Top Tips and Tools To Create A Profitable Blog

Top Tips and Tools To Create A Profitable Blog Chances are, you either have a blog, or have thought about creating one.   Maybe you even had one years ago and it simply died a slow, quiet death.   In any case, because maintaining a blog takes time and your time is quite valuable, youve realized that you want a profitable blog, not just an online journal. If you build it, they will come might have worked for Kevin Costner in the movie Field of Dreams,   but it wont work with a blog.   With 380 new websites being created every minute, if you want to be more than a voice in the internet wilderness, youve got to find a way to stand out as well as how to monetize your blog. Heres our top tips and tools to help you create a blog thats something youre proud of.    And, at the same time, is profitable. A Profitable Blog Starts With Quality If you were to look at the majority of those 380 websites per minute going up around the world, youd find most of them offer no value.   You certainly wouldnt re-visit them.    As   you start out building your blog, go for quality. Template or Custom? A quick search online will reveal tons of sources of template websites.   Many of them are quite well done and create an attractive and pleasing user experience.     A high quality customizable template website can be had for under $100.   On the other hand, you may want to go custom, so theres no other blog that looks like yours.   If thats youre choice, its only limited by your imagination and budget.   You can easily spend thousands for a custom designed site.   We suggest you go with a template. Getting Great Content Do not be tempted to purchase a bunch of prewritten articles to give your blog a boost start.   Google does not give much value to the same content posted all over the internet.    If youre not aware of how important Google is to the success of your blog, read this article about the importance of Googles always-present and watchful eyes. That means youre going to have to create your own content, multiple times each week.    If youre like most new bloggers, its outside your regular job.   So youll need to find time to write, edit, proof, image,   and post your articles. Any part of that can be outsourced.   For a fee, of course. Take on the parts you feel most comfortable with.   You can find very reasonable help for tasks at which you dont excel at many online providers.   For example, if you think you can manage to write your own content, but youre not sure of your grammar and formatting skills, you may want to consider editing and proofreading services. Establishing an Online Presence Just having the blog isnt enough.   In the sea of new websites, youve got to make yours more visible than the others.   To a large extent, that means connecting your blog to appropriate social media sites. Depending on the subject of your blog, youll want to have a blog profile on at least a few of the following: Facebook Twitter Instagram Pinterest YouTube Tumblr Some of the most profitable social media successes are on Instagram and YouTube.   But choose wisely.   Working social media can make you a lot of money.   Or simply eat up a large chunk of your time. Monetizing Your Blog Once youve got your blog running and established your social media channels, its time to start making it profitable.   Heres the most popular ways to create income from your efforts. Advertising From sidebars to popups, all those ads you see on virtually every site are generating money.   Many are ads provided by Google, and each time a visitor to your site clicks the ad, you get paid.   Theres also banner ads, the ads you see on YouTube, and many others.   But be careful, because too many ads adversely affect user experience.   You want your blog visitors to return (traffic), so treat them well. Sponsorship You know those props you see in movies that prominently display a certain brand?   Those are paid placements.   Similarly, once youre established, you can get consumer products companies of all sizes and types to pay you to directly or indirectly show or promote their product.   But there may be disclosures required, so be sure to know the FCC rules. Product Sales Trying to sell products online, either your own or as a re-seller, can be challenging as well as rewarding.   As we said at the beginning, just because you put up a product for sale on the internet does not mean anyone will even see it let alone buy it. Rather than jumping into products sales on your own, consider affiliate marking. With affiliate marketing, you dont have the risk of inventory or the hassle of shipping.   Youre promoting someone elses product and getting paid a commission on the sale.   Amazon has a very easy to use affiliate program thats a great place to start. You Can Do It! As with most things, starting from zero and building a successful enterprise can seem daunting.   Take it one step at a time and be patient.   To summarize: Go for quality as opposed to quantity.   Serve up a great meal, not a bunch of junk fast food Whether its your blog or your social media page, proofread and edit prior to publishing Provide information thats valuable and interesting to your intended audience Monetize gradually, adding sources of income that work with your image and content A blog can turn into a profitable business of its own in a relatively short time.   Who knows, you just might be the next blog and social media millionaire!