It is a New Year and I am setting out with some good intentions but first, what worked for me and my blogs in 2008 and what didn't.

What Worked
I tried numerous strategies and advertising approaches but frankly the only thing that generated any revenue was trusty old Google adverts and paid posting. To be honest, even Google didn't work that well as I have yet to reach that magical $100 pay out number although I am oh so close.... Adbrite ads also are beginning to generate a little revenue but just a few Dollars a month.

I did make money writing paid posts but I have now discontinued this because although I made money, I also lost my page ranks!

Page rank has become more important to me because I am making some good cash through TXN and the higher the page rank the more money you receive for a link on that page. If you haven't checked out TXN do so.....

What Didn't Work
Almost every other advertising system. Generated next to nothing including bidvertiser, crispads and more besides. As a result, I am culling all of these programs and focusing on just Google, Adbrite and TXN this year.

What Have I learned?
If could go back a year or so to when I first started blogging I would certainly do things differently. Here are a few things I would have done differently;

1. Set up fewer blogs - I just can't find the time to keep all of the blog's content fresh....

2. Set up blogs that are very targeted to a niche - My best blog for making money is Rant Here and it is the one I enjoy maintaining the most but the content is all over the place - jokes, funny pictures and videos, rants and so on. That's the problem. It really doesn't have a defined niche except perhaps adult comedy and it is difficult to define the blog. I think that makes it difficult for context sensitive ad systems to figure out what to advertise there too which means that the click rate is low despite very good traffic.

By contrast, I have a blog - now mostly abandoned in terms of blogging I will admit - at Energy News Central which is quite focused and niche. It doesn't get a huge ton of traffic but it gets a good click rate and higher paying clicks at that.... I have set this site up as simply a news site these days and it requires little maintenance by me as a result.

3. Promotion of the blogs is best done using posts or comments on sites with similar content. Sounds obvious but it took me a while to figure that one out!

Summary
I really have failed to make any money blogging so far if I am honest. But I will not give up. I am setting out into 2009 with fresh vigor and intentions.....