Sorry about that last post, it was way too long. I know blogs are tricky in that our audience usually has 10 other tabs open and no one can be bothered to read my ridiculously long investigation on donations. So this one will be shorter(ish).

As the second post in my series on making money blogging, I want to address affiliate programs and sponsorships, two things I absolutely do not have. I keep meaning to sign up for an affiliate account with Amazon, but I don’t really talk about products and I rarely do book reviews, and most of my audience is too poor to buy anything anyways so affiliate = pointless.

But what about those who do have sponsorship-applicable blogs? If all you do is write book reviews, it makes sense to link to those books and get a cut (however small), if someone buys that book. Or whatever else Amazon sells.

Except what if you want to recommend products not on Amazon? This is where I further embarrass myself by talking about how much I love OpenSky. LoveloveLOVE.

OpenSky Is Badass

I’m too lazy today to go into a whole thing about them because I already wrote them a love letter on Digital Book World (go there and read, they really are that awesome). For those of you who are equally lazy, OpenSky is kind of like the Amazon Affiliate program but…

1. You’re not limited to Amazon products.
2. You get a bigger cut of the profits.
3. You get your own little “shop“.

Last week I went into the OpenSky offices and had some chats with the people there. First of all, there is a dog that wanders the office and his name is Pixel. Not even kidding. I almost wet myself.

Sitting backwards = Super Cool

Secondly, I felt waaaay uncool, but only because EVERY SINGLE PERSON in that office is insanely attractive. But also nice, which made me hate them more.

Here’s my point (that has nothing to do with the two above): OpenSky was hoppin’. People were meeting, everyone worked together, employees were piled onto one desk and everyone did that thing where you sit backwards on your chair that makes you look really cool but makes uncoordinated people like me fall over. Obviously OpenSky only hires the Super Cool & Coordinated.

OpenSky Works Because There Is Trust

Jimmy Moore, who we met yesterday from Livin’ La Vida Low Carb, makes some of his money from affiliate programs like Amazon as well as actively seeking out sponsors. But he’s not a huge fan of any affiliate programs because he only gets a minimal percentage and the company gets free advertising, even if no one buys. “I go out and find my own sponsors,” he told me. “Most of those programs are garbage so I’d rather vet them for myself.”

In terms of product endorsement, Moore says he tries the product and only if he feels like he can endorse that product honestly does he feature it on his site with an affiliate link. “It’s not a perfect science but I’m making it work,” he told me.

Because Moore has integrity (and is awesome) he actually turned down a lucrative (six figure) offered to endorse a certain “carb blocker”. “I had already railed against carb blockers, essentially saying ”stay away from them, they’re of the devil’ so while I definitely considered it, it was really just a fleeting thought. No way I can keep my integrity and since I’m always flat out honest with my readers, I would be lynched and my career would be over.”

And the Lesson…?

So the lesson here kids, is that sponsorships and affiliate programs may be a great way to make money (if you already have a high readership – again, this all depends), but blogging is different than any other medium. A snazzy newspaper can advertise with whoever they want because they’re a snazzy newspaper and there are tons of writers and employees. But a blogger, well, that’s different. A good blogger builds up an important trust with their readers and you can’t just going recommending products willy nilly unless you really and truly believe in them. And yeah, I just said willy nilly.

I can rant about this all day, but I’m going to leave the specific teachings to the experts. Check out the excellent site, The Smart Passive Income Blog, and see the blogger’s monthly income report (so cool!). To learn more about blogging for money I highly recommend Pro Blogger’s, Make Money Blogging.

Tomorrow’s post on creating your own content/products to sell is actually going to be posted on Friday because I have big important places to be, like DBW’s Digitize Your Career. Word.

I’d also like to leave you with this…

This is me as a child. And this is why I can't sit in a chair backwards... Apparently my sense of direction is severely impaired.

Related posts :

• The Truth About Blogging For Money. Part 1: Donations
• Why blogging about my life rather than anything actually relevant is good for business

Tagged as: Amazon, blogging, make money blogging, opensky, series, Social Media