With all of the talk about making money online doing things like flipping blogs, affiliate marketing or building web traffic, we often forget of one of the more fundamental methods of earning some extra cash… being sneaky! A lot of bloggers will constantly push and promote different products for visitors to try and make sales. Is this really the most effective way to turn an ordinary post into a full-fledged money maker? Not Necessarily!

What is perhaps more effective is the casual approach. Say I am talking about making an eBook for cash… why not mention off hand that I have a cheap eBook that will go further in depth into the topic at eBook-Rich.com? Or what if I’m talking about setting up your blog to run WordPress? It’s pretty easy to say hey, I’m hosted on HostGator servers and love my service. Slip in a link, and you have yourself a few sales that could make you a few $100 in week!

Let’s talk about the advantages of making commission off of sales in an indirect way. Call it being sneaky, but avoiding the constant bombardment of “buy this” and “order that” could be your golden ticket to profit. :cool:

Profit-Seeking Bloggers Are Divided Into Two Schools of Thought
I feel that in the “make money online” niche (or entrepreneur, what have you), bloggers that write content with a profit-seeking mindset can be made into two distinct groups. In the old mantra, people would pick up extra referred income by making posts directed at selling a product to people. The new class would be made up of blog owners that openly offer advice on more broad-based topics, slipping in the occasional promotion (at an appropriate time) to make that killer sale.

Old School Technique: Market for the Sake of Marketing
Since the first few blogs have appeared on the subject of making money online, there have been a whole bunch of writers that make articles with the intention of selling you something. Many times, this comes in the form of opt-in newsletters that send occasional email advertisements intent on getting you to purchase a product. In a few other cases, bloggers will make individual posts to advertise a product that they came out with… or perhaps even try to sell you on someone else’s promotion with a referral link in place.

This “old school” mantra would suggest that you get the most bang for your advertisement by simply smacking people over the head with information. There’s nothing wrong with this method, as it does bring in fantastic sales and is probably the best way to let people know of a product without having to flat-out teach a new lesson. One example of this school of thought is when I wrote about my new eBook. A more recent example is when John Cow pitched his Traffic Kahuna service.

New School Technique- Marketing to Enhance and Enrich
As nobody is going to read a blog that contains post after post of “in-your-face” advertising, the “new school” technique of writing involves cleverly slipping in a product pitch into an otherwise ordinary article. This can be even more effective than devoting an entire post to a new product. Why? People are often turned off from the start when the title of a post reveals itself to be a simply marketing ploy. By being a little sneaky and writing about a related topic, slipping in a commission-paying link as a point of reference along the way, a lot of readers will be much more inclined to hear you out and buy your stuff.

How about a little example? Garry Conn does this in marketing the popular HostGator web hosting referral program. This program pays him commission on everyone that buys hosting through his link. So when he wrote about migrating a blog installation, he slipped in his HostGator link as his “preferred” hosting solution and got sales from people that were interested. It’s descreet, albeit a bit sneaky, but it’s a really helpful way to maintain your excellent content and make profits from marketing at the same time. ;)

How Can Being Sneaky Make Money?
It’s a pretty simple concept. Rather than coming over the top to get people to send you some affiliate cash, it can be much more effective and rewarding to simply try and write as normal. You can turn almost any “ordinary” post into a full-fledged profit machine simply by being creative. If I’m writing about “bum marketing,” I could put in a link to a product that help users submit articles to directories. If I’m writing about how to tie your shoe, I could put in a spot advertisement for Nike shoes assuming they are my “favorite brand.”

I’m amazed that some of my older posts on WordPress plugins still generate 1-2 sales every month of the OIO Publisher plugin… getting me a quick $15 a pop. Hey, maybe I’ll get some sales from this post now that I just slid a reference in! :D

Bottom Line: A lot of bloggers don’t grasp how easy it can be to start making money online from your everyday writing material. The best of the best will make a great deal of money simply by being creative. Referrals to products that will help readers out can even be helpful if the service is truly worthwhile… so there’s no need anymore to actually degrade your blog into worthless marketing. Use the old school and new school techniques more effectively, and watch your income soar!

-The Net Fool

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