Just what exactly is a blog and how do people make money blogging?, you may be asking yourself, if this is all new to you, or perhaps you’ve just heard about it and wonder what it is all about. I consider myself to be pretty online business and marketing savvy, yet honestly the word blog is still a bit foggy to me, so I decided to start doing some research on this seemingly quite popular online activity. At first glance it appears to me that there are some who are making a very decent income with blogging while in contrast, others were delighted to be making a few dollars here and there with it. I thought for sure they were just being sarcastic, yet it actually seemed that they were being honest. Perhaps they had never made a penny online thus the elation?! I read a few comments that were ones like “I was so happy I made $1.83 last month!”

Sorry but I can’t stop laughing. I mean really, less than $2.00 in a month and that person wants to throw a party?! If I were to ever consider learning to make money blogging, I would first of all be sure I found out everything those couple-dollars-a-month people did wrong or just were too lazy to do, and then diligently study and learn from the ones who are making at least a grand or more per month on a consistent basis. Apologies if you were one of those couple-dollars-a-month happy earners, but come on now, unless you won the lottery and do not need to make any money, why on earth were you so happy over such a ridiculous ROI (return on investment)?  Do you want to make a decent amount of money blogging? Then read on to learn what I picked up from the experts, first of all from the infamous Wikipedia.

According to Wikipedia, a blog is simply a part or type of a website. These blogs are normally maintained by a person with regular entries and can be commentaries, reports of various events or even such things as graphics or perhaps some videos as well. A typical blog uses a combination of images, links, media related to the topic, text and web pages, while also allowing for the readers or visitors of the blog to leave comments and messages, thus enabling interactions to take place. The interaction is often what makes blogs unique and distinguishes them from regular websites.

One of the very first things you will want to do if you are contemplating that you just may want to seriously learn how to make money blogging is to choose both a niche subject that could potentially bring in money for you, and a domain name which is based upon the research you have put into it. Then go on to buy that domain name, host it and set up your blog. Yes indeed, there is work involved! So if by any chance you were thinking you could just hop on Facebook or Twitter and start writing about your favorite sport and an hour or two later the money would automatically start overflowing into your bank account, I have to break it to you gently…it will not happen. You definitely need to take some time to really decide if you have the proper mindset to engage in something that will require your effort, energy, money and time before you just jump in blindly, hoping to make money blogging.

Researching until you find a profitable niche is a very important part of learning how to make money blogging. To find this you will need to learn how to grasp doing an effective keyword research. One well known blogger who seems to be a guru at this suggested downloading a free copy of Market Samurai and notes that although it is indeed free to sign up and go through their video lessons, after the free trial period you would need to buy the software for a reasonable price to be able to keep using the full version. However, if your budget is a bit tight, the best alternative would definitely be the free version of Traffic Travis. According to this blogger, Market Samurai is well worth the money and can save you many hours of time if you were to just try to figure it out on your own, what I can confirm as well. Apparently he went that route and spent years of trial and error and had disasters happen that he really did not want to go into, perhaps since he did not make money blogging at that time.  Anyone else been there?! I know I certainly have, so if you have plenty of time and want to take the long route feel free, but know that you also have somewhat of a shortcut available that does include a fee.

Next you will want to buy and host your domain name which I alluded to earlier, but remember, only after you have conducted a good amount of research so that you can have one that will be profitable for you. What is so great about buying a catchy domain name if no one will either know about it and thus not find it (I have to admit I have done that and actually put together a fantastic website that honestly I think barely anyone could find!) You will also want one that people will be interested in enough to read and stay plugged in with. Three places that come to find when searching for a great domain name and hosting are of course the very popular GoDaddy for domain names and HostGator and Bluehost for hosting.

Now it is time to get your blog installed and set up properly. Both HostGator and Bluehost are recommended as they provide cpanel hosting and will actually walk you through the steps via the telephone on how to install a Word Press blog correctly if needed. With their help, you can quite easily be set up and ready to go in about just ten minutes. If you prefer a different hosting company, be sure they have one click installations for Word Press. The next step is to optimize your Word Press installation. WordPress offers lots of free templates and plugins which will help to optimize your blog for whatever niche you are in. However, if you got some money left, I would recommend visiting the Semiologic website and buying the Semiologic Pro Package. This blogging software includes, in my view, everything essential for creating a successful blog. They provide a great service and will help installing their software. If you are on a tight budget, check out Alex Goad and Bryan McConnahea’s Authority Pro 2.0. This is not just a clean, crisp WordPress Theme, but it is extremely SEO optimized as well. You can probably customize anything you want with just a few clicks of your mouse. And don’t forget to start building your list right away when your blog is alive. However, make sure you are following the right list building blueprint to avoid start up mistakes, which can have a negative effect on your business. And yes, you will need a professional autoresponder service as well. Always choose one of the well known reliable ones and don’t opt for any free versions because you are building here a valuable asset of your business. Yes, this all can cost some money, but if you are looking to make money blogging seriously, you need to see this as a business and businesses do have expenses, and the fee is not so bad in the big scope of things.

The grand total for expenses for one year with just one domain can add up a bit. Still, it is quite a small amount compared to most every other business, plus you probably want to be in the $1,000 a month or more group rather than the “oh wow I made $1.83 this month!” group…right?! I almost forgot to mention you will need good, quality informative and entertaining content. If you are a good writer that is great, but if not you can easily hire a professional to do the writing for you. One very impressive company to look into is called Need-An-Article.com (or N.A.A.). They have great writers with extremely reasonable prices. Hopefully, this has been of some value to you, best of luck, work it seriously, and you should make money blogging even if it takes longer than you would like. However, there is one important task left you have absolutely to do…Take Action! Good luck!

There are a lot of automated blogging software programs out there. The idea behind them is that you push start, and then they send spiders out through the web, trolling for content that matches specific keywords you put into the program. Then they take the content they find and put it on your site. You get to enjoy the advantages from having a site full of content that gets updated quickly without having to go through the work of practically creating the content yourself. It seems like a dream come true. Except…

It appears as if Google is gearing up for a significant cracking down on all those sites that are not filled with original content. They are adding measures in place that will enable them to check on your site’s content to make sure that it has not shown up somewhere else first. If the blog you are operating has mostly copied content material, you could be in for some real trouble. At the very minimum you will lose credibility in the eyes of Google. So what happens to the folks who want to create an automated business?

This primarily means that the business owners and creators around are going to have to learn how to really work hard or find the money to pay others to work hard for them. This is great, since it helps to guard the select few who have done the hard work that goes into generating original content. It also can help to be sure that a person is running a serious business. If you are not good at crafting or creating content, it is advisable to find the money to pay someone to create it for you. Trust us when we say that the expenditure will be really worth it.

The real truth of the matter is that on the Internet, there are lots of blogs that are made upon the hard work of others. The sites then generate income by employing that plagiarized content and placing lots of ads on every page. This is usually an easy method to earn some extra money, but if you get caught you can be sure that the trouble will be a lot. Stealing written content is kind of an enormous deal in the end. Students almost everywhere will get expelled from school for failing to correctly cite a reference. Think about what type of trouble you may be in if you do not credit your source correctly, or if you go so far as to steal another person’s intellectual property. Won’t it basically be simpler just to compose your own work?

The simple fact is that if you really want to earn money, you have to put in some work. Google is trying to reward the people who are doing that hard work while punishing the people who are stepping on the backs of the hard workers. This is a good thing. It helps to even out the playing field between the people who are genuinely trying to help others and earn a place for themselves online and those who only want to make a quick buck.

Therefore, when considering any automated blogging software program, think carefully about it, given that web people should actually be ready now to do some serious and hard work. Google is certainly trying to find a reason to take down individuals who are not willing to do real work!

If you want to become number one in your niche market, it is paramount to increase web traffic to your site, to create brand recognition and to build authority. If you want to brand yourself in specific markets, there are five steps you can take to be the go-to person in your niche market.

1. Create content for the search engines

By creating good content laden with SEO keywords, you can brand yourself as an authority in your target market. You can start by searching for other businesses in your niche. Pay close attention to the keywords that they are using over and over again. If you see the same keywords on the first page, you know that these words are working. Use the same keywords in your website content to optimize your website, what will in return increase your web traffic and establish yourself as an authority.

2. Write feature articles

Feature articles are great for establishing authority in your target market. Write short articles that give value to your prospects. For instance, you can give tips to succeed in the marketplace, or you simply define certain procedures and processes that your prospects need to know. Short, focused articles can be posted on your blog, submitted to online article directories or submitted to AboutUs.org. It is important to give away free information in your niche market in order to establish yourself as an authority. People follow authorities, and the more exposure you can get, the better, resulting in an increase of your web traffic.

3. Send your content to as many sites as possible

Write to webmasters and ask if you can be a guest author on their website. Include a bio box after your article with a link to your website. If people like what you have to say, they will click on your link to get more information about who you are and your business. Focus on branding your name so it becomes widely recognizable.

4. Do interviews

If you can get an interview with an expert in your niche market, it is gold, especially if it’s a high profile interview. Post the interview on your site or use it as a giveaway in one of your promotions. Don’t forget to post it on YouTube to increase your visibility. You should also grant interviews to other marketers to position yourself as an authority. Be sure to get rights to use the interview on your website, social networking sites and on YouTube.

5. Participate in social networking sites

Social networking sites like Facebook or MySpace have a worldwide audience, and this is a great opportunity to blog about your business, your products or the services you offer. Because social networking sites post updates to your friends or followers, they will have immediate access to the latest information you have to offer. Twitter is another great resource to keep your followers up-to-date about the latest developments in your business. The updates are short and to the point, and you can post your website URLs for immediate exposure and brand recognition. This all will clearly help you increase web traffic.

To increase web traffic to your website is a matter of establishing yourself as an authority in your target market. Follow market trends, take note of what the heavy hitters are doing and above all, do what they are doing but do it better.

Have you ever experienced this scenario? You spend hours, days, and weeks (maybe months) working on your website and product creation. You might be starting simple with a blog, or you may have a product package to sell. You just know that what you have to offer is so great that the question how to get traffic to your  blog or site will be no problem, right? Not necessarily. Creating a website is only part of the equation. Getting noticed takes a little work.

The first step to getting noticed is to create fresh, original content on your site regularly. For most websites, this could be once or week or several times a week depending on your market. You’ll want to keep the information useful to your target market, so make it helpful. It is also wise to close blog entries with a teaser about the next blog to keep readers coming back for more.

While the best copy is conversation and speaks directly to the reader, don’t underestimate the value of hiring a proofreader. Too many websites and blogs these days are riddled with spelling, punctuation and grammar errors. If you don’t care enough to produce quality content, what does that say to your readers? Your website is the face of your business and if the world sees a sloppy site, visitors won’t see you as a professional. While you don’t have to have an English-teacher-ready copy, the conversational tone and style should reflect a tone of professionalism.

Next, you’ll want to optimize your copy. Use keywords in your copy that are related to your topic. Google’s free Keyword Tool can help you determine a list of relevant keywords. Search engines like original, quality copy surrounding the keywords. Don’t be tempted to use keywords in a list or to haphazardly place the words in the copy. It should read smoothly. For best results, add the keyword or keyword phrase to the title, to the first paragraph, and to the last paragraph. You should also add a few keywords in the body of the copy, preferable in the first third of it.

You can link to other high-quality websites. Consider exchanging links with other webmasters. These are called backlinks. Backlinks are, essentially, your hyperlinks on other websites. When clicked, these links point back to you site. The more backlinks that you have, the higher you’ll rank in the search engines. Sources like Digg.com and EzineArticles.com are great resources you can use to create backlinks.

If you choose to post on Digg or EzineArticles, you’ll want to create quality content that you can post on those sites. This is called article marketing. You can either write the articles yourself, or you can outsource the work. The more articles you post, the more traffic you can drive to your blog or website. Articles on these sites – and others -always include a bio box about the author as well as links that point to the author’s websites.

Even though your blog or website may be new, you can still get noticed if you follow some of the strategies above. Fresh, keyword-rich content is paramount to getting noticed by the search engines. If you work on your website consistently, post your links on other high-ranking websites and create keyword-rich, high quality articles, your website will climb in rank in the search engines, hence it solves the question “how to get traffic to your blog or new website”.

So you have got some old content that you never used and half a dozen PLR packages that you never even opened, just laying around taking up space on your hard drive. Maybe you are frustrated you bought the content and never used it, or feeling silly that you even bought that 27-niche super-discount pack of PLR articles. Well, it’s time to increase traffic to your blog by turning this random content into targeted content.

And it’s time to quit feeling bad. Because you can put this content to work and turn it into targeted content – and you don’t even have to buy hosting or a domain name!

How?

First, go to the Google external keyword tool. Google it if you don’t have it bookmarked already. Under “How would you like to generate keyword ideas?” click “Website Content”.

If you do not have your content up on a website just yet, don’t fret. Just click the sentence that says “Or, enter your own text in the box below.”  Then, copy and paste your text.

Now, just click the “Get Keyword Ideas” button. Instant keyword research!

(After you see your results, you might want to go back and click the “filter my results” text. It’s very possible you will get some results that you don’t have any use for. Even with the filter, some of your results might not be worth much. However, it’s likely that some will.)

Now you are ready to post your content – on someone else’s site!

The sites I am talking about are Web 2.0 sites. So technically, they are your sites – yours and everybody else’s! The sites themselves may be communal, the pages you make will be yours.

Do a little bit of research on what kinds of products are selling with those keywords. This isn’t too hard. Just take the keywords that had any search volume at all and search for them in Google. The keywords that bring up Adwords ads on the right side of the page are the ones you want. Find out what products those people are selling.

Make a Squidoo page, a Hubpages page, whatever you want. Remake your title to target whatever keyword goes with the best money-maker. This doesn’t have to be a product – you can make a lot of money doing leads as well. Now, tag your page with the term AND with the more valuable related keywords that Google showed you. Now ping your tag pages.

If you want, you can also Stumble or Digg your new page, submit it to directories, point other lenses or Web 2.0 pages at it – or just tag, ping and leave it there. More effort will always give you better results. However, even if you don’t feel like putting much effort into it, you have still put some pages up that have your money-making links on them. And your targeted content will increase traffic to your blog and do more for you on these pages than it will just by sitting on your hard drive!

The Google sandbox sucks. When you’ve put a lot of hard work or hard-earned money into your site, only to see it blip up on Google for an instant and then completely disappear, it can be enough to make you want to give up.

Even when you know your site is just in the sandbox, it can be easy to forget about it. Don’t! Giving your site some love is essential to coming back up on the radar – sometimes in a very good spot!

But all the work you’re doing doesn’t have to be just for the future. There are plenty of ways to get traffic that doesn’t involve any search engine whatsoever! Here are 3 of them.

Take advantage of Squidoo. Forget for a minute that Squidoo allows “do-follow” links on its pages. Forget that it indexes quickly in Google. Forget that it also ranks well, and is a good way to get backlinks to your site. You have probably thought of all of that anyway.

What you might have overlooked, unless you are a hardcore user of the site, is that many people use Squidoo as a search engine unto itself! When Squidoo-o-philes want to look something up on the web, they will often go straight to Squidoo to find what they want.

Squidoo is driven by user content and therefore, considered more trustworthy than search engines by many. After all, it’s still possible to get good Google rankings with a crappy site that has good SEO (but not nearly as possible as it used to be).

People who love Squidoo, really love Squidoo. They trust it, and do a lot of their web searching on the site. Take advantage of this by making informative Squidoo lenses, and you will whet people’s appetite for what they can find on your pages.

Network at places like Technorati. This is like commenting on other people’s blogs, taken to a higher level. If you blog as part of your marketing strategy – and you should – go claim your blog on Technorati. Fill out a user profile and put a picture up. Most any picture will work – it will get you seen when you comment or appear on the “viewed by” section of somebody’s claimed blog.

Make friends with blog owners in your niche and in related niches. This doesn’t take a whole lot of time and is easy if you spend just a little time doing it each day. You might not see an immediate traffic spike (though it does happen), but your efforts will pay off as long as they are consistent efforts.

Use other Web 2.0 sites. Social bookmarking sites are still good ways to get traffic to your site, and you don’t even have to get on the first page of Digg to reap the benefits. Social networking sites like Facebook are also good ways to get traffic, especially if you have a penchant for networking.

Internet marketing is not like it used to be. Today, everybody is trying to get in on the act. Even small niches often have plenty of sites vying for Google’s attention. However, what can you do to stand out and get consistent traffic?

Update Your Site

This is probably the single most important element to getting consistent traffic. After all, if you don’t show your site some love, then why should Google?

And it is not just search engine traffic that you will help out by updating. The more you update your site, the better your chances of being blogged about, socially bookmarked or being linked to on a related site.

Update on a Regular Basis

But as for Google, consistent updates – and the links that come with it – show that your site is relevant. It shows that its part of the conversation, and today’s Web 2.0 is all about conversation.

Google loves fresh, user-generated content. Authority is still important, but recency is important nowadays too. If you post new content – web pages, blog posts or both – on a regular basis, then you look a whole lot better to Google. (Not to mention the above mentioned links that come with content will also show Google and other search engines that your site is in fact relevant.)

Whether you update every day, 2-3 times a week or once a week, it is important to stay consistent about it. Stick to a schedule. This will help Google and other search engines know how often to send spiders your way.

Use Good Tools to Make it Easy

If you’re not hot on making HTML pages and don’t have the money to hire someone else to do this for you, don’t worry.

If you’re doing a content site, content management systems like Joomla can be a good way to go. WordPress, while originally a blogging platform, is also an excellent content management system.

Alternatively, if you are using an off-site blog, use WordPress and drip-feed it. You can date your articles by when you want them to appear, and they won’t post until the date you have set for them. This kind of “working in chunks” makes it easier for you to update. Just write or buy your content, plug it into WordPress and “set and forget”. Just make sure you note when the last content is set to post, and have some new content ready by then!

Use Web 2.0 Sites

Web 2.0 sites like Squidoo and Hubpages tend to index quickly in Google and often rank really well for their keywords. These pages can help you get consistent traffic to your site.

And if you are using a site like Squidoo, that uses dofollow tags, Web 2.0 sites can also help your site’s general overall ranking, which will help you get more consistent traffic as well. Just be sure and regularly add new pages as time goes on.

Getting consistent traffic to your site is doable and really not that hard, but only if you put in a consistent effort!

Well, I must say, Alvin has done it again. After having re-launched an improved version of Atomic Blogging recently, he now has created a complete new Atomic Blogging Theme. If you are looking for a theme optimized to make money online, this one has it all. It is optimal designed for seo, to present your affiliate products and to add easily your opt-in forms to build your list, just to name a few of the great features.

In view of the release of this new Atomic Blogging Theme, Alvin has released a free series of videos to show you how he turned his blog from a zero to a $500,000 blogging business in 4 simple steps!

You need to know, that Alvin has been blogging since 2006 creating a $500,000 online business. This made him one of the top 20,000 bloggers out of155 million bloggers worldwide.

He is giving you the opportunity to watch this free Series of Blogging Training Videos for the very 1st time! Don’t miss out these videos, because Alvin will clarify to you strategies that will help you build your next money making blog the smart way by identifying some key important areas.

Check out the link below:

Free $500,000 Blueprint Videos!

This is the schedule for the free $500,000 Blueprint Videos:

Video 1 – Identifying Your Niche – 13th July 2010 @ 9am est ( Tuesday )

Video 2 – Keyword Research – 16th July 2010 @ 9am est ( Friday )

Video 3 – Setting Up Your Blog – 20th July 2010 @ 9am est ( Tuesday )

Video 4 – My Million Dollar Blogging Blueprint! – 23th July 2010 @ 9am est ( Friday )

Don’t delay it and sign up today to get your free access!

Free $500,000 Blueprint Videos!

Have you ever wondered just what makes blogs successful? Every blogger started out the same way, tediously working on design and constantly adding content. They become the most popular blogs because of several different things. True, it’s a well-known fact that content must be added regularly, but there’s more to it than just that. Let’s break it down.

Success Secret 1: Usefulness

A blog must have a purpose – it must be useful. Your blog must provide valuable information for readers. In the same aspect, your blog must provide thus useful information regularly. The most popular blogs have informative content added in a pattern – like a schedule. This works in two ways. First, your readers will return to see what you’ve added. Second, your blog is picked up by search engines when you add new content that is relevant to the keywords.

Success Secret 2: Tone

Impersonal, cold and straight to the point blogs go nowhere. All too frequently, bloggers state facts and give information that is boring and has no life. Your tone should be light and friendly. Write as though you are speaking directly to your readers. You should write in first person, avoid hard sales talk, and don’t be afraid to add your own opinions. You want your readers to feel like there’s a real human being running the blog. Some of the most popular blogs will even include light humor within the content.

Success Secret 3: Design

While the content of your blog is important, the design is equally important. You want to avoid using loud, bright colors. You should also stick to basic fonts. In many cases, fonts that may look good in your web browser will come out distorted in others. Bright colors, flashing banners, and other nuisances are distractions for readers, and will often prevent them from staying to read or even returning.

Success Secret 4: Guest Blogging

As your name and blog gain popularity, you will find that other blog owners in your niche may start inviting you to write a post for their blog. Guest blogs are a great way to establish yourself as an expert. If you visit some of the most popular blogs, you will see that both bloggers gain from guest blogging. The original blog gets fresh content from a new writer, and the guest blog drives more traffic to their blog when readers want to read what’s on that blog.

Becoming a successful blog owner takes time, effort, and a whole lot of patience. It won’t happen overnight. It’s not a realistic expectation. However, it is important to set goals or milestones for yourself, so you have something to work toward.

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It was early 2008 when I came across the name Alvin Phang the first time. I had just started blogging and was trying to get familiar with Internet marketing.

What to do and where to find the essential tools? These were a few thoughts and questions, which came to my mind at that time. To be honest, I didn’t have a clue, where to start and where to look; I didn’t even know the fundamental basics, not to mention where to find the applicable publications, or how to make blogging profitable.

Later, after a while, the next obstacle came along: which of the courses, software, tips, trends, marketing strategies, etc. were genuine, would work, were needed and were worth their money? Which of the get rich schemes, e-books were just money making scams without any benefit for you?

Well, it took me quite a while to work it out. It was then when I discovered Alwin Phang’s Atomic Blogging 2.0. This course was very reasonably priced in comparison to other products available, and I decided to give it a go. I never regretted having made that decision. It helped me a lot in the beginning of my IT adventure. His product was easy to understand, and it really worked, provided one took action. Also, if you were a complete newbie, Alwin would even install the whole system on your blog for a small fee.

You know, affiliate marketing is a great opportunity to create an income virtually automated. In addition, did I mention, start up cost and overheads are very small.

So what is new in Atomic Blogging 3.0? Well, I must say, Alwin has done his homework. He has changed quite a lot for the better.

In the 12 chapters of this guide Alvin covers everything you have to know from how to set up a blog at WordPress or blogger, optimizing your blog for SEO, keyword research, affiliate programs, pay per click, traffic, article marketing and much more.

Atomic Blogging 3.0 teaches you step-by-step how you can create a profitable blog in no time, from start to finish. He even gives you a fully customized WordPress theme to use and additionally there are video tutorials provided to guarantee you have got everything to get yourself up and running fast with your first blog.

It is not a “how to get rich scheme” guide. However, it is a concise, substantial and very comprehensive guide to how to make money with blogging, which truly covers every important detail thinkable.

The Blogging Guide 3.0, the Atomic Blogging 3.0 WordPress plug-in and his Atomic Blogging 4.0 WordPress theme alone is worth the price for this whole package.

Therefore, if you are a newbie or even someone more experienced, but still struggling to attract enough traffic to your blog to be successful, I highly recommend, give Atomic Blogging 3.0 a go today while the bonuses are still available! I’m sure, you won’t be disappointed.