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You’ve been blogging your fingers off for a few years now, and despite the ego rush of watching your hits soar, you’re wondering what’s the point—or, rather, how do I make some cold hard cash from this thing?

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  Step 1: Focus your blog

  Focus your blog. Blogs that make money are blogs with a specific market and a good PageRank. Be passionate about your subject and generate as much traffic as you can. If you’re obsessed, others will be as well.

• Tip

  Don’t expect to get rich from your blog. At least not right away. Some popular blogs report more than $40,000 dollars a month in earnings—but unless you’ve got millions of visitors already, don’t expect to quit your day job anytime soon.

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  Step 2: Sell advertising

  Selling advertising is the top moneymaking method with a blog. AdSense, a service from Google, will place relevant ads from advertisers on your blog. If your reader clicks on the link, you get paid. Exactly how much depends on your traffic.

• Tip

  The upside to this method is that it’s very easy; the downside is that you don’t choose who advertises or what you get paid.

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  Step 3: Choose the ads yourself

  Some ad-providers, like blogads.com, help you choose the advertiser’s you want and give you the right to set the price.

• Tip

  The upside to this method is that you’re in control; the downside is if you set the prices too high or are too picky about advertisers, you won’t make any money.

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  Step 4: Write a review

  Get paid to write a product review that relates to your blog’s topic. Sites like payperpost.com will match you with a product. Reviews are usually short and don’t have to be positive, but you will have to disclose you’re getting paid.

• Tip

  Stay credible—be honest, and don’t post too many paid reviews. If you look like a marketing shill, you’ll lose readers—and money.

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  Step 5: Sell merchandise

  Sell merchandise. Suppose your blog has a really cool logo or you’ve developed some catchphrase that has caught on—put it on a t-shirt or coffee cup. A bunch of sites will do this for you, including cafepress.com. They earn the base price, and you earn the mark up.

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  Step 6: Get an affiliate program

  Get an affiliate program. Probably the most popular of these is amazon.com. This works by having a specific product advertised on your blog, and if readers follow your link and buy it, you get a percentage of the sale.

• Tip

  Affiliate programs are the better routes for newer blogs to make money, since it won’t be so crucial to have thousands upon thousands of clicks before you get a check.

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  Step 7: Make money indirectly

  Make money indirectly from your blog. Many bloggers find they can earn money from their blog because it steers customers to a service they provide or to a product they’re selling. Think of it as an ad for you!

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  Step 8: Beg

  Beg. There are a few sites like paypal.com that can put a “donation” button on your blog. You’re blogging your heart out—why not ask your audience to toss a coin into your hat?

• Fact

  The number of blogs doubles every six months.