With Internet job opportunities in full swing and the state of the economy in decline, many people are expressing interest in earning money online. There are many ways to do this from the comfort of your home. One way is blogging.

According to Wikipedia, the definition of a blog (a contraction of the term “Weblog”) is a Web site, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video.

Some bloggers just journal or blow off steam about whatever cause they are passionate about. These types of blogs generally do not make a lot of money. There are two ways to blog in order to make money. One way is to inform or help readers with a problem. The second is to review or discuss products.

To get started you have to select and research a topic. The easiest way is to choose a niche topic and write several articles concerning that topic. Your knowledge and/or interests can be a great source for niche topics for your blog.

Now there are a million and one ways in order to research a topic. The world wide web (hehe!) offers vast amounts of information at your fingertips and a way to gain personal knowledge through forums and chats. Your local library also is another source of great information and research. Do not forget your family, friends, neighbors, and your own personal knowledge. Information is all around us just be open to it because it just might be your next post.

After you research and write your article on the chosen topic, you need to publish. Blogatize.com is a new and great place to start. There are other blogging websites that you can use to search for blogs, such as problogger.com.

There are two main ways to make money on a blog. The first is AdSense by Google. AdSense places ads on your blog, (look to the left). This is a free program you just sign up for an account and create unit codes. Google will walk you through the process. Another benefit is that Google will place ads on your blog using your niche topic. This will help generate clicks. You receive compensation for the number of clicks and per thousand ads shown.

Blogads connects you to advertisers who place ads on your blog. You sign up for an account with them.

The second way to make money blogging is affiliate programs. You place a link to websites that sells products. If someone makes a purchase through your link, you receive a commission.

This is just the tip of the iceberg on marketing your blog. We will go farther into marketing in another post.

Marketing your blog can take some time. I would give it at least 3 months of blogging to see a good amount of traffic.

Blogging is not only a way to make money but can have other rewards as well. Seeing your words in black and white can let other ideas flow and you may be surprised at your own thoughts. Also the satisfaction of helping others, I hope with the help of this bog to show others how to make an income using their talents, skills, or ideas.