...you see blogging as a good opportunity to drivetraffic to your website, convert traffic that's already thereinto sales, or just because you feel you have something to say.If this sounds like you, then of course you're going to jump atthe opportunity to get paid for something you'd do for free. Whowouldn't? And if you're a freelance writer looking for work,you're probably going to jump at the opportunity to: you write,you make money. What could be simpler?Well, the paid-to-blo...

...g business isn't quite that simple,unfortunately. You see, you're technically not being paid toblog. What you're doing is blogging on someone else's website,and being given a share of the Google Adsense profits your postsmake - in most cases, 50% goes to you, the rest to the web pagepublisher. Still sound good? It may well do. After all, on the Internet,content is king. There's good money to be made from GoogleAdsense (the program whereby you displays Google adverts on yourwebsite and are paid every time someone clicks on them). Isn'tthere?Well yes, there is. But in order to make money from blogging onan Adsense site, you're going to need to be able to do more thanjust write. First of all, you're going to have to be able toidentify a niche to write in. This can't be just any old niche,either: it has to be one which you can churn out content on, dayin, day out - and content which people will want to read. You also have to know how to drive traffic to the content youcreate. On the paid-to-blog sites, some of the traffic isalready there: but in order to make real money from this type ofwriting, you'll need even more traffic than that. Where are yougoing to get it? What do you know about internet marketing?About driving traffic to websites? What do you know about searchengine optimisation? You'll need knowledge of all of thesethings if you want to make money from blogging - and even if youhave that knowledge, you'll still need the energy and enthusiasmto blog every day.Say you have all of that. What can you make? Theoretically, there's no limit to what you make. There arepeople out there making a very nice living from blogs andadsense. There are even more people, though, who aren't making acent. Realistically, you're much more likely to fall into thatsecond group. So, is blogging for money a great freelancewriting opportunity? In a word, no. Blogging networks are great places for peoplewho'd like to make a few dollars per month doing somethingthey'd happily do for free anyway, or for people looking for alively blogging community to join. They're not for seriousfreelance writers who want to make a living wage from theirwriting.Still want to make money from blogging? Find a corporate giantwho needs someone to maintain their blog - and is willing to payfor it. Save the paid-to-blog network for your free time.