Blogging is a great way to make money working from your home, even if you’re an old hippy like me. All you need to get started is a desire to make money, a willingness to work for your money and access to the Internet.

Of course Internet access will only get you online, you are still going to have to do some learning before the money starts rolling in or before you start writing anything.

So it’s important I point out the fact that blogging for profit does take work but also that it is so worth investing the time it takes to learn. how to start a work from home blog that’s profitable.

Step One – Learn How To First

My biggest blunder when it comes to my online business was taking so long to decide to learn how to make money online. Don’t try to wing it hoping it will work for you as it will most likely just frustrate you. So the biggest mistake in marketing is NOT LEARNING FIRST.

Learning how to start your work from home blog for profit has to start with more than just a desire to make money. It will take some niche research so you can be sure you’re going to be blogging for profit in a niche you can rank for without working for years to do it.

Know right up front that the vast majority of those who try to make a profitable blog never actually make any money. This in my mind makes it vital that you learn how to succeed with a blog before ever writing a word.

First steps first …

How To Find A ‘Profitable’ Niche

Finding a profitable niche is important if your goal is to make money blogging but no this that most niches are profitable. The trick is to find a niche you can profit in which means a niche you can stick with long enough to make money.

It’s really not the niche that’s not making money, it’s the blogger who isn’t making the money, yet so many other are able to make money in that niche. Why is that?

Your Niche Has To Keep YOU Interested…

… long enough to get traffic that you can keep interested long enough for you to profit. Get that right and you may just have a winner.

Take the time to match a niche with your interests and you can go far. On the other hand pick a niche you think the money but don’t have a strong interest or experience in and you could be spinning your wheels for a really long time and never make any head way or income.

Where To Look For Profitable Niches

One of my favourite places to look for niches I can profit with is to head over to Amazon.com where I can find best sellers in every category. I just start going through the categories that I have hobbies and interests in.

Amazon makes it so easy to find products in niches I like and from there it’s all about finding the keywords and phrases that I can create a profitable blog with.

Enter A Niche You’re Knowledgeable About

I suggest one niche per blog so you can stay focused on one topic to help you gain ranking for your pages easier. Get too many topics in one blog and it’s hard for the search engines to narrow down what your site is about.

There is a number of methods used today to get content on ones blog but if you have a niche you have know-how in you will find creating your own content the best way to go at the start.

As I started to gain momentum and ranking with my blogs I began receiving request by guest bloggers. They wanted to write content for me, at no charge, how cool is that. Today I have blogs I seldom need to create content for as guest bloggers are giving me all the content I need to gain in the rankings and make money with my blogs.

Although I have some how to make money working from home blogs most of my blogs are hobby related like my fishing, gardening, acoustic guitar, and puppy potty training blogs.

Researching Your Niche Choices

Okay, you’ve found a few niches you’re interested so now it’s time to learn more about the competition in these niches. You don’t want to go for a niche that’s going to take way too long to rank for. However that doesn’t mean you want to avoid that niche.

Every niche I work through my blogs was hard to rank for when I wanted the top keywords but I didn’t go with the top keywords as my main focus. That would be blog suicide really as the competition for the niches I have are strong.

Instead I use tools to help me find the best keyword for me to use NOW, TODAY.

I started by using Google’s Free Keyword Tool, easily found with a quick Google search but once I had the money to invest I purchased two keyword tools that make my research a breeze. The two keyword research tools I purchased are Keyword Elite and Micro Niche Finder, you can check them out for more info.

Next Step Is A Keyworded Domain Name

Now if you are here and haven’t purchased a domain yet I’m proud of you as your domain name is an important step in having an optimized niche website. Example: which domain name do you thing I would get better ranking for as a home gardening blog, www.hbb2obm.com or www.backyardgardeningtips.com.

Well both those are my blogs and both are about gardening but the keyworded domain, which was started a year after the non keyworded domain is getting more than a thousand unique visitors per day over the non keyworded domain and is making considerably more income for me.

I use GoDaddy.com for all my domain purchases and highly recommend them. Learn how to purchase a domain on GoDaddy.com here.

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I know I say it far too often but the opportunity to work at home and make money online is so cool, as long as you’re willing to learn what’s needed to succeed, first. There is really no doubt that the Internet is one awesome way to earn extra income.

The real key to making money online is to find something that you’re knowledgeable about and if you love it, even better. It works for me in a number of niches that I can’t get enough of.

The thing is you need to love some that people spend money on. Loving walks in the park may not make you much money, however loving something like home gardening has potential as millions of people today are turning to gardening to save a bit of money.

Do You Have Typing Skills

When you put typing skills together with the Internet you have so much potential. If you also have the ability to write well you can be unstoppable.

Typing skills gives one the opportunity to make money typing for others:

• Data Entry Jobs
• Medical Transcription
• Freelance Writing
• Create PLR – Private Label Rights Articles

You may want to also check out Legit Online Jobs for a great opportunity.

Article marketing today is a great way to promote ones links and pages. It’s how I make my living actually and I’m not even a fast or accurate typist. I really have to use spell checking and grammar but I get the job done.

I Work Affiliate Marketing

So if you are like me and don’t have the best typing skill you may not want to look for ways to make money as a skilled typist however that doesn’t mean you can’t make money. My typing skills are not going to win me any awards as I use the backspace key far too much.

Instead of focusing on sites that pay for content I prefer to have my own sites and work with affiliate marketing in the areas of my hobbies and interests.

As many years as I have been typing I haven’t increased my accuracy or speed so I made a choice and learned about online marketing and affiliate marketing so I make my money today promoting other people’s products.

I have two places I make most of my income, 1) Amazon.com, and 2) Clickbank.com.

Amazon has so many categories that it would be tough to talk about something without being able to find something to promote from Amazon. Clickbank has 10s of thousands of digital products available for your visitors that you can earn money promoting.

Now I don’t have a passion for writing but I do have many passions that I write about and affiliate marketing makes it worth my while. When I am sharing fishing stories I link to books and products from Amazon as well as relevant ebooks from Clickbank.

Getting Traffic To Your Business

If you’re like me and already have a business you may want to take it online and start directing traffic to your business. I make money online directing people to my computer instruction and web design business locally.

Now you’re likely thinking you’re going to have to learn how to build a website or hire someone and maybe that’s not in the budget at this time. We all know times are tough. So…

… go with a blog. This way all you need to invest in is a keyworded domain name and a place to host your new domain. From there I would go with a WordPress blog.

I use GoDaddy.com to buy all my domains and for my hosting needs it’s HostGator.com all the way.

I stick with GoDaddy for my domains because they are affordable and I’ve had only positive experience there. The same goes for HostGator, they have only helped me and of course are affordable for the beginner marketer.

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Doesn’t it just get under your skin a bit when no matter what you do you can’t compete with your competition. Well cheer up. I’m hear to share how I managed to get a few steps ahead of the competitors in the niches I work.

I spent a long time figuring out how to compete with the top sites in my niche but today, using the Micro Niche Finder I have done it. Now my keywords occupy that top position.

Micro Niche Finder helps you spy on your competition. This way you’ll be able to see exactly how they get their rankings. This will give you all the info required to pass them in the search engines.

Know Where Their Backlinks Are Coming From

Just in case you’re not aware of it backlinks are the backbone of your page rank. The key to quick and powerful ranking is to find authority sites in your niche and get back links from those sites.

Using Micro Niche Finder has helped me by showing me where the top sites are getting their backlinks which gives me a great place to start looking for my backlinks. This feature alone is worth every penny you will pay for Micro Niche Finder.

Using Micro Niche Finder Is So Easy

I don’t always do well with software and tend to get frustrated with it. I purchased another keyword tool and even though I do well with it today it took me way too long to learn how to use it.

I gave the Micro Niche Finder a try and was so impressed that I was able to use it on my own after only a couple of hours. It’s a great keyword and niche tool that you have to take a look at Micro Niche Finder, today.

You Will Thank Me Later!!

There is no longer a need to spend hours and days researching niches of interest, like I did myself for the first couple of years I was working my online business. I have nothing against free tools like Google’s Free Keyword Tool they are all I had for my first few years.

I am so glad those days of time consuming keyword research are over thanks to my copy of Micro Niche Finder.

Download My Research To Excel

I love using Excel spreadsheets so it’s pretty cool that I can download my research results as a CSV file I can use directly in my favourite spreadsheet. This helps me to find the right keywords and make more affiliate income.

Finding the right keywords is how you make money online today and Micro Niche Finder does for me in record time.

When I started my web design business I didn’t do SEO because it was too time consuming and I was making a lot of money without it. However once I learned how to use Micro Niche Finder I offered my new skills to my existing clients and now their sites are doing so much better for them.

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Having the opportunity to work from home to make money blogging, whether it’s to make a few extra bucks or full time, it’s awesome. It’s how I make my living today.

I can get up when I want, no daily commute to the office or day job. I take my breaks when I feel like it and if I want I can just pick up and go fishing to clear my head.

Learning How To Work From Home

Discipline: The fist thing one needs when deciding to work from home is discipline. It’s great to say you are your own boss but that comes with responsibility. If you don’t work and learn you won’t make much money and that will be the end of your work from home business.

Learn First: Learning to make money online is different than just having a job it takes skill. Don’t leave just yet, it’s a skill that most people can learn. I learned it at age 47 and trust me I’m no genius and only have a grade nine education from way back in 1969.

You Need A Computer And Internet Access

This is going to work a lot better if you have a computer and Internet access. You don’t want to be going to a neighbour’s home for this or the library for that matter.

The Clickbank Marketplace Ebooks

I learned the Internet marketing ropes nearly a decade ago and the ebooks I used back then are out of date today so I won’t waste your time with those ebook names.

My suggestion is that you spend time or invest time on the Clickbank Marketplace. Clickbank has thousands of ebooks and many of those are about making money online.

First, are you sitting down? Okay, the fact is not all marketers are completely truthful when writing reviews. The reason, they want you to buy the products they review. So I would suggest you read multiple reviews so you have a good ideas of what’s true and maybe not so true.

What Do You Need To Learn?

Three things that have helped me make money working from my home are:

• Internet marketing, so you learn how to make money
• affiliate marketing, so you have lots of products and services to promote
• ebooks and resell rights

Start Small, Get It Right And Then Grow

It’s almost the end of 2011 and I have a variety of sites which are mostly blogs. I worked hard to get where I am today and for a guy that’s turning 60 all too soon I am quite proud of my accomplishments.

My advice for those just starting, start with just one niche and one website. I tried going big right from the start and found I spent way too much time back tracking trying to figure out my mistakes. With a single niche and site I would never have gotten so lost.

Now I am not saying you can’t grow your business bigger, just start small and get all the kinks out first.

Learning Is Investing Your Time And Money

Ebooks on Clickbank are affordable but not free so look at this stage of your business as an investment of both your time and money. The time you invest in learning first will pay you back for years to come.

There are two reasons I recommend Clickbank. 1) because you will find a variety of ebooks on the subject of how to make money online, 2) if need be you can get a refund, guaranteed by Clickbank.

Is It Really Worth It?

Right from my heart the answer is YES, It is so worth it.

Note you will need to work and dedicated to what you are doing. I prefer to make money with my hobbies and interests as I can keep my focus a whole lot longer when it’s something I enjoy.

I do have a few blogs I started in niches I have no interest in, just looking for the money. I quickly found I ran out of content because I wasn’t familiar enough with the niche but worse than that I started losing any interest I had in the niche.

That makes it really tough to keep the site up to date with quality content. I have since dropped those sites and now focus on what I can keep my interest level high with.

Today I make money in the following niches, fishing, gardening, playing acoustic guitar and local travel in our province. I have a couple of make money sites as after years of online marketing I now have things to share in the how to make money niche.

Okay enough talking it’s time to head over to Clickbank. Find the ebooks that will help you learn how work at home to make money online. Be sure to find something you can stay focused on.

I would like you to return here and let me and my readers know how you are doing.

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You know it’s a whole lot easier to make money with affiliate marketing than many believe but it does take the right action for the best results. Even the little work from home marketer can do this and make money.

I utilize article marketing along with affiliate marketing to make money online. How much you make will depend on how much effort you’re willing to put into affiliate marketing and the goals you have set.

Clickbank Marketplace Is The Place To Learn More

When I am learning something new I head over to Clickbank so that I can look through the Clickbank Marketplace to find the exact ebook I need to learn how to do something. Don’t worry about purchasing an ebook that’s poor quality because you can request, and receive a refund and then get another ebook.

Most people today, whether a big player or not, use banner advertising to make extra income. For me personally, I love using affiliate banners as well as affiliate text links on my sites and in blog posts. I also include a few affiliate niche related advertising banners and links on the side bars of my blogs for my readers to see while they are reading.

Where To Start With Affiliate Marketing

For those of you who are only just now learning about online marketing it’s going to be important to find affiliate programs with products available for your niche. For most niches you’ll find plenty affiliate programs and networks to choose from.

When I am searching out new affiliate networks and programs I use a Google search to help me locate them. Here is the way I construct my search criteria.

Using quotes I put in my niche, like: “puppy house training”, next I put a space, then a plus sign. Immediately after the plus sign I again use quotes to add the phrase affiliate program, or affiliate network. So the resulting search text would look like the following:

“puppy house training” +”affiliate program”

I would do the same thing for my fishing related niche.

“bass fishing” +”affiliate program”

For me blogging to make money is just article marketing which includes affiliate product links and is a pretty cool way to make a living, if you’re dedicated. It’s a business you can start in your spare time and could grow into a full time business like it has for me.

Where To Start With Online Marketing?

Internet marketing has become a global phenomenon today. It has a very strong appeal in a world of collapsing economies. It’s an opportunity to make a living in places there are just no jobs. All one needs is a computer to access the Internet and you have the potential to earn a living online as an affiliate marketer, like myself.

As for myself I’ve found it’s best to stick with what I know, although since starting my online business I have learned many things that have allowed me to earn more money from my work at home business.

Let’s start by creating a list of things you know that could potential help you earn money. So, what’s your talent or skill? What do you love to do that you could make money with?

STOP!! Don’t POO POO On Your Ideas

It’s important that you do not start knocking things off the list because you don’t feel you can make money. Most people will think they don’t know anything that will help them make money online. Well they were wrong and you will likely be wrong as well. So just make a list of your talents and skill.

Carry a pen and paper around with you so you can jot things down as they come to mind. I found that I took about 2 weeks and I was still coming up with things I enjoy. Just couldn’t think of them all at one sitting.

As you build your list of potential money making ideas you can start looking online for ways to make money with those ideas.

What?? You’re Not An Expert, That’s Cool

I have to make a confession. I am not an expert in any niche I market to. However I do make money with affiliate marketing. After saying that I do know stuff about the niches I promote to.

Affiliate marketing doesn’t mean you have to be an expert in your niche but it helps to know your niche because there are so many in each niche that do know their niche.

Share Experiences Makes Money

I love fishing, gardening, my dog, cooking, traveling and so many other things. I also found that people love to hear stories. The thing is they love to hear stories about things that interest them. That’s where niche marketing comes in. You only look for traffic from those who are interested in what you are saying and offering.

Example: Yes I really do love going fishing. I don’t own a lot of fancy fishing equipment. I have never been in a fishing tournament, heck I don’t even own a boat or a canoe. I do own a float tube that I love fishing from.

The thing is, even without top of the line gear I usually win the day because I pay attention to everything around me. Even my fishing buddies lamb jokes.

How do I make money in the sport fishing niche? I share stories along with pictures and of course I include affiliate links to the things I am talking about in my blog posts. Always remember a picture is worth a thousand words so use images that compliment your article.

So if I went fishing on a cloudy rainy day while the water temp was 54 degrees and caught fish using a Red Devil my readers want to know, everything, so they can duplicate my success. This quite often means they follow my affiliate to purchase products I used fishing that day and I make money.

Making money through affiliate marketing is actually quite simple, until you try to complicate it.

Personally I share stories about my fishing adventures or whatever my niche is about. Even though I am not a very talented writer I like to share my days of fishing as stories and that works for me. I just share truthful information about my niche that can help my readers do better and they click and follow my affiliate links.

Write, Link And Publish Niche Articles

So you start an affiliate related site and create quality and focused articles with affiliate product links now what?

At this point it’s important to get links pointing back to your pages. So start writing quality articles that match the content on your pages and link those articles to your important pages.

Now you could do what I did for the first few years I was affiliate marketing and that is to write and then rewrite your articles so they remain unique and then publish those unique articles to the top article directories.

Also start guest blogging, always use unique articles.

Article Spinning To Gain Backlinks

I just said that I used to write all my articles by hand but today I have more niches than I could keep up with if I continued writing and rewriting articles manually. What I do now is use The Best Spinner to rewrite my articles.

I also use many articles written by others through a variety of free sites. The thing is I reject more than 90% of the articles because they are crap. The resulting crap articles are a direct result of using article spinners, the wrong way.

I can not stress enough just how important proof-reading and spell checking your articles is if your goal is successfully earning money online. Personally I read every article I publish and if it doesn’t read like I wrote it I’m going to reject it.

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