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There are those old bricks and mortar entrepreneurs who have always had the instincts of recognizing an opportunity to make money offline but their instincts do not transfer too well online. This is not surprising considering that making money online is a completely different ball game.

In actual fact the rules are quite different. Let us look at a few differences that should help anybody be able to recognize online opportunities to make money much quicker.

The Magic Word That Will Always Provide An Opportunity For You To Make Money Online

This is probably one of the most distinct differences between entrepreneurship online and offline. In the bricks and mortar world chances are very high that you would quickly go broke if your business strategy was centered around giving free services. Online the word FREE is a the key magic word that opens doors and business opportunities. The vast majority of successful online business models revolve around giving away as much as possible for free. On taking over the Wall Street Journal recently, media tycoon Rupert Murdoch has announced that the renowned financial newspaper content will be made available to the public for free. The journal has been making hefty revenues online from charging membership fees for access to their content. However Murdoch says that they will earn more by making the content available for free and going for advertising.

That tells you how powerful the concept of "free" is to any home based business web site.

One of the reasons why the free concept does not work so well offline is because there are no effective mechanisms to stay in touch with the client. At least they are not as effective as the idea of providing a valuable e-book online via email.

One Way To See An Opportunity To Make Money Online

Therefore one of the ways to see an opportunity to make money online is to gauge the potential traffic that you are capable of attracting from a free service or the free information that a site has to offer. That is really the key that unlocks many online money making opportunities. Targeted regular traffic is better than money in the bank when it comes to the online business world.

A database of past clients in the offline world can be useful but it is certainly not anywhere near being as valuable as it is online. Armed with this information it should now be a lot easier for you to gauge any online business opportunity to make money.

See other useful make money online ideas at http://www.capitalistnow.com

Nowadays every single person who is familiar with the web knows what a blog is. You probably have a favorite blog you go and visit each day. You'll notice that every day there will be new interesting content and it's the content which keeps you coming back. A blog that constantly gets you to revisit it is in essence successful.

* Did you know there are a serious amount of money to be made with blogs?

* Did you know that you can start your very own blog for FREE right after reading this article?

It's possible and very easy to do.

You can go to a website called Wordpress.com or Blogger.com and get create a free blog.

But before you even think about starting a blog you need to choose a topic which you will blog about. The topic HAS to be something you are really passionate about. Seriously, a blog can only be successful if the blog owners puts his heart into it. The blogs you go visit ever so often is run by people who love to blog about their topic. They provide their visitors with a pleasant experience by posting valuable content on the blog.

EVERYBODY knows something about something. You might argue that you aren't an expert on something, but you don't need to be an expert to start blogging. You can simply just LIKE a certain subject. That's the key here...you need to love the subject. If you love a subject you can go study more about it online by doing some Googling.

Now you can make good money with a blog by monetizing your blog with affiliate links. Affiliate programs are free to sign up to and they are all over the web. Just Google your "topic + affiliate program" and you'll get some results. The product owners will give you a custom tracking link or even some cool blog banners. You can add those creatives to your blog If visitors click through the banners and make a purchase on the other side you'll get a nice fat commission!

Do you want to learn how to successfully start a high earning blog?
How about making HUGE money online with affiliate marketing?

I did some research online to try and find a reputable source that not only teaches you blogging but also all the best affiliate marketing tactics there are. I didn't find any good resource for 2 days!

Finally I found a resource that truly delivers.
But you have to move, the last time I checked there were 18 spots left, so MOVE.

--> Learn Affiliate Marketing Now

Regards,
Ryan

When it comes to generating traffic, nothing beats starting your own blog. For years, blogging was considered a place to record your thoughts and connect with family. Maybe the blogs of yester-year branched out a bit to include friends and business associates.

Nowadays, if you haven't started a blog, you are missing out on some of the best website traffic freely available, and losing out big time.

It's a fact. Warm-blooded humans love to read blogs. Search engines, like Google and Yahoo! adore blogs. For the search engines, the reason is pretty simple; content is constantly updating and search engines feed off these updates. For humans, much of the best in information, resources, and product reviews (and products themselves) can be gleaned from following good blogs. It's easy to create loyalty and keep your readers coming back for more, when you have your own space to pour your heart and soul into.

The key to successfully starting your own blog is to first know your limitations (we'll cover passions in just a bit). While Google does have their own blogger area, will you have the know how to make yours stand out from all the hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of other bloggers using this blogging platform? If you do not know how to draw traffic to your blog, you face the same trials and tribulations as you would putting up a static website. You must know how to increase traffic, draw and keep visitors, and use the tools and tricks of blogging to be successful.

Let's presume, for now, that you are only interested in the first stepping stones to creating a successful blog. Your first step would be to determine (ah, here it is) your passion!

Bloggers passionate about their fields, hobbies, know how, etc., joyfully exchange information with their readers, yes even years down the road. Conversely, individuals who choose to blog about subjects they have no real know-how for tend to abandon their projects. No heart, no blog.

You need to think outside the box. Remember, when it is your own space on the internet, you have the freedom to do what you want, not do what you are told. You also gain the flexibility to introduce a wide variety of subjects to explore and still maintain the overall essence of your blog. Blogs allow for the creation of categories and tags, and make a neat, easy, simple system all their own to "file" your information. By using a blogs filing system effectively, you make it easy for humans to find your information, and have the search engines worshipping you. Humans need humans, search engines need data.

The next step to start a blog is to choose a platform. As mentioned above, Google has their own, with a limited amount of (not very attractive) templates to begin. Sure if you want to learn the ins and outs of code-related blog themes, you can substitute templates found out online. However, the platform most recommended for starting a blog is Wordpress.

Wordpress does allow you to host your blog on their servers, but we would highly recommend not going that route. Purchasing a long-lasting (keyword driven) domain name, and finding (excellent) hosting for that domain should be your aim.

So what do we have so far? We know you must:

o Unearth your passion - talking with knowledgeable individuals often helps you discover what it is your really love in life!

o Research and buy your domain name - again getting help so you don't end up with a loser of a domain name is important.

o Locate great hosting - highly recommended that you make sure your host uses cpanel as its backbone. Free hosting may not allow for the installation of php or just be cumbersome to work with. You want blogging to be fun and easy!

Okay, so what's next?

Well, you'll need a template. The template you choose if you pick Wordpress as your platform can be your "ideal" design or just a good substitute while you continue to look. With Wordpress, it is so easy to change your mind and swap the old out for the new look. So find a good "theme" that is labeled three column, widget ready, and plug in ready, and begin from there.

You will need to install these files. If you do not know much about FTP and installation, be sure to get some help. It's not hard, but why frustrate yourself when help is available.

You also will need plugins and "widgets" and a way to get traffic rolling immediately to your new blog. Again, don't pull you hair out and go crazy over this, help is always available. Seek it out.

IN SUMMARY

Looking back through this article, you might, but need not, feel overwhelmed. The information above is just that - information. The actual use of blogging as your worldwide platform is so easy anyone willing to follow simple directions, and put in some work, can do. Driving traffic to your blog that is fine tuned to pull in, and continue to draw more, traffic is also easy, with proper instruction.

And the very best part about starting your own blog is...

You spend your time and your money and your effort on yourself!

Sure you can still sign up for affiliate programs and - in most cases - this is highly advisable. But now as you "do your thing online" you are investing in yourself not advertising for someone else. By choosing your passion to blog about, even if six months from now you no longer promote "the other guy's program," you never lose! Your efforts are exerted to promote yourself, your blog, your information. You gain flexibility. Your life online is now a joy!

Blogging is the greatest platform for continuous interactivity and fun for yourself and your visitors. If boredom or frustration is your situation, or you need to expand your business online, consider starting a blog today (yes today!). Your online future depends on it.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Theresa Cahill and her business partner and friend, Jeff Greer, publish their Online Internet Marketing Strategies blog under the pen name Diane Scott. They also offer their services to help you start a blog and keep it going for years to come!

Have you ever thought about starting your own profitable blog? Perhaps you have dreamed about making a living writing about what you love? Or maybe you just want a business where you can work where you want, when you want? Perhaps you like the idea of having a business where you make money, even when you sleep?

Whatever your reasons for considering starting a blog you may have hesitated due to some self doubt. In this article I explain some of the common reasons why people hold back from entering this rewarding field.

Bad Reason 1 : I am not a technical guru

This is one of the most common (but least valid) reasons for not starting your own blog. Starting a blog has never been easier and there are many free services such as Blogger and Wordpress available to get you started. You can try blogging out and see how you like it, without a lot of expense.

Bad Reason 2 : I'm not a great writer

You don't need to be a great writer - just good enough! The ability, and many would say need, to communicate is very much a human trait. One of the reasons blogs and the web itself exploded is people's need to communicate. You are no different. Under those layers of self-doubt is a capable writer trying to get out.

Writing is like anything in that the more you practice the easier it gets. The best way to learn writing is by having a go and then critically examining your work and getting others to do so too. In fact, people who have less experience at writing tend to make better writers in some way, as their personality comes through more easily in their writing.

Bad Reason 3 : I don't have any capital

The good news is you don't need much to start a blog! A full blown blog website, with everything you need and a few bells and whistles can be created for around 30 to 40 per year. Additional services you might need will maybe set you back around 10 to 20 per month. So worst case you would be looking at around another 240 for a years worth of additional services. These extras include technical wizardry such as auto-responders and mailing list facilities - they are optional extras though.

This assumes of course you have a laptop and Internet access. A very reasonable laptop can be obtained from a supplier for less than 400. Broadband Internet access is typically around 20 per month.

The truth of the matter is it is possible to start a decent blog for nothing (and many people do, including me) using a free service like Blogger. However, for minimal cost you can set up a professional operation. This makes blogging accessible for those with low capital resources.

Bad Reason 4 : I'm not a subject matter expert (SME)

Many people believe you need five degrees and 30 years experience to be considered "an expert". The funny thing is the person with 5 degrees and 30 years experience probably doesn't think they are an expert - yet - they are still working on it and aware that there is always new stuff to learn!

This is a very damaging reason as it causes many people to spend years trying to become an expert in a particular area. But the reality is there is always one more seminar to attend, or one more certification to take. Sadly, that misguided person never gets there. Often they never even start! The truth is people's expectation of what it takes to be considered an expert in any field is usually way off the scale. Sure you are not going to be a brain surgeon in a week, but blogs don't usually cover neurosurgery (although that might be an interesting area!).

It never ceases to amaze me what kind of topics people know a lot about. The other day I was having a conversation with someone who knew everything - and I mean everything - there is to know about the TV programme "Lost". I'm pretty sure he could have created a very successful blog just on what he knew about that show - but he never considered himself to be an "expert" on the matter. He certainly knew more than most people.

If you really think about it there is probably one area where you already know more than most people, but if not there is probably at least one area where, after investing a little of your time and energy, you would know more than most people.

The other point I'd like to make about expertise is that you can't expect to just "know" everything there is to know about a subject! That's unnecessary anyway. What you do need is the determination to find out information you don't know in order to fill any gaps in your knowledge.

If you are running a blog you need to be prepared to learn new things. You need to be dedicated to life-long learning. There are always new things to learn and if that wasn't the case life would be very boring indeed.

Access to knowledge has never really been easier. With the Internet you can find out facts and figures. You can research any topic. What is more important for blogging is to impart your experience in a structured, accessible and digestible format for the consumer.

To write a successful blog you don't necessarily need to be a hardened expert, but you do need to have something of value to say. Expertise can be learned, or ideally gained through experience. The best way to learn is by doing and then writing about it. If you have a love of learning then you needn't worry about any existing gaps in your knowledge or feel you somehow "aren't good enough".

Bad Reason 5 : I don't know what to write about

This is a common reason why people don't start what could potentially be a fantastic business for them - they feel they don't have anything to write about.

There are virtually unlimited topics to write about! Consider for example the following questions:

• Do you have experience of living in a foreign country?
• Have you retired early?
• Have you lived through a serious illness?
• Have you recently lost an appreciable amount of weight?
• Have you survived divorce?
• Are you passionate about Green issues?
• Do friends think you are super-organized?
• Do you have an interesting or unusual hobby?
• Do you have a useful technical skill?
• Do you have experience dealing with difficult clients?
• Have you ever had to manage a team of people?
• Do you have knowledge of a historical figure?
• Do you have an interest in travel?
• Is there a TV show or film you are obsessed with?

If you answered yes to any (or all!) of the above questions then you have something to write about and you could, with some effort on your part, put together an information product.

You can also use my technique of knowledge combining. Here's how it works.

You might have experience dealing with difficult clients and some experience of the hotel business - combining these areas you could create a blog such as "Dealing with difficult customers in the hotel industry".

Do you have knowledge of, or interest in, the historical Buddha, combined with a love of travel or geography? How about combining those areas to create a travel blogt such as "Following in the footsteps of Buddha - A journey through Nepal and Northern India". That would be a fascinating read and a holiday I would love to take. What's more all the hard work of selecting destinations and sightseeing itineraries would be done for me!

OK so they were a couple of examples I just threw out to illustrate the concept of knowledge combining. As you can see the idea is to combine knowledge in seemingly unrelated areas to create new and exciting products. It is just one technique of many you can use to generate ideas for blog topics.

In short, if you put your mind to it you can quickly generate literally hundreds of ideas for blogs.

Bad Reason 6 : No one will read my blog!

I hear this one a lot!

Let me ask you one question - how do you know until you try?

Creating a successful blog is about getting all your pins in a row. You need to get a number of things right. Getting one or two things right is not going to cut it. You need to get all the pieces of the jigsaw in place. The niche selection needs to be right, the marketing needs to be right, the content needs to be great and so on. You need to get firing on all cylinders. Once you do you will get people reading your blog.

Conclusion

In this brief article I've addressed some of the top reasons people don't start what could be an extremely rewarding and highly profitable business.

Tony Bedford first started blogging in March 2000. Tony currently maintains a free guide to more profitable blogging at http://the-business-of-blogging.blogspot.com

There's a lot of discussion these days revolving around the question and the short answer is yes, you can make money blogging. There are people out there making an absolute killing with their blogs. The question you might be asking yourself is how can I do it. How can you go from never having set up a blog before to being able to make money blogging? Or maybe you have used a blog before and are looking for a ready made method of monetizing your blog. Fear not, the answer is here for you.

You'll have to decide what sort of model you want to base your blogging efforts on. Do you want to be a Hollywood gadfly gossip hound like Perez Hilton? Maybe you want a political blog like Arianna Huffington? Then there is the blogging about blogging model of Problogger. Which ever model you choose you're going to need a great system to start if you're going to make money blogging.

Naturally you could do all the online research yourself to figure this whole thing out but does that make sense? Or does it seem more practical to get a jump start on the market by getting a ready-made blogging system? I did my own research for a little while until I realized that I didn't need to reinvent the wheel here. That's when it hit me. How about if I just found someone who was already able to make money blogging and copy that method. I looked around at all the other people who had already asked themselves does blogging make money and I came up with a couple of candidates.

Now I admit when looking at these two they seemed very similar to each other. So how was I to decide? How would you in this case? Being the...shall I say "frugal"... (o.k. cheap) sort of guy that I am, I went with the one that gave me more stuff for less money. Not a difficult decision really. I was looking to get all the bells and whistles and I didn't want to pay an arm and a leg for it. What I got was far more than I imagined. This was a classic case of under promise and over deliver, and it promised a lot! Now I feel like I'm finally at a stage in my internet business life where things are taking off.

So, if you're ready to start making some serious blogging money, click the link in my author's box and I'll show you how to turbo charge your make money blogging efforts.

Buddy Tripp is a museum professional and part time internet marketer. If you are looking to make money online and you've ever asked yourself the question Does Blogging Really Make Money? Click on this link to his site:
http://www.squidoo.com/makemoneyfromhomeblogging

A blog is often a mixture of what is happening in a person's life and what is happening on the web, a kind of hybrid diary/guide, although there are as many unique types of blogs as there are people. Blogs range from the personal to the political, and can focus on one narrow subject or a whole range of subjects.

Many blogs focus on an exacting topic, such as web design, home staging, sports, or mobile technology. Generally speaking blogs tend to have a few things in common: A main content area with articles listed chronologically, newest on top. Often, the articles are organized into categories, a place for people to leave comments about the articles. A list of links to other related sites, sometimes called a "blog roll". A lot of blogs feature an archive based on dates. The front page of a blog may feature a calendar of dates linked to daily archives. Archives can also be based on categories featuring all the articles related to a specific category.

Starting a new blog is different and this can put many people off, there are then other people who have blogs with no comments or visits. You want to stand out from this crowd of millions of loggers; you want to be one of the few hundred thousand blogs that are actually visited. So if you want lucrative blogging. Post regularly, but don't post if you have nothing worth posting about stick with only a few specific genres to talk about. Don't put 'subscribe' and 'vote me' links all over the front page until you have people that like your blog enough to ignore them. Use a clean and simple theme if at all possible. And mostly enjoy blog for fun, comment on other people's blogs as they normally visit back.

Peter Gitundu Researches and Reports on Blogging. For More Information on How To Blog, Visit His Site at HOW TO BLOG

There's a lot of discussion these days revolving around the question and the short answer is yes, you can make money blogging. There are people out there making an absolute killing with their blogs. The question you might be asking yourself is how can I do it. How can you go from never having set up a blog before to being able to make money blogging? Or maybe you have used a blog before and are looking for a ready made method of monetizing your blog. Fear not, the answer is here for you.

You'll have to decide what sort of model you want to base your blogging efforts on. Do you want to be a Hollywood gadfly gossip hound like Perez Hilton? Maybe you want a political blog like Arianna Huffington? Then there is the blogging about blogging model of Problogger. Which ever model you choose you're going to need a great system to start if you're going to make money blogging.

Naturally you could do all the online research yourself to figure this whole thing out but does that make sense? Or does it seem more practical to get a jump start on the market by getting a ready-made blogging system? I did my own research for a little while until I realized that I didn't need to reinvent the wheel here. That's when it hit me. How about if I just found someone who was already able to make money blogging and copy that method. I looked around at all the other people who had already asked themselves does blogging make money and I came up with a couple of candidates.

Now I admit when looking at these two they seemed very similar to each other. So how was I to decide? How would you in this case? Being the...shall I say "frugal"... (o.k. cheap) sort of guy that I am, I went with the one that gave me more stuff for less money. Not a difficult decision really. I was looking to get all the bells and whistles and I didn't want to pay an arm and a leg for it. What I got was far more than I imagined. This was a classic case of under promise and over deliver, and it promised a lot! Now I feel like I'm finally at a stage in my internet business life where things are taking off.

So, if you're ready to start making some serious blogging money, click the link in my author's box and I'll show you how to turbo charge your make money blogging efforts.

Buddy Tripp is a museum professional and part time internet marketer. If you are looking to make money online and you've ever asked yourself the question Does Blogging Really Make Money? Click on this link to his site:
http://www.squidoo.com/makemoneyfromhomeblogging