Making money with a blog is really not as hard as people think. The idea is simple, just like any other business, you have a product, you promote it, and make money. I made a 6 step process to monetizing a blog, and believe me, it’s EASY.

1. Pick a Niche. Before you start your blog, you HAVE to decide what it’s about. There are the obvious niches, with high competition, such as weight loss, dating, personal finance, etc. And there are smaller niches with less competition such as fan sites and certain medical issues (and I would give you some other ideas, but you would just take those ideas and no longer would they be low-competition…). Whichever niche you pick, you have to make sure you do your research and know what you’re talking about! It’s better to write about a niche you are interested in, because your best work will come out of it, and you will enjoy it.
2. Make Your Blog. You can use LiveJournal, Blogger or Wordpress. These are the most common blogging platforms (I prefer Wordpress). You will most likely need a host (try Hostgator, use the coupon code “wordpress” for 1 cent hosting on the first month!). Write 10-20 articles about your topic, find a nice theme (google “free ‘your blogging platform‘ themes and find a nice one) and schedule your posts to be about 6 hours apart.
3. Google and Affiliates. Google Adsense  is probably the most common ad service on the internet. Google automatically finds ads for you, using keywords from your site, and sets up a bunch of links which you get paid every time someone clicks. Also, find affiliate links. Use Clickbank, Commission Junction, or PayDotCom. Sign up as a publisher/vendor, and locate affiliates who are related to your niche. Look for affiliate centers on these sites for graphic banners, banners look better . Best part about these is that there is ZERO cost to you, and it MAKES you money!
4. Promote. Once you have 5-15 posts, use social bookmarking sites (www.socialmarker.com is a favorite) and promote a few of your posts to all of the social bookmarking sites. Make a facebook and myspace account, and spam post on other people’s pages about your website. Join forums related to your niche, and post some articles on ezinearticles.com. Look on Yahoo Answers for people who need help in your niche, and provide them with answers as well as a link back to your blog. Post on other people’s blogs who are related to your niche. You will see traffic come in like no tomorrow!
5. Update Your Content. There’s nothing worse than finding a quality site with no new information. Your information will get old, and people will need new content! Make sure you update AT LEAST 1-2 times a week, this will keep people coming back, and increasing a loyal fan base.
6. Make Your Own Product. Finally, hype up your own product (an eBook is common) and LAUNCH IT. Launch your own product once you have a loyal fan base in the hundreds. Say you have 1,000 people reading your blog about how to quit smoking, and people trust your opinion and advice. Say you release a quit smoking eBook for $40. Even if just 10% buy your book, you will have $4000 (100 x $40).

There are other ideas too. For instance, build a mailing list using a site like Aweber and you will be able to consistently review products and send it to people’s in-boxes. Monetizing a blog is not that difficult, it just requires traffic generation and numerous sources of revenue!

As podcasting gets more popular, more reasons to podcast are becoming evident. There’s no reason you should be stuck with an idea for a podcast. Here are 5 creative ways to use podcasts:

1. News. WikiMedia started using a podcast to broadcast its news bits. You can also release a weekly podcast with news bits. It does not have to be everything in the general media, it can be niche news. For instance, news just about community events, or about rock music, etc. Newspapers and traditional media are full of countless articles which take time to read. Starting a news podcast will allow the listeners to save time by only listening to the most important news, and just the most important facts!
2. Art. Not neccessarily a podcast, but as a vodcast. You can take videos of art exhibits and post them in a vodcast. Art is not limited at just visual art though, it is also music, drama and dance. You can have a vodcast of drama bits, like a different short each week, or clips of music. You decide!
3. Your Own Show. Whether it’s a radio show, variety show or a soap opera, you can podcast your shows! Imagine producing your own TV show once a week, and putting it up for a podcast download. How cool would that be? What about a podcast with just the top 5 music videos of the week? There’s TONS of show ideas.
4. Commentary. Battlerstar Gallactica has podcasts of commentary, why shouldn’t you? You can use clips of TV shows, movies, etc. and provide commentary or reviews. You can review these clips if you’re a critic, and your audience will grow if they trust your opinion!
5. Read For People. Many people are lazy, and would rather listen to a book than read it, or listen to the newspaper than read it. Do it for them! Read the newspaper for your local audience, or read the latest book (public domain book, obviously) and provide it for them! Then people can catch up on the news on their daily commute to work, allowing them to have conversation material for the water cooler!

The possiblities for podcasts are endless, it is all a matter of how well you make them and how unique it is!