Monetizing your blog can be fairly simple. All you have to do is set up ads right? Wrong, in order to successfully monetize your blog, you must have different types of ads and affiliate programs on your blog and they have to be in a close relationship with your niche. Obviously there are tons of programs that you can use to monetize your blog. Which ones should you use for your blog?
1. Google Adsense - the most popular program out there that bloggers use. You can display ads and get paid every time someone clicks on them.
2. ClickBank - Clickbank is an affiliate program that allows you to advertise Ebooks and other products on your blog. Every time someone buys a product that you're promoting you get a chunk of the money.
3. Private Ads - If you're blog gets a decent amount of traffic than you can sell ad space on your blog. The more traffic your blog gets, the higher the price should be for a spot.
4. Affiliate Programs - Sites that have referral programs are great for blogs. There are many companies out there that pay you every time someone signs up or buys this. Blogging about these sites can be a great way for beginning bloggers to make money.
5. Paid Reviews - There are lots of people out on the web who want their products to have some publicity. Why not offer paid reviews on your blog. You charge a small fee for a complete review of the product / site. You can include links and your perspective on the product. Plus it counts as a post for your blog!
These five programs are fairly easy to use, but can be very fruitful when it comes to make money with your blog. With enough blog traffic, any of these five programs and techniques should work.
Comments are a huge part of blogs. They show how popular a blog is and what the readers think about it. A blog with little to now comments makes it seem abandoned. Although commenting on a blog can seem tedious, it can bring your blog traffic.
How to Comment
When you write a comment on someones blog, make it sound legitimate (even if its not). Put some effort into the comment. For example don't just say "nice post". Say something constructive. Praise or criticize the post depending on your liking. Here are some tips to remember when posting comments on other blogs.
1. Make it worth your time. I just talked about this but make the comment stand out.
2. Don't spam. Man do I hate spam comments, and I know you do to. Don't put hundreds of links into your comments. In fact don't put any links in your comment. People will still be able to access your site by clicking on you name.
3. Go out a limb and give constructive criticism. Criticism causes controversy which in turn will make people curious about you.
It is also a good idea to comment on blogs that fall into the same niche as you. This will bring you more targeted traffic over time. Commenting on blogs won't bring in loads of traffic. But if you keep active on very popular blogs you should see an increase in blog traffic.
I hear this question a lot. How often do I create posts for my blog? There is no definitive answer to this question but a serious blogger should write posts almost everyday. This way the blog is updated by Google a lot since it has fresh content. Posting shouldn't be a problem if you have found a niche that you're familiar with.
Guest Posting can be a great way for new blogs to gain traffic and exposure. It drives targeted traffic to your blog and can be great for first time bloggers. Guest posting is becoming more used by successful blogs because their owners need help pumping out daily posts.
What Blog to Guest Post on?
When guest posting you are going to want to target blogs that are in your niche. In other words target blogs that write about the same topic / ideas that you do. This way it will be more likely to get accepted and it will bring more targeted visitors to your blog which is what you want.
How to Write a Guest Post
Writing a guest post is fairly simple as long as you follow these steps.
1. Make sure you write within the guest post guidelines. Many blogs will have these guidelines listed on their blog
2. Include 1-2 links in your post, but don't spam. This makes the post look bad as well as you.
3. Make sure the post is at least 250 words. This ensures that it has quality content and is worth reading.
Remember guest posting is good for both blogs. It helps promote your blog and gives good content to the other blog. Another positive thing about guesting posting is that it will give your blog a link from another blog. Posting on other blogs can be very beneficial.
Search engine traffic is great because it sends very targeted visitors to your blog. Visitors that are looking for a particular bit of information. This can lead to more money with Google Adsense or other sale through affiliate marketing. Sites like Google and Yahoo can send you consistent amounts of traffic over a long period of time.
Choose and focus on a few keywords
Keywords are the most important item that gets your blog on Google and other search engines. For example I am targeting the keywords blogger tips, blogspot templates, seo blogspot and other keywords that involves blogs. Where do you implement these; in your post titles and in your content.
Gaining Links
Writing articles, commenting on other blogs and participating on forums can be great way to gain inbound links. Sites that link to your site can increase your page rank and can eventually lead to more search engine traffic. The best way to have sites link back to you is to write good content.
Patience is Key
Receiving search engine traffic doesn't happen overnight. It takes patience and consistent posting to gain traffic from the likes of Google. Most blogs don't get search engine traffic right away which is why lots of bloggers give up on their blogs.
Remember, in order to gain search engine traffic you will need to gain inbound links. Your posts should be focused to certain keywords. Over time your search engine traffic will increase and your blog will become more successful.
Promoting your new blog is a must if you want to get it known out on the world wide web. A new blog needs to be discovered before it can become successful. Promoting your blog can be done in many ways including article writing, through social networking and by joining blog communities.
Article Directories
Article directories can be a great way to promote your blog. By writing articles and then submitting them, you show others that your are an expert and are worth checking out. Directories like Ezine and Article Base are great sites to start with.
Social Networking
Social Networking has the most potential to get your blog off the ground. All it takes is for one of your posts to hit the front page of Digg and boom, tons of visitors and your blog is known. Social Networking sites like Digg and Stumble Upon can be great for promoting your blog, especially if you write interesting posts. These type of posts will spread around and have the chance to become viral.
Blog Communities
There are many blog communities out there that provide you an opportunity to make friends with other bloggers. One of my personal favorites is Blog Catalog which allows you to join groups and enter discussions. Its a very good site for promoting your blog. You can also learn info from other bloggers at communities like Blog Catalog.
Getting people to look at your blog takes time and effort. Promoting isn't an easy task by all means. However, if you follow these three tips you should be on your way to getting your blog known by people around the world.
Starting a blog for the first time can be very stressful, especially if you aren't associated with blogging. Blogging can be confusing and frustrating until you figure out what you are doing. What blog platform do you choose? How do you create a blog? There are tons of unknowns when you're first starting a blog. Here are some basic tips for first time bloggers.
Start with the basics - Don't worry about putting ads on your blog in the beginning. Start off by writing posts and putting appropriate widgets on you blog. Ads can be implemented once your blog traffic increases.
Check out other successful blogs - Blogs that have lots of experience can help you more than you think. When coming across a very good blog, observe it and see what they are doing to becoming successful. Try to follow in their example.
Keep fighting - Every blogger has had their share of setbacks. If you aren't seeing the results that you were originally expecting, just keep fighting.
Blogging can be a very fun hobby that is capable of making money for you. Blogging takes lots of work to become successful. When starting a blog take these tips into consideration. First time bloggers just need some time to get their handiwork going.
