What is the reason you have begun blogging? For me it is to make a little money showing people what I know about making a little money on a website or blog. It’s purpose is to do that in a way that is hopefully entertaining and useful to my visitors. This is stated pretty clearly in my Blog’s Mission Statement.
There are three things that happen when you know your blog’s purpose:
- You don’t go off on tangents about places you want to see before you die as often as you do when you know what you should be writing about.
- You’ll attract the visitors who want to read what you’re writing, instead of distract them from the real message.
- You’ll be able to set up the right kind of advertising that will fit your blog like a glove, and therefore make you money.
That’s three pretty good reasons to know the purpose of your blog. Write it out and stick to it!
So, what happened to my comment?
Date: Friday July 18, 2008Posted in: Building a Blog with Traffic, Yak Yak Yak
It’s gone, I deleted it… I deleted them all… ack!
While trying to figure out why I couldn’t find my Word Press API key number so that I could install of a few plug-ins to check out and blog about, I deleted all of my comments, thinking I had only deleted the spammy ones.
For those who have left really cool and informative comments, please feel free to repost, and/or yell at me. I will try and not be so stupid in the future… For those who posted the spammy stuff, the plugin is now working, heh.
As for the Word Press API key number, you need to get a REAL username at Word Press. That means if you installed a Word Press blog from your domain name server, you need to go to wordpress.com and sign up for a username there too. I used the same username and password as for my blog and it synced me right in.
This was a bit confusing, so I hope it helps someone!
Blogging Tips: Submit Your Blog to the Open Directory Project
Date: Monday July 14, 2008Posted in: Blogging Tips
This is one of the main search engine type directories that your blog will really benefit from if included. It takes some time, as all adds are done by hand(human hand that is). It is also very selective, so be sure your blog has been up and running and is up to par about being a resources on your chosen topic.
You’ll need to dig down the topic lists and submit from your category page. Bookmark that page so that you can check back. Take a look at your competition and fellow webmasters/bloggers in your field while your there.
Find more information about being added here: http://www.dmoz.org/add.html
A side note: Google likes links in this directory, it has been my experience that a link here helps with page rank.
I was going to write up something on using Amazon.com as an affiliate as I am getting some of this coded today but Low and Behold, it’s done! Really, I can’t write this one up any better so I’m just passing on the link:
http://entrepreneurs.about.com/od/homebasedbusiness/ht/amazonaffiliate.htm
The only thing i don’t recommend is the Discount Hosting. Sorry, I know others that have had no problem, but I feel you get what you pay for and while I enjoy low cost hosting($6.95 a month with hostican.com) discount hosting often leads to sites that go Down just when google is doing a re-index.
Otherwise, love the article!
Our first monthly report isn’t any kind of surprise. I’ll note, however, that I’m not in the least bit embarrassed by it. While there are some blogs that make thousands of dollars, they don’t start out that way. Most start small and as they continue, they grow. That is part of our goal too. Well, on with the report!
Blog start date: 6/5/2008
Visitors: 290
Page Views: 3860
Google Adsense: $3.74
NeverBlue:$0.00
HostICan: $0.00
Page view rate: .96 cents per 1000 pageviews
Hosting has cost me $166.00(based on just the one Domain, I host a few which cost me a bit more. But I want to share the correct information as if I only ran this one blog.) So, as of this point I am $162.26 in the hole. If I stay stagnant here, I will end up $76.24 in the hole in two years - I have a better chance of pulling in a million a month.
When you are running a blog, 50% of the time you will be writing it and promoting it. The other 50% of the time you will be learning more about it. The learning curve to becoming a successful blogger is not exactly steep, anyone with a passionate interest in a topic and a command of the English language is capable. But it is perpetual.
That seems to be one indication of a successful blogger. They like to learn and then pass it on. Not only do they like to learn about their blog’s topic, they like to learn how to make their blog better. So if you want to be a successful blogger, keep learning how to make your blog better! Pretty simple, huh?
Some blog posts I found around that I learn a bit from today.
Share your learning ideas and advice in the comments section.
I would love to be sitting here typing out my next blog post, how about you?
How to Create a Domain Name for Your Blog
Date: Tuesday June 24, 2008Posted in: Building a Blog with Traffic
I am convinced that in order to have a viable money making blog, you need to have one with it’s own domain name and hosted on your hosting service. This way you are not at the mercy of a free blog’s company’s play in today’s market. If you don’t agree then tell me what you think happened to GEOcities and Infoseek after the dot com crash.
Don’t get too confused, I do use the free wordpress software, but I use it on my server. My blog is not on their server. If Wordpress ever goes under - it won’t for many reasons, but let’s say if- I just get a new software to post my blog, nothing is lost. If I didn’t do this and Wordpress went under, I’d lose my entire blog! EEP!
So, you need to start out right and invest in the host and domain name. But what do you call your blog? Here are a few things to consider when deciding on a domain name:
- Don’t be fickle, you will not want to change the name once you have one so give yourself time to decide on the right one.
- The name should reflect the blog topic.
- As a rule the shorter the better - no, I didn’t adhere to this one.
- Remember keywords, they work very well in a domain name.
- Spell it right!
- Put the words together and be sure they do not spell anything bad. For instance the word ‘exchange’ should never be used after the word ‘kids’.
Once you have a domain name register it at the same time you get a hosting service. Often you’ll find you get a deal on the name costs.
It follows that in order to have a successful blog, you’ll need to fill it with successful blog posts. Things that are boring, too off topic or not a part of your ‘blog voice’ can ruin your blogs success for a reader, who will not be back to see if you fixed it in the future. Remember the goal: to give users what they need and/or want.
Here is a list of attributes successful blog posts have:
- Entertaining.
- More than a list of links.
- They give credit where credit is due.
- They aren’t written in drawn out wordy paragraphs.
- Ranting is done in an informative way - not whiny.
- Not many, if any, grammar/spelling/typo mistakes.
- Users are invited to comment and add their opinions.
- Information is given in the basic way, the post does not ‘talk over’ it’s visitors.
- Insightful and honest.
- The post shows that the blogger is enthusiastic about his/her blog.
Agree with the attributes or not? Do you have any attributes to add to our list? Let us know in the comments area.
More insight into creating successful blog posts:
