Halley Suitt wants to know how to get paid for writing (a blog, in this case).
Don't we all?
There was a time, not so long ago, when web-based advertising was to be the wave of the (advertising) future. Banner ads were to make it possible for everyone to have server space, maybe even bring in an income off of their websites.
It didn't work. Maybe that's partly because the web advertising market was disproportionately closed. Everyone advertised their websites on other people's websites, but few people from outside the website-generating market poured money into it.
Halley says, what about Coca-Cola? "I want Coke for a sponsor. I want to write about Coke because I like Coke." We probably won't see it happen, for a few reasons.
Coca-Cola's most valuable property is its brand and its formula, and Coca-Cola jealously controls the manner in which it is advertised. (fn1) Also, they probably reduce their advertising transaction costs and protect their brand by advertising with well-established media outlets. That way, they know what they're getting.
(I pause for a moment here to take a sip of Coke...)
Frequently-visited, decent-quality web magazines are having trouble keeping their heads above water without the help of paid subscriptions. Some press companies, including many major newspapers, put content online for free as an outlet secondary to their print media. However, they can at least offer a large outlet to potential advertisers, and most require some form of registration to allow them to target their advertisements.
There are some very good weblogs and some very popular weblogs out there, but I have a feeling that even most good ones don't have much of a shot at obtaining ad revenue. However, in this wonderful land of the internet, there's also nothing but a shortage of time keeping someone from trying. So, why not -- get some webspace hosted somewhere other than on one of the blogsystems, get your own domain name if you don't have one already, and point or install your blogging software there. Devote some time to ad marketing, or try to get connected to an already established web advertising service. My hunch, though, is that you won't be able to do much more with the revenue than buy a few cups of coffee.
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(fn1) My accounting and Tax professor in law school wrote a book, A Finance Approach to Accounting for Lawyers, and he sought to use Coca-Cola financial statements and to use the company in examples throughout the book. He inquired of Coca-Cola whether they would approve. They agreed, but asked that he always refer to the company as "The Coca-Cola Company," and never allow the end of a line to break the phrase, "The Coca-Cola Company." That company's name appears on many pages of the book, but there's not a single reference to Coke. They weren't even paying him anything. He could have used the data from public filings for free, but he wanted to image pages of the company reports.
Moxie has managed to get some money from her blog. There are ways you just got to be creative and it probably won't be millions of dollars.
Also Tomato Nation makes money, which is not a blog but more like an online column but with similar content as a blog.
there's a fine line between begging and collecting revenue on a blog, and in my opinion, i have yet to see one single blog that asks for money in a tasteful and/or humble manner.
people who are connected to the internet are already more affluent than most people on this planet.