How to Start Blogging for Money

1. Find a site that has free blogs for anyone who signs up. You can buy a domain name if you prefer, and import free blog software onto it. Or, you can sign up with a site like LiveJournal or Blogger and get a free blog that is customizable and easy to use.

2. Come up with a topic and a name that is memorable. If your site is to have practical information, the title should be straightforward and related to the information category. Start with a post or two to introduce yourself and then dive into posting on the blog regularly. A blog that is updated often will receive more visitors, helping the blog make money.

3. Start loading blog ads onto the site once you have a post or two completed. One of the first things that many people with a new blog do is to sign up to host Google AdSense ads on their blog. Having your own domain means that you keep all of the profits from Google Adsense ads that you run on the site. If you choose a free blog, you will generally split the Google AdSense money with he site's host. However, Google AdSense isn't the only way to make money on a blog. There are other ads that can be run.

4. Think about running contextual blog ads on your blog to make money. Some people find them annoying and some people don't mind them at all. They are ads that will highlight certain words within the text. When a reader runs their cursor over any of the words, blog ads pop up. Companies like Kontera are free to join and make it easier to make money blogging with those ads in place.

5. Sell blog ads to companies and websites that are looking to advertise. There are numerous websites, such as TextLinkAds that pay bloggers to run small blog ads on their blogs. Bloggers can make money blogging by installing the ads and simply collecting a check each month for the advertising revenue.

6. Consider sponsored posts, but always disclose that they are sponsored. There are sites that hook up bloggers with free products and services in exchange for a post on the blog. This must be disclosed because of recently-passed legislation. You don't have to mention your Google AdSense ads or your context ads because they are visible, but if you are making money blogging in other ways, it needs to be disclosed.