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Table of Contents
Introduction xxi
1 Blogging for Money 1
What Is a Blog? 1
What Makes Blogs Different? 2
The Added Benefits of Blogging 3
Making Money with Blogs 4
An Introduction to Professional Blogging 4
How Much Could You Earn? 5
Pro Blogging Is Not a Get-Rich-Quick Tactic 5
Direct and Indirect Earning Methods 6
Passive and Active Income 9
Is Pro Blogging Right for You? 10
Which Monetization Method Is Right for You? 10
How to Make Blog Advertising Work for You 12
Blog Strategies 13
Multiple Blogs 13
Freelance Blogging 13
Building and Flipping 14
Measuring a Blog’s Success 14
Traffic 15
Subscribers 17
Comments, Feedback, and Interaction 18
Links 20
Search-Engine Results 21
Summary 22
2 Niche Blogging 23
10 Reasons Why Niche Blogs Are Successful 24
How to Choose a Profitable Niche Topic for Your Blog 26
Are You Interested in the Topic? 27
Do You Have Experience or Expertise in the Topic? 27
Is the Topic Popular? 28
Is the Niche Growing or Shrinking? 29
What’s the Competition? 30
What’s the Competition Neglecting? 31
Will You Have Enough Content? 32
Is the Niche Able to Be Monetized? 34
How Wide Should a Niche Be? 35
Should You Try Niche Demographic or Niche Topic? 36
Gala Darling 36
TCGeeks 37
Sports Networker 38
Choosing a Niche 39
Tools for Helping You to Choose a Niche for Your Blog 40
Summary 42
3 Setting Up Your Blog 43
Choosing the Right Blog for You 43
Blog Platform Choices 44
Hosted versus Self-Hosted 48
Hosted or Self-Hosted—Which to Choose? 53
Choosing a Domain Name 54
Factors to Consider When Choosing a Domain Name 54
Registering a Domain 57
Creating Your Blog 59
Four Steps to Setting Up a Hosted Blog at WordPress 59
Setting Up a Custom Standalone Blog Using One-Click-Install 61
Enhancing Your Blog 66
Adding a Contact Form to Your Custom WordPress Blog 67
Blog Design Considerations 69
A Word on Color 70
Customizing a Blog Template 71
Summary 72
4 Blog Writing 73
What Is Good Content? 73
Usefulness and Uniqueness 74
Writing Tips for Bloggers 76
Scannable Content 77
Using Titles Effectively on Blogs 79
How to Use Titles Successfully 80
Opening Lines Matter 83
Post Length—How Long Should a Blog Post Be? 83
Post Frequency—How Often Should a Blogger Post? 84
Keeping Posts Granular 86
20 Types of Blog Posts 89
10 Steps to Writing a Successful Series on Your Blog 93
Building an Interactive Blog by Encouraging Comments 96
Summary 98
5 Blog Income and Earning Strategies 99
Time to Make Money? 99
Factors to Consider 102
Monetizing Directly with Advertising 102
Ad Payment Types 105
Finding Advertisers 106
Preparing for Advertisers 106
Finding Advertisers 108
Approaching Advertisers 109
Taking Payments 110
How Much to Charge 110
Ad Formats 110
How Many Ads to Display 111
Optimizing Advertising 112
Other Direct Forms of Income 112
Affiliate Programs 113
Tips for Using Affiliate Programs on Your Blog 113
Donations 115
Classifieds 117
Merchandise 117
Subscriptions 118
Indirect Income-Earning Strategies 118
Freelance Blogging 118
Magazines and Books 121
Speaking 122
Consulting 122
Employment Opportunities 123
Selling e-Resources 124
Networking and Business Partnerships 124
Summary 124
6 Buying and Selling Blogs 125
Introduction to Buying and Selling Blogs 125
Why Sell? 126
Why Buy? 127
Deciding to Build or Buy 128
Buying to Sell (Flipping) 129
Blog Sales Basics 130
Investing in an Older Blog 130
Investing in a Newer Blog 131
Having a Game Plan 131
Valuations 131
Calculating a Blog’s Value 137
Buying a Blog 138
Selling Blogs 140
Where to Sell Your Blog 140
How to Sell Your Blog 142
Blog Sales Case Studies 144
Summary 149
7 Blog Promotion and Marketing 151
Building Readership 151
Building a Content Magnet 151
Blog Relations 152
Gaining Attention through “Link Baiting” 158
Is Link Baiting Ethical? 158
Successful Link-Bait Ideas 159
Running Competitions 160
Search Engine Optimization for Blogs 163
Off-Site SEO 163
How to Generate Quality Inbound Links 164
On-Site SEO Techniques 165
Bottom Line on SEO 166
Guest Posting for Links, Reputation, and Traffic 168
Guest Posting in Practice 168
Increasing Page Views on Your Blog 172
Building Community and Getting More Comments 174
Summary 176
8 Build a Sticky Blog Community 177
How Sticky Blogs Grow Your Audience 177
Community Helps Make Your Blog More Useful 178
Community Builds Social Proof 178
Community Members Become Advocates 178
Communities Become Content Generators 179
Why Community Is Important for Monetization 179
Community Increases Page Views 179
Social Proof Makes Promotion Easy 179
Community Delivers Value to Advertisers 180
Community Increases Blog Value 181
Key Steps to Growing a Sticky Community 181
Start with Comments 182
Creating Reader-Centered Posts 182
Using a Personal Tone and Personal Media 183
Making Interactive Tools and Projects 183
Inviting Reader-Generated Content 184
Becoming a Cheerleader 185
Giving Readers Jobs 185
Assigning Reader Homework 186
Providing Multiple Avenues to Join or Become a Member 186
Embracing Off-Site Media 188
Being the Community You Want to Form 189
Engaging Your Audience 190
Setting Up Reader Homework 190
Giving Readers a Job 192
Answering Reader Questions 193
Making Readers Famous 193
Playing Matchmaker with Your Readers 195
Establishing an Intentional Engagement Plan 196
Learning from Your Community 197
Content Ideas and Directions 197
Needs and Desires That Need Solving 198
Likes and Dislikes That You Can Leverage 199
Product Ideas and Practicalities 200
Potential Partnerships 201
The Dark Side of Community 202
What Are Trolls? 202
Setting Up Preemptive Measures 202
Dealing with Trolls 203
Summary 204
9 Social Media and Your Blog 205
Determining Which Social Media Sites to Use 205
Social Bookmarking 206
Social Networking 206
Media Sharing Services 206
Implementing Social Media Promotion 207
Writing for Social Bookmarking Success 207
Engaging Your Followers with Social Media 213
Using Twitter 213
About Twitter Messages (“Tweets”) 214
Using Facebook 216
Using LinkedIn Groups 219
Summary 222
10 Secrets of Successful Blogs 223
About Success in Blogging 223
Analyzing Top Blogs 224
What’s the Average Blog Age? 224
What’s the Posting Frequency? 224
How Does Social Media Factor In? 225
How Do Blogs Make Revenue? 226
What’s the Blog Language? 226
Learning from Niche Blogs 227
What Are Some Successful Niche Blogs? 227
Lessons from Niche Bloggers 228
Learning from Top Blogs 229
ProBlogger 229
TechCrunch 231
Scobleizer 233
The 4-Hour Workweek 235
PopCrunch 236
The Key to Blogging Success: Bloggers Tell Us Their Success Secrets 238
Summary 239
11 Creating Something Worthwhile 241
Knowing Your Audience 241
Being Remarkable 242
What Causes Ideas to Spread? 243
Making Your Blog Useful 245
Useful-Blog Properties 246
Creating Useful Content Today 247
Summary 250
12 Taking Your Blog to the Next Level: A Case Study 251
The Launch of DPS—Years 1–2 251
Building Foundations 252
Monetization 256
Consolidation and Expansion—Years 3–5 256
Staff Writers 257
Expansion of Topics 257
New Design 257
Social Media 258
Increased Focus on Affiliate Marketing 258
DPS E-books 259
DPS Today 260
Using E‐mail to Drive Traffic and Make Money 260
Concluding Thoughts on the DPS E‐mail Sequence 266
Holiday Promotion 267
Summary 267
13 Going Beyond Your Blog 269
What It Means to Go Beyond Your Blog 269
The Blogging Goal Triangle 270
Community Interaction Leads to Attention 272
Getting Known, Spreading Your Ideas, and Attracting Visibility 274
Going from Blog to Print 275
Book Writing 277
Speaking from Blogging 282
Networking, Making Contacts, and Building Partnerships 286
Networking Confidence and Self Esteem 286
Selling Coaching Programs and Consulting 289
What You Need to Get Started 290
Getting Customers 291
Five Lessons from My Journey 292
Summary 294
Index 295
