Disclosure Policy

Well, it looks like the time has finally come for all “ProBlogger’s” to add to a disclosure policy to their blog; in fact, a Screamingly Effective one.

While I’m a far cry from reaching the prestigious level of a ProBlogger, it is one of my goals (while not the main one) to make a few bucks from blogging.

Note: I do not want to blog for my career, and I hope to become a chess player, a stock broker, a bestselling action/adventure author (of course), and a business owner, and the main reason of this blog is to help people and build my brand. However, making a little money along the way wouldn’t hurt.

So, here is my disclosure policy (now mandatory by the FTC). I hope they like it:

When I started the first version of this blog here, I had nothing: No subscribers, hardly any traffic, and no way to make money.

If you’re a blogger, you probably know that with the free version of WordPress (which is great for beginners, by the way), they make it impossible for you to place ads on your site, so although I guess I could’ve made money from affiliate programs, I hadn’t joined any yet. That means no possible income.

However, now that I’ve switched to the self-hosted version of WordPress (powered by HostGator), things are a lot different: I have complete customization, my own domain that no one (with the always inconvenient exception of the government) can take away, and ways to make money.

One of the ways that I do it is from Google Adsense. Run by Google, Adsense is a program that allows users to place ads on their site. There is no traffic requirement, and whenever someone click on the an ad that is on your site, you get paid by Google, who gets paid by the Adwords publisher. This per click amount is undisclosed, and is anywhere from one penny to a few dollars.

Another way that I intend to make a little money is from affiliate programs. If you don’t know, when you are part of an affiliate program, you make a commission if someone buys something from a link on your site with your affiliate name in it. I am currently part of only one; Amazon Affiliates. On the books that I review (if I like them), I place my affiliate links and if someone clicks on them, they are taken to the Amazon page for that book. I am completely honest and do not praise books which I don’t like. If you think that I do, then look at some other reviews and you’ll usually find that other people like them, as well. If you prefer to listen to their advice rather than mine or not buy through my affiliate link, I don’t care; my goal is for you to read great books. The reason why it may seem that I praise a lot is because I tend to try to only post positive reviews, although will post negative reviews in rare circumstances such as if the book is popular enough or I’m running out of ideas to write about. Also, if you don’t like the book, you can usually go into a book store like Barnes and Noble and exchange it. In most cases, they won’t care where you bought it from as long as it’s a fair deal (you’re not trading in a cheap book for an expensive book), so you’re covered. If you don’t like it, just e-mail me saying so and I’ll donate the money from your sale to any charity of your choosing.

This is how I make money from this blog, which is (at this point) very low. To get my writing tips and book reviews, subscribe to my feed or join my mailing list by e-mailing me a blank e-mail with the title “subscribe.”