Path 6: Blogging

Resources on the Topic:

Blogging for Dummies by Susannah Gardner and Shane Birley
Problogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six Figure Income by Darren Rowse
Technorati.com
Problogger.net

Now this is a path to prosperity that is near and dear to my heart. Since the blogosphere first exploded a decade ago, many people have used this path to generate tremendous wealth. The true beauty of blogging as an income stream is that your blogs can be about any subject that you please. No more boring assignments from your boss, the freedom to create is completely up to you.
So how do you get started? Thanks to the surge in popularity of this new communication method, many big internet players have gotten involved. Google owns Blogger.com, the host of this site, which provides an incredibly easy to use interface in addition to free hosting. The total cost for you to start a blog on Blogger? $0!!! It is almost too good to be true. In addition to blogger, there are many other options including Wordpress, and Movable Type. A quick Google search for blog hosting will return a variety of sites, with different levels of complexity, cost, availability of options, etc. For your first blog, I highly recommend Blogger for its simplicity, free cost, easy to use templates, and availability of widgets(Cool gadgets to make your website more fun!). To get started, I would recommend visiting some of the most popular blogs such as Autoblog, Huffington Post, and Engadget. They can be a great source of ideas and concepts.
After getting your blog up and running, the next obvious question is how to turn this fun hobby into an income stream. The easiest method is through advertising. As you can see on my site, google ads can be easily uploaded onto your website. The beauty of google ads is that the ads are "smart" and will automatically update to match the content of your site. If you start with blogger, these ads are incredibly easy to upload. Each time a visitor to your site clicks on an add, you receive a small monetary reward.
In addition to advertising, many bloggers use affiliate sites to earn income. The best known affiliate site is Amazon. If you go to Amazon's site, they will easily walk you through the process of becoming an affiliate. In simple terms, you add an advertisement to your site for your favorite Amazon products. If you visitors make a purchase from Amazon after linking over from these advertisements, you get a portion of the sales price. Reading is one of my passions, so I was excited to add my favorite books to my blog.
The other two most common means of generating income through blogging include sponsorship and writing professionally for a sponsored blog. If your blog is an interesting niche, you may get contacted by a company that sells products in this niche. They will pay for the rights to advertise on your site. Finally, several sites such as Pay Per Post and Sponsored Reviews will actually pay you to post on specific topics, or review particular products.
Finally, starting a blog has many other great benefits beyond the money. It not only improves your writing skills, but also gives you a great opportunity to express yourself. You may be surprised just how many others share your opinions! It also may lead to something bigger, for example several bloggers have gone on to write successful books.

Good luck and happy blogging!

Keys to Success:

Pick a topic you love. It is amazing how much easier it is to write every day if you are truly enthralled by the topic.
Post often. Your readers will appreciate it, and the search engines will find your site more often.
Pay attention to details. Misspellings and grammatical errors can really turn readers away.
Study your competition. Reading other blogs can be a great source of motivation and ideas.
Don't give up! You may not find your niche right away, but stay persistent and continue to look for ways to make your blog more interesting