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

Hi Shai!

I’m in the process of taking over ownership of Dailyblender from [delete] (YAY!) – and I’m wanting to add some advertising to the new site.

I wanted to ask, oh wise lady of online advertising, what top three or four advertisers you really recommend? I’m thinking AdSense and Amazon will be easy to add. Do you really like the OIO Publisher? Is it worth including? Any other ad networks you’ve been really happy with?

Thanks so much. I hope all is well down in Oz. Glad to see JMMO is thriving!

Regards,

Jennifer*

This is part of my revised response to Jennifer -

Hi, Jennifer.

Good to hear from you. Congratulations on making DailyBlender your own. How’s it going?

Although I can’t claim to be “the absolute expert” on online advertising, I can share with you some of my insights based on my personal experience with monetising my sites. So, to answer your questions, yes, I do love OIO Publisher. It’s a great tool to use if you wish to do direct advertising on your site. It’s not an absolute necessity, as I’ve done direct ads before without using any tool. But, OIO Publisher helps in automating a lot of the process. It’s different, of course, to do direct advertising compared to using ad programmes like Adsense. But, I really feel that it’s well worth the effort.

On other types of advertising to put on your site, it really depends on what you wish to do – and the kind of site that you have. In any case, you’re right – Adsense and Amazon are two of the most common ways to monetise a site or blog. They’re a good place to start, but it’s always best to find other options in order to make the most out of your site/blog.

Other than checking options like Chitika, my other suggestion is to have a quick look at various affiliate programmes that relate to your site’s topic. This is a bit tougher to hunt. But, one way to find a good way to find a good affiliate programme is to check out the items you enjoy using or the online shops that you love to buy from. Check if they run affiliate programmes – and test them out. Usually, I find that I earn from affiliates the best if I can happily recommend the product myself.

In any case, I hope that this helps to give you some ideas on how to get started with adding advertising on your site.

Again, thanks for writing and do keep in touch. And, I wish you and Dailyblender much success.

Regards,

Shai

* Email published with permission. Name of blog network purposely deleted.

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

Money Chat: Top Online Advertisers To Recommend?

One of the questions that I received recently from a JMMO reader/visitor is:

“Do you use Joomla to run any of your websites?”

My quick answer: Yes.

To expound on that, here’s my longer answer: I actually have two sites right now that are running on Joomla. I used to have three. But, I decided that they were too difficult to maintain on the run, so I shifted one site over to WordPress.

WordPress is my preferred content management system at this time. That’s why for one of my projects right now, I decided to venture with WordPress MU. (Special note: Even though there are a lot of similarities, they are not at all the same!)

So, what’s wrong with Joomla? Nothing, really. I do love it. It has a great interface, very extendible, and plenty of features.

But, I feel as though I need a lot more skills, time, and money in order to make Joomla work the way I want it to work. Since I am unable to extend those resources, I find that it’s best to use a CMS that can help me to make me job easier.

Joomla just doesn’t have a huge “mainstream” community. From my experience, most of its users are web developers (or those who can hire them). So, there are not as many free themes, plugins, tutorials, and other resources. Everything costs money. That’s why I ended up spending hundreds of dollars just to make some of my Joomla sites look and act the way I want. Even then, sometimes, I still encounter issues – and there’s no one around to help out. Unless I’m willing to spend more money, that is.

So yes, to summarise, I do use Joomla to run a couple of websites that I own. I believe it’s a great CMS. It can do a lot of things that WordPress can’t do. But, there are also a lot of barriers to its use.

Will I recommend it? It depends on what you wish to do. For basic blogging and content management, probably not. But, if you wish to run a powerful CMS and you have the resources to do it, then yes, definitely.

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

Money Chat: So, what about Joomla?

Recently, I was chatting with a friend about making money online. She said that she’s aware that a few people claim to make thousands of dollars online through various ways – blogging, affiliate marketing, membership sites, etc. While she believes that there are people making that kind of money, she’s also aware that not everyone can do it.

Now, what she really wanted to know is this: Is it possible to make $100/week online – working on writing/blogging?

My answer: Yes, of course.

If I don’t believe that it’s possible, I won’t be writing this blog – or posing $100 challenges.

Is it going to be easy? No way.

There are so many variables that may affect one’s income online. But, I do know one thing for sure: If you target your efforts well enough, you can get decent income from different online sources.

Some things to consider:

1) Make sure that you’re actually doing something towards that $100 goal. One thing I realise is that a lot of people tend to want to make money online, but don’t really do anything about it. They don’t start a site or a blog. They don’t apply for jobs or develop products. They don’t even join contests! I know that there may be many reasons behind such an inactivity. But, really, the first rule with making money online is to actually start doing something about it.

2) Try something that works. If you know that blogging and putting advertising works, then give that a try. Sure, it makes it more difficult because “everyone else is doing it” . But hey, it’s still worth trying, right?

3) Try something new. The risk is higher when no one else is doing something that you might want to try. But, chances are, the rewards may be greater too. Give it a go. You never know if it will work!

4) Big things can come from small things. If $10 per article seems too little a payout, consider how you can maximise that pay. Write shorter articles with more punch. Do a heavy research on a piece that you can draw out in several parts. Before you know it, you can have $100 just based on what appears to be a small payout to start with.

5) Learn all the time! There’s always something new to learn, something new to try. Be open and give things a chance.

What about you? What kind of advice would you give to those who might want to start making money online?

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

Money Chat: Is it really possible to earn at least $100 a week online?

Every now and then, I receive specific questions from JMMO readers who are seeking real advice about making money online. Here’s one email* that I received recently about the social networking service called Ning, which I wrote about last year -

Hello, I have created my own art studio network on ning and want to feature workshop videos. I have spent the last two days trying to find out how to charge a membership fee using paypal for the payment processor on Ning, to no avail. I have been looking for add ons, etc. I see others doing it but I can not figure it out. Can you help me?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you, Karen (cottonpickinranch.com)

Thanks for your email, Karen. As far as I’m aware of, there is no built-in solution yet at Ning for charging membership fees. From what I learned from other Ning creators/social media group managers who are charging membership fees, this is what they do:

1. Create a private social media group on Ning.

2. Set up a subscription payment scheme on Paypal. Grab the code.

3. You can either use that code directly – or find a widget that you can use.

4. Set up another site, blog, or another public Ning group (free membership), which can be your “launching pad” for your paid membership group. (For example, see this page.)

5. Add your code or widget to that site/blog/public Ning group.

6. Every time someone pays for a membership to your private paid membership Ning group, you can add them manually by sending them an invite to your paid group.

7. Of course, every time someone doesn’t pay their membership fees, you’ll have to remove them manually too.

As you can see, it is a bit of work. And, while I know there are people doing it, it’s not the most ideal solution from what I can see. That’s the bad news.

The good news is: I heard that Ning developers are trying to come up with some monetizing scripts that will enable easier integration of Paypal, etc with Ning. I’m not sure when this is going to happen, and if it’s going to be a free or a premium service (like their Adsense module). But, if it does come through, it will be a more attractive solution for folks who wish to run their own membership sites on Ning.

In any case, good luck with your membership site, Karen. I hope it works out for you. Do let us know how it goes!

And, to other readers who may be running their own membership sites, we’d love to hear about your experiences too.

* Email slightly edited for presentation.

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

Money Chat: How do you charge membership fees on Ning?

JMMO Reader Alex Arencibia asked here: I have a quick question about your cash parking experience. I recently took one of my parked domain names and built a website around it. For some reason, Google will not pick up the domain name under any of the keywords we are marketing it with. The site is well designed and full of features that attract search engines and keyword searches. Yet, I am wondering if the fact that the domain names was Cash Parked for about 4 month, if google somehow has it listed or tagged as a Parked site and will not allow it to be marketed? Any help would be appreciated.

To which another JMMO Reader, Leonard Holmes, shared this response: “I believe that google does not want to index parked pages, so they will indeed try to weed these pages out of their search results. If a site is later developed they usually do pick it up eventually. I imagine that they are slow in doing this because they intentionally do not spider parked sites very often.”

I’d be interested to know what other people think about this as well.

—————–
NOTE:
It’s always great whenever I find interesting comments from readers and visitors to this blog. And sometimes, I wish to refer to those tips and ideas. So, I decided to feature some of the best ones that I found here on Just Make Money Online.

Image: Microsoft Stock Photo; Edits, Shai Coggins

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

Reader Advice: On Parked Domains Turned In To Sites and Google Search

Another week, another great comment that cheered me up. Here’s one from a reader named Natalie:

“I don’t have a site yet or a Squidoo Lens, but I had to tell you, Shai I ALMOST just this morning gave up on the internet until I read your article here. Thanks so much for being so willing to give free advice (good advice at that).

You see, I relate the internet to the public library. The internet used to be just like a big electronic library, but now everyone wants to become millionaires by selling info that the public library provides for free. It’s good to see that SOMEONE has not given up on the art of free advice.”

I love it when readers also take the time to give feedback. I know it’s so much easier to read something online, take what we want from it, then just move on without acknowledging the people who took the time to share information.

There are so many generous souls online, giving free advice through articles, podcasts, and videos. I know I benefit on a regular basis on what people share. And hopefully, I’m able to thank people enough for what they give. Mostly because I know that as someone who shares information on the web, it always helps to know what readers and visitors think (the beauty of having comment sections in blogs rather than static websites).

The thing is, I know we want to make money online. Seeing as I blog about it, I’m all for that. I know that selling information is one way to make money. But, I also believe in the giving side of the web. Sure, there’s always a cost to everything (ads, etc). The same way public libraries come with a cost too (even if it comes in a different way). But, ultimately, I do believe that giving away things for free online eventually still help us to make money – and spread the good stuff about the web and its community.

Anyway, this is the sort of feedback that helps me to do what I do here at JMMO. And, I just want to say: Thank you, Natalie! I hope you will continue to believe in the sharing power and the generosity of the web.

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

On Generosity, the Web, and Making Money

A reader wants to know: What is the best, honest, no scam online business there is?

And, another reader says: I need some suggestions for ways to make money on or off line. (Don’t say job!)

Truth be told, I’m not sure how to answer questions such as these ones. Especially since this blog is filled with advice and tips on different online businesses and ways to make money.

Somehow, when someone asks me this type of question, it makes me feel as if I’m being asked for a magic potion or something. A miracle. A one-size-fits-all answer.

And, I just don’t think I have the answer that will suit everyone who asks.

So, if someone asks me: What’s the best online business there is? What can I suggest to make money online?

Well, my answer is always the same: Start with one that you’d love to do. Or one that you know about. I don’t what that is. You can go in to auctions or sales. Or you can go in to affiliate marketing. Or perhaps, blogging or content writing. There are so many options.

The thing is, they all do require work. There’s no easy way around that one.

And I think anyone who’s ever made money online (or offline) will say that they do have to engage themselves in a job. It just depends on whether it’s a job they feel excited about – or not.

What about you? Have you ever been asked similar questions? What advice did you (or would you) give?

Image Source: sxc.hu; edits, mine

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

Money Chat: Is There Such a Thing as The Best Online Business?

(Guest Post by Allison Boyer)

Have old articles lying around? Most content writers do, simply from jobs where the deals fell though or samples that were never purchased. The good news is that you don’t have to wait for the right gig to come along to sell. Sign up at Constant Content, and you can make some cash from those old articles without even trying!

Constant Content is great because you can choose your own price as the author of the piece. The process to submit articles is fairly straight-forward, and you can list your article in one of three categories:

• Full Rights: The person purchasing the article owns it completely, and can add it to multiple websites, resell it, put their own name on it, add links, or whatever. Once an article is purchased for full rights, it is removed from the CC database so no one else can buy it.

• Unique: This is almost the same as full rights, but the person cannot remove your name as author or resell the content when using it. Again, once it is purchased, it is removed from the CC database.

• Usage: Someone who buys usage rights is paying to use the article as you wrote it with your name attached. However, they are acknowledging that the article can be purchased again and used by another person. Once someone purchased usage rights, the article can no longer be bought for unique or full rights.

Every article on CC is reviewed before added to the marketplace, so you can’t just upload anything. You have to proofread and make sure that your summary reflects the article itself.

Again, you get to set your own prices for each level, although they do give you guidelines as to what the average writer is asking per piece, according to word length. In addition, if you want some extra cash, you can check out the article requests – people looking for specific topics. I personally haven’t checked out this part of the site much, as I’ve been doing quite well with submitting articles on my own. One of the features I do like, though, is that a buyer can request you for a private job, so if you produce quality work, you’ll continue getting work for the prices you think are fair.

Constant Content also gives artists the ability to upload and sell photography, illustrations, and videos, so if you’re interested in making money with more than writing, you do have that option as well. They take a cut of the profits, of course, but since you can name your price, you can account for this in your settings. I wouldn’t recommend writing articles solely for CC, but this is a great way to make some extra cash with articles that you’ve not sold in the past, for whatever reason.

The above post is by guest blogger Allison Boyer, who writes about green business at www.GreenerAssets.com and how to make money blogging at www.TheMillionaireBlogger.blogspot.com.

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

Constant Content: A Great Web Content Writer Resource

(Guest post by Donna Jackson)

Just recently I posted on my blog over at www.digitalmoneyworld.com about working online and the hazards of invoicing, getting paid via palpal or ebullion and registering as a soloist for tax etc. Many freelancers who work on line like us bloggers, writers, social network engineers and the like, need to be paid. Yes we have mortgages and grocery bills too! So how do you get paid? And even before that, how do you find companies or individuals willing to hire you for the services or brain power you’ll bring them.

The answer is networking. Yes that little old nugget “networking”. However, just going out to dinner,coffee mornings and wine bars with people who you want to do work for, and just hoping they will hand you a contract, probably won’t work. People may be fascinated about your writing and even envy you, but they don’t understand how you get your money.

So how do you make peace with promoting yourself?

Plugging into a peer group can really help you to get with the movers and shakers. Here at b5media we have that big peer group of bloggers. We are a community, we write to, we learn from, we feel with, we advise, one other.

There a great conference going on in Switzerland this Friday called “going solo” www.going-solo.net Visit the site and see if you can attend, pass the word around, or put a badge on your site.

Going Solo has cutting-edge PDF posters too.

Donna Jackson blogs about digital currency for the b5media network at Digital Money World.

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

Making Money Online – and getting paid!