The Two Secrets Of Making Money With Free Blogs
Sometimes I think SEO experts talk a load of codswallop and I must admit I’ve preached similar stuff on this blog. The fact is though that there are only two secrets to building a successful money making blogs.

Yes, I’ve read/preached about inbound links, leaving comments on other blogs, social networking, syndicating articles, exchanging links, promotions and so on. You know the usual advice if you’ve been blogging for a while. Everyone says the same thing and then regurgitates it perhaps with a slightly different format.

But really you don’t need these things. At least I found out by accident that you don’t.

I started a blog, never did any promotional work (other than putting links to it on some of my other blogs), never left any comments on other blogs, never exchanged or tried to get inbound links etc. etc.

But, despite this, the blog has done okay and has earned me money. Sure other blogs may have more hits but this one has only been running for about six months. Here’s the last weeks traffic chart.

So what are these two big secrets?

(Secret 1) Publish text and/or images that people really want to read.
(Secret 2) Use the right Keywords.

You might be thinking, “So that’s it? No way!”

However these two things are paramount - in my opinion, of course - to anything else in creating a successful blog that will make money. They might sound a bit disappointing but if you think about it, they really are all important.

Let’s take Secret 1.
I’ve previously harped on about this but it’s no good having the best writing skills and accurate grammar and prose if nobody wants to read what you write. So the niche you choose is all important. It must be popular - I am talking about making money with blogs here.

You have to find material that people want to read and will be searching for on the search engines. If neither of these apply to your subject matter then it’s doubtful if you’ll make much money or attract many hits easily.

Also included in this secret is the suggestion that you should write lots of posts and cover a wide variety of topics within your chosen niche. I’d suggest churning out quality posts, perhaps four, five, six a day when the blog is brand new. This gives a wider range of possible searches.

And with Secret 2.
The keywords have to tie in with the subject matter of each post and with the general theme of your blog. Look also for long tail words and phrases. You want to cover as many options as possible that may be used for searches.

From what I’ve experienced if you use these two things then traffic will come your way plus the money making that goes with it.

“Ah,” you might say, “But what if you also followed the standard SEO advice as well, wouldn’t that get even better results?”

And the truthful answer is probably. ‘Yes.’

It’s surprising though that if you follow Secrets 1 and 2 how the search engines will pick up your posts and images and will send you traffic. You’ll also most likely get inbound links as well from other bloggers who like, and also need, what you have written.

To sum up: posts that people want to read plus using keywords correctly are the way to make money with blogs. All of the other SEO advice and tricks are the icing on the cake.

Good luck,
Mike.

The Long Tail Way To Make Money
Okay, how’s your long tail?

I mean if you have, say a money making blog, do you concentrate on the word money as a keyword? If you do you’ll have a heck of a lot of competition and might have a job getting a good position on the Google search engine.

Also, if you use a word like money, it can mean different things to different people. In other words someone who puts money into a search might not be thinking about money making. If he or she isn’t then they’ll probably leave your blog as quickly as they arrived. It might be a referral for the stats but it won’t make you any money.

A Long Tail, in a keyword sense, is more than one word. It could be several words, or a phrase, that really defines what your post (or blog) is all about. Therefore, if a searcher uses your Long Tail words, when they arrive via Google it’s more likely they will remain longer on your blog - as you should have something they are really looking for. So this time they are a referral that is more likely to make you money.

So how do you decide what Long Tail words to use?

One way is to use a tool (yes, it’s free!) such as the Keyword Suggestion Tool.

This tool will give you up to 100 suggestions and these are based on what people have been searching for.

Let’s give an example.

So you’ve written a post all about, let’s say, Harry Potter. So what Long Tail keywords should you use? Here’s what this particular Keyword Suggestion Tool came up with:

The full list includes 100 suggestions but I thought that would take up a bit too much space! Anyway, the above list shows what people are presently searching for.

Yes, the two words Harry Potter are at the top but are you realistically going to get a top ten search engine position with these? Doubtful. But you might just fare a lot better with some of the other suggestions on the list.

Whatever Long Tail set of words you choose, of course, has to be incorporated within your post and even in the title if possible.

I used Long Tail keywords long before I’d ever heard of the expression. It simply made sense to me and I’ve proved to my own satisfaction that they work.

You could even get ideas for posts based on a selection of Long Tail keywords. Enter the theme (i.e. dogs, football, soccer, baby, art or whatever) of your blog into the Keyword Suggestion Tool and see what it comes up with.

If we take the theme or niche ‘dogs’ the tool suggests: dog breeds, westminster dog show, dog names, dog parvo symptoms, dog food coupons, dog rescue shelters and so on. So amongst the top 100 there should be an idea of something on which to base a post.

The idea is to try and match the searcher with what he or she is looking for. Do this and you have a proper targeted referral - that has a better chance of making money.

I know I’ve often said that Lots of Traffic = Lots of Money but …
… Lots of Targeted Traffic = Lots More Money!

Give the Keyword Suggestion Tool a try, there are also others about and they could help:

(1) Bring more targeted referrals
(2) Get a better position on the search engines
(3) Give ideas on which to base a post relative to your niche.
(4) Make you more money! Providing you have the right ads, programs etc. to tie in with the keywords.

Good luck,
Mike.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 29th, 2008 at 12:00 pm and is filed under 4 minute money. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.