Things You’ll Need:
* computer internet acess
Step 1:
get a blog program
Step 2:
Adsense The most popular form of advertising on blogs is AdSense (according to a few studies that I’ve seen) it’s a reliable earner that brings in a significant level of income (just under what Chitika pulls in each month - particularly rectangle (250 x 300 pixels) ones placed close to content with a blended design. For tips on optimizing AdSense on your blog check out this 8 part series.
Step 3:
Text Link Ads Tla Perhaps the biggest mover for over the last 12 months in terms ofearnings has come from TLA. While they have a ceiling in what they earn per site they are another good solid earner for particularly now that they’ve added feedvertising (RSS ads) which out performs any other type of RSS ad that I’ve tried. I’m hearing from many bloggers that TLA is their biggest earner now. It works best on sites that have been around for a while - you don’t need big traffic to be accepted - but having a page rank and some search engine presence helps.
Step 4:
Amazon Associates Amazon-Logo-1The fourth Quarter of each year tends to be a good one when it comes to commissions from Amazon. The last quarter is a time that people are in a buying mood in the lead up to Christmas - smart placement (deep linking inside posts) can bring great conversions. The key is picking relevant products to promote. Read more tips on affiliate programs for blogs for a few other tips on optimizing Amazon.
Step 5:
Private Ad Deals it’s something you should focus upon more but there are only so many hours in the day) but when they come in they can be significant (if you have decent traffic). I’ve just signed two deals on my digital photography blog with Apple and Adobe for the next couple of months so I suspect this one will leap up next quarter.
Step 6:
Miscellaneous Affiliate Programs Blogs have a variety of smaller affiliate programs running from them. Find quality products that relate to topics that can genuinely recommend often via reviews. Some of the better converting products that I’ve recommended this last quarter included - Digital Photography Secrets (a camera technique series), Pro Photo Secrets (a photoshop product) and SEO Book (Aaron’s legendary resource).
Step 7:
ProBlogger Job Boards Jobboardheader Not spectacular earnings but growing. I see this more as a service to readers than an income stream at this point - however it does pay for itself and bring in a few hundred dollars each month.
Step 8:
Performancing’s Partners Network The now defunct ad network did bring in a few hundred dollars last quarter. I was sad to see this close as it offered an interesting alternative.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Friday, March 7, 2008
Good Blog Writing Style
Good Blog Writing Style
Danny Sullivan begs “Google Blog: Please Get Descriptive With Your Headlines!” and I agree. Here are some rules for good writing style when you’re blogging:
1. Use descriptive headlines that reveal the point of the article without further reading; the key here is to create microcontent that can fare well on its own. (An example of a good title is “Edit Captions in Picasa Web Albums” used at the unofficial Google System. An example of a bad title is the official Google blog’s “Greetings, Earthlings!”) Keep in mind the headline may be read in an RSS reader, a news portal which aggregates content, a search result, your blog archive, a bookmark and so on, and it may be surrounded by dozens of other headlines.
2. Write in inverted pyramid style: first get to the point and mention the core ideas, then fill in the details in later paragraphs. The first and second sentence should allow people to decide if they want to continue reading this.
3. The first link is the one most people click on, so it should also be the main link for your article. Also, too many links too close to each other diffuse your point and make you less of a filter, and a (news) blog should always be a filter for others.
4. In each longer post, re-introduce core ideas you mention because your readers come from all walks of life and may not be up-to-date (e.g. they may read your archived post half a decade from now coming from a search engine). It’s better to say “The Electronic Frontier Foundation yesterday announced ... the EFF also said that ...” than to say “The EFF announced... the EFF also said that ...”.
5. Use lists, images, tables, sub-headlines, examples, indented notes, indented quotes, icons, colors, bold and italics to lighten up your article and make it easier to scan it. Don’t expect everyone to cling to every of your words; instead, you can expect a large part of your readers to sit at the office, a coffee in one hand and the mouse in the other, trying to get up to speed at 9 in the morning.
6. With a global audience it’s never a good idea to only use sophisticated words not everyone may know. Some of your readers may speak English only as second language. They may want to learn new words, but it shouldn’t come at the price of missing your post’s point. (If you only speak English as second language to begin with, following this rule might be much easier.)
7. Credit your sources with a mention and link. As opposed to mainstream news posts, bloggers usually tell where they got the story from.
8. Mark updates and changes (and do update and change when readers find something wrong in your writing).
9. Spellcheck your posts, and read them for clarity once or twice before posting. An error now and then isn’t bad but the less fewer errors, the more quickly people will be able to read and understand your article. (This rule, of course, is universal in writing and doesn’t just apply to blogging.)
10. To practically all of these rules there are exceptions. For example, when your post is very humorous in tone and has a punch line, you may specifically not want to give it away in the title. Or when you’re writing a longer essay, you’ll just have to live with the fact that you won’t be able to “cut to the chase” in the first paragraph. Another exception is that it’s not really necessary to mark every change, e.g. when you fix a typo somewhere in the text, or when you just posted 10 seconds ago. Not every post needs an image, etc. etc. And sometimes, breaking the rule is a conscious style element (e.g. this style of linking – not sure if it has a name – intentionally breaks rule #3).
Danny Sullivan begs “Google Blog: Please Get Descriptive With Your Headlines!” and I agree. Here are some rules for good writing style when you’re blogging:
1. Use descriptive headlines that reveal the point of the article without further reading; the key here is to create microcontent that can fare well on its own. (An example of a good title is “Edit Captions in Picasa Web Albums” used at the unofficial Google System. An example of a bad title is the official Google blog’s “Greetings, Earthlings!”) Keep in mind the headline may be read in an RSS reader, a news portal which aggregates content, a search result, your blog archive, a bookmark and so on, and it may be surrounded by dozens of other headlines.
2. Write in inverted pyramid style: first get to the point and mention the core ideas, then fill in the details in later paragraphs. The first and second sentence should allow people to decide if they want to continue reading this.
3. The first link is the one most people click on, so it should also be the main link for your article. Also, too many links too close to each other diffuse your point and make you less of a filter, and a (news) blog should always be a filter for others.
4. In each longer post, re-introduce core ideas you mention because your readers come from all walks of life and may not be up-to-date (e.g. they may read your archived post half a decade from now coming from a search engine). It’s better to say “The Electronic Frontier Foundation yesterday announced ... the EFF also said that ...” than to say “The EFF announced... the EFF also said that ...”.
5. Use lists, images, tables, sub-headlines, examples, indented notes, indented quotes, icons, colors, bold and italics to lighten up your article and make it easier to scan it. Don’t expect everyone to cling to every of your words; instead, you can expect a large part of your readers to sit at the office, a coffee in one hand and the mouse in the other, trying to get up to speed at 9 in the morning.
6. With a global audience it’s never a good idea to only use sophisticated words not everyone may know. Some of your readers may speak English only as second language. They may want to learn new words, but it shouldn’t come at the price of missing your post’s point. (If you only speak English as second language to begin with, following this rule might be much easier.)
7. Credit your sources with a mention and link. As opposed to mainstream news posts, bloggers usually tell where they got the story from.
8. Mark updates and changes (and do update and change when readers find something wrong in your writing).
9. Spellcheck your posts, and read them for clarity once or twice before posting. An error now and then isn’t bad but the less fewer errors, the more quickly people will be able to read and understand your article. (This rule, of course, is universal in writing and doesn’t just apply to blogging.)
10. To practically all of these rules there are exceptions. For example, when your post is very humorous in tone and has a punch line, you may specifically not want to give it away in the title. Or when you’re writing a longer essay, you’ll just have to live with the fact that you won’t be able to “cut to the chase” in the first paragraph. Another exception is that it’s not really necessary to mark every change, e.g. when you fix a typo somewhere in the text, or when you just posted 10 seconds ago. Not every post needs an image, etc. etc. And sometimes, breaking the rule is a conscious style element (e.g. this style of linking – not sure if it has a name – intentionally breaks rule #3).
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
HOW TO MAKE BLOG
With the Internet so accessible today, everyone has an opinion and everyone feels the need to share that opinion with the world. One way people do that is to create their very own blog. Sure some blogs have points, topics and agendas. But most blogs are just little rants about frustrations we all share. Perhaps that's why they're so popular. To make yours stand out. It has to be fascinating. Here are a few tips on how to do that!
Step 1:
Pick a salacious topic. There are a million blogs on the Internet talking about a million things. How do you make yours fascinating? Come up with a topic that grabs headlines. When we sign onto our servers and see headlines on the front of AOL or Yahoo that say "eat chocolate, lose weight," we suddenly get interested. Blogs are no different. Pick a topic dealing with issues people want to read about. Sex is always stellar. "Drink milk, have better orgasms." Suddenly people will stop and start to read. Also beware of sharing your point of view on issues that everyone is already discussing. If the latest celebrity received a DUI over the weekend, everybody already has their feelings about that issue. Chances are it's on TV, talk radio, and the rest of the Internet. Therefore, writing about it in your blog will be kind of senseless since everyone else has already beaten the topic to death.
Step 2:
Be descriptive. What sets your blog apart from others and makes it absolutely fascinating is that you can describe your point of view, or describe the event you were at in vivid detail. Make the reader feel as if they were experiencing it. Truthfully blogs are an escape for the reader. It's a moment in their day when they are procrastinating and have stopped their day. Let them escape. "And then we went for coffee," is not as interesting as "And then we stopped at this insanely romantic cafe, with terribly cheesy waiters, with the most delicious French roast." You get the general idea.
Step 3:
Get to the point. Don't linger. Please, please, please don't linger. Since blogs are an escape for people as they procrastinate and peruse the Internet, don't drone on for page after page with every little detail. This may seem contradictory to the last note of being descriptive, but the trick on writing an absolutely fascinating blog is to get to the point. Assume each reader has two minutes. Literally. And truthfully if they like what they read, they'll be back. It's better to have someone two minutes a day than once for ten and have them never read your blog again.
Step 4:
Take an original stance. The best way to be fascinating when writing a blog is to be out of the gate original. This process actually has little to do with writing and a lot to do with thinking. Don't just "write to write." Think about what you want to say. Think about the themes, ideas, and issues that are important to you. Search your soul to find out where you stand. Be consistent with your point of view. Nothing is more frustrating than reading a blogger who changes like the direction of the wind. (That's not to say you can change your mind, just not every day.) By being original, you'll be the only blogger on the Internet just like you!
Step 1:
Pick a salacious topic. There are a million blogs on the Internet talking about a million things. How do you make yours fascinating? Come up with a topic that grabs headlines. When we sign onto our servers and see headlines on the front of AOL or Yahoo that say "eat chocolate, lose weight," we suddenly get interested. Blogs are no different. Pick a topic dealing with issues people want to read about. Sex is always stellar. "Drink milk, have better orgasms." Suddenly people will stop and start to read. Also beware of sharing your point of view on issues that everyone is already discussing. If the latest celebrity received a DUI over the weekend, everybody already has their feelings about that issue. Chances are it's on TV, talk radio, and the rest of the Internet. Therefore, writing about it in your blog will be kind of senseless since everyone else has already beaten the topic to death.
Step 2:
Be descriptive. What sets your blog apart from others and makes it absolutely fascinating is that you can describe your point of view, or describe the event you were at in vivid detail. Make the reader feel as if they were experiencing it. Truthfully blogs are an escape for the reader. It's a moment in their day when they are procrastinating and have stopped their day. Let them escape. "And then we went for coffee," is not as interesting as "And then we stopped at this insanely romantic cafe, with terribly cheesy waiters, with the most delicious French roast." You get the general idea.
Step 3:
Get to the point. Don't linger. Please, please, please don't linger. Since blogs are an escape for people as they procrastinate and peruse the Internet, don't drone on for page after page with every little detail. This may seem contradictory to the last note of being descriptive, but the trick on writing an absolutely fascinating blog is to get to the point. Assume each reader has two minutes. Literally. And truthfully if they like what they read, they'll be back. It's better to have someone two minutes a day than once for ten and have them never read your blog again.
Step 4:
Take an original stance. The best way to be fascinating when writing a blog is to be out of the gate original. This process actually has little to do with writing and a lot to do with thinking. Don't just "write to write." Think about what you want to say. Think about the themes, ideas, and issues that are important to you. Search your soul to find out where you stand. Be consistent with your point of view. Nothing is more frustrating than reading a blogger who changes like the direction of the wind. (That's not to say you can change your mind, just not every day.) By being original, you'll be the only blogger on the Internet just like you!
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