Blog in Hindi, earn profits too

The company's Astrocamp affiliate programme will not only provide bloggers an opportunity to reach out in their own language but will also enable them to earn money through a new business model.

An affiliate programme usually means a partnership between advertisers and blog owners. So every time someone accesses a blog site, it could mean revenue for the blog owner.

Pratik Pandey, director of Ojas Softech, said: "Our website is user-friendly without any technical hurdles and it also does not impose any restriction on the earnings of users."

Vishwa Rata, a blogger and computer software developer, says the new affiliate programme would be a great help to language bloggers.

"Some support will help sustain interest in the blogging activity." In India unfortunately there are only a few companies supporting such programmes. "This initiative will definitely go a long way," he said.

All that bloggers need to do is log on to the website (www.astrocamp.com) and fill up a form, and the doors will be opened to the rest of the world. Bloggers can share whatever they want to in their native language.

The Astrocamp affiliate programme offers partners a variety of advertising tools such as banners, text links and search widgets. By using these tools, bloggers and site owners get the opportunity to earn huge amounts without making any investment.

A site owner or blogger gets paid for every purchase made by a visitor coming from their website or blog. Astrocamp will share a portion of the profit with the blogger and claims to offer the best rates to its affiliates.

The programme was inaugurated last week by Chandrakant Tripathi, registrar of Kendriya Hindi Sansthan, an educational arm of the central human resources development ministry to promote Hindi, headquartered in Agra.

Tripathi said: "Hindi websites and blogs are unable to grab advertisements because search engine giants like Google are still insensitive towards Hindi websites and Hindi blogs."

"There are a few companies running affiliate programmes in India and this was a unique and important step to boost blogging in Hindi," he added.

Prameet J. Nathan, a tweeter, when asked about the new venture, said, "I am also planning to start blogging soon. The astrocamp affiliate program has come as a golden opportunity for those who own popular websites and blogs but do not have any economic model for earning through them. I believe it'll help website and blog owners to rake in moolah and make things financially lucrative."

With more than three million hits per month, Astrocamp is among the largest astrology websites in India and is known for high-level astrological research. But blog owners will have the option of choosing which ads to display on their blog.