Tips On How To Become A Better Blogger

This is a follow up article for the How do I Start a Blog and Make Money Online series that we have been publishing on this blog to help the newbie’s get started with a blog. This article covers some good practices that you should develop to become a better blogger.

1. Chose The Right Topic For Your Blog

There is usually a big debate on which path to go down when choosing the topic of your blog. Some will advice you to find a niche that people spend money in and focus purely on the profitability. Others will say don’t go for the money at first, focus on your passion because things that you personally enjoy and know about will be easy to create good content on and in the process you will make money. I will leave it up to you to decide but I can only suggest that you consider both sides of the story before making up your mind. Some people can remain motivated because of the process, not the topic but that doesn’t work for me. I need to enjoy the topic.

2. Challenge Yourself

You might be an expert on the topic that you cover but it can become boring if you write from the same angle all the time. Get out of your comfort zone a little, learn more about the complex areas of your topic and present some interesting facts of your discovery to your readers and they will respect your effort.

3. Create Your Own Style

When you write try to add your own opinion or flavor that will make your posts unique. If you write about something technical then think how you can make it easy for the average readers who are not very familiar with the technical terms. Why should visitors keep coming to your blog when other bloggers are also writing on the same topic? It is your unique styles that will help you stand out in the crowd and make your blog different than a regular one.

4. Show Your Passion And Credibility

Building your reputation is very important. You need to gain the trust of your readers before they listen to you. If you talk about Green Peace then you need to let your readers know how passionate you are about it. This is where choosing a blog topic that you are passionate about helps. Let your visitors know how involved you are and what you have achieved so far. Humans can smell bullshit very easily so don’t just lie to your readers as this will ruin your credibility. The visitors who will be coming to your blog are most likely passionate about your blog topic so if you are not seriously involved then why should they listen to you and read your blog?

5. Know Your Readers

If you have a good understanding of your reader’s motivation, passion, need then it will be a lot easier for you to write articles that your readers will appreciate. Visitors most likely come to your blog because they either want to learn something or they are looking for a solution so you need to provide them with what they are after. Try to put yourself in their shoe and be on the lookout as to how you can satisfy them.

6. Be Consistent

Consistency is one of the keys to be a successful blogger. Make a routine of how often you want to publish new posts on your blog and try to stick to this routine. Do not worry too much about profit when you are starting out. Think in terms of adding tons of value consistently and the money will come.

7. Be Clear, Short And To The Point

The trick is to get your readers’ attention quickly. Statistics show that on an average most readers will decide if they are going to read the full post or not in the first few seconds after they land on an article. Having a nicely formatted structured post with short paragraphs and bullet point does the job. Don’t make the post unnecessarily long, divide them into short paragraphs and use bullet points or numbered list for ease of reading. Also use sub-heading so the readers can easily find the information they are looking for and always stay on topic. If you fill up your post with irrelevant information, readers will loose interest and leave your blog.

8. Proofread Before Publishing

I used to get too excited to publish a post as soon as I was finished writing it when I first started blogging. I didn’t used to spend any time to find spelling and grammatical errors. Lots of grammatical and spelling mistakes on an article will turn off the readers. So proofread your article before you hit the publish button. If possible, ask a friend to proofread your article. This can help greatly when you are starting out as it’s hard to find your own mistakes at first.

9. Involve Your Readers

As I have mentioned before that a blog is more interactive than a traditional website which is the reason blogs are so popular. Through interaction you can create a good bonding with your readers. So try to get your readers involved in your blog by asking them to leave comments, participating in surveys etc.

10. Reply To Comments

Reply to the comments left by your blog visitors. If someone has taken the time and effort to leave a comment on your blog then the least you can do is reply with a simple “Thank You” or answer their question. If you have a really popular blog and you get tons of comments daily then it may not be practical to reply to every comment left on your blog but in general replying to a comment shows that you care about your visitors so try to do it.

11. No Shortcuts

You need to understand that there are no shortcuts to success and it’s definitely not going to come overnight. Try to add value to the community, be consistent, hard working and patient and blog success will follow.

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5 Tips to Make Money Blogging & Monetize Your Blog

Many bloggers want to find ways to generate an income from their blogs. Following are 5 tips to monetize your blog & start bringing in some money from your blogging efforts.

1. Advertising
Including advertisements on your blog is the most obvious way to derive an income from your blogging efforts. Ads can come in the form of text links/banner ads & advertising options are available that you can easily tap into through pay-per-click, pay-per-post & affiliate programs online. Google AdSense, Amazon Associates, eBay Affiliates & Pay-Per-Post are just a few of the most common advertising programs available to bloggers.

2. Merchandise
Another simple way to monetize your blog is by selling merchandise through a service such as CafePress who will work with you to create custom items for you to sell through your blog.

3. Reviews
Bloggers can make money by reviewing products, events, businesses & more through blog posts.

4. Ebooks
A great way to bring in some revenue on your blog is by writing an ebook & offering it for sale through your blog. Ebooks are particularly successful for bloggers who have positioned themselves as experts in their fields & advertise their ebooks as additional/exclusive information just for readers of their blogs.

5. Donations
Many bloggers add a donation button to their blogs asking readers to make a monetary donation to keep the blog alive. Donations are also solicited with clever taglines such as, "If you like this blog, why not buy me a cup of coffee?" The donation link leads the reader to another website such as PayPal where the individual can easily make their donation.

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Directory of Blog Advertising

Following is a list of companies that provide advertising opportunities for bloggers to generate an income from their blogs. These are in ascending sorting.

This directory is meant to give a comprehensive list of advertising opportunities for bloggers. Do your research to make sure a new advertising/blog monetization opportunity is right for you & your goals for your blog before you commit to anything.

Ad Networks

Adgenta

AdKnowledge

AVN Ads

Bidvertiser

Blog Ads

BlogHer Ads

BrightAds from Kanoodle

Casale Media

Chitika's eMiniMalls

Clicksor

CrispAds

DoubleClick

Fastclick

Google AdSense

Industry Brains

IntelliTXT

Kontera

OneMonkey

Peak Click

Pheedo

RevenuePilot

SearchFeed

Text Link Ads

Text Link Brokers

Tribal Fusion

Value Click

YesAdvertising

Affiliate Advertising

Amazon Associates

eBay Affiliates

All Posters Affiliates

Commission Junction

Associate Programs

Affiliates Directory

Refer-It

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Make Money from Blog (Other Than Using Ads)

The Value of Monetizing Your Blog Through Nonadvertising Opportunities:

By displaying ads on your blog is certainly a simple way to try to generate an income from it. However, ads aren’t a guaranteed money-maker. For 1 reason, they are often dependent on the actions of your blog's readers. For another reason, generating a significant amount of money through advertising on your blog is unlikely (possible but unlikely) unless your blog receives a very large amount of traffic each day.


By diversifying your income-generating opportunities, you'll have a greater chance of successfully monetizing your blog. Following are a variety of nonadvertising methods to earn money from your blog.


Sell Merchandise:
Many bloggers have success selling branded and non-branded merchandise on their blogs through CafePress.


Ask for Donations:
It can't hurt to ask your readers to donate to your blog. Some of them just might do it. You can add a donation button to your blog through PayPal.


Sell Your Guest Posting Services:
Most bloggers write guest posts for other blogs for free as a way to promote their own blogs. However, you can also offer your guest posting services for a fee.


Write & Sell an Ebook:
If your blog has loyal readers then they must like what you have to say. Similarly, if you've established yourself as an expert in your blog's topic, then there is a good chance people will want to read more from you outside of your blog. Leverage that position by writing an ebook & offering it for sale on your blog.


Write a Book:
If you've established yourself as an expert in your blog's topic & developed a strong following, you could write a book & either try to have it published or self-publish.


Become a Professional Blogger:
Many blogs and blog networks look for talented & knowledgeable writers to author blogs & many of those blogging jobs are paying. Apply to blogging jobs to boost your blogging income.


Apply for Other Writing Jobs:
Blogging can help you polish your writing skills, which can help you land other freelance writing jobs online & offline. Transitioning into freelance writing from blogging is not unusual & can be very lucrative.


Become a Public Speaker:
If you've successfully established yourself as an expert in your blog's topic & generated a decent amount of traffic to your blog, you could offer your services as a public speaker at events related to your area of expertise.


Become a Consultant:
If you've established yourself as an expert in your blog's topic, you can offer consulting services to other people or business' who could use the help of your expertise. Alternatively, you could offer consulting services related to developing & writing a successful blog.

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