Web logs -- now almost universally know as "blogs" -- were once the sardonic voice of dissent on the Web. Now, everyone seems to have a space on the Internet where they offer opinions or other reflections.
If your blog captures the imagination of the public, you could earn money while you entertain.
Eden Kennedy of Santa Barbara, Calif., startedFussy.org when her son was 3 months old. She's been blogging about parenting, marriage and the hilarity of daily life for eight years now.
Kennedy says she built a readership by reading, commenting on and showing interest in the blogs of others.
Eventually, Kennedy had enough of a following to sell advertising space on her blog.
She works with several different advertising networks, each of which compensates her with anywhere from $1 per month to several hundred dollars per month.
One day, Kennedy had another flash of entrepreneurial insight: She decided to sell T-shirts to her readers.
She had shirts printed up with the phrase "Writing well is the best revenge" and watched the orders roll in.
"Just that phrase, it hits people pretty well," Kennedy says. "Actually, a lot of academics buy the T-shirt."
Kennedy now earns roughly $200 a month selling T-shirts. That income is in addition to the advertising dollars she rakes in.
Kennedy says her online pursuits have been more fruitful and less time-consuming than her former "real world" job working in a bookstore.
"Usually a post, no matter how long it is, takes me about an hour to write, and lately I haven't been updating more than twice a week," says Kennedy, who adds that designing her blog and dealing with advertisers takes an additional five hours per week.
How much is Kennedy earning from her blogging?
"It still adds up to more than I made selling books for 40 hours a week," she says.
Not every blogger is guaranteed to make good money. However, bloggers who truly love what they do are the ones who flourish, Kennedy says.
"I think the people who really succeed and last in this just really enjoy writing and taking pictures," she says.
If you'd like to try your hand at blogging, the Web sites Blogger, WordPress and LiveJournal offer free blog templates.
If you'd like to sell ad space on your blog, check out sites such as Google AdSense, Text Link Ads and the BlogHerAds network (for women only).
Aredconsult Tip: A blog needs a lot of visitors (traffic) to earn. The more visitors, the more people who can see your ads. As simple as that reality.
