It isn’t every bloggers dream to make a ton of money on the web. A lot of people are in it strictly for the writing and release aspect of blogging. That is how I got started. But then, somewhere along the way I discovered you could profit and make a decent income off your opinions and content. By sharing my information and my skills, I have worked hard to create a side business.

That just about came crashing down this past week.

Sometime near the end of January, I was commissioned to do a website. Seemed like a pretty simple proposition. This individual needed a blog/website set up for his personal opinion. His opinion was controversial, which I knew going in, but figured the laws would protect me and my civil liberties. All I was to be doing was designing and maintaining the website.

I also knew going in to this project that the site would do lots of traffic. I thought it could be good for my own monetized blog, and possibly could attract new clients to my side business.

Initially I was correct. I attracted one additional client who wanted me to design and configure a Wordpress blog for him. I also received a spike of traffic from this website as well. Made a few extra pennies on Adsense from my blog, and also added a few extra RSS subscribers.

Eventually a snafu erupted and I was caught in the middle because I was the website administrator and owner of the domain. I had to speak with some detectives regarding the content of the website and basically had my life throw in to a blender for a few days.

It has all settled down now, but in retrospect I came to this conclusion which I consider the hardest and most important lesson someone can learn when it comes to blogging.

You are still as responsible for your actions online as you are off line.

If you attract controversy, you will do damage to your reputation regardless to how above-the-law you are. Even if you do nothing wrong, you should try to steer clear of situations you KNOW could put you in hot water.

People are too quick to sell out their beliefs and morals online for an extra dollar or hit to their website. They also feel they are hidden well behind a computer screen. I am here to tell you that you should stand up for yourself and only do things you would feel comfortable with doing face to face with another human. A website built on legitimate contacts will always build stronger in the long run than a business that was built on quick hits.

Your ulcers will thank you later!