Well its been a little while, but its finally time to get back to our blog monetization plan. I apologize for the delay. The last few weeks have been heavily focused on research and applying the lessons we discussed in parts one, two, and three. In case you are just joining us, let me give you a quick recap.

Part one discussed the importance of proper planning. A big mistake a lot of newbies make is flying by the seat of their pants without knowing how they are going to make money. Sometimes it works out, but more often it doesn't. By having a concrete plan ahead of time, however, it is easier to stay focused, reach for specific goals, and accomplish your objectives.

Part two focused on the importance of growing your readership base. I cannot stress this enough. If you want regular recurring revenue, you need constant and steady traffic growth. Period. Part two shows you how.

Part three explained how to get started with Pay Per Click (PPC) ads. This will be a small start for many new bloggers. By putting the infrastructure in place early though, your profits will increase as your blog grows. Eventually, PPC can be an excellent component of your overall blog revenue stream.

Today I am happy to present part four of my blog monetization strategy, Internet Marketing 101. My goal for this post is to present an introduction to Internet Marketing for anyone out there who is just getting started. If you search the Internet, you will find a ton of information about Internet Marketing. For a beginner it is hard to sift through it all and determine where to start, what is good advice, and what is just another scam. My goal for this post is to provide beginners with all the information they need to get started and take their first step into Internet Marketing. More advanced topics will be covered in posts to come, but you should finish this article with all you need to immediately begin marketing products online. Some of this information may be old news to you veterans out there, so please chime in with any advice you might have. The rest of you be sure to ask any questions in the comments. Sound good? Ok, then lets get started!

Introduction to Internet Marketing

Internet Marketing, also called Affiliate Marketing, is a way to earn money in the form of commission for directing customers to online merchants. To become an Internet Marketer, all you have to do is join an affiliate marketing program directly with the merchant, or more commonly, through an affiliate marketing network. Once you are part of the program, you will be given special links (like the one I just used!) that you can post on your blog, add to your email footer, or use when posting to forums. When someone clicks on the link and visits the merchant's website, the ID embedded in the URL will tell the merchant that you were responsible for delivering that potential customer. If the visitor buys something then you will earn a percentage of the sale price as commission. Sometimes, just delivering the person to the merchant's website is all you need to do to get paid. This is called a lead (a lead might also require the user to sign up, join an email list, or some other no-cost opt in).

The concept sounds simple, but the execution is a little more complicated. Most people who read a blog are not there to shop. So why would they click on the link and go buy something? Luckily, the affiliate marketing programs are sympathetic to this. If someone clicks on your link and visits the merchant site, a tracking cookie is placed on their computer. If that visitor returns to the merchant site within 60 (or 90 or sometimes even 120) days and then buys something, you will still get credit for the sale. Nice, right?

The real skill behind Internet Marketing is HOW and WHERE to place the links so you get as many people as possible to click on them. The strategy for doing that is two fold. First, you want to use the links wherever you can (without annoying your readers). Second, you want to make sure people find the links when they are actually searching for what you are selling. These become the high probably conversions! Think of your affiliate links as little seeds that get planted into the Internet. It will take a little time for them to take root and start to grow. But eventually, the page they are on (if done right), will start to earn PageRank. Once it does, the search engines will deliver potential shoppers to your page. You in turn deliver people who are looking to buy to the merchant. Then the cash starts rolling in! It doesn't happen overnight. But over time, a LOT of money can be made with Internet Marketing.

In the sections that follow, I'll give you step by step instructions on how to run an affiliate marketing campaign. I will discuss joining an affiliate network, creating your affiliate post, and optimizing it for search engines. Realize that I am not a professional at this. What I am presenting below are some tips to get started. Once you take that first step, we can all work together to improve our results!   

Affiliate Networks

There are a ton of affiliate networks out there. Some of the big names are Commission Junction, ShareASale, Pepperjam Network, and now Google is starting to bully their way into affiliate marketing with the Google Affiliate Network. The first step in joining a network is getting approved. You will have to fill out a simple application form that has your contact information, tax ID number (SSN if your are an individual in the U.S.), and your blog information. Unless you blog is totally brand new and has ZERO content, you should have no problem getting approved.

Once you're approved, you can begin browsing the network for "programs" which are basically the types of products you can advertise on your blog. Some networks are better than others when it comes to programs they offer. My advice is to just pick one and try it out. If you don't find many programs that meet your needs, move along to another network. The important thing is to find a lot of products that relate to your blog's niche. Just don't pick a random product to sell that doesn't match your blog. You will lose readers quickly if you start advertising Viagra on your blog about pets!

Important Tip! - Just because you are about to engage in affiliate market to make money online, don't think you have to sell products related to making money online! You will have a much easier time selling into a niche where people really want to buy stuff. Let's face it - most of the world doesn't want to buy an SEO eBook! Check out my recent post for more on this topic.

I have had a good amount of success using ShareASale on my entertainment blog, Buzz Pirates. I have found a lot of products, from funny t-shirts, to home beer making kits that easily fit in with the theme of that blog. They have over 2,374 programs in over 40 different categories ranging from pets to weddings to sports/fitness to "green" products. Chances are you'll have no problem finding something to sell.

If you really want to get a jump start making money, then sign up for PepperJam Networks. Not only do they also have a great selection of programs, they will also give you $10 just for signing up. That's free money! You'll get a lot more than $10 though. They have an amazing Web 2.0 interface that makes using their service easy and enjoyable. They are also right up there with ShareASale as far as quality programs they offer. Sign Up for Pepperjam Network and Get a $10 Sign On Bonus

My recommendation is to sign up for a number of different networks. This allows you to pick the best programs that each network might have to offer.

The Affiliate Post 

Once you have picked a product to sell, its time to put your marketing hat on and get to work! You will find thousands and thousands of tips online about writing a good landing page, keyword optimization, semantic search recognition, visual aethetics... the list goes on and on. Honestly though, I wouldn't worry about that just yet. I believe the best way to get started with affiliate marketing is to pick a product that you really enjoy, know a lot about, and honestly believe in and then write a LEGITIMATE review about it. Instead of trying to trick the search engines, I have found that you can be more successful simply using them how they were designed! If you write a detailed review, you will be creating plenty of content that the search engines need to find and index your post. Just don't forget to include your affiliate links!

With a little practice, placing affiliate links becomes easier and easier. You will start to develop a sixth sense for where to put an affiliate link. As you write articles for your blog, you will find yourself typing a sentence, only to stop and think to yourself "hmm...I bet I can find a referral link for that!". You will end up stopping mid sentence to jump on your affiliate network to search for products and links. Yeah...it ends up taking longer to write blog posts. But the payoff is worth it.

There has been some debate about whether the affiliate post should be a regular blog post or a separate page. I think this really comes down to personal preference. The important thing is to make sure your users and the search engines can find the post. If you make the affiliate post a regular blog post, it has the potential to get lost deep within your blog. Technically, the search engines should still be able to find it by crawling your site, but chances are you and your readers won't.

In order to keep track of my affiliate posts, I like to have a single "staging page" that I include right on my main menu. It is usually called "Cool Stuff" or "Recommended Products" or something to that effect. That page will have links to all the affiliate reviews I have done on my blog. The nice thing about this approach is that it not only allows my readers to find my posts easily, but it helps me find them too! This is important when it comes to updating the pages to optimize them for the search engines. Which brings us to the next topic...

SEO, SEO, SEO

By writing a product review that contains affiliate links, you have successfully planted your internet marketing seeds. Remember what we said earlier though - the valuable traffic will come later when people who are looking to buy search for the product you have reviewed. In order for them to find your review and click on your affiliate links, it is important that you make sure your page ranks high on search engine result pages (SERPs). By applying the proper SEO techniques, your affiliate seeds can grow into you solid money trees that bring in regular cash months or even years to come!

An entire book can be written on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and this post has gotten long enough (well done if you've made it this far!). So instead of going into a long discussion, here are some general tips and links to information I have found very valuable.

• Continue to get as many backlinks to your blog as possible. Backlinks are a huge factor in calculating your PageRank. The higher your PageRank, the higher you will appear on search results. See my previous post on PageRank.  
• Having the staging page that links to all your affiliate posts is important so you can easily go back and update the page. Updating a page is important so Google constantly reindexes your page. You can update it with better keywords, more links, or other info that will help its PR and chance of being found. Garry Conn wrote a great article about the importance of doing this.
• Be sure to pick good keywords to focus on in your post. Make sure you use the keywords in the post title and in heading tags (H1, H2, etc.). Emphasis your keywords with <strong> and <em> tags. John Cow has a great series on picking good keywords.
• Be sure to choose keywords that get a lot of searches but have little competition. Forest Parks wrote a nice article about using the Micro Niche Finder to accomplish this.
• Monitor your posts over time. With your Google Analytics, see what actual search terms people are currently using to find your page. Use these as a guide for tweaking your post. Remember, its good to always update it!

We will investigate more SEO techniques in future posts. This should be plenty to get you started and well on your way.

Summary

This has been a lot to digest. I commend you for making it this far. For those of you who made it, here is a handy summary checklist of all you need to get started with Affiliate Marketing.

• Join an affiliate network
• Choose a product you know a lot about that fits well with your blog niche
• Write an honest detailed review about it
• Post it so its easy to find on your blog
• Research valuable keywords for the post
• Regularly update the post to optimize it for keywords and high SERPs ranking

The important thing is to constantly review and adjust. Not everything will work right away. When it doesn't work, do something different. When something starts to work, do more of it. Stick with it and over time each one of your affiliate posts can become a strong revenue stream for your blog.

If you have any additional tips, comments or questions, please leave a comment. I hope you enjoyed this post and thanks for reading!

Good luck!

Jeff

I made an amazing discovery regarding Google AdSense that I will share with you in this post. Not only will I share with you what I learned (which you may or may not already know), but I will also explain how to modify your theme template to take advantage of this lucrative information.

Facts About AdSense

According to the Google AdSense Terms & Conditions, you are allowed to place up to three ad units and three link units on a single page. If you have added the AdSense code to your theme template, you don't even have to worry about this. The code will automatically display ad units up to three times. For example, on my main page I show my last 10 posts. In my theme template, I have added my AdSense code at the end of my "post" template. Theoretically, the ad units should therefore display at the end of all 10 posts. But this is not the case. The code is smart enough to display ad units the correct number of times.

I recently learned that Google displays the ads on your page in order of value. This means that the highest paying ad of the three will be displayed first. Google considers the "first" ad to be the first block of AdSense code it sees in the final markup of your page's HTML.

Capitalizing on These Facts

When I learned this interesting fact about highest paying ads displaying first, it caused me to take another look at where I was displaying my Google Ads. Originally, I only had three ad units displayed at the bottom of the first three posts. I realized this was a huge waste of a valuable ad spot! Most people don't read an entire post from start to finish. They'll skim the first paragraph or two and decide if its worth finishing. Often they will get the information they need before the end of the article. Or in my case...before they get to the ad! Since the first ad is the most valuable, I wanted to change my design to highlight this ad unit and put it in a spot that catches the reader's attention.

To further capitalize on this valuable first ad, I decided to make it an image ad to really spark the reader's interest. It will take up more real estate, but by selecting "Image Only" ads when creating my AdSense code, you can increase your chances of getting more clicks. In my opinion, the entire world has become desensitized to Google Text Ads. Without even trying, their eyes just skip right over them. An image ad, on the other hand, can still be attractive and effective at grabbing the reader's attention.

I decided to put the first ad at the top of my Buzz Sponsors section which can be seen in my sidebar to the right.

Houston, We Have a Problem!

Remember earlier that I said the Google AdSense code is smart enough to display the correct number of ad units? In my case, it was displaying all three units in the first three posts. My blog platform generates these posts before it generates the side bar. How then can I make the FIRST ad unit appear at the top of my side bar? Thanks to the magic of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), the answer to this question is not as hard as you might think.

Updating Your Template

Most blog templates that have a sidebar use an amazing (but often misunderstood) CSS property called float. This property tells a browser to display an HTML element to the left or the right side of its parent element. The beauty of the float property is that when it is applied, the content being floated can occur BEFORE or after the rest of the content. It will look the same either way.

A typical WordPress theme will generate the content first and the side bar second. Here is the code of the default theme's main index page:

See how the main content (the posts) gets generated BEFORE the sidebar? By the time the call to get_sidebar() is made, you've already generated the three allowable AdSense ad units. But, thanks to the amazing float property, we can make a simple change to generate the side bar first! If we move the call to get_sidebar() ahead of the content div, the lucrative image ad in the sidebar will be the first ad generated, but your layout will still look EXACTLY the same. The resulting code should look like this:

This works because the side bar has been give the property of float: right, which can be found if you look in your theme's style sheet file. This means that the sidebar content will be pushed to the right side of its container element and the rest of the content will flow around it. It doesn't matter if the float content is generated before or after the rest of the content. Check out this article if you want to learn more about the CSS Float property.

I hope this tip helps you earn a little extra with your Google AdSense. At the very least, it should help you get a little more understanding of your theme's template. Let me know if this works for you or if you have any questions.

Jeff

* To receive more tips and useful blogging information, subscribe to the BuzzMyBlog RSS feed.

This post goes out to all the newbies out there who are thinking about starting a blog to make money. For some reason, the first idea that always seems to pop a into fledgling Internet Marketer's brain is "I can make money by starting a blog about making money". How do I know this? Easy - I had that same idea too! When I started this blog, I promised that I would share everything I learned along the way. So today I want to take a second to explain why the Make Money Online niche is one of the hardest niches to make money in, and how you can find some easier places to make money.

What the Make Money Online Niche Has Become 

The Make Money Online niche is a tough one to make money in because it is extremely over crowded. I blame blogs like JohnChow.com for this. People see his blog with a tag line that says "I make money by telling people how much money I make online". They see from his income report that he racks up $30,000 a month from his blog and immediately think they can do it too. They run out and start a blog, sign up for some of the services John "recommends", and begin pushing the same online "products". Little do they realize that the only thing they succeeded in doing is making John Chow richer.

Could you do the same thing? Sure, if you are a super talented and charismatic writer, you might be able to attract the attention of 25,000 readers and push whatever products you want. I am NOT saying that John Chow is a talented and charismatic writer. I respect him, but believe he was simply in the right place at the right time. When he started, there was virtually no competition. So it was very easy for him to build up such a large following. Once you have a following that big, a monkey can make money online. The hard part is getting a following that big. And in a crowded niche like Make Money Online, it is even harder.

It is possible to make money in the MMO niche, but to do so you will basically have to stoop to the level of a used car salesman. Bloggernoob explained this perfectly in a post he wrote yesterday. His blog is the perfect example of what I am talking about. Nine out of ten posts on his blog are nothing put paid-for junk. He will be the first one to admit that his blog is not meant to be enjoyed. It exists for one reason, to make him money. I admire him for being candid and open about this. It is probably what is helping him do well.

Making money this way certainly is a valid option. If this is the path you want to go down, just head over to PayPerPost and get started. I wish you the best of luck, but you really don't need it. Making money this way really isn't that hard.

But you can do a lot better. By picking the right niche, you have the potential to become another John Chow or Darren Rowse of Problogger. They are successful because they are the authority in their niche. They became an authority by building up a huge following when there was little competition, and THEN they started making a lot of money. The Make Money Online niche is now so crowded that it will be hard to compete. But there are TONS of other possibilities out there! Pick the right niche, earn regular readers, become the authority, and then you will make money without even trying.

How To Choose A Niche

It should not be very difficult for you to choose the right niche. What do you enjoy? What are you good at? Millions and millions of people use the internet everyday. If you write about something that you are passionate about, I guarantee that other people who are passionate about the same thing will find your blog. Write good content and give people information that they find useful, informative, and entertaining and you will be on your way to becoming the authority in your niche.

Once you start to build a good following it will be so much easier to make money online. First of all, you will enjoy what you are doing so it won't seem like a chore to write content. Think about it - would you rather write about your favorite hobby or about referring people to the latest text link ad service? Sounds like a no brainer to me! With better content and regular readers you are then free to promote products you actually believe in. Since you are passionate about what you writing, your readers will trust your recommendations and you will also see a higher conversion rate.

I strongly believe that you will have a much better chance making money if you write about something you are good at and know a lot about. You will not make more money writing about "Making Money Online" just because it is about making money online. There are thousands of other categories that pay referral commissions too. Just head on over to ShareASale or your favorite Affiliate Marketing network and see for yourself. I guarantee you will find something to sell that appeals to you. And because it appeals to you, it will appeal to your readers too.

When deciding to start a new blog, keep these final thoughts in mind. You don't choose a niche...you have a niche.

Good luck,

Jeff

I attempted to conclude yesterday's post on Maximizing Your Earnings with Google AdSense & Pay Per Click Ads (Part Three of my Blog Monetization Strategy) with a poll to see what range of Effective Cost Per Thousand (eCPM) most people are earning. I don't know if it was the poll I used (BlogFlux) or what, but shortly after publishing the post, my server crashed! It happens to the best of us, I guess. A server crash is a sign of a blog on the rise (feel free to quote me on that ).

Publishing your exact eCPM is against Google's Terms & Conditions, so I figured I would do a poll to see what most people are earning. Hopefully it will be a good barometer to see how well your ads are performing compared to everyone else. For obvious reasons, I decided to go with a different poll service. This time I chose 99Poll.com (thanks Cuz). Please take a second to vote.

Its been a very busy couple of weeks, but now its finally time to get back to my Blog's Monetization Strategy. Due to the amount of detail in the plan, I have broken it down into a six part series. Part One discussed the importance of planning from the get-go. You might be able to make a few bucks flying by the seat of your pants. But maximizing your earning potential starts with a well thought out and carefully executed plan.

Part Two of the plan highlighted ways of growing your readership base. In order to create a recurring revenue stream, it is vital that your blog achieves a steady increase in traffic and visitors. Without recurring readers there cannot be recurring revenue.

Today I will present Part Three of my Blog Monetization series and discuss ways you can begin earning money from your blog almost immediately with Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising. This post provides an overview of PPC ads, what they are and how they work. It then discusses the most popular types of PPC ad services, how to maximize their value, and what you can expect to earn from them.

Again, I would like to mention that some of the information presented here may be old news to some of you veterans out there. If there is anything else that you can contribute to this discussion please help us all out and leave a comment. There are a few questions that I will ask later in this post to which I would especially appreciate your opinion. Now without further ado, I present Part Three of my Blog's Monetization Plan.

What Are PPC Ads

In case you've been living under a rock for the last 6 years, Pay Per Click (PPC) ads are advertisements that are placed on websites that cost money to the advertiser only when someone clicks on the ad. Typically there are three parties involved in the PPC model - the Advertiser (who pays for the ad), the Publisher (who gets paid to show the ad), and the ad Provider (who skims off the top). In most cases, the ads shown on a Publisher's site (a blog, for example) are context-based, meaning they relate to the content of the web page. This is accomplished by matching keywords that the Advertisers have paid for with keywords that search engines have related to your website. For this reason, many of the top Ad Providers are the search engine companies themselves. It is also the reason why Keyword selection is an important component of Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

Pay Per Click ads are often the first form of monetization for a young blog. They are easy to set up and they don't usually have tough restrictions, like minimum traffic requirements. Once a publisher joins an ad program and their blog is approved, all they have to do is copy a snippet of code into their blog template and within minutes, they will start seeing ads that are relevant to their content. If the blog is about lizards, for example, one might see an ad for a pet shop specializing in Iguanas. It becomes easy to see why a blog focused on a niche topic can become very valuable.

Publishers can track their earnings from the Ad Providers website and view statistics like number of times the ad was shown (Impressions), how many Clicks, the Clickthrough Rate (CTR - the ratio of clicks to impressions), and their Earnings. Once earnings reach a specific amount, a check is mailed to the publisher. Pay Per Click ads are popular not only because they are easy, but also because they are reliable. Publishers can count on receiving their money when they expect to, which very often cannot be said of Affiliate Marketing.

Popular PPC Ad Providers

I am not a expert on the history of PPC ads, but according to Wikipedia, Yahoo ads have always used a PPC model dating back to 1998. Google switched from a Cost Per Thousand (CPM - the "M" is for Mille) model to a PPC model in 2002 with the introduction of their AdSense program. Today, Google and Yahoo are by far the most popular context based Pay Per Click ad providers. There are tons of other ad providers out there, but they usually have a few shortcomings like smaller payouts, poor or non-existing context matching, or limited performance statistics. The list below is a short list of some of the more popular ad providers.

• Google AdSense - Sign up for Google AdSense
• Yahoo Publisher Network
• AdBrite
• BidVertiser
• Clicksor
• Kontera

I cannot give you a point by point comparison of all the ad providers. If that is what you are looking for, Vaughn Aubuchon has a nice 1-Pager on the subject. From what I have read, however, Google is far and away the best service, which is why it is what I use and recommend here at BuzzMyBlog.com. I will fill in the bullets above with links if I ever believe any of the other services are worth recommending. Yahoo Publisher Network is a close second, but I have not used them yet. Unlike Google, they support payments via PayPal, which could be a benefit to some.

At this point, I would like to open it up to anyone with experience. Please leave us a comment if you have any comments or opinions on some of the ad services listed above. Thanks!

How To Get the Most Out of PPC Ads

After you decide on a PPC ad program, sign up, get approved, and add the code to your blog, your work doesn't end there. The next step is to experiment a little to figure out what configuration and ad placement works best with your blog. A lot of young blogs make the mistake of adding a big skyscraper ad that is 120x600 pixels along the far right side of their blog. I have found that this type of layout is probably the least lucrative placement of Google ads. It is usually buried among a bunch of other widgets and useless junk that most people don't even bother to read. It would be a surprise if anyone ever clicked on it at all.

In order to get the most benefit (ie - make the most money) from Google AdSense or any other type of contextual ad, it is important to place them in an area that will grab the readers attention. Learning how to do this without sacrificing the aesthetics of your blog can practically be an art form. Individual blogs will vary and the only true way to figure out the ideal placement on your blog is to test different configurations. However, the following tips can be helpful in most cases.

• Be sure to include ads in areas of the page that you know the reader will focus on. Inline with the actual content is often the best place to do this. I recently added a few Google ads at the end of my individual posts. Most people don't even know they are there, but I have gotten more clicks on them then any other location I have ever put an ad. It allows the reader to think "I've just read an interesting article, I will click here to learn more".
• I have found that Text Links are easier to blend in with the design of your theme. This is important to maintaining the aesthetics of your blog. Be careful though, you don't want them to blend in too much. No one will click on something they don't notice!

• Google Ads have an ad format called Link Units that are perfect for use in navigation menus. The ads can look very much like menu options and can be placed in vertical or horizontal menus. Here is an example.

Darren Rowse had a great article on ProBlogger recently about positioning your ad units. Be sure to check it out for more information on ad placement.

Measuring the Performance of An Ad

While you are testing different layouts and ad configurations, it is important to know how to determine which ones worked better than others. Sure, you can look at the amount of money you made while you had ads in specific positions, but that may not give you totally accurate results. The amount of traffic you had during that period could be a big factor. Perhaps you saw a spike in traffic from a really good post or maybe traffic was weaker than normal. Instead, a good way to measure how well an ad unit is performing is by looking at the Effective Cost Per Thousand (eCPM). eCPM is the amount of money you have earned per 1,000 impressions. It is a great way to measure the quality of an ad unit without looking at actual traffic. The higher the eCPM, the more potential the ad unit has.

What To Expect from PPC Ads

Pay Per Click ads can be a great way to begin earning money with your blog, but it is important to have realistic expectations as well. Everyone has seen ShoeMoney's famous six figure AdSense check. I can tell you right now that will never happen to you or me. For the most part PPC ads serve as a good way to augment the earnings on your blog. If you plan to make a lot of money blogging, you should be sure to have multiple income streams, not just PPC ads. For most people, an eCPM around $0.50 to $1.50 is most common. So if your blog generates 20,000 impressions per month, an eCPM of $0.50 will only net you $10.00. I apologize for bursting any bubbles. But if you work hard to improve both your traffic and your eCPM, PPC ads can be a nice addition to your monthly income stream.

A common question many bloggers have is "how good am I doing?" and "what SHOULD my eCPM be?". Unfortunately, these statistics are something that Google doesn't really want you to know. According to the Terms & Conditions of Google AdSense, you are allowed to publish your earnings, but not your eCPM or any other statistic. Therefore, I thought it would be good to end this post with a little poll, so we can all see how we are doing. If you are using Google AdSense, click the range of eCPM you blog earned last month to see how others compare.

[update 1: the poll caused my blog to crash! Be wary of BlogFlux! looking into it...]
[update 2: published a new poll here. ]

One final word of caution...DON'T CLICK ON YOUR OWN ADS! Google has been know to be pretty ruthless and will ban people from the AdSense program in the blink of an eye. It is probably the main reason why the other ad providers are still in business.

I hope this section of my Blog Monetization plan has been helpful. Stick around for Part Four of the series when I discuss Affiliate Marketing.

Jeff

Last week I decided to share with you my blog's monetization strategy. After sitting down to write the article, I realized that there was no way to fit it all within one post. So I decided to make it a six-part series. Last week, I discussed the essential phase of planning. Today, I will present Step 2 - Growing Your Readership Base.

Don't Believe What You Read

I have been blogging for a number of months now. In doing so I have become familiar with many (many!) other Make Money Online (MMO) blogs. What I aim to do here at Buzz My Blog is to find a way to differentiate myself from them all. One way I try to do that is to be open, honest, and hopefully, helpful to my readers. Those of you how have been here before can attest to that. That is why I say to you now that You Can't Always Believe What You Read.  If there is one piece of advice that I have seen most frequently on many different blogs, its some derivative of putting the money ahead of the content. Whether the advice is "don't wait to monetize" or "content is not king, marketing is" or "spend more time promoting than writing", I don't agree with ANY of it. 9 times out of 10, this advice is being given in order to convince you, the reader, to sign up for some affiliate program that the blogger will be compensated for. Don't fall for it. The best way to earn long term, recurring revenue from your blog is to first build a steady base of growing, loyal readers. In order to do that, you need to give readers a reason to come back while simultaneously attracting new ones. That is why Growing My Readership Base is Step 2 of my blog's monetization strategy.

There are basically two types of blogs. There are the ones the start out strong and attract tons of visitors early on by exploiting every social media gimmick that comes along. These blogs enjoy the rush of overnight fame and popularity as their Google Stats spike through the roof. They quickly come crashing back to earth, however, as people realize the blog really has no purpose and a limited amount of relevant information. The second type of blog is one that exists for a purpose. The owners of these blogs are more focused on WHY people visit their blog, not HOW people visit their blog. They are dedicated to providing information that meets a need of the reader. Whether that information is informative, entertaining, funny, or enlightening, these blogs gain readers slower than the first type, but these readers end up returning regularly. This is the type of reader that is needed for long term revenue growth on your blog.

Once your blog has a strong base of loyal readers, your ability to earn money comes almost as a side effect. Advertisers will realize that you have a solid base and will seek you out. Your readers will trust you and sign up for services that you actually believe in. Your traffic will look more like an never ending gradual upward slope instead of a haphazard spikes and dips. These types of stats can do wonders for your PPC ads. If you want an example of the type of blog that I am referring to, I highly recommend you visit Maki's blog at DoshDosh.com. Maki has been a huge influence on me and epitomizes the art of providing relevant, interesting, and useful content. His strong base of 15,000+ faithful followers is a testament to his dedication serving his readers not just his blog.

How To Get More Visitors

Ok, so if getting more readers is important to making money online (it really is quite obvious, isn't it?), then just HOW do you go about doing so? Below is a list that I have put together as part of my blog's strategy, ranked in order of importance. The exact strategy for another blog might be slightly different. But for the most part, your blog will surely see a huge change if you follow the recommendations below.

1. Regular, Relevant Content

People often ask me, "Hey Jeff, have you tried out this service" or "have you used that app?". Most of the time, my answer is an unfortunate "No". I am far from quitting my day job in order to blog full time. Until that becomes possible, I have a limited number of hours that I can devote to my blog between a full time job, family, and other pursuits (hint hint...look for something new from me in the coming weeks). Therefore, the time that I do spend on my blog needs to be the most productive. At this stage in my Blog's Strategy, that means providing informative and relevant content for the purpose of recruiting regular readers. Period. With my limited amount of time, my blog will fail if I spent most of it messing around with Twitter, FriendFeed, FaceBook, LinkedIn, MySpace....you get the picture. I admit, its not always easy. Twitter is pretty damn addictive (by the way...you can follow me at http://twitter.com/JeffBuzz). But I have a plan and I try to stick to it. Right now, that involves publishing content that readers will follow.

2. Networking with Other Bloggers

In order for your blog to be successful its important to have allies. You will find that what you put out to the blogosphere will come back to you, often many times over. Make friends, comment on other blogs, help out a fellow blogger when they are in need. You can spread the word about your own blog the best you can, but you won't get very far in this world WIDE WIDE web. Having many other people help spread the word about your blog is critical. Do it for them and they will help do it for you. This is one of the underlying philosophies here at Buzz My Blog. It is also what makes viral market work. Make friends that will help you. Each of them makes other friends, they also make friends, and so on. Before you know it friends 3 or 4 generations away are visiting your blog. That is exponential growth! If you try to do it alone, you'll be screwed.

3. Guest Posts

Guest Posts are a fantastic way to get a LOT of new readers. If you are able to write content that is good enough to be published on a well-known blog, definitely take advantage of it. You will see a whirlwind of traffic and can gain many new readers by being exposed to a new reader base. As I said in my prior post on this topic, it is important that you work hard to retain these new readers. A guest post will bring new visitors to your blog, but its up to you to convert them into followers. Be sure to follow up a guest post with a killer post on your own blog.

4. Promotions

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you probably know that I hate contents. I do a weekly feature called the Weekly Buzz, where I randomly select one winner and write up a free review of their blog. They also win a prize that helps them promote their blog. Usually its in the form of EntreCard credits, but occasionally I will do a special give away (like this WEEK!) and offer hundreds of visitors of actual traffic. But to me this is not a contest, this is a Promotion. Contest serve one purpose and one purpose only - to benefit the blogger that is running them. They usually involve some simple prize but require other bloggers to sell their sole and shamefully promote the contest holder for chances to win. Promotions, on the other hand, give your readers a reason to WANT to talk about your blog. Take my Weekly Buzz for example. People have nothing to lose. I don't require them to post anything about my blog or the promotion. Yet, they chose to do so anyway because it exists for one reason - to help OTHER bloggers. Promotions are a great way to get new people interested in you blog, but just make sure you aren't trying to take advantage of your readers.

5. Social Media

Earlier I mentioned that I don't have time for Social Media. For the most part that is true. But I would be giving up a huge source of traffic if I ignored it entirely. Social Media, if used for good instead of evil, can be a great way to bring visitors to your blog. StumbleUpon is the number one source of traffic for my blog. When I publish a post that I work very hard on, I typically get hundreds of new visitors from StumbeUpon (hopefully this post will live true to this, wink wink). I also utilize BlogCatalog where I have a few hundred "friends" that I can broadcast announcements to when I have a new post to check out. EntreCard can bring a ton of new visitors as well, although some will argue how valuable the traffic really is. Of course, I always Tweet an announcement when I have a new post available. Social Media is important, but not the most important priority. That is why it is #5 on my list. If you work hard to give people a reason to visit your blog, they will find you eventually. Social Media just helps that happen quicker. Its kinda like chicken soup when you are sick...probably helps, but definitely doesn't hurt. The important thing to realize is that Social Media can bring people to your blog initially, but its up to you to turn them into the type of visitors we want...regular followers.

6. Paid Services

The final item on my list is services that allow you to pay cold hard cash for traffic. This is last on my list because it should only be used if absolutely necessary or if you have an actual budget and intend to spend money on your blog. I believe that your blog can make you money without having to spend much of your own. It just takes more work. If you want to take the lazy route, or just have the money to spend, you can use services like Google's Adwords to pay for click throughs to your blog. When I do special traffic promotions for the Weekly Buzz, I purchase direct traffic to the winner's blog using a StumbleUpon campaign. If you don't mind spending the money, its a very easy way to get people to your site. Just make sure you have something there to keep them coming back.

If you've made it this far, congratulations! Good thing I made this post a multi-part series, huh? I hope you find this information useful. If so, please drop me a comment and let me know. Stick around for next week when I talk about getting started with Pay Per Click advertising.

Jeff

Today is Tax Day in the United States. Millions of people will be making a Cinderella-like dash to the post office, trying to get their tax returns postmarked before the clock strikes midnight. In honor of this most spectacular display of procrastination, I figured today would be a great day to talk about MAKING MONEY WITH YOUR BLOG.

I know what you must be thinking..."its about f*%$in' time! Your blog is about making money isn't it?".  Well, yes it is. But it is also about helping other bloggers make money. So I am going to share with you my monetization plan for BuzzMyBlog.com. After reading this, hopefully you will understand why I have not focused too much on money so far. I am just coming out the planning phase - a crucial step for any blog that desires a revenue stream. If there is one thing that I can stress more than anything else, its patience. All the A-Listers have said it here - you can't expect to make a lot of money overnight. But with the proper planning, it is possible to earn a nice supplemental income.

I was originally going to describe my entire plan in this single post. By the time I was done writing about Step 1, however, I realized that the post would become way too long. So I have decided to make this plan a multi-post series. There is just too much information to cover in one post. Today I will focus on Step 1 - Planning.

Before I continue, let me take a quick second and to point out one important thing. I realize that some of these steps might be obvious to you veterans out there. If so, then I humbly request that you help us newbies out and leave a comment with some advice or feedback. I am not claiming to be an expert at making money online (yet). I have spent the last 3 months learning much about the topic and have come up with this plan for my blog. I, myself, am only between steps 2 and 3 of my plan. I am sharing this plan in case it helps out anyone else who is just getting started. If you already have some experience in the areas I will be discussing, at this step or at any step along the way, please share it with us. Your contributions are greatly appreciated.

Step 1: Planning Is Pivotal

I cannot stress how important I believe this step to be. In order for your blog to be as successful as possible, it is important that you treat it like a small business (if its not already an actual business). The same rules of business apply to blogging. There is supply and demand (relevant content within your niche and readers with interest), there is competition from other bloggers, and there are incomes and expenses. No right-minded business would venture blindly into the marketplace without a solid Business Plan. Those that do often fail. The same is true of blogging. The consequences of failing may not be as catastrophic in blogging - you aren't going to lose your house or anything. But if you don't plan, it is easy to become frustrated, lose interest, and give up. Following a clear plan, on the other hand, can help keep you focused and in the game.

The low level of risk in blogging is what makes it an attractive source of supplemental income. In order to minimize whatever risk there is, it is important to set goals to keep you on target and focused on activities that help improve your blog and enable it to earn as much as possible. Sure, some blogs do make decent money just by "winging it". And with time, yours could too. But having a solid monetization plan early on can help you get there faster. I guarantee you the big earners out there did a lot more than slap a few Google Ads on their blog. Do your research. Take a look at what other blogs in your niche are doing. See what works and what doesn't and what you might be able to improve upon. Then form you plan of attack. What are your sources of income, what services will you use, how much are you willing to spend, etc? Finally, set your goals and track your progress.

Do Your Research

The first step in any business planning is Market Research. This is where you learn as much as you possibly can about your blog niche so you can determine where there are opportunities to make money. It is not necessary to do this ahead of time. Ideally, this type of research is an on going process. There will always be new things to learn and new ways to make money. However, early in your blog's life cycle, you should be able to get a good grasp of your niche pretty quickly. Network with other bloggers and get to know who else is in your niche. See how they are making money. Hell...you can even ask them. One of the things that amazes me most about blogging is how willing bloggers are to help each other. Yes, there is competition for ad dollars out there. But there is plenty of money to go around. Bloggers realize that the positive exposure gained from helping another is much more valuable.

Form Your Strategy

I started my blog in the beginning of January and I had very little experience with blogging or making money. In no time, I had a good understanding of who was in my niche, how they made money, and what forms of revenue were available. Check out my Ask A Pro posts. You can see how I practically ask big name bloggers these questions directly! It is amazing what you can learn if you just ask. The research I did early in the life cycle of blog has helped me to develop this plan that I am sharing with you now. I have learned, for example, that Private Ads are the most lucrative form of income for my niche. However, it is very possible to supplement this income with affiliate marketing revenue and pay per click ads. I will discuss each of these topics in more detail in posts 3 to 5 of this series. Your niche might be a little different. If you focus on high tech gadgets, for example, you might be able to make the most money by referring sales leads. It is important to realize that each blog might have a slightly different strategy. If you do the appropriate research, you will be armed with the right information to develop your particular strategy.

Set Your Goals

Once you have your strategy, now comes the fun part! Time to play with the numbers and see how much money you can make. Setting goals is such an important part of the plan, but it is often overlooked. How else can you determine how well your plan is working if you don't set metrics to measure yourself? Initially, your goals may not be monetary. As I mentioned earlier, I am currently between steps 2 and 3 of my plan. I have been primarily focused with growing my readership base up to this point. Therefore, my goals so far have been based on traffic, visitors, and regular readers. If you have seen my Progress Reports, you may have noticed my traffic levels have been increasing. This is part of my plan. (You also may have noticed their ridiculous titles - I try to make them fun). Starting with my next progress report, you will begin to see some revenue goals. Four months should be enough time to start earning some money, no matter how little it is.

Track Your Progress

With your strategy formed, and your goals in place, its time to execute your plan. While doing so, its important to track your progress. How well are you doing compared to the goals you have set? If something is working well, do more of it. If something is not working, taking it back to the drawing board, adjust your plan and try something else. If this was an easy process, everyone would be doing it (yeah...it does seem that everyone is doing it. But if it was easy, everyone would be doing it well). Part of the planning phase is testing out your strategies and making any tweaks where they are needed. In order to know if you are doing well, you need to compare your actual results with the goals you set in your plan. Starting with my next Progress Report, I am going to be showing an Income vs. Expense Report (just like a real business). This report will help me track my progress and show if I am meeting the goals I have set for my blog.

No one said Making Money with your blog was going to be easy. It take patience, practice, and hard work. If you take the time to come up with an organized plan, however, your chances for success will be greatly improved. Stay tuned for my next post in this series where I discuss how growing my readership base is an important component to my monetization plan.

And for those of you who haven't finished your taxes....enough procrastinating! Get to moving! Maybe next year your only income will be from your blog?

Jeff

I don't have to tell you how a nice image can really spruce up your blog post. You can find countless articles in this blog niche that tell you all the reasons why you should add some pretty pictures to catch the reader's attention. Instead, I want to share with you my favorite place to find high quality pictures and how they can not only make your posts more interesting, but also make you some money!

I have been using iStockPhoto for royalty-free stock images a few months now and I absolutely love it. Whenever I am finished writing a post, I usually have a good idea what I want the picture to look like. I always search Creative Commons, Microsoft's ClipArt Gallery, and even Google Image search, but never find the image I want or one that I can use legally. So then I head over to iStockPhoto.com and always find exactly what I am looking for. Their collection of images is huge! Their website is easy to use and you can always find what you need quickly and easily.

Unlike Creative Commons licensed photos, images from iStockPhoto are not free. But they are not expensive either. Once you create an account, you can buy credits for as little as $13.00 USD for 10 credits. You can use these credits to buy images, videos, or even vector graphic files. Images with a size appropriate for a blog only cost 1 credit. I have no problem paying $1.30 to make my posts much more visually appealing. In the long run, it improves the aesthetics of my entire blog.

Here is the best part. Once you open an account at iStockPhoto, you can refer other users to the service. For each user you refer, you get $10.00 as soon as they buy some credits. That is not a bad deal! You can make your $13.00 back plus some after referring just 2 users. Your earnings can also be converted to credits so you never have to pay for images again. Pretty sweet, huh?

Oh...if you are good with a camera or graphic arts, you can also make money by uploading and selling your work. iStockPhoto.com truly is a one stop shop for artists, bloggers, and entrepreneurs!