Beginning To Blog
Published by Sean M. Lightfoot on Tagged Motivational
I hope all is well for everyone. Today I just want to say a little something about Blogging. I’m sure you’ve seen that word around the net a time or two…thousand! If not, you wouldn’t be here right now. For those of you that are new to the subject, Blogging is an online article about any subject of the authors choosing. They usually posted with the invitation of comments from the readers. Basically, like what you’re reading now. Blogs can be used in several different ways. Businesses use blogging to promote their business or a specific product or service that they offer. Blogs can also be used to generate a buzz or traffic for a particular site or subject. I think the most common use for blogging is to get ones point across.
Plenty of everyday people start blogs to discuss events in their lives or the world. What’s beautiful about blogging is, you can start your blog with intentions of discussing a subject and before you know it, you have thousands of visitors viewing your blog. When this happens your blog can become profitable. Now thats a word we all like to see.
Yes, you can make a lot of money from blogging. But the truth of the matter is, if you wouldn’t do it for free then it won’t be successful. Many bloggers set up their bloggers with nothing but dollar signs floating around in their heads. In this instance, either you’ll dread posting or you won’t post often enough.
Your readers are live people not Google bots! Both look for new content, but people like to converse. If you can’t post on a good subject and then reply to a comment soon after it’s posted, then don’t ever bother! That’s why blogging and Message boards do so well. They are interactive.
Many blogs are started just to generate income. I have to be honest with you, I have started blogs with that intention in mind. Each time that I did that my readers saw right through me! They stopped by a few times, posted a comment or two and then “POOF!” They disappeared. I busted my a** pulling all the optimization stunts to get my sites ranked in the search engines only to lose my hand full of readers in a matter of weeks.
I couldn’t muster up the motivation to post and when I did, it was full of fluff. So my advise to you if you decide to try to make a living by blogging, make sure that your niche is one that you love discussing. Ask yourself “Would I do this for free?” I’m sure you know that you’ll have to post for free in the beginning. But, if you knew that there is a possiblility that you would NEVER make a dime, how long would you continue to do it?
The answer to the above question will determine how well your blog will do. Now that I’ve gotten all of that out of the way, I’m going to assume that everyone that hasn’t stopped reading yet will love blogging.
Ok, you blog with a passion and you’d love to reap monetary rewards from your efforts. There are several advertising outlets that can be used to help pay the bills. A blog with the addition to Google Adsense is one of them. At one point in time, 5 figure monthly checks from Google due to Adsense ads were easily obtained. In my opinion, for small to medium blog owners they are a thing of the past. That’s not to say that an income can’t be generated with Google Ads. If you have a growing blog containing Adsense ads, you can get some of that Google cash.
If done correctly, your income generated from Adsense would be a drop in the bucket. There are better ways to put that valuable real estate located at your web address to use. You can also insert ads or links to an affiliate product associated with your niche.
For example, lets say you review books on your blog. You could include your affiliate link to Amazon.com pointing directly to the book that you’re reviewing. With this method all you do is direct the reader to the vendor via your unique link and receive a commission for the sale. No order filling or customer service required on your part. (For more information on Affiliate Marketing).
If you have a way to purchase books wholesale, you could have your site set up to accept orders from your readers. This by far would be the most profitable as far as per unit sales. Although, it would require much more work and site maintenance.
There are just a few ways to make the best of your blog traffic. I know I might be beating you over the head with this but,”Readers first and money second!” If you don’t have your readers interest and keep them involved, then there is no way they would consider buying something or even coming back for that matter. You’ve got to enjoy doing it.
So, if you haven’t already done it, take a few days (Yes days!) to consider your niche. Once you figure that out, purchase your domain name reflecting your niche and build around that.
I am going to stop short right here. In the event someone wants to hear more, you can comment or even email me.
Tomorrow I will add to this post and start a little mini-series called “Blogging For a Profit!”
So, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow. Have a blessed day.
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