Extra Cash for Movies

, , 1 Comment

This showed up on cousin Nikki’s timeline an hour ago:

image

My thought bubble – I can so relate. Same thought while I was watching the Oscars.

There are so many good movies, but it’s so expensive to see all of them at the cinemas. You use up gas driving there. Parking fee. Lunch/dinner OR drinks and popcorn. And the cost of a movie ticket – wow. PHP 140 to PHP 220 for regular screenings, double if it’s iMax or 3D.

Because of the cost, we thought we’d just see a few movies on the big screen and wait til the rest come out on DVD. As it turns out, we miss the DVD release most of the time. Or, even if we already have a copy, we don’t get to watch it. Thanks to cable, I get to see some of the good movies I missed – a year later!

The movies is something I’d spend my extra cash on. But what’s extra cash? Where does that come from? In my case – online earnings. Yes, I make money online. But that’s not news is it?

Okay, so my blogs aren’t necessarily cash cows, but I do get a few dollars from sponsored posts every now and then. The thing that makes that plausible for my blogs is that I setup my blogs out of a desire to write and share. Earning from blogging eventually just happened. I don’t even remember if I first got offered ads and links or if I signed up with ad networks. Nonetheless, it wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t invest time and effort on my blogs first.

So there you go, tip number 1 for making money online (via blogs): Develop your blog first. Content drives traffic, and traffic attracts advertisers.

Which leads me to tip number 2: Socialize. I don’t just mean be on Facebook or Twitter. Those definitely help, but reach out to fellow bloggers. Engage in their blogs and they will return the favor. Engage with your readers and respond to comments. I love comments (which is why I challenge myself again to leave at least a hundred of them on other blogs each month) and hope I get more, but I understand the lurkers too. On some days I write something that will just be so compelling and readers will comment, on most days though, they’d just breeze through. And that’s okay.

Apart from sponsored posts, link and banner advertising is another way for blogs to earn. I remember receiving an offer for a very simple text link on my sidebar for Where the Moon Shines. I got paid 100 USD for that. That was the biggest one time gig ever. I don’t get offers like that anymore. So sometimes, I think back on what I was doing right on my old blog and it always brings me back to tips 1 and 2. I should always remember those two.

Anyway… seen any movies lately? I posted some of my recent films at Between the Covers.