The other day I posted what could possibly be described as my pontification to save your soul from the evils of contextual ad networks on your Personal Blog.  So with online advertising budgets estimated to grow 10 percent on a yearly basis through 2010, what about the Personal Blogger‘s “piece of the pie”?  I there a way to do it without placing a value on your Personal Blog, and therefore placing a value on your Personal Life?

The Personal Value of the Personal Blogger to Others

It is my firm belief that Personal Bloggers blog with a purpose.  We put ourselves out there, our personal lives for the world to read, in some hope of finding like minded people who we can relate to as they can relate to us.  There are those who will argue that Personal Bloggers are just using their blogs as a stage for self-validation, self-justification, or as a way of grabbing the attention of others for their self-morale.  While I can understand that argument and why Personal Bloggers can be perceived that way, I don’t necessarily agree with it to be the truth.  Everyone can find value in what others have to say.  Whether it be something that inspires, makes you think, provides a new view on something, or acts as an illustration for something you don’t want to be or become, there is a value in that for you as a reader.  Personal Bloggers primarily blog about personal experiences they have… because that’s really what differentiates Personal Bloggers from a non-Personal Blogger, isn’t it?  Whether it be about going to a restaurant, deep frying foods, or going shoe shopping at the mall, the experience and opinion of the blogger does in fact matter to those who read them.

Looking for a solid article on Personal Blogging as opposed to my boring crap?  Rachel has an awesome Personal Blogger Resource list that pretty much sums it all up.

Tried, True, Tested

The greatest weapon a Personal Blogger has in their arsenal to instigate change and raise awareness is the tried, true, and tested power of the word of mouth.  Need an example?  Starbucks Coffee.  For years Starbucks Coffee spent zero dollars on advertising.  They opened a store, provided stellar customer service, a solid product in unique packaging, and through word of mouth their brand became one of, if not THE, best known names for coffee.  There are now 171 Starbucks Coffees in the island of Manhattan alone whereas 15 years ago… I don’t think there was even one.  Need a more local, closer example of this type of power?

While many people may not realize this, Avitable posted about the 2girls1cup video LONG before every other person was posting about it.  I know that I myself sent a link out to that video to six people in hopes of disgusting them as I had been.  I’m sure those six people sent it out to at least six people with the same purpose.  So on.  So forth.  Viral marketing.  Buzz marketing.  It is all, when stripped of the pop slang and funky rhetoric at the its very base, the power of word of mouth.

The Power of Word of Mouth with Affiliate Programs

So how can you make money off the value of your opinion while not relying on the pennies of the gamble of contextual ads?  Affiliate programs resolve a lot of the issues.  The two major sites I use is Amazon Associates and Commission Junction.  The reason I use those two almost exclusively is because Amazon pretty much has everything, and everyone pretty much uses it.  Commission Junction offers a one stop interface for a bunch of different affiliates which is alot easier than going from site to site to register and get link codes.

While there are many affiliates that will gladly have their ads in your sidebar, those are not necessary to join an affiliate program or use their links.  You can actually place the affiliate ad into the post where you talk about whatever it is that applies to them.  This allows you to mix affiliate links within posts where products or services are spoken about… and have the posts that are personal clean of advertising.  You can do your movie review on Monday with a link to the DVD, and Tuesday talk about something totally personal and not compromise the value of your life with an ad.  The trap most Personal Bloggers fall into when it comes to trying to make money this way is that they may very well end up recommending a service or product they themselves have not used.  Personally, I think this is dangerous since it may very well bring harm to the reputation of the blogger if the product or service they have spoken about does not live up to their words.

The Easiest Hard Way

The absolutely easiest way to get advertising dollars without compromising yourself as a Personal Blogger is to start another blog.  Really.  I in fact have two other blogs that have been monetized.  One of them was in a partnership with someone I used to go to high school with, and has fallen into complacency as neither he nor I really have the time to maintain it.  The other is in fact Cereal Wednesday.  When I originally bought the CW domain, I’ve always had the intention of using it as a platform for a monetization experimentation.  I mean really, if you read the About Cereal Wednesday page… you know it started as one big huge complete goof… so why not use it to experiment?  Personal Blogs are really not for experimentation.

Now before you jump into registering a domain name and setting up a hosting account, I need to tell you this will NOT be an easy thing to do.  I have spent MONTHS if not YEAR(S) reading and trolling through the archives of different bloggers who actually blog about how to make money as a blogger.  These guys have actually done it, so with any new venture I think you really need to do your homework.  Here’s a quick reference list to get you started:

NYCWD’s Blogs About Making Money By Blogging Reference List:

ProBlogger- written by Darren Rowse from down under who also runs Digital Photography School which is how I found him.  Darren in fact provided ALOT of the insight for me when setting up CW.  Everything from the 125X125 buttons on the left hand side, to the prominence of subscription options, and the value of affiliate programs over contextual advertising come from his lessons.  His most recent post Six Defining Moments of a ProBlogger I think is a fantastic timeline of not only how he developed into what he became today, but a great illustration of what makes money online.  The fact he discovered early on that no one had looked at his vacation photos, but hundreds had read the review of his digital camera is as clear an example of marketable content (a review) vs. unmarketable content (personal photos) as I can ever think of.

ShoeMoney- written by Jeremy Schoemaker is by far the most personal business oriented blog I’ve read.  He does not make his money off blogging per say, but he has made quite a bit using affiliates and even received a $132,994.97 check from AdSense.  His blog documents how he did it, specifically when it comes to organic SEO.  He also has an awesome feature, where people send him t-shirts and he wears them in a photo every Friday.  I just the idea of someone sending me a free t-shirt.  I don’t need that check… I just want the shirts.  One day… one day…

Daily Blog Tips- written by a team headed by Daniel Scocco provides exactly what the title suggests… blog tips daily.  The tips they offer though I find can be used by ANY blogger.  I especially like their category on Blog Design, because all the greats agree, design does matter.

Skelliewag.org - authored by Skellie, this blog is about one thing… content.  She blogs about creating better and more enticing content.  While it is relatively aimed to enhance a monetized blog, there is no reason a Personal Blogger won’t find her useful.  In fact, the third item in her How to get 1,100 subscribers in 5 days article is in fact connections with other bloggers.  Personal Bloggers excel at this part of the blogosphere… and that is evidence that it is indeed worth something.

Conclusion

Isolating affiliate links to product/service specific posts is definitely a way to keep your personal life clean from the taint of the corporate monger.  The question is, does it really work?  To be honest, I don’t know.  Most of this is theory based on what I have read and seen elsewhere.  Alot of your own success will depend on what it is that you choose to affiliate yourself with and your readership tendencies.  To choose wisely, you need to know not only your readers… but yourself.  Then, and this is the hard part, be true to it.

However, I should tell you that I will be embarking on my own Easiest Hard Way very soon using everything that I have learned from the blogs I have listed above.  Even if I don’t make anything on it… I think this will be alot of fun.