Monetized blogs have been all the rage for some time now. However, there are a few things you should consider before accepting the hype of making easy money by starting a monetized blog.
There are many books out there about the "easy money" of creating a free blog and simply sticking some Adsense or other ads up and making money. The true part is that, if you use one of the many free blog sites, at least you won't be out a lot of money for start up costs, but you could be out a lot of time instead. Yes, it can be "easy" as well. Just create a free blog, insert some ads or Adsense code and you're good to go. Unfortunately, this WON'T make you any money.
To make money off a blog by using Adsense, Adbrite, or any one of the many other ad publisher codes, you have to have massive amounts of traffic. The average click thru rate (CTR) for most blogs is very small at only a percent or two of your traffic. If only 1 person clicks on an ad out of 100 who visit your blog, then you've only made a couple of cents per 100 visits. Unless your blog becomes VERY popular, then you will only end up with making just that couple cents per day.
I've heard of people who compensate for this low rate by starting MANY blogs, of which they still only make a few cents each, but combined they bring in more. While this is possible, the problem is that if you create 10 more blogs, then you also have created 10 times more work for yourself, and you've still only made a few more cents (NOT dollars!) a day. Is this really worth it?
The amount of effort required to bring in more traffic to make a few cents more is enormous, as good updated content is what brings in the traffic, meaning that you can NOT just start a blog, put up some ads and forget about it. You have to regularily post and update to EACH blog you create. Many people abandon their blogs after they realize it's not as easy as they've been told.
If you've noticed, I do have Adsense ads as well, but it's for more of an experiment than for making actual money. I've never made the payout threshold, and I don't expect to...ever. I have other blogs as well that do not have Adsense and they focus on music and other topics, but this one is for online business topics, so I use the ads here to put things in context to see what works and what doesn't.
If you really want to make money with a blog, I suggest creating good, original content by writing about something interesting on a topic you like and then putting some affiliate program ads or product ads on it that have the potential of making you more than just a few cents. I blog for fun and research, but I offer legitimate online degrees as a Degree Broker to earn my money from them. Yes, you can blog for fun and profit. You just have to find the right balance before you can make it worth the time you must put into it to succeed.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Be Exceptional!
I got asked on the weekend what it takes to succeed online and, while there are many variables, it really comes down to the individual person more than the program they choose. It's possible to make a couple dollars off pretty much anything if you are a real "go-getter". However, the problem is that most people just get lazy online and never make anything because they don't have what it takes to succeed.
Don't take offense to what I'm saying! I'm not saying YOU are lazy, but just that many people online ARE lazy. They don't have a boss watching over them at home and they lack the self discipline it takes to succeed online. To make money online you really have to pull yourself up and above everyone else. You can't just take an affiliate gateway site or throw up a splash page and expect to sit back waiting for the sales to roll in. You'll be waiting a LONG time!
My advice would be to work hard at success and set yourself apart from everyone else. Don't just follow the herd and do what they do. To truly succeed you have to BE EXCEPTIONAL! That's the online reality. If you work at it then the payoff will eventually be worth the effort. I promise...
Don't take offense to what I'm saying! I'm not saying YOU are lazy, but just that many people online ARE lazy. They don't have a boss watching over them at home and they lack the self discipline it takes to succeed online. To make money online you really have to pull yourself up and above everyone else. You can't just take an affiliate gateway site or throw up a splash page and expect to sit back waiting for the sales to roll in. You'll be waiting a LONG time!
My advice would be to work hard at success and set yourself apart from everyone else. Don't just follow the herd and do what they do. To truly succeed you have to BE EXCEPTIONAL! That's the online reality. If you work at it then the payoff will eventually be worth the effort. I promise...
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Search Engine Friendly Keywords
Keywords are obviously an important thing to understand correctly for SEO work on any website, but many people see it as more straightforward than it really is. Most people think they can just list a few of their most important words and the visits will roll in, but it's much more complicated than that.
There was a time when "keyword stuffing" was popular, but now those days are gone. It's all about percentages now. For every keyword you add to your list you are effectively diluting the importance of each word used in a search. The percentage is broken down and divided among those words used.
For example, if you have a website about successful marketing research online, you may use keyword terms like "marketing, research, success, advertise, online", and each word would rate a percentage of 20% out of 100. If you used only 4 keywords then each one would be worth 25%. It works the same with descriptions used as well. The more you use certain keywords in a description, the higher it's percentage of importance will be. There used to be variables such as emphasizing certain words with the use of capitals, but things change so rapidly in the SEO world that it's not as important as it once was.
How the percentage rate effects you when ranking in "organic" (ie. not paid) search engine listings is that, if someone else's site uses the same keywords at a higher percentage, then they will be found ahead of you, regardless of PR or site size. If my own marketing research site used just the keywords "marketing" and "research" then each word would be valued at 50% and, therefore, be more valuable than your keywords at 20%. I've had new sites show up as number one in the listings within a couple days of launch just by keyword percentage strength alone.
What you should do about this is really quite simple. Just use the keywords that are absolutely essential. In my first example, the word "online" isn't necessary, as it's a website, so that should be obvious. Your "success" is also subjective, so should be left out. Just emphasize what really needs to be without overdoing it.
The other point that needs to be addressed is spelling errors. That is another SEO relic of the past. "Experts" would use every spelling mistake variation they could think of in their keywords in the hopes of full optimization. That is also no longer necessary and can dilute your "good" keywords significantly. The majority of your potential search engine visitors will type the words correctly and, hopefully, find you. Those who make spelling mistakes in Google will now see a "Did You Mean" warning at the top showing them the correct spelling for that word. Try typing in a mispelled word and see for yourself! I've had search engine visitors find my sites using all sorts of horrible spelling variations, even though I only use the correct ones.
You should really only need to consider word variations when branding an uncommon name, and that's really an entirely different post altogether, so, until next time, have a great and search engine friendly week!
There was a time when "keyword stuffing" was popular, but now those days are gone. It's all about percentages now. For every keyword you add to your list you are effectively diluting the importance of each word used in a search. The percentage is broken down and divided among those words used.
For example, if you have a website about successful marketing research online, you may use keyword terms like "marketing, research, success, advertise, online", and each word would rate a percentage of 20% out of 100. If you used only 4 keywords then each one would be worth 25%. It works the same with descriptions used as well. The more you use certain keywords in a description, the higher it's percentage of importance will be. There used to be variables such as emphasizing certain words with the use of capitals, but things change so rapidly in the SEO world that it's not as important as it once was.
How the percentage rate effects you when ranking in "organic" (ie. not paid) search engine listings is that, if someone else's site uses the same keywords at a higher percentage, then they will be found ahead of you, regardless of PR or site size. If my own marketing research site used just the keywords "marketing" and "research" then each word would be valued at 50% and, therefore, be more valuable than your keywords at 20%. I've had new sites show up as number one in the listings within a couple days of launch just by keyword percentage strength alone.
What you should do about this is really quite simple. Just use the keywords that are absolutely essential. In my first example, the word "online" isn't necessary, as it's a website, so that should be obvious. Your "success" is also subjective, so should be left out. Just emphasize what really needs to be without overdoing it.
The other point that needs to be addressed is spelling errors. That is another SEO relic of the past. "Experts" would use every spelling mistake variation they could think of in their keywords in the hopes of full optimization. That is also no longer necessary and can dilute your "good" keywords significantly. The majority of your potential search engine visitors will type the words correctly and, hopefully, find you. Those who make spelling mistakes in Google will now see a "Did You Mean" warning at the top showing them the correct spelling for that word. Try typing in a mispelled word and see for yourself! I've had search engine visitors find my sites using all sorts of horrible spelling variations, even though I only use the correct ones.
You should really only need to consider word variations when branding an uncommon name, and that's really an entirely different post altogether, so, until next time, have a great and search engine friendly week!
Monday, March 3, 2008
Your Sweat Equity ROI
Many of you are still clicking links for a penny until your fingers cramp up and you see your computer screen in your sleep! I mentioned before that I didn't understand why people still click links for pennies, but I think I may have it figured out. It's the sense of community that it gives people to join these sites. Many of these sites have cute, friendly sounding names so you feel like you joined a network of friends rather than a big faceless site.
Ok, fair enough, but 0.0002 per click?? I noticed that on a site today where they "bragged" that Jane Doe just make that for the link being clicked. It make me chuckle. I see these sites as a means to an end...a tool to be used in making money, but NOT the money maker itself.
You have to seriously consider how much your time is really worth. You could make more working at a sweat shop factory in a third world country than you could at those programs per hour. Business people often talk about their ROI (Return On Investment) with regards to profit after overhead, but I think online workers should consider the ROI on their own sweat equity as well. Could your time yield more profit doing something else? How much could you realistically make if you just changed your focus?
I'm not suggesting you abandon your online work at home plan altogether, but I AM suggesting you take a good look at what all your hard work clicking for hours every day is bringing you. Are you at LEAST making the current minimum wage per hour you would be otherwise making working somewhere else? If the answer is no then your return on investment for the time spent is not good enough. You ARE worth more than minimum wage, right? I think so!
Ok, fair enough, but 0.0002 per click?? I noticed that on a site today where they "bragged" that Jane Doe just make that for the link being clicked. It make me chuckle. I see these sites as a means to an end...a tool to be used in making money, but NOT the money maker itself.
You have to seriously consider how much your time is really worth. You could make more working at a sweat shop factory in a third world country than you could at those programs per hour. Business people often talk about their ROI (Return On Investment) with regards to profit after overhead, but I think online workers should consider the ROI on their own sweat equity as well. Could your time yield more profit doing something else? How much could you realistically make if you just changed your focus?
I'm not suggesting you abandon your online work at home plan altogether, but I AM suggesting you take a good look at what all your hard work clicking for hours every day is bringing you. Are you at LEAST making the current minimum wage per hour you would be otherwise making working somewhere else? If the answer is no then your return on investment for the time spent is not good enough. You ARE worth more than minimum wage, right? I think so!
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