Writing for Profit – get paid to write.If you want to become a writer, and get paid for writing, you can now do this andmaybe work from home by Blogging.

Let’s start with the basics to explain how you do this.

The word Blog comes from Web Log – they just deleted the We and created theword Blog – this sort of explains what a Blog is, it is like a log kept on the Web,so a bit like a diary entry.A number of companies have created blogging software, Word Press is very wellknown, and Google offers Blogger. My own preference is Blogger – too manydetails to explain why here.

Making Money

Although Blogging started out as a simple way for people to express themselveson the Internet, entrepreneurial types soon started to look for ways to makemoney from Blogging, and Google encouraged them by allowing people to placeadvertisements on their Blogs. Google’s advertising program AdWords chargescompanies money for placing adverts on the search pages, so if you had acompany manufacturing hovercraft, and wanted your website to be on page 1 of search results for the search term “hovercraft”, too bad, all your competitors alsowant page one position. The position that websites achieve is complicated, but tobeat the system, people paid Google to advertise through the AdWords program.They agreed to pay Google money everytime someone clicked on their smalladvertisement, perhaps 20 cents per click. Google then decided to pay money towebsite owners who agreed to place adverts on their websites through contentadvertising. This program is called AdSense.For reasons I don’t understand, website creation seems complicated, but makinga Blog through Blogger is far easier. To get started earning money, just sign up tothe AdSense program, and using Blogger, it is easy to make a simple one pagewebsite to place adverts on – Google have really smart programs that place anumber of adverts on your Blog to mirror the sort of stuff you write about. If youwrite about Hovercraft, they place hovercraft adverts on your Blog page.Blogger allows you to add simple gadgets on your Blog page, so I usually deletesome stuff and add other stuff, I add a Tell a Friend button to allow visitors to myBlog to tell their friends about the Blog to spread the word around. I add atranslate tool, that translates my Blog into many different languages.

Overcoming technical hurdles

What if you found all this technical stuff too complicated but still want to writeand get paid? The best promoters are not necessarily geeks who make websites.Now it is possible to get free Blog sites, free scripts and data capture forms toallow you to work as an affiliate. An affiliate is someone who gets paid forpromoting products for companies. Some companies who run affiliate programssupply a free Blog site with an ID form that allows potential customers to contactthe manufacturer or supplier directly so you don’t get involved with the salesprocess. The data capture form sends an email to their database, which identifiesyou as the source, the promoter responsible for the sales lead. If the personfilling in the form buys the product, you get paid commission. Depending on theaffiliate program, you might get peanuts or $500 or more depending on theproduct. Hovercraft are a good example of a niche product, with not too many