Easy Pocket Money Blogging part 2

Saturday, August 16th, 2008

in easy pocket money blogging part one we discussed hosting the blog, and setting it up. We also looked at the first few plugins used to make it an article directory and avoid spam from comment spammers. In part 2 we will look at how we get traffic to the new blog, and how we monetise it.

Firstly I will run through the basic plug ins I add to all my blogs for traffic generation from search engines. I set these up first as they will be helping every time a new article is added to the directory. My first suggestion is All in One SEO Pack as this helps to make your blog posts get ranked in search engines with the appropriate tags, and titles etc. This helps no end in getting traffic for free from search engines, and making sure your listing is right in the searches. Using the defaults in most of the settings works well enough for the lazy people like me too.

In addition to All in One SEO I always ensure my blogs use permalinks, and use the structure
” /%category%/%postname%/ ” in the “Custom Structure” field in permalink settings. These together help give the search engine rankings a boost and bring the traffic in. Once you have traffic you can start monetising your articles, oh yeah we haven’t got to the articles yet have we? Don’t worry it’s coming but lets get it all ready for making your pocket money on the blog first.

To monetise a blog, I use a widget with Adsense in on the right of the page, and also a plugin called Adsense Injection available at http://www.biggnuts.com which will place Adsense blocks in the article text automatically wrapping it in the text. You can also add Link-A-Dink plug in to turn some key words and phrases within articles to text links to affiliate products or your other sites. Of course how you monetise your blog is up to you, and you may do it even better than I do, this works for me and I’m too lazy to experiment.

On this blog I also addeed Role Manager, WP-PageNavi and  MaxBlogPress Favicon plugins. The last of these helps to get your blog noticed by adding one of those little icons to the title bar of the browser and also to the title when bookmarked, which helps it stand out a little and makes people come back again. You can add your choice of plugins too, if you have other things you like to see on your sites.

We now have a Wordpress blog, which looks like an article directory and works like one. It also attracts traffic from search engines to the articles which we don’t have yet. This is where the best bit comes in, free content added automatically. The plug in for this is on the Unique Article Wizard Plugins  page UAW Plugins for Various Article Directories where you can download the unique articles plugins for various scripts including Wordpress. Activate the plugin, and fill in the details in the settings, and you will start receiving articles to your new site almost immediately.
In my case I have had over 3000 articles in a few weeks, and the search engines have started sending enough traffic to earn me some extra Google Adsense cash this month.

You can setup an article directory or any niche themed website with Wordpress, and start getting article submissions in minutes. As it grows, hopefully so will your pocket money. And if you’re one of those people who likes to test and tune, fiddle around with the settings, and you could probably be making a bit more than pocket money from a blog like the one outlined here. The choice is yours. But whatever you do, get started on your pocket money blog soon.

The Exciting New Frontier Of Professional Blogging

Saturday, May 17th, 2008

Professional blogging is a very new idea with a lot of potential for entrepreneurs who have insight, drive, and a basic understanding of today’s innovative web technology. The ranks of so-called pro bloggers are still quite small, and there are very few people who make their living entirely off of their blogs. However, every day there are more and more people who have managed to turn their weblogs into cash cows that supplement their income. The number of pro bloggers is growing by leaps and bounds, but it is difficult to say whether this trend will continue.

Many bloggers dream of entering the sphere of professional blogging. There are very few people who happily devote an hour or more each day to their blog without at least occasionally wishing that they could earn some kind of financial reward for all of their work. Several models exist for making money with a blog, the most popular being to sell advertising space through Google’s AdSense program or directly to a company that wishes to reach the demographic that your blog appeals to. However, there are very few people indeed who can make a comfortable living just by selling space on their blog sidebars.

A lot of the people who read weblogs are bloggers themselves, in part because of the fact that the people who use blogging technology on a daily basis are most likely to be interested in what other writers are doing with the medium. This fact begins to explain why the people who succeed in the world of professional blogging are mostly people who have devoted themselves almost entirely to learning about, talking about, and writing about blogging. More than any other topic, pro bloggers turn their attention to the phenomenon of blogging itself. A lot of pro bloggers make the topic of blogging the stunningly self-reflexive ongoing focus of their blogs.

Of course, professional blogging is destined to become much more complicated in the future than it is today. In the current moment, pro bloggers who attract the largest audiences and make the most money are mostly concerned with investigating the blogging movement and with offering advice to amateur bloggers. However, as the kinds of people who regularly read blogs changes, and the demographics of bloggers expand and diversify as blogging software becomes more user friendly, it is very likely indeed that the world of pro blogging will begin to reflect these changes. Indeed, it is very difficult to predict exactly what kinds of blogs will be reaping the greatest financial rewards five or ten years down the road. The world of pro blogging is one of constant change and flux, which is part of what makes it so exciting.

Easy Link Exchanging With your Wordpress Blogs

Wednesday, May 7th, 2008

Easy Link Exchanging With your Wordpress Blogs

If you didn’t already know it, one thing which can help your blog get more traffic is backlinks. Backlinks are any link which points to your site. The more links you have pointing to your site the better, not just in the hope someone will click on the link from someone elses site, but also for Search Engine rankings.

Search engines (some of the major ones anyway) use the amount of links going to a site as part of the algorithm for deciding its position. That oversimplifies it somewhat as they also take into account many other factors but for the benefit of brevity and staying on topic we’ll just say that more backlinks will help your ranking in the search engines.

There are lots of ways to get links back to your site, such as writing and submitting articles, which is highly recommended as it gives you one way inbound links which count more towards your score. Another way which can help is by exchanging links with other site owners.

As the phrase “link exchange” implies, you will be exchanging a link for a link. So in other words you find someone with a similar site to yours, link to them and they in turn put a link on their site back to yours. With a blog this can seem a difficult and time consuming occupation, as you’d need to post a new page for your link exchange partners, and edit it each time you add a new link.

Wordpress comes with a built in link system called a Blogroll, which shows the links you add to it on your site. Obviously this could become unsightly and take up a lot of space in the sidebar as you start getting more and more link exchanges made. Because Wordpress blogs are easily upgraded to perform new tasks with “plugins” it isn’t as hard as it may seem to deal with link exchanges using the Blogroll.

You can download the Blogroll Page Plugin from http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/blogroll-links which turns your blogroll sidebar widget into a full blown links page. Each time you add a link to your blogroll it will be added to the page. It even allows categories to be used to segregate the links however you wish.

Increase your sites visibility start your link exchange process today, it’s easy now you know how to make Wordpress Blogroll work for you.

Article by Douglas Titchmarsh (c)

Free Information on Blogging Sites: MySpace and AdSense

Tuesday, April 8th, 2008

Free Information on Blogging Sites: MySpace and AdSense

Internet marketing is extremely popular these days and millions of individuals logon each day. It can be their way to make money from home or simply as a past time. Oftentimes, internet marketing is utilized by people to make money and one way is through paid blogging. If you want free information on blogging sites like MySpace and AdSense, you’re in the right place.

MySpace

If you want to post your blogs in MySpace, here are some excellent tips that you can use. For your bulletin titles, you must create compelling titles especially when you’re posting a new blog. If you want to add a banner to the affiliate link, you can add custom headers to your blogs by means of HTML.

Aside from that, don’t forget to subscribe to MySpace blogs and always leave your comments. Make sure that you participate in the different forums of the website.

As you already know, one way to earn income is through affiliate marketing. If you want to promote your blogs, make sure that you find the best affiliate programs on the net. All your blogs should be related to your niche.

In a blog, you’re supposed to write casually rather than formally. If you can find blogging platforms for free, take advantage of it. If you’re new to blogging, you can use MySpace because it doesn’t require costs for the start-up. Aside from that, you can also experiment freely to determine what works for you.

AdSense

If you’re a serious blogger, AdSense may be able to work for you. You may have different reasons for blogging – may be for earning money, for marketing your business, or for spreading some of your greatest ideas. Generating income through AdSense may be a bit costly especially if you have a lot of web pages and traffic. But despite the costs, you can make huge money out of it.
 
AdSense will work best for you if you’re blogging to promote products and make sales. You can generate enough revenue to finance your day to day expenses. The popular search engines will also know about your blogs. Blogging websites should make use of AdSense to earn more money. The content of your blogs should include AdSense.

If there are advertisers willing to pay for your blogs, you have to include them in your blogs as well. Aside from AdSense, you can also make money by blogging through affiliate marketing, ad programs, and sponsorships.

MySpace and AdSense can help you a lot especially if you’re new to internet business and marketing. There are many uses for blogs and you can choose variedly where you’re going to concentrate. Learn more about blogs online and how to make them. There are many blogging opportunities that you can take advantage if you already know how to make blogs. Blogging can give you the money that you never dreamed of earning from home.

Feel free to visit MySpace and AdSense to start your blogging career as soon as possible. Make sure that you want to become a serious and dedicated blogger so that you can ensure your success. Use all the available tolls that you can find online so that you can make money through blogging.

There are other free information about blogging sites that you can find online. All it takes is diligent research. Gather all your information to help you with your blogging.

Free Ways To Generate Traffic To Your Blog

Sunday, March 30th, 2008

There are a myriad of ways to jumpstart traffic flow to your blog, maybe you just don’t have the finacial resources that others have to generate more traffic for your blog. Spending money to get visitors to your blog just isn’t neccessary; all you need is the proper mindset and a lot of eagerness. You also must have the drive and perseverance to do hard work and research to generate more traffic for your site.

Instead of spending a lot of money driving traffic to your blog, take a look at some of the following tips for getting free traffic. Implement some or all of them, and in record time you will start to see more traffic flowing to your blog without cash flowing from your bank account.

Make use of online forums and online communities. The great thing about forums and online communities is that you can target a certain group that fits the certain demographic that you are looking for. You can discuss about lots of things about the subject that you represent or offer information about on your blog.  Another great advantage is that you know what you are getting into and you will be prepared.

With online communities and forums you can build a reputation for your writing, and introduce them to your blog. Show them what you are made of and wow them with your range of expertise about the subject, with that you can build a reputation and build trust with the people in your expertise and knowledge.

You can also make use of newsletters. Provide people with interesting and entertaining articles related to your blog. If you make it really interesting and entertaining, more people will sign up for your newsletter and recommend it to other people. The more people who signs up for your newsletter, the more people there will be that will go to your blog increasing your traffic.

Another great idea is trading links with other sites. You don’t have to spend any money. All you have to do is barter an agreement with another webmaster to put your link on their site in exchange for their link going on your blog. With exchanging links, the efforts both sites do will benefit both sites. Every visitor who goes to the site could potentially click on the link to your site and visit your blog as well. This works well especially when both sites feature the same subject.

Write articles that could pique the attention of people that have interest in your blogs subject. Try writing articles that will provide tips and guides to other people interested in the same hobby or niche as what you are blogging about. Writing articles that provide good information and knowledge to other people would provide the necessary mileage your traffic flow needs. 

Many sites offer free submission and posting of your articles. When people find your articles of interest, they have a good chance of following the track by finding out where the article originated. Include a link or a brief description (sometimes called a bio) of your blog with the article and there’s a good possibility that they will visit your site.

Write good interesting content for your site. Many search engines track down the keywords and keyword phrases your site uses and how they are used. It is not a requirement that any content should be written by a professional content writer. You could do your own but you have to make content for your site that is entertaining as well as informational. It should provide certain requirements as well as great quality.
Generally, internet users use search engines to find what they are looking for. Search engines in return use keyword searching in aiding their search results. With the right keywords, you could get high rankings in search engine results without the costs.

All of these methods and more will drive more traffic to your site for free. All it takes is a bit of effort and extended man hours. Learn all you can about the methods depicted here and you will soon have a site with a great traffic flow without the usual costs that come with it

If You are Already Blogging, Money May be Just a Click Away

Sunday, March 30th, 2008

If You are Already Blogging, Money May be Just a Click Away

If you already spend a fair amount of time blogging, money may come to you literally as soon as you ask for it. Once you have an established blog with a regular readership, it is easy to turn a profit through advertising. By hosting sponsored links or banners, you can see income from your hobby almost overnight. Even if you did not start your blog intending to turn a profit, making supplementary income from your blog may be easier than you think.

Of course, even for people who have spent months or years blogging, money from advertising revenue may not add up to a large sum. The amount of money that you can make as a blogger depends on a lot of different factors, but perhaps the most important element of the equation is the topic of your blog. If your blog is on a subject that appeals to a demographic that advertisers have a strong desire to reach, you will be more likely to be able to turn a large profit on your blog than if your blog is on a fairly obscure subject that does not draw the kind of audience that advertisers need to appeal to. Of course, the only way to find out where you fall on this spectrum is to try hosting some ads. If you are already blogging, you have nothing to lose. 

The Who, Why, And How of Blogging

Sunday, March 30th, 2008

Who Is Blogging?

Today anyone who has writing ability or is dreaming to be a writer has written a blog in the net. There are blog soft wares that are simple and easy to use and a technically inclined and challenged individuals can easily acquire a blog online.

For some individuals, blogs are their projects of every day living, as they talk about their daily episodes as well as make tribute to friends and family. Furthermore, blogs assume a profound meaning written to compose and assemble political statements, endorse a product, supply information on research, and even offer tutorials. Any subject that are of your interests, you can be sure that someone has written a blog about it.

Blogs are now being written by musicians, politicians, sports figures, novelists, newscasters as well as other known figures. It is this blog fever that has raised controversy. The fact that anyone can compose and regarding any subject matter under the sun, complaints about certain write-ups are an issue. In a lot of blogs, names are being mentioned; do bear in mind that although you are entitled to write anything that interests you in a blog, you have to be very careful and take in a lot of responsibility. Do not make any statements which can become controversial; or else, be very prepared.

Why Write a Blog?

1. For personal acquaintances, relationships and hobby. A person can write a blog about his daily activities, what’s going on with his life as his way of telling his family and friends the things that goes on in his life. Likewise, one may also write a blog just so he can express what he feels about himself, or about a certain subject matter that is of interest to him.

2. Topical. Some blogs are committed to a precise topic, like computer hardware or politics. These are frequently read like magazines.

3. For marketing.  Corporations are too, into blogging; when well written and implemented, this kind of blog can be a powerful instrument for business communications, forming eagerness and anticipation regarding their products and services offered, or used as tool within the company, keeping employees well informed about company issues and news.

How To Blog And Which Software Should You Use?

A lot of Web designer and creators will laugh at the belief and idea of utilizing the software of someone else. This is can be correct especially when each software greatly differs from the particular requirements that a client may have. Yet on the other hand, when it refers to a Weblog software, there is no reason for apprehension in the use of a package that is pre-written, as most packages were developed through years of study; not just knocked together over a couple of days.

In addition, one may study its feature set. For a developer, it would take a lot of time and effort to write and compose from “nothing at all” every single feature in the Weblog software packages of today. For most people, a blog is there for the main reason that chooses to publish or make known your literature and texts on the Web, so you want to spend your time more on writing than coding.

Hosted Services

If one wishes to start broadcasting on the Web, yet does not have web hosting, one can consider looking into a hosted service, which includes Blogger, TypePad, Live Journal, and more.

These services are operated or handled for an individual, so there is no need to concern one about technical upkeep of one’s Weblog; instead, one can concentrate on his blog’s appearance and content. In just minutes, after signing for an account, one can readily start his own blog.  Many such services are offered free, such as blogger.  TypePad charges a minimal amount for monthly service fee.

Self-Hosted

When one has Web hosting on hand, or is eager to buy hosting, in which one feesl that the advantage will prevail over the problems of keeping up your own blog connection and installation, then you may want to take into account a package that is self-hosted, which includes Movable Type, Textpattern and WordPress.

Other hosting companies did construct the process of installation easier, permitting installation with just a click from a control panel that is browser-based. It is important that you check with a hosting company so you can view if this function is offered. Similar to hosted services, some self hosted packages are made available either for free or for a certain fee which is dependent on the type of package that you choose as well as the basis why you are using it.