There’s a lot of advice out there regarding how to choose a topic to blog about. Some will tell you to focus on profitability. Find the niches that people spend money in and that are currently not serviced well by other blogs. Others will tell you that it doesn’t matter about the money, it’s all about how much you care about the topic. If you focus on passion, things you personally enjoy and know about, creating good content will be easy and your motivation will be strong. I don’t have specific advice on whether either methodology is better. If anything, I suggest you consider both aspects, with a slight emphasis on choosing a topic you care about over the potential to make money from it.
Do you pick a blog topic because of the potential for making money from it, or because you like it?
Consistent output is crucial, so if you can’t see yourself writing about a topic in six months, don’t choose that topic.
People are very different. Some remain motivated because of the process, not the topic, and these people could run a blog about a topic they don’t really care about because the process of profiting from it keeps them going. That doesn’t work for me. I only cover topics I enjoy, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t written content with profit as the main driver. Whenever you do an affiliate promotion – for example a product review – much of your motivation is the affiliate commission, yet you realize the importance of providing value to your readers as well.
This typifies the mesh in professional blogging between writing for writing’s sake vs. writing for income. It’s not black and white and all you can do is what works for you and you feel comfortable with. Consistency is such a key component of successful blogging that I advise people to forget about profits for the first few months – even six months if necessary – and focus on giving value. This reasoning suggests you choose a topic that you personally could sit down and write something about every day without reward (that’s a good question to ask yourself – can you write every day on the topic you are considering to blog about?.
On the flip side, you don’t want to blog for 12 months only to earn a few pennies a day. It’s important to, at the very least, consider the type of reader you are attracting, whether they buy things, whether you can sell them things, or find sponsors who would pay to advertise to your readers. I’m inclined to believe that as long as you have some traffic, you can earn some money, but if you do this strategically and prepare in advance, a little research can help to avoid wasting time. As much as it feels great to build an audience, we are also here to make money, and it won’t feel great if you can’t effectively monetize your audience.
The key is to understand your reader, their motivations, passions and spending habits. If you love the topic you blog about, you are in a much better position to understand your reader because you are part of the same niche. You know what you like, what you buy, and therefore what your readers enjoy and purchase.
If you are a good marketer you don’t have to be a fan of the market to actually understand it, but for most people I suggest you gravitate to topics you enjoy. It will make two key areas of successful blogging – content creation and monetization – that much easier if you have an inherent insight into your topic and audience.
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
How To Choose Your Blog Topic – Passions Vs. Profits
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ibadeducation
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In Blogging, tips and trick blogging
Saturday, March 29, 2014
Two Key Ingredients For Attracting Attention
The Two Key Ingredients For Attracting Attention
The first part of creating attention (traffic) to a blog, is the age-old advice you will have read over and over again if you study successful blogging:
“Write good content”
So yes, the foundation of a great blog is good content. Where people go wrong is deciding what good content is, given their goals (usually the error is made when determining exactly what the goals are and what strategies will be used to meet the goals) and assuming that just good content is enough.
The other key ingredient is marketing.
Did I mention that all professional bloggers need to have business skills? Yep, that’s right, marketing – the fine art of attracting attention and THE key component for successful business – is a paramount ingredient for successful blogging. It’s through marketing that people find your good content.
I’ll discuss how to market a blog in a moment, but first we have to make sure you avoid the first error I mentioned – not having a strategy in place for producing the right type of good content given your goals.
The first part of creating attention (traffic) to a blog, is the age-old advice you will have read over and over again if you study successful blogging:
“Write good content”
So yes, the foundation of a great blog is good content. Where people go wrong is deciding what good content is, given their goals (usually the error is made when determining exactly what the goals are and what strategies will be used to meet the goals) and assuming that just good content is enough.
The other key ingredient is marketing.
Did I mention that all professional bloggers need to have business skills? Yep, that’s right, marketing – the fine art of attracting attention and THE key component for successful business – is a paramount ingredient for successful blogging. It’s through marketing that people find your good content.
I’ll discuss how to market a blog in a moment, but first we have to make sure you avoid the first error I mentioned – not having a strategy in place for producing the right type of good content given your goals.
Friday, March 7, 2014
Examples of Successful Blogs
There are countless examples of people who started out writing a simple blog and were able to turn that into an exciting career or success story.
Among the most obvious examples would be Ree Drummond, a housewife from Oklahoma who began writing her blog, The Pioneer Woman, in 2006. In it, she documents her life as a wife and mother living on the plains, as well as including homemaking tips and recipes. It quickly gained in popularity and by 2010 Drummond was listed as one of Forbes magazine Top 25 Web Celebrities. Shortly afterward, she was given her own weekly television program on the Food Network and has written several successful cookbooks, one of which became a New York Times #1 Bestseller.
Another blogging success story is Jenny Lawson. This Texas-born blogger is the author of The Bloggess, in which she uses her quick wit and irreverent writing style to discuss her life and daily adventures. Some of her
blogs were collected into a book, “Let’s Pretend This Never Happened,” which also was a #1 New York Times Bestseller. Lawson currently is an in-demand guest on talk shows and has received numerous prestigious awards, including being recognized by Nielsen Ratings as one of the Top 50 Most Powerful Mom Bloggers.
You may have never heard of Mario Armando Lavandeira, Jr., but you probably have heard of his blog, PerezHilton.com. He began his blog about celebrities and gossip in 2004 and within six months it was one of the most read blogs in Internet history. Hilton soon became a celebrity in his own right, appearing on countless television programs and even serving as a celebrity judge for the Miss USA pageant in 2009, in an episode of “The Sopranos”, and as the star of his own reality TV series.
And then there’s Arianna Huffington. This Greek-American ex-wife of US Rep. Michael Huffington (R-Mich.) had already a successful career as a political candidate, television personality and writer when she launched her blog, HuffingtonPost.com, in 2005. In it, she wrote opinion pieces, shared articles and featured a stable of regular columnists writing mostly on politics and business. In 2011, Huffington sold her blog to AOL for $315 million, making her one of the most financially successful bloggers in history.
Among the most obvious examples would be Ree Drummond, a housewife from Oklahoma who began writing her blog, The Pioneer Woman, in 2006. In it, she documents her life as a wife and mother living on the plains, as well as including homemaking tips and recipes. It quickly gained in popularity and by 2010 Drummond was listed as one of Forbes magazine Top 25 Web Celebrities. Shortly afterward, she was given her own weekly television program on the Food Network and has written several successful cookbooks, one of which became a New York Times #1 Bestseller.
Another blogging success story is Jenny Lawson. This Texas-born blogger is the author of The Bloggess, in which she uses her quick wit and irreverent writing style to discuss her life and daily adventures. Some of her
blogs were collected into a book, “Let’s Pretend This Never Happened,” which also was a #1 New York Times Bestseller. Lawson currently is an in-demand guest on talk shows and has received numerous prestigious awards, including being recognized by Nielsen Ratings as one of the Top 50 Most Powerful Mom Bloggers.
You may have never heard of Mario Armando Lavandeira, Jr., but you probably have heard of his blog, PerezHilton.com. He began his blog about celebrities and gossip in 2004 and within six months it was one of the most read blogs in Internet history. Hilton soon became a celebrity in his own right, appearing on countless television programs and even serving as a celebrity judge for the Miss USA pageant in 2009, in an episode of “The Sopranos”, and as the star of his own reality TV series.
And then there’s Arianna Huffington. This Greek-American ex-wife of US Rep. Michael Huffington (R-Mich.) had already a successful career as a political candidate, television personality and writer when she launched her blog, HuffingtonPost.com, in 2005. In it, she wrote opinion pieces, shared articles and featured a stable of regular columnists writing mostly on politics and business. In 2011, Huffington sold her blog to AOL for $315 million, making her one of the most financially successful bloggers in history.
Benefits of Blogging
The blogging community, sometimes referred to as the blogosphere, promotes the open and free interchange of thoughts and ideas. There are no editors or censorship. You are free to discuss any subject you like and offer even the most radical opinion without fear of being quashed or silenced. There also is no set schedule, so you can write as often or as infrequently as you choose. Some people like to write every day or even post multiple blog postings throughout the day, while other bloggers post only once a week, once or month or even less. It’s entirely up to you.
When you produce a blog on a subject that interests you, it is easy to quickly establish yourself as an expert in your field. As your readership grows, people will begin to respect your opinions and perhaps even invite you to write a “guest blog” on their own blog. Many bloggers are now regularly used as panelists at conferences, interviewed on television news programs and even viewed as celebrities themselves.
The blogging community is also a great place to learn new facts, encounter cutting-edge ideas and technologies, exchange gossip or rumor, and participate in a rewarding online social community where you can
make new friends with people all over the globe, interact directly with experts, and make exciting new discoveries about topics that interest you. For some people, blogging also provides a revenue stream. There are plenty of ways to make money through blogging and we will be discussing many of them in detail later in this guide.
many people like this benefits of blogging
When you produce a blog on a subject that interests you, it is easy to quickly establish yourself as an expert in your field. As your readership grows, people will begin to respect your opinions and perhaps even invite you to write a “guest blog” on their own blog. Many bloggers are now regularly used as panelists at conferences, interviewed on television news programs and even viewed as celebrities themselves.
The blogging community is also a great place to learn new facts, encounter cutting-edge ideas and technologies, exchange gossip or rumor, and participate in a rewarding online social community where you can
make new friends with people all over the globe, interact directly with experts, and make exciting new discoveries about topics that interest you. For some people, blogging also provides a revenue stream. There are plenty of ways to make money through blogging and we will be discussing many of them in detail later in this guide.
many people like this benefits of blogging
What Is Blogging?
The word “blog” is an
abbreviation of the term “weblog”. Back in the early 1990s, when the internet
as we know it today was still in its infancy, weblogs were a form of online
diary keeping. The earliest bloggers would share details of their everyday
lives on first-generation blog sites such as Open Pages and Open Diary.
By the end of that decade, blog technology improved to
the point where readers could leave comments on other people’s blogs, and even
include links to other web pages. Very quickly, improvement in search engine
technology made it simple for anybody to find blogs written about whatever
specific topics were of interest to them.
By the mid-2000s, open
source blog hosting sites such as Blogger, Tumblr, and WordPress began to offer
free software that any user could use to create and publish
professional-looking blogs quickly and easily.
These sites, which remain popular today, also
hosted and distributed the blogs for free so that bloggers could write as many
blogs as they wanted and there was sure to be a steady supply of regular, loyal
readers.
Today, there are literally
millions of blogs being written every day and on every subject imaginable.
Whether you are interested in anthropology, cooking, sewing, movies, sex or sports,
with just the click of a few buttons you can be connected with thousands of
freshly-written blogs on the topics you like best. Plus, you can interact with
the writers, meet other people who
share
your interest, and engage in a lively interchange with an entire community
devoted to whatever subject you are into.
Thursday, March 6, 2014
How I Discovered Blogging
I began blogging in November 2004 as a means to market my Internet business, because I was told blogs are good for search engine rankings. As I continued to publish my blog and began my journey in the blogosphere I came to realize that blogs, while certainly fantastic for search engine rankings, are much more than a mere search engine marketing tool.
Blogs are outlets for creativity. Blogs influence people. Blogs are communication devices, educational resources and sources of entertainment. They connect people, spread ideas, foster friendships, sway political opinion and report news.
Blogs can be almost anything you want them to be, but what I came to experience as a result of blogging, is a new way of life.
Blogging empowers individuals with a tool that generates income and provides an outlet to communicate with the rest of the world.
For many people, starting a blog has completely changed how they live their lives – and for the better.
Every day I indulge in a hobby and communicate with like-minded individuals, and best of all, I get paid to do it.
How do I get paid? I monetize my blog.
Monetization can occur in many ways – and certainly how I do it today is different to how I did it a year ago or how I might do it next year. Monetization simply means implementing methods of making money from the content you produce on your blog.
What’s important is that the opportunity exists now to jump on board the blogging bandwagon and get paid for writing about what you love
Blogs are outlets for creativity. Blogs influence people. Blogs are communication devices, educational resources and sources of entertainment. They connect people, spread ideas, foster friendships, sway political opinion and report news.
Blogs can be almost anything you want them to be, but what I came to experience as a result of blogging, is a new way of life.
Blogging empowers individuals with a tool that generates income and provides an outlet to communicate with the rest of the world.
For many people, starting a blog has completely changed how they live their lives – and for the better.
Every day I indulge in a hobby and communicate with like-minded individuals, and best of all, I get paid to do it.
How do I get paid? I monetize my blog.
Monetization can occur in many ways – and certainly how I do it today is different to how I did it a year ago or how I might do it next year. Monetization simply means implementing methods of making money from the content you produce on your blog.
What’s important is that the opportunity exists now to jump on board the blogging bandwagon and get paid for writing about what you love
How I Make Money Blogging
Once you read the above article and watched the video you should have a good grasp of why I am here writing this report.
While you are visiting my blog I encourage you to subscribe to my RSS feed so you don’t miss out on any of my future articles and audio podcasts that I make available in downloadable MP3 format.
© Blog Mastermind ● http://www.BlogMastermind.com/coaching/ ● Page: 8
I live in Brisbane, Australia. I’ve run a variety of websites and Internet businesses since 1998 and have blogged since 2004. I’ve made good money buying and selling websites, I used to run a blog network, I built and then sold an editing and proofreading business. Today though, all I do is run my blogging business and yes, I do have big hair, which you can ponder in all it’s glory on my photo page.
What’s important is I am passionate about blogging and teaching others how they can use blogs as a tool to create greater freedom and happiness in their lives. If that sounds like something you want to do, please read this report from start to finish. In this way you will gain all the important skills and education necessary to get started.
Now, let’s get to work, starting right at the beginning. In the first place, what are blogs and what makes them different from any old website?
Even if you think you know blogs from back to front, it’s important you read this section because I highlight the key reason why blogs work. You need to know this so you can leverage the powerful tools and concepts that blogs facilitate. This helps you to develop the right mindset.
It has to make sense for you from start to finish. Clarity gives you purpose.
While you are visiting my blog I encourage you to subscribe to my RSS feed so you don’t miss out on any of my future articles and audio podcasts that I make available in downloadable MP3 format.
© Blog Mastermind ● http://www.BlogMastermind.com/coaching/ ● Page: 8
I live in Brisbane, Australia. I’ve run a variety of websites and Internet businesses since 1998 and have blogged since 2004. I’ve made good money buying and selling websites, I used to run a blog network, I built and then sold an editing and proofreading business. Today though, all I do is run my blogging business and yes, I do have big hair, which you can ponder in all it’s glory on my photo page.
What’s important is I am passionate about blogging and teaching others how they can use blogs as a tool to create greater freedom and happiness in their lives. If that sounds like something you want to do, please read this report from start to finish. In this way you will gain all the important skills and education necessary to get started.
Now, let’s get to work, starting right at the beginning. In the first place, what are blogs and what makes them different from any old website?
Even if you think you know blogs from back to front, it’s important you read this section because I highlight the key reason why blogs work. You need to know this so you can leverage the powerful tools and concepts that blogs facilitate. This helps you to develop the right mindset.
It has to make sense for you from start to finish. Clarity gives you purpose.
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