Yes, you can...but you will need to work hard.

You will need to treat it as a business, just as in the offline world. To do this you will need to put in the work, write fresh unique content..on a consistent basis.

The methods of monetizing your blog are many and varied and they include..

1. The first and simplest way is to sell advertising.

This can be done on a geographic basis or on an industry/niche basis. For example if your blog is location/geography specific you may approach local or national companies only and offer them advertising slots on your blog for a fixed monthly payment.

To succeed at this you will need readers to consume your content. Just as in the offline world and newspaper or media advertising you need to get traffic, visitors and eyeballs to your site..consistently. The better socio economic group you can attract the more you can generate from your advertisers.

2. Adsense is another form of advertising which you don't have to sell..it is provided by Google and should be relevant to the content of your blog. You simply sign up to Google for an adsense account and place a snippet of code on your site. Google will do the rest. Whilst the money is not great it is simple and easy to set up and can be a decent moneyspinner if you have a number of niche blogs and scale up.

3. Another very popular way to make money with a blog is through selling affiliate products..whether physical or electronic. You simply sign up to Clickbank or Commission Junction, place your affiliates products on your site and drive traffic to it..either through SEO or Pay per Click (which can be expensive)

4. Sell your own products, whether physical products or downloadable information products such as short reports or ebooks. This is the ultimate goal when you establish yourself and you can start off by selling short reports and building up to writing and selling your own ebooks. This may sound like a daunting task but remember  that the knowledge and experienct that you have obtained in your lifes experiences can help other people who are in the place now that you were in 20 years ago.

5. Selling your blog..this can work well if you have sound, verifiable statistics of consisten traffic and page views over a period of time. Again you need traffic and this is a recurring theme throughout your internet activities.

The lifeblood of any blog or online business is traffic. Just like in the offline world in, for example, retailing you need 'footfall' and the online equivalent of footfall is page views and visitors.

These are just 5 common methods of how to make money with a blog. You need at the outset which system or business model that you intend using.

And don't get distracted with the various offers you will come across promising you a fortune (unless you buy a lottery ticket and are incredibly lucky)

You need to work hard, work smart and stick to your business plan.

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