Tag-Archive for » adsense «

20
Feb
Me And The Blog – Till Death Do Us Part
Barbara Swafford

Photo Credit: srslyguys’ photos
1352937170 3239df6317 Me And The Blog Till Death Do Us Part
We love to blog, but as time passes, maintaining a blog gets very time consuming.

Today’s Lesson

When you first heard of a blog, you found how to get one for free, or signed up with WordPress and got a web host. You read/watched WP blogging tutorials and soon realized how much you enjoyed writing, setting aside one hour a day/week to verbalize your thoughts. A blog is such a great outlet.

In your free time you start doing more research. You decide to add an RSS feed reader, contact page, and with the addition of some SEO, you notice not only an increase in you traffic, but in the time you are spending on your blog. You’re now up to 2 hours a day.

You then read how commenting on other blogs can generate additional traffic, so you engage in that practice. Others begin to visit your blog to share their thoughts. You answer their comments, and spending three hours daily on your blog, becomes normal.

Next, you join StumbleUpon and/or Digg. These social networks can get you more traffic and increase your community of cyberspace friends. Soon, you’re spending 4 hours on your blog,…. but it’s growing.

A light bulb moment hits. “Hey, I should monetize my blog.” You sign up for AdSense, LinkShare.com, Commission Junction and/or other affiliate programs. Signing up is easy enough, but you find micromanaging the advertising streams, is taking more of your time. The five hours a day, spent on your blog, begins to cramp your style, and interferes with your home/work/social life.

You realize you are becoming addicted to blogging. You learn to prioritize and multi task, so you can dedicate more time to your blog. TV dinners and convenience foods replace the nutritious meals you once cooked. Laundry stacks up, grass doesn’t get mowed, weeds take over your once beautiful flower bed, and dust bunnies invade your home. Friends and family begin to resent your new hobby, as it now consumes your every waking moment. As they tire of competing with a computer screen, and hearing about your blogging dollars and new cyberspace friends, they begin to distance themselves from you.

“They don’t understand”, you say to yourself, and internally defend your actions by quietly muttering, “I don’t need them!”.

It has happened.

What once began as a hobby, is now the only love in your life.

Today’s Assignment

How much time do you spend on your blog(s)?

Has the time increased over time?

How do you find a balance?

Does blogging affect your relationships?

Do you care?

Category: Archives, Blogging, Blogging Lessons  Tags: , , , , , , , ,  16 Comments
29
Jan
Sign Up For Google’s Saving Account
Barbara Swafford

If you use Google AdSense as part of your blog’s monetization, you can easily set up a “savings account” with Google.

Today’s Lesson

First of all, if you haven’t done so, you’ll need to:

Most of you know, when visitors click on your AdSense ads, you make money. (Do not click on your own AdSense ads!)

Granted, you may not make much, but those pennies will begin to add up.

According to Google’s payment system, when your account reaches $100.00, you will either receive a check, or the money will be deposited into your account via an EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer).

Although $100.00+ check would be nice to receive, you do have the capability of “saving” your AdSense earnings.

Google gives you the option to watch your money grow (interest free, of course).

In your Google account, go to “My Account”.

Click on “Payment Holding”, “Edit”

Check the “hold payment” box, and Google will hold your earnings until you tell them otherwise.

To receive your payment, just follow the same process, and deselect/uncheck “hold payment”. Google will send your money, based on their next payment cycle.

Google states that “changes made to these settings after the 15th of the month may apply to either the current or next payment cycle”.

Today’s Assignment

Were you aware you could do this?

Do you think you will use this feature, or do you want your earnings, asap?

Here’s the announcement you all have been waiting for:

My “New Blog Of The Week”, goes to Nez, of NezSez.com.

Nez’s tag line (motto) is “Using Critical Thinking to Affect Positive Change in Your Life and Society” That sounds like something we can all use.

Check out his blog, leave him a comment, and welcome him into blogosphere!

Category: Archives, Blogging Lessons, Making Money, New Blog Of The Week, Saving Money  Tags: , ,  10 Comments
04
Jan
Copy Successful Blogs/Websites – Or Not
Barbara Swafford

It is often written, “Do not try to reinvent the wheel”.

In blogging, some will say, find a popular blog, and copy what they are doing, and you have a better chance of becoming successful.

Is that true? Or, is there a better way?

If you look at inventions, often individuals will take a good idea, and make it better. Others will say, “Why didn’t I think of that?’ Or, maybe they did, but didn’t act on it.

Today’s Lesson

I have an inquiring mind, and for years, I have been researching online. In the process, I have been on thousands of sites.

While researching, I would almost always end up on one particular website, only because it was on the first page of the search engine results. It got to be that I would silently curse, as the site was full of pop-ups and other ads. Just to read one particular article, I would have to click several times as they only gave an excerpt. I felt like they were wasting my time.

To avoid this, I began to look at the URL of each “hit”, and avidly avoided that site.

Recently, I went back to that site to see why they were consistently on the first page of the search engine results.

The site has changed, to some degree.

Some of the pop-ups are gone.

worked good at blocking those that tried to open, but the pages are still heavily ladened with Google ads…strategically placed, I might add.

They have, what appears to be, thousands, of articles. The site is non-niche, but the articles are neatly “niched”, into what us bloggers know as categories.

The articles are relatively short, concise, and include many internal links.

Their site is very professional looking, and is adorned with photographs.

The site is using a three column, newsprint theme, which is easy to navigate.

Their Google page rank, for their home page, is 8/10. Not too shabby.

The name of the site, I’m speaking of, is About.com

Founded in 1996, About.com was acquired in March 2005 by The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT). Today, About.com is recognized as a top 10 content site and one of the largest producers of original content on the Web.

This is what I attribute to their success.

First and foremost, About.com was founded in 1996. That means they have been around for close to 12 years, and their page rank also reflects that.

Their articles are short. If you want to read more about a given topic, they provide links.

The three column theme gives them more space to highlight the site’s features.

The homepage, newsprint layout, gives them more space to showcase particular stories.

Their Google AdSense ads are done, using complimentary colors…same color as their links, therefore, they blend in. In fact, I clicked on one, thinking it was an internal link.

I would guess, in the past, they used many SEO (search engine optimization) techniques, however, with a page rank of 8/10, a library of thousands of articles, a large readership, and name recognition, many readers are probably bookmarking or subscribing to their site.

Today’s Assignment

Based on the above analysis of About.com, do you see any factors you could use, to improve your blog’s readership and/or popularity?

Do you frequent a popular site that you have considered copying the format of?

Do you know of other bloggers that use techniques that could benefit others?

Care to share?

Category: Archives, Blogging Lessons, Lessons Learned  Tags: , , , , ,  7 Comments
06
Dec
Google AdSense Ads – Do Less Mean More
Barbara Swafford

Today’s Lesson

Two months ago, I started an experiment with Google AdSense, “ads for content”, ads.

As I stated in that post,

From this site, I have removed my Google Ads for Content, (which I had in the sidebar). Months ago, I read ( and I don’t know if this is true), that if you have more than one site, and they are all using Google Ads for Content, if one site’s ads are “lower paging ads”, they can decrease your payout for all of your sites.

This makes sense, as no matter how many sites you have, you only have one Google account. So, based on “averages”, that would compute.

So, like I said, for two months, I had no Google AdSense, “ads for content”, on this blog (as I believe, “blog” ads are probably low paying).

I watched to see if my EPC (earnings per click) for my OM blog, would increase.

You are probably wondering too.

They did not.

With that being said, although based on averages, it would/could compute, removing the ads for content from this blog, made no difference.

Having watched the “payouts”, it appears the amount for Google’s EPC, is partly based on the topic (keywords) of your post, and where your topic falls into the “highest paying keyword” categories. Page rank may also factor in, however, learning all there is about Google’s payout method, for “ads for content”, apparently is a highly guarded secret.

Today’s Assignment

Have you ever experimented with your Google AdSense, and gotten better results?

Have you noticed how your “ads for content” change, based on your topics?

Do you see your earnings increase/decrease, when you write about different subjects (keywords)?

Category: Advertising, Archives, Blogging Language, Making Money  Tags: , , , ,  Comments off
13
Nov
Can You Get Rich Blogging
Barbara Swafford

If you have been surfing the internet, you have probably seen many sites that claim they make lots of money with their blog. Some will suggest, that If you buy their ebook, they will tell you how you can get rich, with a blog, too.

Today’s Lesson

Making money by blogging, is not something that happens overnight.

Granted, it is very easy to get a blog. Some are even free.

But, before you can earn money with blogging, you first need to get your blog discovered.

As for how many visitors you need to earn decent money from your blog, unfortunately, the numbers are high….in the tens of thousands. This is not an easy feat. Plus, you need to sustain that type of readership, in order to see a steady income.

It also depends on the audience you are writing for.

Computer savvy readers, and bloggers, rarely click on ads.

If you are using Google AdSense, your ads match your content. Some ads pay more than others. The amount you receive from a click, may be only a few cents. Although high paying keywords may get you higher paying targeted ads, if you sacrifice your content, for the ads, your readership will suffer.

If you use affiliate marketing or referral ads, you don’t make a dime, unless someone places a order by clicking on a link in your website. What’s to stop a reader from going directly to the site? Nothing.

If you do a product review, and suggest that someone buys a product. There is no guarantee they will click on the link on your site to buy it. They may go to their favorite store and find the product.

With blogging, you want longevity.

It’s the older bloggers that are seeing financial success. They all started out the same as everyone else. But….they also started years ago when readers were not “blind” to ads.

Due to ad blindness, and the ability for readers to block ads, financial rewards may come slower to new bloggers.

If you are looking for a way to make money quick, blogging may not be the avenue to pursue.

Earlier, I wrote an article about how others made millions. It wasn’t with blogging, although having a website is essential. To read more, here’s a link.

Today’s Assignment

Do you think your blog will sustain the test of time, and generate a decent income for you?

Would you like to become a problogger (blog, as a profession)?

If you have been blogging for a period of time, what is giving you the most satisfaction? The money? The comments? Other?

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Category: Archives, Blogging Lessons, Making Money  Tags: , ,  3 Comments
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