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How to Make Money Online
I don’t know if you know this or not, but there is a ton of money floating around in the web world. The web industry has not experienced any form of a recession, just growth. In fact, more and more people have a reached a point in which they have quit their day jobs and have become full-time bloggers. These people are now financially independent. They didn’t have some outlandish or new idea. They didn’t invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in research and development. This is not a dream. It is completely attainable. Could you live comfortably on $10,000 per month? What about $25,000 or $50,000 per month? Well, with the right plan it is completely within reach. Take a look at some of these statistics:
| Top Blog Earners per Month: | |
| TechCrunch | $200,000 |
| Mashable | $180,000 |
| Timothy Sykes | $150,000 |
| Perez Hilton | $140,000 |
| Gothamist | $80,000 |
You may be thinking that the above examples are the big players in the industry. Well, you’re absolutely right. That’s not the point. The point is there is a whole lot of money waiting to be made. Let’s just be honest. You may never reach the $200,000 per month level, but what if you earned $10,000 per month, or $5,000 per month? That may not sound like much to you but its money in addition to what you have now. For you women it could mean a new pair of pricey stilettos. For you mean it could mean a new 50 inch LCD with HD so you can enjoy March Madness with style. Get what I’m saying? In the next few paragraphs I’m going to provide some tips and suggestions on how you can get a piece of this pie.
Step 1: Recognize
The first step to making money with a blog is recognizing what you have to offer. What information will you provide that will create interest? You may be unsure of the answer to this, and that’s okay. All you need to do is understand what you are most knowledgeable and passionate about. This will give you a direction for your blog. It could be sports, health nutrition, technology, real estate, and so much more. The possibilities are endless.
Step 2: Plan
When you have determined the direction for your blog you need to then sit down and plan. In most cases, excitement and enthusiasm overtake people and they just start blogging without a plan. No plan will lead to no results.
Find at least 3 sources of information that you can read on a continual basis to remain informed and current. This may be magazines, news papers, or even other blogs. Choose reputable sources that are always “in the know”.
Determine the number of blog articles you will post per day or per week. Don’t post for the sake of posting. Post information that will engage interest. Do not waste the time of your readers. They will not come back to your website if they see no value in it.
Step 3: Market
Your blog will never earn a dime if people don’t visit it, continually. Marketing takes time. You can invest some money too if you want, but you don’t have to. The quickest way to market is though Social Media. This includes Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Buzz, Digg, and so on. If you’re not familiar with these you better get up to speed fast. The cool think about blogging is the ease in which you can integrate your blog with these Social Media outlets. People can see that you’ve updated your blog by viewing your Twitter profile or your Facebook profile. They don’t have to visit your website to see that there has been an update. You can also add subscription tools to your blog. This allows your readers to receive an email when you’ve updated your blog. There is no excuse for not marketing your blog. In fact, you will experience no success without marketing your blog.
Step 4: Earn
Now you’re ready to make a little money with your blog. The good news is there is more than one way of doing this. The primary methods of earning some extra cash with a blog are advertising and affiliate marketing.
Direct advertising is simply selling advertising slots on your blog. You simply lease designated advertising space. You are in complete control. As the popularity of your blog grows you can increase the price of advertising accordingly. Keep in mind that you may be required to provide some statistics to your advertisers on a frequent basis. They will more than likely want to know how many times their ad was clicked and possibly even more detailed stats.
The other method of making money with a blog is through affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is when you, the blog owner, allow a merchant to advertise their products or services on your website. You earn money when someone interacts with the advertisement. There are three ways of earning money through affiliate marketing:
- Pay Per Click – You earn revenue each time your website visitors click an advertisement.
- Pay Per Sale – You earn revenue each time your website visitors purchase a product or service from your advertisers.
- Pay Per Lead – You earn revenue each time your website visitors sign up or subscribe to a service provided by your advertisers.
The biggest player in affiliate marketing is Google Adsense. Adsense utilizes the Pay Per Click (PPC) method. You have the option of displaying text, image, and/or video advertisements on your blog, which are provided by Google.
One of the key advantages of affiliate marketing is you can implement multiple programs simultaneously. For example, you could use Google Adsense, Commission Junction, and other programs simultaneously. However, you will need to review the Terms of Service for each program. There are instances in which your account can be terminated based on certain criteria.
Once you have your advertising aspect ready to go, you’re ready to earn. The key is to generate traffic to your blog. As your traffic increases so will the number of times your visitors interact with your advertisements. This will lead to an increase in popularity and revenue. Don’t be fooled in thinking that once you set everything up you’re done. You must analyze your results and determine what’s working and what’s not working. Review your website traffic statistics on a regular basis so you can determine the trends of your visitors. The more you know about the people that read your blog the better equipped you will be to properly strategize.
Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions. We can work with you to help you plan and implement these steps so you can be on your way to earning some extra cash. Money may not grow on trees but it is floating around the web.
Click here to find more information on some of the top affiliate programs around.
If this article as sparked an interest then contact us and let’s talk about some of the ideas you have. We don’t charge for talking, that’s just crazy! Oh, don’t forget to leave a comment below.
