So, how do indie bloggers or professional network bloggers earn money? Just like many hardcopy media, advertising is primarily the way to earn money on the web. Affiliate ads are a big part of this and are pretty easy to find and sign up for. Amazon.com, for example, is one place that offers these sorts of ads. Anyone can sign up to be an Amazon.com affiliate. Once you set up your account with them, you can select products, create the links (using tools from Amazon), and then copy and paste the link into your blog. With Amazon, you can even include a picture of the product. When someone clicks on that link, gets sent to Amazon, and then buys the product, the affiliate gets a little kick back. And, yes, little is usually the word here; however, a lot of “little” can add up to a lot of money if you work at it long enough. There are other ad revenue sources available to the interested blogger, but affiliates are usually the easiest for newbies to get started with advertising options.
Professional Indie Bloggers
May 25, 2007 at 4:37 pm (Professional Blogging Tips)
Professional bloggers who earn (or at least attempt to earn) money from their blogs are referred to as indie bloggers, and there are a pretty large number of them around the web. Most bloggers start out just for the fun of blogging, but eventually, a good portion start to realize (like dooce.com and The Manolo) that they could actually earn some income from their blogs. Primarily they do this through advertising, and there are all kinds of methods for bringing in ads. However, the indie blogger turns into something more than just a blog editor when she takes on the task of marketer, salesman, and basically head cook and bottle washer. So, this can be a challenging direction to take for anyone who doesn’t have some business background. But, it can be done and is done every day, and in fact, http://www.problogger.net/ (written by Darren Rowse) is a wonderful resource for anyone who wants to learn the ins and outs of professional blogging on her/his own (as in not part of a blog network).
Stats
May 25, 2007 at 2:37 pm (Class Handouts, Professional Blogging Tips)
You’ll hear a lot of talk about “stats” (aka statistics) when it comes to blogs and web sites. Some blogs have areas that provide statistics for counting all kinds of items related to your blog like page views (when a page is viewed by a reader), number of external links, number of visitors, most popular blog posts, and so on. For those who are just blogging for fun, numbers may not be that important, but if you are trying to earn money or just want to make sure you are reaching a lot of web users for other reasons, then stats can be pretty important. Where you’ll find your stats depends on how and where you are blogging. If you are on blogger.com, they don’t already have stats set up. Instead you have to use other services from the net (some are free). WordPress.com (another free blogging network) does offer statistics under the Dashboard area, but they are pretty limited. If you are really into knowing your stats (some bloggers become obsessed with this), then you’ll probably want to check into other places to help you collect and keep track of your stats. A quick Google search offers a few free blog stats services:
Generating Web Traffic
May 25, 2007 at 2:34 pm (Professional Blogging Tips)
One way to generate traffic is through Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Serious bloggers and web masters are serious about SEO. There is a science to SEO and loads of information on it, but for those just getting started here are some SEO basic tips:
- Consider key words when writing blog titles and content. For example, if you are writing about jewelry and you are trying to attract users who are interested in this topic, then the word “jewelry” should be used in the title and also the body of your blog posts. It is even a good idea to mix up the spelling. Jewelry is also spelt jewellery in Europe, so it can be helpful to spell it both ways. This way you attract those who search for “jewelry” and those who search for “jewellery.”
- Update quality content regularly. One reason a blog can make a good addition to a web site is because it provides a way for the site to increase its amount of content on a regular basis, and search engines like this. If you put up a web site or blog and then never go back and update it, it can be forgotten about. If you update it regularly, you are essentially saying, “Hey, Mr. Search Engine, check me out.” And, he will.
- Linking internally and externally is a good way to bring in traffic. When you have more links pointing back to your blog, you can’t help but create a breadcrumb trail back to you. One method for building links and community is to participate in Carnivals. These can be a lot of fun. Basically, a group of bloggers agrees to blog on a similar topic or theme. One person from the group agrees to host the carnival and that person includes everyone’s links in one post.
Blog Controversies
May 25, 2007 at 2:33 pm (Blog History)
Anything new and different doesn’t take long to spur some sort of controversy and the weblog world has plenty of it. One of the hottest issues in the blogosphere is that of the citizen journalist. Professional journalists often take offense to the idea of someone else (a non-journalist – how dare they!) reporting about news and information (someone whom they feel is not a “professional”). Because the Read/Write Web now offers the ability to write on the web to anyone who can get Internet access, this opens up an alternative form of communication, and this means the citizen journalist might have the same power to persuade that was once limited to those with press credentials. This idea is threatening to many journalists who feel they should be the only ones with this power.
Rebecca Blood reports on this in a posted entitled “Weblog Ethics:”Journalists — the people who actually report the news — are acutely aware of the potential for abuse that is inherent in their system, which relies on support from businesses and power brokers, each with an agenda to promote. Their ethical standards are designed to delineate the journalist’s responsibilities and provide a clear code of conduct that will ensure the integrity of the news.
Weblogs, produced by nonprofessionals, have no such code, and individual webloggers seem almost proud of their amateur status. “We don’t need no stinkin’ fact checkers” seems to be the prevailing attitude, as if inaccuracy were a virtue.(http://www.rebeccablood.net/handbook/excerpts/weblog_ethics.html)
Blog Post Brainstorming
May 25, 2007 at 2:31 pm (Getting Started)
Normally, the first post most bloggers make on their blog is sort of an introduction. For example, they’ll talk about who they are and why they are writing the blog in the first place – their initial reason for setting it up. But, then what do you do? Sure you had lots of ideas at one time, but now you find yourself staring at a blank screen and your mind is blank as well. Here are a few ideas to get your blog brain jump-started:
- Write a tutorial, a “how-to,” related to your topic.
- Review a book (great way to add an Amazon affiliate link too).
- Examine the pros and cons of an issue.
- Answer a question from a reader or address a comment made.
- Interview an important, up and coming, or controversial person your niche.
- Post about a current event or news item related to your topic.
- Write a post aimed at beginners in your area of expertise.
- Debunk a myth related to your topic.
- Post about frequently asked questions in your topic area.
- Write a post about another blogger’s post.
I borrowed a few ideas for the above list from the following blog post, which has lots of other great ideas to get your blog brain going:http://www.ihelpyoublog.com/20070316-101-great-posting-ideas-that-will-make-your-blog-sizzle
