BackLineMedia

I was doing some blog rounds today - y’know, to check out potential subscriptions - and I guess I was just swept into blogs that’ve lost Pagerank during the January 5 update. What’s noticeable about this blogs is that they seem to be fervent in marketing their blogs and that usually gets them to more trouble than benefits. So I thought I’d give you some tips to market your blog:

Use Your Network

If there’s anything I’ve found about blogging, it’s that those who use it only to write reviews and not any real content are ashamed of sharing their blogs. That’s because they didn’t really put any effort into it. The blogs tha I’ve seen succeed on the other hand, those who write real content amidst the manner they earn, was able to market it first to their friends, relatives, family, classmates and officemates. That’s coz, if you work hard for your blog, these are the people that will return everyday to read you.

Use DoFollow

I’ve always been consistent in talking about DoFollow because I believe in its capacity to bring in more people. If not, at least you can go around DoFollow blogs and comment for links that bring you pagerank. There are a few ways I do this - first, get a google alert for dofollow, or plainly just search dofollow on google blogs. This is definitely better than dropping tagboards and asking links from people.

**if you have too many links on your site, Google might not even give you that pagerank.

Use Google Alerts

I’ve already written an article on how you can use Google Alerts in order to try and gain readership for your blog, and I tell you it does work.

Create A Blogging Circle

There are tons of blogging circles out there that you can join in order to have a regular reader-base. If you’re the type who likes to organize, you can create a blogging circle of your own. I myself was once involved in a Digg circle, but I gave it up because most of the members weren’t even writing worthy articles. I’d say, if you want religious following or a good network, you’d first have to start being a responsible blogger.

Forums and Directories

They say forums and directories are obsolete ways to promote a blog. I would agree with that, but you can not underestimate the link value they provide. Looking at it from an optimization perspective, more links will still bring you more pagerank, and will, in the long run, bring you more people. I haven’t placed this site on any directories since I’m looking at a time table (you can try using time tables for articles and optimization too.. it’s like, goal setting).

Stop Exchanging Links

I would actually tell you not to give too many links than become a link charity. This because Google actually penalizes you for being too friendly. Of course, you can link people and blogs that you follow regularly, but if you’re doing this just for the marketing value, I’d say you’re not doing something worthwhile.

Follow the Trends

This is a simple thing to do - If you want readers, write about what people read. Everyday there’s something in the blogosphere are looking for, whether it’s the coming occasion, the breaking news, the upcoming artist, or the new movie in town, people are gonna be checking the internet for these things. It’d certainly translate to more ad clicks if they find you.

To make millions from blogging isn’t something that’s ludicrous to me, but I know it takes a lot of work, and definitely a lot of time. It certainly hasn’t escaped my mind especially that the checks keep coming in. If I were to be asked by someone randomly how one can make millions out of blogging, I’d probably use a whole day to explain all sorts of things, but I’d find myself guilty of some of the other things I’m not doing.

The idea is simple for me - get people into your site, get them to click - but that is as complex as it is profound. To get people into your site, you must first have one. I may sound like a broken record but the only way you can start making money from a website or from blogging, as I have, is if you have one. If you dont, stop reading this, sign up for a blog, and then come back.

But then, you must have heard the saying “Man does not live by one blog alone,” and I agree. Real money comes into blogging once you’ve skipped falling in love with one blog and decide to make more. When my blog reached an approximate monthly income of $500.00. I realized that, logically speaking, I only needed 159 more blogs to become a millionaire. And then I had grand dreams of having employees who update my blog, and people who optimize it for me while basking under the sunshine of the Caribbean.

*snap back to reality*

The second “concept” of becoming a millionaire from blogging is how to get people into your site. I say, there is not one, specific, full-proof process for this and you would have to find yourself a strategy of your own. I’ve never really engaged much in marketing since I found that my influence outside brings in a lot more people into my site (I’m really friendly.. you could try that!). To bring in people to their site, bloggers go into as much as advertise, jump one from one blog to another, message a million people, call the president. Kidding.

It would also help to try and have a niche. And I know you’ve heard this word countless times before and you’re thinking “I dont need a niche, I’ll put up a website that everyone will love,” and I say “Ok, buddy, goodluck with that!”

Truth is, you need a niche - impugn it in your head, accept it as fact, make it as divine as gravity! I mean, even people who easily get along with others have their circles.. go get yourself one.

Next, getting those goddamn clicks! In my other blogs, I rely on several PPC (pay-per-click) networks to generate income, but for those that have larger reach, I only use Google Adsense. You need to apply with ad serving sites to start making money, but you have to remind yourself to get some clickers ..legal clickers!

Getting people to click on your ads is a leap of faith - chances are, they wont. Sure there is an itty-bitty percentage that do, but that itty-bitty wont become a biggy-bitty (legally), so the only way for you to increase your clicks is to promote your blogs like crazy. It would be good if you could get some help promoting it, and I dont mean paying for advertising. If you know the right resources to tap, the handy tools to use, and you’re the type of person that people love to love, heck, you’ll get rich in this industry.

Google Alerts is probably one of the more underestimated tools of Google, especially for bloggers. People kinda have this perception of it as a way to spam. However, with wise use, I think you Google Alerts does give you some blogging edge. Below are some of the reason of how you can take advantage of Google Alerts.

Getting Updates
The primary purpose why Google Alerts exists in the first place is for people to get updates about what interests them. Hence, where I am subscribed to the alert “DoFollow,” I get a weekly update on News and Blogs regarding the keyword (which I preset).

Writing Material
Because I update three blogs - a personal, a pro and another (coz I dont wanna call it my review blog) - it’s relatively hard for me to update them daily without having the content to suffer. But where I am able to gain ideas once a week from the topics that interest me most, I somehow dont run out of things to write.

Finding an Audience
Perhaps the biggest reason why I love Google Alerts is that it allows me to find blogs that are interested in the same thing. And some of them could be regular readers of your blogs as well.

Finding You
Another less specific reason why Google Alerts helps is that it can actually bring people into your site. More than just catching the eyes of fellow bloggers with similar interests is tapping into their circles. And that’s always something that you like.

Following Up
Since I’ve only been using Google Alerts for the last three months, I’m only beginning to notice that some of the clippings I’ve saved could actually serve as reference to later articles. I have a bookmarking account with this of course but finding these articles was still rooted to Google Alerts.

This is the 2nd of a 3-part article on how can start blogging for bucks. The first article discussed the following:

1. The difference between a free blog and a paid blog.
2. Starting a free blog.
3. Starting a paid blog.
4. Opening an account with Godaddy.
5. Buying a domain with Godaddy.

Today we continue this article with what you should do with the domain you just bought.

There are two things that is common for people who have domains, each of them having their own benefits.

1. You can redirect that domain to your free blog account (which is Blogger in the case of this tutorial).Redirecting from your blogger account doesn’t need hosting which means you only spend $9.99/yr.
2. Another option is for you to get hosting (which $6.99/mo aside from the domain) and get Wordpress. I wouldn’t require you to buy hosting unless you plan on making websites or if you plan on writing multiple blogs.

How to redirect your Godaddy domain to Blogger.com

1. Log into you Godaddy account. Under the domains tab, click domain management.
2. Click on your domain.
3. On the next page, where they show the details, look at the second column and click on Total DNS Control and MX Records
4. On the second section where you see the www click on the pencil icon on its opposite end. This will allow you to edit the CNAME. *you dont have to worry about that is for now*
5. Go to the Points To column and across the www, type in ghs.google.com to redirect the Blogger.com blog to your domain.
6. Log into your Blogger.com.
7. Click on Settings.
8. Below the Settings tab is a sub-menu. Click on Publishing.
9. Click on Custom Domain.
10. Because you already have domain (coz that’s what we did first) don’t enter the domain on the section below. Instead look towards your right and click Switch to Advanced Settings.
11. On the form be sure to write www.yourdomain.com because that’s what we assigned it to.

**If you want to assign it to a sub-domain such as blog.yourdomain.com, just go to your GoDaddy account and create a CNAME for your sub domain of choice (in this case, blog) and type ghs.google.com across it.

Sometimes the hardest thing to overcome is the first step. With blogging, I think what have hindered people from trying it out is that they’ve become lost at all the links and processes that they decide to give it up; with it comes the benefits you get from blogging of course. So to help you start your blogging career, I am putting up this tutorial on how to start a blog.

Free vs Paid Blog

The first thing you need to decide before starting to blog is whether you wanna get a free blog or a paid blog. Surely, something that’s free is much better because you get to have all the features necessary for a blog, and you get it without having to get money of your pocket. However, the benefits of having a free blog is limited especially if you want to make money from it.

For me, as far as content is concerned, people will read the blogs they want to but from an advertisers point of view, they will certainly prefer advertising on a [dot]com rather than on a blog[dash]blogprovider[dot]com. So if you prefer to making money out of a blog, I suggest you get a paid blog instead.

Starting A Free Blog Account

To start a free blog account is very simple. You just go to your preferred blog platform (Blogger, LiveJournal, Blogdrive etc.) and create an account. I will recommend Blogger because that’s the most flexible… For me, at least.

Opening an Account With Blogger.com

• To open an account with blogger, just go to their homepage and click on CREATE A BLOG.
• On the next page, fill out the necessary information including Email and Blogname. Click next.
• Next you have to select the template of your blog. This can be changed (as well as other settings) even after you’ve selected it. Click next.
• You will be directed to the POST page - this is where you write a post.
• To publish an article just write your TITLE, write your article on the BODY and click on publish.
• To save your article as draft you just have to click on SAVE AS DRAFT. This will be available on the POST submenu EDIT POSTS.
• After this you’ll just have to log on with your Email and password, and you will be directed to the post page immediately.
• You have to remember to log on your email and confirm your blog.

Opening a Paid Blog Account

As far as paid blogs are concerned, you can either:

1. Buy a DOMAIN and redirect it using BLOGGER (costs $9.99/year)
2. Buy a DOMAIN and HOSTING and use wordpress (costs $100.00/year)

**There are tons of domain and hosting services that you can purchase from. I suggest you use GODADDY.com for this since they are the most known. Hence, you can feel secure about their services. The prices I set above are Godaddy prices.

How to Open an Account with Godaddy.

1. Go to the Godaddy homepage and click on CREATE AN ACCOUNT
2. Fill out the form leaving a valid email, address and phone number (people do this all the time, dont worry about it)
3. Confirm your account through email.

How to Buy a Domain with Godaddy

1. On the menu bar, put your mouse over DOMAINS and a scroll down menu will show up. Click on REGISTER DOMAINS.
2. Pick a name from the field below and select if you want a [dot]com, net, org, etc. Click search to see if it’s available.
3. Once you’ve found a DOMAIN IS AVAILABLE You can go ahead and purchase it. If a domain is not available, the page will say so as well. Keep searching for one.
4. For available Domains, you can scroll down and click CONTINUE.

* There will be all sorts of Godaddy Offers in between and your actual purchase. This which can confuse you if you’re new. So just dont mind it. For the sake of this blog, I’m only gonna tell you how to go about buying a domain as CHEAP as you can which is really just $9.99 per year.*

5. After clicking continue, there will a big green button saying YES, ADD THESE TO MY ORDER referring to other domains you probably would overlook and buy. Look below that and Click CONTINUE TO CHECK OUT.
6. On the next page, look straight down to #3 and choose NO THANKS, I’M READY FOR CHECK OUT.
7. It is on the fourth page that you can finally pay for your DOMAIN:
   • NOTES DURING PURCHASE
     • Be sure the price is right. If it says $20.38, chances are you’re paying for two years. You can change it on the same form and click on UPDATE CART.
     • For your payment method, I suggest paying by CREDIT CARD or PAYPAL.
     • Check the Agreements and click on CHECKOUT NOW.
8. Congratulations! You’ve just purchased your first domain with Godaddy. You’ll have to wait for an email for them to tell you once it’s available for you to use.

A blog is a mix of the words WEB and LOG. However, with the web still being a largely text based platform in the early 21st century, the term BLOG became closely associated with generally TEXT ARTICLES.

As the internet progressed, blogs came up with different ways of communication. There came VLOGS (video blogs), PICTOBLOGS (photo blogs), and PODCASTS (audio blogs). Over time the term “blogging” became attached to a largely text based platform and New media was used to refer to the general idea of internet transmission.

Today New Media is considered a phenomenon - connecting, creating, expressing, earning. Online Business Magazine is one of the many examples of a business blog.

Because of the conventional commerce that we’re used to - money in exchange for goods - we dont usually grasp the idea that people make money online. I mean, I myself have impugned it in my head that anything sounds too good to be true must be exactly that ..too good to be true!

In this case, the industry - composed of web publishers, bloggers, the internet as whole - presents itself to such skepticism. The good thing about this is that by not telling you how they earn, bloggers actually eliminate the competition, thereby keeping the money available.

How much money is there in the internet? Well, if you have a MySpace, Friendster or Facebook, you’re probably helping someone become a billionaire. Backed by advertising, this year is predicted to rake in billions of dollars, and everyone, you and I, can get a share of this pie.

Do Blogs Make Money?

YES! Plain and simple… Of course, the follow up question is, how much money do blogs make, and, to the skeptics, if blogs make money, why isn’t everybody doing it?

How much do blogs earn?

I’d say you can earn anywhere with that billion dollar pie but, realistically speaking, if you work hard enough for a blog, you’ll probably earn less one percent of it. Bloggers today earn anywhere from a hundred dollars to ten thousand depending on how much time they invest in it.

Why isn’t everybody doing it?

The immediate answer is because not all of us who are in this industry want you to blog. If I made money to get you to blog, I’ve promoted it so willingly already. But that’s not how everybody thinks. Even now, as I tell you that blogging could make you enough money to quit your day job, if I told you all the tricks of the trade, I could as well have quit blogging and work for you.

Hence, the second reason why so many aren’t blogging is because people dont know it exists. With bloggers not pushing to promote New Media as an industry everybody can earn from, the audience - those who read blogs - could come close to reading one without knowing the opportunity.

The last reason why not too many people are blogging is because not everyone is made to blog for bucks. I’ve seen countless people try out blogging for money and all of them have failed. That’s because blogging doesn’t just involve writing a daily post and inviting your friends to comment. It’s a mix of genre, skill and marketing.

Imagine yourself promoting MUSIC. If you were to make good money off of it, you probably should have the talent that people far from your circle of influence recognize and stick to. You also should constantly have that air of freshness, and of course, the ability to promote it like crazy.

Yadda.. yadda.. yadda..How do blogs make money?

Blogs altogether earn through ADVERTISING but there are different ways they earn from it. I earn from three different sources:

1. Advertising - advertising is probably the most widespread way that bloggers earn. Advertising could bring you thousands of dollars if you have a good website. Bloggers like me earn somewhere between $100-800 a month. If you have a good site, you can charge for your advertisements. People basically charge anywhere from $25 to $1000 for weekly advertisements in their blogs.

2. Affiliates - affiliates is a simple way to make money. It’s basically recommending people to buy a product or service and if they make a purchase through your website, you get a commission of what the Advertiser earns. It’s usually simple to do this.. Advertisers just give you a code to paste in your blog and that goes to their website. The code is identified to have come from your website so they know where to send the checks to.

Affiliate services doesn’t make me much because the genre of my blog isn’t something that tries to sell you stuff. But you’ll find those kinds of blogs.. and I bet they make good money from this.

3. Paid Reviews - some people think there’s no money in writing because, let’s face it, it doesn’t sound logical unless you’re in a broadsheet or magazine. But that’s exactly where you got it wrong. Paid reviews exist especially for that reason - for you not to know that you’re reading a paid blog.

You might find yourself reading a post telling you to go to another website, recommending it to be something beneficial for you; for all you know that article has been paid for by advertising.

How can you make money from blogging as well?

You only need a blog to begin. There are free ones out there (Blogger, Wordpress.com) but I suggest you go right out and invest on a website (website[dot]com). That’s because free blogs aren’t liked well by advertisers. That’s usually the place for highschool hobbyists who wanna talk about their day in school or rant about their lives.

A [dot]com only costs 9.99 a year so that’s not expensive at all. Aside from this, of course, you need internet connection, a table and a chair. The rest is just time.

How long before you start making money?

Allow yourself 3 months to suck dirt. During this time I suggest you make friends with fellow bloggers, know your audience (if they like you cussing or not, if they’re into green bags or cars), and, especially, learn to write. Update everyday and drop by other people’s blogs. LEar to

Between three to six months of devoting yourself to blogging life, you could expect to make $600-$1000, and as you learn the ropes, you’ll get to earn more.

However, I would add that this is just the gist of it. I’ll keep the specifics from when you ask me - you might want to know more about SEO’s, domains, hosting, blogging platforms, pagerank,Alexa, bookmarking sites, RSS feeds - but those are stuff you meet along the way. If you read about them now, you might think of me as a GEEK; Which I am!

The No Follow Movement started by Randa Clay last year has sparked some sort of phenomenon in the global blogosphere. Basically, the NoFollow Movement or what is now more commonly known as DoFollow or the U Comment, I Follow (it really depends on how you wanna call it) does is it allows your commentors to extract your link juice.

You see, even though you’ve exchanged so many links with several bloggers just like those who drop by here, not all of them are counted by the search engines. You will first have to set your blog to DoFollow in order for your links to count. So what this means to my audience is that all you have to do is comment on this blog and I will be able to shower you with some link juice.

Way before I used Wordpress, I was first one of Blogger.com’s minions and I liked it there until I got pissed at not having threaded comments. Now, starting a new blog, a problogging blog at that, let me share with you some of the things I did to customize my blogger blog.

1. How to delete the Blogger navbar?

What I usually do for my blogger blogs is I insert this code:

<style type="text/css">
#b-navbar {
  height:0px;
  visibility:hidden;
  display:none
}
</style>

2. How to put an icon on your Blogger blog?

Paste the code below before the body tag of your template. I found this to be easier than using favicon and it worked well with my blogger blog. I usually upload my photos at Photobucket.

<link href=’ http://your-own-file.jpg‘ rel=’Shortcut’ type=’image/x-icon’/>

3. How do I upload a new XML template to my blog?

One of the most common questions is how to upload a new template to their blog. You must first find a template of your choice, we’d recommend Jackbook and Geckofly for you. Then you have to download the CSS to your file. To do this, right click on the download link and click “save link as.” On your Blogger blog, go to template and browse the file from your computer. That’s it!

4. How do I change the background of my blogger blog?

Go to templates and find the tag that says “background.” With it often comes a URL. Change that URL with that of your choice. I upload my files using Photobucket and paste it on there. Click save and you’re done.

5. How do you know which blogs are linked to your site?

As you know, Wordpress does this instantly for you but not blogger so you’ll have to rely on third party programs to find out. I’d say open up an account with Technorati and claim your blog. Links to your site will be automatically shown from your account, past links wont be though.

If you wanna know how many people drop by your blog from other people’s links, I’d create an account with ShinyStat. They have a weekly report that shows how your blog is doing. It’s definitely better than the usual counter because you see where your visitors are coming from.

6. How do I increase the pagerank of my blog?

Pagerank is a way to gauge how well your blog is. If you get a , you’re pretty good. To increase your pagerank you must first increase your inbound links - that means sites that are linked to you. There are a variety of ways to do this which I will discuss soon.

7. How do I earn from my Blogger blog?

The immediate advice I could give you is to apply for Google Adsense, which I explain how here.

For several people, one of the main reasons why they would probably even know what a blog is, is if they follow someone famous into the internet. Indeed, where mainstream media has been all but created a facade of goodies to its audience, blogging has become a way for celebrities to become human and reach out to fans, followers, even enemies. Below are 10 of the people I’ve followed into the blogging world.

Subscribe to these guys. They update often.. or whoever writes for them:

Michael Moore
Not too many people as fat as him are given the talent to make films that defy the principles of democracy.

Donald Trump
This guy is everywhere.

Guy Kawasaki
Probably the guy who convinced The Donald to blog.. or not.

Anderson Cooper
The guy you most certainly have to subscribe to. He updates regularly

Meredith Viera
I’d say there’s not too many famous female bloggers. Not one that’s smart at least.

Paolo Coehlo
So we have a business, politics and news blog already. Now let’s drop one for writing.

Rosie O’Donnel
…Probably has the bestest design of all. I wish I had her template.

Neil Gaiman
…And here’s one for art.

Tom Green
Lastly, Tom Green. He’s like the stiffmeister, only he actually dated Drew Barrymore.

Mark Cuban
Here’s one that looks like Tom Green. Ok, not exactly. He’s a billionaire too.