Tips From the Pros on How to Earn Money As a Blogger

Steve Pavlina, whose website is named after him, and Darren Rowse of ProBlogger.net, both claim they earn well over $1000 a day from their blogs. While Steve and Darren have different blogging styles, and disagree on some points, what they have learned can help all of us would-be bloggers. While most bloggers are not necessarily in it for the money, the income potential is a strong attraction and is one of the best home businesses available. What else can you do that requires little or no investment, allows you to work at home, set your own hours, has the potential of earning a large income - and all you have to do is write? Of course it's not easy. In fact your chances of getting rich through blogging are probably only slightly better than your odds of playing in the super bowl someday. Your level of success as a blogger will depend on many factors.

Here's what the pros say are the secrets to success:

Knowledge

You need to know something that other people also want to know about. It's great if this knowledge is already inside your head, but you can also gain the necessary knowledge through research.

Writing Skill

It's critical that you have the ablity to write well - with clarity, proper grammar and punctuation, and good paragraph and sentence structure. But even more important is your ability to write in an interesting manner. Not everyone is able to do this. While it is possible to improve with study and practice, it's largely a God-given talent.

Educational, Enlightening, or Entertaining

Those are the "3 E's" of any good content. Your material must have at least one of those qualities in order to be of interest to your readers. Your main goal may be to sell something, but you can't show it. It needs to be done in an indirect and passive manner - at least until your readers really trust you.

No Faking

Honesty is critical. People can tell when you're not being genuine. It's very important that you develop trust with your audience. This means no sales pitches, and no talking about subjects you know nothing about.

Connecting With Your Audience

You need to find a way to relate with people in a way that makes them want to come back. This is related to writing skill, but is more intangible. If you are able to naturally connect with people in real life, you might be able to do it online as well, but there are no guarantees.


Technical Know-How

Although this is less critical than the previous items, It helps a lot to know something about the techincal aspects of blog and website creation. This includes optimizing your site for search engine traffic, tracking the number of hits, and of course making it attractive and easy to navigate.

Marketing Savvy

You can have a wonderful blog, but it won't make you a dime if no one knows about it. You're going to have to learn some techniques that will help you be found. This includes search engine optimization, social bookmarking, and social networking.

Perseverance

It will take a lot of time, patience, and faith to persevere long enough to see tangible results. One thing you should definitly do is use Google Analytics to keep track of your visitors. This will help you keep the faith despite the fact that you're not seeing any income.

Passion

I save this for last, but I probably should have put it first, because passion can go a long way to overcoming deficiencies you have in the other areas. If you don't have a passion for your subject, and for all aspects of what you're trying to accomplish, you probably won't be very successful. This means it's critical you start with a subject you feel strongly about - something you would be thinking and learning about, regardless of whether you have a blog or not.

How the Pros Disagree

There are a couple of significant items that Steve Pavlina and Darren Rowse disagree.on. Steve doesn't allow commenting on his blog posts. He used to allow it, but decided it wasn't worth all the time it took away from his blogging, while Darren feels it's a critical method of engaging and connecting with his audience.

The two also disagree on type of content. Steve sticks to old-fashioned plain text in his posts, while Darren recommends, and uses, video. Steve says text is easier to work with, while Darren says video helps him to connect more fully with his audience. While Darren's opinions on both of these items would seem to make the most sense, Steve's success can't be argued with.

Now, let's discuss some of the specifics of blogging. You don't necessarily need your own blog to earn money as a blogger. Many people earn money by creating content for other bloggers, posting comments, and writing reviews. In this article, we'll explain how to set up a blog, what to write about, how to promote your blog, and ways to earn money by blogging.


How To Set Up A Blog

There are many sites, like Blogger.com, that make it very easy to start your own blog for free. The drawback is you have little control and do not have a unique domain name. If you're more serious about blogging, it will take more effort and money - but not much. You'll need to purchase your own domain and find someone to host your site. For software, download a free copy of WordPress.

Top Free Blogging Websites


Typepad
Blogger
WordPress
Blogster
LiveJournal
MindSay
Blogging Software

If you want to set up a blog under your own domain name, you'll need to install blogging software on your web hosting server. There's really only one choice for blogging software. The WordPress open-source software has become the standard, used by all professional bloggers. There is a bit of a learning curve, but most people can master it well enough to make it work well. This is what you need if you want to have complete control of your own blog, including your own domain name and placement of ads on your site.

WordPress.org- download the free software here

WordPress Goldmine - an excellent resource - teaches you how to set up WordPress, and more importantly, how to make money using it.

GoDaddy - This is a good place to order your domain name. See also the Website Setup section.

Netfirms is also a good domain registrar, and inexpensive.

HostGator - This is a good place to get hosting for your website. They an easy control panel that will help you install the WordPress software.

What To Write About

The first rule of making money from your blog is to create valuable content. That's a simple statement, but an entire course may not do it justice. If you expect anyone to take you seriously as a bloger, and especially if you would like earn a living as a blogger, here are some simple rules:


Focus on helping people - if you do this, the rest of the items on this list can be ignored.
Write about something you are knowledgeable in.
Write about something you are passionate about.
Create original content.
Write for your human readers first, search engines second.
Let your readers see the real you.
Develop a vision - have a purpose greater than just the money.

How To Promote Your Blog

If you have created valuable content, you are ready to promote your blog. Here are some of the ways of doing this:


Take advantage of blog carnivals when you're just starting out. Periodically submit your best blog posts to the appropriate carnivals for your niche. Carnivals are easy ways to get links and traffic, and best of all, they're free.
Post a variation of some of your articles on an article website, like EzineArticles.com.
Post comments in forums on other blogs - just make sure there's a link back to your blog.
Submit a "Digg" for your articles.
Link to your blog from your profiles on MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.

How To Make Money With Your Blog

This is what you really want to know. Ideally you'll have multiple streams of income. Here are the most common ways of earning money with blogs.


Google AdSense ads (see my AdWords & AdSense article)
Donations (via PayPal or snail mail - yes, some people will actually mail money to you)
Affiliate programs like Amazon and ClickBank (see my Affiliate Programs article)
Advertising sold to individual advertisers (three-month campaigns or longer)

Other Ways To Earn Money From Blogging or Writing

There are many ways you can earn money by writing that do not require you have your own blog. The amount you earn can vary from a few dollars to thousands of dollars a month, depending on a lot of factors. Sites like ehow.com and blogger.com share advertising revenues with their bloggers. Some people are paid through blogging networks to write and post their opinions and reviews of advertiser websites, products and/or services. This can earn you $100 to $500 or more per month. You can also get paid to write articles that get posted all over the 'net.

Freelance Writing

This is not exactly blogging, but is related since it's a way to earn money by writing articles. Try elance.com or freelancewriting.com to find writing jobs.

There are several reasons people might pay you to write articles. More content on blogs and websites equals higher rankings in the search engines, more page views, and ultimately more income. Article and posts will frequently include links to another website. These "backlinks", as they are called, also improve a website's search engine ranking.