Blogging for $

As I mentioned in previous entries, I added Google ads to this blog. Every click on an ad and I get a little kickback. :) Now, I don't feel this is begging. I would never make enough money that way to quit my day job or something. I host my blog for free here on Blogspot.com. I pay for my online journal space at diary-x.com all on my own, but d-x has free accounts with no strings attached. I also pay for my writing.com portfolio, but again, the site offers free accounts with some limitations.

This CBSNews article talks about some of the biggies in blogging and what kind of money they make from their blogs. A lot of those sites have Paypal buttons or other ways to give money to the author. I suppose a lot of them ask for money in order to keep their domain name or site hosting. But, don't they feel it is begging?

I was on one site the other day that charges access to post and read in its forum. However, you could view a certain number of messages, but you could not respond to them, and after the number was up, you couldn't get past the sign-up page. (I can't find the link, or else I'd post it here.)

I remember reading about sites like savekaren.com (or whatever that site was where that woman was begging for money to leave her husband or pay off her credit card bills) and thinking how stupid could people be to actually send money to the site owner. People did send money, though.

Maybe blogging for dollars won't make them rich, but they are getting paid for their writing--sort of. No one should write for free, but to make a blog successful, you need a theme, good writing, and that je ne sais quoi that keep readers coming back for more.

I guess I'll always be poor. LOL