artist Claudine Hellmuth, who has a website called Collage Artist and runs a personal blog on BlogSpot.
• Susan Connor, a designer of paper goods, has a SusyJack website and a Hey Susy blog.

So, yes, it is possible to make it work – having a website and blog at the same time that can work together.

What about you? Do you run both a website and blog that deal with the same topic? Or do you do things exclusively on websites or blogs?

Image: sxc.hu; Edits, Shai Coggins

This post is originally from Just Make Money Online. Please respect copyright.

Money Chat: Making Websites and Blogs Work Together

If you own a WordPress blog and you want a more professional-looking theme, then you might want to check PremiumThemes*. They have over 25 themes available – a handful are for free, while others are for sale (licensing fees for personal or developer use).

I haven’t bought a theme from them yet, but I’m seriously eyeing a couple that I’m considering for my personal blog. And, right now, the owner of PremiumThemes is currently running a contest, where one lucky winner can get a free copy of any premium theme. The contest runs until 30th of June.

Also, if you’re keen to sell some of these WordPress themes on your blog or site, you might also consider signing up with their affiliate programme. The owner is offering 20% commission per sale. Payout is once a month, with minimum of 2 sales.

See more, if you’re interested.*

Note: Affiliate links included

Image source: PremiumThemes.net

This post is originally from Just Make Money Online. Please respect copyright.

PremiumThemes: WordPress Themes