5 Steps to a Popular and Profitable Blog
- Filed under: Blog Marketing
- Date: May 12,2008
Blogging is a hot way for an ordinary Joe to make some cash on the net. Anybody with a computer and an Internet connection can make it in this market. You’ve no doubt come across many blogs and maybe you’ve thought about starting one yourself.
Many people fear blogging and worry that they have nothing to write about.
If this is you, don’t worry, here are some common sense advice on how to get your thoughts out of your head and into your blog. Listen up.
1. You’re the boss.
With blogging, there really is no right or wrong. You are not a writing for the Washington Post, and you don’t have to write a thousand page essay on weather patterns in India.
Your job as a blogger is to publish information, ideas, articles, tutorials, videos, pictures, and all kinds of good stuff you are interested in.
Many bloggers worry too much on pleasing their readers. There’s a saying that goes something like ‘To Thine Own Self Be True.”
Don’t worry about what people will think when you blog. Just write what you feel, what is in your heart, and your fans will find you!
2. What To Write About.
Like I said before you should pick a subject or topic that you are passionate or have some knowledge about. This will make blogging very fun and you won’t be scratching your head wondering what you should write about.
What if you can’t think of ideas, where can you get ideas to write about?
There is so many ways to research ideas, that I could spend a year writing about each one. Here is just a few things you can write about.
- Hop to YouTube, find a few videos you like and blog about those
- Go to the major news sites and blog about current events in your home town, the nation, or the world
- Scan a few community forums and blog about what people are talking about.
- You are a fan of American Idol, Heros, Hell’s Kitchen, or a new T.V show? You can blog about that.
- The Olympics are comming!
- Visit some popular Blogs related to your area of interest and…well….blog about recent posts.
You’ll hear a lot of experts say that you need to post every minute of every hour of every day to be a super dupper blogger.
Blah. Blog as often, or as little, as you want. Remember, your blog is about Y O U.
But, if the thought of committing to your blog gives you weak knees, you can always schedule a bunch of posts in advance.
A lot of blogging software give you the option to schedule your posts, giving you the flexibility to post at regular intervals even if you have a short period of time to commit to your blog.
For example, when you have time to blog, generate a list of ideas for articles, tutorials and other things that you might be interested in. Brainstorm at least ten different topics and create a 3-4 sentence paragraph about each topic. Then create a post for each idea using the future post to schedule the posts.
If you want, you can post 1/2/3 blog posts per week. Now, your blog will auto post your articles even if you can’t be at the computer.
4. Show Me the Money!
Okay, let’s monetize your new blog. Once your site or blog has lots of stuff on it then sign yourself up for Google AdSense and some kind of affiliate program like the Amazon Associates Program. I suggest that if you are using amazon you go with products that you hand pick so they are exactly targeted to the subject of each web page.
A lot of experts recommend you wait a month before you start thinking about site monetization. I can see the logic in this. After all, you want to have a decent collection of interesting projects, ideas, articles and related stuff before you start looking for the money.
But, don’t expect overnight riches. In fact, don’t expect a dime for at least 3 to 5 months after you start your blog. If you use money as your primary motivation for blogging, you will burn out.
5. Time is Your Best Friend.
A lot of the popular blogs that are making nice change have been around forever. Maybe you’ve heard of a friend of a friend that’s making a ton of money on a crappy blog he started only a few weeks ago. Every time you hear these stories, remember that these great results are not typical. I guarantee you that a person like that is buying advertising to get traffic to their blog, that their content is uninteresting, and that their blog will be down in a years time.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned is that a good website is like fine wine or cheese. The longer you blog ages and is allowed to develop, the more valuable your blog will be.