As we all know, blogging has been popular for quite some time now, and it seems that in the last two years or so, blogging has really inched towards the front of the line when it comes to making extra money online.

But here’s the kicker – unless you run a blog with the power of ProBlogger or DoshDosh, or one comparable in that league, the way I see a blog is more a means to make money, rather than the direct source. Does that make sense?

When you establish yourself as a blogger, gain a following, and have the traffic flowing, sure, you’ll have people that want to buy ad space, pay you to review their product or service, and similar things, but throughout my blogging career (which has been a dozen or so blogs now), I’ve always had the luck and opportunity of being approached by people for other types of joint ventures (or JV’s). Blogging was just the “brochure” that got my name out there, and when people see a style or personality that they like, and they think it could be a win-win situation, getting approached by them to do other things to make money is more common then you would think!

I can’t even begin to count how many times other bloggers or webmasters have written me about joining forces and helping promote products or other types of sites, and not all of them are do-able, so it really pays to do your research (as much as you can), to find out how serious they are and if the project is worth spending time on. Once you get steady requests like this, the one thing you can’t do is say “yes” to everyone, and that could be difficult at times, because some of the pitches come from friends and blogging colleagues. The best thing to do is tell them you’ll consider it, but that you’re very busy and it’s doubtful you would have time to move forward with it. Usually they’ll understand.

So the point of this post is: Use your blog as sort of an enhanced business card/Resume. You’d be surprised at what people want to do with you, and sometimes it can be very worthwhile!