Online journals, known as web logs or blogs, were designed to share personal opinions and keep friends and family updated about events that took place in one’s personal life. As time passed, blogs became a great way to share industry news and build relationships between customers and companies. Today, blogs aren’t just used for entertaining, educating, informing, or updating the public, they’re also used to help people earn extra money and if they’re really lucky…replace their current jobs!
I’ve pinpointed the key elements in getting started as a professional blogger below.
Develop The Right Kind Of Content.
The most important aspect of your blog isn’t the design, but what you plan to write about.
Personal blogs are the easiest blogs to write, but they provide very little income. In fact, many bloggers I’ve spoken with agree that personal blogs “make no money at all. They’re just a great way to keep family and friends up-to-date on our lives, build online networking relationships, and provide an outlet for our creative side.”
Money making blogs, on the other hand, are harder to write because they require a more defined niche. When it comes to making money as a blogger, it’s important to find a topic that you’re passionate about because you’ll spend a lot of time on that topic and if you’re doing it for the money alone, it’ll show in the quality of your writing and the frequency of your posts.
Determine Your Niche.
Niche blogs not only target a specific audience, but because their income is derived from online advertisers, they also target audiences that are comfortable purchasing products and/or services online—to take advantage of the power of impulse buying.
Determining your niche will be the hardest part of starting your blog because it involves evaluating your personal likes and dislikes and then finding a topic that you wouldn’t mind researching and writing about on a regular basis.
Some of the best revenue generating blogs are the ones that keep readers up-to-date on industry news; review, critique, and compare products and/or services; and/or offer tips for using those products and/or services. In fact, Internet searchers often look for articles that give them the good, the bad, and the ugly so they can make informed decisions before purchasing. If your blog gives them what they need, they’ll be more inclined to click and buy.
Other revenue generating blogs are expansions of existing businesses. These blogs are used to help create customer interaction, create expert status, and serve as pre-selling tools. A physical trainer, for instance, may blog to gain credibility, build his clientele, sell his books, sell recommended health care products, and provide the necessary tools to help his clients stay fit when out of his care. A restaurant, on the other hand, may blog to build recognition for its establishment, offer online discount coupons, share daily specials, sell products with the restaurant’s logo, and even share reviews of recipe books or like-minded items.
Create A Following.
Once you start your blog, it’s important to keep it updated on a regular basis. The most you should post to your blog is once per day; the least you should post to your blog is once per week. The idea is to post frequently enough that you create a following or fan base.
While blogs are more personal in nature, your blog shouldn’t be so personal that it sounds unprofessional or causes your visitors to doubt your company’s ability to perform its duties or fulfill its obligations.
You know you’ve created a following when you build enough interest to keep visitors coming back and start conversations in the comments area and get other bloggers to link to and comment about your posts.
Find Advertisers.
Thanks to affiliate marketing programs and contextual advertisers, blogs help people turn their hobbies and passions into money makers. But not everyone understands the correlation between blog posts and advertisers—and without that understanding there’s no chance of earning an income with blogging.
Blog posts should be written in such a way that they do more than just educate and inform, they need to peek the interest of the reader enough to cause him (or her) to click on the contextual advertisement and order. And this needs to be done without sounding like an advertisement.
Blogs should provide images and contextual links that redirect visitors to the products and/or services being recommended and not to web pages that require visitors to search for the items being discussed. If a visitor has to hunt down the recommended product or service, you’ve lost the sale.
Build Your Blog.
Once you’ve determined your niche, how often you plan to post, and who your advertisers are, it’s time to design and host your blog.
If your goal is to earn money with your blog, get off the free servers. Hosting your blog on its own server with its own domain will instantly increase credibility and help improve your rankings in the search engines. It also makes it easier to advertise your blog in print publications and makes it easier for visitors to remember your blog’s web address when sharing it with friends, family, and colleagues.
While templates offer a wonderful place to start, templates should be tailored to fit your personal or professional style. If this is your first blog, think about the type of image you want to promote and then coordinate the colors and design to match that image. If your company already has a business website, the color scheme of your blog should match so visitors can connect the two.
Build Traffic.
Building traffic takes patience and persistence. Traffic building never happens over night, in fact, it takes a few months, and in some cases, a few years to create enough traffic to reap the benefits of large readership.
Building traffic to your blog can be done through
Never Stop Learning.
And finally, never stop learning. Hone your skills. The life of a professional blogger is not easy. Many blogs never earn more than $100 per month, but if you are willing to stay-up-to-date with industry news and put in some old fashioned sweat, you can turn your blog(s) into a $1,000 a month money maker.
Resources.
Advertisers
- Google Adsense, http://google.com/adsense
- Yahoo Ads, http://publisher.yahoo.com/
- Amazon Associates, http://www.amazon.com
- Commission Junction, http://cj.com
- Linkshare, http://linkshare.com
- Ad Brite, http://adbrite.com/
- Blog Ads, http://blogads.com
- Café Press, http://cafepress.com
- Chitika, http://chitika.com/
- Context Web, http://contextweb.com/Corporate/home/
- Crisp Ads, http://crispads.com/
- Grok Ads, http://grokads.com/
Directories
- Blog Bib, http://www.blogbib.com/
- Blog Catalog, http://www.blogcatalog.com/
- Blog Explosion, http://www.blogexplosion.com/directory
- Blog Hub, http://www.bloghub.com/
- Blog Rankings, http://www.blogrankings.com/
- Blog Universe, http://www.bloguniverse.com/
- Blog Wise, http://www.blogwise.com
- Boing, http://boingboing.net
- Technorati, http://www.technorati.com/blogs
- Web Directories, http://www.textlinkbrokers.com/blogs/more/119_0_1_0_M/
- More directories, do a search for “blog directory” or “blog directories”
About The Author:
Alyice Edrich is a blogger for hire and the
author of several work-from-home e-books. Visit her
at AlyiceEdrich.net
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