However, a lot of people are realizing that you can make money with your blog.  They simply aren’t sure how to do it, let along how to get started.  Given the troubled economy, though, this can rake in quite a bit of extra money — if you know how to do it correctly, of course.

That is thus going to be the focus of this next series: how to make money with your blog, easily.

You also need to address the press.  This can mean writing a Press Release – or hiring someone to do so – and having it submitted to sites like Squidoo.  It can also mean actually talking to the press, and finding out if they’ve seen your site, directing them to it if they haven’t.  It doesn’t necessarily have to be journalists at the New York Times or anything like that, of course – though the online publications for such news outlets is a possibility.

RSS can mean two things: Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication.  Whatever you call it, it is basically a light XML format used to distribute news on the internet.  For you, the blogger, it means that other sites will be able to distribute your news and the content on your blog easily as well.  RSS feeds are also indexed by search engines, so you can ask them to link to your site.

You need to be careful about the sites with whom you share links, though.  Google especially has high standards.  For instance, if you link to web sites which are no longer listed, then Google could remove your site from their index as well.  So, just make sure to keep up with maintenance and check on your links every once in a while.

Always make sure you are sharing links with quality places too.  That can lead to a huge Page Rank for your site.  Remember, if Google finds out that you’re just trading links with other sites simply because you want a better ranking, your site could get blacklisted.

First and foremost, you need to concern yourself with the blog itself.  You have to have as much useful, relevant, and high quality information as you can possibly create.  Furthermore, it needs to be something that users not only want to read themselves, they should want to share it with other people as well.  One of the ways you can draw people in is to start submitting your blog to as many web directories and reference sites as you can.  This includes Google, naturally, because Google’s PR is as important in the scheme of things as Google itself.  You can also submit your blog to places like Open Directory Project, or ODP, Yahoo!, and LookSmart, as well as sites like Wikipedia and other blogs.

Remember: relevance is key.  Your links and your texts need to go together perfectly.  Moreover, they need to have some impact on the subject, whatever it may be at the time.

You need to promote yourself and promote your site.  How?  Well, stay tuned for that.  There are a number of things you can do to get yourself and your site out there, and to pique the interest of your readers.  Blog link advertising is without a doubt one of the best ways, but it is by no means the only way.

These simple steps will help get this particular page indexed with Google and thus increase the value of those inbound links to your website.

Some bloggers employ sketchy techniques that nullify the value of your sponsored blog entry once it rotates off their blog homepage.  By using the social bookmarks mentioned above (Digg, Stumble Upon, del.icio.us), this will help you retain value from that entry for the life of the blog.

“The Customer Rules.” These three words speak volumes in business. Customer communication, service and loyalty are the goals of every marketing campaign.

And nothing delights a business owner more than a satisfied customer. In fact, they are so satisfied with the product or service they purchased that they want to tell the world about it.

Customer testimonials are extracted from letters, e-mails. They are impressive; displayed on websites as text, audio or video. But can your visitors be certain that the testimonials are true?

Now they can, when you use Authenticated Testimonials it adds more power to the message. How? Because they are evaluated by an established firm who is an unbiased third party.

The “Authenticated Testimonials” seal assures your visitors that what they are reading about your company, product or service has been verified and is truthful. Now, the Customer REALLY Rules.

Imagine this: you are looking for a product, service or a piece of information you need for your million dollar project.

You’re searching online and come across what might be the answer, but you don’t know the company. Hmmm, what to do? Aha-you think, let me ask Joe, he might know them.

You: Ring, ring: Hello? - Hey Joe, have you heard about the TQV company that sells blog widgets?
Joe: Nope, never heard of them, I use HLM Widgets Unlimited and they’re great! Fast service and reasonable price.
You: Wow–are they online? What’s the URL?
Joe: Oh yeah, very cool site too-www.HLMWidgets.com
You: Awesome! Thanks Joe, you’re the best!

That my friends, is the essence of what Bzz Agent is all about: it helps you harness the power of word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing in an organized way. It brings the right brands together with the right consumers to enhance traditional media buys.

Advertising can build awareness about your brand, but when one person recommends it to another person, your brand gains credibility. The results are powerful when traditional and new media work together: trial, purchase, adoption and commitment.

Plus 40% of WOM conversations include a reference to another form of media which means a lot more exposure for everyone. If you are ready to promote your brand, better get some WOM-BA going.