Bloggers R Us

Jackson Bleu asked:


Blogging news stories as they unfold is one of the most

exciting and controversial applications of technology

that bloggers have discovered. One thing that makes the

blogosphere so active is the fact that it is possible to

update a blog instantaneously, so the news on blogs

tends to be more current than the news in the paper, or

on television. Unlike news delivered by these other

media, news that appears on blogs does not have to

travel through a series of editors and administrators

before it reaches the public eye. This has some

advantages, and some distinct disadvantages.

One of the most notable cases of news hitting a blog

before appearing in other media took place in July 2005

when terrorism struck London. As passengers were

evacuated from a subway car near an explosion, one

man took several photographs of the scene with his

cellular phone, and within an hour these images were

posted online. First-person accounts of the catastrophe

began appearing on blogs soon after these photos

appeared, and people all over the world learned about

the events in London by reading the words and seeing

the photos posted by bloggers.

The fact that these stories and images were being spread

directly by individuals operating without the added

filter of a reporter helped to make the crisis feel very

immediate to people across the globe. When it comes to

blogging, news often appears in a very personal context.

This has the potential to be the beginning of an exciting

new era of reporting, one that takes “New Journalism”

to it’s logical next step by putting the power to shape

how the news is written and read directly into the hands

of the public.

Many bloggers and cultural commentators who are champions

of the weblog movement feel that this growing trend of ind-

ividuals who are getting their news from blogs is a good thing, because it makes the flow of information more democratic. By decentralizing the control of news, blogs allow more voices to enter the field of debate about important current events.

However, many people are adamantly opposed to the use of

blogs as news outlets, and there are plenty of good arguments

on this side of the debate. Unlike newspapers or tv stations,

few blogs have fact-checkers, and there is little attention paid

to journalistic accountability on many blogs. This can lead to

the rapid spread of misinformation, and more than one false

report has taken the blogosphere by storm. The questions

about whether blogging news as it happens is ethical or not

are very complicated, but no matter where you stand on the

topic of current events blogs you are almost sure to agree

that this movement has the potential to revolutionize how

modern people get their news.

Blogging for Profit Begins With a Long Term Plan

Many people dream of blogging for profit, and this goal is not far beyond the reach of someone with average intelligence, a willingness to work hard, and a basic grasp of blogging tech. However, very few people manage to reap the profits they want from their own blogs. Most people who attempt to make money with their blogs do not succeed for two reasons.

Often, bloggers have unrealistic expectations of how fast their

readership will grow and how much money they will make, and when these expectations are not met the disappointment can crush the desire to continue blogging. The other trap that many bloggers fall into has to do with lack of planning. If you want to turn a profit as a blogger, the key to success is to make a real

life plan and stick with it.

To succeed at blogging for profit, the main thing that you will

need is a large readership. The higher your traffic, the more advertisers will agree to pay you.

However, cultivating the regular visitors that you will need in

order to make a profit isn’t easy. As more and more blogs

each day, having a great idea or a wonderful writing style is

no longer enough to get attention. You need to be able to

market your blog effectively.

Too many bloggers spend all of their time writing posts and

almost no time marketing their project. To be certain, updating

as often as you can is a great way to keep your blog high on

blogrolls and high in blog search engines like technorati,

and once your readers know that you update frequently they

will return to your site on a regular basis.

However, it does not matter how often you update if nobody

is reading your page, so don’t skimp on the time that you

spend drawing visitors to your site. To make your dreams

of blogging for profit a reality, try decreasing your number

of posts and using some of that time to draw new visitors

by setting up link exchanges with other bloggers, making

contacts in the blog community, and following other

established modes of winning traffic.

Of course, even if you are a marketing genius or have a really

great idea for a blog, success is not going to happen overnight.

Building the kind of readership that blogging for profit requires

takes a lot of time, and in all likelihood it will be at least several

months before you are able to turn much of a profit. Try to stay

committed to your blogging project during this initial rough

period. To stay motivated, set goals for how often you will update and how many readers you want to attract, and then reward yourself for sticking with your plan.

Nikki Q asked:


Would you like to make money blogging? There are a lot of people earning extra cash and even making a living blogging, and you can too. First, you need to come up with a topic people are interested it. The topic has to be one you know a lot about or enjoy. To become a successful blogger, you must provide useful content and update the blog regularly. You can either start your own blog, join a blog community or join a blog network.

Your Own Blog

If you want to start your own blog, there are many places to host your blog for free such as blogger.com. You can also buy your own domain from sites like godaddy.com and pay for hosting. I use hostgator.com and can highly recommend them. After setting up your blog, you can monetize traffic through Adsense, an advertising program by Google or other affiliate programs such as maxbounty or primaryads. You can also earn money by discussing advertiser products and services within blog posts through sites like payperpost.com, bloggingads.com and blogitive.com. To send traffic to your blog, you should submit it to directories, post on other people’s blogs, post on forums with your blog address in the signature, and exchange links with similar sites.

Blog Communities

The advantage of joining blog communities is that you can start getting traffic right away. Members of the blog communities will visit your blog if it appeals to them. You will be able to make money through Adsense. Your ads will be rotated 50% or more of the time while the owner’s Adsense ads rotate the other half or less. Some blog communities include blogfeast.com, bloggerparty.com, and blogcharm.com

Blog Networks

There are many advantages of joining a blog network. The blog network pays for your domain name and hosting. They setup/design the blog for you. You don’t have to work for traffic and are usually paid a specific amount each month. You can also earn a percentage of advertising revenue each month. You mainly have to focus on posting great content.

Blog Networks Currently Hiring

If you join a blog network, you’ll be able to earn a specific amount each month or a percentage of revenue generated from the blog. The following are blog networks currently hiring:

-Weblogs, Inc. is a large network with about 90 blogs. You may apply to blog on a pre-existing blog or suggest a topic for a new blog. There current blog categories include consumer, technology, travel, wireless, video games, media & entertainment, finance, and life sciences.

-Creative Weblogging is also a large network with over 90 blogs. Their current blog categories include business, economy & finance, digital media, ecommerce & internet, dreams & celebrities, technology, family & home, recreation & sports, wireless, education, life sciences, and gaming.

-b5media is a network to over 170 blogs. Their current blog categories include arts & crafts, beauty & style, business, celebrities, entertainment, family & relationships, home & dining, science & health, sports, team blogs, technology, travel & culture, video games, and writing & literature.

You can also check out 451press.com, knowmoremedia.com and blog-republic.com.

Ellen Nelson asked:


Anyone who wants to make money online needs to pay attention to a number of factors which can make all the difference between success and failure for your internet based business.

There is no real way to get rich quick – and anyone who tells you that they can tell you how is not telling you the truth; but you can make a good income from your online business through hard work and perseverance. To learn some proven techniques which can help you make money online, read on.

1. Get your mindset focused on winning. This is an ongoing process, and your mindset is the most imperative ingredient for your success. Knowing ‘how’ won’t beat a mindset that wants immediate gratification. Having an awareness that you must use a combination of time, practice and a proven system will help you get your mind in the right direction for the long haul.

2. One of the practical ways to earning money for yourself on your website is to display ads. When doing this, you display an ad with content that is appropriate for the content on your page. To make this effective you must design a site based on the advertising market. Also make sure you are getting a good payout per click, and add fresh content to your site to keep the search engines happy.

3. Getting involved in affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is a proven way to make money online – you promote a merchant’s product or service and receive a commission for each sale you refer; you can increase your commissions by offering people a bonus if they make a purchase through your affiliate links.

4. Building a list of a targeted clientele is one of the oldest tricks in the book, but it’s still around for a reason. It works. Be conscious that the people on the list may not make money for you right away; you must give to get back from the people on your list. You will have to offer creative ways to get them to sign up with the risk of spam that is so prevalent. Make your product invaluable.

5. Lead generation is a very constructive way to make money. This is simply providing a company with a name – word of mouth, so to speak – of someone that can use the product. With online leads, you are simply collecting money for selling a list. Find a company that can use the contact information for a concentrated product and market to them. It is an easy way to make money for information you already possess.

By using these methods, you can increase your online business revenue. It won’t happen overnight, but the more work you put into your business, the more you will get back from it.

samantha asked:

I have been working online since the beginning of 2005 after starting my marketing career offline a few years before that. I love making money online and the idea that I can be on holiday in an exotic location and have to just answer a few emails is what I would call real bliss. At the end of the day to run an online business and make serious money online all you need is a working laptop/computer and an internet connection.

 

I remember back in 2005 sat in a internet café on holiday in Lanzarote checking on my emails as I was selling numerous information products on eBay and was making sure that everything was ticking over whilst I was enjoying myself. It is also the idea that you don’t need to have any staff in order to run your own business. The idea that I can work solid one day and then take two days off is certainly the biggest thrill that it offers me.

 

I have several different streams of income that allow me to make money online. Some are better than others as they take less time and energy. Those that you have to put the extra effort into are always the most rewarding just because of the pain and passion that has gone into the creation.

 

Here is a list of my best ways to make money online:

 

One page information sites: This is where you create a one page site of information that people will need to know on a daily basis and cover it from head to toe in Adsense. To be able to make a decent profit you want to have at least a hundred of these and they require absolutely no maintenance and can be forgotten for years to come. They could cover things like maps for holiday destinations, calendars, local area events or even software that people are desperate to get their hands on.

 

Affiliate Marketing: Just by writing a review for someone else’s product can seriously increase the amount of money into your PayPal account. Aim for products that are new and not those that have already been oversaturated in the market as you want a prime position in Google. If you own a website why not include a couple of banners or a review on a customers download page.

 

Blogging: I personally love Blogging and if you can write a simple Blog Post there is lots of money waiting for you. Create small little niche sites with lots of Adsense and make sure that your Blog Posts reflect what is being currently searched in the search engines and you have it made. When your Blogs are doing well and you are earning a regular income from it you can get Blog posts written for you for a rather low amount so in effect you can have an automated business with very little work involved.

 

Article Writing: Just by writing 5 articles a day and then have a link through to one of your products can seriously increase your sales. They say that if you do write 25 a week so that’s 5 a day Monday to Friday you can expect to make $1000 in your first 30 days. However as your popularity grows and your reputation increases for being a accomplished writer you will earn much more than this.

 

Forum Marketing: This is my personal favourite you just NEVER knock the ability to build a business through the likes of internet forums. I use them most days and through answering a simple question and telling the person that I am replying to that they can find the answer on my Blog I can add over 100 clicks in a matter of minutes. This can work in any niche too and doesn’t just have to be associated with the make money online niche.

 

Social Marketing: This has to be the most powerful way of gaining traffic through to your products and services. As a member of many of them including Twitter, FaceBook, Digg, StumbleUpon and Yahoo Answers I have seen first hand how much they can help your business day in day out. By answering a quick question on Yahoo about Hostgator I can create at least $200 in affiliate commission. Using bookmarking sites like StumbleUpon and Digg has had an amazing affect on the amount of sales that I have received and placed me in the search engines a lot quicker than I could have possibly imagined.

 

I have now provided you with five excellent ways to make money online. I have to say without a doubt even though these are not the only ways they are my best ways to make money online. Just think about which ones are yours!

Sam Parker asked:


“Make money online.” These words have the mysterious power to unleash your dreams and hopes! Making money online is a fascinating idea very similar in spirit to the Gold Rush 150 years ago. Both share the dream of changing your life by becoming rich quickly. Instant wealth is here for the taking! All you need to succeed is an entrepreneurial approach and the courage to think out of the box.

This idea is fascinating because it carries a wind of freedom. It opens new opportunities for people like you and me. Its essential message is: “You don’t need to be born rich to be rich! You too have a chance to make big money, or at least to achieve financial autonomy and be your own boss”. The beauty of the Internet is its democratic spirit that offers a renewal of chances for all. On the Web, success isn’t only the lot of an elite blessed by birth but an opportunity for “ordinary people” to achieving extraordinary results in their life and with very limited financial resources.

I caught the Internet bug several years ago. I was almost hypnotized by the idea of making an income online and changing my lifestyle so that I can do what I want, when I want, and where I want without having to worry about money. During that time, I spent hours, weeks and months scrutinizing web opportunities and trying to answer this question: How is it possible to make money online?

I was frustrated with not knowing how to answer this question for the longest time. The Internet was like a maze and I was erring in its endless corridors without finding the exit. Today I know that the challenge for anyone trying to make money online is figuring out what opportunity can make a difference for him. It’s a tough one! How not to be confused with so many opportunities claiming to hold the keys to online success and promising amazing shortcuts to wealth?! Which ones to believe? Is it really so easy? Are you really the only one who is left out when everyone else is enjoying the online money making party?

To help you take a jump-start, I present here a model which you can use to map out opportunities you encounter on the Web and to screen them before you give them a chance.

First let me ask you a few questions. Do you think it is easy to make lots of money on the Internet? Do you believe you can easily earn several thousand dollars a week with a secret formula developed by an Internet guru who reveals the most guarded secret in the world to you

Consider these ads:



“Get Paid on Autopilot!!”

“Get rich online: Make millions on the web with no effort!”

“$100,000/month guaranteed! Start earning within 15 minutes!”



Cool, isn’t it? It seems you too can make a blast and it doesn’t require any real effort on your part… What are you waiting for? You should already be rushing to your Internet gold mine!

Such offers are seductive because their melody plays on the strings of laziness (we are all lazy to some extent) and wishful thinking (what if these promises are true?).

If you are inclined to believe such statements, you may learn the hard way that “all that glitters isn’t gold!”

Sorry to rain on your parade but the first thing you need to know if you really want to make money online is that you will need to roll up your sleeves! I know it’s disappointing. I would also prefer to make millions in my sleep but it doesn’t work that way. Making money online requires some time and effort, even for the easiest and best opportunity.

To succeed you need an attitude involving curiosity, courage, and the readiness to learn and work. The first step in this journey is to put aside “get rich quick” dreams and to skip programs that come with such a claim. To spot the real opportunities, free yourself of such illusions, use your common sense and develop a proactive approach involving knowledge acquisition, skill development, and work.

Step 1 is cleaning the ground you walk on and getting rid of seductive promises that will reveal themselves as deceptive scams.

Step 2 is focusing on real opportunities that can fit your goals.