How it works for you is simple. Job-a-matic allows you to create your own jobs board free of the need to install any software. You can solicit job ads via your website and you can set the price for each job lisiting you sell. If you have a highly targeted audience then it is likely you can can command a higher price from employers looking to reach them. The price itself is set by you and you get 50% of the asking price from Simply Hired. In addition, any listings you get are also seen accross the Simply Hired Network meaing greater visability for the clients.

get your job site
at simplyhired.com

To supplement your own ads, you can also display ads from the Simply Hired database so that your job board is always full and you get paid for clicks on paid job listings. In this case you get 30% of the total click price (which generally ranges from 30 to 60 cents).

Signing up was easy and i had created my own job board within 5 minutes at jobs.personalblogincome.com.au with my price set. The header, footer and colors of the job board are fully customizeable along with the ability to import your own logo and you have the choice of either using your own domain or their domain with yours in front (in my case it is personalblogincome.jobamatic.com as the technicalities of adding my name was beyond me. In addition Typepad users have the option of importing their template directly into their job board. You can also control the categories of jobs (technical, executive, etc) and the regions that the positions are located in (USA only).

For your website there are widgets to promote the listed jobs in the dashboard and includes code for Typepad, Blogger, WordPress.com, WordPress (self hosted version), moveable type and also for others.

Other features of interest is that there is a section that will create a large selection of banners for use on your site. For the statistics junkies, reporting details which lets you know all the vital stats and for Feedburner users you can also add a feed flare to your feed with “View my jobs” that links directly to your jobs page.

My advice is that while anyone can join, its likely to only succeed on high traffic niche type blogs. For smaller blogs by all means add it but its not necessarily going to make a lot of money. Find out more at Job-a-matic.

Allow me to introduce Adbrite, another good way to monetize your blog and it is appealing even to new blogs as you can get their ads showing from day one on your blog.

How does Adbrite Work?

Adbrite works by inserting a snippet of html code on your webpage which can serve any combination of the following ad formats:

• Text Link Ads - the advertiser can set the text that they wish to display in their ad in a text only format
• Banner Ads - a graphic in any of .jpg, .gif, ,swf (flash) and some format codes that are displayed where you select on your site
• Active Interstitials - a full screen ad displayed on the third pageview of your site which is shown only once per user per day
• Inline Ads - text links that appear only when the user hovers the cursor over selected keywords double underlined on your site. Right now it is also limited only to internet explorer ads

In addition anyone visiting your site can buy an ad directly on your site by clicking the “Your Ad Here” displayed with your site. Advertisers can also find your site listed in the AdBrite marketplace.

What kind of blogs can get Adbrite?

The Adbrite program is open to almost all blogs and websites accross a wide range of possible advertiser from family friendly through to adult and gambling related sites

How much do you get paid?

As with all advertising programs it can vary on a number of factors including your ad style, traffic and click throughs. Unlike a lot of other advertising programs the price for your ad is flexible and you can control the price per ad. And if AdBrite isn’t meeting your preset goals then you can also have it display ads from the other ad networks you use (eg Adsense)

How do you get paid

Payment is via check which are processed two months after the end of month you have reached the minimum amount set. By default this is set at $100 but you can change it to any amount equal to or greater than $5.

Do you have control of what ads are displayed on your blog?

Yes totally. You can set the category of ads suitable for your blog and also opt to display network ads targeted to your blog content. You can either auto approve ads or alternatively manually approve each ad before it is displayed. As mentioned above you can also choose which format(s) you wish displayed on your blog and set the size and even number of characters in the ads.

Can you use Adbrite along with other ad systems on your blog?

Yes. You do however need to consider program rules from other advertisers (eg Google) that may exclude certain formats of Adbrite.

I have in the past used Adbrite with some success and indeed one of my dead blogs i no longer write to is still making money through both text links and Interstitials. In addition the ads running currently under “sponsors” in my sidebar are provided by Adbrite.

If you would like to sign up with Adbrite please click the button.

1.Identify your time stealers If you can identify what is taking so much of your time away from what you should be dealing, then you can take steps to minimize their effects on your time

2.Learn to say no. They can be time stealers or it can be something else. But sometimes no matter what everything is not possible and you have to learn to say NO before you end up in over your head drowning in the tasks at hand

3.Create a daily schedule of what needs to be done. It can in itself serve as a time saver as when you finish tasks and need to move to the next one there is no thinking about what needs to be done next. Achieving your goals on your schedule can in itself be motivating and encouraging to get the other tasks done

4.Learn to prioritize. Its all well and good to have your daily schedule but you also need to prioritize that list to get the most important things done and posted.

5.Don’t be a perfectionist. Making everything completely perfect is admirable but sometimes the quest for perfection can take more time than the value that you gain from making it perfect. Sometimes good is good enough

6.Schedule burst time. Burst time is a time that you can set aside free from other distractions and just work on something, nothing else. Perhaps it means going somewhere where you will not be distracted or interrupted or it might be as simple as taking the phone off the hook, closing email or the messenger program.

7.Combine Several Activities. If you can combine several activities at the same time as it can be a more efficient use of your time than trying to fit everything in one after the other. It might be listening to that podcast while you work or for me I catch up with dvds i haven’t otherwise. I used to laugh at the guy that got on the bus at the start of the route and opened his laptop straight away and went to work, now i realize that he was just applying time management principals to his bus ride.

8.Schedule Rewards. All work and no play makes you a dull blogger. Blogging like everything else can be hard work and for motivation and incentives its important to set yourself time off to unplug for a while or to get that item that you have been wanting.

9.Evaulate After you have been trying to manage your time for a while, evaluate how you are going, what is still distracting you and how you can improve things. The time taken to evaluate can be time well worth spending.

Whilst i have written this orientated towards bloggers, at the end of the day you can apply time management principals like these to just about any part of life to get the most out of everything.

Good luck managing your time.

How does Adsense Work?

Adsense is a contextual advertising system where you add code to your blog which allows google to analyze your webpage and provide ad topics on the contents of your pages. So for example if your page is on cars, then it is likely you will receive car related ads. In addition adsense comes with other ways of making money which includes a site search tool (as seen in my sidebar) and referall tools where you can make money from people clicking through and using Google Products.

What kind of blogs can get adsense?

Just about all blogging platforms can get adsense. However on some ad supported free platforms you may not be able to utilise adsense. Google also has some criteria as far as site behavior and content that may restrict eligibility for some blogs.

How Much do you get paid?

There is no easy way to answer this as it depends on a whole lot of factors including subject, traffic, click throughs, ad format displayed, advertiser bids and more. Top blogs can by their nature make large amounts of money monthly from their adsense ads.

When do you get paid?

Google will pay out earnings once they reach $100 via electronic transfer or check which is sent within approximately 30 days of the end of the month your balance reached $100.

Do you have control of what ads are displayed on your blog?

With adsense you have some control over the style of ad that appears as you decide what format, size and color scheme for your ads. You can also exclude competing publishers from displaying their ads on your site.

Can you use Adsense along with other ad systems on your blog?

Yes. Google has restrictions on other advertisers that their ads can not be styled to look the same nor can the google ads be placed too close to misleading pages but as long as there is no confusion then you can have multiple advertising programs on your blog.

If your not an Adsense publisher then you can sign up now for their program by clicking the button:

How do Text Link Ads Work?

By inserting some code and activating the plugin for Text Link Ads, they are then activated on your blog. The beauty of the system is that they already have a pool of advertisers looking for places to advertise their link and their system automates the whole process. But there are also additional ways to make money with TLA:

Post level Ads - your top ranking posts now have the potential to make money with individual ads just for that page. Each is exclusive to one post and allow the advertiser to have a full heading and description and is positioned at the base of each page.

Feedvertising - Feedvertising works by entering a small line of code into each post within your feed which means those reading your blog via feed readers receive a small unobstrusive ad at the bottom of each post. You also have the option to use some of your own ads.

What kind of blogs can get Text Link Ads

Due to limitations with some blogging platforms the following blog platforms / programing languages support TLA:

• WordPress
• ASP
• ASP.NET
• Blogger
• Drupal
• Expression Engine
• JSP
• Movable Type
• Nucleus
• Perl
• PHP
• Post Nuke
• Ruby on Rails
• Serendipty
• vBulletin 3.0.x
• vBulletin 3.5.x
• Xoops
• Some Static HTML sites (with some fiddling with code on Apache servers)

How Much do you get paid?

There are various factors that can effect how much you get paid that include popularity of your blog, the category it falls into, traffic and also placement. To get a more detailed (although still approximate) idea you can visit their Text Link Ads Calculator available at their website

How do you get paid?

With TLA you are paid at the end of every month via paypal with no minimum amount to get paid. So if you have earnt anything then its paid to you at the end of every month. For sales of links that are made part way through the move you receive a proportional amount for the part of the month the ad was displayed.

Do you have control of what links are displayed on your blog?

Yes! You can opt to either have the TLA editorial staff to approve ads automatically or alternatively you can approve them manually of which you can change straight away. Regardless of which you will never receive any adult, pharmacy, gambling or any other websites TLA thinks are inappropriate.

Can you use TLA along with other ad systems on your blog?

Yes. TLA is not contextual which means there is no restrictions with some other ad serving applications.

So if your looking for a low maintence, low profile way to monetize your blog then Text Link Ads (aff) could well be your answer. In addition for advertisers at present they are running a promotion with $100 in FREE Links.

I recently read an interesting article How to Be a Successful Blogger: Learning From the Best on Online Public Relations that discussed what successful bloggers had in common and the receipe for success as a blogger and it boiled down to the following criteria:

• Passion
• Listen
• Dialogue
• Play Fair
• Become the Resource
• Network
• Business

I like it, its certainly got all the elements of what makes a great blogger. The only thing that i think might be missing is i would suggest drive or persistence. No one gets to the top overnight and its only through a whole lot of hard work that they make it.

STOP!!!!

Before you spend that $19.95, $99.95 or tell the boss where to put the job I need to tell you the truth. There is no quick way to blogging riches. To make money blogging takes time, effort and perseverance despite what the flash marketing tells you. With many of those marketing schemes the only person getting rich is the author with your hard earned money.

Ready to switch off in disgust? Don’t because now its time for the good news. From day one blogging you can start to earn money from your blog and over time the money that you can earn will increase. If you’re skilled, hard working and lucky then you may be one of the relative few that do get to make blogging a full time job but for the rest of us, you can still make more than loose change from your blogs but you need to set realistic expectations.

So what are realistic expectations?

You need to set yourself reasonable goals. When I start a new blog there is a certain amount of outlay before the first entry is ever posted. There is the hosting costs, cost of the domain name(s), cost in my time and effort to get the ready to post in. And then there is the time spent researching and writing your posts. It all comes at a cost and while you are outlaying the cash, its not going to come back right away.

When I start a new blog to keep my expectations realistic is to set goals to achieve that are both obtainable and realistic. To use this blog as an example I have set the following goals

• 90 posts in 90 days

• Break even on costs by 120 days

• Make a thousand dollars in the first year of operation from this blog.

Time will tell how successful I am with this goals but none of them is impossible to achieve. Its even possible that I may succeed far more than the goals that I have set. So using my goals I have realistic expectations as there is nothing worse for motivation than setting goals that are too high and failing to achieve them in spectacular fashion.

Of course there is another side to setting goals and that is that it can also highlight what is not working and what could or should be working better. It gives you the chance to change things or even throw out old ideas and start with new ones.

I hope that this has given you a little bit of food for thought. Coming up next for those that still think they have what it takes to make it all the way to full time blogger is the characteristics of successful bloggers. How did they get where they did?

In the meantime, answer me this. What are your goals from blogging and what is the plan to get there? I look forward to reading some of your answers!

A common mistake with a new blog is that you find all these things that you can add into your blog that you believe are cool and interesting. They can include the popular MyBlogLog list of the latest visitors, tweets from your tweeter account, where your visitors come from, the list goes on. Now you while you may think these are truly gods gift to bloggers but it can be doing something completely different:

Are your cool things slowing down your blog’s loading time

In these days of broadband internet, loading time isn’t quite the issue that it once was. But there are still people out there that are on dial up that don’t want to wait for your blog and its “cool stuff”. And the same is true as well for broadband users, if your blog takes more than a few seconds to load, their attention may wander and they may just visit the next place on their list.

What kind of Impression is it giving.

Another problem that can occur in addition to slow loading time is the impression it can give. If your sidebar is cluttered with different things then it is going to look exactly that, cluttered. Its going to distract the visitor from what you want then to read, your content.

What should you do

Those that have served in any army would have probably heard the expression “lean green fighting machine” and you want to create the same thing with your blog. You want it to be a lean blogging machine. A faster, leaner blog with less distractios is going to minimise the distractions that can happen and let visitors focus on why they are really there, your content.

Good luck with your new lean blogging machine!

Update: Seems i am not the only one thinking this. Andy Wibbels is Loofahing blog sidebars along the same lines as me

I will be honest when i say that i am not an expert on themes which is why I am going to refer you to a post by Meg on Blogpond Top 5 Steps for Choosing a Blog Theme where she breaks down finding a theme into 5 steps:

1. Researching - understand what makes a good blog template
2. Define your Requirements - including code structure, validates, emphasises post title and blog name
3. Investigation - finding the right theme from the multitude on offer
4. Testing/Validating - When you find that theme
5. Installation, Customisation and Follow Up

I thin its great and i have already found some errors in this theme that i will need to fix in the near future!

Next i am going to talk about a trap for new bloggers with their blog.