Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Step 8, Familiarizing Yourself with Blogger's Dashboard

So, you have a blog at Blogger and you need to find out - how do I make it DANCE?

Today is all about the "Dashboard".


My mood? Yen Sabai, Sabai-Sabai. In Thai this means "Cool and comfortable... feeling kinda groovy and relaxed". Yep, that's me today - the weather is just perfect today - a bit cloudy and in the 70's fahreinheit. A cool tasty breeze blowing through the sliding glass windows at this internet cafe. I've gotta Cappucino "yen" - over ice and I'm so, so Sabai...


This blog will answer questions such as:

What is the Blogger Dashboard and what can I do with it?
What is "tabbed browsing" and why should I learn to like it?
How can I create additional blogs?

Can I add personal information about me that others can see from my blog?

How can I blog from my mobile phone?

How can I Change the entire look of my blog very quickly?


This blog will not answer questions such as:


ANYTHING about the King of Thailand
(keepa da mouth shutup, u undastand, yes?)


What is the Blogger "Dashboard" and what can be done with it?

That is the focus of today's entire post. The dashboard is the first stop when you login to Blogger. Login now so you can read this and go over it while you're logged in. If you have a printer, print out this page and read along as you check out your own Dashboard on the computer.

When I login to Blogger this is what I see, along with every other blog I have there. These are 2 blogs I have:

Blogger's Dashboard list of blogs








If you choose , "View Blog" you will be taken to your blog from that page. But, since you have FireFox browser you can now just use your mouse to RIGHT click that View Blog link and you will have some options come up. If you then left click the "Open Link in New Tab" selection you will see another browser window open up beside the one you are currently on. You will remain on the page you were on and you can click the "tab" at the top of the page to see the other browser. This is a great feature to get familiar with. Play with that a bit. Try other options in the list when you RIGHT click a link. What else can you do? This process - using the tabs in browsers is called, 'tabbed browsing', and it's quite a nice way to browse the internet.

If you don't have FireFox yet, I strongly recommend it: There is a button to the right on this site where you can download it in full with the toolbar that adds a lot of functionality. **

If you choose the "New Post" link you'll be taken directly to Blogger's "Create Post" page.

If you choose one of the selections following, "Manage:" Each of those links "Posting; Settings; Template" are tabs that are full of features you can use for your blog.

You should explore those a bit and see where each leads. I think you'd have a much better time if you used the "tabbed browsing" that I told you about earlier. I like clicking different browser tabs much better than I like to hit the "back" and re-choose the links when I want to go forward to the same page. If you used tabbed browsing the pages remain open for you and loaded -no waiting!


Try it! Try it!
Don't stop until you LIKE IT!



How can I create additional blogs?

Very simply, if you click the "Create a blog" in the upper right hand corner of the whitespace of the Dashboard you'll be taken to the exact place you were when you created your first blog, and you know what to do from there since you read, "Step 7, How do I Create a Blog on Blogger?"


Can I add personal information about me that others can see from my blog?

Yes! Click on the right side link in the Dashboard on the "Edit Profile" link. A page opens up that lets you tell as much about yourself as you'd ever want to. If you're going to blog you should reveal some things about yourself so readers feel a connection to you. That is part of the attraction that visitors have to blog sites - they KNOW the person behind the site. Sites prior to this were like companies, anonymous and impersonal. Your blog must not be like that. Enter as much as you want, or even MORE than you want.
Remember, whatever you put on this profile is shown to everyone - all viewers of all different blogs. If you have, like I do - blogs done by you and your wife or g/f what name do you pick? I don't know either, so we use a : ) smiley face. Also - when you choose what blogs to display that are yours - they display to everyone - so again, choose which to display wisely. My girlfriend's readers of TryThaiFood don't want to see my Thaipulse.blogspot.com blogs or some of my other even more crazy ones! Choose carefully.

When you choose the "My Account" link on the right side you'll see a list of services that you have with Google that are associated with the email address you have - if you have a gmail.com email address. If you need one, email me and ask - I have 50 more I can give away.

How can I blog from my mobile phone?

First you can send an email from your mobile phone to go@blogger.com. Blogger will register your phone's email address and send you back a Claim Token to use to "claim your blog" here at a link from your Dashboard page.

In the Mobile Devices section on the right hand side you can choose the link, "Learn how to start mobile blogging". There is a place there to enter your mobile claim token that you received after sending a photo taken from your phone to go@blogger.com. Once you enter that you'll be given a choice what you want to do with images and emails sent from your phone to go@blogger.com. Do you want to keep the new blog that Blogger created for you - or, do you want to send all emails and photos straight to your blog to be published?

Up to you.

If this doesn't work for you - like it doesn't work for me in Thailand... you can send go@blogger.com an email with a photo attached from ANY email address - from your computer and you will receive a claim token in your email box. You can then come here to Dashboard and plug it in and claim your blog.

Why Is This Useful?

Blogger offers you another way to publish to your blog by sending emails to a specially created (secret) email address if you wish - but it does NOT work with photos! If you set up another email address so that everytime you use it to send go@blogger.com your photos with or without emails - you can post photos to your blog as well as text. A TRICK! We'll learn later about how to setup a secret email address that you can mail to from any email or phone you choose - and it will be published on your blog. It only applies to text, not photos though.


How can I Change the entire look of my blog very quickly?

There is a link on the right column of the Dashboard that is under the "Need a Fresh Look" heading. The link says, "Customize your blog" with a new layout today. If you click there you will be able to choose different templates that will re-arrange everything about your blog. You should start experimenting with those and find a template you like. There are many, and there are even custom templates you can download from other sites that are free and offer much more style and options.


Review...

The Dashboard is the first stop for managing your blog(s). You can do a lot from here, but the real meat of everything is just behind the Dashboard at the links that said, "Manage: Posts; Settings; Templates". We will start learning about those over the next few days.


Do some more playing around in Dashboard and clicking the Post, Settings, and Templates links and seeing the different options that exist. There are many you won't understand, but if you click the small orange "?" buttons on the site or the "help"links in the upper right hand side of the page you're on - you'll be able to understand some more of it. I'll review the rest!


and it got reeeeaaaalll quiet...

and Vern said,

"Thank you kind mother Google for raining your blessings on us like a sweet summer squall. We've all smiled because of you today, and we'll wake up smiling tomorrow too. Your desire to quench our parched minds with info-nectar is such a sweet and generous gift... "


; )



Step 1, What is a Blog?
Step 2, How does a blog make money ?
Step 3, What skills and qualities do I need to blog for money?
Step 4, What topic should I blog about to make money?
Step 5, How can I choose a good domain name and title for my blog?
Step 6, How much money does a blog cost?
Step 7, How do I create a free blog at Blogger.com?
Step 8, You're there NOW - this is it...


** I make about a dollar if you download at that link. In Thailand a dollar is enough to eat a nice big bowl of Gwit Diao (noodle soup) with an extra bowl of bean sprouts on the side that I quickly dump in before my g/f can react. I top it off with a Cha-yen (iced Thai Jasmine tea). Sabai, Sabai indeed...

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Step 7, How Do I Create a Free Blog at Blogger.com?

Ahhhh! Finally, we're THERE. Creating the blog. All that other stuff prior to now was a bit boring. Today we can actually get our hands wet and not only our minds.

Mood? Rather feisty, let's get going with this... A very short post today.


This blog will answer questions such as:

How do I create a free blog at Blogger.com?
Will I need to pay to upgrade soon?
How many blogs can I create at Blogger?



This blog will not answer questions such as:

My friend told me that to start his WordPress blog he had to pass an IQ test for MENSA first - does Blogger require this?


How do I create my free blog at Blogger?


Steps to Creating your Free Blog at Blogger:
  1. Make sure you're using Mozilla Firefox Browser . Yes, it's required** because the number of problems that you WON'T have because of it will keep you from throwing things across the room 6 times today. If you have Internet Explorer, please, for your own peace of mind install FireFox and transfer over all of your bookmarks to FireFox with this easy tutorial. You'll be so much happier in the future! (Find it at FireFox button on right column).
  2. Choose the Orange arrow link that says > Create your blog now >
  3. Enter title of your blog like, "Blog Simply!" is the title of this one.
  4. Enter the domain name (subdomain name) that you've chosen for your blog. Both of these can be changed later - so, don't get all anxiety disorder... just enter what you think these will be.
  5. Click the blue > Check Availability > link which will check the database to see if your domain is available in the system since there can be no duplicates. > Continue Arrow >
  6. Choose a Template - I use Rounders a lot in my blogs -I think I use rounders 2 - but it's not on THIS template chooser page - there are more templates later. Just choose any of them. > Start Posting! >


You've just created your site on Blogger.
CONGRATS!



The first screen that pops up allows you to create a blog post - go ahead and enter one... Choose a title that reflects what you'll write about. For my first post I always title it something like, "Blog Simply! What is this site about?"

Inside the large text box you can write the body of your blog post. Play with the formatting a bit. It's best NOT to hit the |ENTER| key when you are composing your blog because that is a "hard return" that will screw up the formatting of your post. It will take some getting used to.

Create a post and add a label for it in the lower right corner - just choose a keyword that fits the post. For posts like this first one I usually choose "admin" for my keyword or "notes" or "Blog Simply info" or something like that. Remember, a label is like a category that this post will fall into. Visitors can search on labels and bring up all the posts you made with that label.

Then when you're finished you can choose the orange PUBLISH button at the bottom.

Go to your new blog URL in your FireFox browser and see what your site looks like... http://blogbombs.blogspot.com (enter yours).


If you had any problems at all during the sign-up process you may have problems in the future. I'm using a mobile phone as my modem and I have occasional trouble even using FireFox but with IE posting to my blog is not possible.

"I'm more serious than when
"Lassie" and "Flipper" died...
you
need to use the FireFox browser
for anything Blogger or Google related."


Please don't fight me. ;)

If you can't live without IE then keep it - and use it for everything ELSE that isn't related to Google.

I was having SO MANY problems with Internet Explorer and Google's angels were kind enough to work with me for over a week trying to resolve it before they whispered to me in an email... "You could try FireFox, most people don't have any problems when they use that browser."

In their infinite wisdom and guidance they dropped in my ear some of the sweetest nectar known to man...

Google Love...

it was well-placed, and well-intentioned... it was... well, it was LOVE that's all I can say.

Apparently they like FireFox better. Me too after 4 months of using it. MUCH, much better.

Up to you.


Will I need to upgrade my Blogger blog anytime soon?

Not unless you are posting more than a gigabyte of photos and content anytime soon. If you re-size your photos for the internet you'll likely not use the 1GB anytime soon.

How many blogs can I create at Blogger?

More than you will ever be able to manage and update on a frequent enough basis to make them all work - so, stick with just ONE for now!


Review...

Go to blogger.com and enter the info they tell you and you'll have your first blog! Make a post if you want, if not, no worries - we're getting there.

Play around in the Blogger interface and see what you can learn on your own... we'll go over everything later and it's unlikely you'll screw something up beyond repair... no, I think it's impossible - so, go ahead and play around!

and it got reeeeaaaalll quiet...

and Vern said,

"Thank you kind mother Google for all you provide for us, suckling us from blogger infancy until we can stand on our own... you gradually wean us off your info-nipple with a gentle pull and ease us into the blogging game with a careful push that makes us better and more responsible bloggers aimed at helping visitors to our blogs become smarter and happier. Thank you for your grace and your undeniable selflessness..."


Step 1, What is a Blog?
Step 2, How does a blog make money ?
Step 3, What skills and qualities do I need to blog for money?
Step 4, What topic should I blog about to make money?
Step 5, How can I choose a good domain name and title for my blog?
Step 6, How much money does a blog cost?
Step 7, This one!


** I make about a dollar if you download at that link (I gotta get mine too you know?) You with me?

Sunday, April 15, 2007

You'll Give Vern Cash AS he Surfs? NOTHING to buy... Uhm, Where's the Catch?

I HATE MULTI LEVEL MARKETING SCHEMES.  I can't emphasize that enough. I would never want to pull friends into something like that.

I don't ever want to attempt to sell my friends or even strangers something they don't need. MLM makes money only for the top people that started the company and some super-motivated and probably already successful folks a short hop away from the top of the chain.

That being said...

I just finished writing a letter to my brother about this internet opportunity that is similar to MLM but there is nothing to buy.

I thought I'd post it to the blogs too since it could turn out to really be something big down the line.  I joined last night because I read two articles about it from different bloggers in the "top 50" that mentioned this in their blogs. They are very skeptical guys but they signed up. I did too just based on that.

******************
Hey Dave,

There is HUGE idea that is catching on bigtime. Even probloggers making $30,000 per month have signed up for it.

They pay you to surf the web.  Well, AS you surf the web. Don't do anything differently. Just install toolbar (not available yet) and then ask others to sign up using your referral code - given after signing up.  When you sign up others under you - they too will earn cash while they are online  - and you'll earn referral/commission from them.

Get your friends to sign up under you as you even make some bonus cash from their surfing...  I am telling everyone I know about it..

Apparently the big guys in blogging think this is potentially very big news if it works. It could be larger than AOL in terms of size / money.

In a year or so there could be serious income potential - for doing NOTHING.  Nobody is sure how much, depends on a lot of things.

No purchases required and nothing lost if you sign up and later don't receive any cash.

Read about it - then join - do this one - you know how I am about multilevel marketing SHITE - this has big potential and,
since there's nothing to buy or convince your friends to buy it should be a no-brainer just signing up.  I've read their privacy
statement and it is solid.

The link is below...

Vern -


Make money just surfing the Web: Sign Up >

(Vern does it, there's no catch. They send
you money basically just for joining.)



 Vern's Thailand blogs

 "Blogging Step-by-Step"
 "Thailand Travel and Experiences Blog "
 "Try Thai Food Blog"
 "Thailand Videos and Photos"

Blog Simply Mission Statement


What is the purpose of Blog Simply? 
What does Vern want to accomplish with this blog?

 
1. I want to help people understand things that don't make sense to them.  Blogging is one such idea that, though there are MANY sites out there to help you blog, there aren't any that describe it from a base enough level.  They start out explaining what to write about, not what a blog is. They start out telling you to optimize your keywords - but not what a keyword is.  They already start the game in the middle of it without giving the background non-technical people need to know.  I got into blogging as a logical step after having started many businesses online. It was a simple progression to blog. Since learning about blogging - the intricacies, the big picture... I realized, WOW, even I'M LOST sometimes and I have a decade of background in online ventures and lifestyle. There must be thousands of people that don't "get it".  I want to help those people by starting a simple site about blogging that anyone can follow.

2. I will use this blog to provide enough income that I can continue to just blog. I really hate to work for someone else and I really have not had myself in ONE game long enough to do any good. Blogging is something that I like and that I've dedicated myself to doing for a long time. In a year or 18 months I want to have enough traffic to the site to provide enough steady monthly income to stop all other pursuits of money and just focus on blogging.

3. I want to have something of value that I created from scratch and that nobody helped me with. I did everything on my own, and though others that I meet online are helping me, I've inititiated those relationships and it is because of my efforts that they are helping me. I find if I'm nice to others before I know them, they are kind in return. I only work with and interact with people like this. I've no time for selfish and unhelpful people. Why can't we all help each other?

4. I want to show other people that they can do something on their own that becomes a success on some level - and that level is whatever level they choose. Blogging is such that whatever you put into it, you will get out of it. There is no luck involved, though it helps, one doesn't need luck. There are more informational articles out there in cyberspace about how to blog successfully that one doesn't have any excuses. You WILL be successful if you follow advice of the experts.

5. I want to help others as a big brother - or a techy friend that they haven't had all their lives. If I didn't get into online pursuits I'd really wish I had someone to ask anything I needed to.  During my life I've tried to maintain a group of people as friends that could answer any question I had about anything. Now, that person is me for just about anything online. Actually, anything information technology related I either know or know someone that knows. I'm a good resource for visitors to the blog to have and I want to help other people jump into this blog game and other online games.

6. Growth. I'd like to grow at 10% per month over the first year on average. Sometime after the first year I'd like to see a couple jumps as Google takes into account the quality articles I've written and links that others have given to them. I'm hoping to make $1000 per month after 9 months and $3000 per month after 18 months.  In 3 years I'd like to be making over $5000 per month.  These are all very reasonable and attainable goals for a successful blog. In fact, a good percentage of successful blogs have taken less time.

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Step 6, How Much Money Does a Blog Cost?

Welcome back "Bloggers and Blogettes"!


I'm not quite so feisty today, so we'll see how this post goes...

Today in Step 6, we'll talk about the cost of blogs, where the best place is to host your blog, and what blogging platform is the best.


This blog post will answer questions like:

How much money do blogs cost?
Where can I blog for free?
Where should I host my blog?
What is the best blogging platform for beginners (newbies)?



This blog post will not answer questions like:

How do geckos stick upside down on glass?
My son can't see further than the distance of 1 linear foot, could that be because of his Nintendo?




How much money do blogs cost?

It's a strange thing, but websites cost money. Sure you can get a cheapo site at Yahoo's GeoCities which is part of Yahoo, but the formatting is lame and nobody likes to look at those sites. You could have a MySpace profile, and likely you DO if you're under 30. Myspace is much worse than GeoCities in terms of formatting and professionalism, but the world is using it.

Bloggers that want to make money are using blogging-specific platforms such as Blogger, WordPress, TypePad and so on. These are professional type blogging platforms, and you know what? Most of them are FREE! Why is that? The only blog host (platforms) that we'll talk about here is Google owned " Blogger.com". I could guess why they are free. Google makes a tad less money than God by providing free blogs that people run their Google ads on.

Sure, the blogger makes money too so it's a happy-happy. (same as a win-win)

But, can you imagine how much cash Google is pulling from hosting ads on a few million blogs?


Does Google give me unlimited server space?

Uhm, no. Google is good, Google is great... Google is not THAT gracious! At last count I heard there was 1 gigabyte of server space allowed for your blog at Google. After that you could purchase more space and it's easy on your wallet as well as an easy process. I heard the 1 GB figure about 3 months ago. Things may have changed already. Don't worry, you'll likely not use 1 GB anytime soon.



Where should I host my blog?

You can host your blog at Blogger or you can host it at your own web site. Hosting your blog means - where the files for your blog are stored. If they are stored at Blogger, they we say they are "hosted" by blogger. If they are hosted at your own domain then the files are actually sitting ON your own domain on a server that you're paying for.


Google offers you two possibilities for where to host your blog:
  1. Host your blog with Google, and your domain name will be in this format: http://BlogSimply.blogspot.com. All the files for your blog will remain at Blogger. If you ever get HUGE or for some other reason you want to change blogging platforms or web site domains to host your site at, you can choose Option #2 below, or move your site to an entirely new platform or domain.
  2. Host your blog "off-site". You create your site at Blogger. You then tell Blogger you want to host your site, "Off-site" - which means, off-Blogger - away from blogger -on your own domain or subdomain. Google will let you enter that domain and will start publishing your site there as you make changes at the "Blogger Dashboard" which is the control panel for your blogging site - we'll talk more about that after we register your first blog.


Example... I've created the Blog Simply blog at Blogger. I could now change the location of my blog to be one of my other websites. I could tell Blogger to publish my web site to a subdomain, uhm, http://blogsimply.thaipulse.com. I would tell Blogger where to put my files - a specific folder on my site - and then everyone that goes to that url will see my Blog Simply blog. Blogger will no longer host my blog AT their site, I will be hosting my blog at my own site.

I will still login to Blogger and create posts everyday like I'm doing now - but, when I "Publish" my blog it will be transferred over to the folder I told Blogger to send to at my Thaipulse.com site. Then, visitors will see the updated post at "http://blogsimply.thaipulse.com".

There are some advantages to this method, that we'll get into later, but just know that the two options exist - host at Blogger or host at your own domain.



What is the best blogging platform for beginners (newbies)?

I really believe, and part of the reason I created this site, that Google's Blogger is the best blog platform for a newbie to start at. I looked at TypePad and I looked at WordPress. I'm a fairly technical person - meaning, I know how to create sites and do search engine optimization at a high level. I know how to code HTML. I know how to work with web site forms and do some basic php and asp type programming. I can set up computer networks and troubleshoot anything related to computer hardware.

In about a month of trying I was still bewildered by WordPress. Everything I wanted to do was a learning experience since NOTHING was intuitive to me. Their whole blogging platform is like another language. It reminds me of Apple's operating systems - just not intuitive once you've used a Microsoft based PC for upteen years. There's no point in switching to Mac unless you want to join the cult of MAC and be one of their cheerleaders. Similarly there is no point trying WordPress until you've outgrown Blogger which may never happen since they'll release upgrades.

I didn't jump on the WordPress bandwagon like all the other top bloggers that think it's the greatest. It isn't for everyone, and it is NOT for beginners.

The best blogging platform for beginners is BY FAR, ABSOLUTELY, Blogger. It is much more intuitive and logical than WordPress, with or without update 2.

If you were bright you could start a blog today and have it up and running and publishing your blog and ads TODAY on Blogger.

Not so with WordPress, it's hard to "get it".

That being said, once you "get it" there is probably no better blogging platform available than WordPress because everything is customizable.

I just don't have time to "get it" right now.

Someday maybe.


Review...

Blogger is Free. Blogger is intuitive. Blogger is by far the BEST blogging platform for a beginner or even someone of moderate "techyness" to get started blogging with.

all was quiet... and Vern said,

Remember, Mother Google loves us like her own children and she wants to make us happy and smarter... We too should do this with our blogs, make visitors happier and smarter for having visited our blogs!


hahaha...


So, there you have it - that must be the shortest blog post I've done so far. If you are interested in learning how to blog for money in a very simple way you should start at Step 1 and progress up to this point, Step 6. Below are links to the other articles I've written so far here at Blog Simply.

Step 1, What is a Blog?
Step 2, How does a blog make money ?
Step 3, What skills and qualities do I need to blog for money?
Step 4, What topic should I blog about to make money?
Step 5, How can I choose a good domain name and title for my blog?
Step 6, This one!
Step 7, How Do I Create a Free Blog at Blogger.com?


If you have ANY QUESTIONS about anything blogging - if you just don't "get" something - ask me by clicking the COMMENT link below and posting a question to me or the other readers. You'll get free feedback as I answer COMMENTS everyday!

Friday, April 13, 2007

Step 5, How Can I Choose a Good Domain Name and Title for my Blog?

Welcome back!

I'm in a little bit of a wacky mood, so bare with me.


This blog for money article will answer questions like:

How do I choose a domain name for my blog?
How do I choose a title for my blog?
Will any domain name or title work if I want to make money with my blog?



This blog for money article will not answer questions like:

Do Thais' use the explosive gas, hydrogen, in their party balloons to make them float?
I heard a 12 year old blogs and makes money, can my dog blog?



Ok, short blog post for today.


How do you choose a good domain name for your blogging for money blog?

First things first. Everything I talk about on this blog relates to Google since I really believe they have all the components anyone needs to get started blogging AND making money with their blog. That means you. That means me. That means 12 year olds and people without teeth too.

So, since Google owns Blogger.com and they've recently upgraded Blogger to be a great little bloggin' machine. We'll use Blogger.com to setup your first blog.

Once you join Blogger.com and login, they offer you a chance to "create a blog". Actually they offer you many chances because I've created about 25 and there's been no email to me yet saying,


"uhm, my good Google friend... you've recently been OUTED by a wondercog in the Google Machine that tells us you have 25 blogs with us and yet you're only actually blogging on about 10 of those. If you would... if you could... you SHOULD maybe delete some of those subdomains you're tying up so other good Googlers can Google-blog them to good use and keep smileys on their grills."



In plain-speak, stop hoggin' the subdomains VERN!

But, alas, no email yet. So I continue to tie up subdomain names with my "gotta have that one too" attention-deficit disorder fueled compulsion for more blogs.

But, you have not logged into Blogger.com yet, or if you have, I'm ignoring that fact during this post.

We're on the topic of choosing a domain (subdomain name) for your blog.


All blogs on Blogger.com are in the format http://_________.blogspot.com. Your well-chosen subdomain name goes in above the line. There IS a way to use Blogger at your own domain, but that comes in a later post.


In Step 4, " Choosing a Topic for your Blog", you were able to get through that post and come out the other end with a topic. It might have taken you 20 minutes, or 16 hours using the Google Keyword tool, but today you have a topic that you've chosen and are actually quite a bit proud of it I'd imagine.


Domain names for your blog should:

  • Be as short as possible. A rough guideline is 10 or less letters/numbers. I have one with 15: KoSamuiThailand.blogspot.com but it's jammed with the 3 best keywords I could use. Sometimes it's OK if it's recognizeable, especially places.
  • Contain 1 or more keywords that your topic is focused on.
  • Be catchy, clever, smooth, suave, and witty.
  • Never have cuss words or be racially insensitive. (oh, I don't deal with adult type blog information here, so any info you see here relates only to g - pg - and r rated sites. Google treats adult sites differently and it's beyond the scope of Blog Simply! to cover all that.
  • Should not use trademarked names or phrases.
  • Ideally shouldn't use names that are already .com names unless you own it! (example... if www.REDCOTTONTHREAD.com exists. You should probably stay away from naming your site: redcottonthread.blogspot.com - there may be some confusion over that.
  • Not contain dashes, or if you just can't HELP yourself and think you want it - then no more than 1 dash.
  • Contain numbers only if they help identify some feature of the site... I try to stay away from numbers but one time I bought 808stock.com for a stock photography site in Hawaii - and the area code is 808. It caught on well. I sold it. I also had 911dv.com (digital video) right before the 9/11 tragedy. I changed the name quickly after that as you might have guessed.

Research some blogs that have the same topic as the one you chose. Go to Google and enter your topic followed by the word blog or blogspot and you'll find blogs that are competing for visitors on the same topic as you. You could also go to: blogsearch.google.com and just search on your topic. Yeah, try that, "mo bedda" as they say in Hawaii (more better).


Will ANY blog domain name or title still make money?

Sure, it COULD.

You could name your blog"ZipUpYourMouthOrIllstuffFliesInIt.blogspot.com "
and title it, "Kid's Stuff" and the topic of your blog might be, "fly fishing". It COULD work on some level, but seriously bloggers, WHY would you want to do something like that?



How do I choose a good title for my blog?

Copy the blog name if you have a keyword in it. For example. My blog domain is named "BlogSimply.blogspot.com". I chose to name my blog, "Blog Simply!" because I already have my main keyword, "blog" in the domain name, and now it is in the title for my blog. It is a VERY short and simple title, which yours should be too.

Why?

The way Google magic works is thusly...

Google loves to see good titles of posts that you create for your blog articles. The Google Machine gives you Google Points for having titles that reflect the topic of the content you wrote about that day.

Google takes the name of your SITE and blends it together with the name of the title of your post for that day and creates a title for the post in the very top of your browser (if you have Internet Explorer or FireFox browsers).

My site for instance. My site is named, Blog Simply. My post for today is named, "Step 5, How can I Choose a Good Domain and Title for my Blog".

The Google Machine will change things so that now you're real title - the one that means something to Google is, "Blog Simply!: Step 5, How Do I Choose a Good Domain and Title for my Blog?" This blend of your blog title name and the title of your blog post is called a, "Dynamic title". Google does this for all your blog posts.


"And, that's a good thing. Be happy that Google cares enough about you to blend you up a title that will bring you lots of Google Love and Google Points."

and Vern said,
"For Google so loved the world that she gave us an abundance of ways to gather Google Love and Google Points so that we may know that THIS is the most beautiful time in internet history..."


Hahhahah. Sorry, I told you, wacky mood today.
Not drinking that 6% alcohol Thai beer (Singha) either.
This is just me.



Now then. Google does not like to see a HUGE title. In fact, some say that Google stops looking at your title if it's longer than 12 words. Some say 10. Some used to say 8 or 9.
What do I think? I have no idea. But, I think that it must look at 15. I try to keep mine below 15. If it's indexed, it's indexed. If not, I'm not going to worry about it.

One can worry about far too much in this blogging for money arena. Let's not worry how many words Google looks at, can we agree to that?

That's just one particular that I don't worry about. You might find some other particular that YOU don't worry about either. It's OK. Nobody gets it 100%. Well, somebody does, but you'd pay them with fingers and first-borns and there's no sense taking this game to that level.

Just:
  • Pick yourself a good domain name.
  • Pick yourself a good title for your blog for money site and let's get going.
  • I'm anxious to get to the meat here.


Review...

Pick a short domain name and title that reflect your topic in a way that is catchy, and contains some, or at least one, main keyword.



Remember:
  • Keywords are better than no keywords.
  • Catchy is better than boring.
  • Keywords are better than Catchy.
  • Keywords and catchy are pretty good. Hence, "BlogSimply"; "Problogger"; "Blogger"; "Blogit"; "WebBlogs"; "Bloggity".
  • Keywords and keywords that sound catchy or, are a name or a place, work very well... hence, "KoSamuiThailand.blogspot.com"

and Vern said,

"Remember, we are all Google's children and we help each other. We write our blogs to make others smarter and happier for having visited our blogs."


Prior post Step 4, What Topic Should I Blog About to Make Money?

Next post Step 6, How Much Money Does a Blog Cost?


Again, if you have ANY questions at all about whether the topic or domain name or title of your blog is, "OK", post a COMMENT below and I'll let you know what I think. Hopefully other readers will chime in with their opinions also.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Step 4, What Topic Should I Blog About to make Money?

This post will answer questions like: What topic should I choose for my blog so that it makes money? Can I blog about any topic and still make money? What are some of the hot topics that others are blogging about and making money from? Can I change my blog topic? Can my personal blog make money? This post will not answer questions like: Is "Presidential cheating" a good topic? What about "chips, whips, grass snips and cheese nips?" My friend blogs about barbituates, is that OK?

There are many things to consider when you are deciding on a blog topic. The GOOD news about blogging is that you can start 55 blogs today, all with different topics, and wake up in the morning decide you don't like any of them, kill them all, and start 55 more with different topics. Blogs are FREE on Blogger.com and only cost your time. I really want you to start just 1 blog and do that one as well as possible and learn what I show you in BlogSimply! first. Once you know what you're doing and you have your blogging down to a process where it only takes you 1-2 hours per day for 1 blog you might choose to start a couple more. It's difficult to stay on top of more than 1 or 2 blogs with constant daily posting of new articles. Right now I'm working on 3, but I have about 9 that have been back-burnered. They are still pulling traffic from Google searches, but I know that my BEST efforts are better spent on the 3 I'm working on now. Writing 3 blogs everyday is manageable for me. Choosing your first blog's topic:
  • Choose something you are PASSIONATE about. Something that will wake you up and crank you into gear to start thinking about blogging every morning.
  • Choose a topic that you are either an expert at, a pseudo-expert, or a wanna-be expert. If you're passionate about the subject of your blog you can learn about it as you go.
  • Your topic must have a high number of searches in the search engines. There are two tools I use to decide if my topic is popular with people using the search engines: Overture Search Term Suggestion Tool (since 1998 I believe), and, Google Adwords Keyword Tool.
  • Your topic SHOULD have a high level of competition among advertisers that want to show their products on a blog with your topic. For this, again I use Google's Adword Keyword tool as it is quite easy to understand.
  • You should not choose a topic that is too general, a sub-level topic would be much better. Example, you wouldn't want to choose "Travel" as the focus of your blog but, "Hawaii" or "Oahu, Hawaii" or "Maui" would work much better.
  • Choose a topic that still contains many sub-topics under it that you can write about. I think about Dmoz.org, Googles directory of web content. It's arranged in levels something like: United States|Hawaii|Oahu - Maui - Kauai - Hawaii - Molokai - Lanai - Kahoolawe and then each island is broken down into topics below it: Cities - Business - Travel - etc... If you choose a niche that has nothing under it to write about - or little - you'll have a rough time coming up with content for a post every day!
  • Choose a topic that doesn't already have a lot of competition. Mobile phones; PDAs; Blogging... are all good examples of topics that have VERY high competition. Unless you are going to try to carve a piece of that pie for yourself - but, recognize it's a long and quite vertical battle.
Most of those are understandable. Below is more about using Google Adwords Keyword tool. I'll review Overture's Search Term Suggestion tool in another post. Google Adwords has a brilliant tool that helps their advertisers choose keywords that apply to the products they want to sell. BUT, we're going to use it to find good blog topics that might be candidates for making us money. Example... I want to look at the topic, "blogging for money". I go to Google's Keyword Tool > You will see: Results are tailored to English, United States (EDIT) You can click "Edit" to change where the results are pulled from. I typically choose USA, English because I'm most concerned about how many people are searching in America. If your blog topic relates to some other group of people substantially you can change this setting as you wish. Next look at the box below it that says, "Enter one keyword or phrase per line" where you are to type keywords about the topic you are thinking about focusing your blog on. you can enter as many as you like, but if at first you just choose one or two keywords or phrases then you'll be better off. I enter, "blogging for money". Leave the rest of the settings at their default setting. The drop down menu should say "Keyword Search Volume". Click the "Get more keywords" button. This tool will spit back a list of keywords related to the one(s) you entered and tell you a little bit about how many people are searching on the term and what the advertiser competition is for each term. The graphs have a blue bar that move from left to right to indicate how many searches were done on that keyword phrase. If there is just a tiny amount of blue, and much more white - few searches have been done. If there is a LOT of blue versus white -then many searches were done. You can order the column by clicking the top of it. Mine says "April search volume" You'll then see the top terms arranged in order from most searched upon down the line to least searched upon keywords (terms). This is the way you will go about choosing the exact topic area that has 2 things: 1. A high number of searches 2. A high level of advertiser competition. Now, in choosing your own blogging topic it's the same process. Put your idea for a blogging topic into the keyword section and let Google find related keywords. You will also see the exact phrase that you entered appear in a column below. Are many people searching on your phrase? What about Advertiser competition? High advertiser competition is GOOD because you want to receive bigger money for the ads on your site. That's a too-simple way to describe it - more coming later as I do a whole section on Google Adwords, Adsense, and the rest of it! So, you'll try all your blog topic ideas in that search and find some topics that might do well based on a high popularity of searches and advertiser competition.
Go ahead, put some cuss words
in there too and see what pops up...
you know you want to!

Next, go to Google.com . Enter your proposed topic into the search box in quotes. Mine would be, "blogging for money". Run that search and see in the upper right hand corner - how many pages of competition came up with that phrase on web pages indexed by Google? If the number is like 700 million like it was when I chose "travel" you will probably want to choose another blog topic for money. If it is only a few hundred or up to 50,000 or so you may have struck GOLD. IMMEDIATELY EMAIL ME THE TOPIC and I'll let you know... heh. If it is between 50,000 - 300,000 or so it is very do-able. If it's higher than 500,000 it will be a long-haul, but still do-able after a year, 18 months, or 2 years of solid effort. Those are my guesses. They are educated guesses because I've been doing search engine optimization and optimizing sites for keywords since 1998. But they're just guesses as that's all I can do to see the future. Remind me someday to tell you how a Thai guy in a Buddhist temple here in Thailand met me for the first time and said 3 words that almost made me fall over! Use my guesses as God's word, they aren't far off. Heh. If you have a specific question about your topic and whether you think it will work - just leave me a comment in the COMMENTS section below and I'll answer as soon as possible. Can I blog about ANY topic and still make money? You can. You can also pierce your ear with a nail, run a rope through it around your left leg and do a backflip off a tall building and land on concrete. Just because you CAN doesn't mean you should. You CAN blog about termite bellybuttons but your chances of making money from a blog like that are scant to none. Termites don't even HAVE bellybuttons, but that doesn't mean SOMEONE couldn't make that blog work. It would just be like spending 5 Thai baht on a Buddhist fortune machine at the temple - sometimes you score, but more often than not - you're wasting your time.
Can my personal blog make money? Here's an example of a personal blog that consists entirely of a girl griping about life. It's funny, but that's all there is, just griping, Kentuckygurl Blog > She HAS traffic. If she chose to put ads on her site she COULD make money. So, the answer to this question is, "Yes, you can make money with your personal blog." - but should you try?
Can I change my blog topic mid-stream and still make money?

Probably, but why WOULD you? Just start another blog unless your new topic is very closely related to your old topic. Don't let readers know you're changing the theme, just gradually start posting with more frequency about the new topic - ease into it. Eventually you'll be focused on the new topic and retained some of your old regular readers. Realize this... search engines like to see a focus on a topic. If your two topics are not related you'll not get "Google Love" like you had before you changed topics.



H-O-T Blogging Topics? Politics; Technology & gadgets; positive outlook & motivation; tips; gossip; life as a teen, mom with kids; advice blog; dating advice; saving money blog; frugal living; humor, jokes, funny photos, comics; collections of things- best photos; funniest photos; everything about a place - your town; your state; your favorite vacation destination; You DON'T need to BE THERE to blog it. Start a blog on Hawaii tourist attractions and things to do but you are living in Denver, Colorado!


Review...

Choosing a topic to blog about for money is very important because you'll be devoting hours and hours over time to making your blog work. Hours that should be going to spending time with your kids and helping your parents cope with old-age.

If you're focused on a topic that is not primo for making the duckies you will experience "no joy" as my uncle "Fishrat" used to say.

Just follow the tips above for choosing your blog topic. If you have a specific question just write a COMMENT below and I will answer, and even give my opinion if you are considering a topic you're not sure about.


Ok, take some time today and
choose a primo topic for your blog
that will bring you an abundance of

Google Love, Google Points,

and make you more money than
Oprah or Rosie.

Sorry, formatting is a bit "sketchy" as my Australian friend used to say, because I'm in Thailand, it's Songkran Water Festival time and all internet cafes are closed. I'm using my mobile as a modem and Blogger.com doesn't work perfectly when I try to edit my posts. Works well to post them, but editing is pretty snarked.


Prior post Step 3, What Skills and Qualities do I Need to Blog for Money?

Next post Step 5, How Can I Choose a Good Domain Name and Title?


If you have any questions that weren't answered by this post - please leave a COMMENT below and I'll respond quickly. I reply to every comment everyday. ~ Vern

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Step 3, What Skills and Qualities Do I Need to Blog for Money?

Step 3, What Skills and Qualities Do I Need to Blog for Money?

There are certain skills and qualities that are necessary to blog for money.

This post will answer questions such as:

What skills and qualities do I need to blog for money?
What skills and qualities are the most important for blogging for money?
What computer skills are necessary?


This post will NOT answer questions such as:

What animal makes this sound? (you won't guess)


To blog for money is easy. That much is true. There may be no better job available (in my jaded "blogging is heaven" mentality).

There are some skills that are invaluable, but that you don't need to have TODAY. You can learn everything you need to know over time and by reading this blog from step 1 to a gazillion. You know some bloggers have 2000 written articles on blogging right now? They have blogged for a couple years and have such a bank of information that they're making upwards of $30,000 USD per month from their blog of articles.

I want that to be YOU.

Creating a blog that makes money is not that difficult. In fact there are bloggers accidentally making money, doing so many things WRONG, and yet, they are still making money with their blogs. Is that odd to you?

Anyone that is making money with their blog has 3 things that MUST be going on...

  1. Blogger is writing often or frequently to give updated information, OR, has already written many articles that are being found online by word of mouth (person-to-person) or search engine type traffic.
  2. Blog has ads or some other way of monetizing the site and visitors are doing some action, causing cash to flow to the blog owner.
  3. TRAFFIC!


You can do EVERYTHING else wrong, and yet still make money with the three things above.

You can know NOTHING about blog design, optimizing for Google, or what a blog "SHOULD" be and still be doing GANGBUSTERS on making money with your blog.

That said, let's look at what skills you SHOULD have to blog for money because those bloggers that are accidentally making money are not the norm. They are anomalies that you might or might not be able to duplicate, but really, there's no sense trying.

Buy some Lotto tickets today instead.


What skills and qualities do you need to have to blog for money?

1. Passion! I'm not talking about running your fingers through your honey's hair and then throwing stuff off the dinner table either. You MUST have a passion for whatever topic you choose to create your blog about. Passion is going to keep blogging for money on your mind every day. If you blog about red colored cotton thread, how passionate will you be about blogging?

Your topic is going to inspire you to write everyday because you LIKE IT. You're JAZZED about it. You'd rather tell people something about it than run your fingers through your honey's hair.

PASSION is going to drive you to write something EVERY DAY.

Passion for blogging, passion for your blog topic, and passion for writing to tell others something cool about your topic to help them get smarter and/or happier is going to keep you going over the months because if you don't go for months - you aren't going anywhere.

Ideally you will be blogging DAILY. That's Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and the next Saturday.

You'll blog EVERY day because you want to start making money as soon as possible. If you didn't care about WHEN you started to make money you could blog every other day. Or, you could blog one day, rest one day. Blog again, and blog again in 3 days. That's the way you'd do it if you were not passionate about blogging and if you didn't care WHEN you were going to make money.

Sometimes you'll have a day where you ask yourself, "Do I feel like writing in the blog today?"

And you WON'T feel like it.

But, if you ask yourself, " Do I feel like MAKING MONEY today?" That's quite a different way to ask the same question! I do this when I have a day where I'm starting to ask myself - "Do I want to blog today?" or, "Do I really need to blog today?"

"I notice myself asking those crazy questions
and I change them to smarter questions..."


Do I want to make money from blogging?

Do I really need to make money from blogging?


The answer to both of those questions for me is always, YES. So I blog. There is no more thought about it.


I noticed that when I don't ASK myself anything, it's just automatic that I blog. I don't think about it - I just blog daily. It's like when I was competing in triathlons a while back. Before I went to sleep I wrote out what I was doing the following day. So, there was no question - am I doing it?

I AM DOING IT. So I never asked myself a question about it to provide myself the opportunity to "Vern logic" my way out of it.


2. You'll need basic word processing knowledge . Writing an email, writing a WORD document, or writing a notepad note is "word processing", though it's not really called that much anymore. If you can type a page of text, format it with some bold, italics, bullets, and big fonts and different fonts then you have enough word processing skills to blog for money. You'll need to learn when to use the special formatting because it can be overused quickly. I think I border on overusing it - but I'm so excited when I'm writing a blog post that it just comes naturally to bold, big, italicize, and change colors of some headlines. It keeps me in a good mood writing too which is essential! Most readers don't complain, but, if you hate it - let me know.


3. You'll need to navigate through Blogger.com where your blog will be hosted, becoming familiar with all the little tweaks. I will show you this step-by-step and walk you through everything and explain everything. Don't fear Blogger.com. Once you use it for a month you'll be so glad you did.

I say that, because, the alternative, using "WordPress" or some other host for your blog will take you a year to learn.

I'm not joking. When I first started blogging I tried WordPress and Blogger at the same time - and WordPress was SO strange and incomprehendible that I gave it up after 45 days. It's not that I COULDN'T learn it. I couldn't see the point since I was already up and running on Blogger.com and indexed in Google within 2 weeks with my Blogger.com site.

If you have no experience blogging then Blogger.com is the best learning experience you'll have blogging. We'll use it exclusively on Blog Simply.


4. Search for other blogs using Google.com or blogsearch.google.com and find blogs that have topics related to yours. You'll read them for valuable information and sometimes leave comments on their articles. In those comments you will have a link (hyperlink) pointing back to your site because when Google's Machine finds that link pointing to your site - it gives you a "point".


"He who accumulates the most Google points
can trade them in to become Master Of the Universe..." [Vernquote]



Feel free to substitute "She" for "He".


5. Understanding a bit about the numbers associated with your site. I won't call them "statistics" like everyone else because the only statistic I've ever seen in "blog stats" is "average...." which equates to "mean" in statistics. Showing an average doesn't make the numbers "statistics" so I'll call them, "numbers". It's less scary.

Google can show you numbers about your blog. Important numbers are things like:

  • Page Views (The number of pages that were viewed by all visitors.)
  • Average Page Views (The number of pages that were viewed, on average, by each visitor. Usually 1-10)
  • Number of visitors or Unique Visitors (The number of visitors to your web site. One visitor might view 10 pages).
  • Number of people viewing your blog from China. Or, America. Or, Bangkok. Or, Chicago.

You'll need to understand a little about what these numbers mean for your blog and how to make them change (get bigger!). Nothing is difficult about this, and you need not fear.


6. Cutting and pasting. Yes, sounds easy enough, and it is. But, you will cut and paste to gain some important functionality with your blog. It's very important that you pay close attention to exactly the instructions that I give you for cutting and pasting when you are making changes to the CODE in your site. Small changes in the code can have BIG and sometimes disasterous consequences. You'll have to take changing code seriously, and yet, really - if you're paying attention it is only "cutting and pasting" afterall!


7. Editing digital photographs that you take and need to add to your blog. This is NOT difficult and I'll show you where to grab a great program that handles this easily and smoothly.


8. Linking to other blogs and websites. There is a simple way to create a link with one line of code that is essential to learn. It's easy and nothing to get excited about. Nothing to throw the stuff off the dinner table over!


9. You'll need to know how to speak to your audience of visitors from all over the world without offending people, and to keep them interested in what you're saying. You'll need to be tactful and smart. You'll need to be trying, with every post you make to your blog for money, to make your visitors smarter and happier.


If you can do the things above, then you can blog for money.
I'm sure of it.




Review...

Nearly anyone with basic computer skills can blog for money. If you have basic skills today you can learn the rest. We're not re-programming rabbit brains, we're BLOGGING. It's like taking 8th grade again. Nothing to be afraid of now, is there?


Prior post: Step 2, How Does a Blog Make Money?

Next post: Step 4, What Topic Should I Blog About to Make Money?


If you have ANY questions about anything we've covered in this article please write a comment at the COMMENT link below. I answer every comment every day! Don't be shy - just ask!

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Step 2, How Does a Blog Make Money?

This post, "Step 2, How does a blog make money?" answers the questions:

How does a blog make money? Do all blogs make money? What is the difference between a blog that makes money and one that doesn't? What are all the factors that, when added together, create a blog that makes money? What is the one KEY that's most important to a blog's success?


So, "How does a blog make money?"

In short, a blog makes money when a visitor to the blog clicks on an ad or performs some other action that an advertiser has decided to pay the blog owner for.


As a blog owner you might make money when:
  • a visitor clicks an ad on your site
  • a visitor fills in their email address that is sent to an advertiser
  • a visitor clicks on an ad on your site, then goes to another site - "Amazon" for instance, and orders a book for which you receive about 10% commission.
  • an advertiser - like "Pepsi" decides that it makes good sense to pay you $500 usd per month to show their Pepsi banner on your site.
  • another site comes to respect your site as a leader in whatever area you're blogging about. They offer you $100 to review their site and post the review on your blog.
  • a visitor orders one of your clever "I just saw Vern's neighbor spit on his house t-shirts" that you have for sale. (see the video here, right click and choose "save target as" and put on your desktop to view later).
  • a company like Fastclick pays you for some advertising space on your site so that they can show a variety of companies' banners in that ad space. You are paid per thousand impressions.


Do all blogs make money doing these things?
Uhm, No.

Few successful sites do all those things mentioned. It wouldn't be a good idea to plaster your site with ads like a 3rd grader's art collage to make money. You've definitely seen those sites about making money online - they are jam-packed with ads that detract seriously from the site. If I happen to land at one of those sites I'll just close the window. It's TOO MUCH.

The ads are too overwhelming and cry obnoxiously for my attention as I'm trying to find something worthwhile to read to make me smarter or happier. On some sites I get dumber as a result of all the ads vying for my eyeballs.

Remember:
  • A blog's purpose is to provide information - not ads.
  • Visitors to your site want to read information that makes them smarter or happier.
  • One or well placed ad sections on your blog is not a big deal, an ad may ADD something to your site. A visitor may click away and become smarter as a result of following the ad. That is the way advertising SHOULD be. The ads offer a bonus - something that helps the visitor to your blog become smarter or happier.
  • Ads are a supplement to a blog, not the focus.


Bloggers that make a LOT of money have something in common.
They...

Apply smart and sustained effort to create success.


If I can blog everyday, YOU can blog everyday.

Ask me how good I've been in the past about continuing something I started.
Ask my family. They are worn out over it.
No matter that I have attention deficit disorder, there is just so much flipping around even a mom will tolerate!

I realized though, I needed to take control quickly and work on doing something consistently or my life won't change. I found that in blogging. It's an easy way to discipline one's self and condition yourself to doing something EVERY single day without fail.

That something could be as short as a 40 minute 3 paragraph blog post about the best blog sites in the world that are covering the same topic as your site.

You've GOTTA have at least an hour daily to blog. Or, if you don't have an hour everyday you need to be disciplined enough to write a few blog posts on a day you do have time and save them for days you only have enough time to login and upload a post for that day.


Blogging is SO EASY compared to many things you could be doing.


Successful bloggers take NICE vacations

Today you could choose between learning a lot about the stock market and investing in penny stocks, or, you could invest your time in learning about how to blog and make money.

I know a couple of guys that spend on AVERAGE about 14 hours per day watching stocks go up and down on their computers and analyzing companies' performance and annual reports to make money. I also know people that blog for an AVERAGE of one hour per day everyday to make money.

Both groups of people are successful (making more than $50,000 per year).


Who do you think is living a smarter life? A more rewarding one?

When you are starting out blogging there is a good chance that you will only be working 4-8 hours per day if you choose to do it full-time.

Once the learning curve is over though, and you're working 1-4 hours per day blogging you'll have so much time to yourself you'll think it's Christmas everyday.

But wait, THERE IS A BONUS!

After you've learned all about blogging from this site you'll have an ENTIRE TEAM of the smartest people in the world ready to help you make money with your blog... no, I don't mean me and my girlfriend, I mean the GOOGLE MACHINE!

GOOGLE has taken the advertising world by the nutticles and is churning out cash for a lot of people that own blogs and other websites. It's their whole mission - make everyone money. Keep everyone rolling in cash. Keep pulling rabbits out of the hat by finding innovative ways to monetize blogs and websites so the owners and advertising companies, AND their customers, AND GOOGLE are happy.

It's a 4-way "Happy".

Recently GOOGLE has added some MORE useful and totally free tools to their aresenal of ways to make you money. MUCH more about that in later posts.


What is the difference between a blog that makes money and one that doesn't?
  • Effort of the blogger (blog owner).
  • Focus of the site (topic)

Focus of the site is very important. You can choose to blog about red colored cotton thread and make a few pennies a month.
or
You can choose to blog about traveling deals in Hawaii.

One of these is a good topic to focus on to make money, the other is not. Focus is VERY important.


What are all the factors that contribute to a blog making money and becoming successful?

Well designed blog (template, colors, whitespace, formatting)
+ well-chosen blog topic (focus)
+ well-chosen title of blog
+ well chosen titles of posts and focus of each post
+ ads or other monetization strategy that matches visitors (traffic)
+ site optimized for Google and other search engines
+ TRAFFIC
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
= MONEY for you and your loved ones!


That's it.




BlogSimply is all about these factors, plus a couple more (keeping visitors smiling and smart, and some advanced topics to be revealed later)


If there is one essential ingredient to a successful blog - it's traffic. If you dont have traffic you have nothing. You have a blog that takes away 6 to 60 hours out of your week and doesn't make you enough for a pizza.

Traffic comes with time and it comes with a lot of effort. Besides writing your post everyday you should be doing something to bring more traffic to your site everyday. It is not difficult, but again, it takes continual effort.

Traffic is the key to making money with your site. You can make money with 1000 visitors per month or you can make money with 6 million visitors per month. Guess which one is better?



**********
So to review... your blog will make money when a visitor performs some action on your site that an advertiser has offered to pay you for. That "action" can be a click, a page-view, filling out a form, ordering a product, or something else. You may even get paid just to show ads on your site every month.

There are many factors that combine to create a blog that makes money. Of those factors, the two most important are a continued effort by you the blogger to post daily and post something of value that your visitors either get smarter for having read, or get happier for having read. The other factor, and probably the greatest factor to the success (money-generating capability) of your blog is T-R-A-F-F-I-C! Without traffic you have nothing - you have a personal blog you can tell your family about.


Ok, that was Step 2 - How does a blog make money?

Go to Step 3 only after you've fully understood Step 2.


Prior post, Step 1, What is a Blog?

Next post Step 3: What Skills and Qualities do I need to Blog?

[ Note: If you have any questions so far, just click the "POST A COMMENT" link below and write me a question. I answer ALL COMMENTS everyday on every blog... Vern ]

Sunday, April 8, 2007

Step 0, What is "Blog Simply"?

Blog Simply Mission: Show you how to blog simply and, if you want, make money

This blog is to teach you from Step 1 what you need to get started blogging and making money. Info will be presented in bite -sized chunks... tasty going in, easy to digest, and not turning into flatulence before it's all over.

I created this blog for everyone asking this question, "WHAT THE HE&& GOOD IS A BLOG AND WHY IS EVERYONE SAYING IT'S THE NEXT GREATEST THING?"

I will try, in simple language to make this the world's most simple explanation of blogging starting with:

What a blog is...

Why you might want to blog...

How you could start blogging easily and slowly building up something that will provide you residual income in the future ( 6 months or a year).

How to blog step by step

I am a US citizen, born and raised. I've recently absconded to Thailand for a couple years to relax. I was a "techy" in the USA. I had so much knowledge filling my head about internet marketing and e-commerce, ways to get the search engines to shower me with love, and a million other things.

I had to get OUT, away from America and relax a bit. Put my brain on the back burner.

Now I've done that. I've been in Thailand for two and a half years. I've relaxed.

Man, I've relaxed.


It's time to get back in the game a little bit.

Now, when I started surfing the internet again to see - what happened to the game - I found out, blogs ARE the game now.

What the HE&& IS A BLOG? I asked myself.

I thought it was a diary. And in a sense, it is...

But, really, WHAT IS IT?

I started the learning curve that took a few months to get up to speed with. I read EVERYTHING related to blogs. I read so many web site articles about blogging that I was SICK of it within 2 months. I was tired of it and I'd just begun.

WHY was I sick with it?

It seems that everyone that writes about blogging are techy type geeks. They don't really understand how to present something from a non-technical point of view. I'm fairly technical, but, when learning a new technology sometimes I have to be walked through it like I'm a 2 year old.

I'm not ashamed to say it!

Blogging is like that - there seems to be no simple way to jump into the game without either being so technical that it all comes naturally, or, having someone that IS technical - a friend no doubt, explain it to you in simple terms.

I want to be that friend for you, because I didn't have one to explain it to me and I really wish I did.

I started my first blog on December 19, 2006. Yes, just a few months ago. If you start TODAY I only have a 3 month jump on you. Of course I had a couple months of reading before that, BUT, I'm going to TELL you everything that I learned that is important for you to grasp and get your blog rolling and making money.

Think of me as the techy friend that you never had. My techy friends have their heads buried in programming and they don't even know how to blog! They couldn't tell me ANYTHING. Blogging is an area that is only well known by a subset of the population. It's not common knowledge HOW to do it or even WHY.

I had to learn it all myself. Now that I know it. I need to share it - to make myself feel better... to help you understand this great technology that is re-shaping the entire internet and is making quite a few people rich beyond their expectations just by writing one 300 - 400 word article PER DAY and posting it to their blog.

Does that sound like a reasonable way to make $1000 - $49,000 usd per month?

I think it does. So much so that I quit teaching English here in Thailand and I blog full-time. I have a few blogs going because I want to make sure at least one of them hits for enough money to keep me relaxing here in Thailand and not on a 24 hour jumbo jet ride back to the USA.

If you have SOMETHING you are passionate about... you can blog daily and possibly make some extra income from it. Choose a good topic for blog and you CAN DEFINITELY MAKE extra income from it.

If you can write 300 words minimum per day (on average - 95% of the time you must write 300+ words each day) then you can make decent money if you follow what I'll tell you regarding your choice of blog topic and what and how you write everyday.

As a formula, successful blogging looks like this:

Blog money making formula on notecard













I will explain things in as simple a language as is possible. Bite sized chunks - remember that. Slow and bite sized chunks. Like popcorn. Take as much as you can fit in your mouth before you choke on a piece of kernel and spit the mouthful across the room. Learning about blogging is like that. Spit too much and you'll tire of blogging - so take a little at a time - in small bites and you'll learn as you go.

I will label all of my posts for this blog numerically - with a number starting - like this one - with the number at the beginning of the post. Start with Step 1 and then go to Step 2.

If you follow what I tell you, you will learn a LOT about blogging. You will learn exactly what to do to make money blogging. You will learn within the first 10 posts on this blog - whether you are cut out to blog, or not.

Not everyone is.

If you are, you will thank god for "Blog Simply" because in a few months, 6, or 12, you will have a serious income at a personal cost of posting a 300 word few paragraphs to your blog and a little research everyday.


NOTE: This blog is formatted with a number at the beginning of each article. If you go in order from 1 to a million you will see the information in a logically presented manner - step by step and easy to follow. Of course you can skip some steps if you're very knowledgeable about that particular topic that day, but, you really should read it ALL since you don't want to miss something important about how to blog for money.