Reginald Chan

Tag: make money

  • 5 Insights You Should Know About Make Money Blogging

    5 Insights You Should Know About Make Money Blogging

    According to one source, there are about 60 million blogs out there and the number is increasing every day.

    You might be asking why there are so many bloggers out there and the answer is simple; They believe that they can make money blogging.

    Your mind might be playing tricks on you right now, wondering if it is really possible to make a living out of blogging.

    And the truth is yes, it is very possible to make a living out of several blogs … which leads to my second question.

    So, why there are so many bloggers who failed to make money?

    Here are a few reasons. Yes, dive in and enjoy 🙂

    Could it be caused by:

    • Hundreds of ‘myths’ that successful bloggers are making thousands of dollars monthly?
    • Lack of earnings in the first 6 months?
    • Not so promising stream of blog traffic?

    Honestly, I could list down a dozen more but does the above seems obvious to you?

    Most bloggers are too obsessed with making money blogging. Seriously.

    Before we proceed further, here’s a quick video I had done in regards to make money through blogging.

    Is it possible to really make money blogging?

    The answer is yes. There’s no doubt you can make money through your blog or website but the biggest question is “How?”

    Question of the day: How do you make money through blogging?

    Let’s see what other successful bloggers say about this:

    So to recap, yes it darn possible to make money through your blogs.

    I too make money but I am no where close to them … honestly 🙂

    Okay. This brings to the next part of our discussion; How to make money through your blogs?

    How to monetize a blog?

    1. The relationship between traffic and blog earnings

    Fact 101 – Traffic and blog earnings are inter-related

    A blog is nothing without traffic and a low traffic blog doesn’t really make a lot of money.

    Now, how much do you agree with this?

    …

    …

    …

    Debate all you want but the truth is, you can make money through your blog with both high and low traffic. It all boils down to your own ‘blogging game plan’.

    Don’t worry. I know you are pretty confused now but let’s head over to the next part to make things … clearer.

    High traffic but low blog earnings?

    Let’s assume you have a blog and it is doing very well. You are getting like 1,000 visitors a day but you are not able to convert them into successful sales.

    So, what’s wrong?

    The problem could probably lies in you and your plan.

    Conversion rate has a long history with bloggers and even myself. I could get 500 traffic a day but at times, zero sales or very less sales.

    And what did I learn from this?

    High traffic doesn’t guarantees a good blog earnings but … good amount of traffic does increase the chances of you landing a sale, click etc on your blog.

    Make sense to you?

    I am not saying that high amount of traffic doesn’t help in blog earning and I am saying it absolutely does!

    However, if you are not focusing on the right visitor or traffic, you are wasting your effort.

    My recommendation: Have a read what Steve Scott wrote in his eBook, 8 Simple Steps to Get 100,000 Blog Visitors without Working 8 Days a Week.

    Low traffic but high earnings?

    Now, let’s say you want to go the Mexican style (okay I made that up) and aim for low traffic instead.

    Why not? Chances is that you may earn more money with low traffic compared to a high traffic blog.

    This is extremely useful when it comes to building a niche website. The trick here is to focus on specific traffic and not general traffic.

    Personally, I would rather have just 50 traffic a day (who are very determine to buy something) instead of 500 traffic who are here for shopping.

    Ever heard about targeted traffic? There you go.

    To wrap this up, imagine you have 50 traffic a day which is highly optimized and targeted. This means that you would have an idea on what they are looking for.

    Here, you need to provide them with the right solutions and you would have a high chance of closing the sale.

    2. Monetizing a blog

    I could discuss about this the whole night long when it comes to monetizing. When we talk about make money through blogging or monetizing a blog, there are several ways you can go with such as using advertisement banners, affiliate sales and providing a service.

    There’s no trick on this! Really.

    You just got to know what is your goal, who are your potential customers and of course, not putting all your eggs in one basket.

    Google Adsense and other advertising companies

    In early stages of a blog development, Google Adsense and these advertising banners really help when it comes to generating income.

    This is a good way to start to earn few dollars a day but nothing more unless you are doing a very specific niche blog.

    For example, blogging niche has a superb low payout of less than $0.50 per click while some other niches could fetch up to $25 per click and maybe even more.

    You could monetize a blog using Google Adsense or ad banners but unless you are having a high traffic blog, you won’t be earning a lot.

    Remember that you cannot control what advertisements are shown on your site and all you can do is to specify the categories of the advertisements shown.

    Tip: Don’t place too many banners on one page but instead, focus on placing them on hot spots to increase click rates.

    Affiliate sales

    This is actually my major contributor when it comes to monetizing my blog. When it comes to affiliate sales, providing a solution will potentially lead to a sale.

    Affiliate sales offer huge monetizing chances for blogger but the reason behind so many failed bloggers is because they focus too much on closing the sales or making money out of their blogs.

    C’mon guys. Let’s face it.

    It is always great to see the extra money in your account from affiliate sales right?

    Yup, I know how that feels like ~ Felt like jumping around especially when you are getting $100 or more per successful sales.

    Here’s the ‘not-so-good’ part about affiliate sales. You could probably go weeks long without earning a single cent.

    When I wrote my blogging journey in the first 60 days, I shared my earnings and many readers (some emailed me) said that it was great to see that I am able to earn like well over $200 thanks to ShareASale (which you can sign up for free) in just 60 days on a fresh blog.

    Some said it was good planning but for me, affiliate sales is all about luck. You could probably write a damn good article but without luck, you might not even close a sale.

    Of course, unless you are a very successful blogger with thousands of followers, we are on the same boat 🙂

    How do you make money from blogging?

    Make money providing a service

    You could probably earn money by serving ads and doing affiliate sales but those earning (in my honest opinion) are mainly due to luck.

    When you are popular or having the right type of blog traffic, you might decide that “Hey, it’s time to venture out to the open sea”. You know … stepping out of your comfort zone.

    That’s when you can start deciding if you want to provide a service instead.

    Providing a service could actually turn out to be a very lucrative profession if you have the skills.

    Okay guys, before you grab a piece of paper and pen to write down your brilliant idea, this ‘service’ is harder than you think.

    Let me ask you these:

    1. Do you think you have the expertise to provide such service?
    2. Are you experienced enough to provide one hell of a service?
    3. How many times have you done that before? (providing that service of your choice)

    Now, you are not ready if your you have these terms in your answer: “I think”, “probably”, “may be” etc.

    Yes. If you are going to provide a service, do not have the plan that sounds like this; “If A doesn’t work, I will think of B.”

    You need to tell your potential clients like “Hey, I know what I am talking about and this is my advise” sort of thing.

    Sound harsh? Not really.

    Here’s another example which I received from Facebook two days ago. This dude was asking if I need any SEO service for my website (duh). 

    Doesn’t sound like a problem? It was disastrous … for him and here’s why.

    The problem is he didn’t have a tiny piece of clue what SEO is! He just wanted to sell his ‘how to SEO’ to me. 

    Do you think he made the sale? Obviously not.

    • Firstly, he targeted the wrong person.
    • Secondly, he didn’t know the product he is selling.
    • Lastly, failing the first two and he basically lost his chance to sell.

    Making money through blogging depends on you

    Do you have any tricks when it comes to make money blogging?

    I am always very interested to learn new ways to make money online or more specifically through my blogs. The truth is, 9 out of 10 times of trying would leave us nothing but disappointment.

    When you find the momentum you are looking for, you need to learn how to ‘plug’ that into your blogging business and grow it from there.

    Do you have any tips and tricks when it comes to monetizing your blog? Let’s discuss it using the comment form below.

    If you like this article, could you please share this for me by clicking on the red and shiny button?

  • 5 Facts About Make Money Blogging You Must Know

    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.

    What are the best way to make money blogging?
    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:

    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.

    Place of advertisement banners can affect the outcome of earning money through blogging
    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.

    If you like this article, could you please share this for me using the red Google+ button below?

  • Top 6 Blogging Tips That Helps Building Blog Ranking

    Top 6 Blogging Tips That Helps Building Blog Ranking

    Blogging is an ever growing business and what we are to do yesterday, might not be able to work today. Well, like it or not, that’s the reality of life! I often ask myself what are important blogging tips as I managed to grow my blogs at Blogspot (some call it Blogger) with hundreds and thousands of viewers a day.

    Lucky for you, the answers are right below. So, let’s dive in now and I hope you enjoy this post! Feel free to contact me if you have any question though.

    Hold on! This article has more than 1,800 words! Feeling lazy? Don’t worry mate! I even prepared for you a slideshare PowerPoint just for you!

    Important blogging tips: Blogging is all about content

    Let’s face it guys. You could probably not go far without content. You may spend thousands of dollars (and time) on marketing and social blasting but without content, you are basically nothing.

    Good bloggers maintain their blogs. Great bloggers on the other hand, make blogs even better.

    Let’s take a moment and see how famous people do with their blogs:

    Darren Rowse from ProBlogger.net. He created great blogs because he had great ideas. He did his own book, and even had writers trying to get into his blogging business. He didn’t started big but he did created a path for himself. Good for you Darren!

    Now you see, he didn’t get famous simply by blogging nor he was some great blogging tips like this. He became famous by providing good content and articles to his readers. He started from scratch just like all of us.

    Lisa Irby from 2createawebsite.com. I followed her recently and I totally love the way she blogged. She started blogging just with an intention to help out others. She did not ‘˜just blog’ but she did quality blogging. All her blogs are filled with important information on blogging and creating websites.

    The above two are pretty clear examples in my books. For those who think that SEO has taken over content in blogs, think twice. You are wrong!

    Good content attracts people and that’s what you need to target!

    I even wrote how you can boost your blog or website content optimization just by using this SEO tool: Simply The Best Content Optimization Tool for Bloggers.

    Don’t just blog blindly

    I don’t know you but I used to blog blindly. I am not sure if this is a very common term but for me, it means creating an article but has very less content. Consider this as quantity over quality.

    Yup, you got it right there. Most readers don’t read articles because they want to but the fact is that they need to. Huh?! Let me explain below.

    Where comes readers? Websites or articles are usually visited by others because readers (like you and me) need to find for information. If the blog has very less information, you are going to lose potential traffic within the first 10 seconds!

    Keep your article or blog as simple as possible but packed with information. Avoid blind blogging anytime of the day if you want to be a successful blogger.

    Importance of Search Engine Optimization a.k.a. SEO

    Nearly all blogging tips encourage bloggers to focus in SEO
    Do you know what SEO really do? 

    SEO basically means the ability to be ‘˜visible’ in the eyes of the public. Good SEO skills will bring the website to fame. Seriously.

    You can’t learn or master SEO, not today and not in the future. So, how can you probably be an SEO expert?!

    If you want to be good in SEO, then make sure you understand how SEO works. Most bloggers (and even myself few years back) made the same ol’ mistake. Focusing too much in SEO!

    At that time, I thought I could understand SEO and make my website great. Well, I was wrong big time. I came to realized it when I came across an article written by one of the local guys in my country, Malaysia.

    That article really struck me like a train hitting me face first. I thought to myself, ‘I made the wrong approach and it took me years to realize it!’. Yes, I wasted probably a few years but I learned from it.

    Understanding the SEO concept will actually help you in the blogging career. SEO is needed to create good blogs but it takes more than just that to at the top of search engine result pages.

    My tip here is if you are just starting off writing, then focus in your blog contents first. As time passes by, slowly go with SEO approach way.

    You can check this article out for more information, Boost Your Website Ranking Using SEO Keywords.

    Understand what and how blogging works

    One of the best blogging tips I ever learned is blogging is not a one day business. Well, I wish! I am going to admit it, at times, I wish I could start up a blog and make it to the first page of Google. Well, probably in my dreams.

    One of the best blogging tips I ever learn is blogging takes time. It is like growing a fruit tree from scratch. Nurturing and taking care of the tree for a few years and then, you might see the tree bearing fruits.

    For me, the biggest mistake done by most bloggers is that they assume that blogging is a quick way to make money. Well, you could but chances are pretty slim buddy! Of course, this eBook written by Darren from ProBlogger on how you can earn a six-figure income just from blogging.

    I am a very ‘˜karma-person’ and thus, I believe that one can actually make money blogging if they are devoted to help others. From the example way above, both Darren and Lisa are great writers who love to share their ideas.
    And, what do they get in return? A pretty smooth sailing blogging career and making money through blogging!

    I consider blogging as a full time work where you would need to devote your time and passion into the business. If you want to grow your blog, then ask yourself (first) why you blog. Then work from there with your reason.

    Blogging is not about yourself…literally

    This is a little tricky and I will try my best to explain. Blogging is not (everything) about yourself or making money online. You need to help others as well, so to say.

    I bet you have came across more than one famous blogging website. Do you notice anything in common? Okay, here’s the hint; guest post.

    I am going to repeat myself. Blogging is not everything about yourself. If you want to start a blogging business, you should focus a great deal of time in your website and at the same time, other websites!

    Websites are nowhere without some help. Let’s face it guys. If you want to have a website with good traffic, then you need to publish your name to the world.

    Instead of publishing 10 great articles on your blog, how about publishing 9 great ones on your site and another one in other blogs? You see, sharing one great article might sounds a lot to you (even to me). But, do you know how much traffic you are going to convert?

    Yup, you hear me now and I really hope you do. When I contributed my first guest post, I really thought if that is really a good idea. At times, I thought that was a wrong idea. Thankfully, I was able to stick to my ground long enough to see the traffic growth on my own site.

    Important blogging tip here is that when it comes to blogging, it is all about giving back to the community. Sharing is caring and in this case, you are opening your doors to even more possibilities just by sharing ideas with others.

    Who knows, you might even have followers dying to write for you instead in return!

    Build your blogging career correctly

    Bloggers must be very focused when it comes to building a high traffic blog
    Starting a blog on the right track is important to ensure that the blog will be successful 

    This is probably the best blogging tip I have for you in this blog. If you want to be somebody in this blogging industry, then you need to make sure that you start the right way. And when I mean starting correctly, it doesn’t mean that you should start a blog on a free website.

    I know you might be looking for this. So, here are a few places you can start blogging for free:

    *p/s If you want to go pro or serious in blogging, you should get a website instead of those free blogging sites.

    To start a new website, you need to buy domain name and hosting services. Here are list of recommended companies:

    Oh yes, this is the biggest mistake young and experience bloggers make. You may start blogging on a free blog and that doesn’t kill you. However, it is going to affect you in the long run. I know how easy it is to rank well and faster using Blogspot than a website. Now, imagine that you continue your blog for the next 3 years and you grow your audience. Your blog could probably be PR 3 or maybe higher.

    I am sure back there somewhere in your brain, you are tempted to have your own brand. Now, moving everything to a new website is easy but building your traffic back? Okay, that is a whole different story.

    Don’t get me wrong. You can still make it through without any issue but you are going to waste precious time. It takes months and years to build a brand and it doesn’t come cheap. What I am saying is that if you have plans to develop a blog and probably become a serious blogger, then I would suggest you to get a self hosted domain even from scratch.

    Don’t be like me as I wasted a few years with free blogs provided by Blogger and WordPress. I developed my blogs so much that it is a hassle to transfer them over to a self hosted domain. I wasn’t willing to lose the traffic anytime soon and I wish I had started everything with my own website and not with a free blog.

    I have to add these useful blogging tips even if there is a gun pointed at my head right now as I type. When you have your own website, you can design it anyway you like. You can publish anything and you are not tied down to any terms and conditions. You are basically the king and the people as well. You can design your website to look anyway you like without having to worry about what others would think (literally).

    Final words

    I hope you enjoyed this blog post as much as I had writing it. Pardon me for such a lengthy post though and I truly hope that these blogging tips will serve you well in the future.

    Feel free to tell me what you think about this post and if there is anything I could improve for the next article simply by replying using the comment form below or using this contact form.

    If you like this article, could you please share this for me using the red Google+ button below?