Blogs are an increasingly popular way for bloggers and entrepreneurs to earn money online while doing something they really enjoy. In many cases bloggers can profit with very little effort. There may be quite a bit of work involved in the beginning with designing a method of gaining revenue and promoting the website but once this is established simply maintaining the blog with regular postings may be enough to keep the revenue rolling in. Two of the most popular methods for generating a profit from blogging include advertising methods. This includes advertising with AdSense and independent advertisers.
Using AdSense to Earn Money
Using AdSense is one of the most popular ways for bloggers to earn money from their blog. This method is so popular because it is also very simple. AdSense is a program offered by Google where bloggers agree to have advertisements on their website and are compensated when users click on these advertisements. Once a blog is approved the owner is given code they can simply copy and paste to have advertisements displayed on their blog. Google then serves appropriate advertisements each time the blog is accessed. The advertisements served on the blog are closely related to the content of the blog because Google crawls the website ahead of time to determine which advertisements are relevant to the content. Blog owners do have some ability to place restrictions on the types of advertisements which may appear on the blog.
How Advertisements on a Blog Generate Revenue
Many bloggers use advertisements on their blogs to generate a profit. This method of advertising is more difficult than using AdSense but it can be significantly more financially beneficial to the blogger. This method of advertising is similar to the type of targeted advertising often seen in magazines. For example magazines for parents often feature advertisements which will appeal to parents such as advertisements for toys, children’s clothing or foods popular with children. In these cases the advertisers pay for advertising space in the magazine in the hopes that the magazine’s audience will be enticed to purchase products or services after seeing these advertisements.
Blog owners can use this type of advertising but it can be hard to find willing advertisers. However, there are some factors which may make an advertiser more willing to have an advertisement appear on a blog. One of the most important factors for advertisers is the amount of traffic the blog receives. This is important because advertisers who are paying for ad space are more likely to invest in a blog with high traffic than one with very little traffic.
Another important factor for advertisers is the focus of the blog. Advertisers are more likely to purchase advertising space from a blog with a specific focus of interest to the advertiser’s target audience. Like the examples listed previously of magazines for parents, advertisers want to advertise on a blog which is already reaching the same target audience.
Bloggers who utilize advertising on their website may be compensated in a number of different ways. Some advertisers may pay a set fee for the advertisement to run on the website for either a set amount of time or for a set number of page views. This means the advertiser may purchase space for a set number of days, weeks or months or may purchase space for a set number of times the advertisement is served to website visitors.
Alternately the advertiser may choose to compensate the blogger according to the number of times specific actions occur. This may include users clicking through the advertisement or users making a purchase after clicking through the advertisement. The type of compensation offered will have to be worked out between the blogger and advertiser beforehand to determine a fair method of payment.
The Importance of Promoting a Blog
Finally, bloggers should understand the importance of promoting a blog and should investigate methods of promoting their own blog. Promoting a blog is so important because it is through this type of promotion that a blog gains traffic. Gaining traffic is imperative to the success of a blog in most cases. The few exceptions include blogs which are maintained solely for the bloggers personal use as well as blogs which are maintained for the purpose of keeping friends and family members up to date on events in the bloggers life. All other blogs can benefit from increased blog traffic.
Bloggers can learn about how to successfully promote a blog by considering how they learned about blogs which they read frequently. This is significant because Internet users who read blogs likely have similar methods of finding these blogs. For example a blog reader who learned about an interesting blog through participation in a relevant message board will likely consider remaining active in message boards which are relevant to his own blog as a method of promoting his blog.
One of the simplest ways for prospective bloggers and new bloggers to learn about blogging is by studying successful blogs. Those who have recently started a blog or are considering starting a blog can learn a great deal simply by reading and studying successful blogs. Bloggers may choose to study blogs which focus on a similar subject but this is not necessary. Bloggers can learn a great deal about maintaining a successful blog by studying blogs related to any subject. This is because factors such as writing style, blog design, font type and colors can all contribute to the success of the blog.