If you’re even an inkling aware of what’s happening on the internet, you should know that making money with your website—not your company’s—is vastly becoming a huge thing. Ten years ago, pretty much nobody knew what a blog was. The same cannot be said today. Between the large availability of blogs (think blogger, livejournal, myspace blogs, etc.) and the rising spotlight on them (think celebrity bloggers, Fortune 500 companies, etc.), it seems that these days everyone and their cat has one.

So what about making money on your personal website?

If you’re anything like me, when you think about making money on a blog where you write about your personal life, you automatically think Google ads or Pay Per Posts. It is a general consensus among most blog circles I frequent that “those kinds of things” on personal websites are undesirable.

However, of those asked about their feelings towards advertisements, many of them used Dooce.com as an example of a personal website with ads that they didn’t mind. Curious, because as popular as Dooce.com may be, it is still a “personal” website. So what makes hers any different from Joe Regular’s?

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I cooked a fabulous vegetarian lasagna the other night. The family loved it and I was thrilled. Still giddy from the success of my latest experimental dish, I was idly cleaning the kitchen when my mother walks in and drops the scariest. comment. ever.

“You know, lasagna was always my signature dish.”

“Oh my god, DON’T SAY THAT.”

#1 most terrifying thing about getting older?
WHEN YOU REALIZE YOU’RE TURNING INTO YOUR MOTHER.

Are you…

• Ugly “Model-like”?
• Between the ages of 18-30?
• Shaped like a washboard?
• Freakishly tall, disturbingly skinny, and boringly bland?
• Dating someone and willing to compromise the relationship by “accidentally” making a “mistake” with one or more of the hot male models during the episode where the girls get to spend a day with the men who aren’t gay?
• Impossible to live with, making this show a hit because America loves to watch 13 girls fight over who’s food is who’s and who gets to open TYRAMAIL!!1! ?

Can you…

• Be bitchy?
• Act holier-than-thou?
• Fake a health-related crisis (dehydration, exhaustion, fainting spells, etc.)?
• Have morals and refuse to do nude shots?
• Fake a fear of one of the following: Heights, deep water, reptiles, etc.

Do you…

• Like your hair, so we can cut it all off during the makeovers episode and have you cry over the loss of it for an hour? (Hey, we’ve got to pass the time somehow!)
• Have a heart-wrenching story that will fool the viewers into thinking YOU should be America’s Next Top Model because you had a Very. Traumatic. Childhood.?
• Have a tendency to talk back to the judges people who offer criticism of your photos?
• A poor family back home who is counting on you to win (wink wink, nudge nudge!) so they can make their next meal?
• Adore Tyra and worship the ground she walks on?

If so, you might have what it takes to be in the running towards becoming America’s Next Top Model. Auditions for cycle 287 start in two weeks – apply now!