As we all know, the Internet has spawned a huge new industry of journalists known as “bloggers” who daily write and publish opinions and news in every imaginable niche.

Web logs, or simply “blogs,” give the author a public soapbox or microphone from which he/she can express, educate, instruct, inform, sell, comment, advertise, or do just about anything else that can be done on a regular web site.

Some authors of blogs have gathered quite an audience and engaged large crowds of daily viewers. Anytime a captive audience is involved, shrewd business minds come up with ways to monetize the experience.

Because blogging is so new, there has not yet been much written about “blogging for dollars” but that will soon change.

Here are the ways I have seen blogs attempting to generate income:

1. Through Google Adsense and other PPC advertising mediums. The blogger is able to serve pay per click ads on his blog site that are contextually related to the topic of the post. Google (or whomever) then pays the blogger a small fee (commission) every time a viewer clicks on one of the related ads.

2. Display and banner advertising. Some bloggers that are able to garner significant traffic to their site are able to charge a fee for the ads placed on the blog site. It’s a simple strategy that regular web sites have used for years.

3. Direct selling of products and services. Like any other web site, a blog site can be used for selling goods and services to the viewers.
A powerful technique for the blog author / product seller is to blog about a common problem and include in the post a recommended solution that has worked well for the author.
“Oh, and by the way, the paid solution is available for purchase right now by clicking on this link.”

4. Affiliate sales. Many bloggers include their own affiliate links (usually as text links) right within a blog post so that readers will have access to the products the blogger talks about.
This is an effective strategy since the author is not making a “hard” sales pitch that alienates the reader. He is simply recommending a valuable resource to his readers.

5. Paid authorship. Some bloggers receive a writer’s fee for every post they produce. Generally these “hired” guns are simply freelancers trying to earn a little money for their time and skill applied in writing.
The blog may be part of a network of other bloggers in a niche or it could be a company owned property that is seeking to generate traffic to its business.

6. Freelancer contributions. A few bloggers are attempting to receive income in the form of donations by the readers that go right to the blogger via PayPal or another processor.
There is not much documented evidence on the viability of this model, but it may be another income stream that can be added to the current strategies for revenue that some popular blogs are able to implement.

7. Membership blogs. Just as in a regular subscription web site, a blog can be locked behind closed doors. Members pay for the right to access the private information.

They are charged a recurring monthly fee in exchange for a user name and password that gives them access to the blog.

I’m sure there are other income models that I have not seen yet. If you know any of them, why not post a comment here so we can add other strategies to the list?

Most marketing experts will tell you that they go to great lengths to try to draw the prospect into a sales pitch.

If he remains on the “outside,” so to speak, he will not be affected by or overcome with the emotion, motivation and sense of urgency that marketers try to build into their sales presentation.

One of the many and best ways marketers draw prospects into the sales dialogue is to use the word “You” often in their content so the reader begins to feel like the message is directed right squarely at him. The dialogue is personal and engaging.

“You will receive these benefits when you buy the product…”

“You will save time and money when you sign up for our service…”

“You will look ten years younger and you will have more energy than you ever dreamed possible…”

“Imagine what you will feel like when you cruise into town in your new convertible…”

“You can kiss your money worries goodbye when you learn our investing secrets…”

But there’s something else very powerful about the word “you.”

Believe it or not, many folks get very little recognition and acknowledgement in their daily lives.

No one “strokes” them, flatters them, or praises them. They are not used to seeing their name in print. They crave a certain amount of attention and notice.

All of a sudden, here comes a sales letter with a big “You” in the headline and lots of other “you’s” throughout the copy.

To some people, it’s like seeing their own name printed in a flattering gossip column. All eyes are on “you” and the copy is talking all about you and how great you will feel and how beautiful you will look simply by purchasing this wonder cream before midnight tonight.

You, in these instances, suddenly changes from the generic pronoun to a very specific and real individual – You! It’s no longer describing a faceless John Doe. You refers to the actual reader, Alexander Sirkeckovic, or whatever your name is.

Good copywriters understand how to engage their readers in the dialogue.

Every question they ask is aimed at getting the reader to answer, even if only in the mind.

Every benefit they mention and every dream they describe is directed at the mind of the reader.

The narrator wants you to imagine yourself on the beach relaxing to the sound of the waves lapping at your toes. He wants you to visualize yourself 50 pounds leaner and able to jog up and down the hills without tiring.

His job is to force you to feel the security of having a million dollars in the bank, or the pride of sparkling white teeth that everyone at the party notices.

Have you ever wondered why the Internet marketing gurus tell you to focus on the benefits rather than the features of a product in your sales copy?

Now you have the answer! Benefits are visualized by customers as happening to them when they are drawn into the picture. The customer visualizes how he will be thinner, stronger, younger looking, or enjoying the gorgeous model at his side once he buys the product and puts it to use!

Features are boring product specifications that are hard to get excited about, emotional about, or personally involved with (if only a dream in the buyer’s mind.)

You are the target of the sales message and if the copywriter is good, you will have a hard time keeping yourself out of the dialogue.

Buying trends emerge online over time to give business owners, product developers, and marketers clues as to the kinds of things that sell and the strategies that perform best in putting the products in the hands of the customer.

One trend that many have noticed of late is the attraction of “simple and easy” with regard to online purchases. It seems that the public prefers to buy products that are easy to use, easy to understand, take little or no set up or skill to activate, and that are simple to maintain.

Why does this trend seem to be so prevalent? Is it that the population is generally lazy? Do we not have the time to worry about learning to use and care for things? Are there better uses of our discretionary time?

In the information age, that is only just beginning, the challenge that we all face seems to be the overabundance of data and the length of time it takes to sort it out and prioritize it to make some sense of it all and turn it into useful and practical decision making ammunition.

The sad truth, it seems, is that most people would prefer to have both “thinking” and “doing” tasks removed from their plate altogether.

Why spend valuable time and energy learning how to recycle home waste and then force the family to go the extra mile to sort garbage and maintain a compost pile when you can simply buy a pickup load of manure and have it delivered to you and spread by someone else for a fee?

Why take the time to learn how to play the piano when you can just pop in a CD and listen to all the piano music you like?

Why go to the effort of making dinner for the family when it’s so convenient to stop in at Wendy’s and have everything handled by someone else?

It’s so simple and easy and convenient to have everything done for you. Just pay the man and he’ll take care of everything.

This same philosophy or mindset holds true online as well.

I don’t want to take the time to learn graphic design and HTML. I’ll just pay a firm to get my web site up and running.

I don’t want software that enables me to send a weekly message to my mailing list. I’ll just hire a firm to draft and distribute the message for me.

Are you kidding? Do my own taxes? No way! I pay the accountants to handle all that stuff for me.

If you figure out how to do something valuable for the consumer, without any intervention required on his part, you will have a “hot” product in the making.

I think this mindset is partly responsible for the popularity of online step-by-step instructions for important tasks. Customers want to be led by the hand, be told where to go, and exactly how to do something.

They don’t care to be confused by facts, or be required to think in order to solve a problem. They just want to pay someone else to expend the effort to get the thing completed.

Laziness? Simply a lack of time to be involved? Priorities (i.e. by having something done for me, it frees up my time to do something else that’s a higher priority for my time)? Lack of interest in learning a new skill, technique, art, process, etc?

I don’t have the answer – I would imagine that some or all of the above apply in most cases.

What I do know is that if you are struggling to find a niche business idea, the key may be in identifying some task or procedure that many people need but don’t want to do themselves.

Figure out how to do this thing for them (through software automation possibly), charge them a reasonable amount, give them great service, and you will most likely have a winner!