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

daz501

phildallier wrote: »

I think it's so hard your for little money...

But you'll be gaining new skills and equipping yourself with tools and knowledge. Some people may not even succeed with thier first couple of blogs or websites. I've had failures and projects shelved but it's all a learning curve.

Blogging fufills the classic saying: "The best business is one with no overheads, no inventory and no staff." Strangely I don't know anyone who blogs having written a business plan beforehand - it's usually a labour of love turned lucrative.

DaveTheGeordie

Hi Amanda. I'm total noob to this. I was thinking a while back about writing a very simple '1001 ways' book on a subject I'm interested in but a blog is enticing if it has the potential to earn also. Even if it earned a few quid a month after a lot of labour a year later I'd consider it a success but I was wondering something. The free blog site, blogger - can you earn money from people clicking adverts on your page there? Or do the company that hosts it get all of the money since it's free?

Hoody

If you have the adsense set up and linked to your adsense account you should still get a cut of the money from the clicks iirc?

Arfa__

DaveTheGeordie wrote: »

Hi Amanda. I'm total noob to this. I was thinking a while back about writing a very simple '1001 ways' book on a subject I'm interested in but a blog is enticing if it has the potential to earn also. Even if it earned a few quid a month after a lot of labour a year later I'd consider it a success but I was wondering something. The free blog site, blogger - can you earn money from people clicking adverts on your page there? Or do the company that hosts it get all of the money since it's free?

Blogging as a precursor to a book, is a good way to go. I've come across many who have started with a blog, then taken their posts, edited them, and published them as a printed book. It's a good platform to get started, try stuff out, get early feedback, prove the content is viable to a publisher and later a great way to promote and support the book.

Not used Blogger personally (always gone for self hosted Wordpress setups), but any code you stick on the site for adverts and banners, will have your own personal and unique id in it, linking it to your Google Adsense or other affiliate account. Don't expect much from ads though until you're getting a few hundred unique visitors per day. In fact, initially I'd forget the ads, just get a good looking site up and filled with decent interesting content. Nail that first, get some visitors, then think about adding ads and monetising the site.

JoseChungsDoomsday

I can't believe I've missed this thread for so long!

I started a blog during the summer (in my bio) and while I've been slow it get it going it will be a big thing for me in 2013. Thanks for all your tips!

shmeeko69

JoseChungsDoomsday wrote: »

I can't believe I've missed this thread for so long!

I started a blog during the summer (in my bio) and while I've been slow it get it going it will be a big thing for me in 2013. Thanks for all your tips!

Blogging has and still is an effective way to bring highly targeted traffic. There are quite a few free methods and they all seem to rank favourably with Google.

Best of luck in 2013

JoseChungsDoomsday

Have many of you had an increase in traffic after joining a blog directory? I've never been convinced they make much difference but I signed to to a few a week ago and there has been a small increase.

DaveTheGeordie

Thanks for that advice there. Very helpful.

Arfa__ wrote: »

Blogging as a precursor to a book, is a good way to go. I've come across many who have started with a blog, then taken their posts, edited them, and published them as a printed book. It's a good platform to get started, try stuff out, get early feedback, prove the content is viable to a publisher and later a great way to promote and support the book.

Not used Blogger personally (always gone for self hosted Wordpress setups), but any code you stick on the site for adverts and banners, will have your own personal and unique id in it, linking it to your Google Adsense or other affiliate account. Don't expect much from ads though until you're getting a few hundred unique visitors per day. In fact, initially I'd forget the ads, just get a good looking site up and filled with decent interesting content. Nail that first, get some visitors, then think about adding ads and monetising the site.

quinechinoise

JoseChungsDoomsday wrote: »

Have many of you had an increase in traffic after joining a blog directory? I've never been convinced they make much difference but I signed to to a few a week ago and there has been a small increase.

I have - I use Knittingblogs.org as I have a knitting blog, funnily enough. Most of my traffic is via Google and Ravelry but some comes via the blog directory. It seems to be the only relevant directory that I've found, so far. I have got a profile listed on Technorati but it makes zilch difference, so, in my experience, generic directories do not help.

daz501

I've joined one or two blog directories but have seen no increase in traffic.

I have however been bookmarking my articles in StumbleUpon which is sending some traffic. I don't know what that traffic is doing at the moment but once I have a bit more traffic and a measurable period I'll know