Get More Blog Exposure and Make Money

There is a new site called Yearblook, which is an ongoing contest to find the best blog posts. At the end of the year the winners of the contest will be included in a book that features the best blog posts for every day of the year. Rules of entry are explained in their FAQ:

How it works

• 1. Bloggers submit their posts - using the simple form here
• 2. Readers cast votes for their favorites
• 3. We run an algorithm to figure out which is the best post
• 4. The best from each day is added to the book

Each month, the post with the most votes will also win $100. So not only do you get exposure to your blog, but you also have an opportunity to make money for your posts.

This can be a great opportunity to get recognition for what really counts - the quality of your content. There are many contests for design and SEO but not for content creation. Hopefully this will help reward the bloggers who have been working hard at what they do.

Give Advice and Make Money on E-Notes

Enotes, the popular learning resource for students is constantly hiring new contributors to their site. According to the introduction on their editor application, they are looking for contributors to do the following things:

* Answer questions from students and teachers in our Question and Answer areas.
* Moderate and contribute to discussion boards.
* Contribute original content to our study guides and lesson plans.








They don't state how much they pay on the website. I have used the question and answer section for research a few times in the past. I have been given good advice from the contributors and every contributor was professional and thorough in their responses. Therefore, I assume that they are comfortable in what they are making if they are putting so much time into their responses. (More pay usually equals better service, right?)

For everyone who loves academics and enjoys giving advice this is also an opportunity to do something that is fun. They have various topics you can contribute to - literature, science, law, health, and history just to name a few. So you can find the topic you enjoy and give advice in that field.

Four Places to Sell Your Art Online

There are so many artists today that it can be hard to distinguish yourself and make a real income. However, selling artwork online is easier and more flexible than it has ever been. There are now dozens of sites that will host your art while helping you to promote yourself. Here are a few that have stood out to me because of their good site design, high traffic, and quality of art that is hosted:













Art Break - In my opinion this is one of the best sites to sell your artwork. Sign up is free and you get a virtual store where you can host your art. They host everything from oil paintings to screen printed t-shirts. They charge a 7.5% sales fee when a transaction between the buyer and seller is made. All other profits go directly to you.












Etsy - Etsy is one of the most popular art sites, bringing in thousands of buyers every day. They sell mostly crafts and clothes on the site, but there are also opportunities for painters and drawers. It is free to set up a store on Etsy and they often feature artists on their home page. They charge a 3.5% sales fee which is considerably lower than most other art sites.

Ebay - Ebay has the largest market of buyers for arts and crafts online. It also has the largest number of artists selling their work. It can be a competitive place, but there is still room for new artists to emerge if they have the talent and dedication.

Before you set up an auction you should look at popular artists and find out what they are doing right. Look at the titles and descriptions of the auctions, the categories they put them into, and the starting bids and bidding trends. This will give you an idea of what works on eBay, and how you can also succeed.

Boundless Gallery - Boundless Gallery is newer and has less traffic than the previous sites I mentioned, but it struck me with its clean design and high-quality artwork. Its design lets the customers chose by color, size, and price, and its high-quality graphics showcase the art nicely. They charge $5 a month for hosting. Right now they are having a trial-period where you can set up a store for free.

Please excuse the look of my blog...

The custom template I had on this blog for a few months is now giving me an error and keeping people from accessing my site.

This apparently is a pretty big problem lately, after looking through the Blogspot groups I saw at least 10 others who are having this problem. I think it's about time to switch to Wordpress.

So I'm going to see how it works out for now, if it doesn't get fixed soon I will be switching to Wordpress. Thanks for your patience.

Design Wordpress Themes For Money

I have been a member of the webmaster forums Digital Point for about a year, and I've seen hundreds of different ways people make money on there. One of the most profitable ways is designing Wordpress themes and selling sponsor links on the footer.



While I don't condone selling links, I don't condemn it. I think selling sponsor links on Wordpress themes is great for both parties. You get money for designing the theme and the link buyers get an unlimited amount of links from anyone who uploads the theme to their blog.

The themes that make the most money are the ones that look the best. Some really good themes will make up to $90 per link. An average looking theme will usually get between $15-$30.

To make the most money you should come up with an original design that has mass appeal, then post it on Digital Point with 3-4 link slots for sale. Usually there are 3 sponsor links for sale and one designer link, all in the footer.

After selling the links you should promote the theme to popular Wordpress theme sites. Here are a few examples:

http://www.themetube.com
http://www.wpskins.org/
http://themebot.com/

You can find similar sites by doing a Google search for Wordpress themes.

The amount of sites you promote to and the originality of the theme will all factor into how much money you can make. This can be a fun and creative way to make some extra cash and to test your marketing skills.

Publish Your Books Online - For Free

There is a great little site called Lulu that offers free self-publishing to everyone who signs up. It's similar to Cafepress in that you make your own products on the site and sell them through your online store on Lulu. The difference is that Lulu only deals with books - whether it be novels, text books, art books - even calenders.



When you sell on Lulu it's up to you to get the sales for your books. They don't distribute the books to major stores, they just print them and ship them out when a book is ordered off the site. This service is free to everyone, they just take a percentage of the book's cover price to cover the costs of shipping and printing.

If you want to make money selling your books on Lulu you should probably have a blog or another way to get your name out there. By setting up a blog people can sample your writing and it will give you a platform to promote your book.

If you really want to get your word out there you can take advantage of their marketing services, which includes press release services, advertising, and public relations, but keep in mind that their marketing services cost money and there are many free ways to advertise online.

If you are very serious about your writing and plan on making it your full time job, you should look into traditional publishing before you set up an account on Lulu. However if you want a hassle-free way of getting your word out there without the costs of traditional publishing, Lulu is probably the way to go.