[Hidden-tech] A great posting from Tish Grief on Blogging as a revenue builder

[A - Z International]

Our own Tish Grier, a well-known blogging expert, provided some super 
information for folks on my EONS Building a Virtual Company Group. I 
decided to share it with all of you because it's great.

best,

Amy Zuckerman
HT Founder


Yes, Tish G Says Blogging is a Vehicle to Make $


Hi Virtual-osos!

Let me introduce you to Tish G, A - Z International Associate's 
blogging expert. You'll be hearing more from Tish as the year goes 
on, so keep those blogging questions coming.

Last week one of our members wanted to know whether you can make 
money blogging. Here's what Tish has to say:

One way you can make money from blogging is to establish yourself as 
an expert in a field, and to build a community by commenting and 
linking to other bloggers. Making money directly from a blog requires 
that you have traffic coming in to propel ads or other programs you 
have on your blog. So you have to think about what you're going to 
say on your blog, and what community you're going to be a part of.

After you figure that out, you can stoke your blog (or multiple 
blogs) full of all kinds of ads: banner ads, in-text ads, 
pay-per-post programs, widgets, etc. . .

But if you've got lousy content, and you're not giving your visitors 
anything to make them stick around, you may not make much from your 
blog content anyway. Also, too many ads may bog down the loading of 
your site, thus making it difficult for people to read.

Now, if you've got a couple of friends who are also interested in 
blogging, and you share a common passion, you might want to set up a 
group blog that caters to a particular niche interest. Do some 
research and find out not just what niches are hot, but what are the 
niches where you have particular expertise and would enjoy writing 
about regularly.

If you're creating lots and lots of content on a regular basis, and 
it's readable and giving good info to others, eventually you'll get 
good placement in search and traffic will start to come in that will 
make it worth having ads.

Most ads pay by "clicks per thousand" or CPM. Standard CPM rates can 
run between the $5-$20 range. The more traffic you have, the higher 
CPM level you can command for an ad. But that means you have to bring 
in thousands of readers a day--so you have to have good content. And 
lots of it!

It will take time to build sufficient traffic, so don't expect to 
make money right away. Like any business, it's something that grows over time.

Yet lots of bloggers make money from ventures related to their 
blogging. Here are some examples:

* Some use their blogs to promote offline or other online businesses, 
then push traffic to their websites. They might make a small amount 
of money from ads or syndication deals, just to supplement their 
other business.

* Some bloggers are freelance writers and former journalists who work 
as "professional bloggers" and write copy for group blogs or blog networks.

* Some work as marketing, PR, or other kinds of consultants, but you 
have to know the medium.

If you are advising someone on building and maintaining a blog, but 
you've never done it, then you shouldn't be offering the services.
There is a niche, though, for people like me with experience in 
online communities to consult to individuals, companies or 
organizations about this trend, or about the use of blogs in business 
or journalism.

If you have design backgrounds then you can create your own 
specialized blog templates and offer your services as blog designers.

Technically, I am a "freelancer" or "consultant" or "professional 
blogger"--depending on where I'm working and what I'm needed to do. 
Currently, I am Community Developer for online news rating site 
Newstrust.net, and am Chief Blogging Officer for Placeblogger.com, a 
site that aggregates hyperlocal blogs. I also do a small amount of 
research on RSS/ATOM/XML feed tools.

So, while I don't make money directly from my blog, my blog has been 
a vehicle for helping establish myself as an expert in a particular 
field. It has helped me make friends who have offered me positions 
within their Internet-based businesses. Because things change very 
rapidly in here, I have to keep in contact with lots of people and be 
networking often.