Previous: How to Make Money Online Part One
So this is something I have a little experience with, with this blog and The Everyday Minimalist. With a blog you can make money quite a number of ways. Blogging is more time intensive than searching on Swagbucks but a heck of a lot more fun.
Disclaimer: I am not a “pro” blogger nor do I ever want to make a living off my blogs
Blogging doesn’t replace my income.
If you are more serious about your blog than I am, you can make it your full-time job but it’s not a cakewalk.
AN IMPOSTER FB AROUND THE WEB:
I’ve noticed in my Google Alerts that someone posing under my name “Fabulously Broke in the City” has been going around the web and making comments.
Some nice comments with others quite rude!!!
I want to make it clear that this is not me. I normally post under “FB”, “Fabulously Broke” or “FB @ FabulouslyBroke.com”. Thanks!
The Start-Up Work:
- Find a blog theme: What do people want to read? This I’ve struggled with but now I think I’m in a groove.
- Find a blog name: Seriously difficult. It defines your blog and like this blog’s name, it’s hard to get rid of.
- Figure out your angle: “Real” bloggers with pictures & names do far better than semi-Anons like me. 🙁
- Set up your keywords: What keywords are people searching that make the most money?
- Set up a custom domain: You’ll eventually buy a name. Something short, easy to remember & spell.
- Set up a hosting provider: With a domain you need to host it. I use Bluehost but many people hate ’em.
- Design your blog: Highly recommend WordPress. You need to pick a design, set up the plugins, etc.
Once all THAT is out of the way, you have to start blogging a lot and consistently if you are serious.
Keywords and rankings are especially important, and doing a little research on what people want to know the most about, and then writing about that will usually do the trick.
Or at least, that’s what they tell me 😉
Me, I have no plan. I write about whatever I want.
How often should you blog?
- Once a week with dense, thought-provoking posts
- 3 times a week so you don’t overload people <– my approach
- Daily so you get people coming back to the page everyday
Because of time considerations, I moved from blogging daily, sometimes multiple times a day to three times a week.
This really helped with my scheduling too, seeing as I tend to write many posts at once, and I just keep scheduling them up, building a buffer.
That said, I do blog daily when I find there’s just too much and it can’t wait for 2-3 months.
The Avenues of Money Making:
While you’re blogging, you can make money in a few ways:
- Google Adsense: Place ads on your blog and hope people click on them if they’re interesting.
- Amazon Associates: For stuff you’d really buy (or have bought) put links to Amazon and get a commission
- E-Junkie: Advertise other bloggers E-Books
- PayPerPost: Write sponsored posts for $1 – $20.
- SocialSpark: Sister site of PayPerPost. Sponsored posts for $1 – $20.
- Advertising offers: Companies will email you with advertising links or posts.
Finally, you can Sell the Blog
Then at the end of it you can sell the blog. There are plenty of people out there who are blog flippers.
They pick a niche, pick a name, they set up the keywords and put the time in to write relevant content to drive traffic to that blog, then they sell it.
Or they keep it going and collect the $$ in Adsense revenue. Even at $30/month, multiplied by having 10 other blogs like this, you’re looking at $300/month with a potential for growth.
Don’t think that this is easy either. You have to learn how to build and drive traffic for those keywords towards your niche site, and that kind of work doesn’t happen over night.
It also isn’t as fun, and sucks the life/love out of blogging (for me anyway). It’s not my style.
Blog Worth Calculators:
- Blog Calculator
- Site Value Checker
- What is my website worth
As with everything there are always exceptions. You could start one month and get 3000 subscribers the next, depending on how you go about it.
(I have never reached this, but I know of other bloggers who have claimed to have done this).
But make no mistake, this is like a part-time to a full-time job.
I am not joking when I say that there are days where I put in 7 hours fixing the site, replying to emails, writing content, setting up posts, taking pictures and so on.
On average, I check and work on the blogs at least half an hour to 3 hours a day.
You can always manage to do it if you have a schedule in place.
I see it more as a free, fun hobby than a way to make money, which is probably why I’m not really into blog stats, doing keywords and all that blog ranking stuff (other than for fun).
I don’t think I have a LOT of ads on my pages, and I always struggle with myself to keep it clean and ad-free, but not so much that I don’t make any money.
Credit
TO BE A GOOD BLOGGER, YOU HAVE TO BE A GOOD READER!
Think about your blog this way: Would I read what I am writing about and find it interesting?
If yes, carry on.
If no, well.. you know what to do.
This is what I mean when I say “I write for myself”, I basically imagine myself as the reader and then I write accordingly.
As a reader, I do tend to be all over the place, so I like that my posts on here are not all about money management, or about a career. It’s a lifestyle blog with money talk.
Not everyone will love this approach (sorry guys), but it’s what makes me happy.
Build up a good amount of scheduled posts
- This blog is scheduled up until October 2012.
- The Everyday Minimalist is scheduled up until March 2012.
You don’t need to do a huge buffer like I do (I realize I’m insane), but it sure takes a lot of pressure off on having to post when you have posts for the next while or so.
For me, with a full-time job, a life and stuff that has to get done, I couldn’t make it without my scheduled posts at least 3 times a week.
And what if I travel for a month? I won’t have time to write. Hence, scheduled posts.
As for finding the inspiration to write posts, I make a note on anything I think might be interesting and then I sit down and bust it out.
I don’t write outlines or ideas for posts and call it scheduled. When I schedule a post, it means it’s ready to be published in full, with pictures, links and content.
I’ve also picked up the habit of revisiting my posts before the go-live date, and tweaking as the day goes on.
Spend time on your blog design
Ugly blogs make me cry.
Coincidentally, I JUST finished re-modeling The Everyday Minimalist (I threw in the towel and hired someone to help me with the PHP).
Go check it out 🙂
As a reader, I am not very likely to enjoy going to the blog if I can’t do any of the following:
- can’t find where to comment
- can’t comment at all (some blogs have messed up code)
- makes it difficult for me to comment because of captchas, registration BS, etc
- can’t find an RSS feed to subscribe to
- …or no RSS feed at all!
- can’t find a contact form or email address to talk to you
- colours are jacked up and hurt my eyes because things aren’t lined up, or the font is all weird
- blog is too cluttered with either ads, posts, or just isn’t very pleasant to look at
- have to watch the loading times
I use a lot of photos, and I like to cram a lot of info into a page, so I am trying to find a balance between both blogs with beauty, info and advertising. I experiment a lot, and see what works and what doesn’t.
Of course, if the content is awesome 100% of the time, it could be black text on white and you would never need to work on any blog design.
I am not there yet, and I like prettiness 🙂
Spend time building your networks
- Read other bloggers’ blogs and keep finding new ones to read and promote
- Comment on their work with meaningful questions or comments (don’t leave a pithy comment)
- Promote other bloggers, including putting them on your Blogroll if you think they’re good
- Help the community by offering suggestions and your expertise
- Don’t comment on blogs for the sake of publicity (bloggers can see right through you)
- Use Twitter and do not be a deadbeat by not replying to your @replies
- Join Facebook and network a bit here and there (honestly, I rarely use Facebook directly)
- Be available and open to questions and reply as honestly as you are able to
- You can also ask to be on other people’s blogrolls, but I’m not a fan of doing this
- You can also sign up and get a Formspring account so anyone can ask you a question, but I don’t do this
Avoid alienating or annoying your readers!
- Only commenting and linking to other blogs in your network — surefire way to alienate the rest of us
- Leaving the default as auto-subscribe to your comments feed on a post
- Sending automated & impersonal “thank you for commenting” emails — I delete these & never return
- Having annoying pop-ups on your blog to subscribe to your stuff
- Having 3 levels of security for others to leave a comment. 1 or none is enough.
- Promoting your blog (not posts, but just the blog) all the time or the new book you just published
- Constantly blogging about stats and rankings as a weekly post
- Obsessing over your rankings on anything and ASKING people to love your blog & posts
- Not writing at all because you are stressing out over being perfect or a superstar
- Writing posts about how sorry you are for not writing
- Never allowing people to see flaws or mistakes you’ve made
- Not connecting and interacting with your readers even on Twitter when they @reply you
- Trying to cram too much advertising into links you share or posts, or whatever
These are most of the things I have been guilty of at one point or another, with the exception of some.
Write from the heart
Forget about stupid blogging advice like: it’s easy, just write awesome content.
Well DUH!
Look, if I could write awesome content 100% of the time I would do it!
But sometimes even your best efforts fail. I write posts I think are great, and people are ho-hum. Then I write some random piece while munching on chocolate, and it goes gangbusters.
Write often, write from the heart and do not try so damn hard.
Your writing voice will come to you. In the beginning you are unsure and new at it all. It takes a while to find what works for you and brings the best results for you so don’t freak out.
You are going to make mistakes, and you will make big ones (I did, anyway). You will alienate readers, and push away lots of good advice and things in the beginning because you’re such a know it all (still talking about myself :P).
Now, I feel older and wiser. I’m on my 4th year of blogging (it’s been 3 full years so far), and I think I have finally found a style of writing that works for me.
I think.
Making money online is impossible without hard work
You can certainly do things like fill out surveys and all that, but it doesn’t take a lot of thinking, and isn’t very difficult. For the things that bring in more money, they are usually more time-intensive and difficult.
Anything worth getting, is worth working for. I find that blogging fits with my lifestyle best, but it may not be everyone’s cup of tea.
Good luck!
Serena, another great post. I am totally with you on annoying comments on my blog only for linking back, or people following me on Twitter just to sell me something. I am a human being and want human interaction. I was Amen-ing all the way through your list, especially about trying to leave a comment on someone's blog. There are times I give up and end up never going back to the blog for that reason.
BTW, I am digging Swagbuck's toolbar music feature. 🙂 Thanks for the suggestion.
Amen, amen. I hate having to register to leave a comment. It\’s the worst thing for me. 🙂
this is an awsome post! thanks so much for all the information!!
That's an interesting way of defining "writing for oneself". Being a drama-loving freak that I am, I generally encountered this reply when I'd tell someone I found their blog boring (mostly because it consisted of "I went to the mall with A,B,C and D where we bought X,Y,Z and then we saw E and F who are such gorgeous boys and bla bla a tonne of drooling over them").
I think the reason I could never do paid blogging, or being a professional blogger is because of all that pressure. I'm generally one to agonize a small eternity over writing a blog post (just the thinking part) and then sitting down and writing it in a "funny" way. I do have to give Heather of dooce.com credit. I hate mommy blog, but hers is just so darn entertaining. And she's been doing this for YEARS 😮
My recent post Deserting the Minority
I agree. The sheer pressure of having to be a professional blogger and writing it can be daunting. Hence why I just write for myself and what I want to read.
I'm scheduled up about a week or so, but I am currently uncomfortable with scheduling farther ahead than that. I may start doing it however. Do you have any issues with timeliness by scheduling so far ahead, and how do you keep track?
I stumbled on a site that said my blog was worth several grand once; a friend said I should sell it, but I didn't start blogging to build up a site for that, the blog is a part of me lol!
My recent post The Minimalist Part 1
As a fledgling blogger, I really appreciate all this advice. I agree 100% with the "write from the heart" mantra. The only blogs I consistently revisit are those with authors who are obviously passionate about their chosen subject.
You are way better than me. I am scheduled out until a couple of days ago 🙂
My recent post How to Budget
Great post. I just got into the blogging scene and have repeatedly found myself back at your site. I've read a few posts on making money from blogging and this one seems the most genuine.
I\’m just being honest.. 🙂
Gosh, your queue is AMAZING! I have 1 in the queue on a lucky day and I realize the quality is up and down. 🙁
This is what I need to work on the most.
Everyday Minimalist new layout is great! I need to stop by there more often.
My recent post December 2010 Credit Card Bill
Do you find any one advertising option better than others for you? Direct vs. AdSense? What about affiliates, any one you've had better success with than others?
As for the comments, I appreciate a blog that makes it easy for the readers to comment. "Your comment is awaiting moderation" and having a CAPTCHA just frustrates me and makes me not want to come back. Why do you need to moderate comments if you have a spam filter? I'm with you, I'd rather go through 1000 spam comments a day than make my readers jump through hoops.
My recent post How To Invest Your Money- Part One – Psychology
I think both together are good. Direct tends to be more money but very rare to come by. Adsense gives you money each day but the money varies like mad depending on what ads are shown (the cost per impression varies) and so on.
The most irritating thing I hate is bright colors that blind you and when people hawk their products constantly. I always think "yes I know you wrote a book, I can see it on your sidebar and I know because you've posted about it on previous posts."
I also hate it when a blogger says that they no longer find blogger fun and then say their good-byes, and people post to tell them that they're sorry the blogger is going, then the blogger is all "well if you want me to…" and decides to continue blogging. Ugh.
Bright colours are annoying yes, and very light ones. I find it hard for my eyes to focus on.
Over self-promoting makes me unsubscribe as well. Or just talking about how your book is selling is not a post!!!!
my pet peeve is also the security thing drives me bonkers so mostly I don't respond. but even bigger is when someone posts 5 or 6 times in a day ok that is way to much schedulet them out please please
I used to post 5-6 times a day, but short post things. Then I thought: WTF? Just schedule them.
LoL I also find the posts apologizing about not writing annoying. Especially if they post that and then still don't post for another 4 months.
Also the autosubscribe to comments.. UGH – CANNOT STAND!
My recent post What I’m Not Telling You
Hate hate hate. 🙂
This was an intense post! I have to say my favorite was the end where you talk about not alienating or annoying your audience. Because I edit and rewrite my posts I think I come off much sweeter in my blog than how I am in my daily life! If I just had a better edit button in real life!
My recent post Am I Walking the Talk
I\’m definitely more mellow in real life than I seem in my blog. People are surprised at how relaxed I am.. I think they\’re imagining someone always focused, angry and passionate… 😛
Awesome post, I am just getting my blog started, and monetizing is not even a glimmer in my eye at this point but you have provided a lot of good information for me to ponder / work on as my blog grows. Your idea about preparing scheduled posts in advance is absolutely genius!
Congrats on the new blog! I hope it takes off.
Close to three years ago I started writing for the web as a full time job. I started my blog as an experiment, some way to play with using my voice earnestly on the web rather than ghost writing/article marketing. When I really put my attention to it about March of last year I realized its the perfect job for me (jack-of-all-trades, designer/writer/photographer/crafter type). Now I'm working daily to maintain that site full time.
Other than genuinely interacting with your community, the other point I love here is READING. I was "too busy" to fit in reading (BOOKS that is) last year but I'm back at it, and I've noticed the difference in my writing already. I think it will help me learn how to be a storyteller again and make my writing more personal
My recent post Could You Go One Week Without Soap
Me too. I like designing and writing for it, although I don\’t consider myself a designer or a writer… which is very odd.
Reading definitely helps. It makes you realize how to structure a post and be better.
Until reading your post today on blogging, I seriously did not know what RSS Feed was.. (Yes, I know, I live in the Middle Ages) I've seen the little orange logo of RSS Feeds on lot's of websites, but never really bothered to find out what it was. I learned a lot from this post, including captchas (didn't know it was called that!) and WordPress/Bluehost.
I also found it difficult to come up with a blog name that captures the message I want to send out. I like your 'angles' though, the little pictures of Fabulously Broke and Everyday Minimalist. It makes your blog more personal, even though you remain anonymous.
*laugh* I\’m glad you learned a lot. RSS feeds work for some, not for all. Some people enjoy using them (like me) others prefer the site itself.
Thanks a lot for the compliments. I agree that the blog name is very difficult and probably the most important part of the whole process. Without the name, nothing falls into place.
I've seen the Fabulously Broke in the City commenter. Good to know.
Great tips, I'll see if there is anything I can do to incorporate them into my blog so it's less irksome for readers 🙂
My recent post Winterization
It\’s annoying. I wish I could email them and say: stop posing as me. ARG.
I just hope no one thinks that those mean comments were me. I\’m far more diplomatic and tactful than that…. now anyway.
Another amazing post. I am in AWE that your blogs are scheduled through later this year! That's something to admire.
My recent post Guest Post at See Tiny Run
Thanks Clare! I just have too much to talk about, really. It\’s nothing special.
I give up on commenting frequently if theres more than just a capcha.
One day I think I'll transfer to wordpress, because I can't reply directly to a comment on blogger. Plus, I don't like having .blogspot.com after my name, so I'll have to pay for the hosting.
One thing that I hate when reading a blog is when the page is too busy. One thing that I really, really LOVE about a few of my favorite bloggers is that they link to others, answer comments, and promote other's blogs. Red does this for many bloggers and it's great, because it really is a two way relationship.
My recent post Spending- Week of Jan 10-Jan 16
I\’m done with strange captchas. I\’d just throw everything into moderation if that were the case. I go through spam by the thousands in a day.
WordPress is great. I really like self-hosted WordPress, but I\’ve never tried WordPress.com 🙁
I agree!! I love that in other bloggers too. Linking, commenting, promoting.. tying other blogs into what you\’re talking about — these are all awesome things.
Same here Daisy, it's hard to find other blogs on blogger too.
My recent post Winterization
I do agree with you that I don't like capcha either, I don't comment on a blog that has capcha. If you buy a domain name, you can go into blogger and set it up so that it forwards your blogspot to your domain. A lot of people do that to save money on hosting. I have a blog on blogspot. I like blogspot for the simplicity. I don't really like wordpress, it seems you have to know quite a bit of coding.
Blogger seems simple, which is why I chose it in the first place, but WordPress is even simpler. You don\’t need to know how to code anything and the plugins do all the awesome work for you.
My big pet peeve is when random bloggers email me to write an entry about their entries. They're people I don't know and even better, their entries are not relevant to my blog, though I may be interested in them for myself. A huge turn off!
My recent post If at first you don’t succeed…
Are you serious? I’ve never received emails like that, but I’d just delete it.
I could not agree more about the 1,000+ levels of security to comment. A lot of the fashion blogs I read are hosted on Blogspot and many are nearly impossible to comment on without a blogspot login. A lot of big bloggers could benefit from reading this list!
Thanks for sharing!
My recent post The exciting news is…
Or at least offer \”Anonymous\” commenting and moderate every comment…
I actually enjoy reading blogs daily, and my routine is to go to each blog (I have around 5 that I read daily), and read the comments (and add where I feel I have something to add).
I do click on links to see what others are writing as well, but there are 5 default blogs that I regularly type in the browser to go to. I prefer that to the RSS feeds.
I have a personal one, but I don't link to it because I don't want to advertise it for public consumption (plus you need a LiveJournal account and to be on my friend's list to read most posts).
You are so focused, that\’s awesome!
Thanks for pointing out captchas! These are my pet peeve of the blogging world.
This is a great content post. Very informative to people just starting out or veterans. I don't make any money on my blog either, but it isn't about that. It is nice to have a outlet for opinions and ideas. It is also nice to have a community to help you out, like in my case people are very supportive in my quest to be debt free.
I say, just put everything into comment mod 🙂
I started my blog as a personal diary I really didnt think anybody would be interested in reading it, and so I never promoted it I wouldent know how. I don,t advertise on it and so it will never make me any money.
But one day somebody commented on a post and then I got my first follower, and since that day I have read some fabulous blogs and met some fabulous bloggers, yourself included. If I had to be constantly worrying about awesome posts, spelling and punctuation, then I,d give it all away, because what you see is what you get. My story !!
My recent post Zero Based Budget And I Didnt Even Know
I\’d rather see the real story than some washed out, personality-free blog 🙂
I have heard of people making thousands of dollars a year blogging part time. I am not sure how they do it, but being somebody who gets a net -$10 (for domain registration and free hosting) per year for my blog, I am a bit envious.
Wow! That is indeed a huge buffer. And I used to think that my extra month of scheduled posts was a lot…
Me neither. Thousands of dollars to replace an income? … *shrugs* No clue!