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Develop
A Strategy To Build Your Online Earnings You
won't get rich overnight by blogging or developing a niche
website, but you can build a steady income [this
article continues below tv]
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Let's get the
introductions out of the way first. I am a photographer,
book seller, and writer. My income is split 50% from
photography (sales via an international image bank); 30%
from book sales (via amazon, my distributor, plus book
signings, and speaking engagements); 20% online from this
website, blogging, etc.
I haven't
been making online money for very long, but I got off to a
good start with Google Adsense, earning just over $100 my
first month, then $84 the first week of the second month,
then settling into $200-$300 a month from Adsense alone,
then increasing to $500 a month.
That's nothing more than pocket money really, but I earn it
sitting in coffee shops writing articles and tweaking pages,
so I am pretty pleased with it.
Added to
that is money earned from affiliate programs. I've found
that to be pretty hit and miss, but that's my fault. I
haven't yet found a way of writing stuff that really directs
people to ads -- and to be honest I'm not really interested
in doing that.
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IF YOU WANT TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE
YOU MUST:
1) Have a good reason
for your online presence. Why are you doing this? Get
motivated
2) Work hard. Put
in the hours, learn the trade.
3) Know your readers,
actual and potential.
4) Don't follow the
pack. Don't blog about something just because you
read it on CNN, Huffington Post, Fox News,
etc. Do your own thinking and predicting. Read lots of
sources, then join dots that no one else is joining.
5) Know the technology.
Teach yourself css, design, all the stuff that's
required to make good content. Don't rely wholly on
templates and readymade solutions.
6) Think long term.
Don't give up your day job. Success won't happen
overnight. Stick at it, keep improving your content,
your writing style, your presentation. Be a maverick.
7) Define clear goals
and try your best to achieve them. I have minor goals
and major goals. Listen to criticism, don't be
defeated by it. |
When
reading other people's sites, I hardly ever click on banner
ads: there has to be a really good reason for doing so, like
if I am looking for a good deal on an international flight,
or I want a new pair of running shoes for less than $100, or
I want a deal on a skiing holiday. I don't click on ads out of
curiosity. I have to be looking to buy something.
My
background is in print journalism, which is why I've made a
lot of mistakes online. I think too much like a magazine and
newspaper person. I want web pages and blogs to look and
read like a
magazine. I prefer to scroll down rather than click. For a
long time I just didn't care web access on handheld devices,
cellphones, and so on.
I,
stupidly, assumed most people are like me, and they're not.
I get my best responses to articles and ads when
limiting the amount of content and advertising per page:
three columns per page, not too much text but it has to be
conversational and good, one or two images, that's it. Keep it simple, keep it pithy.
My
background has helped me to avoid a lot of mistakes of
people coming straight to the online media with no
publishing background. I have found the online freaks to be
herd animals. They write about what everyone else is writing
about. A lot of them don't write at all. They make notes and
they arrive at the same conclusions as writers on the big
blogs, newspapers, and networks.
A
lot of blogs are nothing more than links to what others are writing about. If you have a solid background in
writing, editing, and thinking clearly, you can avoid pack
mentality. You learn to predict what's going to happen,
rather than react to it.
It's
not that difficult. Read plenty of sources and think out of
the box: What if the Washingpost is wrong on Hillary
Clinton? What might an alternative scenario look like? What
if Obama turns out to be a huge disappointment? How long is
it going to be before people get disillusioned? Avoid the
praise party that's going on at the moment, that's what 99%
of writers are writing about.
That's
it for my first article. The following articles in this
series are going to deal with writing for plesasure, search engine optimization,
how to avoid crap content, keeping your advertisers happy,
and how to make REAL money by regular writing.
by
Jason Roberts
GO
TO PART TWO: No
Get Rich Quick Schemes
Does
Adsense Make Sense to You? Simple Strategies to Improve Your
Blog or Website
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