Saturday, September 25, 2010

Making More Money From Blogging






Good afternoon everyone, writing this post a bit late because I had a really late night and ended up waking up around 2:50pm.  I'm writing this post as my own "definitive" guide at creating a generous income from blogging.  Although again, I don't claim to be a huge expert yet on the topic, I believe I can give some very useful tips that have helped me along the way, and I hope you can apply them to your blog.  I noticed I did not really get as much interest from my last blog post since there was not many direct benefits that you, the reader could apply.

I highly recommend downloading the free e-book, BBBFinalCourse (Bonafide Blogging Bucks) it has a tonne of useful information that any blogger will find highly useful.  This guide is intended for people who have already been blogging for a few weeks and are frustrated that they are not making as much income as they should for their hard work, hope this helps and you improve your blog.  If you have any additional tips, please share them with everyone too!


Step 1: Blog About Something People Care About, Make it Stand Out, and don't "overwork"

This should seem fairly obvious, but I am noticing that there are a lot of blogs that are basically mirror images or each other even though the content may be a little bit different.  Try to write in a unique style that sets you apart from other similar blog, or else you become easily forgettable and thus lose you money.

Many people can blog, but not many people can blog properly, and efficiently.  Blog writing should be intuitive to the reader, they don't want to spend that much time reading your posts if there is no direct benefit to them.

Overworking on a blog is another huge mistake for bloggers. (in my opinion)  Some bloggers spend a lot of time thinking of what they are going to write about, and then another few hours writing a long and boring blog post.  Make sure to PLAN ahead of time what you are going to write about and save them as drafts on your blog so you can go back and check on them.  Use the internet or the library to gather information, make sure you are getting your information from credible sources or your readers may start to question the legitimacy of your posts.

Tip: Try to get your readers engaged in the topic, get feedback on your posts, and always reply to every single question or comment


Step 2: Becoming Web-Savvy & Improving Your Layout

This is my main goal right now and the one I believe to be the most crucial to improving your chances at blogging success.  What do I mean by Web-Savvy?

What do I mean by web savvy?  You don’t need to be a programmer, but you need a decent functional understanding of a variety of web technologies.  What technologies are “key” will depend on the nature of your blog and your means of monetization.  But generally speaking I’d list these elements as significant:
  • blog publishing software
  • HTML/CSS
  • blog comments (and comment spam)
  • RSS/syndication
  • feed aggregators
  • pings
  • trackbacks
  • full vs. partial feeds
  • blog carnivals (for kick-starting your blog’s traffic)
  • search engines
  • search engine optimization (SEO)
  • page rank
  • social bookmarking
  • tagging
  • contextual advertising
  • affiliate programs
  • traffic statistics
  • email
Optional:  podcasting, instant messaging, PHP or other web scripting languages. "


There are some other things that are missing from the list but understanding these basic terms will allow you to take your blog to the next level.  This is the type of knowledge that separates the winners from the losers, and believe me, after roughly two weeks of blogging, I can already tell that at least 85% of bloggers will quit within their first month, it does some hard work and learning, but the benefits also be quite staggering.

Basically, your blog is a business, improving your layout by understand the rules will only help make your blog even better, do not neglect it and if anything, find a friend that can help you out and give you some suggestions.  There are also a tonne of useful guides out there that can help you if you are confused.



Step 3: Traffic, Traffic, Traffic, Traffic, Traffic, Traffic, Traffic.... and Traffic

Yes, traffic.  It is the single most important thing for any blogger who is serious about making some money from their hard work.  Your income is directly linked to how much traffic you receive on your website, and if you currently have around 10,000 views a month, and are making roughly 500$, imagine if you had 100,000 or even a million views.  Intrigued yet?  Also, if your blogging without adsense, make to to get it for your content and if you have a domain, for that too.

For times sake, I will leave a link here that will give you a very good idea on how to accomplish this feat.  I highly reccomend it for anyone serious about making more money from blogging.







Step 4: Have Fun!  Show Character in Your Post, and Good Things Will Follow

Without this step, you might as well give up now.  Blogging should be a fun, a hobby that could be your job, but a hobby nonetheless.  If you are waking up thinking "God, this is awful, I need to write a blog post, it's already been two days..." Then you probably shouldn't be blogging in the first place.

I enjoy blogging, and even though I am fairly new and newbish at times, I put a lot of effort into writing these posts and still have fun at the same time.  It is important to have pride as a blogger, and not to take things too seriously.  

If anything, write a blog that genuinely benefit your reader, and they will always give you positive feedback and perhaps advice that could improve your blog.  We are still all human beings and being on the internet does not change that fact.  Remember that you are writing for your peers, and not a mindless robot spewing out information from your backside.

Final Words:

Thanks to everyone who has been supporting my three blogs during the last two weeks, your comments mean a lot to me and I am in the process of learning on how to take it to the next level.  Any tips and advice would be welcome, and feel free to post your own "steps" as a comment for other readers to view.

If you haven't already, check out my other two blogs:



The Random Awesome blog was my first blog I started on my birthday, and has already made me a decent sum of money.

The important thing to remember is that traffic is more important than income and you should ALWAYS work on improving that first, or else your income will remain stagnant.

Hope you guys found this post enlightening,

Happy blogging!

P.S. If you like what you see here, please share with your friends who are interested, and recommend my blog to others, I would appreciate it immensely, thank you.



47 comments:

  1. Thanks bro, just getting started in the blogging game.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Awesome read dude! Pretty long though... Will probably have to re-read it sometime soon... I just started blogging to try and get more people interested in music of which I think it's awesome and yeah, if it can make me some coin to boot, who am I to deny that possibility...

    ReplyDelete
  3. awesome can't wait for more posts always following you mate
    keep it up
    cya

    ReplyDelete
  4. Will definitely be taking what you said to heart and seeing what I can improve with my own blog.

    ReplyDelete
  5. hopefully I can use this advice well

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow, sweet. I didn't expect so find so much good info on one single site.. good job. Perfect for me, as a rather new blogger.

    ReplyDelete
  7. This is some really informative info. It's nice to see something refreshing for a change. And I've also read up on your McDonald's post. Working there myself, I can surely say I completely agree with you on why it has become so insanely popular and well-known. I'm definitely going to buy MickyD's shares the day I enter in stocks. Looking forward to upcoming posts and reviews.

    ReplyDelete
  8. This is some good stuff, man. Thanks for the great post :]

    ReplyDelete
  9. Congrats on the great post man. I have learned a lot from it - hope to see more great content. Keep in touch.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I blogged up my toilet but i didn't make any money at it, just a big mess...

    ReplyDelete
  11. Best thing is, you make money teaching others how to make money. Thats the best position to be in :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. @antibiootikum

    not bad, i try and put more effort in writing my posts, probably going to add more soon.

    also not great either, i'm trying to learn HTML scripting and also a lot of the other things listed above.

    I'm not very tech savvy at all, and this is pretty new to me, but i'm impressed by the quality of blogs and posts that people are creating.

    Its 3:20am now though, just finished checking out a lot of your blogs, glad to see all the great content, going to sleep!

    ReplyDelete
  13. awesome can't wait for more posts always following you mate
    keep it up
    cya

    ReplyDelete
  14. so good i came back to check it out twice

    ReplyDelete
  15. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  16. i even read it all way. Indeed the most important is relevant content daily update and increasing traffic not revenue.

    Great tip and info i hope many will read it and learn from it.thnx

    ReplyDelete
  17. i love your posts rad! will deffinately be checking your blog out more often!

    ReplyDelete
  18. great tips dude
    supporting
    show sum love

    ReplyDelete
  19. i think picking a niche market is the best ideea

    ReplyDelete
  20. This is some great advice. I just started my blog a couple days ago because I was bored but I may start trying some of these tips. I look forward to your next post on this.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Just started blogging man and damn there is some good advice in here. Keep it up!

    ReplyDelete
  22. I'm loving this! Your posts are so full of awesome content and love!
    You are one of my favorite blogs to follow!

    Cawlin's Twitter!

    ReplyDelete
  23. whoa, awesome diagram

    ReplyDelete
  24. bookmarked for future reference. thanks. now following.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Followed. And for the record, the comment about how much the stock price has gone up since then per share just shows how much one good investment can pay off. Crazy.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Wow. Even just reading what you posted on this particular topic has given me some incite on what I want to do with my blog, and potential new ones. After I get out of work tonight, and after I sleep, I'm going to start making some interesting modifications to my blog, and read read up on the articles you posted!

    ReplyDelete
  27. Oo, lots of good info. Will definitely consult again further.

    ReplyDelete
  28. This is awesome. Incredibly helpful.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Some common sense, some not. All great info. Definitely going to take some of these tips and apply them to my own blog. Thanks so much!

    ReplyDelete
  30. Great advice. Although I'm sort of new to this whole blogging thing, I found this post to be very helpful.

    ReplyDelete
  31. I'm blogging mostly because my therapist says I need a creative outlet, but this is good advice regardless.

    ReplyDelete
  32. I think the key to having a successful blog is to find a niche, however small and exploit it. The world doesn't need 5000 blogs all covering Paris fashion.

    ReplyDelete
  33. really good post content, your applying your theory in this post.
    im looking forward to your future posts!

    ReplyDelete