Give Me One Legitimate Reason Why Not

I understand why people don't want to monetize or commercialize their personal blogs. Before now I have never run any ads on this blog, though many of my non-personal blogs are teeming with paying advertisments of one sort or another that, from time to time, allow me to have things that I want to have and do things that I want to do.

But economic times are tough for many people I know including me. I found a link to Pensive Girl's blog via Tony's Kansas City, and she's really wanting a job. A lot of people are needing extra money, bloggers are no exception, and there are several ways that one can pick up a few bucks as well as add a personal touch to one's weblog. I've added a few of these to my sidebar, along with links for others who want to do the same. There are two programs, in particular, of which I cannot speak highly enough and I'd like to share those with people who have a blog or a site, in case it might be something they'd like to try.

#1 AllPosters.com

I've added a rotating poster link to my sidebar. The poster changes every time the page reloads. If anybody clicks through there and buys any posters, I'll make 25% - 30% of the sale. This can be a substantial sum from time to time, as people occasionally add matting and framing to their poster order. The first time I got a check from AllPosters, I emailed them and told them there must be a mistake. I only sold a few posters. How could I have made a $127 commission on posters that sold for $8 to $25?

They wrote back, "No, it's the correct commission. Those posters were matted and framed (etc.), and that raises their cost substantially."

With more than 500,000 posters and prints, they are pretty much guaranteed to have something you can link to that will not only dress up your weblog with some individuality, but also possibly make you some money if anybody clicks through and buys anything. They don't have to buy the poster you display; no matter what they purchase, you will get the commission if they click through from your link, even if they go back to AllPosters ten days later. It happens.

And they pay like clockwork. If you've got money coming, they'll send it when they say they will, either by check or by PayPal. They also have a referral program, whereby if a blogger or webmaster signs up using your link, you will 5% or something of all the money your referral makes, too.

If you don't find anything at Allposters that you want to display, you might find it through the affiliate program at Art.com. Everything I said about Allposters applies to Art.com. They are, in fact, the same company.

#2 Amazon.com

This should be a no-brainer, since most of us netizens and bloggers shop on Amazon anyway, but I get frustrated at how many bloggers aren't using their affiliate program, especially when a blogger regularly posts links to Amazon books on their site anyway. You can't buy products from Amazon using your own affiliate links, so I'm always looking for locals to steer my commissions to when I buy on Amazon (or shop for the Professor), and almost none of the local bloggers are using the program

:(

The Amazon widget you see on the side is one of many that you can customize to fit your blog. They've got video players, mp3 samples, etc., that you can add to your site and earn a 5% - 15% commission on your visitors' total shopping cart when they get to Amazon via your link. At certain times of the year a visitor will click through your link to Amazon, and then do all of their gift shopping, giving you a stout commision on their total order.

Here are a few other affiliate programs to consider. Ebay has an affiliate program that pays on time. Put a link on your sidebar and you'll make a percentage of any winning bid that comes from a person clicking through from your site. Commission Junction lets you sell products from thousands of companies on your site. Cafe Press gives you two ways to make money. You can design merchandise and sell it on your site, or you can join their affiliate program through Commission Junction, and feature the designs of other creators on your site, and earn a commission from each sale. I've made money from them using both methods. I've made money from all of the programs listed in this post, though more from the first two than from the ones in this paragraph.

For a blogger that could use some extra dough, any of these options are worth a try, especially if you have a blog or site that gets a substantial amount of traffic or has a very loyal readership.

No guarantees, sometimes it take a while to start getting any money, but a couple of the aforementioned links can dress up your blog a little at the very least, and might help supplement your income in a best-case-scenario situation. Especially if your blogger friends are doing the same thing, people shop from each others' links and help each other out buying things they were going to buy anyway.

It's not "selling out," it's just selling books and posters that one likes, and getting a little return on the time one devotes to creating informative and interesting content for their readers.