You have figured out what you are going to write about, sort of. One thing to hone in on is your niche. A specialized area of something and not make your site too broad. For OUR purposes, the broader you go the harder it is to make money from advertisers and to rank for keywords. Throwing out a wide net on a particular subject will garner you more
long tail search results. This doesn’t mean write a little bit about a lot of things- its the reverse. Write a lot about a specific topic- your niche.
Don’t worry if its *too* niche- you can ways broaden it out later.
Lets say you have chosen to do a candle making site- good- excellent in fact. A site JUST about soy candles made with essential oils might to too specific- but you can always give it a try. I did a site once on VERY obscure paper craft and did very well with it - no one else was doing.
To Make Money Blogging- Don’t Have Too Broad A Subject for Your Blog
The one thing to avoid is something that is TOO broad. When I first started out blogging for a profit I figured I would do a “Home and Garden Lifestyle” type site. I could cast a REALLY wide net. I would have kinds of ads and make tons of money.
I could write about latest trend in tulip bulbs, my favourite recipes, kids clothing, where to get a good deal on linens, etc. Wow, was I wrong. I did okay in terms of traffic. I made next to no money. I have very little return on my time and effort or little ROI ( Return On Investment)
Context, Context, Context
One reason to specialize is because of advertising. You will be setting up a Google Adsense Account. In fact that will be one of the first things you do once your site is up and running. Google Adsense works by scanning your site/page/post and looking for CONTEXT. It’s called contextual advertising. Google will look at your posts and overall blog and decide what ads are the best fit for your site.
Staying on Topic Will Make You More Money On Your Blog
When you write on your blog whatever you write about should have your voice or spin on things. On a political blog writing about a hurricane might be different than writing about the same hurricane on a science blog. Staying under the “umbrella” of your sites theme or point of view will help your rankings- and keep your Google AdSense en pointe. When your ads consistently reflect what you write about- the greater the chance reader will click on them and visit the sites. You are aiming for a higher CTR ( click thru rate) . Having a blog with relevant ads on it will always give you a higher CTR than one that doesn’t -ALWAYS.
My blogs typically have a CTR of 10-12%. ( Note these number have gone down since mid-November when Google changed the way their adsense blocks were clicked The number is about 20-30% less for most of my blogs). Work SMARTER not harder!
Remember - when a reader clicks on an ad- that is money in your pocket. Everybody wins- the advertiser get people visiting his site that are interested in his products , you make a little money and reader may find a new resource.
With my Home and Lifestyle site I had posts on bedding one day, then how to get rid of chipmunks the next. my favorite fudge recipe, etc. And the ads reflected what I posted. So just under my fudge post appeared an ad for rodent extermination. Yikes.
You want people to click on those ads. In order for them to do that- the ads that appear need to be something they are looking for. If you have a candle web site and all you right about are candles and candle related ideas then your ads will reflect that. You might get ads from candle supply companies, packaging companies, etc .
I should say at this point that you are not writing FOR ads. You are writing for your readers and yourself. The best way to make money on your site is to give them quality. Offer great content. Give them helpful suggestions, point them to other quality sites, LINK TO OTHER SITES and share your ideas and experiences. Speak the truth. If you try to “fake it” it will show. Remember this above all:
If You Build It, They will Come
This is your mantra.
Another friend of mine has an excellent blog. A HUGE readership. It is is “hobby” and he he does it purely for fun and experiments with different ideas. The site makes very little money. And that’s okay. He doesn’t do it for the money. He has other sites that make him money. He makes a zillion dollars doing other things- part and parcel because he is always experimenting and even learning what doesn’t work is a great lesson. The reason his site doesn’t make money? His site is too broad. It is a news site. Every day he posts different news items from around the world that interests him. He makes some income from the site because of the large amount of traffic- which is another way to make money from a site but what makes it interesting and relevant for this series- which is about making money from a blog- is that it has such large readership and generates small revenue from contextualized ads. By all means- start a blog that has not particulat point of view if you want to wait a whilel to establish loyal readership and you think you can generate enogh traffic. My adivce is to start simple and learn before you move on to more competive areas.
To sum it up- go niche but go broad but not TOO broad.
e.g.
niche: scrapbooking
broad: Crafts
Too broad: Hobbies
eg.
niche: Training Dogs
Broad: Dogs
Too Broad: Animals
niche: Living in an RV
broad: RV’s and Trailers
Too Broad: Travel
If you have an idea and not sure where to go with it- I am happy to help. You can either post here in comments section or email me.
Next Topic: Come up with a name and choose a domain and blogging platform
Tags: Blog for Money 101 Series, Google Adsense by Lisa Stewart
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