7 Ways to Make Money from Your Blog
Initially, finding high-quality content for your blog and then getting people to see that content is the most important thing you can do with your time.
However, as your blog evolves and your readership grows, you have to put some time into monetizing the blog correctly. Otherwise, the entire enterprise will be for naught.
Below, I will explain 7 ways in which you can monetize your blog, so that it goes from being a drain on your financial resources to an asset.
1. Use Google AdSense
For starters, you should consider putting up Google AdSense ads. The advantage to this approach is that it is simple.
Tip: If you’re using Blogger.com, the Google AdSense is already built in. After all, it is one of the Google services. However, there are many plug-ins and themes for WordPress and other platforms, which only needs youto insert your Google AdSense code.
All you have to do is create an AdSense account, generate some lines of code, and then place those lines of code in your website. From there, the script will generate ads that are contextually-matched to your site; and will generate revenue whenever they are clicked.
This means that you don’t need to talk to advertisers;and you don’t need to draw up a contract. All you have to decide on is what type of ads to use. You will have a choice between a half dozen types, including banners, image ads, and text ads of various shapes and sizes.
It’s important to note that there are also downsides of using Google AdSense. For instance, you will probably earn less on banner ads and you will also have less control over what ads are displayed on your site.
Tip: Having said that, Google AdSense allows you to block some kinds of ads, keywords or domains from showing up on your blog.
2. Sell Advertising Space
In generally, this won’t work well for low traffic sites. However, if your blog receives a lot of traffic and you can back this up with documentation, such as traffic records, then selling advertising space may be a lucrative option.
When it comes to selling ad space, you will have a few different options.
You can choose between text ads, banner ads, and image ads. You can also choose whether you want advertisers to pay per click or to pay per view.
If you decide to go this route, you can use the following sources to find ad space buyers:
- http://www.webmaster-talk.com/buy-and-sell-advertising-space/
- http://www.sitepoint.com
- http://www.buysellads.com
3. Seek Out Sponsorship Opportunities
In addition to (or as an alternative to) selling ad space on your site, you might consider seeking out sponsors.
The sponsors could agree to provide a free prize for your contest in exchange for being mentioned on your blog in the days leading up to the contest.
Alternatively, you could have long term sponsors for the blog, who make a monthly donation in exchange for your promoting their products periodically and for including a banner on your site that references them as a sponsor.
4. Sell Your Own Products/Services
Another way to generate revenue through your blog is to create your own products or to sell existing products.
If you don’t already have products, you might consider creating an ebook, a short report, or video or audio content. If you don’t feel comfortable creating these products yourself, then you can hire a freelancer at http://www.elance.com or http://www.guru.com to create the product for you.
Once the product is ready, you can sell it on your blog by accepting payments via PayPal.com or ClickBank.com. You might want to start by introducing your product through a blog entry; however, at a later point, you may want to relegate it to a permanent position on your blog, such as in a top banner or in the sidebar.
5. Promote Affiliate Products/Services
An alternative to actually creating products to sell or selling existing products that you own is to promote products as an affiliate.
Regardless of what niche you are in, you should be able to find affiliate programs to join with lucrative and timely payments. In fact, even if you have your own products to sell, it may still be a better idea to sell affiliate products.
For starters, you should visit ClickBank.com, which has a wide variety of different electronic affiliate products. Among these, you can look for ones that that have high “gravity” scores, as well as high commission percentages.
If you want to promote services and physical products, you have additional options, including the following:
6. Post Paid Reviews
Another way in which you can monetize your blog is to join a “pay per post” program. These will allow you to post positive reviews about products in exchange for monetary compensation.
At first, you might think this is unethical to pretend a product is good in order to get money in exchange. But, in fact, you don’t need to do this at all.
Instead, what you can do is focus on products that you have already used and would recommend to your blog readers. You can then recommend it as you would, but you’ll now receive compensation for doing so.
You can find site that facilitate pay-per-post exchanges at the following URLs:
- http://www.payperpost.com
- http://www.loudlaunch.com
- http://www.reviewme.com
- http://www.smorty.com
- http://www.blogsvertise.com
7. Offer Freemium Content
The term “freemium” refers to a business model where the basic content or service is free, but the advanced features require visitors to pay.
This approach can be successfully extended to blogs in the following way:
- First, let your usual posts and content make up the “free” part.
- Next, add some “premium” content, such as a exclusive posts, graphic design items, cheatsheets, coupons, reports, or WordPress themes. Anything that your readers want so badly can be premium.
- Only allow paid subscribers to access your premium section.
From there, you should make attempts to promote your paid section to your free members, so that more and more of them move into that group over time.
Additionally, consider making entry fee very low (perhaps $5/month), so that visitors don’t need to think very hard about the decision.
There ya go. 7 simple ways to make more money from your blog.
Success is NOT an Accident!
Paul
7 Ways to Get More Comments at Your Blog
Comments are the lifeblood of any truly successful blog. They keep the discussion going well after the blog entry has ended. And they signal to new visitors that other people find the blog interesting and worthwhile.
If you want to ensure that your blog becomes successful, retains visitors, and encourages visitors to stay longer and to become more active, then you should do whatever you can to try to draw more comments.
Below, I will discuss 7 different strategies you can do get a lot more comments at your blog.
1. Repost or Reference Comments
One great way to draw in readers and to encourage them to comment more frequently is to reward them when they do it.
Example: If someone makes a particularly insightful remark about your post, then it may make sense to comment on it explicitly.
You can do this by quoting part or all of the comment, mentioning the poster by name, and then saying something complimentary or funny about his or her post.
Tip: Remember to check you type the commenter’s name correctly. If you’ve international blog readers, you’ll easily type their names wrong – and that can only make an impact in the opposite direction.
If you do this in a way that makes people feel involved and recognized for their effort, then they’re more likely to contribute in the future. Others, seeing this, will also contribute.
2. Hold Contests
Another good way to encourage readers to become commenters is to hold regular contests.
In these contests, the entry fee will simply be making one or more comments. And the prize can be a number of different things, including merchandise from your niche or store; or the opportunity to make a one-time guest blog.
As far as picking winners goes, this is up to you. You could either select them yourself by picking the “best comment” or you could randomly select a comment using http://www.random.org.
The first method is entirely subjective; however, the second method may lead you to select someone who only put in a nominal effort, perhaps by writing “good post,” which could anger other participants.
Tip: If you make a random selection , in order to optimally take advantage of this opportunity, you may also want to screencast the selection process and post it on your blog at a pre-determined date and time.
Feel free to make real-time voice-over while you’re screencasting and add excitement to the video.
This could draw a lot of interest from participants and give your blog a healthy traffic spike.
3. Be Controversial
Another good way to encourage readers to comment is to occasionally post something highly controversial, but not ethically objectionable.
Example: You might cite a famous Internet marketer who has claimed that creating an email list is a waste of time; and that you should instead always send traffic directly to your salespage.
When it comes down to it, you don’t even have to take a side. You can simply introduce the controversy and then let commenters jump it and flesh out the debate.
This can be an excellent way to draw readers in and prompt them to get involved.
With all of this said, I cannot stress enough that you should not post controversial topics that could be construed as morally or ethically objectionable material. This is more likely to turn off readers, rather than get them involved.
4. Create a Poll
Polls have many virtues. One virtue is that they allow you to capture information about your visitors that you might otherwise not be able to get. Another virtue is that they prompt involvement on the part of those who feel that their preferences were not well-represented in the poll.
I want you to use polls for the second (and lesser-known) virtue. That is — create a poll that is incomplete — and then allow commenters to chime in by arguing that you should include additional categories and explaining why that is the case.
Tip: Alternatively, you’ll offer a complete list of choices but rather explicitly ask them to comment why they chose it. People will start a discussion on why X is better than Y or the vice-verse.
This should stimulate some interesting comments, which could lead to a discussion between blog readers.
5. Give Readers Less Time to Comment
As with many things in life, it’s all too easy to put off blog commenting and tell ourselves that we will do it tomorrow instead. And, not surprisingly, this is something that many would-be commenters do.
They decide to put comments off until later, but when they go to do them at another time, they find a new blog post and lose interest in placing the original comment.
One way to get around this is to put a cap on the amount of replies you allow or the amount of time people have to post replies.
When they see this cap and realize the implications, they will be prompted to post now, rather than later. While it may seem counterintuitive at first, it can work quite well in practice to bring in additional comments.
6. Show the Carrot
Instead of threatening to prevent people from commenting, you may want to consider giving them a positive incentive to comment.
For instance, you could put some lower bound on the number of comments you must receive before you will create another post.
Example: You might say that you will only post after you have received at least 30 comments from readers.
With this said, it is important that you follow the response to this policy over time. Make sure that readers aren’t simply posting “good work” or “nice post,” but instead are actively participating. Otherwise, this system will not work and you may need to switch to something else.
Note: I can’t stress enough the importance of the “carrot” principle in place for this strategy:
You need to show people what’s next.
Tease them about the next blog post and make it clear that you’ll post this new exclusive post right after you reach a certain amount of comments.
7. Make a Typo
Similar to tip #4, which involved creating a poll that purposely excluded certain categories of response, you may want to consider drawing comments by intentionally making a mistake.
You can do this by occasionally making a typo, which will incite those who cannot accept typos to comment.
Of course, with this strategy, it is critical that you do NOT go over-board. Frequently making typos on your blog will make you look unprofessional and will hurt your chances of long run success.
Conclusion
If you want to have a successful blog, then you need to convert readers to commenters.
Fortunately, if you want to do this, all you have to do is use one or more of the seven strategies I’ve provided above.
In a matter of weeks, you should see significant improvements in your reader involvement, commenting, retention.
Success is NOT an Accident,
Paul
7 Ways to Get Great Ideas for Blog Posts
You might wonder how some bloggers manage to stay inspired and to find new topics effortlessly while others (like you) struggle to find new ideas.
However, the truth of the matter is that many of those prolific bloggers didn’t start off that way.
Just like you, those prolific bloggers had periods of time when they couldn’t come up with great ideas and when they no idea where to look for inspiration.
The difference between you and them is that they figured out how to overcome this problem.
If you want to overcome this problem, all you have to do is find reliable sources of great ideas and then tap them periodically to make sure you don’t run out of material.
Below, you’ll learn 7 useful strategies you can employ to get great blog post ideas:
1. Ask Your Readers
Not surprisingly, your readers know what they want to read about more than anyone else. This is precisely why any attempt to generate new blog topics should begin with a frank discussion between you and your blog readers.
If you use WordPress or a blogging platform that permits it, consider using a plugin to conduct two different polls.
- The first poll should ask what direction readers would like your blog to move towards in the long run.
- And the second should ask which topic they would like you to discuss in an upcoming feature piece. You might consider creating a new poll for the second question on a monthly basis.
In addition to soliciting readers’ advice through polls, you may also want to explicitly ask them to tell you what you should write about through comments or in an email. This will give them greater freedom to explain what they would like to see on your blog.
Finally, if you do not already own a blog, you should start by soliciting this type of advice on relevant niche forums or through your email list. Explain what you plan to do and then ask what people would like to read about.
2. Listen to Your Readers
In many situations, you don’t even need to solicit your readers’ advice! There’s a very good chance that simply paying attention to the comments section of your blog will yield all of the information you need.
Example: Was there a rigorous debate in the comments section over one of your previous topics? Or was there a blog entry that was accompanied by a flurry questions that you never addressed explicitly?
Have you started to realize a new blog post opportunity?
These are all things you may want to come back to in the future by creating a second blog post on the topic.
3. Lurk on Forums
Lurking on forums can be a great way to generate blog entry ideas. If you don’t already visit forums regularly, you can find some in your niche at the following URL: http://www.big-boards.com or by searching like “[your keyword] forum” at Google.
Example: “golf forums” or “internet marketing forum”.
When you’re on the forums, look specifically for hot topics.
For instance, if a thread has received hundreds of replies and has remained at the top of the forum for a sustained period of time, then there’s a good chance that it will prove popular on your blog, too.
Also, if a post proves to be controversial and draws a lively debate between forum members, it may also be something you should consider importing to your blog.
4. Read Newspapers and Magazines
When reading online media, it’s all too easy to jump around without getting an in-depth overview of a topic.
Sitting down to read a magazine or newspaper can often be a better way to get a more detailed, detached perspective of current events and hot topics.
So, grab a few magazines and newspapers of choice and take notes as you read through them.
Look for topics that have the potential to be funny, exciting, useful, or controversial. And then use them to stimulate discussion on your blog.
5. Check Out Article Directories
As an Internet marketer, you’ve probably submitted many articles to directories. What you might not realize, however, is that these directories can be a goldmine for ideas when you need them most.
Next time you’re struggling to come up with an idea for your blog entry, visit EzineArticles.com, locate the category that best describes your niche, and begin browsing. Look for headlines and topics that catch your eye and then consider posting on the idea if it looks promising.
6. Use Keyword Tools
One way to understand your blog readers better is to find out what they look for on the Internet. You can do this by using the Google AdWords Keyword Tool:
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal.
Using this tool, you can simply enter a word or phrase, such as “golf equipment” and the tool will return a massive list of related keywords, including such things as “golf umbrella” and “new golf clubs.”
Here, you’ve tens and maybe hundreds of keywords that you can easily turn into ideas!
You can also sort these results by the search volume they received, which will allow you to isolate the most popular keywords.
7. Continue an Interesting Conversation
Sometimes you won’t even need to come up with a fresh idea by yourself!
Here is how:
Next time you encounter a hot conversation on another blog or in a forum, continue it on your own blog. Mention briefly where you found the conversation, give an overview of the arguments on each side, and then support one or the other.
Since blog readers in your niche are likely to have strong feelings about such topics, you can expect a strong response.
Success is NOT an Accident!
Paul
7 Ways to Write Great Blog Headlines
Writing great blog headlines can be difficult, which is why many bloggers simply don’t bother to do it. However, if you’re willing to learn how to get better at it, you'll be surprised by how much a good headline can improve your results.
So what’s the secret to writing good headlines?
It’s a combination of things.
But most importantly, it involves thinking like a copywriter. This means that you must understand your audience, think like them, and then make a conscious effort to persuade them using every strategy available to copywriters.
Below, you’ll learn 7 ways you can use to write great blog headlines:
1. Make a Big Promise
Your blog post may provide very large benefits to your readers.
However, if you do not communicate this information to your viewers, then they won’t see the benefit and won’t bother to read your entry.
For all readers, this is a simple and tangible benefit and if this is something they want, then there’s a good chance they’ll read the entry.
2. Arouse Curiosity
Another strategy you can use to improve your headlines is to arouse curiosity.
By doing so, you will make it difficult for the reader to leave without having first satisfied that curiosity by at least skimming your entry.
Again, using our Internet marketing example, you might say something like this:
3. Use Trigger Words
If you’ve ever read a guide on copywriting, you’ve probably noticed that the term “trigger word” is thrown around quite frequently.
If you’re not familiar with the term, it refers to any word or phrase that triggers a psychological response on the reader’s part.
These are very useful, as they can compel people to take action and make decisions when an alternate choice of words would not.
The following is a short list of some “trigger words” that you may want to use in your blog headlines:
• news
• introducing
• new
• announcing
• explosive
• proven
• shocking
4. Get Specific
Blog readers need a story that they can visualize if you want them to be compelled.
If visitors cannot visualize the story that your headline suggests, then they won’t bother to reader further.
One way in which you can make it easier for them to visualize your story is to be more specific. As an example, compare the following two claims:
“Make as much as $200 with this strategy in your first week”
“Make as much as $197.83 with this strategy in your first week.”
“Lose 20 pounds in one month”
“Lose as much as 19 pounds in one month.”
In each case, the second option provides a higher degree of detail than first and signals to the reader that the blogger is communicating the exact story, rather than embellishing or being vague.
5. Speak Directly to Your Target Market
While it’s true that the people you target have other interests, it’s NOT true that you know what they are. All you know about the people who visit your blog is that they have an interest in your niche.
This is precisely why it is vital to target these interests specifically, rather than a person with generic interests.
This is something you should keep in mind when writing headlines.
That is—it should not appeal to general “human interests,” but instead, the interests of those who want to lose weight.
6. Draw Inspiration from Successful Bloggers and Tweeters
One of the best ways to learn how to write better headlines is to copy the style and approach of those who are successful at it.
One way in which you can do this is to watch the Digg.com front page each day. If a headline makes it there, then it has received hundreds or thousands of votes, indicating that the technique was successful.
Another place you can draw inspiration from is Twitter.com. Since tweets are limited to 140 characters, you can think of them as you would an unusually long blog headline. As you did with Digg, look for frequent re-tweets and analyze what it is that makes them unusually salient.
7. Test, Track... Test, Track!
In addition to employing good headline strategies, you must also test them.
Otherwise, you will have no means of determining whether a strategy was successful or not. The best way to do this is to monitor your traffic statistics to see whether a certain headline technique increased the clicks to the post and amount of time the average visitor spent on your blog post.
So, as much as you keep track of your “most popular posts” also be sure to track the readership level of these popular blog posts.
Of course, for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) purposes, you will NOT want to alter the headlines of blog entries after you have already posted them. Instead, you will want to look at the results for many different headlines and blog posts and then see if you can determine which techniques are consistently yielding better results.
Success is NOT an Accident,
Paul
Do you know what the number one mistake Internet marketers make when they email their subscribers? They forget to have a call to action. Yes, even your email should have a call to action, either a call to come contribute to an ongoing discussion at your blog, or a call to join your membership program, or a call to buy your information product. Ask something of your subscribers. You are giving them valuable and free information via their subscription, it is expected and perfectly fine to ask for the sale.
Many Internet marketers do not like selling, they feel bashful asking their subscribers to spend money, but after months of building trust, you must ask them to do something. Otherwise what is the point. Very few people are going to buy your information, join your membership, or participate with you in discussions if you do not straight out ask them to. Of course, a certain percentage will, they are joiners and they’re probably already out there cheerleading for your cause, but the others, they need you to ask.
Remember your subscribers have opted in, asked for you to send them information. So if you offer value, provide instructions, and tell them to sign up, or join, many will. You should not beg them, but you should ask in a creative non threatening way by building excitement for the reader. Put yourself in their place: “Wow, this is a great deal I’m in” is a great way to pull members further into your funnel with a slight push, but requires no begging to accomplish.
If you are excited about your offerings, and you know the value, that will shine through in the words that you use to attract buyers. Be sure of yourself, know your value, and give your subscribers fast and easy purchasing power with buttons right in your email instructing them to click here to thrilled now.
Succes is NOT an Accident,
Paul
One of the more frustrating issues Internet marketers have is after building up a huge email list of targeted subscribers, they still aren’t even opening their emails, much less reading what you are sending them. As an Internet marketer you work hard on creating useful information for your subscribers so naturally you get frustrated if no one is even reading them. How can you make this situation better?
Don’t over sell — If every last email you send to your subscribers is selling something they will be trained to know that and if they’re not in a buying mood they’ll just click “delete” or worse “spam” after weeks of over selling. I’m not saying don’t sell, I’m saying, pull them into your funnel don’t flood them out.
Pique curiosity — Creative and personalized subject lines can go a long way to getting people to at least take a look at your email. But be careful, do not lie in your subject line, nothing can make a subscriber madder than opening what promises to be an interesting email only to find yet another sales pitch. However, be creative and pique the subscribers’ curiosity but do it in an honest way so that you build trust.
It’s all in the timing — If you are not sending your emails at the right time of day then they can become hidden with all the other email that your subscribers receive each day. People get overwhelmed with the sheer volume of email, they will quickly scan subject lines, if nothing is interesting, they click away. Avoid this problem by sending your emails at the right time.
If you know your niche and you should, you should also find a way to find out the best time for them to read your emails. You can try different times of the day and check your metrics to find out the best times for your subscribers but depending upon your niche you can also make some educated guesses on when they might be at their computer reading email — THAT is the time you want to send it.
Success is NOT an Accident,
Paul
Today I’ve got a special report for you…
Click Here to Download Affiliate L.I.S.T. Strategy
Success is NOT an Accident!
Paul
At 5:30 am the alarm wakes Marla.
She stumbles to the closet to grab her walking clothes. She slips
on her tennis shoes.
Cap. Sunglasses.
Stopping at my office door she asks, “You ready?”
I am. I’ve been working for a little more than an hour so a walk
with my wife will be nice.
We walk a bit.
Jog a bit.
And we talk a lot. Actually I talk. She’s not a morning person.
An hour later we round the last corner and our home is in sight.
“It happened again,” Marla says.
“What’s that?” I ask.
“Every morning I hate the sound of that alarm. Hate getting dressed
to walk. Hate those first few steps. But by the time we’re done I
am so thankful we did this. I feel better and I can tell a big
difference since we started.”
“Yeah,” I said, “Commitment, discipline and consistency is not
always fun. Wait… it’s never fun!” 
That’s the secret of step two in your affiliate marketing and any
other area of business.
Commitment, discipline and consistency.
In step one I shared “Pulse.” Which is not normally what is taught
right out of the gate of affiliate marketing.
Step 2 isn’t taught either. It’s often an after thought.
Here’s how the first two steps normally look and then I’ll share
why they fail miserably.
Typical step 1: Find a hungry market.
Typical step 2: Find a hot selling product.
Please read close because the psychology of this is the difference
in success and disappointment.
Those two typical steps sound good. A lot of people think…
“Yeah! If I have a hungry market and a hot product then I can’t
fail.”
Wrong.
Here’s proof…
Back in December I released a video called “Jeremy’s Letter.” It
shared 4 primary business personalities of internet entrepreneurs.
At the end of the video I invited people to email me with the
“type” they connected with and I would recommend a course that
would fit them best.
Over 600 people wrote in with their request. I answered each email
personally with a recommended course that would lead to success if
followed. Each course was solid. Each had a history of producing an
income for the students.
Of the 600 about 83 bought the recommendation.
That wouldn’t be a bad stat except these were folks who literally
said, “Tell me what to get.”
None of the courses were expensive. But when I followed up with a
few folks almost every single one said, they wanted to see if they
could find a free way to do all this.
Which is fine, but a little silly, right?
That’s like saying:
Option 1 – get your car fixed now for $500.
Option 2 – roam the internet for free fix-it articles, experiment
on your car and if you get really, really lucky you’ll get it
running. Most likely, you’ll cause more damage and end up spending
several thousand dollars.
You see, some folks were not willing to make a commitment on the
recommended training. If YOU want to make it in affiliate marketing
you have got to COMMIT.
This is a decision prior to buying a course. This is a decision
before deciding on a market or a product. If you’re thinking of
“giving this a try” save yourself the trouble. Trying is a term
used by those looking for an escape route.
Of those who actually bought the recommendation I know of 6 who
stayed with it all the way to the end. ALL of them are profitable
online.
(Others either did not answer my emails or told me they were trying
something else at this point.)
First, the 6 made the commitment.
Second, they became disciplined and consistent.
Jeff writes, “Hey Paul! I wanted you to know I got your
recommendation and stuck with it. Some days I really wanted to give
up because the technology was over my head. Other days, I thought
this was just one more program that didn’t work. But little by
little it came together. I made sure I did something toward the
goal every single day. I followed the instructions of the course as
perfectly as possible. And, I think this is the most important,
just because something didn’t bring outstanding results (like
article marketing); I just kept doing it. I decided to fail by
doing as much as possible. Instead of failing, I made it. It wasn’t
easy, but I am writing you today to tell you that because of that
video and your recommendation my life is changed. Thank you!”
In step 3 I’ll show you how to choose a good market and product.
For today here’s the question: Are you willing to be committed,
disciplined and consistent in your online business?
No more playing around.
No getting diverted by the latest, greatest product release.
Not spending time on things that do not directly contribute to your
bottom line.
Yes, I know that the average person in the space will tell you, you
can make gobs of money doing next to nothing.
They are lying to you.
Yes, others will tell you that it’s not your fault that you’re not
making more on line.
They are lying to you too.
Here’s the question one more time.
Are you willing to be committed, disciplined and consistent in your
online business?
Write your answer here…
__________________________________________________
It’s easy to answer yes.
But are you willing to set your alarm an hour early for the next
year so you will have an extra 365 hours to work on your business?
Are you willing to stop smoking or drinking or Starbucksing or
eating out and use that money to build your business?
Are you willing to sell a vehicle and use that to build your
business?
Are you willing to get an extra job to have money to invest and set
the alarm clock an hour earlier on top of that?
Are you willing to be committed, disciplined and consistent in your
online business?
Write your answer here…
__________________________________________________
Success is NOT an Accident,
Paul
P.S. If you haven’t been fully commitment, disciplined and
consistent in business, what’s been holding you back?
What excuses are you making?
What are you refusing to give up?
Get out a sheet of paper.
Draw a line down the center.
On the left hand side write down what’s been holding you back.
On the right side write down what you’re going to DO about
those things.
Cross each off the list as you accomplish them.
