Blogging (or setting up your own website) is a key to maximizing your potential to earn on the internet. For one, your blog can be a means to refer other people for survey sites, Paid-to-Clicks, and other paid-to-refer sites. You can also use your blog as a store where you can display Amazon, eBay, and affiliate products where you can earn commissions for every successful sales. Another use for your blog is to serve as your portfolio.
Getting a free blog. For a free blog, you can sign up at Blogger.com. You will get your own subdomain in the following format: your-domain.blogspot.com. For the free blog, I would prefer Blogger because you can display advertisements and make money from it. On the other hand, a free WordPress blog (the one you sign up for at WordPress.com) looks good but they don’t allow you to monetize it.
Getting a self-hosted blog. If you have the money (about $10 per year) to buy your own domain name and pay for the hosting, then I would recommend setting up a WordPress site. You can download the WordPress CMS on WordPress.org. Note that WordPress.com and WordPress.org are different. WordPress.com allows you to have a free wordpress subdomain, while WordPress.org allows you to download and set up your own WordPress site free from any limitations. I find that having your own domain helps to get more visitors to your site easily. But if you can’t afford it right away, you can rely on a free blog from Blogger for the meantime and save up to get your own domain.
Get Paid to Advertise. You can use your blog to earn from displaying ads. See the Make Money from Advertising article for a list of opportunities.
Get Paid to Write Articles. Some opportunities pay you for writing about certain events or companies online. You place the article on your blog and place a link to that opportunity. You can earn $5-$20 per 200 word article (and for very popular blogs you can earn $100-$500). See the Make Money from Blogging article for a list of such opportunities.
Get Paid to Refer People. Paid to Click sites pay you for referring people to them. You earn everytime your referrals participate. Many survey sites also pay you for referring people. To learn more about these opportunities, see the Make Money Referring People article.
Get Paid to Sell. Earn commissions by placing products from Amazon or eBay. You don’t have to have any product yourself, all you have to do is place the code from Amazon or eBay which will automatically display products related to your blog. You earn from 20% to 70% of the total product price. You can learn more about these opportunities on the Make Money Selling Online article.
Use it as your portfolio. You can use your blog as your portfolio or online curriculum vitae (CV). This will feature your skills and any previous works you have done to increase your chances of getting a job when you apply for Local Jobs or International Jobs. Refer your prospective clients to your portfolio.