On Blogger, it is really easy to get ads on your blog. See as Google is the dominant ad provider on the internet, it is fitting that its like this. In the back-end view, there is a "Monetize" tab which gives you access to all the ad options. The first option is where you want them to appear. The default is in between posts and on the side. You can configure ads to appear inside your posts, on the sidelines, in between posts or on the top and bottom of the page (or any combination). After you select where you want the ads to appear, you need to sign in (or create) an AdSense account, which is Google's advertising (for selling and buying) of ads. They will require a social security number and some information about where you live (for tax purposes). Overall it was pretty simple. You also have to agree not to abuse the system (like click on ads yourself or tell your friends to do so on your behalf - yes they will figure it out). You can follow a lot of statistics after you add ads, including click through rates, page impressions, viewer origins, referring sites, etc... When people start visiting your blog and clicking on ads, you will start to see your money totals going up. It isn't too lucrative until you get some real traffic to your site. Over the course of the semester, I have about 400 visits and have earned $3.03. If you could get like 1000's of visits a day, it would only come to be like 10-30$ a day and wouldn't sustain anybody. If you can gain really substantial traffic (like 100,000 views a day) it would be more like $750 a day. Which is a lot nicer.
I computed some figures for the amount of money you'd like to make (based off my own figures):
To make the same as an entry level computer scientist = 24,000 visits a day
To make as much as a (Carmel) teacher = 15,000 visits a day
To see some (VERY INTERESTING) statistics for the top 500 websites, visit here.
There is great power with Google's advertising engine. You can substitute in your own ads and select categories of ads that you don't want to show up on your site. All their ads are relevant to the content of your site, so sometimes it can be a little interesting if someone comments about sex and then you have sex ads appear on your baby picture blog... but Google gives you the ability to block that. You can also select the sizes for the ads, the colors they use, if they are pictures or text, and much more. I would invite everyone to try and play with it.
To summarize, the only way to create a feasible website (which is financially sustainable) will require unique and quality content that people will want to see (also a plus if someone can't reproduce it).
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