I was looking for these so I could get up a short but (hopefully) useful blog post - I’ve got a tonne of work for Uni and a crapload of emails to answer, guess going to that rock concert was a bad idea, eh :)

Anyways, a lot of you will have or have thought of having blogs of your own - finding a decent theme, one with usable ad space (if you’re going to want to monetize a blog, one of the best ways to do so is selling private ads) - I like the ones with 125 x 125 in the sidebar, as they’re nice and clean. The problem is that not all of us can afford to purchase the sweet Milk It theme (it was difficult for me getting the funds to do so when I started up) and need to find free ones that offer decent advertising space; here’s five that you can use.

1) Daily Diary

I only found this one yesterday, but it’s the best free theme I’ve come across so far, especially for make money online/blogging tips - it’s clean, it’s sleek and there’s not much wrong with it. When you start making more money, you might want to get a custom one created with more ad space, however for a startup blog this will work great.

I love it; I’ll probably be using it for a couple of my other niche websites, and those of you without a theme of your own, here you go. It comes with the PSD files I believe, and although I don’t know how to edit those, the less newbish ones out there amongst you probably will :razz:

Live Demo | Download

2) WP-Polaroid

This was originally at No1 until I came across the above one; anyways, if you’re looking for a theme designed by a designer with history, WP-Polaroid from the Wordpress Rockstar is a kick ass one for you to use. Designed by Adii, the theme is used by quite a few bloggers that I read, including Can’t Get Rich & Slyvisions.

Comes with a nice snapshot in the header which of course can be edited to put in a picture of your choice :)

Live Demo | Download

3) 3MOS

3MOS is another one of those sleek, Web 2.0ish themes… if you like orange, here you go. What’s pretty cool is the AJAX ‘Toggle’ button in the header, that slides now to reveal a presumably customizable header… the theme is far different to any I’ve seen out there.

Also comes with the prominent location for the RSS button… the only thing I’d question is how images would look, as I can’t recall any prominent websites with an orange background :)

Live Demo | Download

4) LoveBlog

A clean, solid theme with a decent looking sidebar and prominent ad spaces… what more do you need?

I haven’t seen Loveblog used on any blogs I’ve visited, so with a little tweaking you could make it look like your totally, own unique theme :)

Live Demo | Download

5) WPVision

WP Vision is not as stylish as some of the above ones, however it serves a purpose for those of you that want to monetize your website without it looking too ‘blinged up’.

 

Live Demo | Download

Credit to Elegant WP Themes and Bloggeries members for the themes/ideas on where to get them.

Affiliate Marketing

Finally decided to purchase a domain for an offer I’m doing fairly alright with… promoting jewelry auction website Bidz. It’s an offer that pays out pretty well - $6.5/free lead (check out the form and see how easy it is to promote) - I will update on my progress, of course. If any of you need some jewelry, or just want to check out the auctions, you know where to go :razz:

The offer was one I found in NeverBlue Ads - like some of their others, it’s fairly decent :)

Gotta run, laters! :)

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