Newby blogging guide

2/22/2009 05:24:00 AM Posted by c3v3n

Noob blogging guide

You love to write, it’s something you have always been good at, and you think to yourself, why not try and write for a living? Seems easy huh? I am gonna comment on that in this guide which is really helpful for every blogging noob (newby). Perhaps a bit too easy, writing for money and making a living from writing is not an easy task, it takes incredible patience and hard work to finally get to making money. You have decided to start out small, with a blog maybe, you have heard it is quite possible to earn a living from your very own blog, so you start there. But what exactly is a blog? How do you choose the right topic to blog about and where is the best place to post it? All good points and thoughts to think about before you dive into the blogging world.

There are numerous definitions on what a blog actually is. Before you decide you want to start a blog in hopes of making a profit, you need to actually figure out, and understand what a blog is, and the purpose blogs serve. When we think of the term “blog” our thoughts usually go straight to Myspace.com or Facebook.com. Sites like these enable people to open themselves up through an online diary. That’s what a blog typically is, an online space for us to post our thoughts and our ideas. But as time has gone by, the spectrum for the purpose of a blog has widened quite a bit, people now use blogs to spread their word, for a cause, an event, politics, music, anything! A blog is a website used to write your thoughts, or causes on a daily basis. So now that we have our definition taken care of, how about we move on to choosing an actually topic for your blog. Choosing the right topic for your blog is the very first step towards making a profit from your work.

If your core purpose to starting your own blog is to make a profit, and eventually work to the point of making a living, then you need to choose a topic that people can’t stop reading about. Chances are you are not going to make money from you blog right away; it tends to take months to a year to finally being able to come out on top, so remember to be patient. You may think that you have some profound thoughts and feelings inside of you, and you probably do, but not everyone wants to read about someone’s thoughts and feelings. The key to choosing the right blog topic is choosing something that people want to read about. While writing about what people want to read about is important, and essential, so is writing about what you’re passionate about. If you are not writing about a topic that completely knocks your socks off, really gets you pumped then the interest in writing your blog on a daily basis will die very quickly. Brainstorm first, sit down and write out some ideas, choose topics you know a lot of information about. Writing about what you already know will save you tons of research time, which will allow you to write more quality work. Remember to make sure that the topic you choose has plenty of information to write about, you do not want to stop your blogging after four or five entries because you ran out of subtopics within your topic to writing about. Now, you have got a topic, and you are completely pumped and ready to, but where do you go?

You are feeling pretty confident now, you’ve got your blog topic, you’ve got tons of ideas for your topic, now you just need to place to post your blog, and get your word heard. Now, if you are looking to make money, posting your blog in any free space available might not be the best idea. You need to choose a site that will enable you to post, receive good reader traffic, and eventually make some money. Keep in mind this will not happen overnight, patience is imperative in this case. There are hundreds of online sites specifically for blog posting. You’ve got WordPress.com, Blogger.com, and Squarespace.com just to name a few among many. You can choose to write anywhere you like, but choose a site that you know people flock to, and visit frequently; this is where CPC (cost per click) will come into play. Choose wisely, choose somewhere that receives a good amount of traffic, the more traffic to your blog you can get, the more money you can eventually earn from adsense clicks. Make your blog appealing to the eye; make it catchy, not flashy. Most blogging websites you encounter will already have pre-made templates for those of us who are not too web savvy. Choose a design that fits your style, and your blog’s style. This will get your readers’ attention, this will pull them in. Now that you are set up, you’ve got a little bit of traffic coming in; let’s talk about promotion, getting word of your blog, out there.

You are not going to get very far if no one comes to read your blog. Keep in mind this process does take a bit of time, and it takes some hard work. They key to gaining traffic is analysis. You need to analyze where you are getting your visitors from. A tool I recommend you to use to analyze your traffic is google Analytics.

A great way to promote your blog is reading fellow writers’ blogs. Reading and leaving comments and providing a link to your personal blog will help you get some traffic, get your word and your work out there. Usually when one writer receives recognition for their work, even in the form of something simple such as a comment, they tend to want to return the favor, and will most likely do the same for you. Make sure your blog has a high level of quality, you can write three or four blog posts a day, in a snap, but does that necessarily mean that they will be wroth reading? If you can try and combine those three or four posts into one detailed, flowing post, you would probably have a better shot at getting some much needed recognition. The main key to success in the blogging world is having good quality work, if you’ve got good content, then you’ve got a good shot at some recognition. Now that you are set up, good posting site, good quality work, let’s discuss pulling in some more money in the form of advertisement, CPC, and CPA.

Now that you are getting much needed traffic, now it is time to turn that traffic into profit by CPC, or cost per click. CPC is a form of advertisement that pays you when someone clicks on your blog. Look into selling advertisement space on your blog. This is a great way to make profit because you can set your advertisement rate, and choose from the best offers that you may receive. But try to keep in mind that if you set your rate too high, you might not get any offers at all, so it is important to play around with some numbers and meet in the middle, not too low, but not too high. CPA is cost per action, which pays you when someone downloads something from an offered ad, or subscribes to an offered service. All of these aspects can make you or break you; it’s all about picking the right strategy that works for you and works for an advertising company offering you money.

I wrote an article about how to use google adsense. If you are new to the blogging business then Google Adsense is a good tip to get started with advertising. Setting the account up is very easy and you will see relatively good earnings with only little effort. They pay out a lot compared to other advertising networks. Read my guide and you will know why, in a way adsense revolutionized the internet.

Blogging can be a lot of fun, and if writing is something you enjoy and something you would like to make a career out of, you need to work hard at it. Remember, this will not happen overnight, so don’t quit your day job just yet. Market your blog strategically, keep the quality of your blog high and consistent, do not write and excellent blog one day, and get lazy and post something that can be looked over the other day. Advertise, and promote, sell your blog, sell your available space. Be patient, be consistent, the money will come soon, just wait and see!

I am in this business for more than 2 years now and must tell you, there is a lot which you need to know.

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