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When Do You Monetize Your Blog?

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A friend of mine asked me this morning if he should put ads on the blog he’s launching next week from the first day. There are two opposing ways of thinking about it – some people prefer to have their ads in from the first day while others tend to add them later on once they’ve built up their reader base.

Readers are usually tolerant of advertising as long as they don’t have a preconceived notion of a specific site being ad-free. We are bombarded by advertising so much in our lives that we understand and accept it even on a personal reading level when browsing online.

Showing ads from the first day helps you avoid false expectations that your readers might develop about an ad-free blog which could later prove to be a hurdle when you finally do show ads.

On the other hand, it may make sense to hold off on showing ads and instead use the ad space to highlight key areas of your blog to new readers. Later on when you’ve got a lot of traffic (especially search engine traffic) you can then consider showing AdSense or other advertising on your blog.

What do you do – show ads from day 1 or delay it until your blog has enough traffic?

Blogging for the Future

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Earlier today Shane wrote about staying motivated and staying consistent in your early blogging days when the rewards may not be as immediate or … rewarding … as you’d like them to be.

It’s sound advice and it can be extended to blogging in general. Blogging for the most part is all about delayed gratification. When you see a successful blog that gets 100s of comments for each post, you see potential and an opportunity for you to be successful as well. What you don’t see is the sheer amount of hard work that went into building that success.

What you don’t see is the daily slogging and an insane amount of consistency behind the blog.

This works both ways. If you’re consistent and work hard all the time, your blog will eventually grow and become successful (but that success won’t show up now – it’ll show up 3-4 months later). On the other hand, if you have a successful blog and you let up your blogging efforts for a few weeks, the crash won’t happen then but in a few months as you’ll find your user base eroding and your blog set back by anywhere between 6 months to an year because you took your foot off the gas.

The next time you sit down to write on your blog, remember that you’re not blogging only for your readers today, you’re also blogging for your blog’s success several months down the line.

Will The Google Bashers Please Shut Up?

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You can’t pass a day in the blogging / SEO / make money online niche without hearing someone complain about Google. For some it’s about getting shafted by the search ranking algorithm, for others it’s a tiff over things such as the no-follow debate and paid links mess, and still others who have a deep-rooted mistrust for all things Google because of Google’s increasing influence over the web.

Here’s the hard reality – at least ONE of your top-ranked sites will eventually suffer either through a hand-job or because of some quirk in the algorithm. You WILL get screwed over by Google and your rankings WILL drop. It’s how the game goes – if you cannot control 100% of your ranking factors (and you cannot), then you are not 100% safe. There is ALWAYS a risk with Google or with any other vehicle that you depend on to earn your livelihood.

There are only two ways out of this:

Remove Dependence

Develop a system that allows you to earn money even if Google disappears tomorrow morning. Develop a system that survives even if PayPal shuts down in the next 24 hours. This is by no means an easy task, but it’s definitely achievable, as long as you know your end game (what you need, as a bare minimum, to live comfortably) and work towards securing that first.

In theory you can have a system that transcends mediums and will survive everything but the absolute breakdown of human economic relations (and even then you should have a backup plan).
It’s not going to go doomsday and not everyone is that fanatic about preparation, but at the very least you should have the following:

  • A minimum of 3 different (and non-related) revenue streams.

  • At least 2-3 different backup plans for generating income in the short and long run if one or more of your revenue streams collapses

I’m by no means what I would call a successful blogger or internet marketer, but I do have one thing at my side which few people have – the ability to have ‘backups’ ready at all times. If today I was to lose all my current income sources I could, with some (but not too much) trouble, switch to alternative ways of generating income. It would take the collapse of the Internet to push me into serious problems, and even then I’ve got things covered.

I’m saying this because to achieve financial independence it’s not merely enough to make enough money, it is to create a system that is (as much as possible) disaster-proof and not dependent on anyone or anything.

Stop Whining & Find A Solution

John Andrews (the Aaron Wall interview over at ProBlogger led me to his blog, and I’ve been devouring his blog since) says it best:

I say it over and over. Stop projecting your own beliefs onto Google, and start listening. Google is practically shouting at you, telling you how to rank well.

I suggest you go ahead and read the whole article. Sure, he broadsides the whole panel on the buying links session at last month’s SES and sure, you will probably roll your eyes when you read about ‘listening to Google and playing by their rule-book’, but there is plenty of wisdom in those words.

Listen, there are only three ways you can beat a system:

  1. You can build a rival system that’s better and more popular. Even if you have the resources and the manpower, first-mover’s advantage and Google’s huge lead is one big monster to overtake. You are better off cutting the competition up (going after vertical search) or trying something else.

  2. You can find loopholes in it and exploit them – good for you if you do so, but this is a short-term, risky strategy.

  3. You stop fighting and bitching about it, learn how it works and then use that knowledge to your advantage. That means figuring out what works today and what’s going to work 5 years down the line.

It’s not rocket science, just blood, sweat and time. Pay someone to do it for you if you have to, but there’s only one approach to long-term success with Google and it doesn’t involve bashing Google for it.

If your business does not rely on Google, more power to you. If it does rely on search results though, what exactly are you gaining by complaining?

As John says:

You need to get to know Google, and listen to what Google says. You don’t need to agree, and please, stop whining.

How Do You Pay Your Bloggers?

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A growing trend of consolidation in Blogging and in the online world in general has seen many blogs and bloggers join blog networks in a bid to leverage pooled resources (brand promotion, advertising rates, design / programming / promotion help, etc).

Whether you’re starting your own blogging network or just hiring bloggers for your blog, there is one question that always leads to a lot of questions and debate:

How do you compensate the bloggers?

There are 5 different methods of compensating bloggers – let’s look at each of them briefly:

  1. Blogging for Free

    Whether it is out of passion for the subject, love for the blog or because the blogger wants to build their own profile (see yesterday’s post on guest blogging), free content is the cheapest but also tough to manage. Bloggers are rarely consistent if their only compensation is ‘satisfaction’ of writing, and quite often quality control weeds out 90% of submissions.

    It may be a smart idea to have bloggers kick off for free if there is already a ‘main blogger’ running the show, but apart from sporadic submissions you cannot rely on free submissions except in a few niches (and then there’s the issue of quality).

  2. Pay Per Post

    $5 / post or $10 / post rates are quite common in blog network circles, and there’s the added advantage of attracting a LOT of bloggers who can work on your blog part time and write as much or as little as they need to.

    Personally I’m not a fan of this approach – blogging is a continuous experience, not something that should be broken up in terms of per-post payments. It seems to work for some networks, but out of the 5 options mentioned here this is the one least likely to produce good long-term results. You are better off hiring a blogger and pay them $100 for 20 posts per month than to have 20 different people write 20 posts for $5 each.

  3. Profit Sharing

    It’s a popular way to motivate bloggers to get involved in the success of a blog. This usually works by either giving the blogger a share of the profits (50%-80% from what I’ve seen) or by giving them 100% profits from one revenue stream and reserving another for themselves.

    One strategy I’ve used on some blogs is to give bloggers 100% of AdSense revenue but to reserve ad slots in the sidebar above the fold for the network. In the long run, when the combined power of the network (let’s say 2-3 mil PageViews / month) is big enough to command high CPM rates, then those ad slots will earn the network plenty.

  4. Contract / Salary

    Another popular method is to pay the blogger a monthly fee (ranges from $100 to $1000+) in return for a minimum number of posts per month. It’s an expensive but ‘safe’ choice, because you get in people who are committed to doing a minimum amount of work each month and while the blog may now earn much in the beginning this approach in popular niches can allow you to make a lot of profits while keeping bloggers happy.

  5. Profit Sharing + Salary

    This hybrid model is perhaps the most popular that I’ve seen after the contract model. Basically, you pay the blogger a fixed monthly salary plus give them a share of the site profits. This gets you the best of both worlds – giving the blogging financial security AND giving them an incentive to contribute to the blog’s success.

I’m interested in hearing about how you pay your bloggers. Do you use the hybrid approach or pay a fixed amount each month?

From a financial point of view you need some capital to start a blog network and paying salaries can rapidly become the single biggest drain on your resources. If you’re starting out, using the profit-sharing approach (where you give them 100% of one revenue stream and take out ad space in the sidebar, like I’ve done) could be a decent way to go forward and motivate bloggers to grow.

What’s important to remember is that while not everyone blogs for money, money IS a driving force for most people and if someone feels that they are not getting what they deserve for their efforts, then there will be disagreements between them and you and eventually you will lose them. The takeaway is to ensure that a) bloggers know what the benefits are and b) those benefits should make the cost of moving away from the network quite heavy.

Or at least you should get your bloggers to think that way.

Also Read: Chris Garrett on Blog Network Payment Strategies – he does an excellent job of discussing the pros and cons attached with each of the options mentioned above.

5 Reasons To Start Guest Blogging Today

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I’ve been thinking a lot about blog promotion in the last couple of days and one strategy that I’ve always seen being under-used is guest blogging.

There’s no downside to it – unless your blog is #1 in its niche, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t take time out from fussing over your own blog and write a killer article for another blog.

What guest blogging can do for you (and your blog):

  • You get several deep links (if you link back to your own articles) back to your blog which from a high-ranking blog can pay off in the long run).

  • A good article will inevitably gain your blog new readers and increase your RSS subs (so be prepared to follow up with more good articles on your own blog.

  • If you’re looking for consulting work / paid blogging gigs, guest blogging is an excellent way to position yourself as an authority.

  • Builds a good relationship with fellow bloggers, something you’re going to need if you want them to notice you and link to you.

  • Reaching new audiences keeps us on our toes to keep our blogging at a high level of quality, and guest blogging itself pushes us to write better than our comfort zone would allow us to.

Ultimately it all boils down to quality writing and giving people what they want, but if you’re looking for ways to improve your blog’s profile guest blogging (like having an article published in an offline publication) is a reliable, effective method to apply.

Usually we hold back from guest blogging either because we’re lazy (Ryan) or because we’re hung up on our own egos to go anywhere else and write. In some cases the later can be a good thing in a person who is talented and motivated enough to build a #1 blog, but usually it’s a case of limiting your blog promotion options and being too pig-headed to take advantage of what’s on offer.

Deb, Chris and Liz are just 3 excellent examples of using guest blogging to build their own profile – and it’s not a surprise that these 3 are some of the more successful bloggers that I know.

So…where are you guest blogging next?

Also read: Matt’s thoughts on guest blogging.

Are You Using QuantCast?

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QuantCast is an ‘open internet ratings service’, useful for both advertisers and publishers. Advertisers can find reports on the audiences of millions of web sites while publishers can ensure their sites are represented accurately by adding the QuantCast tracking code on their websites.

It’s a free service, and their are several aspects of their reporting that I think makes the service quite useful especially if you want to sell advertising on your website.

For example, take a look at the data QuantCast has for Soccerlens.com. It’s not a lot of information – Alexa does a much better job of telling you where the traffic is coming from (see the Soccerlens.com data) – however for ‘quantified websites (sites that add the tracking code), it’s a far more accurate representation of the audience than what Alexa offers.

Comparing to my own stats, QuantCast is fairly accurate for tracking unique visitors and the percentage of US audience.

What about you guys? Are you using QuantCast on your blogs? Do you use QC as part of your profiling process when researching blogs to buy ads from / get links from?

If You’re Stuck for Blogging Ideas, Write the (Killer) Headline first

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When faced with blogger’s block, the only way to beat it is to buckle down, force yourself to write and push through the rough patches (actions produce motivation). However when you run out of ideas (or if your ideas aren’t clear enough), then here’s an effective technique to focus your mind and let your blog post write itself.

Simply put, craft your killer headline first. Simply writing any ordinary headline won’t cut it – you need to dig deep, hit the headline swipe files and spend time creating a gem of a headline.

How this helps bloggers:

  • Forces you to focus on the main idea behind your post, which in turn helps the internal monologue run clearer.

  • Guides you towards the type of post you can / should write. If the headline is designed to create a discussion, then you can write a conversational post. On the other hand, a list headline can help you focus on creating a list and perhaps fleshing it out to create cool linkbait.

  • Allows you to get off a good start – a great headline with an average article will do better than a great article with an average headline in terms of social media. You might think it’s unfair but that’s how our minds work especially in an attention-starved economy. The headline is king, and everything else leads from there.

  • If you find the basic idea not interesting enough, you’ll be able to stop there and not waste time writing a long post only to find out later that it doesn’t get a good response from readers.

  • You may end up with several headlines, leading to several concrete post ideas instead of a jumbled up bunch in your head.

The next time you’re stuck for ideas, try this approach – write the headline first, and shape the article accordingly. If it works for sales copywriting (where success is measured in hard numbers), it works for blogging as well.

Further reading:

101 Great Posting Ideas That Will Make Your Blog Sizzle
Posting Tactics for a Well Rounded Blog
10 Killer Post Ideas

How Social Networks Teach Good SEO

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When most people think about ‘SEO’, they think of link requests. While that is a basic part of SEO, it’s also insulting to the practice of search marketing. IN comparison, it’s a bit like saying that mathematics is about adding and subtracting numbers, or that playing the guitar is all about strumming a few strings.

Such views give an incomplete picture and oversimplify the subject to a point where it becomes open to ridicule. For me, SEO (or search marketing) has always been about figuring out what the search engines will want tomorrow, what their endgame, their main goals are and how they plan to rank websites in the future. As the algorithms evolve, my aim is to have my sites rank higher automatically through smart SEO and working on those factors that will be valued more and more in the future.

So what are the search engines aiming for? Beyond the strict academic citation model, an easier way to understand search engines is to study real-world social networks.

A social network at its most basic level is a collection of people you know and are in contact with. You share ideas and information, give and receive recommendations from your friends, and you can let your network stagnate or choose to grow it by meeting new people.

One of the most important ways of finding new information and meeting new people is through recommendations provided by people already in your network. Also known as ‘word of mouth’ marketing, this process works on the basis of unbiased recommendations from known (i.e. trusted) sources.

The sharing of ideas and information withing social networks (i.e. recommendations) functions on the basis of trust – you either trust the recommendations given to you by your friends and family or you don’t. The criteria for trusting these recommendations comes from those two metrics: whether the recommendation is unbiased (that is, no ulterior motive involved) and whether the recommendation is from a known source (so you can evaluate if that source’s judgment can be trusted or not).

If a recommendation is biased, it loses value (but isn’t completely worthless). if a recommendation is from an unknown source (you don’t have to personally know the source, you just need to know / have previous experience with that source and their recommendations), you can’t trust their judgment (but maybe their argument is very compelling).

So how do you raise your search engine rankings?

The most valuable recommendations are those that are unbiased, compelling and come from highly trusted sources (that is, sources known to be trustworthy from past experience). With the right quality and quantity of recommendations, any service or product can beat its competition (provided the user experience matches the hype).

Replace ‘recommendations’ with ‘links’ and you have your answer.