Here are 5 ways to monetize your blog:

1) Pay Per Click (PPC)

PPC is one of the most popular ways to make money with a blog and Google Adsense is the most popular PPC network that bloggers use. As the name “pay per click” suggests, you get paid each time someone clicks on ads displayed on your blog. The amount of money you can make with each click depends on a few different factors, the most important one being the importance of the topic and the keyword. For instance, Keywords related to finance like credit, mortgage and home loan are some of the highest paying keywords.

PPC advertising networks like Adsense and Bidvertiser, use a smart technology that displays laser targeted ads based on the content of your page. So, if your blog is about food, you won’t see finance related ads displayed on your blog, it will be ads about food and cooking.

2) Cost Per 1000 Impressions (CPM)

With CPM you get paid per impression, usually a few cents per impression. The good thing about CPM is that no one has to click on your ads for you to get paid, the bad news is that most of the time you get paid only a few cents per thousand impression. So, CPM would work much better on blogs with high amounts of traffic.

However, you can still benefit from CPM even if you don’t get much traffic and views. Usually ad networks allow CPM to be used in conjunction with other kinds of ads like PPC ads. Since PPC pays per click, you could place PPC ads above fold and above or under your individual posts, and place your CPM ads on less prominent parts of your blog, where they won’t replace the PPC ads, but you will still get impressions on them. One of the most well-known CPM ad networks is AdBrite.

3) Cost Per Action (CPA)

CPA is self explanatory. Its a method of advertising where in order for publisher (you, the blog owner) to get paid, the visitors has to click on the ad and take the necessary action that is required by the advertisers. These “action”s could be as simple as submitting an email address, registering for a website or subscribing for a free newsletter, to purchasing a product or opting in for a paid service. The most popular kinds of CPA ads are 125×125 ads that are usually placed in the left or right side (side bar) of the blog.

Of course, the commission you receive for each valid transactions, depends on the individual ad and the kind of action it requires. Usually ads that ask visitors to purchase a product or pay for a service pay much higher than ads that ask for free sign-ups and entering basic information such as name and email address. But either way, CPA ads pay a lot more than PPC or CPM ads. Amazon Associates, ClickBank and Commission Junction are some of the biggest CPA advertising networks.

4) In-text Advertising

This is one of the newest kinds of blog monetization methods. There is no need to set aside space on your blog to place ads. With In-text advertising specific keywords within the text of your content are matched with ads, turning those keywords into underlined or double underlined words. In text advertising works the same way as CPC. You get paid every time someone clicks on the ad.

In-text advertising is not for every blog. It really depends on the audience and the topic of the blog and sometimes even the structure of the blog.The key to using in-text advertising successfully is moderation. Don’t set your option to having 1 ad in each sentence, its a big turn off. A few in text ads in each post is plenty. Kontera is one of the biggest In-Text advertising companies out there.

5) Text Links

Text links (I call them affiliate links) are basically links that point to another site. Text links direct visitors from your blog to someone else’s blog or website. When it comes to getting paid, Text links work differently than other methods, meaning the pay is based on the popularity of your blog. The more popular your blog is, the more money you get. Text-Link-Ads and Link Worth are two of the most famous text link advertising companies.

These are some of the most popular and easy ways you could monetize your blog. However, when it comes to blog monetization, there is no one method that could work for every blog and every blogger. That is why you need to do your own research. Experiment with different types of monetization methods, and try different things with each method.

For example, if you use PPC, move your ad blocks around on your page and keep track of the results. Doing so enables you to find out which kind of ad block (color, size, etc) in which spot on your page gives you the best results, thus allowing you to make more money from your blog.

This is a guest post written by Satrap of http://www.blogstash.com

The domain name is blogtrafficjam.com and anyone interested should send us an email at george@websitepromotionbook.com with the subject “blogtrafficjam”. Let us know what price you are interested in buying it for and let us know any questions you may have about the domain. If we don’t have any serious offers then we will be putting it up for auction in the next week or two.

Congrats Wendy! Look forward to checking it out.

PS. I know I haven’t been writing much on this blog. At some point I plan on talking about that in more detail, but right now I am still working out the details.

“7 Harsh Realities of Blogging for Bucks” was a fairly open-format round table with Darren Rowse of Problogger, Brian Clark of Copyblogger, and Sonia Simone of Copyblogger/Remarkable Communication. While they outlined the harsh realities, they focused more on the solutions to those problems. It’s difficult to distill down their message, and I’m sure others out there have attempted the same, but I’m going to give it a try:

1.Free is not a business model – You can’t make money if you give it all away, but you’ve got to give away a lot of good content to attract people to your premium content or your products. Finding the balance can be tough, but the panel has found that the more you give away, the more people trust that your premium content/products are actually worth buying.

2.The push-button internet cash machine is on the fritz – With few exceptions, you can’t make money fast as a blogger. Like most worthy ventures, it takes time and work to build something that brings in an income. Lots of bloggers treat it as supplementary income. Don’t expect to make a six-figure income overnight, and you’ll probably be fine.

3.You can talk to everyone – It’s easy to get caught up in trying to grow your blog so quickly you lose sight of making real connections. Their advice was to get real about how many meaningful connections you can make in a day. The key word there is “meaningful.” Stretch too far too fast, and you’ll be lost in the shuffle.

4.No one wants that much authenticity – Don’t lie, but don’t get too personal. You don’t have to share everything about your life. Have some boundaries; you don’t want to creep out or bore anyone.

5.Social media hates selling – But you have to sell. Your content is your “marketing.” People love to share content, so let your awesome writing sell itself. Consider that you are offering your readers something valuable, not just pitching a deal.

6.A blog is not a business – Plenty of bloggers out there have no intention of making money. You can set up a blog with no business plan and be perfectly happy with it. But if you want to make money, you need a business plan. Treat your blog like a business, plan where you are going, and be prepared to grow with the business.

7.No one is reading your blog – There could be several reasons that no one is reading your stuff.
a.Maybe you’re not talking about something they care about. If your niche is too obscure, there just may not be a lot of audience for your subject matter. Or, maybe you’re talking about just one aspect of your subject and need to broaden your horizons.
b.You haven’t been giving it time. It takes time to build a readership. Most bloggers start out with their friends and family reading their blog. It took Darren Rowse nearly two years to get his photography blog to the place where it had a good readership and began to make money. Part of this is that you may not be spending any time to spread the word in other ways, like a strong social media presence.
c.You’ve got a good topic, but you’re not being fresh. There are new blogs coming up every day, and the hot topics get covered first. If you can find a new way to present a popular subject, you’ve won half the battle. But, if you’re copying what everyone else is doing, you could be doomed to obscurity.

I learned a ton from this very knowledgeable panel. I hope you get a a little out of my summary.
Thanks for reading,
Sherry
Starting Fresh at Forty

Good evening from day one in Las Vegas!

As my own blog is still pretty young, I figured today I would do the Problogger track and sit in on the four connected sessions by Darren Rowe and Chris Garrett. They covered creating killer content, finding readers, building community, and monetization. Basically, everything you need to know to have a successful blog. There’s a good deal of rave reviews about these guys and now I know why.

Without going into the deep particulars and trying to recreate the several hours’ worth of material, I thought I’d give you my 10 biggest takeaways from the sessions.

1.Make each post count – Garrett echoed the morning keynote speaker, Scott Stratten, when he emphasized that if you don’t have anything to say, don’t try to force meaningless filler on people. Your readers remember your last post; your previous stuff may have been killer, but if that last post was no good, they may not come back.

2.Know your audience – If you don’t know who you’re writing for, find out. Take a look around, do some research. When he began his photography blog, Rowe sat down and wrote out bios for three of the potential types of readers he expected to get, then wrote for them. It changed over time, so he tweaked the bios and still writes with them in mind.

3.Don’t write for SEO, write for people – No one is going to read your stuff just because there are a lot of keywords in it. Don’t find popular search words and write around them. If you’ve got a good post, maybe you can refine it and work some keywords in, but remember it has to be interesting and readable.

4.Get off your blog – If you want people to read and continue to read your blog, go where they hang out online and interact. Comment on other blogs, use social media, maybe guest blog a little.

5.Give back to your readers – If someone has made a comment on your blog, answer back. Acknowledge your readers by checking out their blogs and recommending them to others. Thank them for participating. Reciprocity can be a powerful tool, and it’s just polite, darn it.

6.Invite interaction – Set little challenges for your readers, ask opinions, ask for their tips and advice. In other words, build a community.

7.Start small with advertising – Got a little blog? Find little advertisers. Team up with bloggers in your niche who could offer a new advertiser a package deal, then grow as your audience does.

8.Monetize progressively, don’t be stingy – Give away a really helpful Ebook. (Yes, don’t hold back all the good stuff. They have to know you aren’t blowing smoke, you really have valuable information.) If you see people like it then go for a low-priced product. Work your way up to that big consulting contract, service or product.

9.Trust is key – People will only do business with those they trust. Don’t lie, don’t exaggerate, be up front and forthright. Don’t be a jerk (this was emphasized quite a bit today, using several different synonymous words.)

And the biggest takeaway for me today:

10.Don’t give up – Building a good blog takes time. With few exceptions, most blogs don’t gain success overnight. Rowe’s first blog took a year and a half to really get a good readership and begin to make money. There are a lot of bloggers out there; it can be tough to build a readership when so many people are attempting the same. But if you persist and have good, valuable content, you really can have a successful blog.

There are two more days of the expo, if they’re anything like today, I’m definitely getting my money’s worth. Until then, keep blogging!

Well, the 2008 Olympics are about to start and I wanted to share a little about what we have been doing to get ready.

For those of you who don’t know this, we made some decent money a few years ago when my wife Jill blogged the winter Olympics. We then decided to blog every Olympics, because Jill really enjoys it and it is a good way to make some decent money.

To be honest, with the new baby’s arrival we did not do as much preparation for the Olympics as we originally planned. I was going to redesign our blog to look nicer, but after redesigning this blog and watching my Search Engine rankings immediately drop 5 spots for the “make money online” term I decided I would put the redesign of the Summer Olympics blog on hold. Also we found the current design to work so well for making money with the last Olympics that it didn’t make sense to change the design without the time to test it’s monetization.

Anyway, over the next three weeks I will be very busy with the Olympics. I do intend on giving you updates about other things we did in preparation of the Olympics, as well as things we are going to do to make money with our blog during the Olympics. So stayed tuned…

Blog Mastermind is opening it’s doors again, BUT this time it’s not closing!

Blogging guru, Yaro Starak, is opening up his Blog Mastermind training program to new members on Tuesday. Leading up to the opening Yaro released some great free videos that reveal how to make money blogging. You can see all the great videos here:

• Coversion Blogging


• Interview with a million dollar blogger


• How Yaro’s blog makes money online (2 videos)

As an incentive to buy, I am offering an exclusive bonus to those who buy it through my link. For those who sign up for the Blog Mastermind program, I will put on a free teleconference to answer your most pressing questions. Because of our blog about the Olympics in China I won’t be holding the conference until after the Olympics are over.

To claim your bonus for ordering the Blog Mastermind:

1. Click here to sign up through my affiliate link
2. Email me your receipt to george @ websitepromotionbook.com
3. I will then contact you with details about the teleconference
4. After the teleconference, you will get an mp3 recording of the call

That’s all there is to it.

In conversion blogging, Yaro discusses how to make money online with blogs and gives you some other great insights into running an online business. In fact, Yaro teaches you the exact system he uses to make money online using a process he calls “conversion blogging.”

Click here to check out the free video for yourself.

If you are a beginner and you want to learn how to start a blog then I highly recommend you go check out Yaro’s blogging videos for beginners by clicking here.

Blogging with a purpose. What does it mean and how can we get the most out of it if that is our aim? I ponder this question quite often to be honest. When I first came online I didn’t have a purpose except to make money. Little did I know what it actually takes to make money.

Well, fast forward 4 years and I have learned a lot. So much so that I could easily write 20 ebooks. No, scrap that, hundreds of them. I’m consistently surprised and amazed at how much information I can cram into my brains on a daily basis.
Sometimes I feel my brain has to burst for sure.
But no, it just keeps working, soaking up usable scraps of info and reminding me about them when I need something fast.

If we look at it closely, our mind is like a huge machine. Quietly filing away information bytes until we need them. Storing them on hidden shelves.
Getting back to the blogging with purpose idea though I noticed it helps to know what we really want out of life. Admittedly most of us are consistently re-inventing ourselves. There is nothing wrong with that since we learn and adapt throughout a lifetime.

The best thing about writing a blog is that we can always change direction. After all, it is ours. We make it our own and stamp our own distinctive character onto it. While this kind of helps (since we don’t have to worry), it does still make sense to blog with a purpose since it is saving us huge chunks of time.

Just imagine what would happen if you were to change directions on your blog all the time. Chaos! Plus you’d also loose most of your readers for sure. Blogs have that distinctive trait to attract a certain readership, depending on the topic of course.

While most bloggers change their direction at some stage, many wouldn’t dare to do this too often, me included. Unless of course we start a new blog.
But doing this will only cause us to waste a lot of time. Time we could use to actually grow our blog with a purpose. Whether this time is utilized with link building, adding more posts or using other means to further blog traffic is irrelevant.

Purpose blogging is in my humble eyes a must if you want to build a corner stone blog for your business. For many business owners blogs are the number one means to connect with the world. Their blog is the window to their shop, their business.

For these business owners purposeful blogging is more important than for a diary blogger who simply wants to have some fun. To blog with purpose could include any of the following:

• keyword focused posts
• driven advertising
• networking in the right circles
• blogging on topic
• blogging to a strict schedule
• using prizes, give away’s and competitions to attract more readers

Whatever your purpose, you need a structure. Whether you focus on any or all of the examples before, you need to know what your blogging purpose is.

When I first started my blog, I did it with the intention to journal my journey as a freelance writer. My aim hasn’t wavered much, although I did eventually stop blogging on wider topic group and started to narrow my focus on freelance writers (both new and established), writers and entrepreneurs instead.

This change of focus has paid off with regards to help brand myself as an established and knowledgeable freelance writer, which of course I am by now. To further sweeten my decision, I am fortunate enough to be able to help many aspiring freelancers with my advice. This in fact has always been my blogging purpose too, I just needed to narrow my blog’s focus some more to move further in this direction.

As you can see by what it has done for me, a blogging purpose could make a huge difference to your blog, your business and ultimately your life.

So, tell us, what is your blogging purpose?

There has been an alarming trend of bloggers lately, who complain about all the rehashed crap that is being blogged about worldwide. I have to agree with this and a sure proof of this is my shrinking RSS feed reader. Bloggers who posted like 5 blog entries about how their ebook performed after being released have been eradicated as well as those who simply blog to sell me their rubbish.

These days I hardly read MMO (make money online) blogs and it looks like I’m not missing out on much anyway. What is it with bloggers who think they should blog everyday but don’t manage to put out one meaningful post during the week – yet they are treated like the gods and goddesses of the blogosphere.

Have we really become suckers who simply hang out at a blog because the RSS feed reads in the thousands, even though the blogger doesn’t have anything of value to share?

Where has the focus on quality gone?

What do I mean with quality anyway? I guess I’m talking about meaningful posts that either educate, help, provoke or make people really think.

When I first started blogging I also blogged daily for many months. But I soon realized that I was going down the same road many of today’s bloggers travel on and that is the road of “overdoing it with unmeaningfull content” that only serves one purpose…to bring them more traffic.

It was actually Maki of Dosh Dosh who got me thinking when he announced that he would cut back his posting frequency in the middle of last year.

I thought, I rather do this myself than write rehashed stuff just because…

Since then I have cut back severely and in my eyes this has been the best thing I could have done. My traffic hasn’t suffered at all. Actually quite the contrary and unless I have something of quality (see above) to share with my readers, I won’t post.

To be fair, one man’s/woman’s quality could be another’s trash. I know that but I also think you would agree with me when I say there is far too much rehashed stuff floating around online. Just to blog because you ought to is simply like sticking a knife in your throat as your readers will notice eventually if there is a lack of quality.

Instead of trying to sell every affiliate program under the sun and blog about it when the next “wonder” hits the Internet, why not blog about a topic which is your forte and allows you to help educate others instead?

What would be your favourite:

Blogger A: who blogs about this and that affiliate program, posts every day, talks all the time about how they don’t really know anything about the make money industry and yet tries to flog an ebook (free or paid) to their readers in order to make money on the back end. Plus they pretend they are the next A-lister because they have enough readers to fill a small stadium (OR NOT).

Blogger B: who doesn’t claim to be something special, but makes money in a particular niche and uses his/her knowledge to help their reader with lots of informative and free info. This blogger hasn’t got a huge following because he/she doesn’t rub shoulders with the A-team, sucking up to whatever they say.

Mmmhh… it is a hard choice, isn’t it? Would you forfeit a minute in the limelight for a minute of true learning that can actually help you make money? I guess it comes down to two things:

1. how gullible you really are
2. how serious to succeed you really are

Anyway, do you focus on quantity, quality or both?

Hi {find name of blogger and put here},

I am writing on behalf of the blog team at xxxxxxx, which runs the popular xxxxxxx Marketing blog.

We are hand picking a few really great blogs to add to our blog roll. If you’re interested in having your blog recommended on xxxxxx blog, please consider adding our blog to yours.

The name of our blog is xxxxxxxx.

Thanks!

I often get requests for links that I think are form letters. However, in this case it was an obvious form letter. I was laughing out loud when I read the line:

“We are hand picking a few really great blogs”

Really??? Hand picking???

If you ever handpick a blog to exchange links with, don’t start your email with:

Hi {find name of blogger and put here},

It kind of gives the impression that you weren’t exactly handpicking my blog.

P.S. My name is George.

You have just created one of the best blogs that the Internet has ever seen. But now what?

How do you expect to get anyone to notice this site?

It may well be the best site ever created, or it may contain the meaning of life somewhere on the page, but can you expect anyone to notice it in the first place?

This is one of the trickiest obstacles to overcome when you first set up your own website or blog. You can’t expect instant search engine traffic or get good SERPS for your site because it is still brand new. Unless your domain name is one which is randomly typed by Internet users, you can’t really expect to get any kind of traffic at all.

One of the best and easiest ways of getting your site (and yourself) noticed on the Internet is by becoming a guest blogger. This is simply when you have some kind of a deal in place with another already well-established blog and you agree to write interesting, related articles in return for a link back to your own blog or website. The blog owner is getting free (hopefully) unique content and you are receiving free publicity for your own blog. Everyone is happy.

Here Are Some Of The Many Advantages Of Becoming A Guest Blogger:

1. You Can Get Your Website/Blog Noticed For Free Nearly Instantly
   It costs you nothing to write an article, but will obviously involve a little bit of your time. This should be time well spent though, and guest blogging probably gives more advantages to your site/blog then by paying for some kind of advertisements. Also once you have written the article and have submitted it to the blog it is ready to go live on the site (might take a few hours for the blog owner to check it through and then submit it). This means that you can get almost instant traffic to your own site/blog.
2. You Can Tap Into Related Markets
   Say you had a blog which contained dog training advice. You wouldn’t then find a blog about financial advice and ask to become a guest blogger. Why would the readers of the financial advice blog want to read your articles about teaching your dog how to stop biting people? You should find a blog which is in the same niche as your own blog/site, and then ask to become a guest blogger. Then the articles that you create will be of interest to the blog readers, who in turn will be much more likely to visit your website as it is related to the same subject, which is obviously of interest to the reader.
3. Show Off Your Skills And Mark Your Authority On A Subject
   Perhaps you feel you are highly talented at writing on your blog, or perhaps you are highly knowledgeable of a specific topic. This is all very well, but if no-one goes to your site then no-one will ever notice you. This is why guest blogging is an excellent way of showing off your skills or your authority on a subject. As a guest blogger you are instantly in touch with the readers of a blog, so you now have a direct chance of impressing the readers of that blog – who should appreciate your work, and may in turn feel inclined to visit your own blog/site.
4. Free Backlinks For SEO Purposes
   If you are guest blogging on a site which as a good PageRank and which has good SERPS, you will be gaining some powerful backlinks to your own site. As a guest blogger you should be allowed to place a few links back to your site/blog from within the blog-post you have written, and the search engines will see these links and this will hopefully improve your search engine position. A higher position in the search engines will obviously result in more visitors to your pages.
5. Improve Your Writing Skills
   Although many people may not really care about their own writing skills, it is still an important aspect of guest blogging. As a guest blogger you will get (hopefully) a few chances of impressing the visitors of that blog, so you have to make your blog posts interesting and exciting. If your writing is poorly constructed or boring to read then chances are no-one is going to bother taking a look at your blog/site. You should adapt and improve your writing when it comes to guest blogging as you will only have a limited space in which to show off your skills, and if you don’t impress then you won’t gain much from becoming a guest blogger.

The 10 Best Ways To Increase Blog Traffic:

1. SEO
   Without a doubt SEO has been my favorite way to get traffic to my blogs. The Google algorithm loves blogs, which makes SEO a very good way to get traffic to your blog.


2. Commenting
   Leaving comments on blogs in related niches is a great way to get new targeted traffic to your blog. It is also an excellent way to build relationships with other bloggers which leads me to number 3…


3. Networking
   Networking is possibly the single most important skill for making big money online. It is also a great way to build traffic to your blog.


4. Word Of Mouth
   Simply tell your friends and family about your blog and/or specific posts on your blog. You will be surprised by how much traffic that can generate.


5. Linkbait
   Create posts that are designed to grab people’s attention. Controversial posts are often associated with linkbait, but there are plenty of other ways to create linkbait. 101 lists make for good linkbait and so do posts that are out of the ordinary in some way.


6. Link Out
   Link liberally to other blogs in your posts. Many bloggers keep track of incoming links to their blog and will come check out your blog when you link to them. This can also help you get comments.


7. Stumbleupon
   I am a big fan of using stumbleupon for getting traffic to your blog. If you haven’t signed up for it you should. Stumbleupon is this blogs third best traffic source, behind retuning visitors, and Google.


8. List Posts
   I have found that posts with lists (like this one) generate more traffic to your blog. They tend to get bookmarked and voted on more on social sites. The more list posts you write the more traffic you will get.


9. Blog Memes
   Create a blog meme and tag other bloggers. Participating in blog memes has definitely increased my blog traffic. One blog meme in particular really helped this blog out and I never even participated in it.


10. Quality Content
    Quality content is the key to keep people coming back for more. If you write posts that people enjoy reading, they will come back regularly to read your posts. Having regular readers is a great way to increase blog traffic.

Those are the ten best ways I have found to get traffic to my blogs. What are your favorite ways to get traffic to your blog?

I have experimented with a LOT of social networking sites and Stumbleupon is my absolute favorite social networking site for driving traffic to my blog.

Stumbling articles is pretty easy when you install the toolbar on your browser. It takes a lot less effort to get more traffic than other social networking sites. You don’t have to be a “top” stumbler to get tons of traffic from it and it doesn’t take a lot of time to be involved in the community.

So as not to re-invent the wheel I thought I would share some of the better guides I have read about using Stumbleupon for driving traffic to your blog or site.

My friend Maki wrote a really nice guide about using Stumbleupon. I recommend you check it out by clicking here.

Another friend of mine, John Wesley became a top stumbler early on and wrote about how he managed to do it. I think that you can follow his advice and become a top poster for quite a few social networking sites. In fact, I have friends using similar tactics to become top members of other social networking sites.

Search Engine Land wrote a good basic guide on getting traffic with StumbleUpon called 5 Tactics For Driving Traffic From StumbleUpon.

Terry Dean did some experiments with Stumbleupon traffic that you might be interested in and wrote a nice 7 step guide on using StumbleUpon for traffic.

I am sure you can find other information on how great StumbleUpon is for driving traffic to your site. If you aren’t already using StumbleUpon for traffic, then I strongly suggest you go try it out. You can even check out my profile and add me as a friend, by clicking here.

Web 2.0 has created an online environment that is designed to make us spend more and more time online, which in turn can ruin your life.

Spending A Majority Of Your Free Time Online Is Not Healthy

Errr… isn’t this a blog about making money ONLINE?

Well, yes but…

You can’t spend all your time online and then find time to exercise. You can’t spend all your time online AND cultivate a relationship with your kids. You can’t spend all your time online AND strengthen the relationship with your spouse and/or find a spouse. You can’t spend all your time online AND have a relationship with God. You can’t spend all your time online AND …. (you fill in the blanks)....

You need to have balance and spending too much time making “friends” online can make you unbalanced.

That said, Web 2.0 has it’s good points. As an Internet marketer, leveraging web 2.0 sites can be a great way to make money online, but it does have a cost.

What I Learned In 2007 About Marketing With Web 2.0

I spent a great deal of time in 2007 building online relationships using web 2.0. I would never want to give up the friendships I have made, BUT…

It hurt my off-line relationships with God, with my wife, with my kids, and it also hurt my health. It wasn’t just spending time with Web 2.0 that hurt me but also spending time reading email 10+ times a day. In 2007 I spent WAY too much time checking email. In 2008 I am going to significantly decrease the amount of time I spend experimenting with web 2.0 sites and on other activities like reading email. It’s just not worth it!

But Isn’t Web 2.0 The Best Way To Get Traffic Online?

Yes and No…

Leveraging Web 2.0 is one way to get good traffic to your site, however it is not the only way to get good traffic online. There are many other ways to increase your website traffic that can be just as effective as Web 2.0. In fact, you NEVER want to rely on only ONE form of traffic generation for ALL of your website traffic!. This is so important I am going to say it again:

You NEVER want to rely on ONE form of traffic generation for ALL of your website traffic!

Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that you should give up on Web 2.0. What I am saying is that Web 2.0 and other advancements in technology are making it increasingly easier to lose focus on what is important. What I am saying is that spending too much time on surfing the web, making web 2.0 connections, voting on your favorite sites, etc. can ruin your life.

So, what can you do to keep Web 2.0 From Ruining Your Life?

Here are three ways to prevent Web 2.0 from adversely affecting your life:

1. Schedule Your Online Time
   Make sure you always have enough time for the most important things in your life by setting aside a certain amount of time each day that you can be online. First set aside time for the most important things in your life, like spending time with your spouse, kids, etc. Then with the remaining time set a schedule for your online time. Doing this will make you realize just how much time you are wasting on tasks that have no bearing to your emotional, financial, mental, and spiritual well being.

   As Internet marketers, it is important that we schedule our time wisely. There is something called the 80/20 rule that you need to keep in mind when you make a schedule. The 80-20 rule (also known as the Pareto principle, the principle of factor sparsity, and the law of the vital few) basically says that, for most events, 80% of the effects comes from 20% of the causes. In online business this translates to statements like “80 percent of your profits comes from 20 percent of your customers”, and “20 percent of your efforts results in 80 percent of your profits”. Your goal is to schedule as much of your time as possible on that “20 percent” that creates the real profits in your business. Scheduling time to work on the things that actually make you more money is crucial to your success. With Web 2.0 it is easy to focus on the “social” aspects of being online and spend VERY little time actually working on things that make you money.

2. Focus, Focus, Focus
   Web 2.0 is not all bad. After experimenting with social networks, you should find 1 or 2 (maybe 3 or 4) that you really want to focus on and forget about the other ones. When you focus on 1 or 2 social sites for marketing purposes you can become an expert at using those 1 or 2 sites for getting traffic to your sites. If you don’t focus on 1 or 2 sites, you will wind up spreading yourself too thin and not being able to make a big impact using any of them. Not focusing on 1 or 2 Web 2.0 sites for marketing purposes can be a total waste of your time.
3. Step Away From The Computer
   Like I mentioned in step 1 you need to schedule time to spend off the computer. Just like you should schedule your online time, you should schedule time to do the things that are important to you. Otherwise you might rationalize spending more and more time online.

   Take a step away from the computer and live your life. Do the things you enjoy, spend time with your family and friends. Don’t sacrifice a REAL life for an online one.

Final Thoughts

Would you rather have the most friends on MySpace or have a good marriage? Would you rather have the largest community on MyBlogLog or have a great relationship with your kids? Would you prefer to be a top rated Digger or have an online business that pays your bills?

If you spend too much time experimenting with all of the latest and greatest social networks you will find yourself spending WAY more time online in 2008 while making less money than you did in 2007. I don’t know about you, but I want to make more money online while working less, not less money online while working more.

Spending time using Web 2.0 to promote your business, make friends, and have fun can be very good, but spending TOO MUCH time in the Web 2.0 world can ruin your life and be bad for your business.

In the beginning of your quest to make money online you will most likely find yourself more frustrated and lost than you ever have any other time in your life. You will spend all your spare time doing everything you can to start making money with very little results. You might even come to hate yourself for ever getting started, but you decide to try just a while longer.

Something you must remember about making money online is to…

...NEVER GIVE UP!

Why is that?

For most people trying to make money online there is a very steep curve and you should not expect yours to be any different. Your internet income will probably be very little or maybe even non-existent for many months, then it might increase slowly for a while. Then, seemingly out of nowhere it can take a sharp turn upward and continue to increase rapidly.

When it all comes together and all your hard work has finally paid off, the frustration you once felt will seem like nothing more than a bad dream.

That’s when it starts to get really exciting! You can now build on your experience and knowledge to find even more ways to make money. Your business will continue to grow and your income will increase. At this point you will probably be making enough money online to quit your day job.

It’s tough to start making money online; there is no doubt about that. However, most people give up without actually giving it a true effort.

In order to find success online you need to:

1) Always Keep Learning.
The internet changes so fast it’s almost impossible to keep up. What works today may not work tomorrow. You must keep learning.

2) Continue to Work Hard.
Just because you work for yourself does not mean you don’t have to work hard.

3) Develop Your Skills.
Keep ahead of the curve by continually developing your skills to make money online.

4) Ask Questions.
No matter how long you have been around there will always be things you don’t know. Don’t be afraid to ask.

5) Apply Your Knowledge.
There are countless people with all the knowledge they need to make money online but they don’t apply it. Knowing is only part of the battle. You have to take action as well.

Also, keep in mind that there is no such thing as a get rich quick opportunity! You must put in a lot of time and hard work to make money online. But it sure beats working for someone else, doesn’t it?

So, what was the one thing you must remember?

...NEVER GIVE UP!

It won’t be easy but you will get there. Many people fail only because they didn’t realize how close they were to success when they decided to give up. This will never happen to you if you keep at it!

It’s not what you know, it’s who you know
I started realizing this at the end of last year. The more quality connections you make in your niche, the easier it is to succeed. I have made some real quality connections over the past year, and I am very glad I did. Not only because of how it can help my business, but also because I have met some really good people in the process.

Are You Using the Right Content Development Strategy for Your Website?
This is an excellent post about developing content that grabs people’s attention. Maki has done a great job of that and it’s one of the main reasons he has had such phenomenal success in a short period of time.

Read it Later Firefox Plugin
Chris wrote about an excellent new plug-in for firefox. It is something that will come in handy.

Best 101 Lists
Very interesting list of 101 lists. She included my 101 FREE Ways To Increase Your Blog Traffic. It must have taken a long time to get through them all.

Lastly, I wanted to mention a very interesting post from Wendy.

The Home Business Industry Needs to Realize it’s Not 1999 Anymore
Wendy’s article really made me think. I am not on the same page as Wendy because I am not getting rid of my Adsense ads. However, I am considering it. Does having adsense on your site, imply that you endorse the products that are listed in the ad units? I don’t think so, but do my visitors?

I do agree with her and I only promote affiliates products that I believe will really help. What do you think, do you agree with her?

Anyway, that’s it for now…

What can you sell with an ebook?

• Traditional text: It still sells well, especially when you pair it up with useful and interesting illustrations that help make your point.


• Videos: These are growing in popularity. Instead of just writing an ebook, you can make videos that your customers can download or watch over the Net. But, if you want a video product, produce it to a higher quality than you find on YouTube. People are paying you for it after all.


• Audio: You can make audio training you can listen to over the Internet. However, if your skills are best taught with some demonstration, use video instead.

You already know what you know, so why not make extra money from it? Even if you don’t want to sell proprietary information that could rob you of a competitive advantage, there’s still plenty of market for the basics. So if you want to add to your bottom line, consider spinning off a profitable training product.

So, here are a six ways I make money with my blogs on a regular basis and you can too:

1) Sell links in the sidebar or blogroll.

Charge a certain amount per month for a link in your blogs sidebar under “favorite links” or in the “blogroll” if that’s where you put your links. This is a very good way to make recurring income from your blog. Set up a monthly subscription for each advertiser that automatically bills them each month until they cancel. Most people will keep their links for many months, or even years. If you have a high traffic blog people will pay big bucks to get a link from you.

You might want to be careful with this one though because Google has recently cracked down on blogs selling text links. They have lowered the PR and in some cases the rankings of blogs doing this. However, it seems that most blog owners are not too worried about this because traffic comes from so many different sources that Google doesn’t make much of a difference. Plus, the PR of your blog really doesn’t matter. If you are only selling links based on your PR then you need to change your strategy anyway.

2) Charge for postings on your blog.

You can have an advertising option where businesses and website owners can pay a certain amount for a post on your blog. You can have them write up a review, article, press release, advertisement, or any other type of post. Or you can write it for them. Limit it to maybe 250 words or less to ensure they don’t make it too long. This method is great because you are adding content to your blog and getting paid for it.

3) Adsense.

By now pretty much every blog owner knows what Adsense is so this one is basically self-explanatory. Just sign up for Google Adsense and put the code on your blog. You make money every time someone clicks on an ad.

4) Affiliate reviews.

Every once in a while you can write up a review for a product or service that you are an affiliate of. If anyone buys it from your affiliate link then you will earn commissions. This is a really good way to make money from your blog. However, don’t get in the habit of posting lots of affiliate reviews. I like to do maybe two per month or so.

5) Get paid to blog sites.

There are sites such as PayPerPost.com and ReviewMe.com where you can sign up and get paid for blogging about other people’s sites. How much you get paid depends on a number of factors but if you have a popular blog you can make quite a bit per post.

6) The news cash method.

This one is very simple. All you have to do is go to http://www.thenewsroom.com and sign up for free. Then find some news related to the topic of your blog. You will see a little “embed” button next to all the news articles and videos. Click that button and copy the code to put it on your blog. You will then get paid every single time someone visits the page it’s posted on. You only make a very small amount of money per visit, but it adds up over time and you can post these news articles as much as you want.

There you have it. Six ways to make money blogging. I’m sure there are more ways that you can make money with your blog but these are some of the more popular methods, and they are the ones I have been successful with.

Dedicated to your success,
Trent Brownrigg
Home Based Business Opportunities