Indulge me just a little as I explain my views on AdSense and eBooks and monetization and … deftly introduce an upcoming free e-course. ;-)

Blogging is a phenomenon - in just a matter of a few short years blogging has grown and grown and … grown.

Technorati, the leader in monitoring the blogosphere, recently stated that it is now monitoring a whopping 27.2 million blogs - 60 times the amount from 3 years ago.

But what has turned blogging from a relatively underground/cult experience to one that the mainstream have embraced?

The answer, of course, is: Google’s AdSense!

Awesome! An easy-to-use publishing medium (blogging) together with an easy-to-use advertising medium (AdSense). Cool! Awesome … You start up your blog in your niche, slap on some AdSense ads in all the right hotspots, and bam … watch the money rolling in.

And then you wake up from your “passive income” dreaming and to the reality that it’s not money rolling in … it’s a few dribbles of coin.

The reality is, you’ll be lucky to cover your online expenses with AdSense, let alone make a decent living from it.

Oh, it can be done (see ProBlogger.net), but at the end of the day, you are living on a thread and on the whims of advertisers and Google. Think about it: One slight change of direction from Google in regards to AdSense could criple the whole professional blogging scene.

What happens if click fraud gets out of hand and advertisers start knocking on Google’s door? What happens if the only way to make decent money from AdSense (ie: blogs on products) become so over-saturated that they dilute earnings for all? What happens if Google does some dance moves and all your hard seo work goes backwards?

What’s happening is that most bloggers have placed their eggs in the one basket: AdSense.

So, how can a blogger, who’s picked a niche, made themselves somewhat of an expert in it, monetize their blog?

Well I’m about to turn this whole thing on its head - forget about monetizing your blog via AdSense - think of a product, a digital product, and how to use your blog to market it - in other words use your blog as a marketing tool. Think: digital product first, blog second.

That product is an eBook - also known as an information product, a digital book or an ePublication.

My theory on blogging is that the vast majority of us are simply banging our collective heads against a brick wall trying to make our fortunes with AdSense - because without the numbers, AdSense on your blog is next to useless.

So, my theory is that bloggers have more chance of making a decent living by building their credibility and reputations via blogging and then developing and selling eBooks in their niche.

And further to that: I believe that blogging is the best way to market and sell your eBook(s).

With that in mind, I’m developing an introductory e-course titled “Forget AdSense, Go with eBooks”.

The free email course is in 10 parts and will be launched on March 15th 2006.

I’ll have a dedicated page set up for the course by thi