Getting the Most from Your Blog

First of all, i want to give you a link to a wonderful article about making money from your blog.  It’s by Steve Pavlina who knows a thing or two or zillion about the subject.  How To Make Money From Your Blog was written nearly a year ago, but the information is as dead on now as it was then.

Here’s what amounts to my favorite piece from the whole pie:  If you do decide to generate income from your blog, then don’t be shy about it.  If you’re going to put up ads, then really put up ads.  Don’t just stick a puny little ad square in a remote corner somewhere.  If you’re going to request donations, then really request donations.  Don’t put up a barely visible “Donate” link and pray for the best.  If you’re going to sell products, then really sell them.  Create or acquire the best quality products you can, and give your visitors compelling reasons to buy.  If you’re going to do this, then fully commit to it.  Don’t take a half-assed approach.  Either be full-assed or no-assed.

Love the last part - it goes for all things in life, doesn’t it?!

Several of my blogs were put up because I truly do suffer(?) from Change-the-World-itis (This one and Out of Bounds.).  One was put up because I wanted a perfect place to keep all of my recipes and cooking passion for my daughters to feed off of. One stemmed from my love for cats.  Others were honestly put up solely for the purpose of generating income.  This is my job, after all, so making money at it is pretty much something I insist upon.  It’s the difference between shopping at Kohl’s and the Dollar General Store.  If I go into the Dollar General Store for something, I want it to be because I want to, not because I have to.

I don’t pretend for one second to know even half as much about blogging for money as Steve Pavlina.  Having said that, I have picked up a little knowledge along the way.  You truly can’t write and maintain 14 blogs without learning something along the way! 

Below are a few of the nuggets of wisdom that have fallen into my lap:

1. Don’t be afraid to take chances.  We all know that a lot of people let fear of failure keep them from even trying things in life. But when it comes to blogging, I think the #1 fear people have isn’t a fear of failing but rather a fear of making a fool of themselves.  I’m not saying that it’ll never happen, it very well might - I know I’ve made a total clown out of myself before.  But, it doesn’t hurt, heck you might even get a good laugh out of it.  If you make a mistake, you join the rest of the world and say, “I blew it…”   If you have an opinion, state it.  Don’t let the fear of what others might say or think hold you back.
2. Express yourself - not someone else.   If you want to make your blog purple and red, go for it. Don’t let conventional practices hold you back.  So what if everyone else seems to be in hues of blue or green, you’ll stand out and that’s almost always a good thing.
3. If possible, get a great domain name for your blog.  When we first started, we already had about 10 websites up.  So I used some of them as a “home” for relevang blogs (for example, my food blog went off of my cooking site, my cat blog went off of my cat site, my dream analysis blog went off of….).  I wish, now, that I had given each its own domain rather than making their url http://www.whatever/blog.   That was quite a few years ago, however, and I had no idea where the world of blogs was heading.
4. Don’t choose a subject area based on what’s most searched for or where you think the most money will lie.  If you saddle yourself down with a subject you care nothing for, or know nothing about - you’ll be miserable and your blog will die a slow death.
5. If you have a blog already up and running, go to it today as though you’re a new visitor - seeing it for the first time.  What things do you like?  What things do you dislike?  Would you be able to find everything you’re looking for?  And, the tough question - the one that might just hurt a little…. What’s your initial opinion, are you struck by the friendliness of the blog, the professionalism of the blog, or are the first words to your mind, “Someone’s desperate to make money.”  Sure, money’s cool but desperation’s not
6. My favorite affiliate programs are Commission Junction and Linkshare.  They have the best merchants and are, by far, the easiest to use.  I honestly can’t think of any reason that they shouldn’t be your one-two punch - behind GOOGLE, that is.  Which brings us to…
7. Google isn’t dead!  Sure, there are a lot of people saying that it is, but I’m here to promise you that it isn’t.  Does Google work better for some subjects than others? Absolutely.  But, if you’re clever about it - that is, if you test out different colors, different placement, and different image ads, Google will show you just how alive it is.
8. Go to forums to see what’s hot.  I started hanging out in various Style and Fashion forums a while back - mainly as a way of linking my Keira Knightley website and blog.  I admitedly also have a killer interest in the subject, including a lifelong fascination with purses and jewelry.  I couldn’t even begin to count my jewelry collection and my purses number over 100.  I’m not being all flossy, flossy - I mean, we’re not talking diamonds and Channel, here.  Anyway, while on the forums, I kept seeing subject lines that read, “Looking for new fashion blogs!,” “Anyone else addicted to fashion blogs?,” “Know of any great fashion blogs?…”  I mean, I literally saw these types of posts everywhere I went!  Then I started seeing a lot asking for specialty blogs - for shoes, jackets, formal wear, high-end, low-end, handbags (!!!), teen fashion, etc.  I set aside a day and put up a fashion blog of my own, Arm Sweets.  It’s brand new, so I don’t have any success vs. failure statistics - but I can say this, I’ve had more fun with it than I’ve had with a blog in awhile!  Forums can give you a great idea of what makes people tick - then if you find something ticking that you share a tick for, go with it!
9. Something that I sometimes have to remind myself of - this isn’t life or death. If you get a negative comment, if you never get comments, if you show up first in GOOGLE or on page 12 in GOOGLE, if you make big money or chump change - this isn’t the be all and end all of life.  If it ever gets to where it seems like it is - do me and, more importantly yourself, a favor and step back for a little bit.  Gasp! Let the blog sit for a week while you work in the yard, have a picnic in the park, work on your tennis serve, go to the movies…..  You betcha!  You, your serve, your yard, and even your blog will be better off.   I’ve said it before (I’m just not sure if it was on this blog or on Out of Bounds):   If your family sees the back of your head more than they see your face, things have gotten away from you.  Personally, my mind is frying from the positions my images take in ie vs firefox.  The fox, as cute as the little guy is, screws just about everything up!  I’m still trying to figure out if there is any theme in the world that looks the dead on same in both browsers or not - but until then, I’m not sweating it anymore.
10. Finally - don’t stress over the little details.  Most people never notice.  The longer you look at something, the more it’ll slip away from perfection.

And never, ever be afraid to ask questions.  I think speak for most people when I say that I love to receive e-mail and when someone asks a question, it’s very flattering.  It feels good to think that someone’s coming to you for your opinion and it feels even better to think that you’re helping them.  Not too long ago, I had a young man e-mail me asking what celebrities I thought were “hot” right now - he’d seen a few of our celeb sites and wanted to put up one, himself, that’d “get mad traffic.”  I felt so honored to be asked that I ran a few tests and found the most searched-for 10 celebs over the past year.  I showed him who was consistently searched for, who was currently on top and why they might not stay there…and even showed him who would have new cds/movies soon.   

His site is in the works, and I’m sure he’ll get “mad traffic.!”