Make Money Online with Blogs
Planning:
If youwant your blog to be successful and earn well, it is important that you plan it like a small business. The same rules of business apply to blogging. There is supply and demand (relevant content within your niche and readers with interest), there is competition from other bloggers, and there are incomes and expenses. No right-minded business would venture blindly into the marketplace without a solid Business Plan. Those that do often fail. The same is true of blogging.
The consequences of failing may not be as catastrophic in blogging – you aren’t going to lose your millions or anything. But if you don’t plan, it is easy to become frustrated, lose interest, and give up. Following a clear plan, on the other hand, can help keep you focused and in the game.
The low level of risk in blogging is what makes it an attractive source of supplemental income. In order to minimize whatever risk there is, it is important to set goals to keep you on target and focused on activities that help improve your blog and enable it to earn as much as possible. Sure, some blogs do make decent money just by “winging it”. And with time, yours could too. But having a solid monetization plan early on can help you get there faster.
The big earners out there did a lot more than slap a few Google Ads on their blog. Do your research. Take a look at what other blogs in your niche are doing. See what works and what doesn’t and what you might be able to improve upon. Then form you plan of attack. What are your sources of income, what services will you use, how much are you willing to spend, etc? Finally, set your goals and track your progress.
Research:
The first step in any business planning is Market Research. This is where you learn as much as you possibly can about your blog niche so you can determine where there are opportunities to make money. It is not necessary to do this ahead of time. Ideally, this type of research is an on going process. There will always be new things to learn and new ways to make money.
However, early in your blog’s life cycle, you should be able to get a good grasp of your niche pretty quickly. Network with other bloggers and get to know who else is in your niche. See how they are making money.
One of the best things in blogging is how willing bloggers are to help each other. Yes, there is competition for ad dollars out there. But there is plenty of money to go around. Bloggers realize that the positive exposure gained from helping another is much more valuable.
Domain:
The first thing you need to do is Register a Domain Name for Your Blog. Only use a COM domain and try to come up with the shortest simplest name you can come up with, without any dashes or numbers. You’ll find single names have all been taken, so think of a simple phrase or something memorable and you’ll probably find something available after a few hours. Don’t use a net, org, etc., no matter what the name because people tend to forget anything but com, and if you use net, chances are people will put a COM instead and you will be giving another site free traffic and losing yours. Once you find a Com that you can register for your blog. If you don’t want anyone to know you are the owner of the domain which includes unlisting your name,number,address and email address, it will cost you another $10 a year or so for Private Registration. You will later need hosting space for your blog site and blogging software which will be coming up in the later details.
Getting the Blog:
How your blog ultimately looks, behaves and performs is also dependent upon the blogging software (scripts) you use. While there are several paid and free scripts available in the market, mostly peopleuse Wordpress. The best thing about Wordpress is the fact that it is available for free, yet it offers functionality that is far superior to most paid solutions and at the same time it is vary easy to learn even for people who don’t know a thing about programming or who are new to the internet. It also has an active development community behind it, which not only ensures that any reported bugs are fixed in a jiffy and there are also several plugins and themes available to enhance your blog’s look, feel and functionality. Due to this fact, majority of the big and popular blogs run on Wordpress.
Though wordpress is mainly a solution for those wish to host their own blogs, you can find several companies which offer free Wordpress Hosting. With such hosts you can get the functionality of wordpress and that too without paying a single penny for it!
Earning Strategy:
Private Ads are the most lucrative form of income for any niche. However, it is very possible to supplement this income with affiliate marketing revenue and pay per click ads. If you focus on high tech gadgets, for example, you might be able to make the most money by referring sales leads. It is important to realize that each blog might have a slightly different strategy. If you do the appropriate research, you will be armed with the right information to develop your particular strategy.
Google AdSense is the easiest found money you will ever make in your life and there is no expense to you, if you wish AdSense. If you’re not interested in making side money from AdSense, then simply don’t put it on your blog, its up to you. The little Google ads and occasional larger image ads you see on web pages are AdSense. The way AdSense works is you sign up for free for the program and can cancel any time you want and in return Google puts these ads on your Blog/Website. All a person has to do is click an ad on your blog and you will get paid anywhere from 1 cent to possibly $10 or more a click. How much you get paid depends on a variety of things for which you should read AdSense rules and policy. AdSense pays you once you reach the $100 mark and then you start again. Quite simply, the more traffic your blog draws, the more clicks you’ll have and the more money you make. Google is quite strict about the clicks being legit and if they see you violated their program, they may possibly kick you off permanently with no chance for reinstatement, seriously! You need to read their rules and policys a few times for AdSense. The main thing is do not click your own ads and don’t have friends or family do it either and do not ask people to click the ads on your blogs, or you will be kicked off AdSense. The best thing to do is just have them on your site and say nothing. Again make sure you read their policy on what they will allow AdSense on.
Generating Traffic:
Here are some of the things you can do for better traffic. Remember this won’t happen overnight.
1 . Always use a picture or illustration on each of your Blogs. Try to use whenever possible something that will catch someones eye in a good way.
2 . Always make the Title of your Blog as exciting and eye catching as possible with important key words.
3 . Write whenever possible on current, new and exciting things and ideas and people that are on the news and in the public’s minds as opposed to things and memories from your life unless it applies to everyone else. The Internet is your main news source.
4 . Try to avoid alienating a large group of people if you don’t have to.
5 . Try to be as prolific as possible. Try to write 5-6 blogs a week. Instead of writing over 15-20 or so a week, try to write 1-2 daily.
6 . It is best to start writing as soon as an idea comes to you. The more prolific you are the chance you’ll get a larger audience and make more money!
7 . For your tags as well as AdSense use Google Keyword Tool. Make sure you set this show it shows average CPC in descending order and remember there are 2 parts in this column! Under choose columns pick ALL.
8 . Log on and Register for technorati Each time you publish a blog ping it on technorati. Just use the blogs original URL not the individual URL of the blogs post you just published.
9 . Log on and Register for Digg Each time you publish a blog ping it on Digg. Use the blog you just posted URL which you get by going clicking its title on your blogs home page.
10 . 10. Log on and Register for Reddit Each time you publish a blog ping it on Digg. Use the blog you just posted URL which you get by going clicking its title on your blogs home page.
11 . Get listed on Feedburner
12 . Tags serve as Keywords for indexing in Browsers like Google.
13 . Have a short excerpt summary for each blog
14 . You can have more than 1 categories for a blog as applicable.
Goals:
Once you have your strategy, now comes the fun part! Time to play with the numbers and see how much money you can make. Setting goals is such an important part of the plan, but it is often overlooked. How else can you determine how well your plan is working if you don’t set metrics to measure yourself? Initially, your goals may not be monetary. Four months should be enough time to start earning some money, no matter how little it is.
Track Your Progress:
With your strategy formed, and your goals in place, its time to execute your plan. While doing so, its important to track your progress. How well are you doing compared to the goals you have set? If something is working well, do more of it. If something is not working, taking it back to the drawing board, adjust your plan and try something else. Part of the planning phase is testing out your strategies and making any tweaks where they are needed. In order to know if you are doing well, you need to compare your actual results with the goals you set in your plan