Blogging for a second income - does anyone else here do this?

mizzbiz

By the way, Big Base, I noticed you mentioned you used free blogging platforms to set up your sites. Do you buy your own domain names and redirect them? Which platforms do you use? Incidently, I use Blogger and it appears to allow everything - affiliate links and banners, Adsense etc.

Bigbase

Hi mizzbiz, I use wordpress - the self hosted one. I buy a domain then set it up on my server.

mizzbiz

Ah okay. I thought you meant you use a free blogging thing like Blogger. Hmm, I might look into doing it this way as I have a Bluehost aco!!!! and I use wordpress for my main business and afifliate site. I was using blogger for the extra oomph it might get from being owned by Google that I couldn't give it, but not even sure if this is the case!

shmeeko69

Anton123 wrote: »

Those $5 for 400-500 word articles are basically regurgitated crap that no longer rank well because search engines like Google's algorithms have become clever enough to suss them out. You either pay much more for quality content or write yourself to ensure best possible quality.

That is not strictly true as I have used a couple of freelance writers on fiverr.com and they have done a variety of product review articles of approximately 400 words at a time for my blogs and the quality has been pretty good for the amount of money on the table.

Mark :huh:

daz501

shmeeko69 wrote: »

That is not strictly true as I have used a couple of freelance writers on fiverr.com and they have done a variety of product review articles of approximately 400 words at a time for my blogs and the quality has been pretty good for the amount of money on the table.

Mark :huh:

Maybe this is the exception, but the general rule and consensus is that it is best to write the content yourself. On a few occasions I have allowed guest posts and even a couple of sponsored articles. This makes up about 5% of the overall content on my blog. That percentage is going down each time I publish new posts however.

Ah okay. I thought you meant you use a free blogging thing like Blogger. Hmm, I might look into doing it this way as I have a Bluehost aco!!!! and I use wordpress for my main business and afifliate site. I was using blogger for the extra oomph it might get from being owned by Google that I couldn't give it, but not even sure if this is the case!

GoDaddy offers cheap domains you can map to blogger via a DNS control panel. Easily done, and the advantage of Blogger is the free bandwidth. Disadvantages are limited file upload types and the fact you do not technically own your content on Blogger.

BTW, is anybody using wordpress.com instead of wordpress.org? are there any advantages to purchasing a domain for woordpress.com? it looks a little limited and i ofen what the point of it is compared to the .org free database for building your site.

daz501

mizzbiz wrote: »

By the way, Big Base, I noticed you mentioned you used free blogging platforms to set up your sites. Do you buy your own domain names and redirect them? Which platforms do you use? Incidently, I use Blogger and it appears to allow everything - affiliate links and banners, Adsense etc.

If anybody is using Blogger they must remember to regularly back up their blog by choosing Settings > Export blog, and downloading the XML file. I also back up the entire HTML template regularly and copy ALL posts into offline work documents (macros/HTML included).

I can see why so many people prefer wordpress. I have a wordpress blog but rarely use it. The functionality is fantastic though, and the design is "well parsed" for Google. It's very easy to make a mess of Blogger and not get properly crawled.

shmeeko69

daz501 wrote: »

Maybe this is the exception, but the general rule and consensus is that it is best to write the content yourself. On a few occasions I have allowed guest posts and even a couple of sponsored articles. This makes up about 5% of the overall content on my blog. That percentage is going down each time I publish new posts however.

It's always better to write the content yourself, as there are major trust issues in getting someone else to do it for you, but if you're short for time and looking for people who can write articles then, there are freelancers who can cater for your needs.

Things you should look for with freelancers:

Established writers
People who have a high positive feedback score
Someone who can turn the work around quickly
Preferably 400+ word articles

Mark

Bigbase

If there's any article writers here, please pm me! Ill be paying too!

Bigbase

The changes I made to my SEO and ad placement are working wonders on one of my sites so far this month. £17+ already and still have 8 or so hours left (Google runs on American Timing)



If you're just starting off and not getting any where, dont give up!

shmeeko69

Bigbase wrote: »

The changes I made to my SEO and ad placement are working wonders on one of my sites so far this month. £17+ already and still have 8 or so hours left (Google runs on American Timing)



If you're just starting off and not getting any where, dont give up!

These are excellent earnings and certainly a fair bit higher than the majority of people who use Google Adsense. I did have adverts on a variety of my blogs, but I eventually removed them, as I thought they were to distracting to prospective visitors and the returns I made from the program were small.

All the Best