Saturday 15 December 2007

How do bloggers make money from blogs

Advertising Programs - Perhaps the most obvious changes in the past few months have been with the addition of a variety of viable advertising options for bloggers looking to make money from their blogs. The most common way bloggers seem to earn money online is via the contextual ad program from Google - Adsense. A more recent addition that many are using successfully are Chitika’s eMiniMalls and WidgetBucks, Text Link Ads.
Azoogle Ads, Intelli Txt, DoubleClick, Tribal Fusion, Adbrite, Clicksor, AdHearUs, Kanoodle, Pheedo, TextAds, Bidvertiser, Fastclick and Value Click (to name just some of the options) and there is a smorgasbord of options. Of course there is more to come with MSN Adcenter and YPN both in beta testing and with a variety of other advertising system currently in development (YPN is only available to US publishers).


Lastly there’s BlogAds - one of the first blog specific ad networks.
RSS Advertising - The past 12 months have seen some advances in RSS Advertising also. I’m yet to hear of any bloggers making big money blogging through it to this point - but as improvements are made to the ad programs exploring this I’m sure we’ll start to see examples of it being profitable.


Sponsorship - In addition to the array of advertising programs that are available to join there is a growing awareness in the business of the value and opportunity that exists for them to advertise directly on blogs. I’m hearing more and more examples of this and have been fortunately to have a couple of ad campaigns of my own in the past month . These are not isolated cases - as I say I know of many blogs exploring sponsorship with advertisers at present and suspect we’ll see more of it in the year ahead. Sponsorship is also happening on a post by post basis with some bloggers being paid to write on certain topics by companies - either in one off or a regular fashion - and they are able to make big money from their blogs doing so.


Affiliate Programs - There are larger affiliate programs like Amazon, Linkshare, Clickbank and Commission Junction but also literally thousands of others from the large to the very small.
Digital Assets - Increasing numbers of bloggers have been developing other digital assets to support and add revenue streams to their blogs. By this I mean that I’m increasingly seeing e-books, courses and tele-seminars being run by bloggers. My recent foray into this with the first series of the six figure blogging course that Andy and I ran a few weeks ago and have just released the study version of. This type of activity will only increase in future - in fact this week I’ve seen numerous examples of bloggers running courses.


Blog Network Opportunities - with the rise in popularity of Blog Networks - bloggers are also being presented with more places to earn an income from their blogging - by writing for and with others. While it might be difficult to get a writing gig with one of the bigger networks - there are plenty who are always asking for new bloggers to join and who are willing to pay bloggers using a variety of payment models. While there are distinct advantages of blogging for yourself - blogging for an established network who will handle a lot of the set up/promotion/admin/SEO etc has it’s advantages also. More and more bloggers are combining writing for themselves on their own blogs with taking on blog network blogs as additional income streams.


Business Blog Writing Opportunities - as blogging has risen in it’s profile as a medium more and more businesses are starting blogs. Many of these companies have internal staff take on blogging duties - but an increasing number of them are hiring specialist bloggers to come on and run their blogs. I know of a number of bloggers who in the past month or two have been approached for such paid work. Check out Bloggers for Hire if you’re looking for this type of work.


Non Blogging Writing Opportunities - Also becoming more common are bloggers being hired to write in non blogging mediums. Manolo’s recent coup of a column in the Washington Post is just one example of this as bloggers are increasingly being approached to write for newspapers, magazines and other non blog websites. Along side this is the rise of bloggers as published book authors - this is to the extent that one blogger I spoke with this week complained to me that they were one of the few bloggers than they knew who didn’t have a book deal!


Donations - Tip Jars and donation buttons have been a part of blogging for years now but this last year saw a number of bloggers go full time after fund raising drives. Perhaps the most high profile of these was Jason Kottke of kottke.org who through the generosity of his readership was able to quit his job and become a full time blogger.


Flipping Blogs - Also more common in 2005 was the practice of ‘Blog Flipping’ - or selling of blogs. This has happened both on an individual blog level (I can think of about 20 blogs that sold this year) but also on a network level (the most obvious of these being the 8 figure sale of Weblogs Inc to AOL).
Merchandising - My recent attempt to sell ProBlogger.net T-shirts wasn’t a raging success, but it is an example of how an increasing number of bloggers are attempting to make a few extra dollars from their blogs by selling branded products through programs like Cafepress. While I didn’t have a lot of success with merchandising - quite a few larger blogs are seeing significant sales - especially blogs with a cult following. I’m not at liberty to discuss details - but I know of one largish blog which will see sales over $20,000 in merchandise for the calendar year of 2005.
Consulting and Speaking - While it has been popular for established consultants to add blogs to their businesses we’re also starting to see bloggers with no consulting background able to make money by charging readers for their time in consulting scenarios BECAUSE of the profile that their blogs have built them. Blogging has the ability to establish people as experts on niche topics and we all know the value of being perceived as an expert. I spoke to one blogger last month who charges himself out at over $200 an hour for speaking and consulting work - his area of expertise was something that he knew little about 18 months ago - but through his blog he’s become a leader in his field and a minor celebrity in his industry.

Posted by Calvin at 16:17
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Free Online Game

How to Make Money Online For Free

The best way to make money online for free is to get into affiliate marketing, which is to promote other people products and services.
Adbrite
Fair Ads Network
Auction ads
Google Adsense
Widgetbucks
BidVertiser - The Best Choice!!!







Next, you are going to drive tons of traffic to your affiliate pages using free channels and methods.

But before we talk about driving traffic, you are going to choose the right product to promote. Do some research to find out what things are hot currently and go to affiliate networks such as Clickbank to find a product that suits the trend. It is very important for you to focus on promoting one product first if you are new to affiliate marketing, before moving on to another winning product.

Now, let us talk about ways to drive traffic to your affiliate product page, strictly using free methods:



1. Create a Squidoo lens. Make sure that your lens is keywords optimized according to what you are promoting. The naming of the lens will play a big part on whether you will get to top of search engines.


2. Writing keyword-optimized articles. Research and gather keywords that are related to the products that you are promoting. Write an article for each keyword and make sure that it gets to prominent pages of search engines.


3. Create a report.
Create a short report which talk about the topic or product that you are promoting. Use free source to convert it to a PDF file, and distribute it for free on the Internet.

4. Forum postings.
Join relevant forums and include a signature to your affiliate product pages. Make sure that you do not spam but contribute informative ideas to the forum.


5. Classified ads.
Post free ads talking about the product that you are promoting on popular classified sites such as Craigslist.
These are just some free ways to drive traffic to your affiliate product pages. The quality of the product that you are promoting also plays a big part on whether you will get any sales out of it.

Chitika

9 ways to let your blog/website noticed

With billions of web pages it can sometimes be hard getting yourself noticed. What can you do to stand out from the crowd? How can you get your web pages highlighted and sought after? Here are 9 ways in which you can get more attention for your web site.

1. Fill your web site with content
Your web site visitors are not interested in you, they are more concerned with their own world, their own problems, their own difficulties. If your web site is full of information that can help them cope in their world, remove their problems, or ease their difficulties, they will appreciate you. So, focus your web site on the content you provide. There are several ways you can do this. One is to provide a blog as part of your site, though you will need to update this at least daily if it is to have any real impact. An alternative is to have an articles section where you include more detailed information than you might have in a blog. You could also have in-depth reports that people download directly from your web site. However you do it, just focus your strategy on providing content - and lots of it. But the content must be practical, useful material that your readers can directly benefit from.

2. Use the words your web site visitors use
Whatever your web site is about, it will only attract attention if it is using the language of your target audience. If, for instance, you have a web site that offers "take-away foods" it is not going to get much attention in parts of the world where they call such things "carry-outs". In other words, your content must match your audience. Don't use the words and jargon you might use in your business, but use the words your potential customers use. If you don't know what they are, ask them. Also make sure you check the words that people will use to search for your site using Wordtracker.

3. Have a design that follows the standards
People have become used to certain online conventions - links in blue, underlined, for instance. Even though it may be tempting to appear different or unique, if you do not follow the standard conventions your web site becomes less appealing to people. So this means, for instance, having the navigation down the left hand side of the page, or along the top. It means having a footer on each page with your contact details. It means using the conventional colours to signal links, emails and so on. If you try to do something different you confuse your visitors meaning they are less likely to return and even less likely to tell their friends about your site.

4. Get your site listed in directories
People often use directories to find appropriate web sites. You need listing in all the relevant directories to your business. To find specific directories that you can get listed in, use a program like Internet Business Promoter. This helps you locate subject specific directories and manage your submission to them. Also, get yourself listed in DMOZ - it might take some time, be patient, but a listing here is helpful as many other directories and search engines use data from DMOZ. Getting a listing in the Yahoo Directory is also worthwhile paying for. Within seven days you could be listed on one of the most popular online directories.

5. Gain benefit from Wikipedia
One of the most popular online resources is Wikipedia - the online encyclopaedia edited by volunteers. Contributing content on your areas of expertise will help bring attention to you and your web site. You cannot simply put up a Wikipedia page all about your business - that would be considered "spam". But adding to existing pages, including your links where appropriate to relevant content on your web site, would be valuable to readers of Wikipedia and to your business.

6. Get links to your site
Having other people link to your site is essential. It shows that they trust you and like you enough to recommend you. Don't look for any old link; have a strategy to gain links from relevant sites that are also respected. A link on a relevant and respected site is worth many, many times more than a link on someone's site just because you happen to know them. So, if you are selling lawn mowers, get your site linked on gardening sites, web sites about grass growing and so on. Another way of generating useful links is to get your site bookmarked in del.icio.us and on Digg. Look for other social bookmarking sites like these in your spe******t field. Try also StumbleUpon and ReddIt. To find useful sites to link to your web site you need Internet Business Promoter's Arelis feature.

7. Get involved online
Take part in forum discussions, Google Groups, Yahoo Groups and other discussion sites. Contribute also to Yahoo Answers. In doing so you bring attention to your expertise and also you get the opportunity to add a link to your web site or some of your appropriate content. Also, be on the lookout for blogs to which you can add comments, again showing your expertise and adding links to your web site, bringing it even more attention. To find suitable blogs use Google Blog Search.

8. Use traditional Public Relations
Many web site owners focus all their efforts online, forgetting that the "offline" world is a great way to publicise their web site. Indeed, the owners of Google did a considerable amount of PR to get their venture up and running. So take a tip from them, get as much "offline" publicity as you can. Get yourself listed in Expert Sources - journalists use this to find people to interview. Also make sure your web site has a "media" page that has all your contact details, examples of the kind of media exposure you are available for, links to articles about you, radio programmes you have featured in etc. Also, your web site media centre will need a selection of high resolution photographs of you and your business as well as a short business and personal biography. Your media centre should also include your press releases, if you have them. Journalists look at your web site and if they see a media centre they realise you are "friendly" towards the media and therefore are more likely to approach you. You can also distribute press releases automatically using Press Equalizer.

9. Take part in social networking sites
Use sites like Facebook, MySpace and Ecademy to bring attention to your expertise. On Ecademy you can become a "club leader" for your particular topic and on Facebook you can set up spe******t groups on your area of expertise. By contributing to these sites - and others in your spe******t area - you bring even more attention to your web site. Furthermore, you make it easy for your online contacts to mention your web site to other people online, thus further promoting your site. For a list of sites you can work with go to this list of social networking sites.