Does paid blogging work? So how much can you expect to make from paid blogging?

Some of you may already know this - you can get paid to write your blog posts. It's called "paid blogging" or "sponsored blogging" - sometimes even referred to as "paid reviews" - but it all works the same way.

So how does paid blogging work? How can you get paid from Fortune 500 companies and even small businesses to write about their product, service or event?

When the blogosphere exploded in 2006/07, thousands of blogs were being created every single day, with overworked individuals hoping to cash in on the trend and be a "work-at-home blogger". The hype was high, but the problem was that most bloggers wanted to get paid immediately.

The blogosphere responded to these needs, with companies like PayPerPost.com leading the paid-to-blog industry. Early on, blogging for the purposes of making money received a lot of criticism from big-name bloggers, but eventually people started accepting paid blogging as a viable, honest way to make a living online, you too can get paid to blog.

Down the road, more paid blogging companies sprung up, which includes ReviewMe.com and also SponsoredReviews.com - taking the stand of offering "honest" and "unbiased" reviews. At the moment there are no fewer than 20 paid blogging companies you can sign-up with and make money from.

When you sign-up for a company, you're required to submit your blog details, so make sure you have a blog up and running with at least 30 days worth of acceptable content. After you've submitted your details, your blog will be reviewed and approved.

Then, you can search the company's marketplace for "opportunities", which are basically listings create by businesses who want you to blog about their product or service. When you find a suitable opportunity, you can use the information provided (take note of the requirements too) and blog about it. When you're done, report back to the listing and you get paid whatever amount of money the advertiser has promised.

Now of course, the companies that offer these paid blogging services also take their cut, which is anywhere from 30-50%. The rest is paid to you after you reach a certain payout limit.

So how much can you expect to make from paid blogging?

Typically, you can earn a few hundred dollars a month by writing 1-2 blog posts a day. Since these blog posts aren't too long and all the information is already provided, it's pretty easy to do that. Once your blog picks up more traffic, it gets re-evaluated and you can start charging more for writing the exact same content.

The leaders in the paid blogging industry make a few thousands dollars a month, enough to make a comfortable full-time income on the Internet. Plus, they are free to work whenever they want, wherever they want. This is why paid blogging is so appealing - with not much skills or technical knowledge, any ordinary person can make money from blogs right from the start.

If you're interested to discover the secrets to paid blogging, I strongly recommend you check out Blog Paycheck by Gobala Krishnan.

Among other things, he gives you a complete step-by-step guide to paid blogging, and a list of useful resources you can use to kickstart your blogging and make more money with less time and effort.