Creating
a blog is an easy way to get started making money online. However, as with any
business, you need to keep your eye on your blog's profitability. If you're new
to blogging, these five tips will help you to make money with your blog.
1. Set blog goals
Ideally, you should set your blog's goals before you create your blog. If you
set your goals first, you will be able to estimate the potential traffic you
can attract to your blog, and therefore the amount of income you're likely to
make.
So before you create your blog, write down:
* Your blog's topic (for example digital photography, photo retouch or diet tips, or whatever topic
you'd like to create a blog about);
* Use keyword research tools to discover how many people are searching for your
blog's topic online each day:
If there are fewer than 100 searches, look for another topic. Don't shy away
from topics which have lots of competition online - lots of competition means
that there's a lot of interest, and a lot of traffic too. So if your topic has
5000 search a day, and millions of Web pages, go ahead and create your blog.
* Decide how you will make money from your blog. Will you sell advertising
space? Sell products? Make a list of revenue streams for your blog;
* Estimate the income your blog will make in your first, second, third and
fifth years. Yes, this is mainly guesswork, however it will motivate you to
keep blogging when you see your blog's potential.
If you're completely new to blogging, and have no idea how to set your blog's
goals, then get a blogging mentor, or ask questions at forums. Your blog has
the potential to make a great income for you, if you treat your blogging as a
real business.
Now you've set some goals for your blog, set up your blog and start blogging.
2. Diversify your blog revenue
In your first year of blogging, focus on creating content for your blog, and
experiment with various forms of income. There's always a new income-generator
coming out, so test out as many forms of revenue as you can.
3. Concentrate on content - make it useful
The bigger your blog, the more traffic you'll get from the search engines, and
the more readers you'll attract. Therefore, concentrate on creating good
content for your blog. All the time you spend on content will be rewarded.
4. Remember to use keywords in your posts
Once your blog's a few months old, the search engines will start sending you
traffic. Keep that traffic coming by writing posts which include keywords, but
don't go overboard. If you keep writing, you'll attract many "long
tail" searchers.
5. Publicize your blog
Once your blog's making some income, set aside a portion of that income to
promote your blog. There are many ways in which you can advertise your blog;
again, experiment to see which forms of advertising work best for you.
Watch for other bloggers' advertising, and if you can see that bloggers are
advertising in a particular area month after month, you can be sure that it's
profitable for them, and will perhaps be profitable for you, too.
So there you have five easy blogging tips which will help you to create a
profitable blog.