Keep in mind that content is key.  Converting a free blog into a money making blog is a long difficult process, but one that you complete by putting the work in.  Make sure that your blog has an attractive and visually appealing template.  Something that makes a user feel comfortable, and that allows your blog to be easily read.  A safe bet is to use cooler colors, as they are more calming, instead of anything too vibrant.

Your writing will also need a little bit of an upgrade as well.  You’re not just writing for yourself anymore, you’re writing to get people to find your blog and remain interested.  That means you have to write concise, not overly long, and entertaining entries.  Let your unique voice and personality shine, and make sure not to write entries that are too long.  Readers want to be entertained, but long articles can leave most doubting whether or not they want to read what’s written.

From there you should be able to steadily build an audience.  You want to pay attention to traffic and the amount of time the average user is on your site.  You can find resources for this through services like Google’s Analytics.  See what content inspires interest, and try and build on your good stats by writing to those strengths.

Now you should be ready to make a little money.  Use programs like Google’s Adsense, and look to websites like Amazon.com which offer payment for affiliate links.  Through these you can start earning money off the traffic from your blog.  Just remember, the longer you keep someone on the page, the more impressions and likelihood of clicks you’re going to get.  You want as much as possible of both.  With grabbing headlines and engaging content, you should be well on your way.

A residual income keeps a steady sum of money flowing into your account.  This you can save for a rainy day, or spend as you need to, to keep the career going.  Residual income’s usually don’t earn as much as your mainstay, but they are a good supplement.

Think about the opportunities before you.  If you haven’t created a personal blog, you really should consider doing so.  It’s a good way to speak your mind, get noticed, and sell some ad space to make a little extra money.  Every writer should have a personal blog, and even if you don’t have the full time to invest, at least a simple blogspot.com one would suffice.  Combined with Google’s Adsense program, you can make yourself a nice little cash cow.

Try some seasonal opportunities.  There’s always someone out there looking for writers to write copy for season specific events, or advertisements.  Those are decent jobs that are fairly easy to complete, and they pay pretty well most of the time.  It’s a nice easy job that won’t detract from your main projects, but that keeps you writing, as well as earning.

If you have the sort of degree necessary, you could consider teaching other writers.  Many universities offer opportunities for independent teachers.  As long as you have the credentials, you can get paid for your time.  Plus you get exposed to new styles, and have a chance to communicate with other writers.  Now you’re not only earning some side money, but also helping your own writing to grow.

Should you leave your freelance writing that you enjoy so much and take some regular and more paying job? Or should you look for alternative source of income?

What you will choose from the given options depends on what is your priority. For me, the choice is simple. I would go for developing the alternative source of income. And I believe most of the readers of this post will want to do the same. Therefore, I will be talking about alternative source of income that you could develop to increase your income.

1. You can start an AdSense or any advertisement supported website.
2. You can write an e-book.
3. You can start a coaching program.
4. Become a corporate blogging consultant.
5. Create a team of writer and get bulk content done.
6. Become a content consultant

Your options are not limited to these. You can do many more things while continuing your freelance writing.

Once you’ve got your niche idea, you need a place to make a blog.  You can start your own by hosting the blog on your own server with your own web address, but this could be extremely costly.  The best idea is to go to a place like Blogspot, or WordPress to start out in building your audience.  Membership is free, and make the process of designing your blog as quick and painless as possible.

Now you just need to pick a good theme that invites people into your world.  This way your blog is visually appealing.  By being pleasing to the eye, people will be more likely to actually read what you have written.  Which is the other key to a good blog, good writing.  The writing is what people come to see, so make sure yours is worth their time.  Be informative and interesting, with a healthy dose of entertainment.  That’s the recipe for blog writing success.

Now you need to find a good program for putting ads on your site.  Most people go through Google’s Adsense, as it’s the easiest and fastest to use.  Adsense works by giving you money anytime someone clicks on an ad on your site.  You can earn anywhere from $.01 to $15 per click.  Ad placement is a fine art as well, so choose ads that relate to your site, so that people will be more likely to click on them.

From there it’s just about networking yourself.  Try and make friends with other people in the industry, as part of the success of established bloggers is through other blogs.  By making a network you benefit off of everyone’s traffic.  Through exchanging links with a blog similar to yours, you allow yourself to be noticed by the more successful blogs readership, affording you the opportunity to get yourself noticed.  The more traffic you can generate, the more chances you have for ad clicks.  So choose your ads wisely, and build that blog traffic!

Some of the things you need to watch for are e-books that claim to have the answers to all your internet riches, hopes and dreams, as most of them are just scams to get you to pay for something you don’t really need.  There isn’t any secret to using Adsense that isn’t either already available on the internet for free, or provided by Google themselves to inform you more about how to use the program.  Be wary of anyone that wants payment for helping you learn to make money on the internet, nine times out of ten the only way that person has learned to make money is by duping people into buying a useless book.

Don’t be lured by people that want you to pay for keyword lists that are reportedly able to increase your revenue and traffic greatly.  First off because Google offers their keyword information, and secondly because there’s no such thing as a magic keyword list that will net more traffic to your site.  Sure formatting your page to involve common keywords more effectively is going to drive your traffic, but there’s no such thing as a ‘magic’ list of keywords that are ‘guaranteed’ to make you successful.

And especially don’t be lured by anyone claiming to have the one secret to Adsense wealth, because if there was one little secret that could make you an Adsense millionaire, I sincerely doubt you’d scream it from the hilltops letting everyone know.