Each day many blogs start for the purpose of making money.  While I try to put content ahead of any form of advertising, I feel that you should get something out of the hundreds of hours you spend writing posts, administering your blog, and networking with others, not simply new comments or new relationships.  

Advertising on blogs is expected to increase dramatically over the next several years, so there will be more cash being dispersed, which isn’t always a bad thing.  You need to know how to effectively harness the power of those advertisers and use your own knowledge to draw upon those potential “money makers”.  Many of these steps aren’t directly related to increasing earnings, but 

1. Place ads higher on the page or where more more visitors are likely to click (whether the advertiser paid a monthly fee or you placed text links - Google AdSense, etc., which generate a said amount per click).  Reports have found that visitors typically only click on the top one or two links in any list - search results, advertisements, etc.
2. Create an advertisement page that is easy and clear for potential advertisers - including page views, RSS subscribers, price per month, etc.  When visitors see this, your site comes off as more professional.  Link to this page either in the header, below the advertisement panel, or in the footer.
3. Don’t start out your blog with too many advertisements.  It comes off as spam to people who would normally view your site as a resource.  If you do start adding advertisements to your blog from the start, make it a gradual process.
4. Find other forms of monetization other than AdSense or private ad selling.  Some of the biggest ways blogs earn today are from consulting or outside, but still somewhat blog-related sources.
5. Keep a constant stream of new content flowing onto your blog’s homepage and RSS reader.  Not only will search engines recognize your site as being more active, but readers want to be able to read a new post at least once a week.
6. Use the -more- tag to separate longer posts, which will, in turn, lead to more page views and potentially more advertisement clicks, especially if you place them below the single posts.
7. Change the appearance of your blog - clean up your sidebars, rearrange content, or install a new theme.  All of these may lead to a more pleasing experience on the end of your visitors and in turn, visitors will recognize your site as a brand more often, returning, and purchasing products you may be promoting as an affiliate.
8. Do more blogging activities yourself, anything from creating your own logo to building backlinks.  By doing it yourself, you are reducing the amount you have to outsource your work to other people/companies and you are able to save this money, use it to build your company/blog at a later point, or spend it on something you want/need.
9. On the aspect of goals, don’t let certain people (in the form of negative comments, nasty emails, etc.) stand in the way of meeting your goals.  If you need to increase advertisements on your blog to keep up with monthly targets, do it.  It is your blog, after all.
10. Finally, on a long-term approach, keep track of the spending you are doing and where your earnings are going.  Keeping good tabs on your income/expenses will allow you to save money and spend it where it is really needed.

This was a quick and short breakdown of ways to increase your blog’s earnings.  If you are not “in it for the money”, then you can simply avoid this post.  However, a significant number of people starting their blogs want to profit from them, so these tips can be used to start you off on the right path.

GoSquared launched a new advertising that focuses on a beautiful interface, site information tools, and reputation that the site has built.  The advertising program has been tested and redesigned throughout the past two years so that it simply makes sense for its users.

GoSquared lets mere mortals advertise, and sell advertising online.. A Square is 19,600 pixels of advertising space shown across a growing number of popular Sites. Never before has it been this simple, or this elegant to get seen, or earn money on the internet.

If you are looking to attract new advertisers or wanting to expand your advertising campaign, this may be the perfect opportunity for you.  

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Hyder, from Weborithm and Everybody Go To, has announced an upcoming release of WP Auctions, which is a free standalone plugin for WordPress users. It enables them to set up auctions on their own blogs and create an alternative revenue source to the bigger auction/product selling companies such as eBay and Amazon.

The plugin was developed by Owen, a “pro” PHP writer who has developed several WordPress and Firefox plugins in the past, and the person behind Weborithm has over six years of web experience behind it in fields such as web design, freelance writing, and blogging.

Today, beta invites were started, with fifty selected from the pool to be provided a download link by Friday for the plugin.

The Concepts and Benefits

• Bloggers will receive more traffic and money - WP Auctions will help you (eventually) get traffic when the official announcement is made about how the traffic service to your product will work.
• Freedom and Flexibility - Any product can be auctioned - advertising space, paid reviews, you name it. There are absolutely no fees involved. You are hosting your own auctions so you can edit, delete them, and end them whenever you want, all from your own admin panel.
• Other Key Features - Visitors can subscribe to your auctions by RSS; Currencies can be switched between USD, Euro, Yen, and GBP; Notifications can be made when bids are placed; and, finally, you can delete fraudulent bids.

WP Auctions Preview 

What makes this plugin more unique than most of the others out there is how it integrates into your blog, the fact that it’s completely free, and the thousands of ways you can use the plugin to maximize the revenue and traffic stream from your blog.

View more information about the pending release.