If you want to find a way to earn money on the internet but you’re just getting starting, you can setup a free blog. If you’ve been making money online for a while or you have the means to reserve a domain, find a host, and setup your own blog, I don’t recommend using the free sites.

However, there are some advantages to setting up a site on a free platform first:

1. You can make sure you enjoy blogging on the topic without spending your hard earned money.
2. Test the idea and see if you can develop an interested audience. If the idea is a good one and your traffic increases, you can move the blog over to its own site.
3. If you decide not to go through with the idea, you didn’t lose any money.
4. A great way to hone your blogging skills without losing money.

Choose a Blog Platform

Once you come up with the idea for your blog, your next step is to choose a blog platform. Here are some of them:

• http://www.livejournal.com/
• http://www.blogger.com
• http://www.tumblr.com
• http://www.wordpress.com

Of these, I like blogger the best because of the ease of use. Plus, it is simple to install Google Adsense ads and they don’t frown on promoting affiliate programs and putting ad buttons and banners throughout the side. Wordpress.com doesn’t even allow Adsense.

Write Content for Your Blog

If you want to make money with the blog, you need to learn how to write content that people will want to read. Just think about the articles and blog posts online that you like to read and mirror the style. If you write something you won’t read, chances are other people will have trouble reading it, too.

Come up with a list of topics relating to the subject of your blog. For example, if you’ve started a blog on dog training, you may feature stories of dogs who have been successfully trained as well as tips and techniques for training them.

Ways to Make Money With Blogs

The next step is to figure out how your site will make money. Most bloggers use more than one method. From the list, I use two of them - Adsense and marketing affiliate programs.

• Get Paid to Blog (Advertising). Sites like Smorty pay you to blog. All you need to do is sign up, wait until your blog is accepted, and then complete the offers. The advertiser will usually give you a link and some instructions on what to write.
• Pay Per Click Ads. You can build an entire blog to promote programs like Google Adsense, Adbrite, or the Yahoo ad program. When someone clicks on the link in the ad, you make some money.
• Internet marketing. This is where you promote products on your site. You can either use affiliate programs or create your own products. It’s up to you.
• Get advertisers. It is also possible to secure your own advertisers. Set your ad rates based on various factors such as page rank and how much traffic you get.
• Donations. It’s okay to put a donation button on your site. Some people may like your content and give you a few dollars.

My advice to you would be to select one or two methods and see how they work for you. Learn about how to make them successful and give it enough time to work. If it doesn’t work, move on. If it does work, figure out how to make even more money from it.

Also Chandra in the comments brought this to my attention - I forgot to mention it in the article. In addition to setting up the blog and figuring out how to monetize it, one needs to spend time on promoting it and building its popularity. You can comment on other people’s blogs, participate in forums, and do article marketing - to name a few.

Want more information on how to make money with blogging? Blogging to the Bank is my favorite resource. Ever since I’ve bought it, I noticed a difference in my profits.