7 easy-to-make blogs that can make you money

Pardon the delay of this article, but we have recently been distracted (read: engrossed) by the Katrina Halili – Hayden Kho sex video scandal that we forgot to finish writing this. Anyway, that issue has already peaked so we now focus on the next best thing after sex. Money that, is.

Our first make money from blogging tip: if you want to earn from blogging, don’t “blog.”

To make money, don’t blog?

“Blogging,” for most people, is about writing stories they want to tell – be it about the latest trip to Boracay, a review of the Star Trek movie, or just plain ranting about the boss or the work.

Several bloggers who write these things do make money from blogging. But not all of them earn a lot from it. The problem is that the stories they are sharing usually have a limited audience. On the internet, if you can’t attract a good number of visitors, you can’t expect to earn a lot from your blog or site.

Make money blogging without exerting much effort?

The blog is a platform – a platform that can be used to communicate almost anything. If you want your blog to be a money-making machine, don’t use it primarily as a platform for your loves, hates, rants, or raves – stories which probably very few people will appreciate. Use your blog to deliver content that millions of people, including those in other parts of the world, will find worth reading and re-visiting.

How then can you make money from blogging without exerting a lot of effort? Instead of writing stuff that will purge the last of your creative juices, create blogs with profitable niches but are NOT difficult to do.

7 Easy-to-Make Blogs that can make you money

What are some examples?

1. Fan Blog

This works even if you’re a paparazzi-type fan of a celebrity or a die-hard car fanatic. To earn money from a fan blog without exerting a lot of effort, don’t waste your time creating lame analysis or critiques. If you can’t write a la Us Weekly or Car Magazine, try doing a Perez Hilton. Simply get an interesting photo, manipulate it or add doodles, then add attention-grabbing captions.

You can also scout the net for uncopyrighted celebrity photos, then compile them in a “Celebrity Sightings” section of your blog. You can also embed interesting videos which you can get for free from YouTube.

Same thing goes for a Car Enthusiast Blog, although you might have to do it with a more serious tone. You can have a “Cars Just Launched!” blog by copying and pasting official press releases of car launches. Add photos and videos usually provided by the company. To provide “value,” include car comparison charts which you can find in Consumer Reports or in other car magazines. Just make sure you don’t scrape or plagiarize.

2. News Aggregator Blog

This is probably one of the easiest blogs to make. You get stories from traditional media, rephrase it a bit or put an interesting twist so as to make the post “fresh” or “unique.” You earn from the ad clicks of visitors, so the key thing here is to post stories that a lot of people are searching for online.

There is money to be made here as we see in Mukamo.com, Starmometer.com and DailyContributor.com which are news aggregator blogs that rank high in the Top Philippine Blogs list. Just make sure you properly credit your source so you won’t be guilty of plagiarism.

3. Collection-of-Sorts Blog

With a “collection of sorts” blog, what you create is a compilation of interesting (usually funny) text, photo or video content which you can get for free from various content sharing sites.

Examples of this would be:

• Text Collection – inspirational quotes; funny jokes; funny text messages (as in PinoyJokes.net and Textmates.blogspot.com)
• Photo Collection – weird or funny print ads; funny pics (as in FailBlog.org and Engrish.com)
• Video Collection – funny, weird, or scary videos; best TV ads (as in FunnyPlace.org)

Where would you get content? Funny jokes can come from SMS message you received or some joke you heard on TV or radio. Interesting photos can come from uncopyrighted pics on Flickr, Photobucket, or Webshots or you can also solicit contributions from your readers. Best videos are easily available on YouTube and other video sharing sites.

Just a reminder, make sure you are not violating any copyright before republishing content on your blog.

4. Lyrics Blog

A lot of people love to sing that’s why they search for the lyrics of a song online. Ride this trend by creating a lyrics blog. To differentiate your blog, you might want to post the lyrics of a song that is about to be released or of an old song that is difficult to find the lyrics online. Add to your post a YouTube video of the song to have “richer” content. If you want to monetize your lyrics blog further, sign up as an affiliate in Amazon or iTunes and offer downloads of the song or album.

5. Board Exam Results Blog

The announcement of the results of a board exam usually triggers a surge of searches for the exam results. Exploit this by creating a board exam results blog.

The key factor here is to optimize your post ahead of the announcement date so that it will appear on the search engines weeks or months prior to the announcement. Don’t make a post on the announcement date itself. That’s because you lose income from visitors who visit in anticipation of the results. More importantly, it might be too late before your newly-created post will appear on search engine results.

Prior to the announcement, simply state that your post will be updated once the results are out. Then properly update it upon the release of the exam results. Where to get the list of exam passers? From the Professional Regulatory Commission (PRC) site or from Inquirer.net or GMANews.tv.

Examples of local board exam results blogs include PRCBoardExamResults.com and PhilippineBoardExamResults.blogspot.com.

6. Exam Reviewer Blog

Alongside your Board Exam Results Blog, create an informational blog that will help future examinees prepare for the board exam. Now, this might require a bit of effort because you will be talking about your experiences. If you still have your old reviewer books, you can repost sample exam questions on your blog — as long as it does not violate the book’s copyright. You can even sell those reviewers online! That’s one more way to make money from your blog.

Sample exam reviewers blogs: NursingCrib.com and BeatTheGMAT.blogspot.com.

7. Law Blog

Don’t worry, this law blog won’t entail you giving legal advice to people. All you have to do is repost text of actual laws on your blog. That’s not difficult to do. These laws are publicly available, which means there are no copyright constraints and you can easily get them from the websites of the Senate, the House of Representatives, or government agencies.

You can earn from it because there are a lot of people searching for copies of actual laws, and we’re not just talking about lawyers or law students.

In the Philippines, ChanRobles.com seems to be the preeminent source of text of Philippine laws, but does that mean your law blog can’t compete with it?

Make money from blogging without really trying

Of course, the seven blog types above are just some examples. What you can do to your blog is limited only by your creativity and innovativeness.

There really is money in blogging but it doesn’t mean you have to be a good writer or exert a lot of effort in order to earn. When blogging — even if you don’t have the best quality content — all you need is a niche market that is not yet saturated. Just make sure you offer something of value to your visitors.

All set to make money from blogging without really trying? Good luck!

Photo Credit: Getty Images