How much money have you thrown away?

It is a serious question. One you should give some serious consideration too. I’m not talking about that nickle and dime you were to lazy to pick up when they fell out on the curb while you were digging for your keys. I’m not talking about the times you walked out of the grocery store without waiting for the three pennies that were due you. No, I’m thinking in much larger terms than those things. Sure you could probably add it all up and take your significant other on a nice date. Still that’s chump change compared to what I’m talking about.

I’m careful with my money

No doubt at this point you’re telling yourself how careful you are with your money. It’s always safely locked away in the bank except when you need it. You don’t spend beyond your means. In fact you might even consider yourself to be thrifty. Unfortunately there is more to being careful with your money than simply buying on sales and clipping a few coupons.

The money you have

There’s an old axiom which states very simply it takes money to make money. Consider that for a moment, how profound that is. It is so simple and yet rings so true. In fact I defy you to show me otherwise. It doesn’t matter if your money is collecting interest or if it was used to buy a book to further you knowledge. Money buys money. With that simple truth in mind what non-traditional ways can you use your current money to buy more money? I’ve come up with a few ideas.

Buy text links on other blogs and websites

It doesn’t take much money to generate a lot of potential traffic which translates very neatly into potential consumers. In fact you can advertise right here for $18-$20 per month. With a graphical ad!

Use Google Adwords to drive traffic

Simple concept. You pay Google to direct traffic to your site. It’s a little more complex than that, but you can learn more at their site. A few dollars a day can potentially get you thousands of vistors to your site. Something to consider.

Buy a book

A little untraditional when it comes to making money online, but an educational book will go a long ways towards training you to make money with your money. I highly recommend the No BS sales book by Dan Kennedy. It is an excellent book that gives some very interesting information about sales. It is well written, informative, and actually very entertaining. It is not geared towards the online world, but transitioning the information from one concept to another is quite natural (not to mention simple) with how the book is written. You won’t be dissapointed.

The money you ONCE had

I’m talking about the money you threw away on garbage. The money that was poorly invested and poorly handled. The money you think back to that night at the bar and say to yourself “If only I hadn’t spent that money…” The bad news is that you can’t go back in time and “unspend” it. The good news is that it doesn’t matter. Stop concerning yourself with the money you once had and start worrying about the money you do have and the money you WILL have.

The money you WILL have
Remember you can try and be wise with the money in your pocket, and you can learn from your mistakes regarding the money you once had. That’s a great place to start, but what is really imporant is the money that you will have. There are a few steps to this process.

Know where your money comes from

You can’t possibly have your future money working for you if you don’t know where it is coming from. That would just be absurd. You might not know each and every penny, but you should certainly have an intimate knowledge of it.

Be on the lookout for new opportunites

There are tons of opportunies out there to make money. Some of them won’t cost you anything but maybe 5 minutes of your time to get going while others will bleed you for thousands of dollars (if not more). If you can’t spend 5 minutes of time to potentially make thousands of dollars you’re reading the wrong post.

A few money making ideas

We all have our own experiences with making money online. Some have fared better than others and some have no clue. Unfortunately I can’t give you a clue if you’re lost, sorry. I can however give you some ideas.

• Amazon affiliate – Free to join and very easy to use. You can make anywhere from 4 to 8.5% of each sale that is made from your website or blog.
• Text link ads – This is so easy that it is almost criminal. Everytime a visitor is willing to sign up for Text Link Ads you make $25.00! Let me be clear. I said everytime a visitor signs up you make $25.00. If you aren’t part of TLA click the link and start making money right now!
• Sell advertising space – Anyone can sell advertising on their blog. Just be certain you have a backup plan when the demand for the space outweighs the space itself. I do and if I can do it so can you.

We could go on and on but the point is simply to show you that you are throwing away a lot of potential money if you aren’t monetizing your blog. Even if you just blog for a hobby with no design on anything more you should at the very least allow it to pay for itself. I suggest taking two very powerful steps. First sign up for Text Link Ads, and then find another product that will interest your readers and sell that to them as well.

Last but not least be on the lookout for potential opportunities. Since we’re dealing with websites which entails hosting I saw an opportunity to promote a great hosting provider which has given me some sales I would have never had.

So again I ask how much money have you turned your nose up at? How much money have you thrown away by not actively engaging in monetization of your blog or website? If you’re like most people probably a lot more than you might suspect.