How to make 25 dollars with your blog
This is how I made 25 dollars with my blog. There are three main factors in making $25 with your blog: patience, content and adaptation. The reason why I say you will make $25 “with” your blog instead of making the money from, or “off” your blog is because you need to imagine that your blog is your friend. This isn’t a garden that you will plant ideas into and watch them grow. Your blog is like a sentient friend that if you listen closely to the statistics and data that it tells you, you will succeed in earning 25 dollars. The reason why I say patience is the first factor is because as your blog grows, you will start out with only a few visitors. Since the techniques on making money on blogging discussed are based solely on Google AdSense revenue, you will notice that your advertisements will only generate a few cents per click in the beginning of your endeavor. Fortunately, over time your blog will grow in viewership and your advertisements will gain value per click. Don’t worry, we will go into this in much greater detail later in the article. The second important factor mentioned is content. Content is basically the flesh and blood of your blog. Without content you will have no information for AdSense to crawl through in order to make your advertisements. For this article, the content that we will be focusing is text content in the form of online articles, consisting of well written posts that are interesting and that are about 500 to 2,000 words long. Again, we will discuss content much more later. The final factor is adaptation. Adaptation is the brain of your blog. By paying close heed to the statistical information that you glean from your blog, you will start to notice trends in what article people enjoy reading the most. What articles generate the most clicks. Which articles people spend the most time reading. And most importantly, what kind of articles people read and then choose to stay on your website and read other content. Over time you will begin to understand that some things that you have to say are contributions to your blog that increase its uniqueness and style . And there are some articles that increase your advertising revenue. This article will help you in creating your blog. And if you already have a blog and you are thinking of monetizing it, this article will help you strategize your plan for profitability. This is a long article.
The first step in making 25 dollars with your blog is to first create your blog. To do this you will need a few things. First you will need a domain name. There are many places that work for purchasing domain names. I use godaddy.com for the overidon.com domain. When purchasing a domain, I recommend that you choose a privacy option that keeps your personal information secret. That way people telemarketers and thieves will have a more difficult time in learning your important personal information. The next step is to get web hosting for the files of your blog. Choosing web hosting is very important because there are many options and not every web hosting company is good for blogs. A few things to use as guidelines are: Make sure that the hosting you use is between $80 – $200 per year. If it is too much cheaper than that, I’d be concerned that they aren’t providing all the bandwith and features you need. And if the price is more expensive than than you are probably just getting ripped off. Make sure that the web hosting you are using is an Unlimited bandwith plan, and that you can store at least 50,000 files on your server. Another thing to make sure of is that you are allowed to store at least 50 to 100 gigabytes of space or more. Any less than that are you may have problems long term. A KEY THING to remember to check is that the web hosting provider gives you “MySQL” database technology. And the web hosting must also be compatible with PHP code. Another important factor is that you need to make sure that the web hosting provides statistical information on your blog. We use AWStats and that works great for information on hits, views, unique visitors, incoming and outgoing links and much more information.
Now that you have your domain and your web hosting it is time to set up your blog. We use wordpress to run overidon.com. WordPress is a free blog program. Now at this point, you should ask yourself if you are an advanced computer user or if you are not. Because if you do not consider yourself to be an advanced computer user you should stop here and find a friend to help you with this project or else hire someone who is going to be the technical guy or gal for your blog. If you do consider yourself to be computer savvy and are able to install programs, manipulate files, edit some basic code, and troubleshoot…then by all means read on and enjoy. After you get the version of WordPress that you need for your operating system, you should browse the many free themes that are available for download by clicking here and visiting the wordpress theme directory. The analogy works like this: WordPress is the skeleton and flesh, and the theme is the skin and the face of your blog. Without a good looking theme your blog will look very ordinary and plain. When choosing a theme make sure to get one that allows for good plugins and Meta tagging. I’m not going to tell you the theme we use because I don’t want you to copy me thanks. There are several guides on how to set up your wordpress blog and themes. But you can click here for a place to start. HERE IS A SUPER IMPORTANT TIP: When you read the option, “Do you want this blog to be searchable by robots, or Google or other search engines?” Make sure to click the box that says “YES!” I can’t stress this point enough. If you don’t do this you will miss the entire point of this article.
Ok, your blog is set up and you have customized your header image. Now is a good time to go into the settings area of the blog and configure the blog name, your blog description, and make sure to review every option that your wordpress blog has available in order to familiarize yourself. The same goes for your theme as well. A good header image can really make your blog stand out and will set the tone of your blog. Here would be a good time to remind you of the first important factor in making your 25 dollars with your blog, patience. If you take your time with these beginning steps and really take pride in your header image, people will notice and will be more inclined to come back and visit. Don’t skimp on this step. Remember you can always change it later.
Now the fun part begins, your first post and the beginning of your content. At this point you may be thinking, “Wait? Don’t I want to make money from my blog? Shouldn’t I set up Google AdSense at this point?” The answer is no. You should wait until you have written at least twenty posts or articles that have at least 500 to 2000 words. The reason for this is because Google does a quick preliminary check of your blog to see if it is worthy of AdSense. So if you blog is a porno site or has objectionable material of any kind then Google will definitely reject you. Also if you blog just looks like a piece of junk and has no content, you will probably get rejected as well. So that’s why we recommend that you post at least 20 interesting article of decent size. This is important: When writing your articles in wordpress, make sure to categorize your articles under appropriate categories. This will make navigation of your blog much easier for your visitors. Another thing to discuss is the “Custom Fields” area when you finish each article. Before you click the “Publish” button make sure to enter the custom fields. Here’s what you do for each one. Make sure to press the “add Custom Field” button after you enter the information. It should pop up and save after you press the button. For the “…body title” field enter in the exact title of your blog article exactly as it is in your blog post. For the “…body title_saved” field type in “1”. For the “…meta_description” field copy the first 5 sentences or so from your post into that field. For the “…meta_keywords” field (IMPORTANT) enter up to 10 or so keywords that appear in your article that either appear frequently, or that are very key and important elements to the post. This is probably the most important Custom Field because it will directly affect several factors like, google searchability and Google Adsense advertisement relevance. For example, if you have key words about puppies and kittens in this Custom Field, and your article is about the different types of tornadoes in the the Midwest United States, then your article will have a hard time showing up on the first page of Google, and your AdSense advertisements will probably be about cats and puppies. So when someone reads your article they will generally ignore your advertisements and you will have trouble getting clicks on your ads and therefore will generate little revenue. The final Custom Field is, “…meta_title” in this field make sure to enter the exact same information that was in your blog title and the “…body_title” field. If you put other information in here you will have unexpected results.
But what am I supposed to talk about? Well, that’s really up to you. Remember, there are literally tons of blogs out there so my advice to you is to write about what you are passionate about and what you know. If you are a humble and knowledgeable person then you should consider writing a blog that has a lot of information and research and hypothesis. If you are an opinionated and passionate person then consider writing about your ideas and why you are right all the time. If you are an enthusiast about something like anything from video games to climate change to makeup styles. Then you might want to talk about that in your blog. Just remember to not break any laws with your blog that may get you or your friends in trouble. Don’t do any copyright infringement or libel or pornography stuff. Basically if you use your brain and use common sense and ask professionals when you are about to enter a gray area ethically, you should have a fun blog that won’t get you into trouble.
One thing to consider is that most people read blogs to be entertained mostly and educated slightly. This is important because you can use this fact to your advantage. Let your personality shine through with every sentence and people will eventually have an affinity to your charm and wit and eventually you will have repeat visitors and subscribers to your RSS feed. If you don’t like reading your blog. Then it is a sure bet that no one else will either. So write when you really have something to say and try to use comfortable yet readable grammar. Spell check is always a plus.
After I write each article I make sure to copy the body of the post into a Microsoft Word document and save it. This is a smart idea because it serves as both an emergency backup of your information as well as a pat on the back and trophy of a job well done. Every couple months or so you should back up your entire blog database, and your entire website FTP information. Here’s a good guide on how to backup your wordpress database.
So now that you have written over 20 solid posts with interesting articles in them, it is time to set up Google AdSense for your blog. Search Adsense into Google in order to get started. It is pretty self-explanatory and google will walk you through each step of the way. The whole process of them reviewing your website and then you eventually getting access to their ads takes about a week or less. But once it is set up it is very worth it. Once you are approved and you have all the AdSense information it is time for you to setup Google Analytics. This software IS so amazing. If you use Google Analytics in conjunction with AWstats you will have the third key factor, adaptability. When you look at your statistics on what people are reading the most and what articles are generating the most revenue, you will be able to fine tune your writing style and become a more profitable blog. There are a few plugins that work well in conjunction with wordpress and Google Analytics. Overidon.com uses, “Google Analytics for WordPress” for this purpose.
When you read statistical information in Google Analytics, remember that your blog is only as good as your last 30 day period. If you drop in viewership because you haven’t posted an article in months, then you will need to earn and entice new readers to visit your blog. So a good habit to make is to write consistently and as often as your day job permits. And always write articles that you are proud of. If you write a garbage article that has little content value then your readers will notice immediately and you will have wasted a first impression that could have earned you a subscriber to your RSS feed. So make every sentence count and take ownership of your voice. People want to get to know you through both your style and your information, so share yourself in your blog but be mindful of your privacy and safety at all times.
Now here is the exciting part, promoting your articles. The writers for overidon.com have Facebook and twitter accounts. And we post links to our articles on those social media networking sites in order to gain exposure and entertain the world. You don’t have to promote every article you write. But it is generally a good idea to share links of your work on your Facebook page if you have the time. This is a quick way to gain readers to the blog. (IMPORTANT) Don’t post your links to your blog on your friend’s pages. That quickly annoys people especially if your blog is pretty rough. If you post links to your articles on your own Facebook page and you have enough friends that communicate with you, there is a small percentage chance that your friends will see your article link on their “Status Update” feed. So there really is no need to go around and spam your articles on other peoples’ pages. Also you can get in trouble with Facebook if you abuse it, some penalties include having your account suspended among other things. But I have found that if I post my articles on my page my friends generally read them and they give feedback on the articles that interest them. When a friend gives feedback on an article you write, whether it is a Facebook “thumbs up” or a comment on your blog, try your best to engage that person and make it clear that you genuinely appreciate their interaction and their opinions. Remember, people have millions of websites and blogs that they could read, so if someone shares their mind about your work, whether or not if it is a positive comment or harsh criticism, show your appreciation and interest. This is the fastest way to gain popularity, new readers, as well as increase the value of your advertisements by maximizing the volume of visitors and pageviews for each individual article.
If you remember anything from this article then it should be this: Encourage your friends to read your articles…but DO NOT ENCOURAGE YOUR FRIENDS TO CLICK ON YOUR ADS. If you try and trick Google by getting your friends to click your ads you can get into big trouble with Google. If someone genuinely likes an advertisement that they see on your blog and clicks on it, that’s fine. But Google tracks the IP addresses of clicks of the ads so they can tell if you are trying to cheat them.
So what is more important…the number of clicks you get, or the number of pageviews for each article? The answer is two-fold. If your article gets lots of pageviews and visitors, then the value of each ad will go up. This means that if you wrote an article about fishing and your keywords are set up properly, your ads may be about bait and fish food or fishing spots. If you get only a handful of views on that article, then a click will probably only be worth a few cents. But if you get hundreds or even thousands of views on that article then a single click could be in the dollar amount, perhaps higher. On the same token, the more clicks you get from different people then more successful ad clickthroughs will be registered to your AdSense account and you will gain more money. So the ideal scenario would be for your articles to have very high amounts of viewers and pageviews AND lots of clicks. If you find you have an article that fits this, and is getting clicks often, then make a note of it and try and figure out what you are doing right in this article. Sometimes the most unexpected articles will be the big profit generators. Likewise, if you find that certain articles rarely get views and almost never get ad clicks, then you should still keep the article on the site, because it is still content. But keep a mental note of the writing style and content that is in the article and try not to constantly talk about the same stuff in that unproductive article. But remember to stick with your integrity and style. Sometimes saying what is important to you and the world, however unpopular that may be, can be the kind of article that sets you apart from other blogs that discuss similar topics. Another thing to consider is that just because an article isn’t yielding many visitors or clicks now, doesn’t mean that the post won’t attract people in the future. You could be way ahead of the times in your thinking or the delivery of your message. Stick to your guns. You will be surprised on how effective an honest voice can be.
We’ve covered a great deal of important issues so far in this article. But there is still something we haven’t talked about: How long is this going to take in order for me to make 25 dollars with my blog? The answer to that is entirely up to you and your readers. For the case of overidon.com, I started posting articles in the current format and style that you see now, in August of 2009. Even though I created the website, overidon.com back in 2004 it wasn’t a blog for large-scale distribution of information and entertainment. Also it didn’t have advertisements until Novenmber 2009. That being said, you could say that it has taken overidon.com one year to earn $25 in Google Adsense ad revenue. That may seem like a long time, and it is. But the reality is, that I did not post articles every day by a long-shot. In fact, there are only 250 articles currently on overidon.com, and not all of them are the recommended 500 word length. If I did post articles every day and made sure they were high quality, I definitely think we would have hit the $25 mark much sooner. The whole process of becoming a blog that generates advertising revenue for overidon.com has been a real learning experience for me and I have loved every minute of it. I can’t tell you how exciting it is to see the Google Analytics graphs show growth in viewership. It is amazing to look at the map of the world and find out that there are people in London and India that are enjoying the blog and sometimes spending several minutes reading articles. That’s the whole fun of monitoring your statistics. It really makes you feel connected to your readers. Here are some ways that you can make sure to speed up the process of your blog becoming more popular: Have lots of friends that like your writing and your ideas and tell them about your blog. Write as often as you can without sacrificing the quality and/or uniqueness of your content. Have fun writing articles and show that excitement and enjoyment with your writing. People can tell when you are having a great time with your ideas.
If your blog becomes popular enough and you are charismatic, you may attract other writers who want to become authors and post original content to your blog. This is a very important decision to make, so do not make it lightly. Letting someone write for your blog is kind of like letting someone borrow your house, or do surgery on you. There is a great deal of trust that is involved and you need to have an excellent relationship in order to make it work. Make sure to be extremely honest with your colleague when he or she does or does not join your blog. Take all the necessary steps in order to communicate your expectations for their writing and clearly state any financial details regarding compensation, either monetary or intellectual, for their work and participation. Overidon.com is extremely fortunate to have an established writer, create the weekly humor series, “The Life and Times of Car Johnson.” We get along great and the articles make an excellent addition to overidon.com and the blog wouldn’t be the same without it. When working with other writers, respect and honesty are key. Don’t expect your fellow writers to be able to read your mind and tell them when something needs to be changed or deleted, or if you want to see more content from them. Lose your ego and focus on the success of your blog and you will make a fine editor/blogger/web publisher.
The final and most important thing to know about how to make 25 dollars with your blog is this: Keep your day job. There is something special about working all day at your job and then “coming home” to your blog and doing, “what you really want to do.” Did you notice that? You are now blogging as a form of enjoyment. Once you quit your day job and blog full time, your blog will become your job. And at that time things won’t really be the same anymore. You won’t be writing as a form of escape or release anymore. So if you keep your day job, not only will you be more financially stable, but you will also have pent up energy that you can unleash on your keyboard.
What about Google AdWords? Shouldn’t I advertise for my blog in order to get more clicks? That is kind of a backwards question. Think about it for a minute. You are writing for your blog in order to MAKE money, not to exert more expenses. Currently overidon.com doesn’t spend any money on Google AdWords. The reason for this is because this website only has 250 articles. When we have 1,000 or more articles I will consider investing in AdWords in order to increase traffic to the site. But the reality is, I don’t want to distort my visitor statistics by getting people who click on an ad to visit this site and only stay for a short time because it isn’t exactly what they are looking for. In order to have AdWords be profitable for you, make sure that you have a tremendous amount of content and a steady influx of visitors and traffic. This will ensure that your AdSense advertisements have a high value when clicked. Because the amount of money you pay Google for a pay-per-click using Google AdWords, should never exceed the amount of revenue you generate from YOUR AdSense advertisements with each successful click. This may be confusing so here’s an analogy. Let’s say you sell ice cream cones for $1 each. If I am an advertiser and I can get ten people to visit your shop for $2 each group of ten people, then you need to sell at least two ice cream cones to each batch of people to make my advertising worth it.
Now you should be well equipped with the knowledge you need in order to make 25 dollars with your blog. If you want to talk about anything in this article or about anything really, leave a comment or let’s talk on Facebook.
-Tyler Stansfield Jaggers
August 26th, 2010