The other day I was listening to one of the brightest minds at Google – Matt Cutts speak at a Google I/O event. During his speech one of the questions he asked the audience was “Why Do You Blog? What is the purpose of your website?” The room filled with silence…No one really knew what to say. After a few seconds Matt answered his own question: “To Make MONEY!!!” Making money is the main purpose of all websites and blogs, and it’s okay. You don’t have to feel bad about trying to make a profit off of your own hard work, because that’s what everyone is doing. If there was no incentive to blog or provide useful information then not many people would do it would they? Here’s a video of the Google I/O event in case you guys were interested:

Ways to Monetize Your Blog

Let me say this loud and clear…ADS AREN’T THE ONLY WAY TO MAKE MONEY FROM YOUR BLOG! There are tons of ways to monetize your content, and provide users with useful services. In this post I’m just going to outline a few of them:

1. Market Yourself – This option is great for consultants, or for people who are of high profile ex: actors, musicians, politicians, etc.

2. Sell a Product – This option is especially a great way for authors to sell books, musicians to sell music, and vendors to sell merchandise. For regular Joe’s offering advice, try finding a product that fits the theme of your blog…something valuable, and that people will want to buy.

3. Affiliate Advertising – If you don’t have a product or service to offer, think about letting other people offer products and services on your website. Allowing others to advertise on your website is a very common way to make money with your blog, and can be quite rewarding.

Thanks for Reading!