How to Start Making Money Blogging

 Laying the Groundwork                                               
                       

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   Understand what a blog is. Define a blog as a type of website or part of a website often maintained by someone making regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Most blogs are interactive, allowing visitors to leave comments and even message each other via widgets on the blogs and it is this interactivity that distinguishes them from other static websites. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability of readers to leave comments in an interactive format forms a large part of a blog.
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   Plan to write your blog in a tone appropriate to your blog topic. The most important part of any blog is what you have to say and how you say it. People will inevitably return to your blog if the subject you write about and the style in which you write it appeals to them. Keep it personable so as to invite interaction through blog comments and links back to your blog from other bloggers who like what you write.
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   Choose a niche market and domain name. If you’re setting up a blog with the intention of making money, you need to find a profitable niche. Let’s assume that selling hair care products is a potentially profitable niche. A possible search term that someone might use for a hair care product might be "hair care shampoo," so an appropriate domain name would be "haircareshampoo.com".

   • Selecting a good "buyer keyword" is critical. Try to select one that pulls in readers that are ready to buy. Another good example of a long-tail buyer keyword might be "eczema remedy." This keyword probably has a high level of competition, but it's just an example. Think of the reader who is searching for this term. They likely have a problem (eczema) and they're already looking for a solution. If your blog is informative and well designed, there's a good chance you'll be able to monetize your traffic.
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   Choose which blog software to use. There are a number of popular blogging software around, including Blogger and Wordpress. My favorite is Wordpress – in fact I created this blog using Wordpress, and that’s the one I’m going to use to help you setup your blog - it’s very simple to use, and it has many powerful features including plug-ins and web template system that uses a template processor
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   Go to your new blog website. (Such as http://www.yourblogname.com) Substitute your actual domain name for "yourblogname".

   • Click on “Cpanel login.” If you don’t see "Cpanel login" to click then type this in the browser address bar +slash+cpanel. "http://www.yourblogname.com/cpanel" using the actual name you registered.
   • Type in your username and password that you chose when you bought the "web hosting" provider. Should be in your BLOG FILE.
   • Scroll down to “Software/Services.”
   • Click on “Simple Scripts.”
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Part 2 of 6: Example Blog - WordPress

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   Click on the WordPress icon.
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   Choose the latest version of WordPress. (The highest number is the latest.)
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   Click “Install Now.”

   • Select your domain name.
   • Leave the “subfolder” box empty.
   • Give your site a name. This is the name of your blog, i.e. “My Hair Care Blog.” Usually the same name as your domain name.
   • Enter a tagline – caption catchphrase. This would be like your branding, i.e. “The Place Where You Learn All About Ducks.” (You can modify this very easily later so don’t worry about it being perfect now.)
   • Uncheck the check box next to “Generate Admin Login.” This way you can choose your own.
   • Choose and keep your Admin user name and password. This is for logging into your WordPress Dashboard for writing your posts and setting up your blog. It’s best if this is different from your cpanel username and password.
   • Leave “Automatically create a new database” checked.
   • Check the legal agreement.
   • Click “Complete.”
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   Read your email to confirmation from BlueHost (your web host) with the username and password you chose, plus any other information you might need.
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   Setup your WordPress Dashboard -- where you control everything about your blog including writing posts and customizing the look of your blog.

   1. Login, go to: “yourblogname.com/wp-admin” in your browser.
   2. Enter your WordPress Dashboard Login username and password that you set up in an earlier step.
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Part 3 of 6: Designing and Creating Your Site

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   Create a blog design that reflects your blog's image. It’s important that you create a design that reflects the content and image of your blog - from your font to your color choices, make sure each element of your blog's overall design is consistent with your blog's image. For example:

   • In a serious blog about marketing, it would be confusing in readers' minds, if the blog design included cartoon like clipart, balloon fonts and glitter effects.
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   Choose elements that often make up a blog including:

   • About Me
   • Categories
   • Posts
   • Contact
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   Install a theme for your blog. Under appearance, click on "Themes" and then click "Install Themes". From here, you can browse through a number of different themes from which you can select one you’re happy with.

   • Download the theme plugin and save it in a sub-folder on your computer.
   • Open the zipped folder.
   • Click “extract all files”
   • Upload files or a folder to “wp-content/plugins” on your “remote server” via FTP on FileZilla.
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Part 4 of 6: Starting to Blog

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   Write blog posts people want to read. It is a matter of speaking honestly and openly about a subject you're passionate about. The more you promote your blog, the more people will find it and the greater likelihood that some of those people will read what you have to say, like it,
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   Use strategies to drive traffic to your blog:

   • Email Marketing: send emails to your contacts who might be interested in your blog and suggest that they forward your link to their contacts.
   • Participate in blog carnivals. Search online for them or check out BlogCarnival.com.
   • SEO: Optimize your site for search engines. One software I recommend is WebCEO, and there is a free version of it.
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   Post relevant comments on related blogs for exposure to those readers.Register as a member using "yourblogname.com" as your username and:

   • Build links to your blog by posting comments on other blogs that have “dofollow” links which means that search engines will see those links. That helps to improve your exposure.
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   Do video marketing. Creating a video for marketing is much easier than you think. The best software used for making a video is Animoto.
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   Promote your blog. Use sites like "Yahoo! Answers" to drive traffic to your blog. You can also drive more traffic to your blog using some of the social networking sites:

   • Twitter
   • Facebook
   • LinkedIn
   • StumbleUpon
   • Digg
   • Reddit
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   Be persistent and write good content . Once you have the basics down you’ll continue developing and learning more.
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Part 5 of 6: Making Money

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   Get help from friends. One way to get a friend like this is to join a forum, like Digital Point, which is full of people looking to help each other for online business.
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   Be smart about what programs you buy into.

   • Stay away from buying How to ebook scams about making money online.
   • Consider buying a system and e-program that can completely automate everything -- from e-sales, e-credit card usage and e-downloads (delivery online) -- to everything else that is needed to keep sales, customer info and operate a successful business online.
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   Choose, create and sell your own "e-product" that people will want to buy:

   • Information e-products may be quick to create and quick to market. The product that you would sell is digital and your space taken up is on your computer and on the online site harddrive. This method does not take years, nor require much help, nor take great funds to manufacture. You can create information products in as little as a a day or two, post it, and begin generating revenue. You need a special topic and a computer (no stock, no mailing or counting inventory). This takes no space in your garage, house nor a store because you do not have to buy any products to sell. For example:
     • Create a good ebook yourself and make money by marketing that online.
     • Create an "e-store" yourself and make money by marketing several e-products online.
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   Sign-up for "Pay Per Click" with a site(s). With such a service, you get paid for visitors on your site clicking on other peoples' ads to be redirected to that other site. That may work by creating cookies that give you credit for sending a [legitimate] client. For example:

   • Google’s Adsense program: Google will read your article that you write and find "ads that are relevant" to it and display them next to or within the article. Having very relevant ads, can be of benefit to the readers, too.
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   Do affiliate marketing. In this process, you sell someone else's products, but you must learn how to connect with your buyers on a more fundamental level, using unconventional strategies and techniques, mixed in with more conventional methods such as the pay per click.
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   Keep it up. As you write quality content, your audience will start to build. The building of followers makes creating a membership site a logical way for readers to communicate with each other via forum, or messaging.
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   Consider memberships. Membership sites are a terrific way to make money. You charge a small monthly fee for users to gain access to exclusive content, video content, or possibly direct access to you through Q&A or live events.

   • There are many Word Press plugins to add membership services into your site. Many plugs offer many different levels of membership, and reoccurring payment processing. Be sure to review, work with, and verify the plugin you choose will meet your needs now and in the future.