Archive for the ‘Make Money Blogging’ Category:
How to Make Money Blogging with Chitika Part III: White Space Ads
In the previous parts of this series, I went over ways that you can use Chitika Premium Ads to make money blogging. The money you make will depend on your traffic, your niche, and the demand level in your niche. Chitika premium Ads enable you to monetize your SEO traffic and get some more money on the side, regardless of what other advertising networks are displaying ads on your website. Chitika Premium Ads system is a decent channel to try, but there are plenty of other ways to monetize your blog. White Space Ads by Chitika helps you monetize the white-space seen on those larger screens. So you can maximize the amount of money you can earn on your blog:
Here is how the service works. If your readers happen to own high resolution monitor, they may see some white space on the sides. With Chitika White Space Ads, you can monetize those. Here is how Chitika put it:
Chitika | WhiteSpaceAd shows matching ads whenever large whitespace appears when viewing your site on high resolution monitors. When visitors click on the ads, you earn money.
Yet another innovative way to monetize your blog. It’s a bit aggressive, and your audience may not like it. So you do want to make sure that you test the ads and ask for feedback. If you are not making enough clicks from these ads or your audience finds them annoying, then you should probably get rid of them. But it’s certainly worth a try. Read more »
How To Monetize Your Blog with OpenX – Part I: Hosted Adserver
Many bloggers struggle to make money from their blogs in the first few months and even the first couple of years of their career. There are bloggers who get lucky or find a way to make more money before then. But if you have just set up your blog and haven’t had enough content to get proper exposure on search engines and through the social media, you are going to struggle to make any real money from your ads. Google Adsense is a very good place to start, but it is not as flexible as most people would like. Let’s not forget that services such as Adsense do not exactly let you maximize your profits from your ads either. That’s why serious bloggers need to plan ahead and graduate to an ad server service such as OpenX.
OpenX is an open source ad solution that lets bloggers and portal builders to monetize their work without too much hassle. You set up the system, add your own ads or get others to buy space on your blog, and you are set to go. It’s almost as simple as that. You will need to figure out which type of solution works for your the best and whether you want to sell ads directly or through a market place. Whatever the case, OpenX is there to let you do just that.
OpenX comes in two forms. You can let the company host your ads or you can download the open source solution and host it on your own website. The hosted version is for those who want to outsource the process and take advantage of OpenX’s premium services. You can easily sign up for OpenX service and start working with their team to get your ads live on your blog Read more »
How To Make Money with Chitika – Part II: Linx
There are many ways to monetize a blog. In a previous post, I talked about how you can use Chitika Premium ads to make money on your blog without interrupting the flow of your content and disturb your non-SEO visitors. Chitika Premium is a conservative way of making money with Chitika. The more aggressive way of doing it is by using Linx. Linx is a contextual/keyword-based advertising method that can earn you a few extra bucks as long as your audience can take the extra ads. A lot of top portals do use Linx or similar services, so it’s not something your users haven’t seen. It just comes down to whether they are patient enough to deal with those in-content ads.
Chitika Linx are much more intrusive than those Premium Ads, but they do get decent click-through as well. Let’s say you have a blog about the latest gadgets. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a way to monetize each and every blog post without having to post banners all over your pages. When you set up and install your Linx code, Chitika will go through your keywords and hyperlink the ones that it can match its ad database. Now these are not your everyday hyperlinks. They do open up when your readers mouse over those links. Read more »
How to Make Money Blogging with Chitika – Part I: Premium Ads
In the past few months, I have hinted at ways that one can make money with a blog. But I haven’t gone into details as far as the services that I use to monetize my own blog. If you have noticed, I am not a big fan of Google Adsense. It’s just not right for a lot of blogs. Even though you can optimize the look and feel of an Adsense unit and make a decent amount of bucks per each click, it feels cheap and is often not interactive enough (as far as ads are concerned). While I am not not a heavy Chitika user either, I take advantage of it more often than Google Adsense.
Chitika is a great way to monetize each and every page view. Chitika Premium Ads are a great method to make money with your SEO traffic. Every-time someone makes it to your blog from Google, searching for a specific topic, he/she is presented with a set of ads that are highly targeted and based on the keyword phrase searched to get to that specific page. So if you are searching for “green laptops,” Chitika ads will show you ads that are either about green laptops or related to it.
What I love about Chitika ads is the fact that you can use them in conjunction with Adsense ads to make even more money per visitor. And best of all, these ads collapse into nothing (if you choose that option) for your non-SEO traffic. I personally like that feature as it allows me to show a different set of ads to my non-SEO visitors and more targeted ads to my Google and Yahoo! traffic.
Beginner’s Series: 5 Ways To Monetize Your Blog – Part I
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Don’t you just wish that everything in this world was for free, and you could just blog for fun without having to worry about putting money on the table? Now that would be a great way to do what you are passionate about. But that’s not how things work out in the real world. No matter how passionate you are about your blog, you are going to monetize your blog one way or another or look for a full-time job. Running a blog is similar to running a business. So you can’t expect to be in the red and still survive the tough times. Many beginner bloggers struggle with the blog monetization process. Unlike what you read in books, sponsors are not around to fund your blogging venture unless you have decent traffic or can provide them with unique value. So you are going to need to have to focus on other ways to make money online from blogging.
Thankfully, there are many other ways that you can go about making money on your blog. And you don’t have to be a genius to get started. There are some advanced methods that I won’t cover in this post. But if you are a beginner, you still have plenty of options. Here are 5 ways that I started making money with my own blogs:
- Amazon Associates Program
- eBay Partner Network
- Google Affiliate Program
- Google Adsense Program
- Chitika Search Targeted Advertising Program
Amazon Associates Program: one of the oldest and best affiliate programs around. A whole lot of people use Amazon to shop online, and as a blogger, you should take advantage of this fact to monetize your blog properly. You can always create wish-lists, write product reviews, and try various widgets that Amazon.com offers its affiliates. The best thing about Amazon affiliate program is the indirect sales. So when you drive traffic to Amazon, you get paid for products that your lead purchases from Amazon even if you haven’t referred them to those specific products. Read more »
How To Sell Your Blog: Top Factors
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I am personally not a big fan of selling blogs. The blogs that I have started during my career are usually about topics that I am very passionate about. But from time to time you get an offer that is hard to refuse. Sometimes you may need the money to expand your business or pay for an emergency situation. Selling a popular blog can net you a lot of money if you play your cards right. You shouldn’t undersell your blog under any circumstances. If you have worked hard to generate valuable content for your users and have created an authority blog, there is no reason to sell it too much lower than its real value.
I still remember the first blog that I sold a while ago. I had blogged on it for 2 years, and it had some decent traffic. It wasn’t an authority website by any means but it certainly had a lot of potential. I listed it for $25,000 thinking that it would sell overnight. What I didn’t realize was that people were going to ask me to justify the price for them. Justifying the value of a decent blog is not that hard, but you’ve got to know what factors to focus on if you want to get paid for your hard work. People are not going to part ways with their money that easily, and you shouldn’t expect them to. Your goal is not to sell a piece of junk to your customer. You want both sides to be happy with the purchase. That’s why you should spend time to create a proper valuation sheet for your blog to convey to your customers why they should pay what you are asking for your blog.
Here are the factors that I use to value my own blog:
- Traffic: traffic is one of the most important parts of the equation. If you’ve got no real traffic, you are going to struggle to justify the price.
- Community: your community is a big part of the transaction well. The number of your RSS subscribers does matter here as well.
- Posts: your number of posts also matter here. The more quality posts you have, the better.
- Technorati/Alexa: I am not a big fan of Alexa rankings, but that’s what people look at to value your blog. Don’t dismiss it.
- PR: your blog’s PageRank shouldn’t matter, but it does. Pay attention to it.
- Revenue: your monthly review is another important factor here. The more money you are making per month, the more you can ask for your blog. I usually multiply my revenue by 3 and add that to my final valuation number.
- Domain value: if you have a killer domain, don’t underestimate the value of your blog. You can use sites such as BuyDomains to figure out how much your domain may be worth.
- Social Media value: if you have dedicated social media accounts for your blog, those need to be included with your blog as well. Don’t undervalue these assets. Your Facebook & Twitter accounts do have some value.
- Domain Age: you should charge a decent amount of money for your older domains. Remember, you can’t just take a shortcut when it comes to age. A domain that has been around for years is much more valuable than a new domain.
- SEO Value: if you have been doing your own SEO on your blog, you should include that as a part of your valuation.
- Forums: if you have a forum on your blog, you’ve got to count the size of your forum in your valuation formula. Your forum is a big part of your business, so don’t underestimate its value.
- Other Assets: if you have a logo or a custom design for your blog, you have to include those costs in your valuation as well.
- Support: if you are to provide after sale support, make sure you include the cost in your valuation.
Selling a blog is never fun. I wish everybody could keep his/her blog forever. But if you have to sell, make sure you provide a solid valuation document to justify your price. Remember, you are selling a business and not just a casual blog.
Don’t forget to read the first part to learn more on how to sell your blog.
How To Sell Your Blog – Part I: Where To Sell
One of the toughest things in life is to part ways with something you have worked very hard to create. A lot of us get too attached to our work and fail to realize when it’s time to let go. That could sometimes rob you from pursuing better opportunities. The same concept applies to blogging. You start a blog about something that you are passionate about and develop it into a major stop for those interested in your topic. Chances are you go on and blog about it for years. In truth, you can’t predict what the future brings. What if you are offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to pursue another dream of yours? You’ve got to decide whether pursuing that opportunity would take away from your blog. After all, the last thing you want to do is ignore your loyal readers. So you’ve got a tough decision to make: you either reject your once in a life time opportunity or you turn your blog over to someone who is as excited about your niche as you are.
Where To Sell Your Blog
Selling your blog to someone who’s got more time to take it to the next level is one way to go here. In order to sell your blog, you need to provide potential buyers with all the information they need to make a decision on your blog. You need to provide your traffic information, your revenue, and details about your blog content. Once you have that information ready, it’s time to list your blog and wait for buyers. Here are a few places to sell your blog on:
- eBay: eBay is still one of the best ways to sell a blog. eBay may be an auction site but you can put up fixed price listings on it as well. Best of all, you can use eBay’s reputation system to find out more about your buyers. Accepting payments is not that difficult either. You can choose to get paid via PayPal and other methods. What I love about eBay is the fact that it gives you the ability to display your ad in front of millions of people. You can buy extra exposure for your listing for a low fee. Best of all, eBay won’t charge you any major fees if you don’t sell your blog. If you intend to sell your blog on eBay, make sure you provide accurate information in your listing. The last thing you want to do is mislead your potential customers.
- SitePoint: Sitepoint.com is another good marketplace for selling blogs and all kinds of websites. The Sitepoint community is more targeted than eBay, and your website is going to be displayed in front of people who are interested in selling and buying websites. If you haven’t had too much success with eBay, SitePoint is another great marketplace to try.
- Craigslist: Craigslist is another place to put your blog up for sale. You can always list your blog on Craigslist for free. You’d be surprised how many leads you can get from Craigslist. And unlike eBay or SitePoint, there is no obligation for you to sell. You can do your buyer vetting before making your decision.
- Twitter: One of the best ways to reach out to like-minded people and hand over your blog to them. If you happen to have a lot of followers on Twitter, you can get the word out about your blog easier. Twitter is not a marketplace, but there are a lot of folks on Twitter who are interested in selling and buying businesses.
There are many other places you can try to sell your blog. At the end of the day, you want to make sure you sell your blog to someone who will take care of your readers. The money is important but is not everything. If you have worked hard to create a killer blog, the right buyer will find you.
What To Do When You’re Stuck
Blogging sounds easy on the surface. Most folks who have never blogged in their lives look at super bloggers and come to believe that everyone can become a successful blogger. Here is the thing. There is nothing holding you back from becoming an amazing blogger. But it won’t be easy. Not by a long shot. Even the most passionate bloggers hit roadblocks on their way to success. When you are starting a blog, you’d like to think you are going to have something new to say every single day. But you won’t. Trust me!
The key to success in blogging is finding ways to provide values to your readers without rehashing your old content or imitating other top bloggers. Once you get started with blogging, you are so excited about your new adventure that you will have a lot of energy to write blogs and network with other bloggers. But after a few weeks, you are going to run out of obvious post ideas, and you may even become a bit jaded. What do you do then? This is where super bloggers stand out. Newbie bloggers easily get discouraged and give up on their dreams. You don’t have a post to write, so you just spend hours and hours thinking why you don’t have something to say. A true blogging superstar gets out and figures out how they can expand their horizon and write no-so-obvious posts.
Here is what I do when I am out of ideas. I start reading a totally new RSS feed. Something that I am not familiar with. Something that is not about blogging, technology, or anything close. You have probably seen my posts on MMA & blogging or Tennis & blogging. I came up with those posts when I was reading Yahoo! sports. Now, I admit that I wasn’t out of ideas for my posts, but I wanted to try something new on this blog. Superbloggers are constantly researching and learning new things to discuss with their readers. Everybody can write “obvious posts.” But the true challenge comes after you have written your first 100 posts. That’s when you are going to realize what it takes to be a top blogger. It takes more than passion to succeed in the blogging world. You’ve got to have the discipline, creativity, and a never-die attitude to make it.
Your take: how do you come up with new ideas when you are stuck?
Green Blogs: Why the Time Is Now!
Everybody’s talking about how to make money online from blogging. The truth is, you should always write about something that you are passionate about and people want to read. If you keep thinking about making money, then your blog is going to turn into garbage.
Writing about environment has been one of my favorite topics. Not only a lot of people want to know about green technologies, you will be helping our Earth by spreading the word around about everything green. There are many eco-blogs out there that try to tackle one or a few aspects of this broad topic, and you should be doing that too. The green-land has been around for years, but the market is just heating up. If you are passionate about eco-friendly products or green technologies in general, you still have time to make yourself heard in the blogosphere.
How to get starting with a green blog?
Settling on a market for your blog is only a small step in the process. Just like any other market, you should do proper due diligence to give your green blog the best chance to succeed. Here are my two cents on this:
- Be unique: don’t try to find the best green blog on the Web and imitate them move by move. The act tires after a while. Differentiate yourself by bringing unique insights to the world.
- Provide value: writing for the sake of writing doesn’t sit well with others. Others’ time is extremely valuable, and you should not waste it with nonsense. Here is where you can use other industries to figure out how you can provide unique value with your green blog. Find out how top bloggers in other markets are doing just that, and you have a good head start.
- Network with top players: every top blogger would agree that networking with other top bloggers is a big part of this business. You can be competitive, but competition is good for you and your audience.
- Reach out to top industry players: you shouldn’t just limit yourself to top bloggers in the green industry. You should also reach out to companies, experts, and … to get material for your blog.
- Don’t be a hypocrite: don’t tell folks they need to live a green life when you stick with your old way of living. Even if you haven’t tried too many green products in the past, it’s never too late. You can always write reviews about products that you buy, and how they have changed your life. You can use pictures and video to enrich your blog.
- Don’t be scared to take risks: just because you are starting a blog doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take risks. It’s your blog. You are the CEO.
Did I miss anything?
The Truth About Google Adsense on Blogs
Making money on blogging is one of the hottest topics these days. With the economy getting worse, some marketers are giving folks the impression that you can make millions right out of the blogging gate from Google Adsense. Now, I have been on crusade against Google Adwords for quite sometime now. I don’t want to sound like a hypocrite, but as a blogger you should try everything in your power to generate revenue to grow you business. Money shouldn’t be your main focus, but you can’t be blamed for trying to make a living off of your hard-work.
The problem with Adsense is, the ads are very ugly. Most professional sites move away from Adsense. Besides, Adsense ads are like showing your visitors an exit door. Basically, you are telling your readers that “hey check this site out” but there is no return ticket there. There was a time where competing sites used Adwords’ content and placement network to grab traffic from each other (now most folks block sites they don’t want to advertise).
My main problem with Adsense is that I believe it significantly undervalues your stock. In other words, you can be making much more money from sponsorships and direct ads that you would ever with Adsense. Now, if you have a site about VoIP and you drive millions of people to it on a daily basis, your eCPM could be quite high. But unless I am getting paid 0.50 cents per click with Adsense, I am not willing to put it on my blog. Call me greedy, but we are not here to make a bunch of dimes and be happy.
There are folks who create huge online portals and do SEO until they get 100s of Adsense clicks per day. Now that’s not blogging. That’s a whole other business, and it’s a respectable business. But if you are a blogger, you don’t want to devalue your blog by putting Adsense on it. You should definitely test it and play with the colors and everything. But don’t quit your day job dreaming of making millions with Adsense.
