So, you want to
be a
Professional
blogger?
Firstly, I‟d like to say a big thank
you for purchasing this e-book, it‟s
greatly appreciated and I‟m certain
you‟ll be more than happy with what
you learn from it!
Within this e-book you will get a
massive amount of information on
how to create your blog, how to
write to your blog, how to get
readers, keep readers and how to
monetize it.
So, let‟s begin our journey! Enjoy!
About The Author
Hello, my name is David Hall and
I’m a 25-year-old professional
Blogger. When I first started
blogging I never even considered
making a living from it and neither
should you. Let me take you back in
time….
At the age of fifteen I was
introduced to the internet by my
uncle, a very smart man and a very
cool uncle indeed. The internet was
a whole new world to me; I didn‟t
know where to start. It wasn‟t long
after this that I wanted my own
website; I dabbled with Microsoft
FrontPage, managing to write a bit
of text and then eventually publish it
to the web. This was the start of
blogging for me; however, it wasn‟t
called „blogging‟ at the time. That
term has come from the word “web
log”.
Football was my main interest, I
wrote football news as a hobby and
as the site grew so did my desire to
keep on writing and writing, I didn’t
care about money, I was about
sixteen years old and my parents
were paying the pocket money.
Years later Google announced their
Adsense program. I was working in
hotel part-time, washing pots,
preparing veg, no, it wasn‟t great
but it paid. As time went on I started
reading about Adsense and decided
to implement it on my websites. I
starting off making small amounts, a
few dollars a day in fact, but I was
happy with it, why wouldn‟t I be? I‟d
never expected to make any money
online.
I started reading about Adsense
and began participating in forums, I
read more and more intently and
started to optimize my
advertisements, that‟s when it
happened, I was gob-smacked,
excited and anticipating making
even more money. The day I
optimized my ads my earnings
increased by 50x, this was when I
really started to wonder „what would
happen if I put all my efforts into
this‟.
A couple of months later, I left my
job at the hotel and put my efforts
into blogging. To go to university or
not was then a tough decision for
me; however I did go and was one
of the few students not to take a
loan out.
So, what is a blog
and how do they
make money?
This is a question that everyone
asks at some point in
time, Blogging has grown
hugely to the point where
the majority of
youngsters know what it
is, however, if you ask
the older generations they‟ll be lost,
however, the way things are going
that‟s sure to change soon.
A blog is an easy way for people
around the world to publish their
thoughts, feelings or
anything in general and
share it with others. You could call
it a diary, but blogs have changed
and become much more than that.
It‟s almost too easy to get a blog
these days, platforms like Blogger
and WordPress allow anyone to get
a blog for free. It‟s as simple as
signing up for an account, click to
post and your away, simple.
Google has changed the ways of
blogging by making it very simple to
monetize. The Google Adsense
program allows publishers to
display advertisements on their site
and get paid on a PPC (Pay Per
Click) basis. This has led to many
people making large sums of money
from blogging. For example, Darren
Rowse of ProBlogger, a six figure
Blogger who‟s worked extremely
hard to get where he is now. Then
there‟s Jason Calacanis, founder of
Weblogs Inc making over a million
dollars from Adsense alone.
However, don‟t get too wrapped up
with Adsense as it‟s not the only
program that can make you money
through your blog. There‟s many
others including the rather new
Yahoo Publisher Network, Chitika,
Adbrite and it doesn‟t stop there.
Don't just concentrate on the money
though as your bound to be
disappointed first try. The main
thing about your blog is to have
quality content. You need the
visitors and repeat visitors before
you can take your blog to the next
level. Start small and grow
accordingly, this isn‟t an overnight
thing. Blogs take time to grow and
many people give up too soon.
Good things come to those who
wait!
Blogging Platforms
As discussed on the previous page,
there are platforms you can use for
blogging that are entirely free.
Blogger: www.blogger.com
Blogger is a product owned by
Google. It‟s a very good platform
and is developing further and
further. Below is a picture of the
current Blogger.com homepage.
Setting up an account
It‟s a simple process to setup your
account on Blogger. Just click on
the “Create your blog now” button
as shown below.
You will then be presented with the
sign-up page...
Click “continue” once complete.
You‟ll then be displayed with a
screen to name your blog and
choose an address for it as shown
below.
Click “continue” once complete and
then you‟ll be displayed the
template chooser as shown below…
Click „continue‟ once complete and
your blog will be created and ready
for you to get posting. Simple wasn‟t
it? That‟s just an example of how
easy it is to get hold of a blog these
days. I won‟t spoon feed you
through all the processes of
creating a blog on every platform,
but this is a nice way for beginners
just to see what‟s involved and just
to show them how easy it really is to
create one.
I also recommend that you
check out WordPress at
www.wordpress.com . It‟s a
very popular blogging platform,
many consider it to be better than
blogger, but it‟s up to you where you
want your blog to be at.
You don‟t have to take this „free‟
approach though. You can get your
hands on a decent domain name by
paying a small amount of money.
It‟s only something like $10 a year.
However, if you do this you‟ll also
have to find yourself a web host
aswell to put your files.
Definitions of domain name on the
Web:
A domain name is the text name
corresponding to the numeric IP
address of a computer on the
Internet. A domain name must be
unique. Internet users access
your website using your domain
name. download The process of
copying files, information and
images from the Internet to your
computer. Every time a visitor
accesses a page on the Internet,
they are downloading the
contents of that page.
www.simplenet.com.au/sbc_glos
sary.shtml
The "address" or URL of a
particular Web site. This is also
how you describe the name that
is at the right of the @ sign in an
Internet address. For example,
netlingo.com is the domain name
of this Internet dictionary. There
is an organization called InterNIC
that registers domain names for
a small fee and keeps people
from registering the same name.
Most recently, more domain
names will be allowed due to
new suffixes coming out. These
are:
www.netsetgo.com/glossary.php
Definitions of web hosting on the
Web:
The World Wide Web is a
massive collection of web sites,
all hosted on computers (called
web servers) all over the world.
The web server (computer)
where your web site's html files,
graphics, etc. reside is known as
the web host. Web hosting
clients simply upload their web
sites to a shared (or dedicated)
webserver, which the ISP
maintains to ensure a constant,
fast connection to the Internet.
www.1stdomain.net/info/glossary
.html
providing space on Internet
servers for the storage of World
Wide Web sites which can be
accessed by others through the
network. This service is usually
offered by ISPs or web hosting
specialists.
cyber.law.harvard.edu/readiness
guide/glossary.html
If you‟re confused by all this
talk of web hosts and
domain names then you can
either head to google.com and
do some research or just stick to
sites like Blogger.com and
wordpress.com, they are much
easier.
Entering the
blogging world
Misconceptions
about blogging
When people read about
blogging and how some
people are making a living
from it, they think it‟s a
simple way to get rich quick, let
me tell you, it is definitely not
some sort of get-rich-quick
scheme. Blogs take time to grow,
just like a baby. You don‟t go from
being a baby to being an adult over-
night and the same goes for
blogging. Blogs grow overtime, and
need effort to maintain and keep
readership (something we‟ll talk
about later in the book).
Many people who want to become
pro bloggers before they‟ve even
ran a blog for a hobby become very
disappointed with the income they
are generating. To run a successful
blog you‟ve got to enjoy running it
and sometimes running it will mean
not earning any money from it at all.
The best tip that can be given about
starting a blog is „write about
something you love‟. If you have
passion for the subject then you‟re
more likely to update on a regular
basis and make much better, quality
posts. Blogs are all about quality of
content. If you want people to come
back to your blog then you‟re going
to have to produce quality content.
However, some people say there
is no money in blogging at all,
well that is total nonsense. I‟ve
been making a living from my
blogging and so have many other
people. As mentioned previously
Darren Rowse is a six-figure
blogger and Jason Calacanis is
way beyond that, however, he pays
people to blog at Weblogs Inc. You
see, people have even started
making businesses around blogging
because of the amount of money
that is involved.
The right blog for
you or your
company
So, just what is the right blog for
you or your company? Well, it‟s a
tough question to answer, but I‟m
glad you‟ve asked. As previously
stated you should write about
something you’re passionate
about. You‟ll lose interest if you
start a blog on something you aren‟t
really that bothered about.
Some people start blogs
based on specific topics
because they‟ve heard that
these topics generate the most
income. Well, you can go ahead
and do that, but if you‟re not really
into it then you‟re not going to make
a success out of it, so why bother?
Look at it this way, it takes a long
time to take a blog from the bottom
to the top, your can still reach great
heights with a blog you enjoy writing
to. If you‟re writing a blog just to try
and get the most money, you‟re
going to lose interest by the time
you‟re on your way.
You many have noticed in the title
of this section I say „company‟.
„What‟s a company blog?‟ you ask,
well, a company blog is just the
same as a normal blog. Company
blogs have become more and more
popular ever since companies
realized what effect these „blogs‟
could have on their business. A blog
can add a face to a company and
importantly, make announcements.
Also, you don’t have to hold
yourself to just writing on one
blog. Darren Rowse has twenty
blogs that he updates on a regular
basis. I have five.
You don‟t want to be mixing one
blog with many topics. Why?
Because it‟s unlikely that your
readers are going to be interested in
every topic your interested in and
why should they have to crawl
through all the other posts just to
find the one‟s they hold an interest
in? I know, they shouldn‟t. So, if you
want to write about all different
kinds of things then I suggest you
make yourself a group of blogs and
tend to them equally. The only
instance that I can think of where
you should write about all different
types of topics is when you‟re
running a blog about you, your life.
Developing your
blog
Build a good
readership
Don‟t you want your readers to keep
coming back again and again? Well,
it‟s quite easy really; you‟ve just got
to give them a reason to keep
coming back.
“Tell me sir, what reasons can I give
them?” you ask.
Well, ask yourself why
you go back to the
websites you visit the
most. What draws you in?
I can take a good bet that it‟s the
regularly updated content. You don‟t
want to go back to a site that hasn‟t
changed since your last visit, it‟ll
bore you and you‟ll eventually lose
interest altogether. You‟ve got to
build a community around your
blog, treat your readers like friends,
best friends! You wouldn‟t stop
talking to your best friends for a few
weeks then ask them to come over
out of the blue would you? You‟ve
got to keep in touch.
So, we‟ve addressed one point;
update your content on a regular
basis. Now, for the second then,
give your readers the ability to leave
a comment. If you disable
comments or don‟t have the feature
on your blog then your making it just
a one-way-conversation, let your
readers reply to what you say, let
them discuss the topic and they‟ll
feel much more involved and more
likely to come back to see what
people have replied to their reply.
All this adds a „community feel‟ to a
blog and is a sure way to get users
coming back time after time.
Last of all; treat your readers the
way you‟d like to be treated. Don‟t
be obtrusive and whack some pop-
up ads in their faces.
Be link happy
You want to be a Professional
blogger? Well you‟ve got to have
popular blogs. Popularity isn’t
easy. It’s all about who has the
most friends.
When you‟re writing an article, you
should be linking to
various other sites,
especially if you‟re quoting
from them or mentioning
something about them. Even if they
have a similar article, give them a
link and they‟ll be your best friend
forever. You see, we all have to
help each other out. By you linking
to them, you‟re giving them traffic.
They‟ll like you for this, they‟ll be
happy and most importantly, they‟ll
be more likely to link back to you,
sending traffic to your blog, we‟re all
happy!
Building up links with other websites
will also help your traffic from the
Google search engine. You see,
when someone links to your site,
Google takes note of this, and they
realize that somebody has found
something in your blog interesting.
This means, when someone
searches google for something
relevant to that part of your blog,
your blog will be ranked higher in
the results.
Here‟s a little bit more about Page
Ranking…
PageRank relies on the uniquely
democratic nature of the web by
using its vast link structure as an
indicator of an individual page's
value. In essence, Google
interprets a link from page A to
page B as a vote, by page A, for
page B. But, Google looks at
more than the sheer volume of
votes, or links a page receives; it
also analyzes the page that casts
the vote. Votes cast by pages
that are themselves "important"
weigh more heavily and help to
make other pages "important."
Important, high-quality sites
receive a higher PageRank,
which Google remembers each
time it conducts a search. Of
course, important pages mean
nothing to you if they don't match
your query. So, Google
combines PageRank with
sophisticated text-matching
techniques to find pages that are
both important and relevant to
your search. Google goes far
beyond the number of times a
term appears on a page and
examines all aspects of the
page's content (and the content
of the pages linking to it) to
determine if it's a good match for
your query.
Snippet taken from:
http://www.google.com/technology/
I hope your now starting to realise
the many ways that you can get
people to your blog. The
opportunities are endless but
sometimes people get a bit of luck
which shoots them off in the right
direction.
The reason I‟m talking so much
about how to make your blog so
popular is because that is key to
becoming a professional Blogger.
You are not going to earn great
amounts of money on your blog
without it being popular. If you
implement what you‟ve learnt so far,
you‟ll be well on your journey.
Always give credit
This has relevance to the last
section also and some points raised
there will be raised again here.
If you want to use part of an article
or something on someone else‟s
website then make sure you give
credit to them and link back to
them. You wouldn‟t like it if
someone stole your content would
you? Also, don‟t take images
without asking the permission of the
owner of the website. If they say no
then fair enough, if you don‟t try you
don‟t get and if you don‟t get then
don‟t steal.
When you‟re writing your blog
posts, sometimes you could be
basing it on someone else‟s article,
if you do this, make sure you give
credit to the original author with a
link back to the article‟s location.
Like we said before, It‟s like you
scratch my back and I’ll scratch
yours.
Memory Blocks
If you blog already, you can’t tell
me that there’s never been a time
when you just simply cannot be
bothered to write and you’re just
finding it too hard to get a clue of
what to write. Don‟t worry, it‟s
completely natural. Sometimes you
just need to take a break from the
computer, get out and enjoy the real
world to refresh your head so you
can sit back down. In fact, half your
ideas will come from when your not
on the computer, you‟ll then be
itching to sit down and get writing.
So how do you get passed bloggers
block? Sometimes it‟s not easy. It
occurs because you‟re either too
stressed out or there simply just
isn‟t anything to write.
If there isn‟t anything to write
because it‟s a slow day or nothings
happening in your niche, there are a
number of things you could do to
push some posts out. Let‟s take a
look at them below.
Revisit an old post – There‟s no
harm in revisiting some old news
and updating the story to it.
Ask readers to send in their
views on something – Using
your readers as a way to
generate new content is great.
They will probably be itching to
have their voice heard.
Review something – Carry out
a review on something relevant
to your blog topic
If it’s that bad, just wait for the
next day – If there‟s really
nothing you could be writing
including any of the points
mentioned here then just wait for
the next day, there‟s no use in
writing rubbish.
You‟ve just got to accept that
sometimes you‟re not going to get
motivated to do something. It
happens to me, it happens to all of
us. Sometimes I personally find it
hard to start doing something,
however sometimes you‟ve just got
to get on with it and stop being so
lazy.
Enjoy life, blogging isn‟t everything!
Getting into a
routine
You‟re obviously serious about
blogging else you wouldn‟t have
bothered to purchase this e-book. If
you’re going to make a real go of
this then you’re going to have to
start getting into some sort of
routine. Some of the top earners in
the world of blogging run over 20
blogs and they all need updating on
a regular basis.
The best way to attend to the needs
of all these blogs is to just set a
time, sit down, get your head down
and start working. Getting yourself a
cup of coffee, have a short break,
carry on, don‟t get distracted with
people trying to talk to you on MSN
or checking what happened on your
favorite sit-com. Just sit down and
get writing and you‟ll reap the
benefits.
Professional bloggers plan their
life around blogging. Obviously
you need to plan for both your
social life and your work life but if
you let one take over the other then
you‟re not going to be reaching your
potential. Also, if you don‟t plan
what you‟re going to do, you will
either just not do it or find that you
simply don‟t have enough time,
leaving stuff halfway through is
never a good idea and getting
distracted will bring down the quality
of your writing, trust me.
Taking breaks is essential.
Sometimes your mind just needs to
take a refresh else you‟ll fall into the
state of bloggers block as we
discussed in the previous section.
I plan my blogging like a normal
job, whilst most people are heading
out to work from 9am-5pm; I get on
with my blogging. I probably work
just as long hours as most people
but the difference is, I‟m doing
something I love, writing about
something I love and I‟m also doing
it from the comfort of my own home
or my favorite café. I‟m a young
guy, 25-years-old as mentioned
earlier, I like to have a good social
life and because of the way I plan
my blogging, I get a great social life.
END OF SAMPLE
Next chapters:
Monetizing a blog
Optimising adsense (best CTR revealed)
Exactly how I got 5million hits to my blog for free with no
SEO either.
To get the rest of the eBook – Buy now for $16.99 at
http://www.makemeablogger.com