Pt 1. How To Make #Money Off Your Blog
I really do not think I am special. Anyone can do all the gnarly shiznat we over here at TNTML have been doing. I came up with a couple steps off the top of my head that I eventually want to add structure to and turn it into a series on how you can make $ off your blog. First, however - you have to create one ...
1. Come up with a cool concept.
Cool of course being a relative term, however pick the ONE thing in the world you know the most about. It is of course easy when it is something that you are passionate about.
We are shifting into more of a "niche" experience in life (especially online), and gone are the days of being "commercially vanilla." Being vanilla online = death. We ACTIVELY search things, vs. the days of TV and radio where things were dictated to us. Polarize people, have them either LOVE your site or really, really, really, hate it - either way, you're getting people to talk.
2. Go to blogger.com and create a template for your blog.
You can in fact even google "free blogger templates" for a series of uber cool blog templates. You want to pick something that reflects the overall branding you would like to have for the site. You have to ask yourself, what do I want people to take away from this experience? How do I want them to feel about this site?
3. If you want to get fancy schmancy pants you can spend $10 for a custom domain name and even link it to the site. I did this with TNTML, I went directly through blogger to secure the domain, which was GREAT because I have 50 plus email addys, and all this google wonderfulness through it.
4. Position yourself as the expert. You've created this niche, now go talk about it!! Create posts via writing, videos, livestreams, pictures, mp3 files, whatever!! go play! Tell me why you're so awesome at what you do, and why I should even care about it.
5. SEO aka search engine optimize the crap out of that thing. SEO is an interesting game. You have to sit there and think about the end user. In a perfect world, who would want to read this content? And what would those people be searching for in google or any other search engine to find that content? SEO is a horse of a different color, if you're not familiar with it - grab a friend who is. Offer to help promote any of their wonderfulness in exchange for some SEO love. Search engine optimization however isn't a one stop shop. It is pretty much a constant gig, that takes a lot of work - and a lot of creativity - however, it's also VITAL to your traffic stats which will ultimately make you money.
6. Facebook like page, and social widgets. Put 'em up!!! Create a twitter widget that displays your @replies, so people can see how many tweets are putzin around Twitter about your blog. For efficency sake, I just used my personal twitter, but created a special Facebook like page. You need a like page - a lot of investors look at the engagement your brand has on Facebook, and this is pretty much the holy grail of how many people will take a meeting with you.
See also the 1,000 fan page rule. 
Let's just start here for now. We can go into building your brand, and actually selling it in a later post - however, just digest some of this. THE WORLD IS CHANGING!!!! Everything is going online, and there will soon be no separation between traditional and social media. We are going to like totally make love, and pop out this super gnarly baby that's like going to be our new way of like totally doing like everything.