Making Money with Blogs

1. Post regularly. For the first month, try to post something at least a few times a week, the more the better. All of the posts don't have to be lengthy. The main thing is fresh content; the search engines love it. After the first month, post as often as possible. The more posts you have made, the more time you can skip between posts. But blogs always need fresh content regularly. After awhile, you will get a feel for what it takes to keep your blog alive.

2. Tag your posts with the main keywords. A keyword is not necessarily one word. A keyword can be a series of words that one types into a search box. (My main keywords in this post would be making money with blogs. Another that I would use is blogging for income). When you get more involved in blogging, there are tools for picking good keywords.

3. Upload photos where relevant. My blogs get searched more for images than they do for text.

4. Build backlinks. This is the part that most new bloggers miss. If your blog isn't linked to other blogs and websites, the search engines will not give it authority. Build links by commenting on other blogs, forum posts, and building your own free Squidoo lenses and HubPages. As you get more into blogging, you could write for article sites and post your link there. The more wide your niche is, the more links you will need.

5. Be patient. Sometimes blogs take off in a hurry and sometimes it takes awhile. You will get traffic if you do all of the things that I mentioned. It could take days, it could take weeks. To begin making money with blogs, you have to first have traffic

Posting at social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook will get you immediate traffic, but it is free traffic from the search engines, along with updated content, that will make your blog a success. Social networking sites are very useful for finding contacts to help promote your blog. Once you get to know someone with similar interests, you could ask them to guest blog or put a link on their website or blog.

The two most popular blogging platforms are WordPress and Blogger. To me, there is no doubt that the easiest platform is Blogger, especially for beginners. I have two blogs there, starting my first one more than two years ago.

I didn't know anything about blogging when I started my first, Billco's Outdoors, but after a few minutes I was blogging like I had been doing it for months. All of the functions at Blogger are really self-explanatory and one doesn't have to do a lot of head-scratching to figure them out.

Blogger does have its limitations. You can't own your domain name. You can at WordPress, but you are going to pay a host for the service.

For company blogs, WordPress might be the way to go because with the third party plug-ins it is possible to make it resemble a website. (My question here would be "if that's the look you want why not build a real static website?")

And since the subject is "making money with blogs," Google owns both Blogger and Adsense. That means if you want to sign up for Adsense (the easiest way to make money from blogs) then your platform of choice is probably going to be Blogger.

Third Party affiliate code (Amazon for example) is also very easy to implement on Blogger. Affiliate marketing is one of the most popular ways of making money with blogs, probably second to contextual ads like Adsense.

WordPress.com does not allow Adsense or other contextual ads like Chitika. You can't use Clickbank either. Their terms of service are so rigid that I don't use any monetization on my free WordPress blogs. You can pay to have your WordPress blog hosted somewhere else, like Blue Host, HostGator, or Go Daddy. Then you can place ads on your blog. Web Host prices vary, but the low end is $5 - $6 a month. Again, if I am paying, I'd rather just pay for a static website.

If you choose to use Wordpress or Blogger and later change your mind, both platforms have an easy way to export your blog to the other platform. I recently moved Billco's Old School Wrestling to WordPress from Blogger. All it took was one click. I have no plans to monetize this blog and WordPress has a search function, which is useful for this site. Blogger does not have an easy way to search posts. The primary purpose of this blog is for posting links to my websites. My outdoors blog doesn't need a search function, and since I chose to monetize it, I chose Blogger for it.

After you're blogging for awhile, you will learn what platform works best for your niche. Just get blogging. Making money with blogs doesn't have to be just something you've read about.

The only way to find that out is to start blogging. Some niches pay better than others, but some of those niches that pay well are highly competitive. For example, credit and finance is a high paying niche, but the competition is fierce.

For a first blog, you should choose a niche that you are passionate about. I love the outdoors, so I blog about fishing, hiking, arrowhead hunting etc. I make only a few dollars a month with blogs, but I have built a reputation on the web from blogging about the outdoors that makes me money on my websites. My primary monetization on the blogs are Adsense ads. The ads that usually show are low paying, like fishing supplies and arrowhead books. (When I write about things like vacationing on the coast, my clicks sometimes pay more for that post because condo sales and rentals often show up.) I have links to my money making websites in my blog posts. Also, my blog is now a PR3 and those links to my websites gives my websites more authority with the search engines.

I don't have the time to start and maintain additional blogs that might make more money. My five websites and four blogs that I already have keeps me too busy for that. When you gain experience with blogs, you might want to put your focus on making money or you might want to use them for another purpose.

I love my blogs. I started blogging for the fun of it. I enjoy posting about my outdoors adventures and I have gained a loyal following.

So back to the question of "How Much Money Can I Make?" Some bloggers make serious money (thousands of dollars a month) and some bloggers make enough money for a good cup of coffee.

Regardless of what you blog about, the more blogging you do, the more money-making potential. Clicks and sales from blog posts that you have made in the past are residual income. In other words, you don't have to do anything more for that money except deposit the checks or move it from PayPal. Residual income from blogs adds up over time. Also, every blog post you make is one more post for the search engines to find. Content is the starting point for making money with blogs.

Start blogging!

What Is Your Favorite Blogging Platform?

Do you like Blogger or WordPress? Or maybe you have a favorite besides the Big Two?

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