Can I Really Make Money with my Blog?
There are many ways a blogger can make money through his or her blog.
Advertising programs - One way to make money through a blog is through an advertising program. Many of these ads are contextual ads placed by Google, such as Adsense.com. This is only one of the several hundreds of specific ads that bloggers can use to help make money with their blogs. BlogAds.com is one of the first blog specific ad networks to help bloggers make money.
Sponsorship - in addition to the array of advertising programs that are available for a blogger to join, there is a growing awareness in the business of value and opportunity that exists for them to advertise in a specific blog. Say you have blogged about cell phones then you could get a sponsorship, a special advertisement from a certain cell phone provider and not only the cell phone provider but from the service provider for the cell phone networks. Whatever you blog about, look for certain sponsorships that tie in with your blog so you have a specific advertisements to go along with your blog, people are more likely to purchase something you’ve blogged about than some random item.
RSS advertising - there have been some remarkable advances in RSS advertising and many bloggers are making large sums of money through this type of advertising so it’s worth checking out. Full Story »
Blog Carnivals and How to Use Them
Are you looking for a simple, quick method of marketing your blog? Marketing means traffic, and traffic means more income.
Often overlooked, but a great way to drive traffic is to use blog carnivals. Blog carnivals are a collection of blog posts regarding a certain theme or subject. After submitting blog content to the carnival, a link to the blog content will be posted along with the links of all of the other blog content submitted for that carnival issue.
Not all carnivals are the same. Some will update weekly. Others will update monthly. You will find that some will update randomly. Blog carnivals can even be hosted by a different blog each week. There are different rules for different carnival hosts. Many carnivals will only accept articles of high-quality. Others will post anything on the carnival.
A simple Google search will find a long list of blog carnival web sites. A few websites are dedicated to listing blog carnivals. Sometimes the submission process is extremely easy, asking for no more than a permalink to the content. They will also ask for your name and email address. Full Story »
Useful Tips For Getting Cheap Airfare
When it comes time for a vacation, whether it is being taken by a couple or a large family, often both the destination and the length of stay are determined by how much the flight is going to cost. A more affordable flight allows for there to be either more money spent on other aspects of the vacation or for the overall destination to be upgraded to a location that otherwise couldn’t be afforded. Wanting cheap airfare and knowing how to get it are two different things though. Here are some tips that may be of help. Full Story »
Tips for Writing Good Blog Posts
Here are a few tips for writing good blog posts and to make sure people want to read what you’re writing.
- Using descriptive headlines - using descriptive headlines that reveal the point of the article without
further reading, the key is to create a micro-content that can fare well on its own. Keep in mind that the headline could be read in an RRS reader, a news portal which aggregates content, a bookmark, your blog archive, a search results and so on. It may be surrounded by dozens of others headlines. - The first link - first link is one people most likely are to click on, so it should also be the main link for your story. In addition, too many links too close together defuse your point and make you less of a filter and a news blog should always be a filter for others.
- Write the inverted pyramid - first get to the point of the story and mention your core ideas then fill in the later paragraphs with other details. The first and second sentences should allow your readers to decide if they want to continue on and read the entire article or not.
- Use lists, tables, images - use such things as lists, tables, images, subtitles, examples, indentations, indent it quotes, colors, bold, italicized words to lighten up your article. This also makes it easier to scan. Don’t expect everyone to cling to every word you are saying, a lot of people merely skim articles for the main parts.
- Always credit your sources - edit your sources with a mention in a link unlike mainstream newspapers bloggers always mentioned where they get their stories and give them credit for it.
- Don’t uses sophisticated words people never heard of - with a globalized audience, it’s never a good idea to use words that are sophisticated that many people have never heard of. Some of you readers may only speak English as a second language.
- Spell check and grammar check - always double check your spelling and grammar before submitting your blog and if someone catches an error and tells you about it, please fix it as it is no big deal, everyone makes mistakes.
Of course there are exceptions to each and every one of these rules, for example if you are posting a long blog; it’s hard to get to the point in the first few sentences. Or if you’re posting a humorous blog you don’t want to get the punch-line away in the headline.
When writing your blog just use common sense and write what you would like to read. And don’t be afraid of criticism because you will get plenty if you have an open blog with something controversial or something that people are passionate about.
How to Get Started with Video-Blogging
Video-blogs require higher maintenance than traditional text-blogs. More space on the server and higher bandwidth are examples of higher requirements hosting-wise if you want to run a video-blog.You might only associate video-blogging with people who simply want to share their thoughts with the world, and have no monetary goals. However, think about it this way. Video-blogging gives you the opportunity to introduce your product to your existing viewers. Also, if you syndicate your blog using Rss, you’re able to reach other audiences at no charge. Everyone wants content for their pages, so why shouldn’t it be yours? Full Story »
Putting The Freddie Mac & Fannie Mae Bailout into Prespective
Believe it or not the bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by the federal government is actually good news for the stock and housing markets. It is bad news for Treasury bonds. It also increases the chance that your taxes are going to go up in the future.
This is a good time to start to get into the market again. Keep putting away money into a variety of funds just a little bit at a time but do it often.
And don’t put it all in one place. That is the quickest way to lose it.
Don’t listen to the talking heads on t.v. Stick to your plan if you really want to make money. Full Story »
How A Blogger Can Conquer Writers Block
There are a number of reasons that people own and operate a blog. Some blogs exist for purely personal reasons, some are blogging as a way to earn money, and some are blogging as a way to promote a community. The amount of different subjects that are covered by different blogs is almost endless. For anything that anyone could ever think of, there is someone out there blogging about it.
It is very important to the success of any blog for the blogger to consistently and regularly update the content of their blog. The one thing that keeps visitors coming back to the blog is the fact that there is always something new to read or see once they get there. One of the hardest things about running a blog is coming up with something new and interesting to write about on a regular basis.
Even the most gifted of communicators, the most talented writers, at one point or another will run into writer’s block. Writer’s block is a way of describing what happens when a writer has trouble coming up with something to write about. It is a familiar thing for anyone associated with the world of writing to deal with; journalists encounter it, novelists get frustrated by it, and yes bloggers even have to fight their way through it from time to time. Full Story »
What Do I Need to Start a Blog?
There are several ways to get started on the blog. One of those ways is to sign up at blogga.nu. You simply login in and complete the request form and you’ll soon be up blogging away. This is only one of the many blog websites to get you started on your way to your own blog site.
When looking for a blog set up the system you want to make sure that they offer several different items to get you started. These would be:
- Password protection for your blog page
- Pre-constructed template to create your blog page
- Be able to design your own blog logo with different colors, fonts and images
- Be able to upload your own images to your blog site
- Post to your blog site by e-mail
- Write your own html template for your blog site
- Is there archiving availability
These are just a few of the things that you want to look for in a startup blog site. There are a few free blog sites that offer advertisements in exchange for the free blog site. And you have to decide if it’s worth having advertisements framing your blog or would it be worth it to pay a little more to the advertisement free? Depending on the ads, some of these blog sites only allow you a little bit of blog space while others give you unlimited amount of space. Full Story »
Six Mistakes You May Be Making With Your Blog
When it comes to blogging, or building and marketing any website really, there is a lot of time and work invested into most projects, even ones that appear small at first.
One of the most frustrating things that can happen when building or writing your blog is finding out later that a specific task that you were spending time or money on was actually working against you and your blog’s progress towards it’s goals. 
There are a number of mistakes that many people make every day with their blog. Some mistakes are harmless, relatively speaking, but others can cause people to never come to your blog in the first place, come to your blog but not like the look of it and never come back, or come to your blog and decide to not come back again after reading your content. Conquering this problem is fairly easy, just stop making these mistakes.
Here are six mistakes you may be making with your blog:
1. Long Paragraphs - Most internet readers do not have the time or patience to read long paragraphs, in fact many people reading your blog actually just scan it looking for certain words that may jump out and grab their attention. Full Story »
Entrecard Top Droppers for August
Hey loyal readers it is that time again. Another month down and it is time to pay homage to those who visit us regularly at the Authority Directory.
If you would like to, take a look at the top droppers from June and July to see how they change or stay just the same.
Now if you’re wondering how to get a link to your site from our blog. Well the answer is pretty simple. Visit us and drop using Entrecard.
Since you have waited to patiently to find out, lets get on with it. Here are some great posts from the top ten droppers for August: Full Story »
