How to Make Money Blogging Online

By Angela Wills

Over the past few years, blogs have risen from an almost unknown “computer geek” secret to the “it” thing on the internet. It seems that almost everyone, from celebrities to your local junior high students has a blog.

While it is very common to find blogs as personal diaries, people that own service based businesses can definitely profit from having a blog. First and foremost, a business blog helps to build your web presence. In today’s society, having a strong web presence is a key factor in your business success.

When a potential client is thinking about hiring you, there is a good chance that they will do a little investigation of you online. The potential client may go to Google and do a search on your name, just to see what comes up. If they find a lot of links, including blog posts that include helpful information, they will feel more secure in hiring you.

Using your blog to showcase your knowledge in your chosen field will help you establish yourself as an expert. When people see you as an expert, they will automatically think of you when they need your product or service, and they will also refer others to you.

You can communicate your knowledge in a variety of different ways. Of course, keeping your blog current and full of information your target market would appreciate is the main goal, but you can find ways to make it fun. A life coach, for instance could hold a series on reducing stress, and each Monday they could post a relaxation technique. You can also include audio and video messages. This is a growing trend, as more and more people are getting video iPods.

In addition to using your blog as a way to build relationships and gain publicity, there are various ways to make money blogging online. One of the most popular is by displaying contextual ads, such as Google AdSense.

When you sign up (at http://www.google.com/adsense), you will be given a small amount of HTML code to add to your blog; Google will read your blog content and display text ads your reader may find interesting. For example, a blog about golf may display ads for golf clubs. When one of your readers clicks on these ads, you will be paid a commission.

Another option is to join affiliate programs for products and services your target market would enjoy. When you join as an affiliate, you will be given special links that you can use on your blog; when one of your readers clicks on these links and purchases the product or service being advertised, you will earn a commission.

There are also companies that will pay you to write about their products and services. The payment will vary depending on the company and how popular your blog is. There are several websites dedicated to bringing companies willing to pay bloggers to post and bloggers together. A popular choice is http://www.payperpost.com.

Your business blog can benefit you in many ways. It can help you earn income by raising the public’s awareness of your business and cementing yourself as an expert, and by applying the above suggestions, you can also begin to make money blogging online. This will give you an additional income stream, and more than likely, it will also help you create additional buzz around your business.

If you are ready to start your own business blog then join me as I teach you through my online video, webinar and email coaching program how to create a great business blog with WordPress.

Tips on How to Use the Power of YouTube to Build Traffic

By Tom Denton

If you’ve been on the internet for any length of time or even if you’re a complete newbie you should know the importance of traffic to your business. You may also know that it’s not the wisest thing to “buy” traffic, because once the money runs out, so will the traffic. So how do you get traffic that is so integral to your business? Traffic that’s continuous and best of all free? YouTube can help you with this.

YouTube offers many opportunities for promotion and getting traffic to your site as it has the power to increase your rankings considerably. Just take a look at any Google page and you’ll notice that most times the videos are usually ranked at the top of the page.  Here’s why. One, YouTube is owned by Google and they work together. Two, YouTube is the second largest search engine next only to Google. That should be enough motivation to make you want go and create your own YouTube channel and upload videos to it.

But don’t go rushing off to create just yet. Let’s make sure you’re doing this the right way first so you don’t waste your time. Take note of these tips:

Make your profile interesting

YouTube is just like any other social site. So you want to create an interesting profile for networking purposes. People will want to know more about you if they like your videos. This can help build trust among your audience, thus giving you greater traffic. Try to make your profile interesting enough to get across to everyone. Professionally it shouldn’t be too boring or too stuffy. But informally it shouldn’t be too hyped either.

Promote your videos

You won’t get much traffic without viewers. You can’t just post your videos and expect that viewers will automatically find them no matter how good you think they are. You have to promote them. You can put them on your blog or on any of your other social sites.

Use your keyword in the title of your videos

People find your videos when they do searches via the search engines and on Youtube so you should make it as easy as possible for them to find you. I mean you do want to get traffic right? Okay, you should include your major keyword or keyword phrase in the title and in the description. Don’t just put it there though, it should feel natural and make sense.  And don’t forget to put them in the tags either.

 Know when to post your videos

On the internet timing is everything, you need to know when to do what. So with YouTube it’s no different, it has its peak and off-peak times for traffic. Thursday mornings or early afternoons US time is considered the best day and time to post a video of general interest. Wednesdays is said to be another good day. You need to pay attention to the loading times of your videos as well. Start early for those with internet connectivity issues and for large videos if you want them uploaded in the prime time slots.

There’s approximately an hour of video being uploaded to YouTube every second.  This makes it a valuable resource to drive traffic to your site and promote it. However despite the obvious competition, if you consistently produce quality videos with time you’ll reap the benefits of your effort which is to build traffic.

Tom Denton invites you to check out http://seo-ninja.net/ – where you’ll get more solutions to your SEO problems, delivered in an easy step-by-step action guide.

Control Your Web Presence With These Tips

There is not another advertising medium that even comes close to the success and potential of internet marketing. It allows you to reach customers all over the world and brings them to you with just the click of a mouse. This article contains information that can help you to enter the world of internet marketing and open your business doors to the world.

web presence

To discover who your competition is in a web business, be sure that you're always actually using the keywords you find and search for others using them. By understanding your competition, you can begin to separate from the pack, by tweaking your campaign, in order to avoid directly competing for ranking.

To reach out to your audience, create a series of podcasts about a specific topic. Once you have built up an audience that listens to your podcasts regularly, start mentioning your products. Make it sound as if you are giving your audience advice about products related to the topic of your podcast.

Learning about what your customers want is very important in internet marketing. You can install a search tool on your site, and track what your customers are searching. This will help you gain insight and information about what consumers want and need, which will prove to be very helpful with marketing products and services.

Use local business directories. Many online business directories will provide free listings. Get your business listed on as many as possible to attract more visitors to your site. Search for the directories that offer free listings, since there is no need to pay for something that you can get for free.

Getting a start in Internet marketing can be daunting for a beginner but starting with an audience that already has an interest in your product can give you a big advantage. Rather than targeting a large audience and hoping for interest, narrow your focus to those that already want your product.

Do you have a company slogan or a statement of purpose? If so, list it in a prominent place on your website. This will help visitors understand what your company is all about. Do this if you want to highlight the service that you offer.

Get yourself listed in every free directory to boost traffic and awareness of your business. With so many directories offering to feature your Internet business for free, there really is no reason to pay for one. From major forces like Google and Yahoo to your local neighborhood listings, this is one very cost effective business tool to put to good use.

Make the most of Internet marketing opportunities. You can easily and cheaply, acquire banner ads from many reputable outlets that will help you start generating capitol as soon as they are added. Banner ads are a well tested way of increasing your web presence. Get the ads put on your partners sites and sites that are similar to yours.

As you can see, a little effort can go a long way when it comes to Internet marketing tactics. One of the keys is consistency, always keep up your efforts on a consistent schedule over time and you are sure to see results improve and continue to ramp up over the long run.