Well, now that we’ve all got our blogs up and running… it’s time to start thinking about… ah… MAKING MONEY.

The truth is, it can take YEARS to make money blogging. It takes time to start getting traffic. But, I’m of the opinion that you should start monetizing your blog right away. The reason why is, there is nothing quite like seeing your blog make money to motivate you to make it better and get more traffic — even if, at first, your profits probably won’t pay for a burger and fries.

The easiest, simpliest, quickest way to start “monetizing” your blog — geekspeak for “making money off of” — is to use Google Adsense.

For people knew to this, the search engine Google makes money two ways:

1. By SELLING ads through its Adwords Program; and

2. By BUYING ads (or, more properly, brokering ads) on people’s websites through Adsense.

Some people, like me, use both: I BUY advertising through Adwords and I SELL advertising through Adsense (although not on the same sites, a violation of Google’s dreaded Terms of Service).

It only takes a few minutes to get up and running with Adsense — and like everything else associated with blogging, putting Google ads on your blog comes down (once again!) to merely copying and pasting blocks of HTML code.

I have about a dozen blogs at the moment but only one or two are making me any real money through Adsense — but it’s starting to add up. A few months ago, I started making $10 a day through Adsense… then $20… now $30. My goal is to get up to $100 a day on a consistent basis or $3,000 per month.

One thing that REALLY make a big difference for me was using “Adsense optimized WordPress themes” for my blogs. My Adsense income literally TRIPLED almost overnight when I switched themes.

Here is a link to some cool “Adsense Optimized WordPress themes.” The one I like a lot is “BlueSense.” (However, I’m not sure if this is available through the free WordPress site.) I installed it on my hosted websites by FTPing the files to the server like I describe in this video here.  Here’s a little blog on natural cures I started that uses BlueSense (although I modified it to more like “Greensense.”  It really shows you you can change the colors to fit your blog and get maximum impact for your Adsense ads.

Once again, these Adsense-optimized WordPress themes are FREE!  Just download the file to your computer and then follow my instructions for uploading it to your hosted site.  Easy as pie.

Of course, you have to already have an Adsense account to make use of these themes.  Perhaps I will do a video on that topic soon.

Here’s what happened.

1. I noticed a charge for $72.21 for “Google Chest” on June 1. The telephone number on the charge was 1-888-526-1248.

2. I called that number and got a call centre. I think it was in India, judging from the accent. The very nice operator located the charge but said that she regetted she herself could not refund the charge. She gave me another telephone number for “corporate” and, she said, they could give me a refund. She did offer, however, to “cancel” my “account” — an offer which I happily accepted.

3. I then called the number the first operator gave me – 1-866-951-1406. This time I got a male American operator who said… I would NEVER believe it… but he was just a call center for a number of products. And guess what? The “new management” of Google Treasure Chest just switched call centers within the past 24 hours. Imagine that? Alas, he did not have the new number of a new call center… but… I could call him back in a day or so and he may have it then. I could also try checking on the GoogleTreasureChest.com website to see if they have a new Customer Service number.

So: It looks like I’m out 72 bucks, folks! I’ll see if my bank will reverse the charges on what is increasingly looking like a pretty nasty operation… but I’m not sure if they will. This is what happens when you review Internet Marketing products. Every once and a while, you get a scam operation that doesn’t honor its own Terms of Service.

I had my first “live,” in-person blogging class Wednesday night – and it was a whopping success. The participants were friendly, eager-to-learn and asked lots of great questions.

But one question stood out: Why blog at all? Isn’t this just an indulgent waste of time? Who really cares what you think anyway? Is this “Myspace” for grownups?

I’d like to address that briefly from my perspective as a veteran copywriter.

1. Advertising Saturation. First off, we are living in a hyper-marketing world. New technologies have created a situation in which the average person is bombarded by between 500 and 5,000 sales messages every single day.

More and more, marketers are viewed as SCUM, unwanted guests who shove their way into our personal spaces and whom we want to avoid at all costs. We create strategies for filtering out sales messages – from TiVO screening commercials to spam filters for our computers.

2. Peer to Peer. What this means is that, increasingly, we are turning to peers or friends for our buying advice. If we’re thinking about buying a computer, we ask our friends which is better, not the sales guy at the computer store.

3. Making Friends. Businesses of all types are discovering, therefore, that they have go back to basics if they want to sell anything to people. They have to actually make friends with their prospects first… and only later sell them something. They have to serve their customers by providing them with quality information that they can trust.

4. Starting Conversations. And that is why blogging is increasingly a “must have” tool for all businesses – especially mom and pop operations but also big businesses as well. Blogs are designed to create two-way conversations. They allow readers to post comments on your posts – and you can interact with your prospects and customers.

5. Getting to Know Customers. Blogs allow people in a market niche to tell businesses what they REALLY want… as opposed to what businesses THINK they want. They allow businesses to GET TO KNOW THEIR CUSTOMERS, to make friends with their customers. They allow businesses to test out ideas and concepts in a low-cost way and see what their market thinks about them.

6. Peer to Peer Marketing. Blogs are easy-to-create, inexpensive and easy to modify. That allows small businesses to use technologies – including email newsletters, videos and mass marketing – until recently reserved only to big companies.

Bottomline: So, the bottomline is this. The reason why you should be blogging if you’re in business is that blogging allows you to identify, interact with and serve prospective customers in your market niche.

You can build an online business by dedicating yourself to SERVING a particular market niche – whether that niche is professional crocket players or knitters or Mixed Martial Arts enthusiasts.

You become a preeminent CUSTOMER of your own niche. You buy all the products that people want to sell to your prospects – and then you tell your prospects what are valuable and what are crap.

Do that… be a true and loyal friend to your market… and then, when it comes time to sell your market something, they will trust you and buy from you. You’ll have built up enough street “cred” so that your market will know you know what you’re talking about.

That’s why you should start blogging. Identify a market you want to be in. Step up and become a “servant leader” in your niche. And then start selling people what they really need and want.

P.S. If you haven’t started a blog yet, you can set up a free blog in under 2 minutes by viewing my introductory video here. If you’d like to get your own domain name and start a blog for business, you can start here.

There aren’t too many businesses you can run while sitting at the beach… but a successful blogging-based business is one of them! Of course, what people don’t tell you is that before you can sit on the sand and update your blog from anywhere in the world… you probably spent 60 hours a week in a windowless room getting your blog to do the things you want it to.

But the truth is, blogging is an entirely Internet-based business. That means that it is geographically independent. You can run your blogging business from anywhere in the world that has wireless Internet access. You don’t have to work in an office. You probably won’t want to actually blog from a beach, of course, because the glare from the sun… not to mention the distractions of beach life… may it difficult to read a laptop screen.

The producer asked me about my earlier review of the ads and products. But like some other TV people I’ve encountered, this producer seemed functionally illiterate when it comes to the Internet and computer technology. She kept talking about how you “put” ads on Adsense… and I explained that, no, Adsense is a system in which Google puts ads on your websites and blogs, not the other way around. Adwords is Google’s program for buying ads to promote your websites. I then gently suggested that, if CBS News is planning an “investigative report” into alleged Internet scams, they’d better first learn the difference between Adwords and Adsense.

Then, about a week later, I got a thin 5-x-7-inch cardboard envelope in the mail with the headline, “MAKE MONEY FROM HOME.” The return address was:

Google Treasure Chest
837 E. 9400 S Ste 233
Sandy UT 84094
866-951-1406 MF 9am-5pm
support@googletreasurechest.com

Inside contained a CD-Rom disc with the same headline, “MAKE MONEY FROM HOME: The Easiest Way to Make Money Online,” with pictures of falling dollars on it.

The envelope flap had a note:

“Welcome!

Are you ready to start working from home?

Congratulations on becoming a member of the most popular work-at-home community on the Internet. Each day, hundreds of people begin their own journey to personal freedom by working at home — when they want and how they want. We’re so glad to have you!

To begin your own journey, insert this CD into your computer and scroll through the various video, audio and e-books that will help you start making money from home right now. Everything you need to know is just one click away.”

When you insert the disk in your CD-Rom player, you see that it does, indeed, have literally DOZENS of ebooks… a bunch of flash video instructional videos… and programs and templates for Internet marketing. It appears to be a grab bag of ebooks available at other places on the Internet but some of them seem well worth reading, especially for beginners. Below are some screen shots of what’s on the disc (click on the image for a higher-resolution view and so you can read the names of the e-books better):

Here is a screen shot of some of the instructional videos available.  (You have to know how to unzip these files and view them on a Flash Video player.)

Once I went through the disc, I fired off an email to the email address on the envelope, thanking them for their “free trial” but insisting that they cancel so I would not be charged anything.  Here is my email:

From: Blog Classes
Sent: Tuesday, April 28, 2009 4:22 PM
To: ’support@googletreasurechest.com’
Subject: Please cancel trial membership.

 

Thank you for your free trial.

 

Please cancel my membership per the terms of your Terms of Service.

 

Username: bob@blogclasses.com

Password: XXXXXXXXXXX

 

Robert Hutchinson

 

P.S. A CBS News producer, who called me last Monday, is apparently doing a story about your website(s). They want to know if you honor cancellation requests as per your original “JoshMadeCash.com” ad.

My conclusion? It seems to me that “JoshMadeCash.com” actually does fulfill the underlying promises of its Internet ads — at least in the sense that they do provide you with dozens of e-books, instructional videos, templates and pieces of software that would be useful to people trying to learn how to make money on the Internet. However, they provide no guidance or help in navigating through all this material — and they do some sort of “bait and switch” by automatically signing up prospects for a “free grant” website that automatically bills you $24.87 a month. If I were advising them, I would say that, as soon as someone signs up for their “free trial,” they should get an email that says, “In about two weeks, you’ll get a cardboard envelope with a CD in it. This CD contains dozens of e-books, instructional videos, templates and software that will help you get started making money on the Internet. You will also gain access to our website with additional tools — for which you will be charged $24.87 a month for as long as you wish to continue. If you do not wish to have access to this website, simply click here, cancel and you will not be charged a penny.”

A note like that would provide complete honesty and transparency upfront and would keep “JoshMadeCash.com” on good terms with government regulators and out of the spotlight of news media like CBS News. Too often, these Internet marketers try to pull these semi-shady offers when they really don’t have to: the truth works just as well. There is enough material on the CD that they could just flat-out sell it for $24.95… or even $99.00… and avoid all the hassles of the phony “free trial” offer and the inevitable cancellations and complaints.

The headline said it all: “Would You Like to Make $5,000 or More a Month Posting Links on Google?”

Gosh, I sure would, Josh!

Then came the subhead: “Get paid $5 to $30 for every website link that you post on Google. No one needs to buy anything from you or Google in order to get paid. Weekly paychecks are sent & you can work from your home computer or anywhere with internet access.”

Get paid $5 to $30 for EVERY website link I post on Google? I wasn’t entirely sure what that means. With Adsense, you don’t post a “link” on “Google.” You post code on your website that then allows Google to run Adsense ads on your site… and you get paid whenever someone clicks on one of those ads appearing on your site.

Still, I thought I should check it out.  It offered a standard small trial offer ($1.97 “shipping” charge) and I assumed

that this would revert to some sort of monthly charge after the trial (I was right about that).  The pitch was that I pay $1.97 to try out their “Google Software Kit.”  All I have to do, the form says, is send for my Google Software Kit.. then “Use simple typing skills to fill out online forms”… and the result will be “watch the money come rolling in.”  Sounds good! Earlier, in his sales letter, “Josh” does imply that what he is selling is something that helps you make money with Google:

How to get started

Step 1: Go to this link, fill out a basic online form and hit submit at Google Biz Kit. Pay the $1.97 for shipping.

Step 2: Follow the directions on Google Biz Kit and set up a Google account. Then they will give you the website links to post. Start posting those links. Google tracks everything.

Step 3: Google will start sending their first check to you in about 48 hours. Or you can start to have them wire directly into your checking account. (Your first checks will be about $500 to $1,200 a week. Then it goes up from there. Depends on how many links you posted online.)

I figured this must be a VERY introductory course on Adsense since the sales letter talks about “setting up a Google account” and “they will give you the website links to post.” So, I filled out the form and waited to receive my “Google Profit Software Kit.”  Many of these Adsense products do come with sometimes-useful online tools or pieces of software that actually are worth the money.  I thought “Josh” must be selling something like that… some “tool” or website that made identifying profitable Adsense niches easier.  Something like that.

So when the email I was expecting arrived… I was shocked.  Instead of getting some software or a link to an online Adsense tool… I was directed to a bland website with seemingly generic information about applying for government grants and that had NOTHING to do with Adsense.  It appears that “Josh” is fulfilling his promise with a monthly recurring subscription to a website about grant-writing!

The email explains that, after my initial trial period, I will be billed automatically and monthly for $24.87.  Here is what they said:

Dear Robert Hutchinson,

Welcome to GrantSpring.com. We are excited that you have taken advantage of our risk free trial membership. This email is your activation email for our exciting new product - GrantSpring.com. Using your login information below, you will have access to a huge library of current, available grants. We’ll even show you how to write your proposal and give you examples to look at. The tools and resources provided in our website will help you with all the unknowns about the billions of dollars available to you.

To get started right now:

1. Click on this link http://www.grantspring.com

2. Enter the following information on the site :

Username: XXXXXXXXX
Password: XXXXXXXXX

---

Please read the following information:

We have processed your free trial request for GrantSpring.com and your account has been set up.

After the free trial period has expired, you will be charged the monthly fee, and all charges are subject to the Terms and Conditions listed on the site.

Your membership fees will begin on 05/19/2009, at which time your account ending in XXXXXXX will be charged $24.87.

This will be a recurring transaction, and your account ending in XXXXXXX will be charged $24.87 every month thereafter to maintain your membership.

To avoid being charged, you must cancel your account prior to the end of your trial period.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions for improvement, please contact a Customer Support Representative via email at support@grantspring.com.

We look forward to serving you!

Thank you,
GrantSpring.com
Phone: 1-888-247-2155
Email: support@grantspring.com

Well. I was disappointed, to say the least. I fired off an email to their customer support department, saying that I would like to cancel my membership. We’ll see if they honor that.

Needless to say, you have to be careful when buying Adsense products like these. There are some very useful products out there… but there are also products that won’t help you a bit when it comes to making money with Adsense.

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http://adsenseoverdrive.com

What I found was a very slick, very persuasive sales letter for Adsense Overdrive that kicked up the promised benefits more than a notch. I was particularly impressed by the “deck” copy: “Caution: This blueprint is so effective it may feel as though you are engaging in ‘blackhat’ tactics. Rest assured, every method is 100% legitimate and legal.”

So, as part of my campaign to buy every Adsense product I can get my hands on, I decided to check this one out. I clicked on the order button at the bottom of the sales page and discovered that this was a low-cost e-book that I would buy through Clickbank.

I was already a bit disappointed — what sort of “secret” formulas would I discover for $24? — but I went ahead and bought. What I got was a 50-page PDF with triple-spacing and almost no original information whatsoever. In other words: The company selling this e-book put all their money and effort into their very slick sales letter (great job, guys!)… and NONE into their actual product.

Put simply: this sucks!  Oh, yes, it does tell you some basic info… but nothing you couldn’t discover for free simply by using Google.  It’s 50-plus pages of triple-spaced fluff.  Don’t bother.