Tips From the Pros on How to Earn Money As a Blogger

Money

Steve Pavlina, whose website is named after him, and Darren Rowse of ProBlogger.net, both claim they earn well over $1000 a day from their blogs. While Steve and Darren have different blogging styles, and disagree on some points, what they have learned can help all of us would-be bloggers. While most bloggers are not necessarily in it for the money, the income potential is a strong attraction and is one of the best home businesses available. What else can you do that requires little or no investment, allows you to work at home, set your own hours, has the potential of earning a large income – and all you have to do is write? Of course it’s not easy. In fact your chances of getting rich through blogging are probably only slightly better than your odds of playing in the super bowl someday. Your level of success as a blogger will depend on many factors.

Here’s what the pros say are the secrets to success:

Knowledge

You need to know something that other people also want to know about. It’s great if this knowledge is already inside your head, but you can also gain the necessary knowledge through research.

Writing Skill

It’s critical that you have the ablity to write well – with clarity, proper grammar and punctuation, and good paragraph and sentence structure. But even more important is your ability to write in an interesting manner. Not everyone is able to do this. While it is possible to improve with study and practice, it’s largely a God-given talent.

Educational, Enlightening, or Entertaining śmieszne

Those are the “3 E’s” of any good content. Your material must have at least one of those qualities in order to be of interest to your readers. Your main goal may be to sell something, but you can’t show it. It needs to be done in an indirect and passive manner – at least until your readers really trust you.

No Faking

Honesty is critical. People can tell when you’re not being genuine. It’s very important that you develop trust with your audience. This means no sales pitches, and no talking about subjects you know nothing about.

Connecting With Your Audience

You need to find a way to relate with people in a way that makes them want to come back. This is related to writing skill, but is more intangible. If you are able to naturally connect with people in real life, you might be able to do it online as well, but there are no guarantees.

Technical Know-How

Although this is less critical than the previous items, It helps a lot to know something about the techincal aspects of blog and website creation. This includes optimizing your site for search engine traffic, tracking the number of hits, and of course making it attractive and easy to navigate.

Marketing Savvy

You can have a wonderful blog, but it won’t make you a dime if no one knows about it. You’re going to have to learn some techniques that will help you be found. This includes search engine optimization, social bookmarking, and social networking.

Perseverance

It will take a lot of time, patience, and faith to persevere long enough to see tangible results. One thing you should definitely do is use Google Analytics to keep track of your visitors. This will help you keep the faith despite the fact that you’re not seeing any income.

Passion

I save this for last, but I probably should have put it first, because passion can go a long way to overcoming deficiencies you have in the other areas. If you don’t have a passion for your subject, and for all aspects of what you’re trying to accomplish, you probably won’t be very successful. This means it’s critical you start with a subject you feel strongly about – something you would be thinking and learning about, regardless of whether you have a blog or not.

How the Pros Disagree

There are a couple of significant items that Steve Pavlina and Darren Rowse disagree.on. Steve doesn’t allow commenting on his blog posts. He used to allow it, but decided it wasn’t worth all the time it took away from his blogging, while Darren feels it’s a critical method of engaging and connecting with his audience.

The two also disagree on type of content. Steve sticks to old-fashioned plain text in his posts, while Darren recommends, and uses, video. Steve says text is easier to work with, while Darren says video helps him to connect more fully with his audience. While Darren’s opinions on both of these items would seem to make the most sense, Steve’s success can’t be argued with.

Now, let’s discuss some of the specifics of blogging. You don’t necessarily need your own blog to earn money as a blogger. Many people earn money by creating content for other bloggers, posting comments, and writing reviews. In this article, we’ll explain how to set up a blog, what to write about, how to promote your blog, and ways to earn money by blogging.

How To Set Up A Blog

There are many sites, like Blogger.com, that make it very easy to start your own blog for free. The drawback is you have little control and do not have a unique domain name. If you’re more serious about blogging, it will take more effort and money – but not much. You’ll need to purchase your own domain and find someone to host your site. For software, download a free copy of WordPress.

Top Free Blogging Websites

Typepad
Blogger
WordPress
Blogster
LiveJournal
MindSay
Blogging Software
If you want to set up a blog under your own domain name, you’ll need to install blogging software on your web hosting server. There’s really only one choice for blogging software. The WordPress open-source software has become the standard, used by all professional bloggers. There is a bit of a learning curve, but most people can master it well enough to make it work well. This is what you need if you want to have complete control of your own blog, including your own domain name and placement of ads on your site.

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