Blogs are one of the most popular forms of web publishing around today. Blogger has become so ubiquitous that even non-techies know what it means when they see "Blog" in their Google search results. The downside with blogs though is how difficult it can be for people who aren't tech geeks or writers to actually make money off of them. If you're not writing about some sort of hobby, and don't have any contacts within the industry, then there isn't really anything stopping someone else from taking over your content and running ads against it like every other website out there. This article will walk you through all the ways you can try to make money off of your own personal blog.
The first step is to decide exactly where you want to host your blog (for this example we'll use BlogSpot). You should also choose either WordPress or Tumblr at least temporarily until you've learned more about making money online. Once you've decided which platform you'd prefer, head down to http://www.blogspot.com/signup_free and sign up using your email address and password. It takes less than 10 minutes. In fact, once you do that you could probably just sit back and relax while reading this entire article since you already created an account!
Once you create your account, log into your dashboard. Click on "Settings", and under "Advertising". Now scroll down to the bottom of the page, towards the very end. There you will find several tabs labeled "CPM Advertising", "Banner Advertising", "Text Link Advertising", etc... Each tab shows different types of advertising options. For our purposes however, let's focus on the CPM Advertising section. Under here you will find two sections titled "Featured" and "Sponsored Links". The former allows you to place banners across the top of your site, while the latter will display sponsored links along the side of each post. Both allow you to put text ads alongside posts, but banner ads tend to look better because users generally won't dismiss them as quickly as those sponsored links.
Now lets talk about these features. First, let me discuss featured ads. These are basically static images displayed above the fold - i.e. the part of the screen visible without scrolling. They typically last anywhere from 30 seconds to 2 minutes and show only during normal browsing sessions. While bloggers often complain about these ads being too annoying, they're not nearly as bad as popups and interstitial pages. Also, many advertisers have found that having a prominent image displaying next to a relevant article makes readers feel more comfortable clicking said link. Next, let me cover sponsored ads. Sponsored links appear beside each individual post, usually occupying half its width. These links take advantage of the way humans naturally read websites, and are placed right after an interesting piece of information. When clicked, users are sent directly to advertiser sites. Unlike featured ads, these ads tend to disappear faster because users may think they scrolled past them accidentally. Finally, both kinds of ads are customizable - meaning you can change where they appear, and how big they are.
So now you understand both kinds of ads pretty well. Let's go over some methods of obtaining income from your blogspot.
As mentioned earlier, the easiest path to getting cash from your blog is via Adsense. Simply install the appropriate plug-in and set up an account. Then simply insert code onto your blog that displays advertisements provided by Google, and you'll start earning residual income immediately. The nice thing about doing this is that you don't need to worry about managing traffic, nor building relationships with advertisers. All you have to do is keep adding new content to your blog and wait for the checks to roll in.
There are three main things you must remember when inserting Adsense code:
1) Do NOT clutter your sidebar with additional ads. Just stick to your post area. Don't forget to remove the default text below your title bar though. That's reserved for incoming clicks.
2) Make sure you select high quality ads. Generally speaking, the higher resolution the larger the clickthrough rate. However, depending on your niche this might not always work.
3) Keep track of statistics. With lots of visitors comes lots of competition for prime spots on your homepage. Try to avoid putting ads near the comments field, as a lot of spammy bots lurk there looking for loopholes.
Generally, the best approach is to test various locations on your blog. Use a combination of tools such as Traffic Travis Pro ($19 per month), Webmaster Tools ($5 per month), and Site Catalyst [Broken URL Removed]($25 per year) to figure out where you receive the highest number of impressions and clickthrough rates.
For more details, check out this great guide written by James Bruce from Digital Inspiration.
Unfortunately no. But why does Blogspot charge $4.95 for hosting? Well, it boils down to this simple equation: Users = Income. As long as you provide good content, attract enough attention and generate enough revenue, you'll eventually succeed. So stop complaining and instead learn everything you possibly can about marketing. One important aspect of marketing is SEO, which stands for Search Engine Optimization. Basically, it involves tweaking keywords and tags to improve your rankings in major search engines. Another important tip is creating compelling titles and descriptions, as they help draw visitors' eyes to your page. And finally, don't underestimate social media. Social networks such as Facebook and Twitter are becoming increasingly popular among Internet surfers, and thus offer countless opportunities to promote yourself and your business.
A variety of products and services exist that require payment, ranging from food delivery apps, to professional photography. Here are some examples:
Food Delivery Apps
Takeout Food Boxes offers a convenient alternative to picking up prepared meals from local restaurants. Orders delivered straight to doorsteps throughout New York City.
Lunchbox Meals provides fresh lunch boxes made daily, Monday through Friday. Ordering begins Monday mornings at 11am EST. No minimum order required. Lunchboxes ship Tuesday through Thursday.
Meal Kits Delivered aims to bring healthy lunches direct to customers' homes. Choose from a selection of pre-packaged salads, sandwiches & soups shipped weekly. Plus, Meal Kit Club members save up to 50% off delivery fees.
Professional Photography Services
ShutterStock sells royalty-free stock photos, illustrations, videos, vectors, textures, backgrounds, clip art, icons, and vector files. ShutterStock prints are available worldwide.
Fstoppers Magazine offers informative articles covering topics related to digital cameras and photo techniques. Fstoppers publishes 6 issues per year.
Discovery Channel's Fearless Planet series spotlights amazing wildlife footage shot exclusively for Discovery Channel subscribers. Fearless Planet produces three seasons annually, plus specials released quarterly.
Pixabay is a public database of Creative Commons licensed stock photos. Over 100 million downloads later, Pixabay continues to grow thanks to community contributions and partnerships with leading technology companies.
Bulk Suppliers focuses primarily on selling bulk quantities of items such as office supplies, electronics, toys, books, clothing, construction materials, home goods, etc. Bulk suppliers are located nationwide.
Absolutely yes. Many successful entrepreneurs started off by blogging before they had jobs. People like Joe Vitale, Kevin Rose, Guy Kawasaki, Seth Godin, Gary Vaynerchuk, Robert Herjavec, Chris Pirillo, Andrew Mason, Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson, Steve Case, Eric Schmidt, and Mark Zuckerberg were all employed elsewhere when they began blogging. Why? Because blogging is cheap and easy. All you need is a computer and passion.
BlogSpot has been around since 1999 and was originally designed as a free alternative for bloggers who wanted more control over their content than what could be offered with other services at that time like AOL or MSN Spaces (now LiveJournal). In 2005 they released the first version of Blogger which allowed users to create blogs without any HTML coding skills required. Since then, it has grown exponentially and now boasts hundreds of millions of visitors every month. In this article we will explain how to make money on BlogSpot using ads. We'll also cover some important tips about setting up your blog so that you don't miss out on earning revenue from it.
The process is simple - when someone clicks on one of these links, they are taken off of our website and redirected to another site where they see an advertisement. When people click on these links, a portion of the price goes toward paying us our "ad placement fee." This type of advertising allows advertisers to target specific demographics, but there are many benefits too. For example, unlike traditional forms of media such as television and radio commercials, online advertising is very cost effective. Another advantage is that consumers can immediately start seeing messages promoting products directly related to them.
Advertisers use cookies to track web traffic across multiple sites. A cookie is basically text file containing information sent back and forth between your computer and a server. The advertiser uses this tracking data to determine how well targeted an audience might be before placing an advert. By doing this, the company only pays for qualified impressions rather than unqualified ones. As long as the consumer doesn't block third-party cookies, their IP address remains anonymous. However, most browsers allow you to disable or remove cookies completely.
We've tried to keep this guide brief because there are lots of different ways to make money on BlogSpot. It all depends on whether you want to sell stuff yourself or work with companies to promote their wares. There are three main methods of making money through BlogSpot: selling items, getting commissions for affiliate sales or working with businesses to advertise their goods/services. Let's take a look!
To become eligible to participate in the program you need to meet two conditions: 1) You must own or operate a BlogSpot blog 2) Your blog must contain mostly original content created by you. Here's why...
If you're wondering exactly what qualifies as'mostly' original content, here's a quick rule of thumb: if 99% of the words on your page are not written by you, you do not qualify. So if you copy articles from newspapers, magazines or ezines, or write product reviews based on press releases, those posts would count as 100% original. On the flip side, if you wrote 80 percent or more of the words on a given article, it should be considered mostly original content.
So let's say you just started a new blog yesterday and you posted five unique articles today. According to the above guideline, none of those articles would pass the test as they contain less than 50% original content. But, if instead you added 20 pictures over the course of 5 days (which isn't really original content), each day's addition would mean you had 10%, 30% original content. That means 90% of your total word count would be contributed by you while the rest would come from images. Now that'd certainly put a smile on your face!
Now that we know what makes sense logistically, lets talk about the best way to make money on BlogSpot.
It's possible to earn anywhere from $1-$100+ per visitor depending on your niche and popularity. Of course, the higher your numbers go, the better chance you have of being featured in the sidebar, which is essentially the same thing as having a sponsored link next to your name. Sponsored Links appear below the search results after your readers perform a query. They show up under your title and description, and include a small banner image along with your username. Generally speaking, promoted listings usually range from $2-$50 per piece.
Another option is to set up shop as a merchant within the Blogger Marketplace. All merchants pay a flat rate of 40 cents per item sold, regardless of the final sale value. Merchants receive 70% of the proceeds once the customer completes payment via PayPal, and the remaining 30% goes to the seller. Sellers pay no fees whatsoever except a 3% credit card transaction fee, plus.5% of the transaction. Merchants may choose to offer their merchandise for sale either individually or as part of a group called a Merchant Group. Most groups charge members $9.99 monthly and provide access to features like custom URLs, automatic inventory updates, secure checkout options and email marketing tools. One popular market place is Amazon Associates which provides affiliates with access to thousands of products including books, electronics, toys & games, clothing & accessories, home decor, health & beauty, sports & outdoors, etc..
Blogs which focus exclusively on a single topic tend to generate more income due to their smaller audiences. Other factors which affect earnings are number of pages indexed, keywords used, page rank, bounce rates, social activity, newsletter subscriptions, RSS subscribers, comments and feedback left on your blog, etc...
Absolutely! Anyone can join the program and begin participating in transactions right away. While it takes time for advertisers to review applications, approved participants typically gain instant access to their chosen markets.
Here are some useful tips to help you maximize your profits and avoid missing out on opportunities:
Write fresh content regularly. Fresh content attracts attention and helps build relationships. Content is king!
Create good quality titles and descriptions. These should highlight your expertise and attract potential customers. Use relevant keywords to increase visibility.
Take advantage of SEO techniques. Search engines love fresh content, so always update your blog with relevant, high quality material. Write short paragraphs and try to limit unnecessary punctuation marks and extra spaces. Keep the keyword density low to prevent spamming your index pages. Also, remember that the goal is to drive organic searches. Be sure to optimize your blog's meta tags, add relevant categories and tag your entries appropriately.
Use widgets creatively. Widgets give bloggers an opportunity to display interactive elements like calendars, maps, photos, videos and music. Widget areas are located towards the top and bottom of your homepage near the header area. To learn more about adding gadgets to your blog, check out http://www.bloggerpreneur.com/2009/02/widget-tutorial/.
Get involved with communities. Engage your community by responding to commenters, leaving questions for others to answer, posting your thoughts publicly, encouraging interaction and asking thought provoking questions. Just remember to remain civil. Don't forget that many people visit your blog simply to read and leave comments, so make it easy for them to find what they came looking for.
Build relationships. Build trust among your followers by providing valuable information and resources. Make your blog interesting and informative to draw viewers in. Remember, your aim is to share knowledge and helpful advice so present your ideas clearly and concisely. People often purchase products and services from people they already know and trust.
Keep an open mind. Never assume you understand everything about running a business. Listen carefully to those who may have more experience than you and consider seeking professional guidance.
Be consistent. Regularity is key. Maintain consistency both with writing style and frequency of postings. Consistency builds credibility and reduces risk.
Stay focused. Know your goals. Have patience. Success comes easier to those who wait.
Have fun. Enjoy life. Life is too short. Take pleasure in living. Get excited about things again.
And finally....the last tip is perhaps the most important of all. Try not to lose sight of the big picture. Do not fall prey to temptation. Always think outside the box and stay positive. Think bigger. Stay hungry. And never stop learning.
Blogger and Wordpress are two of the most popular blogging platforms available online today. However, one lesser known option that has recently gained popularity among bloggers is Blogspot. I've heard some people say they're not interested in running ads with Google because it can be annoying or difficult to navigate. But what about using Blogspot without any advertising at all? Can you make money from your BlogSpot blog?
If you run a self-hosted WordPress site, then yes, there are ways to place Adsense ads on your website so that visitors will see them when viewing your content. With Blogspot however, things aren't quite so straightforward. The reason why this happens is due to how Blogspot works - but don't worry! There are still plenty of options for making money with your Blogspot blog. Here we'll discuss exactly how to do this - without having to resort to unsightly banner adds.
First off, let's clear up whether or not your Blogspot blog qualifies as "eligible" for placing AdSense ads on. You may wonder which countries qualify to host these type of ads. In short, anywhere in the world is fair game. As long as someone accesses it, you can put ads on your own site.
What does this mean for those who want to keep their blogs anonymous or wish to avoid displaying banners within their posts? Well, it means that even though you might find yourself wondering where to go next after writing a post, you could consider selling merchandise via Amazon Associates instead. This way, you won't need to reveal your personal information (name, address) to others, while also getting paid for promoting other companies' products.
Note: Some users opt out of showing ads altogether if they choose to do so. This isn't required, but it is recommended.
However, if you'd like more control over your income, you should think about creating a separate page specifically designed to display ads. After doing so, you would simply link back to your original posting whenever possible. One benefit of this approach is that you can set specific rules regarding number of times per day/week the advertisement appears. For example, you may only want to show your ads once every 3 months during peak hours, whereas you could always add additional ads later down the line.
Another thing to remember is that advertisers usually pay higher commissions for larger audiences. Therefore, if you plan on putting lots of ads on your site, you should aim to grow your audience base as quickly as possible.
In order to start generating revenue from Blogspot, you first must sign up for an AdWords Account. Then log in to your account, select "Advertise with Google", and create a new campaign. Once done, you can begin adding keywords. Simply search for keywords relating to your topic area and research which ones are best suited for your niche market. When choosing keywords, try to include related terms such as variations of your main keyword phrase.
Once you've chosen your keywords, click on "Create Campaign". Next, enter the URL of your blog. Click "Next Step" under the "Keyword Matching Method" section, and ensure that the radio button next to "Broad match ALL words" is selected. It's important to note here that Broad matches refer to phrases rather than individual words. So when entering your blog's URL, make sure that each word is entered correctly otherwise your entire campaign will fail.
After completing these steps, you can proceed onto setting your budget. Keep in mind that the maximum daily spend limit varies based upon the length of your competition data, and the lower your bid price, the better. Don't forget to check the box beside "Negative matching NOT allowed!" before moving forward. Now, if you notice that your bids are being accepted below $0.20 cents, feel free to increase your budget accordingly.
You shouldn't expect to receive instant results for your efforts. Instead, wait until the following business day. That said, if your competition is low, it should take less time for your clicks to convert into sales.
When you reach this point, you can now view reports by clicking on "Campaign Summary." From here, you can determine which keywords worked well, which didn't perform well enough, and further analyze conversion statistics.
The last step in the process involves selecting a placement zone. Depending on your region, different pages should appear above or below the fold. To change this setting, scroll down to the bottom of the screen and look for the "Placement Zone Selector" dropdown menu. Choose whichever zone you prefer depending on where your readership resides.
Yes, you certainly can! All you really need to do is purchase a premium theme package, which allows you to customize your blog completely. By purchasing a theme, you gain full ownership rights to your blog, meaning that you can alter its appearance to suit your needs. At no cost to yourself, you can install custom graphics, widgets, header images, etc. This makes it easy to design your blog according to your preferences.
To learn more about themes, please read our article outlining 10 Free Website Templates [Weebly].
Additionally, you can opt to use the many free templates currently offered by Blogspot itself. These themes come preloaded with various customizable features including featured image sliders, sidebars, widgetized areas, and much more. Again, all you need to do is download your desired template, upload it to your hosting provider, and copy & paste it into your Blogspot dashboard.
Lastly, if you decide to stick with Blogspot, you can easily integrate third party services such as PayPal, Braintree, Klout, Twitter, Facebook Connect, Social Login, YouTube Video Player, Evernote, Last.fm, Flickr, SoundCloud, RSS Feeder, Text Link Maker, Contact Form 7, Meebo IM Chat Plugin, Disqus comments system, Pingomatic Ping Monitor, and several others. Although it takes just minutes to complete this task, it requires a bit of technical knowledge. Fortunately, we offer detailed instructions in our previous tutorial detailing 5 Ways To Add Services To Your Blog With Weebly.
Unfortunately, Blogspot doesn't allow domains registered outside of Blogspot's network to advertise on their sites.
As mentioned earlier, if you don't desire to clutter up your homepage with unwanted banners, you can opt to sell affiliate links directly from your articles. By linking your reader towards a product or service, you earn commission on anything sold by that company. Although this technique requires extra effort upfront, it pays dividends in lieu of never having to deal with pesky banner adds again.
For instance, if you write an informative piece discussing a particular gadget or video camera, you may consider adding a link leading to either eBay auctions or Amazon.com. Remember, affiliate links lead to the merchant's official webpages, not sneaky redirects.
While Blogspot offers numerous benefits, it does seem impossible to generate significant amounts of cash unless you know what you're doing. Luckily, we provide training materials covering topics ranging from basic HTML editing techniques to advanced CSS programming skills. For a comprehensive overview on starting a successful BlogSpot blog, please visit our Tutorial Center.
Just follow our battle-tested guidelines and rake in the profits.