Tag: make money online

How To Make Money With A Blog For Beginners
You create a blog for a reason — to make money online.

Here’s a tiny little problem. You either have no idea how to create your blog, or you have absolutely zero idea what went wrong. You read dozens of blogs talking about “how to make money with a blog” and you practised the steps to the “T” but you are still not making any decent sales.

Down but not out, you are still searching for the ultimate guide on “How to make money with a blog for beginners” or “Earning money from blogging” and you stumbled upon this article.

Here are four important things that you will learn today.
- checkHow to use affiliate marketing and make money from it
- checkStart earning more money with Google Adsense
- checkWhen should you sell ad space on your WordPress site?
- checkWhen should you launch an online course?
This will be another long article and therefore, I recommend you to bookmark this. If you don’t have 20 minutes to spare reading this post, see the video below instead!

Insert Video

1. How To Make Money Through Affiliate Marketing?

I love affiliate marketing and I even created a course for it (check it out here). I know there are probably thousands of articles out there claiming that those are the greatest affiliate marketing guide. So, allow me to share some shots of my affiliate marketing income.

Take a look at the images above. On 7th February 2018, I was able to make $237.50 a day simply by promoting affiliate products!

How much money can you make blogging?

The answer is “it depends.” Your blogging strategies will determine the level of success (more on this later).

And no, I’m not trying to boost to you but if you ever have doubts with affiliate marketing, I’m your living proof to tell you that you are wrong. You can make money with affiliate marketing when you have the right strategy.

Affiliate marketing is a great way to help you make money with a blog because it is extremely easily to implement.

In order for you to start making money with affiliate marketing, there are several key points you need to understand.
- Understanding the psychology behind closing a sale is extremely important
- Research on the topic, programs and products must be done
- Creating content that generate sales is important to make money through affiliate marketing
The psychology behind closing a sale

The psychology behind closing a sale is 20% logic and 80% emotions. Focusing and leveraging on the emotion often yields better conversion results.

Click to Tweet

The 20-80 rule is always important when it comes to closing a sale. I use this rule in every affiliate marketing product I promote.

I wanted to express the importance of this rule and my research had lead me to an awesome infographic from SalesForce entitled, “The Pscyhology of Sales Marketing and the Human Mind.”

Logic is only 20%

Do you know that logic plays such a small role when it comes to decision making?

Logic can interpreted such as:
- Brand recognition or brand attributes
- Features of the products
- Financial capabilities
- plusWorthiness of the product
- plusVisual impact of the product
In easier context, a sample scenario would be when you want to buy a meal for your love ones.

You might want to have fine dining but because you are not in the best financial status for the month, you decided to go for alternative (and cheaper) option.

When it comes to affiliate marketing, always remember that logic plays a small part in it only. Keep that in mind!

Emotion is 80%

This is where the juice of affiliate marketing comes into play. You need to be a master of emotion — words that you choose to use will impact the chance of you closing the sale.

There isn’t really a guideline for how to choose the right words to impact your potential customers. However, there are several things you can consider adding into your site to encourage your site visitor to make a purchase.
- The FOMO effect (Fear Of Missing Out)
- Colour scheme (red represents urgent, green represent safe, black represents quality, etc.)
- Limited time offer
- arrow-rightOne-time upgrade offer
- arrow-rightEarly bird promotion
- arrow-rightLast minute promotion
- arrow-rightFlash deals
Here are some real life examples for you to resonate with.

Billions of dollars are spend on Cyber Monday and Black Friday.

Billions are spend on Single’s Day (China).

You are more tempted to buy a product you don’t need during promotion season.

You think it is okay to use your credit card to buy a product in advance (and do the repayment later).

Become a better affiliate marketer by mastering psychology

By now, you will have quite an idea why you are not making money from affiliate marketing. Chances are you are doing what everyone else is doing and not focusing on the real deal.

This is the real deal and it is entirely up to you if you want to practise this.

I dare to guarantee you that if you uses at least one of the tips above to control the emotion of your site visitors, you are going to make way a lot money than you are doing now. Period.

2. How To Make Money From Your Blog Using Google Adsense?

You should have a Google Adsense account by now. If not, you can sign up for a free account here.

When it comes to Google Adsense, you can either make thousands a month or none at all and here’s why: Not all niches are profitable using Google Adsense.

If you are a blogger who want to monetize your blog using Google Adsense, then here’s what you need to do: Only use Google Adsense for profitable niche.

For example, if you are writing about blogging, the earnings you will get from Google Adsense is pretty bad — approximately $0.01 per click. However, if you are on a business or financial niche, you can easily earn up to $10 per click.

Wait! How do you find blog niches that make money? Which blog topics that make the most money?

Glad you asked. Continue reading the below to discover the exact steps to find valuable keywords and niches.

How to find the right niche to make money with Google Adsense?

I recommend you to take a look at Google Keyword Planner. Here’s how you can use it.

Step 1: Head over to Google Keyword Planner

Step 2: Click on the ‘Spanner’ and select ‘Keyword Planner’

Step 3: Search for general phrase or keywords

Step 4: Key in the keyword of your choice (I recommend general and short keywords for some ideas)

Step 5: Determine the expected value of the keywords using the suggested bid column

The values shown in the column give you an estimated earning if you are able to get a single click out of it.

On average, the keywords of your choice need to be around $3 to $5 if you want to make money from blogging.

Note: I’m living in Malaysia, thus the value is automatically shown in Ringgit Malaysia which is the country’s default currency.

The best placement for ads banner

Making money using Google Adsense is all about the clicks and impressions. Therefore, you should place the banners at the right locations.

The best locations (through my experience) are as below:
- Top position on the sidebar
- Sidebar on the left performs better than on the right
- Banner right before starting of the content / article
3. Selling Ad Space On Your WordPress Site

Selling ad spaces is one of the most lucrative ways to make money from a blog as a beginner.

Instead of just using Google Adsense, you should focus on ading in affiliate banners and even sell the ad space to make money.

Bonus: You want also want to use tools such as OIO Publisher to rotate the banners if you are trying to promote more than one banner at one time.

How to sell ad space?

The first requirement is that you need to have a lot of content published and having decent traffic. Once that is done, check on your Google Analytics and determine the top 5 performing posts.

The next step is to find a common company or product that is associated to the posts and reach out to the companies directly. If this is your first time doing such, I would recommend you to start at a very low cost (say $10 per month for a single slot).

When you hit the 10,000 visitors in a month mark, you can increase the value of the ad space.

Why does selling ad space works?

Logically, it costs more than $10 for the company to run advertisement on social media or Google.

You have your stats to back your content up (say, under 100 visitors a day for that specific post) and this means that these are highly targeted audience.

Instead of using paid advertising that can costs thousands of dollars, they will be happy to reduce the cost while being able to get more sales as well.

An absolute win-win situation for both parties.

Bonus: You can also use services such as OIO Publisher and AdClerks.com to promote and look for potential advertisers.

4. Launch Online Courses To Make Money From Your Blog

How to make money from a blog for beginners?

Online courses, of course!

Online course is a bomb for 2017 and it will be even bigger in 2018. It is easy to create one and doesn’t take a lot of work, to be honest. However, launching a success online course isn’t a walk in the park because it takes some effort and planning.

Here are some things you need to know:
- Your blog will be the medium to drive sales
- Start with a free online course (and try to upsell)
- Get ideas through your most popular content on the site
- checkGo to Quora and Medium to search for common questions people are asking (you are a solution provider)
What are the tools needed to start an online course?

First off, a lead generation plugin that convert your customers to email subscribers and leads. For this, I recommend only Thrive Leads as it is powerful and easy to use.

Second off, you need an online course plugin. You can go for third party platforms (where you get lesser money) or hosting it yourself (and making more money). I recommend Thrive Apprentice.

Now, before we proceed with the third tool, you can easily get Thrive Leads and Thrive Apprentice at $19 per month. Check out Thrive Membership here.

The third tool is an email marketing service that offers two important services; building an email list and upsell your customers through automation. For this matter, I recommend only these three — AWeber, ConvertKit or Drip.

Question: How do you launch an online course and make money? More importantly, how much money can you make blogging and online courses?

How much to charge for online courses?

As beginners, you should start with free online courses. Use the online course to build reputation and more importantly, fan base. Once that is done, you can create a more advanced online courses with price tags such as $29, $47 or $197.

Note: Online courses aren’t a get-rich-quick-scheme. It takes time and effort to grow it from a free course to a massive, high-ticket online course.

Recap: How do you make money from a blog as a beginner?

I hope you find this article useful and I’m curious of what you have in mind. Leave a comment below and tell me what you think on earning money from blogging!

What is your favorite way to make money from a blog as a beginner?
April 19, 2024
4 Things I’ll Do If I’m Starting Affiliate Marketing All Over Again
Most affiliate marketers are often using the bootstrapping method. You know, spending minimum money and getting the biggest results.

I did the same years back, and I realized one thing. All my affiliate marketing projects were disastrous! I realized that I was only successful once I put in both money and effort into the projects.

And it didn’t take long for me to see the results. The first month was a couple of dollars followed by hundreds before touching thousands after six months or so, per project.

I thought it was just luck, economy and the way I targeted my keywords. I went into bootstrapping method again, and I ended up the rabbit hole. Sales dropped and my revenue sunk to the bottom of the ocean.

What the hell just went wrong?

This was the exact words I asked myself. I did research (oh hell I did), and I wanted to know what went wrong.

Seriously, this is not a coincidence. Every time I went into bootstrapping, I see massive failures even though I did everything similar to others.

Note to self: These are the 4 things I will do if I’m going to start affiliate marketing all over.

Heres a list what I found out.

1. Going for shared hosting instead of premium web hosting

This debate had gone on for ages. People talked about how good is A and how bad is B. You know the drill.

Here’s the problem. Most people don’t see the main issue, and I experienced that first hand.

The main reason why shared hosting isn’t working well for me in affiliate marketing was because of the freaking loading speed.

I mean, c’mon, would you wait for 5 seconds before the website loads?’

Probably not and that’s the whole issue. I see a lot of bloggers writing great stuff, but their bounce rate is off the roof! One of them was as high as 95% for crying out loud. Jesus!

Shared hosting is good because it saves you money. $4 a month is like a cup of Starbucks alright? Shared hosting is cheap, and each server could host thousands of domains at one time. You are not getting premium speed no matter what, as long as you are in the shared hosting environment.

So, what’s the solution? Premium web hosting like WP Engine and FlyWheel are top of the game. Often, you are expected to pay around $29 per month. I highly recommend these services ONLY if you are making enough from your blog to cover the expenses.

The solution to this challenge is simple. Get a better web host. Here are some great alternatives.
- CloudWays (Virtual Private Server) – $7 per month
- BlueHost (WordPress hosting) – $19.99 per month
- BlueHost (Virtual Private Server) – $19.99 per month
- HostWithLove (Semi-Dedicated hosting) – $19.90 per month
Take a moment to think about this. It doesn’t seem too expensive after all to have a good web host right?

Note: All of the above alternative web hosting provides 24/7 support as well as at least 30 days money back guarantee.

2. Cheap vs Premium WordPress themes

Bloggers are money conscious, and because of that, they often use cheap or free WordPress themes for their affiliate sites.

The results are devastating to say the very least. Their websites look bad, ugly and more importantly, exposing themselves to unnecessary risks of hacking and security breach.

Now, what do you think of the image above? Does it appeal to you in anyway that the writer is an influencer in the industry? Would you trust what you had read on the blog?

Seriously, I even doubt if the theme is mobile friendly!

Here’s a life fact: No matter how your attitude is in real life, you’ll still give a great first impression through your dressing. Make sense?

I often hear bloggers telling me this.

Reg, I know that Thrive Themes is the best in the market but I don’t have that much money to buy it. Furthermore, the monthly payment is going to kill me.

First of all, I’m a huge advocate to Thrive Themes, and it is one of the best WordPress themes for many affiliate marketers. Of course, unless you can afford $19 a month, there are many other options that you can choose from.

What you are doing is blaming your potential affiliate marketing failure because of not being able to afford for a premium theme. What?!

Let me tell you this. Thrive Themes is great and Thrive Themes is hot. But when it comes to WordPress themes, I still go for other alternatives because of the flexibility.

Alternatives that I use:
- StudioPress – $39.90 per theme (lifetime)
- Divi (Elegant Themes) – $89 per year (unlimited usage)
- OptimizePress – $97 per year (for three sites)
Here’s what you need to know. You might not have enough money to buy the best theme for now. So be it!

Use a premium theme that you can afford because that is going to differentiate you from the rest! Once you start making money from your blog, consider the option of upgrading.

BONUS: Discover how website design will impact your affiliate sales in my new 7-days affiliate marketing course. Sign up for free here.

3. Lead generation is dope, but expensive

We all know how important to build an email list. If you are not doing that yet, please do it right now. Start today.

It can be used thoughtfully to build loyalty and trust in your brand. Email marketing is important for building relationships with prospects, leads, current customers, and even past customers because it gives you a chance to speak directly to them, in their inbox, at a time that is convenient for them. InboundRocket.

Tim Ferriss, Pat Flynn, and Matthew Woodwards all make money through their email lists. If you want to become a successful affiliate marketer, then you need to start building an email list.

But, here’s the challenge. You heard that email marketing is expensive.

My answer: WTF?!

Email marketing can be costly, but do you know that you can start for FREE?

Option 1: You can use MailChimp for FREE if you have less than 2,000 email subscribers and send out less than 12,000 email a month. And it comes with email automation for all accounts!

Option 2: If you are a serious blogger and trying to manage your subscribers, there’s ConvertKit that allows you to create cool automation with segmentation for $29 a month if you have under 1,000 email subscribers.

Option 3: Thinking of selling courses, having advanced segmentation and dope email automation? Consider Drip (I’m personally using it), and it gives you everything you need to monetize your list including landing pages. The best part is you can use Drip for FREE if you have less than 100 email subscribers and $41 per month for 2,500 email subscribers.

Confused? Read my latest blog post here:MailChimp vs ConvertKit vs Drip – Comparing The Best Email Marketing Automation Software 2017

It is NOT important to have a paying email subscription service if you are just starting out. It is also important to note that you can quickly start email marketing for free and I find no reason NOT for you to start at all.

4. Should I be using premium plugins?

I am going to bust another myth. There are many premium plugins out there, but I’m just using one that I always hear people whining about.

I heard that Thrive Leads is powerful and because I don’t have that, I am not going to collect my email list.

Yup, you got it. That’s BS!

I get it. Thrive Leads could cost a bomb. At $67 per year and for a single website, it hurts a lot. For affiliate marketers who are bootstrapping, you know what I mean!

Back in those days, there weren’t any fancy WordPress plugins to grow my email list. As a matter of fact, most of us were stuck with Hybrid Connect and that was it. Soon after, Hybrid Connect ended its product and Thrive Leads was born.

Now, not being able to afford the godly Thrive Leads is not a problem. The problem is you. You are not thinking out of the box!

Here are several ways you can solve this.

Option 1: If you are using OptimizePress or X Theme, you don’t need Thrive Leads (there are some features in it that you can use to replace Thrive Leads).

Option 2: There are many alternatives such as Ninja Popups on CodeCanyon that costs on $25.

Option 3: You don’t need Thrive Leads if you use email services such as Drip because they come inbuilt with email list building features.

Important disclaimer: I am not saying that Thrive Leads is not useful (I use it on this blog). All I’m saying is that there are many other alternatives to Thrive Leads if the price is an issue for you. Do not limit your options because of something you cannot afford. That is just giving excuses to yourself to fail as an affiliate marketer.

Takeaway – Things I’ll Do Differently When Starting Affiliate Marketing All Over

Going cheap or bootstrapping is an excellent way to save money. As a plugin and theme junkie, I save thousands of dollars yearly just by going the more affordable options. However, when I start spending money on my blog for affiliate marketing, I tend to make more money online (thousands of dollars) on a monthly basis!

I’m not saying that you should (at any time) increase your spending because it is going to help you close more affiliate sales. All I’m saying is that using premium tools could easily help you achieve your goals in affiliate marketing faster.

What do you think? Leave a comment below and let’s discuss further!
March 20, 2024
8 Explosive Blogging Tips Other Clever Bloggers Won’t Share
This blog post could probably the 10th, 100th or 1,000th that you had read about blogging tips and starting a blog. I am going to tell you that this blog (and this website) is different from any other and here’s why.

Do you really think that most successful bloggers will share their secrets, tips and tricks with you? Take a moment to think about it and I will wait.

…

Moments of silent…

…

Welcome back! Guess you figured it out right? Oh wait! If not, don’t worry, let me tell you why instead. Sharing vital information, tips and tricks in blogging with the other bloggers would probably means:
1. More competitions
2. Lesser traffic
3. Less earnings
What are the top secret, high confidential and mind blowing blogging tips for bloggers?

Makes any sense? Glad it does! We are on the right track here.

So, what makes me (and this blog), tell you the REAL answers on blogging tips? I am tired of seeing bloggers and potential writers going into this industry with the hope of making money blogging but ended disappointed!

I can’t teach you all the blogging tips (and tricks) I know and learned but if you follow my writings here, you will probably figure out all my tricks in blogging and start making a decent living through your blogs or websites.

I am not saying that other bloggers are lying to you but the fact is that not many are telling you the whole truth about blogging and life of a blogger. So, hear me out at least (even though how much you disagree with but do tell me why using the comment form below).

And before that, I would like to share with you some slides which I recently created:

Here are 8 blogging tips all bloggers must know

Blogging takes time, devotion and persistent to be successful

1. Blogging is more than a job. It’s a lifestyle.

If you have decided to step into the blogging industry, then allow me to give you a warm welcome. Now, let’s get into business…serious business.

If you want to be successful in blogging, then you need to be mentally and physically prepared to spend time into this challenging industry. For those who read the blog articles I posted few days back, I said that Sunday is my time off from blogging. Reality is…yes but partially. I promised myself that I will wake up earlier than usual on Sundays and do some backlinks for at least 2 hours a day. Half day work? You can call that anytime, buddy.

What I am trying to say is that if you want to make money blogging, then prepare to devote your time and effort into it. Don’t devote everything you got but at least, give it a 60% of everything you have first for starters.

Blogging tips #1: Everyone want to be making money through blogging but not many want to contribute time into serious blogging. So, which side of the fence are you on?

2. The reality between free blog sites and self hosted domains

It is no secret that there are bloggers who make money through their blogs on Blogspot. Oh yes they do and even one of my blogs on Blogger that is making $10 a day just through Google Adsense.

Choose your blogging platform carefully when it comes to building a brand for your blog

You are here because you want to make money as a blogger right? How many bloggers out there who are extremely successful using their Blogspot account?

That’s what I am saying, yo!

Let’s see, Darren Rowse from ProBlogger, Jane from ProBloggingSuccess and Ana Hoffman from TrafficGenerationCafe doesn’t use these free blogging sites. Instead, they are using self hosted domains.

Basically, free blogging sites aren’t really free. Bloggers using these sites will be tied down not only to their terms and conditions but as well as the contents ownerships (for some sites).

On the other hand, self hosted domains allows bloggers to be the ‘˜King and Citizen’ of the site. This means that bloggers are free to do any changes they like and they wished for as long as they want to.

Blogging tips #2: Small time bloggers build blogs. Serious bloggers who want to make money blogging have their own identity, brand and of course, self hosted website.

3. Money is needed to start a blog…at least a little

Prepare to invest at least a little when it comes to blogging

C’mon guys! Do you really think that you can earn money without investing a single cent? You probably could and I ain’t joking. However, trust me when I say that without investing some money, you are going to close many doors of opportunities. Clear example is in point #2 (above).

I started blogging years back and I was stingy (even now). I didn’t want to spend a single cent on blogging! I realized that my earning capabilities are very well confined in a small, 4-walls bedroom.

What I mean was I knew I couldn’t compete with the big guns without the help of paid blogging tools. That’s the fact. Bloggers who says that they don’t use paid blogging tools are lying. Okay, maybe they are not lying but check on their page rank, traffic etc. You get the point.

There will be times where you think you need to get a better WordPress theme, SEO content optimization or maybe a premium comment plugin to name a few. That’s when you need to spend money into blogging.

Blogging tips #3: Serious bloggers invest into blogging to ensure they grow and beat the rest…even when their competitors are sleeping.

4. Successful bloggers don’t spend a lot of time on their blogs and websites

Want to build good traffic blogs? Brush up on your Public Relations skills!

Yup you hear me loud and clear (okay, you read what I wrote – my apologies). Most successful bloggers doesn’t spend their whole day on their blog. So, what are they doing? Being a couch potato or lazing in their jacuzzi pool?

The fact is that they are spending at least 50% of their daily effort writing for other blogs and doing internet marketing. Hear any bells ringing when I say guest posting?

Good guest posting will generate enough traffic boost back to their own blogs simply because the sites they are writing for are having good traffic of their own. Don’t forget that this is not a good way but is a great way to increase blog traffic.

Starting a blog doesn’t sound to be that easy at this point right?

Even Darren Rowse (and wrote an eBook about it as well) agreed when he posted this:

One of Darren’s most popular articles published on ProBlogger

Blogging tips #4: A good blogger plans and strategize. Good blogging strategy will not only drive traffic but also creating good readership.

5. Successful bloggers uses content optimization tools in their blogs

Onsite content optimization is important to rank well on search engines

I am not sure about you but I certainly realized this. Do you notice that famous bloggers and websites usually have excellent content?

Okay try this when you have the time.
1. Pick an article you liked which was written by your favorite blogger
2. Try to figure out what are the keywords which he or she is using or focusing
3. Count the density of the keyword(s)
Obviously, this is clear. Out of 10 blog posts I counted, 7 of them have a very good density of keywords and they are very precise. Coincidence? I don’t think so.

I know once or twice could be okay but having like 7 to 8 articles out of 10 with the same ‘˜modus operandi’ aka M.O.? This is way too good to be called coincidence I would say.

I know there are a few bloggers who are really good and doing all this manually. However, a huge part of them doesn’t. Instead, they turn their heads into content optimization tools or blogging tools that helps them to enrich the article content.

Like it or not, many serious bloggers invested thousands if not hundreds on SEO tools to ensure their blogs and websites survive the cut.

Think maybe that your blog don’t need any SEO optimization? Here’s a free report that you can use to check on your blog’s SEO status.

If you are looking for content optimization techniques, I believe this article will keep you on the right track, The Best SEO Tool For Optimizing Your Website.

Blogging tips #5: Blogging industry is very competitive nowadays. Only those who are really serious in this business will actually grow and be successful.

6. The reality of monetizing a blog or website

I don’t mean to disappoint you but if you think Google Adsense can drive your earning like crazy, then you are wrong. Sorry.

Smaller blogs make money through Google Adsense. Bigger blogs make money through affiliate sales.

I believe I do not need to share with you which blogger is making money through affiliate sales and I certainly know quite a few bloggers who are making not three, not four but at least five digits of affiliate revenue monthly.

You see, I would consider this as the approach of making money blogging followed by different bloggers. Refer below to see on my earnings using one of the affiliate programs I joined:

An example of my affiliate earning using eBay Affiliate Program

From the image above, I could easily be earning more using affiliate sales compared to Google Adsense clicks. Makes sense? Go figure!

Blogging tips #6: Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Don’t focus making money with Google Adsense. Instead, focus making money blogging with Google Adsense and affiliate programs as well!

7. Traffic above earnings

Traffic is the source of any blog monetization methods. Boost traffic and blog earnings will follow

Why most bloggers fail and give up within the first 3 months of blogging? This is because most of them have the money sign on their forehead even before getting a stable traffic!

If you have plans on starting a blog to make money, then start thinking how to generate enough traffic first!

Traffic is the core factor which will affect your blog earning. The more traffic you are getting, the better chance of creating a money blog or at least, generating a nice and small income through blogging.

Blogging tip #7: Money blogs are generating money because of traffic and not the other way around.

8. Control the number of advertisement on your blog

Most bloggers does this same mistake over and over again. As a blogger, you want your blog to be content rich and not advertisement rich. If you have in starting a blog, then make sure you control the limits on advertisements on your blog.

The number of advertisements which Google Adsense allow is only 3 per page. This clearly shows that not only Google Adsense acknowledge the importance of the banners, they also value the importance of content quality.

Blogging tips #8: Too many advertisement and banners aren’t good for blogging business. Reduce them and see traffic grow within the next few weeks if not months!

Placing the right advertisement at the right location will increase click rates

Over to you

So, what do you think of these 8 blogging tips?

Like it or hate it?

Tell me all about it and if you have anything under your sleeves that you want to share. Who knows, you maybe be featured in my post as well!

Like this article? Please help me to share using the red button below.
December 21, 2023
5 Facts About Make Money Blogging You Must Know
I recently read an article published on Yahoo Finance that blogging is definitely not dead. From the way I see it, most people people think blogging is dead simply because they might not be able to make money blogging or even generating enough traffic to keep the website running. So yes, let me tell you a few very important principles you should know before you can actually earn your first dollar blogging.

*Disclaimer: You can find the link to Yahoo Finance here.

The term ‘˜make money blogging’ is indeed a very famous word in search engines. It doesn’t matter if you are full time or a part time blogger, all of us want to make money through blogging.

Let’s start by by asking ourselves the reason we create a blog. Those reasons can varies from making money online, blogging as a hobby and even expressing feelings towards the world. I love blogging because I love to share my ideas and experience with the world. It might cost me a few hundred a year just for blogging, but I really enjoy it.

Another important disclaimer: You can easily start a free blog without needing to spend a single penny (referring to what I just last said).

Before we sway too far off from our main goal today, here are some things you can definitely do to get the money rolling into your blog.

One thing for sure is that money is hard to earn

1. Blogging on things you really know
You will learn:
1. How to blog properly
2. How to blog a blogpost that attracts readers
I know this goes against the principles of many bloggers but it is true. If you want to blog, always make sure the content is genuine and rightful. I know many bloggers who thought they could make fast money online simply by blogging hot topics.

Well, I used to be one of them previously and does that works? Yes, it does!

Huh??!!

Blogging hot topics will give you moderate traffic and probably generating some money online. However, if you are planning to become a serious blogger, then this is definitely not the way to go and let me tell you why!

Hot topics or trends as what Google call it, is always short term basis. You may earn enough to last for the season (maybe), but you might be out of business for the rest of the year. Let’s face it my fellow bloggers. Hot topics are not meant to stay (and will never stay). Imagine it as a gossip instead. Blogging these might bring you just that far but it won’t be doing much good for you. Trust me on this!

Instead, start blogging on things that you actually know and have interest in. For example, I love blogging and websites, thus creating this website as a portal for bloggers around the world to get a nice inside scoop of blogging and to find good blogging tips, SEO techniques and even WordPress guides.

2. Making fast money through affiliate programs
You will learn:
1. How to make money being an affiliate
2. Simple techniques to sell or promote a product online
This is really something that makes me pissed off big time. I see so many websites promoting a product which they hardly use! Furthermore, these sites are basically ‘˜copy and spinning’ articles around just to make it unique.

One concept that I will always live by is that when you sell an affiliate product, make sure you know about it and give genuine review on it. Isn’t that obvious that in order to have a good review, you need to try the product first?

Yes you get my point. Personally, I have been writing several reviews in the past and trust me that they are tough to construct if you have no hands on experience in it.

One of the best tips I can offer to bloggers who wish to make some money by selling affiliate products is that you need to decide yourself if that product is worth your time selling. Some products offers a huge commission but it has zero quality for that while others might have a lesser commission base but has better quality.

If you want read more, you can check out what Darren Rowse wrote on ProBlogger Secrets to Six Figure Income.

3. Blogging is never about making money online
You will learn:
1. How to blog better
This is one phrase I always use in nearly every blog, articles or website I write. Blogging is never about making money online. If you think that blogging is a get rich quick business, you are wrong. Sorry mate!

For bloggers who started out fresh, you got to focus to put up one hell of a show (good content), attract readers and then focus in generating money through blogging, not the opposite.

Many people (and even bloggers) who think that blogging is dead simply because there are tons of websites and blogs out there to compete. Good Lord they are wrong.

Competitions and competitors doesn’t make it impossible but both of these only make blogging more challenging. What I love best about of these is the fact that they makes me better in my blogs and yes, it can really sharpen my blogging skills at the same time.

4. Improve blog traffic with great content
You will learn:
1. How to improve blog traffic
2. The effect of quality contents
I am not sure if you are aware on this but the only way to gain more money is through having a good amount of traffic to your blog. For me, I always believe that more traffic means more income.

Readers only want to read good article and not some lame stories. So, gaining a good amount of traffic especially repeated visitors will actually improve the chances of you making money through blogging. I wouldn’t want to go in too deep on that but always remember that you can generate money not only through advertisement clicks but as well as total number of impressions received.

Content writing or content blogging is important to create good traffic to your site. You have to remember that traffic is not created overnight but it takes time and lots of effort. Of course, the first step is to provide good content to your readers.

You do not need to write a thousand words article like I do in most blog articles but always make sure that each article is packed with quality information. Readers like you and me will only return back to the blog if they have good articles that worth reading.

Here’s a few example of websites offering quality contents:
- 2createawebsite
- BloggingWizard
5. Increase your blog earning with the RIGHT banner
You will learn:
1. How to monetize your blog
2. How to further improve your ad revenue and convertion
I know people make tons of money with Adsense and some doesn’t. In fact, it is not the number of banners visible to your visitors that count. Instead, it is all about using the RIGHT banner at the right place which counts!

One of the biggest mistake most bloggers do when it comes to monetize their blogs is placing too many ad banners. If you are one of them, remove those banners right now!

Yes now!

Google had realized banner’s hotspot few years back and many are still using it. As time passes by, everything changes and so does the click rates and banner location. I am not saying that we should not use Google guide in banner placement but we should improvise from it.

From time to time (and thanks to having many websites), I am lucky enough to test the different types of click rates I could have. The biggest and most obvious differences is the layout colour, size of fonts and yes, placements of each banners.

Basically, larger banners like those 250 x 250, 3300 x 250 and 336 x 280 has better click rates when placed in the starting and ending of an article page. In other words, placing on the first and last paragraph is definitely a good choice if you want to generate some earnings from Adsense. Furthermore, these large banners usually fetch a very high cost per click (CPC) rate.

The right advertisement location will boost click rates

Another good banner which many people fail to use them is the link units. These link units provided me pretty good click rate. Yes, maybe the cost per click (CPC) is rather low for most bloggers, having at least one of this advertisement units on your blog will definitely increase the chances of your earnings.

In order to make money blogging, I often see most bloggers placed more than 6 types of banners on a page. For the sake of God, please…I beg you…please don’t do it to your poor blog.

C’mon guys! People visit your blog to gain experience and gather information. They are not here to click on your banners! I get it and I really do. We all bloggers (including me) would love to see at least some earnings on your Google Adsense. What you can do is place them wisely.

Personally, I would recommend not more than three banners visible on one page itself. At times, it is alright to be greedy and place slightly more than three banners on high traffic pages thought. You might get lucky but do not over do it if you do not want to kill your blog traffic.

Let’s recap what you have read above using SlideShare, shall we?

Back to you…

I hope you enjoy this article as much as I do and feel free to contact me if you have any inquiry on the topic. At the same time, I appreciate your feedback and you can do so by filling up the form below.

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December 21, 2023