Some people blog for the pure pleasure of blogging about something they are passionate about. Some people blog with the goal of making money. There are a number of ways you can monetize your blog. You can choose one or more of them depending on which is the most appropriate for you blog's topic and your blog's followers.
Making Money with Affiliate Arrangements
Depending on the topics of your blog you may be able to make money through affiliate relationships. If your blog is on a topic that relates directly to products you can almost assuredly make money by placing affiliates' ads on your site.
For example, if you have a blog about accessories you can sign-up for affiliate programs from retailers of accessories. You can place affiliate ads on your blog as well as add affiliate links in your actual blog postings.
The affiliate relationships may even drive some of your content. If you can earn money by mentioning a new product or service on your blog and provide a link (with the affiliate tracking code) to a retailer offering the product you can earn a percentage of the sale.
You can also contact retailers directly and request that they offer your readers a coupon code. The coupon code would give your readers a discount and earn you a commission for every sale. This way both you and your readers benefit from the affiliate arrangement.
PPC Ads on Your Blog
You can add Google, Yahoo and Bing ads to your blog as well. You will earn some money every time someone clicks on the link from your blog. If you are going to do this it is important that you use ad filters so you can make sure that the ads that appear on your blog are appropriate for your target market.
You do not want ads for the sake of having ads. You want ads which are relevant to your target market. The more relevant the ads are the more likely the ads will be clicked on by your readers.
A high-traffic blog can make considerable money through PPC ads though perhaps not as much as if done through the right affiliate relationships.
The bottom line is you can monetize your site with affiliate relationships and PPC ads. If you are taking the time to write compelling content you should reap the rewards of your effort. Go ahead and monetize your blog in one or both ways.