Blogging Your Way to Profit!
1--How Can You Benefit
from Blogging?
If you are
already maintaining a web site, having a blog can add to, or enhance, your
existing web presence. The ability to provide your customers, and readers, with
fresh content on a daily, or weekly basis can keep your business running even
during lean months. Blogging is also a
great way for small business owners, with little web design knowledge, and
small budgets to establish a professional, attractive, web presence. Many designers charge much less for a
completely customized blog design and installation than they would charge for complete,
traditional, html or flash website design.
When blogging
first began becoming popular among businesses
I was slow to notice the change. It
seemed to me as though more and more of my competitors were shutting down their
traditional websites and replacing them with well designed blogs. Other competitors kept their existing
websites up, but added links to their websites that sent surfers to there
companies newly created blogs. I decided
to start learning more about blogging, but I didn’t want to change my entire
website format until I was sure blogging was right for me and my business.
I played
around with a few different blogging platforms on a personal level trying to
find out what all the fuss was about. I
set up a small personal blog on Blogger and later a weight loss blog on Type pad. After trying out all of the
major blogging platforms I realized that using a blog platform to power my site
rather than the current html design could do wonders for my business. In addition to being able to make my blogs
look, and feel, professional with little design knowledge, I was also able to
easily add photo and text content to these personal blogs with no
assistance. This was something I would never have been able to
manage on my traditional site.
While many of
these discoveries would have inspired me to turn my existing site into a blog,
the deciding factor for me was a confrontation with my website designer. I needed my site updated to promote an
upcoming concert my business was affiliated with but the designer would not be
available to complete the update until after the concert was over. I immediately began researching how to create
my own blog on my own domain so that I would no longer be dependent on a web
designer.
Being able to
take charge of how, and when, information was posted on my new blog site immediately increased my
sales, site traffic, and general interest in my domain. Clients no longer felt that the site would
always contain the same, stale information.
They knew that in order to catch my latest promotions they would have to
subscribe to my blog or bookmark my site to return to it often in order to
avoid missing anything important.
I invested a
great deal of time in setting up my initial blog posts and interacting with my
clients. In many cases, my posts for the
entire week were prepared by Monday and published on the blog at set intervals throughout the week. Each and every time someone commented on a
blog post I did my best to respond to, or acknowledge these comments. Even if it was just to say ‘thank you for
commenting.
Allowing
users to comment on your blog posts can increase your company's business and
reputation tremendously. Many
prospective clients make their decision to buy a product or use a service based
solely on testimonials and reviews left by other customers. Since comments often offer feedback on your
products and services, they can sometimes be more effective than the most
expensive, well thought, advertising campaigns.
These
comments can also serve as an unofficial Frequently Asked Questions section. Often surfers are more likely to read the comments on posts
that relate to a question or problem they may be experiencing than they are to
visit your site's FAQ. By making it
possible for clients to post comments publicly, and answer comments publicly,
you might keep someone else from asking the same question. This will cut down on the number of emails
you have to answer and phone calls you might otherwise receive.
Also,
answering these comments and communicating with the comment makers (saying
thank you) shows readers and clients how you and your company treat
customers.
I can not
tell you how many times a client, or potential client, has posted a comment to
one of my blogs telling me that they found an answer to a question they were
planning to ask by reading comments left by other users. On a few occasions, clients of competitors
have left comments saying that they were searching on the internet for a
resolution to their own issue with another site, and found the answer thanks to
my blog. This is extremely gratifying
and tells me that my blog is providing more information than those of my
competitors.
Please keep
in mind that if you are allowing readers to comment on blog posts you need to
take steps to monitor the content of these posts. While there is software available to help
prevent comment spam there are always times when some spam will slip through
the cracks. Manually monitoring comments
will avoid embarrassing situations of inappropriate comments being published on
your blogs.
If you are
someone that has an existing site, establishing and maintaining a blog is going
to drastically increase your traffic to that site. Many blog readers are attracted to a blog
site by one, or more, posts on a specific subject. Once the reader is at that blog post they
will more than likely explore other products and services they might not have
otherwise shown an interest in. If
there is a link to your previously established traditional site in your blog,
chances are readers will visit that site as well which increases its traffic.
This also
creates an opportunity for free publicity and advertising. Many blog readers are often trying to find
news and content for their own blog site.
Your existing traditional site might be just what they were looking
for. There have been many times when I
have been checking my backlinks and found out that the blog of one of my
readers, or past clients, has a link to my blog promoting a certain interesting
post or product.
Even if you
do not have a specific product to sell, or message to spread, it doesn’t mean
that you can’t earn revenue from blogging.
Many profitable blog owners are those who started their blogs to use as
a personal diary and began doing little things to earn income. First, add ads to the blog and then do other things to capitalize on traffic and make a profit.
2 – What on Earth is Blogging?
I’ve
mentioned how much blogging can help your business grow and help
non-business owners earn money, but I haven’t really explained what blogging
is. Blogging is contributing content to
a weblog (blog) that is usually published online and made accessible to
millions of internet surfers worldwide.
These blogs can be anything from simple online diaries to major,
interactive, resource providers. Most blogs provide news and opinions on
specific subjects that range from current events to celebrity gossip.
As of
December 2007, over 112 million blogs with readers could be found online with
new ones being created each and every day.
No longer is the world of blogging dominated by opinionated individuals
with web knowledge, now many publications, entertainment companies, and miscellaneous
businesses operate their own blogs.
Current major
corporations that publish blogs on their business websites include, but aren’t
limited to:
Amazon
Ford
Marriott
McDonalds
Nike
Southwest
Airlines
Time Warner
Wells Fargo
Wal-Mart
Blogging has
helped these companies to establish more client/corporate interaction since
many customers, and random surfers will happily utilize a blog's comment
features to share feedback on their experiences or ask questions. Blogs
have often helped some major corporations with damage control. Blogs can let companies quickly, and
publicly, make statements that will be read by millions.
These days
almost every company with a web presence has some sort of blog available for
surfers to read and comment on. A few
companies that were late in jumping on the blog bandwagon have publicly
acknowledged their regret at hesitating.
A variety of
blogging platforms exist to help individuals and businesses establish, and run,
their own blogs. Some of these blogging
platforms are on sites totally dedicated to blogging and others are part of
social networking and content management programs. The most well-known blogging
platforms are:
B2evolution: http://www. b2evolution.net
Blogger: https://www.blogger.com
Blogharbor: http://www.blogharbor.com
Boast
Machine: http://www.boastology.com
Blog
Drive: http://www.blogdrive.com
DasBlog: http://www.dasblog.info
Drupal: http:///www.drupal.org
Expression
Engine: http://expressionengine.com
Geeklog: http://www.geeklog.net
Joomla: http://www.joomla.org
Livejournal: http://www.livejournal.com
Mambo: http://www.mamboserver.com
Movable
Type: http://www.movabletype.com
Pmachine: http://www.pmachine.com
Serendipity: http://s9y.org
Type
Pad: http://www.typepad.com
WordPress: http://wordpress.org
The first
blogging platform I ever tried was Blogger (http://www.blogger.com). I chose Blogger because it was easy to set up
and many people I knew had active, highly trafficked, bloggers accounts. A few businesses I knew of had even set up
Blogger accounts, registered domain names, and then redirected their domain
traffic to their Blogger accounts.
The pros of
using Blogger for me were that it was extremely easy to set up, affiliated with
Google, and had an extremely user-friendly dashboard. There were literally hundreds of free Blogger
templates available that didn’t require that much HTML knowledge to use. Also (though I didn’t appreciate it at the
time) Blogger allows users to earn revenue through Google AdSense.
The cons for
me were that other than Google AdSense Blogger doesn’t offer many revenue-generating opportunities. Also, it was a
little bit too common. It seemed as
though everyone with an interest in blogging had a Blogger account and chances
were they were using the same, or similar, template as I was.
The bad
points of the Blogger platform apply to almost all of the blogging platforms
that allow users to sign up for free and then provide a free subdomain on
their site. A lot of the available templates
are so heavily used that is nearly impossible for you to distinguish your
message, business, or product from other bloggers on the same platform. Also, there are only so many revenue-sharing options.
Many free
blog hosts will not allow users to import JavaScript at all. This means that you will not be able to use
Google AdSense or any of the other popular ad revenue programs. Others, mainly Word press (http://www.wordpress.com)
will not allow users to participate in paid review programs. Already two potential revenue sources have
been cut out for you and your business.
There is also
a matter of competition. Most free blog
hosts and platforms encourage visitors to browse blogs that contain similar
content as your own. The host will also
include links to their own affiliates and sponsors on your blog. This means that you could easily lose most
of the traffic that you have generated for your own business or site to a
competitor.
With that
said, if you are truly interested in earning a profit with your blog you are
going to have to invest some money.
Having your own domain name (this is assuming that you don’t already
have one) will increase your credibility and make your blog eligible for more
revenue-earning opportunities that are not offered to those hosting their blogs
on free sites. Also, you will have more control
over your blog's design, content, and availability. No more fear of losing traffic or business
because the free blog host has gone down or is undergoing maintenance for
several hours.
If you are a
new blog owner and apprehensive about investing in a domain name and hosting
set your mind at ease. Once your blog is
up, running, and established you will be able to easily earn back the money
spent on a domain name on hosting. Most
domain registrations range from $1.99 to $10.99 and hosting is often between
$4.95 and $10.95 monthly for a basic hosting account.
There are
many web hosting companies that offer new sign up’s one free domain name
registration when they establish an account.
Two companies that do this are Dream host (http://www.dreamhost.com)
and Blue Host (http://www.bluehost.com). These companies give new sign-ups a free
domain registration when their account is set up and also offer easy, one-click, solutions to help get your blog up and running quickly.
Both of these
services offer one-click installs for the WordPress blog platform which is the
only one that I will use for my professional and personal sites. These one-click installs are exactly what they
are described as. You are able to
install the software on your site with one click of your mouse after answering
a few questions about what directory you want the blog to be in and what user
names/passwords you want for your databases.
3 – Ways
to Optimize Your Blog for Maximum Traffic
Once you have
decided to create a blog and publish it on the World Wide Web you still have to
do a few more things before you can expect to earn any profit from your
blog. This is especially true for those blogs
that are not affiliated with any existing sites and blog owners who have never
run a website before. You are going to
have to work to build some traffic and readership to your new blog. It is going to be hard to earn any income,
let alone make a profit, on your blog site if no one is reading it.
Before
starting any aggressive advertising campaigns it is important to make sure your
blog is search engine optimized. There
are plenty of companies that will charge you a pretty penny to make these changes
for you, but it is easier (and naturally cheaper) to do things yourself.
Two free
tools that will generate quality meta tags for your site are the Submit Express
Meta Tag Generator (http://www.submitexpress.com/metatag.html)
and the Submit Corner Meta Tag Generator (http://www.submitcorner.com/Tools/Meta). I have used both of these tools to generate
meta tags for all of my existing blogs.
This helps ensure that my blogs get indexed and that I can receive
traffic from search engine results that display my blog. Both of these tools are completely free and
only require the user to answer a few questions and fill in a few blanks (site
description, keywords, etc.). When you
are done both tools can be used to analyze your newly created meta tags and
give suggestions on how to optimize them (make them shorter or longer).
Depending on
your blogging platform your newly created meta tags might have to go in
different parts of your blog. Using
WordPress I usually place my meta tags in the header and main index page of my
blog layout. If you are not sure where
to place the meta tags consult your blog platform Frequently Asked Questions
or search for a help forum dedicated to your specific blogging platform.
Once your
meta tags are created and in place, you can now start submitting your blog to
major search engines. There are plenty
of companies that offer to submit your domain to search engines, for a fee, and
I recommend against using them. If you
have some time at the beginning of each month to submit your domains manually
it will be just as effective and save you money. I usually use Submit Express (http://www.submitexpress.com)
to submit my blog to search engines.
Also, because of the constant updating, blogs get indexed faster (and
stay indexed longer) than traditional websites.
This fact alone makes me a blog supporter and promoter.
When you have
gotten comfortable with blogging, and your chosen platform, it is time to
beautify your blog. You want to make
sure that your blog stands out in the crowd, and the only way to do that is to
have a unique blog theme/template. The
worst thing that can happen to you in the world of blogging is for readers and
clients to confuse your blog with that of your competitors.
There are
many websites that sell pre-made blog templates for reasonable prices. One that I have personally worked with is
Template Monster (http://www.templatemonster.com). They sell WordPress, Joomla, and Mambo
templates for anywhere between $30.00 and $70.00. For an additional fee, they offer another
service, Template Tuning, which will customize your heading and other parts of
the blog design for you. However, if you
know anything about Adobe Photoshop then you should be able to make any
necessary changes to the template yourself.
Template Monster includes the editable PSD files with each order.
It is also
possible to hire a designer to create a completely unique theme/template for
your blog for a fee. These services can
cost anywhere from $30.00 to $300.00 depending on the designer and the
complexity of the design. In most cases, you will need to provide images for the designer to work with. These images can be purchased from stock
photography sites such as Dreamtime (http://www.dreamstime.com). Dreamtime will also, occasionally, have free
images available for use as long as the photographer is credited somewhere in
the design.
Some of the
best places to find designers who will work for reasonable fees are Craigslist (http://www.craigslist.org)
and DeviantArt (http://www.deviantart.com). If you are looking on Craigslist for a
designer go to the Creative and Computer services section, and perform a search
for blog design, blogging, or your platform by name. Be sure you search all major cities to try
and find the most affordable designer.
When looking on DeviantArt you can browse the Job Offers forum for
designers who are currently accepting projects or register and post your own
job opening.
After you’ve
found a designer, or before you purchase a pre-made template/theme, be sure you
take readability into account. Your
reader shouldn’t have to strain to view small text or get headaches because of
overly bright colors. I have extremely
poor vision and nothing will make me leave a site or blog faster than small
font and bad colors.
Take
readability into account when you are writing individual posts as well. Make sure that you always use a decent-sized font and that you use punctuation when needed.
Also include line breaks between paragraphs or statements. Even with decent-sized font reading text with
no breaks or punctuation can be frustrating, and will cause your blog to lose
readers.
Once your
blog is beautiful, readable, and you are ready to start posting content, make
it easy for people to subscribe to your content. If you are providing content that your
readers want to read on a steady basis they shouldn’t have to tear your site
apart looking for an RSS feed. Also,
offer an alternative to RSS feeds just in case your readership does not like
dealing with feeds. Services like Feed blitz (http://www.feedblitz.com)
will let readers sign up to receive your latest content right in their email
inboxes.
Now that your
blog is optimized you have to start maximizing your traffic. A lot of blog income opportunities can only
be maximized if your blog is receiving a good amount of traffic. Participating in a pay-per-impression ad
program is useless if only two people visit your site a week. Make sure your blog is listed with as many
blog directories and communities as possible so that you can ensure a good
amount of traffic. Here is a list of
great blog directories and communities that can help your blog's traffic and
popularity skyrocket.
Blogarama: http://www.blogarama.com
This is one
of the largest free directories on the internet. Once your blog is listed on Blogarama users
will be able to rank your site, and many users using Blogarama will comment on your
posts and refer your blog to other users.
Blog
Catalog: http://blogcatalog.com
The Blog
Catalog is a directory of blogs around the world. This directory contains high-quality, content-rich blogs. Having your blog listed in this catalog will increase your blog's popularity and reputation.
My Blog
Log: http://www.mybloglog.com
Unique in the
sense that this blog directory lets you create your own free widget to display
your recent readers and their information.
It helps you track traffic and communicate with repeat readers. My blog log also has many communities that
are great for networking and establishing link exchanges.
Blog
Rush: http://www.blogrush.com
Rather than
simply list your blog in a directory, blog rush adds your latest posts to their
widget which is seen by thousands of viewers.
Your site headlines are shown on blogs with content similar to your own,
which means readers that will be interested n your product or news are going to
be seeing your headlines. This tool is
great for generating massive amounts of traffic to your site. In order to get the most out of Blog Rush
keep your post titles short and attention-getting to encourage readers to leave
the blog, they're reading in order to visit your blog.
Blog Flux
Directory: http://dir.blogflux.com
In addition
to letting you add your blog to their directory Blog, Flux offers a variety of
tools that will help you promote your blog and increase your revenue. Blog Flux offers a button maker, online now
codes, advance tracking, and much more.
Blog
Universe: http://www.bloguniverse.com
A directory
of text blogs, audio blogs (podcasts), and even video blogs (vlogs) that are
organized based on subject/content.
Blog Top list: http://www.blogtoplist.com
This is a top list just like the name suggests.
Blog Top list has built up years’ worth of fantastic blog traffic and has
an excellent reputation. List your blog
and benefit from this top list's traffic and various advertising campaigns.
Blog Search
Engine: http://www.blogsearchengine.com
Finally, a search engine dedicated entirely to blogs
and blog-related tools. Users visiting
this site are only seeking blogs so you don’t have to worry about attracting
visitors who are completely uninterested in blogging.
Bloggernity: http://www.bloggernity.com
A combination
blog directory, search tool, hosting company, and forum. An all-in-one resource for new blog owners to
promote blogs, search for tools and connect with other blog owners.
Blog
Hop: http://www.bloghop.com
Add your blog
to this directory and searchers will be able to find your blog through other
blogs with similar content. A great
source for targeted traffic.
Blog
Sweet: http://www.blogsweet.com
This
directory is composed of some of the most popular blogs on the internet. Blogs listed here benefit from higher search
engine ranking and usually see a large increase in traffic.
Blog
Watch: http://www.blog-watch.com
This service
offers a little bit of everything.
Inclusion in their search engine, tools for your blog, and even great
templates for you to use to make your blog even more unique.
Social networking sites are another great way
to drive quality traffic to your blog.
Many bloggers rely on Myspace (http://www.myspace.com)
for new readers and customers. Setting
up a free Myspace profile and participating in groups and forums can attract an
entirely new group of people to your site.
When networking and promoting on Myspace it is important to remember the
Terms and Policies of the site and to avoid sending out bulk messages of any
kind.
I have used Myspace as a promotional tool for two years now and have never had a
problem. I include a widget to my blog
on my Myspace profile page so that all visitors can see my latest blog
headlines. I also cross-post bits of my
blog posts to my Myspace blog linking back to the full post on my own domain.
While Myspace is very strict about posting links to your site in certain forums and groups,
there are ways to advertise your domain and blog site without breaking the
rules. Myspace allows users to have a
headline that appears instead of their name.
Many users, including myself, replace that headline with our web
address. Also, instead of receiving
messages, I have all users attempting to send me messages and receive an automatic
message asking them to send me a message at my website.
Facebook is
another good site for promoting your blog and getting the attention of new
clients, readers, and even local businesses.
Quite a few bloggers have groups set up on Facebook and network with
each other. Also, they are often helped
by friends and relatives who are also on Facebook and who don’t mind sharing
news of your blog through word of mouth.
Many of Facebook applications make it easy to add feeds to your blog
and promote your domain or blog without getting into any trouble.
Social bookmarking sites are also a popular
way for bloggers to promote their blogs and gain more traffic. Social bookmarking sites can also be used to
increase the number of other blogs and sites that link to your own blog. This linking can increase traffic and, if the
sites linking to you are quality sites, PageRank. The popular social bookmarking sites are:
Blog
Marks: http://www.blogmarks.net
Blink
List: http://www.blinklist.com
Bookmark
Sync: http://bookmarksync.com
De.Lirio.Us: http://de.lirio.us
Del.Icio.Us: http://del.icio.us
Digg: http://www.digg.com
Faves: http://faves.com/friends/dots
Feed
Marker: http://www.feedmarker.com
Feed Me
Links: http://feedmelinks.com/portal
Furl: http://www.furl.net
Fuzz
Fizz: http://www.fuzzfizz.com
Jump
Tags: http://www.jumptags.com
Link
Roll: http://www.linkroll.com
My
Progs: http://myprogs.net
My Web: http://myweb2.search.yahoo.com
Reddit: http://reddit.com
Stumble
Upon: http://www.stumbleupon.com
Lastly, but
not least, don’t forget the power of the signature. If you participate in any online message board communities that allow
posters to have signatures, include a link to your blog. Not only will this increase traffic but it
will also increase your backlinks since many of these directories are indexed
and listed on major search engines.
Also, add a
link to your new blog in your email signatures.
You would be amazed at how many people who receive your emails will
click your link out of curiosity.
4 – Putting Your Posts to Work
Now that your
blog is set up and being promoted it is time to start earning money. In order to maximize profits every single
post written and published must be created with an eye toward possible
profits. For many blog owners with products or services, these blog posts will
be used to advertise these specific products/services to clients. Blog posts of that nature can be written to
highlight noteworthy product features, specials, or client reviews Writing this information in an individual
post increases the chance that your product/site will be listed in search
engine results and exposed to more potential clients.
Another way
to earn money from your blog posts is inline ads. Inline ads highlight specific keywords found
within your post and earn you revenue each time a reader clicks the highlighted keyword. Companies such as Adbrite (http://www.adbrite.com)
offer Inline Ad options to advertisers and more companies, such as Google, are
looking for ways to help webmasters maximize their revenue by using inline
ads. Some companies are even willing to
pay per impression which means you earn money regardless of whether your
readers click the keywords or not.
Sponsored
review programs, or paid review programs, are another extremely popular way to
earn money with your blog posts. I use
sponsored review programs to earn money and to get ideas for new, quality,
content when writers' block creeps up on me.
These programs allow blog owners to sign up, register their blog, and
then review a variety of websites. Each
review usually consists of a neutral, or positive, overview of the website
paying for the review, along with up to three links to the sponsors’
website. Some of the most popular paid-to-review programs are:
Blogitive: http://www.blogitive.com
Blogvertise: http://www.blogsvertise.com
Blogger
Wave: http://www.bloggerwave.com
Blog
Ads: http://bloggingads.com
Blog to
Profit: http://www.blogtoprofit.com
Blogger
Party: http://bloggerparty.com
Creamaid: http://creamaid.com
Contextual: http://contextual.v7n.com
Link
Worth: http://www.linkworth.com
Linky Love
Army: http://www.linkylovearmy.com
Loud Launch: http://www.loudlaunch.com
Making Money
from Blogs: http://www.money4blogs.com
Pay Per
Post: http://www.payperpost.com
Pay U 2Blog: http://www.payu2blog.com/
Review Me: http://www.reviewme.com
Smorty: http://www.smorty.com
These
programs are all a great source of revenue paying bloggers anywhere from $5.00
to $500.00 per review. Those blogs that
are established with steady traffic are going to make more money per review
than a smaller, new bog. This is a great
money maker for those blog owners who are only hoping to pay for hosting aka
break even. However, if you have a great
blog and time to post you can make an impressive income with these programs. I make, on average, $100 per week with paid
review opportunities.
Currently, my
favorite programs to use are Payu2Blog, Sponsored Review, and Blogitive. They all offer a steady source of income,
especially during certain times of the year.
During the holiday season, I easily made $50.00 per day using these
programs, and all of the products and sites being reviewed interested my
readers. Essentially I got paid to
provide great information.
Payu2Blog is
a little bit easier when it comes to blogger and posting requirements. Their posts usually only have to be around 60
words, and the sponsor only needs to be mentioned (linked to) once. The link has to be attached to a keyword the
sponsor provides and the keywords are more often than not unobtrusive. The dashboard is easy to use and they let you
keep track of your pay periods and pay history.
Payment is made every two weeks through PayPal.
Blogitive
requires anywhere between 100 to 200 word reviews, and a minimum of three links
to the sponsors website. I do not mind
this because I am usually asked to review high quality travel sites that appeal
to my readers. After you have written a
few quality reviews many advertisers will request your blog specifically. While there is no marketplace for you to know
this Blogitive staff will often email the blogger to let them know the assigned
reviews were specifically requested.
Sponsored
Reviews is the highest paying of the sites that I write paid reviews for, but
that is because there is often a great deal of effort that goes into creating
each review. The advertisers place their
requests on the site's marketplace and each reviewer bids for the
assignment. Usually, the advertiser
rejects or accepts the bid in a matter of days.
The advertiser show’s what they are willing to pay for the review, which
can be anywhere from $5.00 to $200.00.
Sponsored Reviews takes a percentage of this payment and sends the rest
to the reviewer via PayPal.
The amount
each blogger bids is usually determined by their own blogs statistics which
include traffic, backlinks, and overall popularity on the internet. Sponsored Review suggests what you should
charge per review after the sign up process is complete. I do not charge any less than $40.00 per
review when writing for their clients, and usually I try to charge a bit more.
When writing
for Sponsored Review they request that you give an in depth analysis of the
product or site you are reviewing. All
the information and insight must be fresh, you are absolutely not allowed to
restate the information that is readily available on the advertiser’s
website. Sponsored Review encourages
bloggers to include screenshots of the advertiser’s site. They also want reviewers to share any relevant
information that will encourage readers to visit the advertisers’ site and
perhaps purchase their product or service.
That might
seem like a lot of work, but once you get going it isn’t that bad. Be sure that you do take the time to give a
detailed review and that you include all information the sponsor has
requested. Failure to do so will lead to
Sponsored Review banning you from their site.
Before participating
in any paid blog, or sponsored post, or program you must decide whether or not
you want to disclose that the post has been paid for. Many bloggers refuse to have anything to do
with blogs that have sponsored posts because they feel that paying for reviews
is unethical. Disclosing that you have
been paid for reviews may keep other bloggers from doing link exchanges with
you or promoting your blog in the future.
Even if you
do not disclose that you are being paid for your post or review there may be
consequences. If you are writing for a
paid-to-blog company that requires you to post a tracking code that includes a
link to their site, or if you mention their site by name, search engines might
penalize you. Google is one of the most
well-known search engines that has been accused of doing this. Many bloggers who have mentioned certain
programs, such as Pay Per Post, or who link to paid reviews programs have lost
PageRank.
This loss of
PageRank can be detrimental to many businesses that use their high page rank as
a selling point. Many companies will not
advertise on a site with no PageRank since, traditionally, PageRank represents
how much traffic a site gets. If you do
choose to use paid per-review programs I recommend only using the ones that do
not require disclosure or reciprocal links.
Another
income generator that is often overlooked are companies that will pay you for
using their content. One program that I
use often on all of my blogs, business and personal, is the Voxant Network (http://www.thenewsroom.com). The Vacant Network is a leading news provider
that prides itself on having the most current global headlines.
These
headlines cover almost any topic or category that one could imagine. The site's entertainment headlines report the
latest movie, television, and music information along with some of the juiciest
celebrity gossip. Finance headlines deal
with stocks, banking, real estate, and any other industry that is being
affected by finances. There are also
world news headlines and you can also find your own local news. The Vacant Network gets its news from the following sources:
Associated
Press
AFP
CBS
NHL
MTV
The Wall
Street Journal
These are
only a few of the most recognized sources.
The network constantly searches for, and screens, quality content so
that you don’t have to. Now blog owners
don’t have to waste time searching through headlines for relevant, researched,
news and information.
Once you find
headlines that will appeal to your readers or fit in with your existing blog
content you can then choose what format you want to post the content in. I usually use the text player but there are
also streaming videos and high-quality images.
These images are extremely popular on celebrity and entertainment-related sites.
The network
then pays you, the blogger, for each page impression that their news content
receives. That means that each and every
time a visitor goes to your site and the vacant content is loaded into their
browser you are earning money. The
payout varies depending on the content and you are also paid for
referrals. The payout schedule is as
follows:
Video
Feeds: $4.00 CPM
Video
Story: $3.00 CPM
Text
Story: $1.00 CPM
Image: $1.00 CPM
This might
not seem like a lot of money at first, but once you factor in your traffic and
the fact that you are essentially getting paid to use free content the value
increases.
Another way
to earn money through your blog posts is to recycle and, if you are willing, share
them. There are days when I write really
researched, and inspired blog posts that I think can benefit more than just my
clients and readers. When I feel that
way I will syndicate my content.
The first way to recycle your content is to submit it to Associated Content (http://www.associatedcontent.com)
as a Non-Exclusive article and you will be paid $1.50 per thousand views. Associated Content is a highly recognized
source for articles that is free to set up and easy to use. They allow you a link back to your own blog
in your profile and within the article.
Not only does this help me get even more traffic thanks to my inspired
posting, but it also earns me a pretty good residual income. I’ve found that my posts on finance and
technology get the most page views.
I strongly
recommend Associated Content to those who are new to writing or syndicating
articles. The pay is made on a regular
basis through PayPal and it is a nice way to get the most out of your blog
posts. I try to submit at least one post
a week to Associated Content and it has paid off pretty well. Once you have established a pretty
impressive collection of articles with them you can expect to receive a
passive, monthly income deposited directly into your PayPal account.
Another site
to use when syndicating your posts in article form is Constant Content (http://www.constant-content.com). This site allows you to list well-written posts
for sale at a price you set. Prices vary
from $5.00 to $50.00 for non-unique articles and payment is made through PayPal. While the review process can be
a bit strict this is a great place to post your well-written posts. I usually charge $15.00 for other sites to
use my article and in many cases, your byline will be included which means you
will be gaining a backlink.
In the event
that you are not that comfortable posting your articles on Associated Content
or Constant Content, or if you would prefer to focus on targeted traffic and
backlinks, you might want to consider article directories. There are many free article directories that
will allow you to submit your longer posts to their directories. These article directories will let you include
a link to your site and byline so that when your article is posted on another
blog you will receive an incoming link.
Some article directories to check are:
Article
Base: http://www.articlesbase.com
Article
Rich: http://www.articlerich.com
Article
Circle: http://www.articlecircle.com
Article
Fever: http://www.articlefever.com
Ezine
Articles: http://ezinearticles.com
Go
Articles: http://www.goarticles.com
Insnare: http://www.isnare.com
These
directories are great for viral marketing and syndication. Your article will be used by blog owners that
have content similar to what is on your own blog. This means that they will be advertising your
site to a more targeted audience. This
is a great, free, way for your blog posts to be put to work earning you
traffic.
Even if you
don’t have any articles to submit you can put these directories to good use
too. Using these free articles will
provide you with some additional, free, content for your site to help out
during busy seasons when you are not able to write your own unique
content. Remember to make use of these
free articles temporarily and to supplement posts containing free content with
original content of your own.
Since many
blogs are popping up that do nothing but promote different ad programs using
free content some search engines, Google included, are starting to penalize
blog owners for having excessively used content. Using your own, unique content, in addition
to free content will keep your blog from being targeted. I recommend keeping at least 2/3rds of your
content totally original to avoid having your blog penalized.
5 – Selling
Blog Branded Merchandise
An income-generating idea that many blog owners overlook is the creation of merchandise
that promotes your blog's name or popular themes. Many blogs have clever names and/or unique
content that have mass appeal. For some, it is a catchphrase, slogan, or quotation that is well received by readers, and
for others, it is a very clever logo. If
you feel your blog’s name or content has mass appeal don’t be afraid to market
it in the form of t-shirts, mugs, journals, or bumper stickers. There are many sites that allow users to sign
up free of charge and begin selling merchandise with their own logo or slogan.
Cafepress: http://www.cafepress.com
Custom
Ink: http://www.customink.com
Printfection: http://www.printfection.com
Spreadshirt: http://www.spreadshirt.net
Uber
Prints: http://www.uberprints.com
Zazzle: http://www.zazzle.com
Establishing
a store on a site like Cafepress or Zazzle not only gives you a chance to make
more money thanks to your blog, but it also lets you have a free link on a high-ranking site which increases your blog's PageRank and traffic. I currently have a store on Zazzle where I
sell merchandise (t-shirts and bumper stickers) featuring my domain name and
most popular post quotes. During the
holiday season, I also opened a store on Cafepress to sell a few more specialty
items that were not available on Zazzle.
I sold a variety of messenger bags, hoodies, mugs, and journals
featuring some photography and artwork that could only be found on my
blog.
Don’t be
afraid to open more than one store to get the best quality for each item. Some of the sites listed are known for
hoodies, others are known for producing quality shirts, and still others for
providing lovely framed prints. Since
the sites themselves handle all of the customer service and back-end production
you will not have to worry about anything after initial setup.
After your
item is set up and listed for sale make sure you promote these items on your
blog. I occasionally dedicate a blog
post to one of my items from Zazzle and then one from Cafepress. One week I will discount the price of the
t-shirts that promote my blog's domain name and then other weeks I’ll discount
the mugs that promote one of my slogans.
This gives me unique content for my blog while promoting my
products. I also have a page on my blog
dedicated to my shop with pictures of items and direct links to the item at the
appropriate store. These products and
strategies provide me with a steady weekly income.
Other blog
owners I know prefer to be more hands-on with their merchandising. They will find a local company that provides
affordable printing services or even find an affordable online printing
company. They will then order shirts,
hoodies, and other items in bulk and sell them directly through their own blog
site.
These blog
owners will use PayPal (http://www.paypal.com)
and Google Checkout (http://checkout.google.com)
to set up shopping carts. There are even
a few shopping cart plug-ins/tools for different blog platforms such as WordPress that are designed to make selling through a blog even easier. A few of these more hands-on blog owners have
even been known to sell autographed prints by contacting a celebrity that
appeals to readers requesting (and getting) autographed photos.
If your blog
contains a great deal of unique, quality, text content that you feel could have
mainstream appeal you might want to look
into self-publishing. Look at it as
article publishing taken to the next step.
Several blog owners have self-published their most provocative and
informative posts and turned them into cash cows.
Publishing
your own book will give you access to an entirely new audience, both online and
off. that may have never even heard of your blog before. Many people that go online to shop for books
have never even thought of visiting a blog, so all the information you are recycling is going to be brand new to them.
Plus there are bound to be some current readers who would like to have
the information you provide in an offline format that they can reference or
give to an interested friend.
A great
service to use for this sort of venture is Lulu (http://www.lulu.com). This service will allow you to self-publish a
book of any size absolutely free of charge.
They walk you through the process of putting your book into the proper
printing format and allow you to set the prices of your book. After the production costs and the small fee, Lulu takes for payment processing you keep all of the profits.
I have used
Lulu for a few ventures and have had nothing but positive experiences. They pay royalties on time by check or via PayPal. It is easy to set up an account with them and
the forum is extremely useful. Customer
support is fantastic and you are able to set up and customize, your own storefront that can include a link to your own blog site.
Remember,
this is your book so you can shamelessly promote your own blog or blogs, as
much as possible within the book. You
might also want to contact affiliates who may want to contribute some quotes or
testimonials to use in your book. Once
it is complete you can list your book for sale on your blog and watch the news
spread.
6 – Cash
in on eBook Mania
Not only can
you sell your information in traditional book format, but you can also sell quality
information in eBook format. There is much different software available that will allow you to convert documents
into eBook format. Some of the most
popular software’s/sites for eBook creation are:
eBook Compiler: http://www.ebookcompiler.com
eBook
Edit: http://www.ebookedit.com
eBook Pack
Express: http://www.caislabs.com
eBook
Gold: http://www.ebookgold.com
eBook
Maestro: http://www.ebookmaestro.com
These
programs will let you compile some of your most popular posts into one eBook
for reselling through your blog or other sites.
Lulu (http://www.lulu.com),
PayPal, and Click bank (http://www.clickbank.com)
can all be used to process payments and manage downloads. I have used all three services to sell eBooks
and they all have their good points and bad points.
Lulu is
probably one of the easiest to set up and because the site is heavily promoted
you will often make sales even if you haven’t lifted a finger to promote your
project. They accept a variety of
payment options including all major credit cards. The only complaint I have received about Lulu
is that they require buyers to sign up for an account which is something that
many buyers do not want to do.
PayPal is
another good way to sell your eBook.
Simply make it available on your site with a PayPal buy now button. After the buyer sends their money to you
through PayPal they are given access to an instant download. The only concerns I have ever had with PayPal have been security issues that could sometimes lead to your eBook being
downloaded without purchase. A solution
to this security issue presented itself with the creation of Payload (https://www.payloadz.com/). Payloads lets sellers securely sell their
digital goods using both PayPal and Google Checkout.
Last, but not
least, I have used Click bank to sell quite a few eBooks. The largest drawback to selling an item using Click bank is the $49.95 activation fee which must be paid before customers are
able to check out using Click bank. I was
hesitant about signing up for the service but the inclusion in the affiliate
marketplace decided me. Thousands of
affiliates can now sell my eBook for me and we can share the profit. This means increased sales and traffic to the
blog that promotes the eBook.
Every time I
have released an eBook using Click bank I have cross-promoted the eBook on all
of my sites and encouraged readers/surfers to become affiliates. I have also placed links to my blogs on sites
that allow users to advertise affiliate programs. Perhaps the greatest success I have ever had
was releasing a press release on several online press release sites about my
eBook and the affiliate program. To this
day most of my eBook sales are made thanks to affiliates who get to benefit
from their hard work with the generous profit share I offer.
For those who
do not have the time or energy to create an eBook with their existing blog
content, or who do not want to syndicate their blog content in any way, you can
still cash in on the eBook craze. Just
like you can make your eBook available in the Click bank marketplace you can
also browse that marketplace for programs to join. It is free for affiliates to sign up and
there are a wide variety of eBooks to promote.
If you are
going to sell an eBook as an affiliate using Click bank I recommend taking some
time to choose a reasonably priced eBook with a high-profit share. Many eBook affiliate programs give the
affiliate 75% of the revenues. Most of
these programs include detailed information for new affiliates including ways
to advertise and eBook covers to use in online promotion efforts.
In addition
to Click bank, there are literally thousands of eBooks available on eBay complete
with resell rights. These eBooks allow
the buyer to resell, redistribute, and reuse the contents of the eBook in any
way they wish. When purchasing an eBook
to resell make sure that you are getting the Master Resell rights and ask the
seller if you are unsure of what you will be able to do with your new eBook.
I have used
eBay to purchase literally thousands of eBooks, which I have then
redistributed. Most of my eBooks are
carefully picked based on the tastes and interests of my readers and the
content of my site. Others are purchased
because they are unique and might possibly be used to brand an entirely new
blog.
Recently I
purchased several eBooks on Dreams, Tarot, and Witchcraft. I was then able to take these eBooks, built a
blog that focused on supernatural events, shows, and articles, then sell these
eBooks through that blog. Using Payloads to manage the transaction I soon turned a tidy profit which more than covered
the initial investment and time spent building the blog up.
On another
occasion, I was able to get several eBooks on wine making, beer making, and wine
tasting. I then built another blog using
a very unique wine-related domain name and sold the eBooks through that
site. It was a huge hit and I received
several offers to buy the entire site.
The highest offer was for a few thousand dollars which were impressive
considering the venture cost me less than $50.00.
You don’t always have to sell the eBooks you buy to earn with them. The content of the eBooks can usually be made available on your blog which gives your readers something new to read. In many cases, I will let clients, readers, and surfers download a few eBooks absolutely free of charge. This earns free traffic for your blog and a reputation for offering “freebies” which will lead to more subscribers who will watch your blog constantly to make sure they don’t miss out on any other free downloads or deals
.
7 – The
Power of Ad Space
The majority
of blog owners obtain most of their passive income through advertisements on
their blogs. These ads can be placed
anywhere on the blog, in the footer, beneath the header, or on the
sidebars. Most blog owners want the ads
to be as visible as possible since the advertisers are not going to pay to
advertise on a blog site that buries their ad on an unseen page of the
site. Also, with some programs, the blog
owner only gets revenue if the advertisement is clicked by a viewer.
One of the
most popular ad programs is Google AdSense (http://www.google.com/adsense). Advertisers pay Google to advertise links to
their site, these links are then featured on the sites of Google and their
affiliates when certain keywords are present.
Google then lets website owners sign up for their program and provide
these site owners with a code to place on their blog. This code shows Google ads that rotate and
are often relevant to the blog's current content.
Code can be
customized so that the ads match the blog's color scheme and you, the blog
owner, can choose to display text ads or image banner ads of all shapes and
sizes.
Whenever a
reader visits the link of one of the advertisers being featured on your blog
you earn money.
There are
many blogs that exist solely to earn Google AdSense revenue. Quite a few are loaded down with Google ads
in picture and text form with almost no original content. I personally recommend against doing this
since having a blog with too many ads and not enough original content can cause
you to be penalized by the search engines.
It will also prevent you from listing your blog in many quality blog
directories and communities.
Another
advertising program that allows you to sell ad space on your blog is Adbrite (http://www.adbrite.com). The features are very similar to Google AdSense but the primary difference is that they allow your blog to be listed in a
Marketplace. This allows advertisers to
browse sites and blogs in certain categories and buy ad space on a specific
blog for the week, month, or on a daily basis.
You can set your own rates or Adbrite will set the daily, weekly, and
monthly rates based on your traffic stats and overall ranking.
I currently
use Adbrite on all of my sites and prefer it to AdSense. My payout is usually higher with Adbrite
since I am able to get paid per click or page impression revenue thanks to
network-wide cost-per-click campaigns some advertisers run. I am also able to sell advertisement space
directly to advertisers that want to have a link on my site for a set amount of
time. My favorite feature is that I am
able to approve each advertiser myself.
That means I can deny advertisers who have objectionable content or that
are direct competitors. With Google AdSense, you never know what link is going to pop up on your blog.
Adbrite and AdSense are the two advertisement programs that I have used the most but there
are many others that have gotten great feedback and can be used to generate
income for all types of blogs.
AdSonar: http://www.Quigo.com
Adgenta: http://adgenta.com
AVN Ads
(adult ads): http://www.avnads.com
Black Label
Ads (adult ads): http://www.blacklabelads.com
Clicksor: http://clicksor.com
Crisp Ads: http://www.crispads.com
Kontera: http://www.kontera.com
Kanoodle: http://www.Kanoodle.com/
IntelliTXT: http://www.intellitxt.com
Mirago: http://www.mirago.com/partnerships/contextualproducts.html
Miva MC: http://www.miva.com/us/content/partners/arx.asp
Nixxie: http://www.nixxie.com
Oxado: http://www.oxado.com
Revenue
Pilot: http://www.revenuepilot.com
TargetPro: https://publisher.targetpoint.com/default.aspx
Text Ad
Links: http://www.text-link-ads.com
Yahoo! Publisher Network:
http://publisher.yahoo.com
Value
Click: http://www.valueclickmedia.com/Publishers.shtml
The majority of these ad programs can be used
together. Many blog owners use multiple
ad revenue programs on their blogs in order to get more revenue from a wider
variety of sources. While I primarily
use Adbrite I have also used the Yahoo Publisher Network and Kanoodle to sell
ad space and buy some. Some of these
programs will pay you per impression which means you earn money regardless of
whether a reader clicks an ad.
My personal favorite way to sell ad space on my site is to
sell it directly to the advertiser. I will
occasionally make a post on my blog saying that I am accepting new advertisers
or running a special on advertising rates to get email inquires. At other times I would create a small banner
or button to place in my sidebar that was linked to my email address that read
“Click Here to Advertise” or “Your Ad Here”.
I usually charge anywhere from $20.00 to $50.00 per month for
advertisers to have a small banner or text ad linking to their site for the
entire month.
8 – Look for Sponsorship
If you can
help it, don’t limit your income sources to the internet. Even though there are millions of blogs
online there are still millions of people who do not have blogs or any type of
internet presence. Many of these people
would appreciate and benefit from sponsoring your site. Quite a few local
companies would be willing to pay a tidy sum to have their business mentioned,
or featured, on a page within your blog.
I run a small
blog devoted to tattoos and body arts.
Many small tattoo shops and artists who can not afford, or don’t want to
manage, their own web presence have paid to have their companies advertised on
my tattoo blog. These advertisements are
usually in the form of a page within my blog that describes the company in
detail and includes contact information (address, phone number, etc.).
Another blog
of mine, dedicated to winemaking and hosting wine parties, is sponsored by
several individuals who also host, and throw wine tasting parties. These people are not interested in
maintaining a permanent web presence and are content to piggyback on my
blog. Each time they host an event I am
paid to blog about the event and I also have an entire page of my site dedicated
to providing the contact information for those that are selling wine-making books or materials and who host parties.
Opportunities
like this are usually available in your area, it is just a matter of looking
for, and making, the right connections.
Things are easier if you have a niche site and steady traffic that can
benefit a business owner. These sponsors
can often be found by word of mouth or through placing ads in your local newspaper. Some of my best sponsors have been found
through ads in the newspaper and even through direct advertising campaigns.
These
campaigns are pretty small and are focused on those businesses I know do not
have a website and who would benefit from my traffic. Sending out a simple flyer with information
about my site, traffic stats, prices, and how they would benefit by advertising
online often has good results. Not only
was I able to earn income from companies willing to advertise, or at least
exchange links, with me but every now and then I was able to generate a local
media buzz for my blog.
Being able to
show other advertisers that your blog has attracted local press and interest
can increase your ways to earn revenue.
If you are having advertisers pay you directly to advertise on your blog
site showing a review will help to justify your fees. It will also help prove your credibility to
clients if you are selling a product or service of any kind.
9 – Don’t be Afraid to
Ask and Conclusion
My last tip
that many blog owners forget about is that there is nothing wrong with asking
for help from readers. If your blog has
quality content that helps or entertains, your subscribers then there is
nothing wrong with placing a donation button on your blog in the sidebar or as
part of your post signature line. On a
few of my purely informative blogs, I have donation boxes to collect a dollar or
two through PayPal or the Amazon Honor System (http://zme.amazon.com).
I’ve noticed
that offering free items such as eBooks and syndicating posts on article sites
increased my donations enormously. Many
readers want to make sure your site stays life so that you can continue
providing little treats for free. If you
are nervous about placing donation boxes on your site keep this in mind. The donation boxes cost you nothing and the
worst your readers can do is not contribute.
When it comes to donations the rewards far outweigh the costs. If you have several thousand unique visitors
every month and even one-quarter of them leave a donation you have cleared a
pretty large sum.
Donations can especially come in handy when you, the blog owner, or your company is in trouble. There are times when business is not going well and all ad revenue has either slowed down or is not earning enough to keep your blog going. In situations such as those don’t be afraid to write a post explaining your situation and ask for a little help.
You’d be
surprised at the outcome.
Another blog
owner, and blog designer, I know was once on the verge of shutting down her
blog permanently. She was extremely
quiet about it and I only found out when I was trying to hire her to design a WordPress theme. After speaking with me
she, reluctantly, posted to her blog explaining that she would be shutting down
her blog site at the end of the month because she could no longer afford the
hosting costs. In addition to this, we
released a press release on several free online press release services.
The response
was astounding.
Even though
neither the post nor press release directly requested money the offers came
flooding in. At the instance of some readers, she placed a PayPal donation box
on her blog and received hundreds of dollars in donations from fans of her
work. This designer had been offering
quality, free, WordPress themes for years and this had not gone without
notice. Before the week was through she
was entirely caught up on her past due hosting bill and was able to prepay
for the next year.
The revenue-generating ideas outlined in this eBook are really just the beginning. If you have a message, product, or service
and a blog to promote them then you can earn an impressive income. With a little work, creativity, and traffic you
can turn a hobby or back site into full-time income that requires minimal
start-up fees. Don’t be afraid to try
any of the ideas or methods mentioned in this eBook. They are all tried and true.
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