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Can Your Blog Make You Money?

It is a question a many a blogger wants the answer to, "Can your blog make you money?"  The answer, yes.  However, it will depend upon what you are willing to do as to how much money you can make.  The different means by which to make money aren't for everyone. 

The fact is there are several ways to make money with you blog, however not every blogger is willing to do what it takes for each of these in order to make the money.  And in some cases, it may not be for the amount of money you hoped. 

The following are a few ways to make money on your blog:

Affiliate ads, banners or buttons -You see this on a lot of blogs.  The banner and button ads, which quite frankly don't make as much money as one might think and are actually on the low end of the spectrum in the list of money makers. 

Affiliate links (contextual and organic) - These links are those that you hand select and insert into a blog post.  You will want these to be very specific and targeted.  Try to be as organic as possible, working the link into your post.  Talking about a great new book you are reading, be sure to include an affiliate link to it.  This works much better. 

Text link ads - These are text ads that you can often sell for specific posts or for use in your sidebar.  They pay well and don't take up a lot of room, however they are often extremely random and may leave your readers wondering, "What does she/he have that there for?" 

Pay Per Post - Pay Per Post is a company that will pay you per post that you write on your blog about any number of topics.  Many bloggers feel that this is being a sell-out and is not worth the pay, though others make most of their online income doing them.  The choice is up to you.  You must follow the rules of the company and may many times not be eligible for ad networks if you do these posts on your blog.

Joining and posting ads for ad networks.  Ad networks will pay you for the space on your blog to insert graphic or banner ads. They usually pay out monthly, but there are some criteria your blog must meet in order to join the ad network. 

These are just a few of the top ways to make money with you blog.  What is right for you can only be decided by you, give a few of these things a try and determine what works yourself. 

And if you're looking for some other ways to earn additional income whether it's online or offline you'll want to check out this great report, "44 Ways To Earn Money". Click here to find out how you can easily start earning more money while working from home.

Photo credit: jenn_jenn

Top 10 Reasons Your Business Needs A Blog

Are blogs out? Are blogs in? Do blogs really drive more traffic to your website and attract clients? Why do you need a blog when there is Twitter?

These are just a few questions my clients ask me about business blogging which is why I wanted to share with you my top 10 reasons for starting a business blog.  Hope you enjoy it and feel free to add your own reasons as well.

1) Google Says So!- I don’t know about you,  but I like to do what Google says especially when you are looking for more website visitors. “If you have a website but don't have a blog, consider creating one: A blog is a great way to connect with people who share your interests, or to publicize your site or product. Blogs are easy to create and update, and rich, useful, and original blog content will encourage readers to come back to your site.” This is quoted from Google’s website.

2) Attract the attention of the press- Journalists are looking for stories and find a lot of great story ideas on blogs. I’m a former journalist and I remember always searching out stories to put on television. If you would love free press and traffic to your website then a blog is a great tool.

3) Goes hand in hand with Twitter- If you’ve new to Twitter you can find out more information about twitter and how to use it here. But if you’re already using Twitter and don’t have a blog you’re missing out.  You can set up your blog to automatically feed to your twitter account. Your twitter friends will appreciate it because you’re sharing useful posts and information with them.

4) Learn about your prospective clients and target market- Blogs open up a dialogue and you can find out great information by comments posted on your blog. Also, you can always post surveys on your blog as well to see what your readers are interested in.

5) Own your expertise- You are the expert! Having a blog shows your prospective clients you are the expert and who doesn’t want to work or buy from an expert.

6) Feed your blog to Facebook- You can automatically hook up your facebook account to your blog. So this is another great way to get your message out about your products, services, tips, etc. But just be careful not to use your blog for only promotion. People want to read your blog because it has useful information not hear you talk about your latest product.

7) Show your personality- A blog is so personal and your personality can shine through it. People want to work with those they know, like, and trust. So add some personality to your business with a business blog.

8) Repurpose your articles- If you’re writing articles for a newsletter, your blog is a great place to repurpose these articles.

9) Post your videos- If you’re putting together videos for your business a blog is the best place to share them. Post them to your blog and then send an email out referring everyone to your blog to view your video.

10) TRAFFIC!- I saved the best for last. More website traffic which means more people looking at your products and services. Google loves blogs they said so themselves. “The post title is often used to create the unique URL for each post, and this can give search engines valuable information about the content of your page.” This is quoted from Google’s website   as well. Google is sharing a secret here write a descriptive blog post title to get more website traffic.

So what are you waiting for? Go Blogging! And if you found this top 10 list helpful and are wondering what I recommend to start a blog you can check out Best Biz Blogging.

Should You Still Have A Blog?

I recently read an article asking this question should you still blog in the world of social networking and more blogs? Surprisingly the article said, no you shouldn’t be blogging anymore!  The article went on to say that because of social networking like Twitter, Facebook, and many others there was no need for a blog anymore. 

But I think the opposite is true.  You can use Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to promote your blog.  People on these social networking sites are interested in information that you the small business owner can provide.  If you use these social networking tools to drive potential customers back to your blog for answers and solutions, this is a great way to combine blogging with other forms of social networking. 

The author of the article did not take into consideration the small business owner such as a coach or consultant who benefit greatly from a blog.

Before someone does work with a consultant, coach, or solo entrepreneur they want to get to know the person they are considering hiring.  This is where an effective blog comes into play.  A potential customer can then read your previous blog posts and get to know you a little bit better. 

The author of the article also forgot that a blog attracts the attention of the press. A blog is a great way to reach the press and others who don’t want to be a part of your newsletter list.

I was really surprised to read this article saying you no longer needed to blog when social media is becoming so hot why would you stop blogging?  Used in combination with other social networking tools blogging is an amazing tool.

Another great benefit of blogging is it’s free.  And who doesn’t love free marketing?

I have seen amazing results from my blog and my client’s blogs.  So my answer to the question whether you still should have a blog is a resounding yes!

If you're interested in the article in question you can find it at this link: http://www.wired.com/entertainment/theweb/magazine/16-11/st_essay

An Easy Way To More Website Traffic & Discover What Your Customers Want From You

We are all looking for the easy button when it comes to website traffic and don't want to waste our time on traffic building efforts that aren't paying off. That's why I wanted to share with you my secret to great website traffic.... forums.

 

I have gotten some great traffic to my website from posting to forums of my target market. And the best thing is this usually only takes maybe 15 minutes a week. But there are some rules when using forums as a traffic building strategy.

 

Setup a compelling signature file- Within the forum system make sure to setup a compelling signature which includes your name, business name, contact information, your free offer, and of course a link to your website.
 
Be the expert- Respond to other posts with helpful information and make sure you are always trying to be the expert when writing a post. Always keep in mind that you are interacting with your target market on this forum and it's best to offer the advice not always be the one asking for advice.
 
Find forums of your target market- Be sure you have a clear definition of your target market. Once defined doing a simple Google search for your target market with the word forum on the end will provide some great results. For example, if your target market is "small business owners" then search for "small business forums" in Google to get started.
 
Free or Paid Forums- Depending on your target market there might be several membership websites with forums you can access if you pay a monthly fee. In some cases this might be worth it especially if you become an active member of this community. Look out for free forums that are just advertising and promotion, that's not what you want to participate in.
 
Learn about your target market- You can get some great insight into what your target market wants from you just by reading a few posts on the forum. Are there any common themes that keep coming up? Do you see questions being repeated on the message board? Also, every once in a while you could start a topic asking for specific feedback about a new product or service you are offering. But be careful not to do this too often, because your main goal on the forum is to offer information and not sell.
 
Track your website traffic- Make sure you look at where you website traffic is coming from and specifically which forums and which posts are the most popular. I suggest using either Google Analytics or StatCounter for website tracking. Both of these services allow you to see the exact website the visitor is coming from which is necessary for good website visitor tracking. 

My recommended action step for more website traffic is to find one forum to start participating in and write a post each week.

 

Jennifer Haubein publishes “SiteNotes” a FREE bi-weekly ezine for small business owners who want a website that actually works. If you’re ready to get insider tips website developers don’t want you to know, and start making more money online, get your FREE tips now at http://www.BestBizWebsiteSolutions.com/newsletter.html.

Beginning Your Business Blogging - The First Step

The best way for small business owners to get started blogging is to do some research. Start looking at other blogs and start, getting to know what blogging is.  If this is a new thing for you, find some other blogs and bookmark them and subscribe to them. And then what I suggest is to start commenting on those blogs, because not only what you can do when you comment on those blogs, is you can have, when you leave your comment you will have a link back to your Web site or a blog.  So it’s a great way to get some links back to your site. Search engines love links, so that’s just a free link for you to get by commenting on another person’s blog.

And then you’re getting experience as you find out what are they writing about?  So look at your competitors.  What do their blogs look like, do they write long posts, how often do they post? It’s really  study this information to get started. I have found some resources where you can go to find these other blogs to be a part of.

First you can go to a Web site called www.Technorati.com and what you can do is you can search for your expertise or your niche on there. This is a great blog search engine and you can then find the blogs that relate to it. 

Another good website that I just found out about recently is called www.blogcatalogue.com. And this is sort of like a search engine like Technorati for blogs but it’s also a catalog so you just type in the search field what you are looking for. Just for example with marketing, so you just search "marketing blog" and then it just pulls up all the different marketing blogs.

So then you can go and find those and just look at what they’re doing and you know, how they’re getting Web site traffic and how they’re setting up their blog. And just see what you want to copy and what you don’t want to copy and then just really get out there and start commenting on other blogs and  get familiar with the blogging community.

The Best Blogging Services For Small Business Owners

There’s two big blogging platforms that I would recommend for small business owners.  One is TypePad and the reason I recommend this is because it’s a great “do it yourself blogging service” and so they make it just so easy for you to add what’s called a Widget, you can add those things easily to your blog and they make the design of it real easy. There’s no coding knowledge. It’s all what you see is what you get. There’s just a lot you can do with it on your own. 

The other blogging service that I recommend is WordPress.  That’s  a big one that’s out there and the reason why I usually tend to recommend TypePad as opposed to WordPress, I do have my own blog on TypePad.

The reason why I recommend TypePad for small business owners is because there’s a big learning curve that goes into WordPress.  So you have to have someone set up your WordPress blog, then plus you’re having to learn the platform itself which isn’t really intuitive like TypePad is.

So are you a do it yourselfer and do you not want to spend a lot of time learning,  the service, or do you want to pay  someone else to do it for you and then have them train you on it after the fact?  So those are two routes that you can go with when choosing a blogging platform.

The First Steps Before Beginning Your Business Blog

Before beginning a blog for your business, I recommend you take a couple of steps first to ensure you will have a successful business blog. Even though a blog can be put together a lot quicker than a website, it's important to have a plan for your blog. A blog with a clear plan, goals, and expectations it's on the way to quick success. One of the first steps I suggest my clients take before beginning their blog is to get involved in the blogging community.

Getting involved with other blogs allows you to get a feel for blogging and an opportunity to see what works and doesn't work on other blogs. Start off by finding a few blogs in your industry or niche by searching Technorati. You can then comment on these blogs and start building a relationship with the blog owner. When you develop your own blog hopefully they will link to your blog and help you drive traffic to your new blog.

Make sure to determine the goal of your blog and decide what type of material your blog will cover. For business blogs, I suggest you keep the goal to a business nature and create a separate personal blog for personal topics.

Decide who will write for your blog and come up with a preliminary list of topics. If you're struggling for topic ideas you can check out one of my recent blog posts at www.bestbiz.typepad.com to get you started. The more planning you can do before launching the blog the better off you will be in the long run. Will you have a ghostwriter write posts? Will you have guest authors? Will you have one author or multiple authors?

It's important to come up with a timeline of how often you are going to post to your blog. It's easy to forget about your blog when life gets busy, but with a specified goal of the number of posts you are more likely to stick to it. There's no set magic number of how many posts to make to your blog. When you're first starting out it's ok just to post once a month until you get used to posting. Of course the more you post the easier it is for the search engines to find your blog. Eventually it's best to post 2-3 times per week. If you're going out of town, you can write several posts in advance and then schedule your posts to your blog.

What's the next step now... get involved in the blogging and social networking community and get your business out there in a big way!

Are you ready to start blogging, but don't know how to set up your business blog in order to attract more clients? The answer is laid out step-by-step in my Blogging For Business System. You can get yours at www.BestBizBlogging.com.

Jennifer Haubein publishes “SiteNotes” a FREE bi-weekly ezine for small business owners who want a website that actually works. If you’re ready to get insider tips website developers don’t want you to know, and start making more money online, get your FREE tips now at http://www.BestBizWebsiteSolutions.com/newsletter.html.

Blog Content Ideas To Keep Your Writing Going

When I'm struggling for content for my blog, I go through a list of ideas of different types of content that is great for a business blog.  Here's some of my best suggestions:

1) Comment on a recent news article related to your business

2) Write a review of a recent book you read and make sure to keep it business related.

3) Conduct a poll or post about some poll results you recently found interesting.

4) Get the help on a guest blogger to give your blog some fresh content and you a needed break.

5) Write about the latest problem you solved with your customers.  I bet you're spending a lot of time answering emails (I know I am :)) So why not take those answers to your clients and post them on your blog?

6) Re purpose the articles you write for your newsletter and post them on your blog and other article directories.

I hope these different ideas helped you spark some new content ideas for your business blog. If you have any content ideas that you use for your blog I would love to hear about it?

Jennifer Haubein publishes "SiteNotes" a FREE bi-weekly ezine for small business owners who want a website that actually works.  Is your website not attracting you clients? Don't miss my Special Report "5 Reasons Your Current Website Just Doesn't Work!" Get your free report at www.BestBizWebsiteSolutions.com/newsletter.html.

5 Ways A Blog Can Help Your Business

A lot of small business owners are jumping on the blogging bandwagon and there is a very good reason for this. A blog is a very effective tool for your small business, if used correctly. You're probably wondering if a blog can really help your business or if it is just another fad. There are several reasons business owners are blogging about their business. Blogging helps not only their bottom line, but also their customer relations. Below are the top 5 ways a blog can help your business:

1. Helps potential customers and the media find you- Search engines love blogs! If you post to your blog with search engines in mind, potential customers and the media will find you and your content rich information much easier. But be aware that just because you set up a blog and post a few times does not mean the search engines will find your blog right away. It does take a little bit of time to grow your business blog. Just keep posting content related to your expertise and the press, clients, and search engines will come.
2. Establishes your role as an expert in the field- A blog is a great tool to set yourself apart from the competition as establishing yourself as the expert in your industry. By sharing your opinions on industry news or topics your customers are interesting will automatically generate public speaking invitations and a general perception of your clients as "the expert". For consultants and coaches being viewed as "the expert" is essential. This allows you to raise your rates and never have to worry about where your next client will come from.
3. Creates a dialogue between you and your customers- A blog is different from a website, because it creates a dialogue between you and your blog visitor. As long as you allow comments on your blog, which I highly suggest you do, your blog sets up a unique dialogue between you and your customers. Wondering if your next product or service will be a success, just look to your blog for the answer. If you're already blogging, but haven't received comments yet try asking questions at the end of your blog posts to get the conversation going.
4. Another format to constantly reach your customers- With spam filtering and junk mail settings, sometimes your emails never make it to your customers. But with a blog and a RSS feed, a geeky term for how your blog is delivered, your customers can receive your blog content automatically. It's best to reach your customers in multiple formats whether it's mail, email, blogging, or public speaking. Blogging just adds another tool to your follow-up methods.
5. Free advertising- Who doesn't want free advertising for their small business? A blog is a great      way to advertise your services and products without spending a dime. But be careful not to hit them over the head with a hard sales message. It's best to just give great content and mention a few of your services or products within the posts.

Jennifer Haubein publishes “SiteNotes” a FREE bi-weekly ezine for small business owners who want a website that actually works. If you’re ready to get insider tips website developers don’t want you to know, and start making more money online, get your FREE tips now at http://www.BestBizWebsiteSolutions.com/newsletter.html. 

Check out my new step by step blogging system "Blogging For Business: Attract More Clients and The Attention Of The Press". 

Why Your Small Business Needs A Blog

On the front cover of one of my favorite magazines "Entrepreneur" was the article headline "Why Your Business Needs A Blog".  I've been designing blogs for several years for my clients and I've noticed the requests have been on the rise.  Why?  Because business blogging is a great tool to attract new clients to your small business.  Blogging is more conversational and interactive than the usual interactions with your potential or current clients.  Blogging content changes frequently so search engines and customers love it!  So have you been thinking about setting up a blog for your small business?  Or if you're blogging already how's it going?

This link isn't the exact article I saw, but I thought it had some great tips!

http://www.entrepreneur.com/technology/techtrendscolumnistpeteralexander/article175236.html