Making Money Blogging

Blogging For Money: DevelopingYour Writing Skills

2006-10-03T04:21:00.001-07:00

Developing writing skills takes practice and self-discipline. Writing for the web is indeed a craft. Follow these tips to improve your writing:

Spell check and proof read
Try to use correct spelling, grammar and syntax. Make sure you read over your post before up-loading. It's all part of creating the right impression with your readers.

Check your facts
If you are endorsing a product or making a statement make sure it's right, double check everything.

Be keyword-rich
Headlines should be short and snappy. Contain your whole argument in your headline and include as many keywords as possible.

Write tight
Edit your own writing harshly. Ask yourself, "Do I really need that word?" and if not, delete it.

Be organized
Blog platforms are basically like a mini content management system. Use the elements they provide to purposefully organize the content of your blog. Think about your overall structure and the categories you want to cover over time.

Link to other sites
Enrich your post with links to other web pages within your copy. Ensure that the links are relevant and contextual to your post.

Make your posts easy to scan
Use sub headings and short sentences to assist people to read through your copy quickly if they need to.

Link to your archives
By linking back to your previous posts within your copy, you begin to contextual ties, building depth within your subject matter. Today’s update will become your own back story.

Optimise your Blog Listing

2006-10-03T03:02:00.000-07:00

To make more money with your blog, you need more traffic. And to get the most traffic, you need to be listed as high as possible in search engines. And why is it important to be listed high?

Tests have shown people look at a only certain regions of a search results page. The area of the page they look at most is the top right hand corner. See the Google "heat map" below.

The red is where people look the most, then the cooler the colours, the less attention given to an area. The "X" is where most people click and the line is where most people scroll down to (not very far!)

So, it is essential that you optimise your site to ensure you are being seen.

timer

2006-10-03T02:53:00.000-07:00

links

2006-10-02T03:40:00.000-07:00

AdSense - contextual ad program by Google

Adbrite - sell text ads

Amazon Associates - popular affiliate program

AdGenta - text ads by Qumana (see ‘Q’)

AdRotator - WP ad rotating plugin

Akismet - Comment Spam Fighting Tool

Adhearus - pay per click advertising

AdWords - the advertisers side of AdSense - many bloggers use it to promote their blogs

AzoogleAds - advertising system

Audio Blogger - adds audio to your blog

B

Bidvertiser - bid based advertising

Blog Ads - blog advertising network

Blog Jet - blog editing tool

Blog Desk - blog editing tool

Bloglines - Web based RSS feed reader

BlogPulse - blog search tool

BlogPolls - tool for putting polls on your blog

Blog Poll - another blog poll tool

Backpackit - useful organizational tool

Blogger.com - blog platform

Bloggers for Hire - bloggers looking for work and potential employers looking for bloggers

BlogSitter.net - service for find guest bloggers while you take a holiday

BlogBurst - syndicates bloggers content for mainstream medium

BlogFlux - blog services portal

BlogRolling - a blogroll management tool

Blogbeat - blog metrics tool

Blogger Jobs - a blog following the advertising of blog jobs

C

Chitika eMiniMalls - advertising program

CrispAds - blog advertising network

Creative Commons - copyright licenses

Copyscape - tool for checking for content theft/plagiarism

Clicksor - advertising program

Clickbank - library of many affiliate products

Commission Junction - collection of many affiliate programs

Casale Media - advertising solution

D

Del.icio.us - social bookmarking

Digg - social bookmarking

Drupal - blog platform

DomainsBot - a tool for finding domain names

Digital Point - useful forum for webmasters

E

Ecto - blog editing tool

Expression Engine - blog platform

Endo - News aggregator for Mac Users

Ether - lets readers book a consulting call with you from your sidebar

F

Feedburner - RSS feed management tool - also provides Feed Advertising

Feedster - RSS search Tool

FeedDemon - RSS reader from NewsGator

FeedBlitz - email blog and RSS subscription service

Flickr - photo sharing and hosting

Flock - a browser with in built blogging

Furl - social bookmarking

Free Blog Polls

FilmLoop - free photocasting network

Feedpass - RSS management - integrates with AdSense

Favicon Maker - make Favicons from photos

G

Google Analytics - Metrics Tool

Gabbly - add chat to your blog

Google Reader - RSS reader

Gnoos - Australian made blog search tool

Google News - tracking news - many use it as a source of content

Google Blog Search - Google’s…. blog search

Google Sitemaps - get indexed in Google

H

Haloscan - a free commenting system for blogs (a little dated but I was a tad desperate for a ‘H’

I

IntelliTXT - In text advertising

Ice Rocket - blog search engine

J

Jar (as in Tip Jar) - many bloggers ask their readers for donations/tips - but few make much from them

K

Kanoodle - Advertising program

Kontera - In text advertising

Keyword and Backlink Tracker - Search Engine ranking tool

L

LiveJournal - Blog Platform

Linkshare - Affiliate Program

M

Mars Edit - Blog Editing Tool

Memeorandum - Tracking and Aggregating news from blogs

MyBlogLog - Metrics Tool

Mint - Blog Metrics Tool

MovableType - Popular blog platform

MeCommerce - Sidebar shop - in beta

MSN Adcenter - Coming Soon - Contextual ads

N

NewsGator - RSS News Readers

Nichebot - keyword research tool

Nameboy - domain name generator

Nucleus CMS - open source blog platform

Netvibes - RSS News Aggregator

Netscape Beta - Social Bookmarking Tool

O

Only Wire - social bookmarking service

Overture Keyword Tool - keyword research tool

P

Performancing - great blog, firefox blog editor and metrics tools

Pheedo - RSS advertising

Post2Blog - Blog Editing tool - blog using Word, IE or Firefox

Pingoat - Pinging Tool

Pingomatic - Pinging Tool

pMachine - Blog Platform

Paypal - Payment tool - used by many affiliate programs and ad systems to pay publishers

PPCalc - Paypal Fee Calculator

PubSub - service that notifies you of new content

Photobucket - image and video hosting

Q

Qumana - Blog Editing Tool

R

Rojo - RSS feed reader

RocketPost - Blog posting tool

Right Media - advertising

Rmail - subscribe from any RSS feed to email

S

Sitemeter - a free website stats tool used by many bloggers

Six Figure Blogging - learn to make money blogging (one of my blogging resources)

Scoopt Words - service to sell bloggers content to mainstream media editors

Sitening - Search Engine ranking tracker

Sparklines - sidebar widgets/graphs

Skype - VOIP tool for networking, podcast interviews etc

Spam Karma - WP comment spam tool

Sitepoint - Forums for webmasters

Slide - photo hosting, slideshows etc

SoloSub - RSS feed management tool

Squidoo - good alternative place to put content, make money and promote your blog

T

Text Link Ads - text link advertising system

Technorati - Blog Search engine

Topix - News service - used by many bloggers to find stories

TagCloud - tool for making tag clouds

TinyURL - make long URLs tiny ones

TypePad - Hosted Blogging Platform

Tribal Fusion - Impression Based Ads

3bubbles - live chat on a blog

U

Unobtrusive Sidenotes - a way of putting sidenotes in your posts

V

ValueClick - Impression Based Ad Program (was FastClick)

Vizu - blog polls tool

Vox - a new blogging/social bookmarking platform from Six Apart (in beta)

W

WordPress - Blog Platform - very popular

w.bloggar - blog editing tool

Webpad - web based text editor

Weblogs.com - recently updated blogs - aggregator

WebmasterWorld - forums for webmasters

X

Xanga - Weblog Community

Y

YPN - Contextual Advertising Service

Yutter - RSS/Blog Subscription Service

YouTube - Video Hosting/Sharing

Yutter - RSS/Blog Subscription Service

Yahoo News - Tracking News from around the Web

Z

Zookoda - RSS to Email and Newsletter tool

Zoudry - blog editor

Blogging for Money: Developing Writing Skills

2006-10-01T22:53:00.001-07:00

Spell checking and proof-reading-
Try to use correct spelling, grammar and syntax. It's all part of crating the right impression with your readers.

- Check your facts
If you are endorsing a product or making a statement make sure it's right, double check everything.

- Be Keyword-rich
Headlines should be short and snappy- Contain your whole argument in your headline and include as many keywords as possible.

-Be organised
Blog platforms are basically like a mini content management system. Use the elements they provide to purposefully organize the content of your blog. Think about your overall structure and the categories you want to cover over time.

Write tight -omit all unnecessary words
Edit your own writing harshly. Ask yourself, "do I really need that word?" and if not, delete it.

Link to other sites
Enrich your post with links to other web pages within your copy. Ensure that the links are relevant and contextual to your post.

Make your posts easy to scan
Use sub headings and short sentences to assist people to read through your copy quickly if they need to.

Link to your archives
By linking back to your previous posts within your new posts, you begin to contextual ties, building depth within your subject matter. Today’s update will become your own back story.

Evolution of the 'Blog'

2006-09-10T04:08:00.001-07:00

Ever wonder how blogs came about? Well, here it is - the evolution of the 'blog':

1991 - The world wide web went live (began as a hypertext discussion group)

1992 - Internet pioneer Tim Berners-Lee created the first "What’s New" page which had hotlinks to the new pages being uploaded to the Net.

1993 - Various other programmers created hand-coded pages with their recommendations for surfing or 'filtering' the Net

1994 - Justin Hall started his first "filter" log in site

1998 - Jorn Barger coined the term "weblog"

1999 - Websites Blogger and Pitas began to offer a simple way to create a weblog, allowing anyone to easily sign up, create a blog, and write postings - without having to know HTML.

2000 onwards - With the turn of the century there has now been millions of weblogs created online. The term is now pronounced web-log or the more recent abbreviation 'blog'.

Lesson 8: Adding Advertising

2006-09-10T01:01:00.000-07:00

To make money from your blog, you need to install some ads on your site.

Google AdSense is the program that can give you advertising revenue from each page on your website—with a minimal investment in time and no additional resources.

AdSense delivers relevant text and image ads that are precisely targeted to your site and your site content. And when you add a Google search box to your site, AdSense delivers relevant text ads that are targeted to the Google search results pages generated by your visitors’ search request.

Becoming an AdSense publisher is simple. All it takes is a single online application. Once you're approved, AdSense takes only minutes to set-up. Just copy and paste a block of HTML and targeted ads start showing up on your website.

Take a quick tour of Google Adsense: google adsense quick tour

Check out the different ad formats available for your site: google adsense formats

Apply here for Google AdSense.

Lesson 12: The Next Level

2006-09-10T00:45:00.002-07:00

Adding affiliates

Lesson 11: Promoting your blog

2006-09-10T00:45:00.001-07:00

There are many ways to promote your blog or website. Here are a few:

Submit your site to Directories

http://search.yahoo.com/bin/search?p=directories
http://www.ringsurf.com/
http://www.BulletMail.com

Get Reciprocal links
http://iwr.com/free/reciprocal.htm
http://www.reciprocallink.com/

Join discussions on Message boards

http://AssociatePrograms.com/discus/index.php
http://www.ablake.net/forum/
http://www.bmyers.com/ipub/index.html

Create your own Banner ad
http://www.adbility.com/show.asp?cat_id=337
See which ones work best
BannerTips.com
smartclicks.com/resources/best_banners.html
Get a good one made
http://www.BannerWorkz.com

Online articles
Provide articles for webmasters and ezine publishers
http://ezinearticles.com/

Talk about your site in Newsgroups
http://groups.google.com

Add interactivity to encourage repeat visitors
Add chat, message boards, surveys, guest books, games, postcards, search engines, auctions etc.

Make friends - and they will publicize your site
Good news spreads like wildfire
http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/search/newsletter047.shtml

and...

Network
Work with charities
Publish your own newsletter and promote it
Give away products at other sites
Run a seminar
Create a media kit and post it on discussion boards

Lesson 10: Get Richly Linked

2006-09-10T00:42:00.000-07:00

Your basic goal as a money-making blogger is to get as many links as possible to and from your site across the world wide web. The basic concept of link building is to get as much links of your sites sprinkled all over the web, which will build your traffic by having more exposure to your site.

Here are some simple and effective link building strategies:

1. Put yourself in your reader's shoes
Who are your potential blog visitors? You need to understand their search behaviour before you know how to market to them. Imagine you were a reader wanting to find out about designer sunglasses for instance, where would they look - designer blogs, design search engines, celebrity sites perhaps...so if you had a blog on designer sunglases it woud make sense to go to these sites and exchange links.

2.It pays to have a good content
If you want to exchange links with other sites, it is best if you already have well-developed website content of your own. Most sites will not want to exchange links with a lack-lustre site.

3. Media sites are a good place to start
If you are set to start a link building campaign, better start one at media sites. Strategic locations like these can jumpstart your campaign for traffic. If you get linked to one of these sites, others would be encouraged to link you as well because these sites have an extremely large audience.

4. Identify your link targets
Link building strategy is basically knowing the tops sites where you are likely to attract visitors and adding your own link to that site. It is like building your network of links and all the sites you chose has a common denominator that is associated to your site. List down at least a hundred of these sites and check each site if they can post your link if you write a review or submit your writings to their site. If users are interested in the sites you chose to have a link on, they are most likely to pay your site a visit as well.

5. Evaluate your link building campaign
To know if your link building strategies worked, you should monitor your traffic closer. Determine which sites generated more visitors. Check your search engine ranking and more importantly, how your revenues increased because of your link building strategies.

Lesson 9: List with Search Engines

2006-09-10T00:39:00.000-07:00

Before money-making bloggers embark on the most important task yet; listing with search engines, I will tell you, this will be the most time-consuming and often daunting part to building a blog. But, to build blog traffic, it is vital. The best way is to take your time, build your search listings organically, watch the effect over a few months.

Here are the steps to begin your search engine listing:

1. Get yourself a free email address that is NOT hotmail or gmail (eg. yahoo). This should be a throwaway address to be used for registering with search engines. Most engines require an email and password set-up, then you may find they send you mail - which you do not want going to your regular email address.

2. Introducing your site - Open a new word or excel doc and save on your computer which will be used to copy and paste from. Write a descriptive paragraph about your site- using the keywords in your meta tag HTML. Search engines have different limits on length so create 100, 150, 299, 500 and 1000 word descriptions.

3. Keyword List - Again, go into your word/excel doc and create a list of your keywords in order of importance. Again, make short lists of 5-10 words and longer lists. Then make comma separated lists (called 'delimited') and lists with space dividers only.

4. Choosing Search Engines to list in can be overwhelming with thousands to choose from, some paid and others free. Many search engine links cease to exist or are riddled with spam over time. So rather than listing hundreds here, I will direct you to the excellent list kept updated by InfoSilencer. Download the InfoSilcencer SEO excel sheet here and begin to work down the list over the next few months, aiming to add your site to 20 per week.

5. Get in Early! Generally search engines start out with free listings then switch to paid-for once they build numbers. So you want to find the good sites when they just open. Info Silencer also have an excellent list of the new sites - view the InfoSilencer list of new search directories here.

6. Using the spreadsheet - Work methodically, first submiting to the recommended links (best chance of getting listed), going down the list in alphabetical order.

7. Very important! Ensure to track all usernames and passwords you use for each directory submission, so you can alter your directory listing in the future.

8. All too hard? If you do not have the time to submit to the directories yourself, there are many comapanies that you can pay to have submissions done professionally. Here are a few companies that can do this for you. Note:I have not tested these, so you may prefer to find your own:
- Info Vilesilencer submission service. They will build your links gradually over a 3 month time period and take into account updates on Info Vilesilencer.
- I Need Hits
- Add Me

Lesson 6: Hosting your blog

2006-09-10T00:26:00.000-07:00

If you want to place ads on your money-making blog, you need to find the right platform. Some sites do not allow any ads. I have found the following sites to be money making friendly:

1. Blogger.comThis is one of the most popular free blog hosts.
Users can create a personal or a group blog for free - either by using their hosted service (BlogSpot) or one's own web host.
See Blogger.com Profile

2. Movable Type
This is a popular blog software among bloggers who like to manipulate web designs, formats, and functions. However, you need to have some programming skills (or pay for an installation service) and your own web host. While there is a free blog version, some bloggers might find the licensing agreement with this too limiting. For more flexibility, there are several licensing fee options for both personal and commercial users.
See Movable Type Profile

3. Greymatter
It is the 'original opensource weblogging and journal software' on the web (Read: Free blog platform). Installation to a server that supports Perl 5 software is required. It has several features like comments, 'karma' voting, templates, search, and bookmarklet.
Read The Software Review: Greymatter

4. Live Journal
This popular free blog host is preferred by many individuals who enjoy a community-based blogging system. It is web-based and the sign-up process is quick and easy. There's also a premium version.
See LiveJournal Profile

5. Multiply
This is where blogging meets social networking. It also supports photo blogging and video/audio uploads. There are three membership levels: Free, Gold, and Platinum.
See Multiply Profile

6. Xanga
This free blog platform is web-based. There is also a 'premium' (paid) version. It is growing in popularity, especially because of its community. Just sign-up and you will get a free blog going soon enough.
Read The Software Review: Xanga

7. 20Six UK
This is a UK-based free blog host that has some nifty features including image hosting, statistics, categories, RSS/XML feed, voting, and comments functions. One special feature it has that many blog hosts don't offer is the support for mobile blogging (posting to your blog using MMS and/or email). They have recently introduced paid versions of this blog system.
How To Set Up a Blog Using 20Six (UK)

8. MindSay
This free blog system offers features and plugins including templates, friends' list, favorite links, music playlists, recent visitors list, comments, and ratings.

9. WordPress
This free blog software is b2/cafelog's official successor. It has a great interface and useful features like 'private' posting (password-protected), file uploads, and more. You need PHP version 4.1 or greater, MySQL version 3.23.23 or greater, and The Apache mod_rewrite module (optional, for the nice URI functions) on your server.
See WordPress Profile

10. Blogvoice

Lesson 7: Writing your Blog

2006-09-10T00:21:00.000-07:00

By now, you would have chosen your money-making blog topic - after reading back in "Lesson 2. Choosing a Topic" And you should know the reason you are writing and your target audience.

This lesson is all about writing with style. By writing a blog well, it will set you apart from others with the same topic and there are technical advantages such as making it easier for search engines to pick up your posts and using your content to increase your site's overall ranking. But most of all, writing a blog well, is writing in a consistent style, so readers know what to expect and after writing for a while, you will become a recognised, reliable, respected 'voice' on the web.

A) DETERMINE YOUR WRITING STRATEGY

Long or Short?
There are many schools of thought on whether writing long or short posts is better. It will depend on your site topic and structure as to which way you go. In general, most sites would benefit from a combination of both.

Long, definitive posts
Often called "pillar" posts can be used as in-depth sources of information on your site. These should be more timeless - relevant to readers now and in the future (good to keep updating these so they stay relevant) These "pillar" posts need only be written every so often and added to your site.

Short posts
Short posts can be used on a more regular basis, updating these at least once a week is a good benchmark. Rather than detailed description or exploratory analysis, short posts can include opinions, recent insights, updates, comments (perhaps an article you have spotted), breaking news items, links, thought for the day.

Consistency is key
There are no set rules on how often to post- many blogs change every day; a few change every minute. Just remember, if you start to develop a loyal set of readers, they will begin to expect some consistency in how you post. If you stop posting for a week when you normally post every day, you may disapoint your readers and after a few visits to your site without updates, they may not return.

Technically speaking
In terms of writing for the best search optimisation:
- The more frequently you update your blog, the more search engines tend to start spidering your pages at regular intervals.
- And, the more often you post, the more content you are creating. Since each new post or entry is its own Web page, you are increasing the chances that search engines will find your blog.

B) SET YOUR WRITING STYLE

Be a Passionate and opinionated writer
- Be passionate and opinionate about your topic.
- Rather than just repeating information, comment on it.
- Tell people exactly what you think but be concise.
- Be conversational and challenging
- Let your personal “voice” emerge
- Good blogs reveal something about the way the blogger thinks
- If you offer an opinion, clearly state it as such.
- Do your homework, know your facts before stating an opinion.
- Challenge opinons of fellow bloggers, dare them to respond

Be a strong and influencial writer
- Spot current trends and comment on them
- Create new trends or forecast trends you think are on their way
- If you believe you are right, say why.
- Always be able to demonstrate the proof behind your theories

Be an expert writer
- Be learning about your topic constantly.
- Keep up-to-date with current news and opions in your field
- Share your expertise generously so people recognize it and depend on you.

Be a resourceful writer
- Point to useful, undiscovered tools and resources.
- Add links to insightful articles
- Create new tools
- Write well-researched posts that can be sourced in essays and white papers.

Be an inventive writer
- Design a whole new kind of art form or way of communicating
- Invent characters, long a staple of newspaper columnists, these are a rare find on the web - creating an interesting new character with a story to unravel on your site
- Think outside the box
- As Seth Godin, a sucessful entreprenuer, suggests; blog writers should attempt to create a purple cow ie. come up with something new and orignial to capture attention.

Be an inspired writer
- Read about the good ideas of other people every day.
- Keep ideas for topics, news items, articles in a notebook
- When inspiration strikes, let others know
- Blog while you are feeling inspired! Your enthusaism will shine through.

Lesson 5: Keyword Search Tools

2006-09-10T00:19:00.000-07:00

Useful tools for Money Making bloggers are these keyword search tools:

pixelfast.com/overture/
Type in a phrase, for example, "hiking boots", click "Go", follow the instructions, and you can see how much advertisers are paying per click for that phrase on the Overture network of web sites.
You can also see how many people searched for the phrase the previous month. For a number of reasons, this figure is often unreliable and can be grossly exaggerated. That's why I double check results using Wordtracker.

Wordtracker
free trial is fairly limited. Fortunately, they allow you to subscribe cheaply for a day or a week at a time. It's very fast, so you can do an awful lot of keyword research in a day. I use the annual subscription now.

Google's AdWords
find out how much advertisers are willing to pay for the keywords or key phrases you're interested in. Here's how.Go to https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal and play around with the free Keyword Tool.
For example, try putting in a keyword or phrase, such as "recipe" and click on "Get More Keywords". Pretend you're willing to pay the maximum per click the tool allows - 100. (You can choose any currency. I chose US.)
Over on the right side of the page, make sure that "Cost and position estimates" is selected.
The tool will calculate for you the estimated average CPC (cost per click) for a whole lot of words and phrases.
Try entering a different word, say "debt" or "free", click on "Re-calculate" and watch how the CPC changes.

You don't HAVE to choose a topic which has expensive keywords. Often topics that have expensive keywords are very competitive. You may do better choosing a less competitive niche with cheaper keywords.

If you use Site Build It to build your site, you'll find the brainstorming tool in it awesome to help you come up with ideas and phrases you wouldn't have thought of without it.

Beware: If you choose certain topics, Google will not allow you to place AdSense ads on your site and you'll miss out on a very lucrative opportunity.
Such topics include gambling, firearms, ammunition, balisongs, butterfly knives, and brass knuckles; beer or alcohol; tobacco or tobacco-related products; and prescription drugs.
For a full list of topics you may wish to avoid see: https://www.google.com/adsense/policies?hl=en_US

Advertisers can choose to have their ads displayed only on Google or also on a large network of sites. Will AdSense ads you see on Google appear on your pages? To get an idea, find web pages that have material similar to the content you're planning to create and look at their AdSense ads.

For more accurate research, you can also use the free AdSense preview tool to see which ads are being displayed to people in different countries.

Lesson 4: Keyword Optimisation

2006-09-09T23:28:00.001-07:00

For money making bloggers, there are simple ways to find out what keywords people are currently typing into search engines and how much advertisers are bidding on these keywords.

1. How do advertisers select blogs?
An advertiser bids on keywords. They basically secure the right to have their ads appear on sites with these keywords eg. a washing machine supplier would like to appear on a website that discusses the latest washing machines available.

2. How does Adsense decide which blogs to send the ads to?
Advertisers have the choice to either advertise on specific websites or to advertise on a category of websites. These categories eg. fishing sites are determined by AdSense by examing the keywords contained in your site.

3. Why will some ads pay me more than others?
Bloggers receive a percentage of the profit paid to AdSense by the highest bidder. There are many factors that affect how much advertisers end of paying for ad places including; the amount of competition in their field, the demand for their products and product resale value and more.

4. How do I find out the most popular keywords?
Do some research on Google AdWords to choose a profitable niche topic. Ideally, your key words should be making at least 50c per click.

Lesson 3: Be Search Engine Friendly

2006-09-09T22:51:00.000-07:00

If you want to create a money-making blog, there is one vital ingredient; being search engine friendly.

It is a simple equation: generally, the higher you are listed in search engines, the more traffic you will receive. This in turn, increases the rate of clicks on your ads (earning you more money) and more demand from advertisers to be on your site (you can ultimately place your own ad spaces on your site and charge more)

How can I prepare my site for search engine listing?
The way search engines prioritise their listings is varied for each category, but generally it is influenced by these factors:

- Keywords in your blog's TITLE and METATAG (HTML)
- Blog content keywords within your copy
- Number of keywords in your blog content
- Links from your blog to other blogs/websites (to and from)
- Traffic volume to your blog
- Length of time your blog has been in existence
- Frequency of Updates which demonstrates your blog is current
- Paid-for advertiser links which can often take top spots

The right combination of these factors will assist your listing towards the top of the list in search engines. Of course, the larger the search engine, the more competition you are likely to find in your category which may hold you back.

Keywords play a huge role in establishing your search engine friendly rating. Lesson 4 outlines how to ensure you have the right keywords on your blog.

Lesson 2: Decide on a Topic

2006-09-09T21:24:00.000-07:00

Choosing a topic for your money making blog can be a hard decision to make. Some topic choices enable you to make more money than others. In general, there are a few key ways to find money-making topics:

1. Select your market
Decide which market to target:
-Mass market: more popular your topic the greater traffic potential
-Niche market: more niche your topic, the higher priority in search engines

Basically what you are looking for as a money-making blogger is a topic that will be of general interest to a wide range of people or a niche topic that will be of deep interest to a specific target group.

2. Attract lucrative advertisers
The more attractive to advertisers your topic is, the more ad revenue potential you can access. So when looking for either a mass or niche topic, give some thought as to what type of advertisers who want (eg. Electrical appliance manufacturers will be willing to pay more for ads than for lower value goods like scarves for instance)

3. Be Inspired
Choosing a topic is potentially one of the most important decisions when building your blog. Take time to brainstorm topic ideas - think about what gaps there are in the market. Get inspiration from friends, experiences, books you've read, great place and websites you've visited. Most sucessful blogs are either very targeted niche interests or a fresh new idea - so take your time and think outside the box.

4. Keyword Research
Researching popular keywords is one very effective way of finding a money-making topic. I talk more about this in lesson 3.

Lesson 1: Write a plan

2006-09-09T20:30:00.000-07:00

The key to successful blog money making is to plan before you begin. Setting your goals before starting will help you stay focused. Follow these quick steps to writing your plan:

1. Grab a note book

There is much to learn when you start blogging (you'll have lists of passwords, urls and more) so you'll find a notebook essential.

2. Set your goals

Write your money making goal in your notebook. What should I aim for, you may ask? It is best to start of with a modest amount to start with so you feel it is acheivable. A reasonable goal to start with would be to earn $200(US)per month. After you have achieved a few successes and the money starts depositing into your bank account, you can revise your goal.

3. Set a timeframe

Successful blogs usually take at least 6-9 months to start building traffic level volumes. You might be among the lucky few who shoot to fame very quickly, but most blogs take time to build momentum.