Decide What To Blog About

The first step in starting a blog is to decide what you are going to write about. You can either choose to write about something you love or write about topics that are known to make a lot of money. Of course, writing about something you enjoy and know well is much easier, but perhaps not as profitable. However, if you blog just to make money, there is a risk of getting bored and giving up. To find out how popular a topic is, do some research on related keywords with the free Google Adwords Keyword Tool.

Once you have decided what to write about you need to start doing some research. Find the most successful and popular blogs on the topic and start following them. Learn as much as possible!

Setting Up Your Blog

When you have decided on a topic, it’s time to set up your blog. There are two ways you can do this. You can either choose to host your blog on a free blogging platform like Blogger or you can get a paid web hosting account. I strongly recommend getting your own hosting account, as it will give you more control over your blog and the content on it. It will cost you some money, but not much. It is possible to get an account on a reliable web host for about $5 per month. You will also need a domain, which can be registered for $10 per year.

Now you are ready to install the blogging software on your hosting account. The most popular and powerful blogging platform is WordPress, which is very easy to use and customize. And there are thousands of different themes, plugins and features available so you can easily set up a professionally looking blog. Many web hosts will install WordPress for free when you get an account with them, but if they don’t, you can install it yourself in just a few minutes by following these instructions.

Getting Traffic To Your Blog

To make money with your blog, you can’t just start posting content and hope that people will find it on their own. To be a successful blogger you have to promote your blog. There a several ways that you can generate traffic and get more visitors, here are a few ideas:

• A great way to let people know about your posts is to post them on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Reddit.
• Be active in the blog community. Make useful comments on other blogs in your niche and contribute to the community – never spam!
• Good search engine optimization (SEO) can ensure a steady flow of traffic from search engines.
• If you are willing to spend some money on promotion, you can buy visitors from pay per click advertising programs.
• Guest blogging will give your blog exposure and is a good way to increase traffic and subscribers.
• Writing articles and posting them to different article directories will increase both visitors and backlinks to your blog.

Monetizing Your Blog

When you have a steady stream of visitors and subscribers to your blog, it’s time to monetize it. Depending on your niche, some methods may work better than others. My advice is to try a couple to figure out what works for your blog. The first, and easiest way to monetize your blog is by using contextual advertising. The most popular program for this is Google Adsense. Just insert the Adsense code on your blog, and you will earn money each time a visitor clicks one of the ads.

Another option is CPA (cost per action) advertising. With these ads you get paid per action, not clicks. How much you get paid depends on what the action is. Some CPA ads only require the visitors to enter an e-mail address or zip code. These ads usually pay a quite low amount of money, but have a high conversion rate. Other CPA ads require the visitor to make a purchase. These offers obviously pay more, but have a lower conversion rate. CPA advertising can be very profitable, if you find ads that are relevant to the topic of your blog.

One of the oldest methods of making money online is by using affiliate programs. With an affiliate program you earn money by linking to products that your visitors might be interested in. In return, you receive a percentage of each sale. This can be profitable if you can find a company that sells products that are related to the topic of your blog. The most used affiliate program is Amazon.com. They sell almost everything: books, music, DVDs, computers, electronics and clothes.

If you are an expert in the your niche, consulting can be another way to earn money. If your blog is about search engine optimization, you can offer your SEO-services and get paid. Create a page describing your services and set up a way to receive payments.

Update Your Blog

Consistent updating is very important to keep your subscribers interested. Of course, it will be difficult to write four to five posts per day and maintain the quality of your blog, but you should set a goal to write at least one blog post every day. You should also make an effort to always post well written and original content. You are not going to become a successful blogger if you just repost the same news stories as everyone else. Try to be different and offer your visitors something unique. One way to do this is to research your niche and try to figure out what is missing.

A normal dofollow link on a web site will look something like this:
<a href="http://www.link.com">Link</a>

To make an individual link nofollow, the value is added to the rel attribute in the html link tag:
<a href="http://www.link.com" rel="nofollow">Link</a>

It is also possible to make all links on a page nofollow by using the meta robots tag in the head-section of the html page:
<meta name="robots" content="nofollow" />

The nofollow attribute was developed in 2005 by Google to help combat link spam in the comment section of blogs. It was designed so that webmasters could attach it to all unwanted links that are unrelated to their site, so that Google could improve the quality of their search engine results.

In search engines, every link can be considered a “vote” for the site linked to. A link from a site with high page rank, trust and authority is considered a more valuable vote and will pass on more “link juice” than a link from a low ranked site. What the nofollow attribute does is that it tells the search engine spiders to ignore the link and not pass any link juice to the site, making the link almost useless from a search engine optimization perspective.

However, there are some proof that nofollow links are not completely worthless. It seems like they do pass a very small amount of link juice, but probably too little to be useful for anything else than low competition keywords.

Here are five of the best sites where you can get paid to write articles:

Associated Content has been online since 2005, and is now owned by Yahoo. There are two ways to earn money with your articles on Associated Content. If you submit exclusive and unique content you can ask for an upfront payment, and if your article is accepted you will earn anywhere from $3 to $20. For most articles, the upfront payment is about $4. In addition to the upfront payment, Associated Content will pay you based on the performance of your articles. The rate is $1.50-$2.00 per 1000 pageviews, depending on your total number of pageviews. If you have a lot of articles, this can add up nicely and is a great way to earn a passive income. Payments are sent via PayPal and to be eligible for payment you must be at least 18 years old and a citizen of the United States. Upfront payments are sent daily (Monday to Friday) and performance payments are sent monthly.

Helium is a another site where you can get paid to write. On Helium, the payment per article is based on three factors. The first is article quality – good articles that rank higher will be read more and earn more advertising money. The second factor is the topic of the article – some topics are more popular than others and will get more readers. The last factor is advertiser interest – advertisers are more willing to spend money on certain subjects. For example, finance articles will have higher ad rates than articles about online gaming. Another feature on Helium is the marketplace. In the marketplace publishers can ask writers to write an article with a specific title. If your article is selected by the publisher, you can earn up to $100 on just one article. Payments are sent twice per month, on the 15th and last day of the month. Payments are sent via PayPal and the minimum is $25.

eHow is an online community that provides visitors with how-to guides on a large range of topics. The site currently has over 1.5 million articles and 150,000 videos with step-by-step instructions. There are two kinds of articles on eHow: those written by registered users and those written by eHow’s own experts. How much you earn per article depends on several factors, including word count, number of pageviews and topic. Generally, the more helpful the article is, the bigger the earning potential is. To publish articles on eHow you first need to submit an application with a sample of your writing. The application process usually takes 48 hours.

Triond is a publishing service that allows users to make money by creating articles, photos, videos and audio content. The site is based in Tel Aviv and owned by Stanza Ltd. Triond publishes your content on a huge network of niche sites and they accept all kinds of content, even things such as poetry and short stories. They do not say exactly how they calculate earnings, but there are two ways to earn money with your content. The first is based on the number of pageviews your content gets. The second is the number of advertisement links your readers click. Payments are sent on the 15th of every month. Payment options are PayPal, check or Western Union. The minimum payment is $0.50 for PayPal and $50 for Western Union and check.

HubPages is a site where you can publish and get paid to write articles, reviews, tips, opinions and advice. The site was launched in 2006 and is one of the top 50 visited sites on the internet with over 90 million pageviews per month. On HubPages writers earn money through revenue sharing. There are several options to earn money on your articles, including Google Adsense, Kontera contextual ads, Ebay and Amazon. To get paid you need to join the program you plan on using, as the payments will be sent directly by the affiliate program and not by HubPages. The revenue is split 60/40, which means that on 60% of all visits, your advertisement links will be displayed. On the the remaining 40% of visits, HubPages’s links will be displayed.

Tips To Make More Money With Your Articles

Write about hot topics – Read the news and follow the trends. By thinking ahead you can get your article out before there is much competition for the keywords in the search engines.

Write, write, write! – One article is not going to make much money. The key to earning a descent passive income is to create a lot of content.

Choose a good title – Have the search engines in mind when picking a title. Good, relevant keywords will get more traffic and increase your earnings.

Promote your articles – Submit them to social bookmarking sites like Reddit, StumbleUpon, Facebook and Digg.

Write about topics you know – Don’t pick a topic just because it’s popular. Write informative and useful content on subjects you know well.

Use correct grammar and spelling – Proof read your articles and use a spell checker before submitting.

Follow the submission guidelines – There is nothing more annoying to the editors than people who disregard the rules. Make sure your articles are accepted by reading the guidelines carefully.

The complete list contains:

• 459 Social bookmarking websites ordered by PageRank. (.xls)
• 693 Blogs with dofollow comment links. (.xls)
• 10,000 Pligg social bookmarking sites. (.txt)
• 41,000 Scuttle social bookmarking sites (.txt)
• 274 Press release sites ordered by PR (.txt)
• 427 .edu sites with guestbooks (.txt)
• 1,460 .edu blogs (.txt)
• 4,000 WordPress blogs with auto approved comments (.txt)
• 216 Profile links (.txt)
• 535 Article directories (.xls)
• 6,000 phpLD link directories (.txt)

A total of over 65,000 sites where you can get backlinks!

Download link: http://depositfiles.com/files/gors8gd3w

EasyHits4U – One of the most popular traffic exchanges around. EasyHits4U has been online since 2003 and currently has over 380,000 registered members. The surf ratio is 1:1 and there is a 5 level referral program. Standard members are allowed to add 15 different sites and there is a geo targeting feature, which allows you to set which country or continent you would like the visitors to come from. There are two ways to earn money on this site. The first is surfing. You get paid $0.30 for every 1000 sites visited and there is no limit on how much you can surf per day. The second is by referring new members, which pays $0.10 per active referral. Minimum payout is $3 and the payment options are PayPal and AlertPay.

ShineLight Traffic – This site pays $0.30 per 1000 sites surfed. The daily surfing limit is 1000 pages for free members and 2000 for upgraded members. If you surf 500 pages or more per day for the whole week (Sunday-Saturday) you earn an extra $0.50. You also earn $0.10 per active referral. Surfing and referral contests are held regularly with the chance to win even more cash. Payments are sent with PayPal on the 10th of every month (minimum $10).

Rainbow-Traffic – A manual traffic exchange with dynamic ratio. Surf 500 pages per day for 7 days (Sunday-Saturday) to claim $0.50 loyalty reward bonus. Top 3 surfers every month earn $5.00 + 500 credits, $3.00 + 300 credits and $2.00 + 200 credits. Top referrers every month will receive $10.00 + 500 credits, $5.00 + 500 credits and $2.50 + 500 credits. There are also daily surf rewards where you can win credits or text/banner impressions. Minimum payout is $10 to PayPal, on the 15th of every month.

TopSurfer – Established in 2001, this site has 26,000+ active members. You earn $0.02 for every 35 sites viewed. You can also earn money by reading solo-ads. Just open the solo-ad and click the link to make $0.003. Once you have earned $10, payments are sent to your AlertPay account automatically every Wednesday.

EternityTraffic – On this traffic exchange you earn $0.01 for every 30 sites viewed and $0.10 for every referral who surfs 50 or more pages. The surfing limit is 1001 on weekdays and 1501 on weekends. The site also has daily surfing contests and referral contest with chances to win more cash. The surf ratio on EternityTraffic is 1:2 (1:1 for gold/pro members) with a 6-10 second timer. The minimum payout is $25 to verified PayPal accounts.

Start a blog or website: This is maybe the most difficult way to get PTC referrals. It takes a lot of work to build a successful blog, but it also the most rewarding. There are many places where you can get a free blog, for example Blogger, WordPress or Blogsome. To catch the attention of your visitors, make sure you post informative and unique content. You could write about your experiences with different PTC sites, post payment proof, your recommendations and use the opportunity to place your referral link in the blog post. Be creative, share your knowledge and write useful posts. And do research so you can target the right keywords and get more search engine traffic.

Promote your referral link on traffic exchanges: On traffic exchanges, you view other members’ sites to earn credits. The credits can then be used to promote your own site. Keep in mind though, that people visiting your site only see it for about 20 seconds, so it is important to grab their attention. Create a fast loading splash page with a good headline and a short summary of why they should join the site. Unfortunately, not all traffic exchanges allow the promotion of PTC and PTR sites. But here are a couple that do, which I recommend: EasyHits4U, TrafficEra and SmileyTraffic.

Ask friends and family: Send an e-mail or message to your friends and family and ask them if they are interested and show them some proof that it works. Make sure you are honest when you invite them to join – that it’s just a way to earn some extra money with very little effort.

Referral exchange programs: There are a couple of sites where you can exchange PTC referrals with other members. I like GetRef, which seems to be the biggest and most popular one. On GetRef there are four ways to earn credits: by joining other members’ programs, by clicking links, buying credits for money and by referring members (you get 10% of their credits on 5 levels). The credits you have earned can then be used to buy referrals for your own PTC site.

Make videos on YouTube: Create a YouTube account and make tutorial videos, where you show people how the site you are promoting works and how easy it is to make money from it. Don’t just spam your referral link, add something of value to the users.

Buy or rent referrals: Many people join PTC sites without using a referral link, or maybe their original referrer has been deleted. PTC sites often lets you buy or rent those unreferred members. Prices vary, for example, on NeoBux the cost is $0.22 for 30 days. There is no guarantee that the members you rent will be active, so there is always the risk of losing some of the money invested. Usually it is a good idea to upgrade your account to really make it profitable. And remember to always be careful when investing your money in a PTC site, especially if it’s new and have not yet been proven to be trustable.

Promote your link on social networks: Create accounts on social networks, such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter. Add links and banners on your profile page. Keep your profile personal and don’t spam your link, that will only make your friends delete you and might even get you banned. You can also post your blog and website links to social bookmarking sites. Here is a list of 125 of the most popular social bookmarking sites.

Post in forums: There are many forums on the Internet about making money online. Forums usually lets you add links on your profile page and in your signature. With a signature link, people will see your link every time you make a new post. But don’t spam – be active in discussions and only make relevant posts that can be of value to other members. If you participate in discussion, are knowledgeable and provide useful information people will trust you, and the chances of them signing up under your referral link will increase. Many forums also have a section where you can exchange PTC referrals with other members, for example: eMoneySpace Referral Exchange Board.

Advertise on other PTC sites: Buying banner space or text links on PTC sites is a very effective way to get more referrals. The drawback here is that you need to spend money before it becomes profitable. However, on some sites you can use the cash you have earned to buy advertisement – that way you don’t have to spend your own money. To advertise more effectively don’t send your traffic directly to a referral URL. Make a website with links to more than one site. You could add payment proof images and a review to increase the chances of visitors joining.

Promote new PTC sites: There is always a risk when promoting newer sites but it is a lot easier to get referrals. If you promote a site that has been around for a long time, chances are that most people have already joined.

How it works: Most article directories allow you to write something about yourself or your website in what is called the resource box. It is usually located just below the article, and this is were you can put links to your website. Make sure to use the keywords you are optimizing for as the anchor text. It’s also better if the article you are submitting is relevant to the topic of your website.

Don’t submit the same article to several directories, search engines like unique content. Submitting original content will give much more weight to your links. If you submit the same article to more than one directory the search engines might flag it as duplicate content and penalize it. You need to make some changes to the article before submitting it to another directory. That way you will gain the maximum benefit of each submission.

Promote your articles! Share the links to your articles on social networking sites, like Twitter and Facebook. This way they will get more traffic, and that means more people will click your links in the resource box.

NoScript – In my opinion, everyone surfing traffic exchanges should use the NoScript add-on. When surfing traffic exchanges, you are visiting a large number of sites. Some of them might have exploits, malware and viruses. NoScript disables scripts and plugins on all sites except the domains you add to the whitelist. It will block all malicious scripts and XSS attacks and keep you safe while surfing. NoScript will also block annoying sounds, automatic downloads, popups, frame breakers and other unwanted scripts.

Keyconfig – Keyconfig allows you to change the keyboard shortcuts in Firefox. By creating a keyboard shortcut for ‘next tab’ you can quickly switch to the next traffic exchange without using the mouse.

Auto Toggle Tabs – Auto Toggle Tabs allows you to automatically switch to the next tab. This add-on adds an entry to the tools menu where you can set how long each tab will be active before switching to the next one. Delays from 2 to 60 seconds can be set.

Fox Splitter – This add-on splits the content area of the Firefox browser, allowing you to view several traffic exchanges in the same window. After you have loaded all your traffic exchanges in tabs you can choose to tile all tabs vertically or horizontally – and they will all gather in the same window. With this add-on you don’t need to switch tabs at all.

Tab Mix Plus – Tab Mix Plus enhances Firefox’s tab browsing capabilities. This add-on has many features to improve tab browsing such as duplicating tabs, controlling tab focus, tab clicking options, undo closed tabs and windows and more.

TrafficEra.com (Alexa Rank 16,405) is the largest of the Logiscape traffic exchange sites. There are several ways to earn credits on TrafficEra. Like other traffic exchanges, you earn credits by surfing and viewing other members’s sites or by referring new members. But what sets TrafficEra apart from other exchanges is the team-surfing feature. You can join an existing team or create one yourself. Each team, consisting of 25 members, compete in the weekly surfing contest with prizes of 50,000-1,000,000 traffic credits. There are also daily ‘clock-races’ with even more chances for your team to win credits.

TS25.com, Traffic Syndicate 25 (Alexa Rank 27,941). On TS25, your downline is built based on how active you are. At the end of every week, all members are ranked and placed in a ‘syndicate’ depending on their weekly activity. This means you will earn credits for everyone surfing below you in the Syndicate Downline. For bonus credits, there is a surfing game where you can win up to 1000 credits when you uncover all the letters of the word “SURFING”. In addition to this game, there is another game where all members of your syndicate work together. If your syndicate is the first to uncover all the letters of the word “JACKPOT”, you win the progressive jackpot. The jackpot is added to the syndicate value for the week.

Hitsilo.com (Alexa Rank 62,921) is the newest Logiscape site, launched in September 2009. This is the only Logiscape site where you can earn real cash. Standard members earn 10% commission on upgrades and credit sales, upgraded members earn up to 50%. Another way to earn real money with Hitsilo is in the monthly loyalty points draw. Every month, $1000 is given away to members who reach the loyalty point requirement. Loyalty points is very easily earned simply by being active. You will receive points for logging in every day, surfing and clicking links in e-mails Hitsilo send out.

TrafficPods.com (Alexa Rank 98,216) is quite different from other traffic exchanges and can seem confusing at first. On this site, you earn credits by surfing ‘traffic pods’. There are 1000 traffic pods, each pod consisting of 10 web sites. After surfing 10 pods (100 sites) you will enter a Bonus Pod where you can win ‘pod points’. After surfing 100 pods you will enter the Super Pod, with even bigger pod point rewards and a possibility to win cash prizes. If you are a standard member you can receive ownership of a traffic pod by being ranked in the top 25 surfers of the week. Once you own a traffic pod, 50% of your pod points will be converted to traffic credits every week. You will also earn credits when other members are surfing in your pod.

HitPulse.com (Alexa Rank 147,853) is the oldest of the Logiscape sites. HitPulse has been online since 2001, and works much like a traditional traffic exchange. When you surf you will earn traffic credits and Power Points. Power Points can be converted to traffic credits or be sold for LogiBucks.

Now that exactly one month has passed since Sweeva launched, they have announced a referral contest. Starting today, the member who refers the most people in 14 days wins an Apple iPad tablet computer. For a referral to count in the contest, they must surf at least 100 sites or upgrade their membership. Second prize in the contest is $100, third prize winner get a Sweeva t-shirt and mug, and 5 random referrers will get $10.