Earn money while you blog

Blogging is turning out to an addictive past-time for a lot of people around the world. Apart from being a great medium to express your feelings

Earn money while blogging (Getty Images)

and experiences, blogs can turn into alternate means to earn some quick bucks.

With recession rocking the boat and intermittent lay-offs and salary cuts - why not make some extra money through blogging. You need no special technical knowledge or literary abilities to start a blog. Here are ways in which you can earn money while blogging:

Pick a topic that you love
The basic rule of blogging is to choose a topic close to your heart. It's best if you love something other people also love, such as sports, politics, or celebrities. Amar Upadaya, a programmer at a leading blogging website says," All blogs have the potential to create revenue, but the popular ones are those which are informative or related to one’s life experiences”.

BLOG TIP : Prithik Agarwal, who blogs at a google blogging website and earns a minimum of four figures per month, cautions against being overly narrow in focus. "Instead of picking a niche topic like diet tips, where there's only little you can write on, pick a general way of looking at life or an area of interest that you're passionate about," he says. Agarwal blogs on personal growth, which encompasses relationships, finances, career development, and spirituality. Successful bloggers always stick to the theory that "content is king". It holds particularly true if you hope to earn by blogging. Ensure that new content is contributed on a regular basis. And this can always be possible when the topic of your blog motivates you to write on a regular basis.

Build up traffic
Your blog will not make money if no one finds your blog! Your ultimate goal should be to achieve a high ranking in the search engines. So try and build traffic to your blog or make your blog accessible to a large number of readers so that people visiting your blog can increase. The basics involve writing quality content, and updating the content on a daily or weekly basis. The best way to promote your blog is by joining a blog network such as blogadda, technorati , blogarama, buzzerhut, blogcatalog, etc. A blog network website helps bloggers by highlighting and promoting their blog to millions of users all over the world. You can consider a blog network, which is a platform where millions of users can view your blog with other similar blogs. In technical terms it is the search engine for bloggers. You don't have to pay anything to submit your blog to these blog network websites.

BLOG TIP : Shilpi Bhatnagar, a regular blogger explains, “Joining a blog network and gaining a strong following through that network is the best ways to build blog traffic. Initially when I start blogging I always found it difficult to get good traffic to my blog, but after submitting my blog to various blog network websites I could get 10,000 page views per day”. To calculate the amount of traffic coming to your blog, Google and other websites provide a solution. Google-webmaster, mypagerank, trafficonblog etc are some websites that calculate the amount of traffic generated by your blog. You just need to register on these websites to can check your traffic details on a daily basis.

Advertisements
Once you are able to get a good amount of traffic to your blog, you can proceed to the earning strategies. The most obvious way to make money through blogging is with advertising. Advertisers pay a few cents when an ad is clicked upon. Or, they may pay a certain rate for each 1,000 page views.

BLOG TIP : The most famous advertisement method for most bloggers is Google Adsence Google ads are usually the first foray of new bloggers into the world advertising. Easy to use, they only provide a fraction of income to sucessful bloggers. Lucrative deals come from advertisers who pay a good deal of money for displaying there ad on your blog. Some of them are AdBrite, AdGenta , BidVertiser etc. It's easy to get ads on your site, but difficult to earn from them. You'll need thousands of visitors each month.

Affiliate programs
Affiliate programs are again good methods of earning money through a blog. Affiliate programs are similar to advertising. But in affiliate programs you are paid directly by advertisers for placing a banner ad or a text ad on your site. Here people can also earn by putting affiliate links inside their blog posts. You may get paid when a visitor clicks an affiliate link. But usually, visitors must make a purchase from the affiliate.

BLOG TIP : Earning money from affiliate programs is more difficult, but if it works you could earn ten per cent or more, per product user buy through your blog. Amazon, ebay, commission Junction, linkShare are some of the websites that are leaders in the affiliate programs. You can recommend books or other products available for purchase from other sources, and earn very generous sales commissions when your visitors buy those products.

Pay-per-post
Some companies will pay you to write about their products and services on your blog. Your pay varies depending on your blog and the traffic generated on your blog. There are many websites available on the Iinternet that can pay you handsomely for writing reviews of their products. Some can even pay you up to $1,000 per post. If you have a good traffic coming into your blog then you can easily join any of these company websites. Some require you to blog for a month or more before enrolling. Or, you may need a specific number of posts or site visitors.

BLOG TIP : Not all bloggers are willing to get paid to write about a specific product or website, but the ones who do can make good money. Some of the websites which offer such opportunities are PayPerPost, SponsoredReviews, Blogvertise etc.

Job Boards
All the popular blogs have job boards to generate extra income. A job board is some sort of an advertising board which you place on your blog and advertisers post job opening on that. But to create an active and profitable job board you need to have a blog which generates a large amount of traffic.

BLOG TIP : Guy Kawasaki, ReadWriteWeb, Problogger etc are some of the websites that can help you to create job boards on your blog.. Once you have the structure in place, the job listings come naturally, and you can easily earn $10 to $100 for each job you post on your blog.

Paid Surveys and Polls
Bloggers can also earn money by running polls and surveys on their blogs. There are many websites that pay you money to run a small survey or poll on
your website. The most popular one among them is called Vizu Answers.

BLOG TIP : You need to sign up with them, and select the kind of polls that you want to run your site. It’s free of cost and you are paid handsomely if your blog generates a huge amount of traffic.

Sponsorship
You can easily get a sponser for your blog , if you are able to make name for yourself in the world of blogging. Most of you must have heard of fakeiplplayer, who garnered a huge amount of publicity and traffic by writing a blog on cricket. To cash in on his publicity many companies offered him sponsorship. Sponsorship works like an advertising deal. However, your entire site will carry the company's branding and you may be forbidden from mentioning competitors' products and services.

BLOG TIP : Landing a sponsorship probably won't be easier than finding a paid position. And remember that you will need to make a name for yourself first, only then will companies will come forward for sponsorship.

Rajesh Nair

RajRak Investment Advisors

3 Ways to Help Your Team Build Resilience

A brief stroll through world history will show you that humans are very good at enduring hardship. However, the magnitude of the current economic crisis has us all questioning our ability to survive. Use these three tips to help your team remain resilient: Give much-needed perspective. If you and those on your team weren't born before 1945, you simply have nothing to use as comparison. Remind your team that most companies survive financial crises and many more businesses will be born from the recovery. Refocus on what you've got. While layoffs continue and unemployment rises, the reality is that most people still have jobs. If you are one of them, bring your team together to focus on making your company the best it can be. Develop the resolve to ensure it survives the downturn. Tell stories. We all know a story or two about someone who survived adverse events. Encourage your team to share stories both as a means of coping and learning.

Management Tip was adapted from "Help Your Team Build Resilience" by John Baldoni.

Rajesh Nair

Continue to Appraise Performance in a Downsized Organization

In the wake of layoffs and cut backs, many question the fairness of assessing employee performance, especially with redistributed work and the elimination of bonuses. But you can use performance appraisals to strengthen your organization and accomplish the following important tasks.
Reset expectations. Many companies are giving lower-than-expected bonuses or raises. Let your employees know if this is the case and the reasoning behind the decision. If employees know raises have been reduced to save jobs, they may not be happy but they may accept the disappointment more easily.
Focus on the future. Layoffs leave "ghost work" for survivors who are expected to pick up the slack in a leaner organization. Use appraisals to redefine job scope and make expectations clear.
Reward your top performers. Use what money you have to encourage your star performers to continue to excel. Small discretionary bonuses can go a long way in creating goodwill and fueling great performance.
Management Tip was adapted from "Appraising Employee Performance in a Downsized Organization" by Tom Krattenmaker.
Rajesh Nair

Why Should You Apologize?

Management Tip was adapted from "I Want You to Apologize" by Peter Bregman.

One of the clearest ways President Obama has set himself apart from his predecessor is by demonstrating his willingness to apologize. He has apologized for using inappropriate language, making jokes in poor taste and even acting arrogantly toward Europe in the past few years. What exactly is Obama doing? He is disarming his opponents and paving the path for reconciliation. Next time you are ready to defend your actions and play your part in a knockdown fight, consider apologizing first. Demonstrate empathy, concern, and willingness to change. Ultimately, apologizing is not an admission of defeat but a humane gesture that can keep you out of a fight.
When Should a Leader Apologize — and When Not?
Because the stakes are so high, leaders should not extend public apologies often or lightly. While selectivity is key, good apologies usually do work. What constitutes a good apology? Acknowledgment of the mistake or wrongdoing, acceptance of responsibility, expression of regret, and assurance that the offense will not be repeated.

Rajesh Nair

The Looming Commercial -Real Estate Crisis

There's been a huge drop in activity in the U.S. office-leasing market in the last year. In the 15 largest office markets in the country, 38.8 million square feet of deals were completed in the first quarter of 2009, compared to nearly 71.7 million in the first quarter of 2008. Among the 15 markets, only the Atlanta metro area has experienced no decline in leasing activity. Minneapolis/St. Paul has been hardest hit, with 81% fewer deals than in 2008

Source: Harvard Business Review, May 2009

Rajesh Nair

How Well Vetted Is Your Senior Management?

In 32% of 500 companies surveyed in 2008, candidates for senior executive positions went through only 1 to 5 interviews, while 12% of firms subjected candidates to 21 or more. Shockingly, only half of those recruited for the top three tiers of management were interviewed by anyone in the C-suite. And fully half the companies relied primarily on the hiring manager's gut feel, selecting a candidate believed to have "what it took" to be successful in any job.
Source: Harvard Business Review, May 2009
Rajesh Nair

10 GOLDEN RULES FOR INVESTING IN STOCKS

The fact is that few investors can hope to build real wealth without investing in equity. Necessary as investment knowledge is, by itself, however, it is not sufficient to ensure investment success.
In fact, many an expert holds that emotional maturity is the ultimate key to sustained profitable stock market investing. Overcoming bouts of panic and greed in down and up market phases is not an easy matter to master. Here are ten rules to help you do precisely that...
There is no such thing as a good stock
There are only good companies. When someone tells you 'this is a good stock' you need to look beyond the stock chart. Why is the company a good company? How will it grow its business? If you can't answer these questions, you don't know what you own.
Have a premise
When you buy a stock you must have a premise. A premise is a reason why that particular stock will go up. For best results, the premise will be one that explains why the company's line of business will increase, and why the marketplace will value that business at current or higher multiples. Without a premise, you don't own an investment, you just own a stock.
Think trends. Buy stocks
If you really want to invest in big growth stocks, you need to invest in secular trends. Secular trends are events unrelated to either the economy or individual company events. The advent of the PC, the birth of the Internet, and the desire for wireless phones, are all secular trends. The biggest investment winners are those companies which are ideally placed to reap the benefits of large secular changes.
Microsoft and Intel rode the transition to PCs as computing power became cheaper and cheaper. Nokia, Motorola, Qualcomm, and Ericsson all found them-selves unable to keep up with demand in the mid 1990s, when wireless phones finally reached the critical price points. If you want really big winners, find the trend, then find the stocks.
Know your risk tolerance
The biggest mistake most investors make is to buy positions with more risk than they can really tolerate. This is where most people got hurt in the Internet bubble burst. They had no idea they owned risky stocks. If you can always tolerate, both financially and emotionally, the complete loss of your entire position, you obviously will be okay. But most people aren't in that position. Figure out how much downside you can live with without having to sell. Figure this out before you buy the stock.
Don't average down to feel better
'Averaging down' is often a way to lose more. If you believe in the company, and the price goes down, you may want to invest more. But if you, like many others, purchase more simply to lower your 'break even' stock price, you are making a mistake. If you find yourself calculating new 'average price per share' points, you might be averaging down for the wrong reason.
Don't miss the train to shave a dime
If you are investing in a major trend through a stock, and have a multi-year investment horizon, what difference does a few cents per share make on your purchase? Many investors try to place buys with limit orders just below the ask, and wind up missing the purchase.
If you really want a stock, particularly a big position, place a limit order at the ask, or even slightly higher. You will at least get the order. This is especially important if you are trying to buy far more shares than the current ask size. If you are right about the trend, you will never miss the extra ten cents per share.
Don't buy hot and watch cold
Many investors buy a 'hot stock' and immediately look for big gains. When they don't happen, the stock falls away from the daily attention list. Pretty soon it starts to edge downward, and, emotionally, the investor stops watching it.
Pain avoidance is common to us all. But you can't let pain avoidance prevent you from watching your stock. If you do, you often take a look two months later and find the stock is far from hot, and you are now presented with a really painful decision.
A hold is as good as a buy
There is no such thing as a 'hold' decision. If you wouldn't buy the stock again today, assuming you had additional money, you should either sell, or admit that you are confused. Resolve the confusion. The hold condition often happens when you have owned a stock for years, are way ahead of your basis, and are basically happy.
But what is driving the stock today? What will make the price rise in the future? Why would you buy the stock today, assuming you didn't own it? If you don't know, you don't have a premise for this stock. See rule 2.
Don't be an inadvertent long-term holder
When your premise doesn't work out, or you no longer believe in the stock, you must sell, even if it means a loss. Holding on just to 'get my money back' is the single biggest reason for losing more money. Who owned all those stocks that lost 98 per cent of their value in 2000? A good percentage was owned by people who turned into long-term holders inadvertently, when they made the decision to just stick it out.
You will lose money
You won't be right every time. If you are going to be an investor, you need to become accustomed to losing money on some positions. This rule is the natural consequence of living up to rules 5, 7, and 9. Taking losses is often the only way you can save your capital from further losses.

Rajesh Nair
RajRak Advisors