There are, of course, a gazillion ways to make money online. Unfortunately, the laws of “reality” are not suspended in the online environment, which means anyone promising you an easy, fool-proof and effortless solution to financial independence is a consumate “BS”-er and shouldn’t be trusted.

Building a successful online business requires plenty of hard work.

Just like in the offline world.

Go figure, eh?

With this in mind, I ask the question… “can you really make easy money blogging?”

I ask this because someone recently suggesed I could easily supplement my income to the tune of $1,000 per month. This simply by joining a pile of paid blogging networks (eg., SponsoredReviews.com, PayPerPost.com, Smorty.com, Reviewme.com and Blogsvertise.com) and posting “reviews” and “advertorials” on my blog  over at UltimateFatBurner.com for a fee.

Riiiiiight.

To make matters worse, I’ve heard similar things said by other folks who mean well but have absolutely ZERO practical experience generating revenue online.

So here’s why it’s an incredibly dumb idea for me to implement this monetization option, and why it’s not going to be a viable option for most people…

First and foremost…

In order for advertisers to be interested in paying more than a few pennies for a “review” or a recommendation on your blog, it needs to have some real substance. It needs to be credible, reasonably-well trafficked, and – if you’re factoring an in-pointing link into the equation as well – respected enough by the Search Engines to have earned some decent link juice.

Banging up a simple Word Press blog, populating it with some automated content (and maybe some Private Label Rights stuff as well) and then expecting advertisers to shower you with cash… well, it just ain’t gonna happen.

So in order to earn some real cash from your blog, you’re going to have some blood, sweat and tears invested in it. For example, UltimateFatBurner.com’s blog has had near-daily updates made on it since March 2008, with posts going all the way back to 2006. It has a Page Rank value of 3. It has a loyal readership, and receives decent traffic.

In short, I probably could earn some extra cash by offering to post “advertorials” for a fee. Problem is, nothing will squander away our hard-built credibility and alienate our audience faster than posting a pile of paid “reviews.”

So what you’re left with is the proverbial double-edged sword; in order to have the sort of blog advertisers are going to pay decent money to be featured on, you need to have a credible resource. But if you start posting paid “reviews” and “advertiorials” on it, it won’t stay one for long.

There’s another problem too; even if you decided you wanted to go this route, you would have to be incredibly selective with what you could feature, since any post is consistent with an endorsement. I, for example,  couldn’t take payment for the promotion of any product or service I wouldn’t feel comfortable actively promoting to my audience.

Depending on your niche, this may dramatically reduce the number of advertisers you are willing to work with.

And, since an “advertorial” is an endorsement, why bother making just a few dollars for one when you can profit much more by presenting your audience with relevant, quality affiliate products for which you will earn a commission?

So is there absolutely no money in “pay-per-post” blogging opportunities?

Of course not.

If you have a quality blog in any of a wide range of niches, you will be able to squeeze in the odd, targeted advertorial or two. How often you can do so will depend largely on your audience, the web sites / products / services you choose to promote, and how naturally you can implement these “discussions” into the regular flow of your blog. I hate to flog a dead horse here, but as I’ve already said umpteen times…

You cannot post paid reviews or “advertorials” too often or you will destroy your credibility.

Bye-bye faithful readers.

So for most people, I have to say I’m sorry; there’s no easy money in blogging. For most bloggers, the payout will likely get you a half decent meal out once or twice a month. It certainly won’t cover anything substantial… like the monthly payments on the newest Porsche 911 Turbo, for instance.

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