About five years ago, on my birthday in 2005, I started this blog (formerly known as “The Internet Income Blog”). It was at a time when “make money online” blogs weren’t as easily found as they are nowadays.

I began writing the blog because I was trying to help some of my online friends and colleagues find different ways to make money online. So, instead of giving advice to individual people, I decided to put stuff on the web for folks to find.

Back then, I was hosting it under another URL. I believe the domain name “Just Make Money Online” was actually bought and used about 8 to 9 months later (or a year?), when it became part of the blog network I co-owned.

Then, late in 2008, I decided to get this blog to fly solo. Partly because I was considering selling it at the time.

While managing it on my own again, I realised that I couldn’t bear to part with it. So, I stopped the selling process. And, now I’m still here. Still writing/editing/managing this blog.

To all of you who have been supporting this blog as a reader / subscriber / sponsor, I just want to say a very big, warm, and heartfelt THANK YOU. You’re definitely the reason why I’m still here blogging about making money online.

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

Blogging About Making Money Online for 5 Years Now

A couple of weeks ago, I received this email via JMMO -

Hi,

I heard that you want to sell off your blog. I would like to purchase it for USD70. Is it OK with you?

Thanks,

A

For a moment, I wondered whether this was a serious email or not. I wasn’t quite sure if I should laugh or what when I read it. I considered just deleting it.

But, like any good writer, I decided to use it instead. I thought it might make for an amusing post here. So, here you go.

And yes, here’s my response -

Hi, A.

Yes, I did consider selling my JMMO blog. While I’m happy to continue considering offers for this blog, I have decided not to proceed with the sale for a variety of reasons.

And no, sorry, since I make more than USD$70 a month from this blog, it is *not* OK to sell it for that price.

Thanks for your interest.

Shai

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

JMMO Joke of the Moment

In this post about making money online as cheaply and as quickly as possible, JMMO reader Mark shared some additional insights:

I love how a genuine question made by the author results in these barely concealed “pitches” from people who are supposedly participating in the aforesaid “genuine” discussion. It’s funny and a little ironic.

Personally, I’d probably do the following:
1. Find a cheap hosting company that has Fantistico – create a WordPress blog.
2. Head over to Commission Junction or any other affiliate management company. Choose a product or service you think is interesting and sign up for their advertising program.
3. Write at least one insightful article reviewing the product or service on your blog and make sure the link to the product or service that you’re talking about is your affiliate link. (that the affiliate manager like CJ provides you.)
4. Spend some time on blogs and in forums that deal with this product, niche, or sector and make insightful and valuable contributions to the discussion. Make a footnote reference to the fact that you’ve done a review and include the link to the article if possible.
5. Analyze the traffic using a tool like Google Analytics.
6. Hopefully watch sales be made.

I’ve done this and made hundreds of dollars over a very short amount of time. I use this method to test interest in particular products and services.

For an example see this post I made on one of my blogs: http://vacantdesk.com/review-of-earth-class-mail/

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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: Making Money with Affiliate Sales

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