Here are just 5 ways you can go about promoting your own e-book:

Chapters: Chapters is a wonderful WordPress theme that lets you promote certain chapters of your e-book online to generate interest for your book. It is quite professional looking and a great way to give your visitors a taste of what your book is all about.

Anthologize: a wonderful open source platform that can turn your blog into an e-book. If you have lots of high quality articles on your website, you are going to love this service.

Ebook theme: eBook Theme is a landing page solution for your e-book. If you plan to sell your e-book directly, this theme can help.

Google Books: does not need any introduction. Google eBookstore is a great way to list your book online and find new buyers for it. Submitting your book to this service could not be any easier.

Kindle Publishing: I have personally had a lot of success with this service. Kindle is a very popular device and platform. Considering that this platform is available on most handheld devices, selling your e-books through Amazon is a smart idea.

How would you go about promoting an e-book? Any suggestions?

Adding a store to your blog is not really that difficult. You can either do it with a third-party script or hire a web developer to do it for you. Hiring an e-commerce developer can be expensive for most folks. That’s why I love doing things with WordPress. There are just a ton of solutions out there for WordPress to get things done. WP Store is a killer WP theme that lets you start a store next to your blog. Whether you are planning to sell other people’s products or sell your own T-shirts, mugs, and other branded items, this theme can handle it.

I know what you may be thinking here. Who has time to go and set up a fully-fledged e-commerce store when you have your blog to run. WP Store is more than just a theme. It comes with everything one would need to manage a store with minimal effort. You can define shipping, tax, and other terms in the back-end and have the theme take care of the rest for you. You can even set up an affiliate program for your store and let others do the promotion and the selling for you.

The fact that WP Store comes with a sample catalog of products means you won’t have to spend too much time learning the ropes with this theme. Depending on the type of store you want to run, you may have to change the style of WP Store. You also want to have some products to sell (you can start with your branded products). If you already have an inventory of products to sell, you can mass upload them using a CSV file.

You don’t want to add a store for the sake of doing it. There is a reason I don’t have a store for this blog. Prior planning is a must before starting your own store. A store can bring a whole new dimension to your blog. Just make sure you don’t let it take away from your readers’ experience on your blog. With WP Store, you can at least save some time and effort, starting your very own store.

Creating a membership site around the topic you blog about can be yet another way for you to make money online and take your business to the next level. If you have been blogging about your niche for a few years, and you have kept up with the latest developments in your niche, you should have more than enough material to kick-start your own membership website. It won’t be that easy to manage your membership but the start doesn’t have to be difficult. In fact, here are 5 ways you can create a membership site fast:

aMember: aMember is the top membership site software on the market. If you watch the top membership sites on the market, there is no doubt about the merits of this software package. It’s very scalable, and it allows you to integrate payment systems fast. It can also be used to setup free areas on site, requiring only registration. So it works for freemium business models as well.

vBulletin: vBulletin is one of the best forum software packages around. Whether you want to build a professional forum or just want to start your own membership site (e.g. ProBlogger.com), vBulletin is a nice piece of software to own.

Elgg: Elgg is a great piece of software if you want to build a social membership website. You can always expand its functionality with plugins. The only downside to it is that it could be a bit tedious to customize, especially if you are not a coder.

WordPress + MemberWing: MemberWing is a WordPress plugin that allows you to create your membership on the top of your WordPress installation. It gives you similar options to aMember. I may be biased here, but if you are running a blog on WordPress, why not use the platform to run a membership website.

Easy Member Pro: Easy Member Pro is another sophisticated membership software that allows you to create your own membership site fast. It also features an affiliate program that you can use to give your members a chance to promote your membership website.

Creating a membership is much easier than managing the site. You are going to need decent content and a lot of it to keep people from canceling their membership. But thanks to the above solutions, you won’t have to spend a fortune to get started.

In the previous parts of this series, I went over ways that you can use Chitika Premium Ads to make money blogging. The money you make will depend on your traffic, your niche, and the demand level in your niche. Chitika premium Ads enable you to monetize your SEO traffic and get some more money on the side, regardless of what other advertising networks are displaying ads on your website. Chitika Premium Ads system is a decent channel to try, but there are plenty of other ways to monetize your blog. White Space Ads by Chitika helps you monetize the white-space seen on those larger screens. So you can maximize the amount of money you can earn on your blog:

Here is how the service works. If your readers happen to own high resolution monitor, they may see some white space on the sides. With Chitika White Space Ads, you can monetize those. Here is how Chitika put it:

Chitika | WhiteSpaceAd shows matching ads whenever large whitespace appears when viewing your site on high resolution monitors. When visitors click on the ads, you earn money.

Yet another innovative way to monetize your blog. It’s a bit aggressive, and your audience may not like it. So you do want to make sure that you test the ads and ask for feedback. If you are not making enough clicks from these ads or your audience finds them annoying, then you should probably get rid of them. But it’s certainly worth a try.

Technically, your audience shouldn’t be able to see these ads on regular monitors. And you don’t have to worry about these ads messing up your design. The instruction process is not that complicated either. Just define your settings, grab the code, and install it on your website. Chitika takes care of the rest. White space ads are a bit of an aggressive approach, but they are worth a try if you have trouble monetizing your blog. You won’t know if they work until you test them.

Many bloggers struggle to make money from their blogs in the first few months and even the first couple of years of their career. There are bloggers who get lucky or find a way to make more money before then. But if you have just set up your blog and haven’t had enough content to get proper exposure on search engines and through the social media, you are going to struggle to make any real money from your ads. Google Adsense is a very good place to start, but it is not as flexible as most people would like. Let’s not forget that services such as Adsense do not exactly let you maximize your profits from your ads either. That’s why serious bloggers need to plan ahead and graduate to an ad server service such as OpenX.

OpenX is an open source ad solution that lets bloggers and portal builders to monetize their work without too much hassle. You set up the system, add your own ads or get others to buy space on your blog, and you are set to go. It’s almost as simple as that. You will need to figure out which type of solution works for your the best and whether you want to sell ads directly or through a market place. Whatever the case, OpenX is there to let you do just that.

OpenX comes in two forms. You can let the company host your ads or you can download the open source solution and host it on your own website. The hosted version is for those who want to outsource the process and take advantage of OpenX’s premium services. You can easily sign up for OpenX service and start working with their team to get your ads live on your blog.

You can always take advantage of the standard package available on OpenX.org to display ads on your blog for free. Unless you own a very popular blog, you should be fine with 100 million impressions that you get for free. Of course, the enterprise edition has more features that you can take advantage of to track and analyze the performance of your ads, but most bloggers should be fine with the standard edition. Regardless of which version you choose, you can always rely on OpenX market to sell ad space and make more money on your blog.

Adding campaigns and your ads to your hosted account is very simple. The interface is so intuitive that anyone with any level of computer knowledge should be able to create campaigns and add ads to them easily. There are a few more advanced ways to control how often your ads are displayed, so when you are ready to take your blog to the next level, you’ll have the tools you’ll need.

Ultimately, if you are tired of playing with services such as Google Adsense, you can’t go wrong with your own ads. You can sell your ads or display affiliate banners on your blog easily with OpenX. Just make sure you don’t overdo it.

Stay tuned for the second part of this series where I will discuss how the self-hosted OpenX service will work.

There are many ways to monetize a blog. In a previous post, I talked about how you can use Chitika Premium ads to make money on your blog without interrupting the flow of your content and disturb your non-SEO visitors. Chitika Premium is a conservative way of making money with Chitika. The more aggressive way of doing it is by using Linx. Linx is a contextual/keyword-based advertising method that can earn you a few extra bucks as long as your audience can take the extra ads. A lot of top portals do use Linx or similar services, so it’s not something your users haven’t seen. It just comes down to whether they are patient enough to deal with those in-content ads.

Chitika Linx are much more intrusive than those Premium Ads, but they do get decent click-through as well. Let’s say you have a blog about the latest gadgets. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a way to monetize each and every blog post without having to post banners all over your pages. When you set up and install your Linx code, Chitika will go through your keywords and hyperlink the ones that it can match its ad database. Now these are not your everyday hyperlinks. They do open up when your readers mouse over those links.

Not only you can just set and forget Linx on your blog, you can also define the keywords that you want to test and get ad-hyperlinked on your blog. You can also customize the look and feel of those keywords on your blog. Playing with the color and style of your in-content makes it possible to make your readers’ experience on your blog as convenient as possible while increasing your click-through rate.

I have to say, I am not a big fan of Linx. While I have no problem putting banners on my blog, I rather not subject my readers to in-content ads. They can be annoying, and a lot of people just hate them. That doesn’t mean it’d be the case for your blog as well. You just want to make sure you know your audience and test different approaches to make sure your don’t lose your audience while you are trying to make money on your blog. On the positive side, Linx is the easiest way to add contextual ads to your blog. If you have a lot of posts on your blog, Linx can increase your revenue dramatically.

In the past few months, I have hinted at ways that one can make money with a blog. But I haven’t gone into details as far as the services that I use to monetize my own blog. If you have noticed, I am not a big fan of Google Adsense. It’s just not right for a lot of blogs. Even though you can optimize the look and feel of an Adsense unit and make a decent amount of bucks per each click, it feels cheap and is often not interactive enough (as far as ads are concerned). While I am not not a heavy Chitika user either, I take advantage of it more often than Google Adsense.

Chitika is a great way to monetize each and every page view. Chitika Premium Ads are a great method to make money with your SEO traffic. Every-time someone makes it to your blog from Google, searching for a specific topic, he/she is presented with a set of ads that are highly targeted and based on the keyword phrase searched to get to that specific page. So if you are searching for “green laptops,” Chitika ads will show you ads that are either about green laptops or related to it.

What I love about Chitika ads is the fact that you can use them in conjunction with Adsense ads to make even more money per visitor. And best of all, these ads collapse into nothing (if you choose that option) for your non-SEO traffic. I personally like that feature as it allows me to show a different set of ads to my non-SEO visitors and more targeted ads to my Google and Yahoo! traffic.

How To Set up Your Chitika Ads

There is no way to guarantee a specific level of income with Chitika ads. But you can always test things and improve your results by optimizing the look and feel and position of your ads. Setting up your Chitika Premium ads is very easy. Once you choose the size of the ad you want to display, you are provided with the option to choose the behavior of your ads. I recommend choosing the “collapse” option, but you can always test the other options as well.

You also get a chance to customize the look and feel and even define channels per ads. I strongly suggest you do define your channels as that would allow you to figure out which ad is bringing you the most revenue.

Just like Google Adsense, you don’t want to over do it with Chitika Premium ads. At the same time, if you are getting a lot of SEO traffic to your blog, there is no reason you can’t earn decent bucks from your blog without introducing intrusive ads to your site. The fact that your direct visitors won’t be able to see these ads (if you choose to show your ads that way) is a big plus.

Stay tuned for the second part of this list to figure out how to use Linx to make money with Chitika.

Don’t you just wish that everything in this world was for free, and you could just blog for fun without having to worry about putting money on the table? Now that would be a great way to do what you are passionate about. But that’s not how things work out in the real world. No matter how passionate you are about your blog, you are going to monetize your blog one way or another or look for a full-time job. Running a blog is similar to running a business. So you can’t expect to be in the red and still survive the tough times. Many beginner bloggers struggle with the blog monetization process. Unlike what you read in books, sponsors are not around to fund your blogging venture unless you have decent traffic or can provide them with unique value. So you are going to need to have to focus on other ways to make money online from blogging.

Thankfully, there are many other ways that you can go about making money on your blog. And you don’t have to be a genius to get started. There are some advanced methods that I won’t cover in this post. But if you are a beginner, you still have plenty of options. Here are 5 ways that I started making money with my own blogs:

• Amazon Associates Program
• eBay Partner Network
• Google Affiliate Program
• Google Adsense Program
• Chitika Search Targeted Advertising Program
  

Amazon Associates Program: one of the oldest and best affiliate programs around. A whole lot of people use Amazon to shop online, and as a blogger, you should take advantage of this fact to monetize your blog properly. You can always create wish-lists, write product reviews, and try various widgets that Amazon.com offers its affiliates. The best thing about Amazon affiliate program is the indirect sales. So when you drive traffic to Amazon, you get paid for products that your lead purchases from Amazon even if you haven’t referred them to those specific products.

eBay Partner Network: eBay has always been a big part of my revenue strategy. There are a lot of people who still use eBay to find rare items and buy things for less, and as long as you are in a niche that has products that people want to buy, you are in business. You can always cross-sell or just use banner advertising to push eBay products. It’s a performance-based program, so the better you perform, the more you get paid.

Google Affiliate Program: formerly known as Performics, Google Affiliate Program has plenty of decent affiliate programs to choose. So as long as your niche is not something obscure, you can find products to promote on your blog. Many top retailers are already a part of Google Affiliate Program, so the opportunity is there for most bloggers to take advantage and make money online.

Google Adsense Program: I used to be a big fan of Google Adsense. I used it on my secondary blogs and made a decent amount of money with it. I still don’t like those ugly text links, but as long as you are in the right niche and use the right keywords, you can earn a decent amount with Adsense. It really comes down to how much traffic you drive to your blog. The more you do, the better chance you have of making a living with Google Adsense.

Chitika Search Targeted Advertising: Chitika is an innovative service that lets you monetize your search traffic. Your ad units do not show up when you visit your blog directly, but people who find your blog from Google or other search engines will see relevant ads on your blog. The more targeted your ads, the better chance you have of getting clicks. That’s why Chitika is worth a try on any blog.

There are, of course, plenty of other ways to make money online. You should always test things out to make sure you maximize your profits without taking away from your readers’ experience on your blog. You are still going to need good content if you intend to attract and retain visitors, but the above programs are a good place to start if you are new to this game.

I am personally not a big fan of selling blogs. The blogs that I have started during my career are usually about topics that I am very passionate about. But from time to time you get an offer that is hard to refuse. Sometimes you may need the money to expand your business or pay for an emergency situation. Selling a popular blog can net you a lot of money if you play your cards right. You shouldn’t undersell your blog under any circumstances. If you have worked hard to generate valuable content for your users and have created an authority blog, there is no reason to sell it too much lower than its real value.

I still remember the first blog that I sold a while ago. I had blogged on it for 2 years, and it had some decent traffic. It wasn’t an authority website by any means but it certainly had a lot of potential. I listed it for $25,000 thinking that it would sell overnight. What I didn’t realize was that people were going to ask me to justify the price for them. Justifying the value of a decent blog is not that hard, but you’ve got to know what factors to focus on if you want to get paid for your hard work. People are not going to part ways with their money that easily, and you shouldn’t expect them to. Your goal is not to sell a piece of junk to your customer. You want both sides to be happy with the purchase. That’s why you should spend time to create a proper valuation sheet for your blog to convey to your customers why they should pay what you are asking for your blog.

Here are the factors that I use to value my own blog:

• Traffic: traffic is one of the most important parts of the equation. If you’ve got no real traffic, you are going to struggle to justify the price.
• Community: your community is a big part of the transaction well. The number of your RSS subscribers does matter here as well.
• Posts: your number of posts also matter here. The more quality posts you have, the better.
• Technorati/Alexa: I am not a big fan of Alexa rankings, but that’s what people look at to value your blog. Don’t dismiss it.
• PR: your blog’s PageRank shouldn’t matter, but it does. Pay attention to it.
• Revenue: your monthly review is another important factor here. The more money you are making per month, the more you can ask for your blog. I usually multiply my revenue by 3 and add that to my final valuation number.
• Domain value: if you have a killer domain, don’t underestimate the value of your blog. You can use sites such as BuyDomains to figure out how much your domain may be worth.
• Social Media value: if you have dedicated social media accounts for your blog, those need to be included with your blog as well. Don’t undervalue these assets. Your Facebook & Twitter accounts do have some value.
• Domain Age: you should charge a decent amount of money for your older domains. Remember, you can’t just take a shortcut when it comes to age. A domain that has been around for years is much more valuable than a new domain.
• SEO Value: if you have been doing your own SEO on your blog, you should include that as a part of your valuation.
• Forums: if you have a forum on your blog, you’ve got to count the size of your forum in your valuation formula. Your forum is a big part of your business, so don’t underestimate its value.
• Other Assets: if you have a logo or a custom design for your blog, you have to include those costs in your valuation as well.
• Support: if you are to provide after sale support, make sure you include the cost in your valuation.

Selling a blog is never fun. I wish everybody could keep his/her blog forever. But if you have to sell, make sure you provide a solid valuation document to justify your price. Remember, you are selling a business and not just a casual blog.

Don’t forget to read the first part to learn more on how to sell your blog.

One of the toughest things in life is to part ways with something you have worked very hard to create. A lot of us get too attached to our work and fail to realize when it’s time to let go. That could sometimes rob you from pursuing better opportunities. The same concept applies to blogging. You start a blog about something that you are passionate about and develop it into a major stop for those interested in your topic. Chances are you go on and blog about it for years. In truth, you can’t predict what the future brings. What if you are offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to pursue another dream of yours? You’ve got to decide whether pursuing that opportunity would take away from your blog. After all, the last thing you want to do is ignore your loyal readers. So you’ve got a tough decision to make: you either reject your once in a life time opportunity or you turn your blog over to someone who is as excited about your niche as you are.

Where To Sell Your Blog

Selling your blog to someone who’s got more time to take it to the next level is one way to go here. In order to sell your blog, you need to provide potential buyers with all the information they need to make a decision on your blog. You need to provide your traffic information, your revenue, and details about your blog content. Once you have that information ready, it’s time to list your blog and wait for buyers. Here are a few places to sell your blog on:

• eBay: eBay is still one of the best ways to sell a blog. eBay may be an auction site but you can put up fixed price listings on it as well. Best of all, you can use eBay’s reputation system to find out more about your buyers. Accepting payments is not that difficult either. You can choose to get paid via PayPal and other methods. What I love about eBay is the fact that it gives you the ability to display your ad in front of millions of people. You can buy extra exposure for your listing for a low fee. Best of all, eBay won’t charge you any major fees if you don’t sell your blog. If you intend to sell your blog on eBay, make sure you provide accurate information in your listing. The last thing you want to do is mislead your potential customers.
• SitePoint: Sitepoint.com is another good marketplace for selling blogs and all kinds of websites. The Sitepoint community is more targeted than eBay, and your website is going to be displayed in front of people who are interested in selling and buying websites. If you haven’t had too much success with eBay, SitePoint is another great marketplace to try.
• Craigslist: Craigslist is another place to put your blog up for sale. You can always list your blog on Craigslist for free. You’d be surprised how many leads you can get from Craigslist. And unlike eBay or SitePoint, there is no obligation for you to sell. You can do your buyer vetting before making your decision.
• Twitter: One of the best ways to reach out to like-minded people and hand over your blog to them. If you happen to have a lot of followers on Twitter, you can get the word out about your blog easier. Twitter is not a marketplace, but there are a lot of folks on Twitter who are interested in selling and buying businesses.

There are many other places you can try to sell your blog. At the end of the day, you want to make sure you sell your blog to someone who will take care of your readers. The money is important but is not everything. If you have worked hard to create a killer blog, the right buyer will find you.