I tried that but i cudnt earn much... But my friends are earning more bucks with a simple blogspot.com
That's so depressing when you see a blogger blog doing so much better than your self-hosted...I'm right there with you
Hmansfield, nice contribution. Cant fault the logic at all. Hope others take the time to read it. Seems everyone is obsessed with page rank, dont get me wrong it does have its importance but is in no means the ultimate factor in gaining quality traffic.
I just use Adsense as a supplement. I'd hate to ever have all my eggs in one basket. I use clickbank and my own products mostly.
Just remember to take what I say with a grain of salt, there is not one true method that will wok for everyone equally, and everyone doesn't have the same goals. You have to find your groove and capitalize on it. Just because I have a lot of forum posts, doesn't mean that what I say is gospel, but I just hope to share some of my experiences and failures like people did for me, when I didn't even know what "FTP" was, and never even heard of a ".php" file...and it wasn't that long ago
Hey hmansfield, can you show me an example of the kind of 'creative advertising' you use outside of adsense that you were talking about. The affiliate programs and what not... Because I have a music blog too, and I'm wondering if those techniques would work for me too.
Just check out my blog. I can give you at least 3 examples. First..adsense doesn't work for me. So ebay has been working well for me, selling Professional Audio Equip., and now Collectibles of famous DJ's and stuff...so I have that on the blog (sidebar and bottom of posts) Make sense right? talking about DJ's to most likely a lot of amateur DJ's, and fans of DJ's. Since that was the first program to actually make me any money, I took it a step further and opened a BANS store of all Professional Audio Equip. (Pro2ProAudio.com), which is also the banner in the 480x60 spot. May as well advertise my own stuff, right ? Not the prettiest site, but it does O.K. I also promote that site separately. Satellite Radio (Sirius/XM) has 2 Dance Music stations, but they don't have any banners through Linkshare that promote those stations. (It's the only 2 stations they have in my niche..and no banners...no creatives)...so I made my own (left sidebar) which will also give you DJ's and show times when you hover. Recently, I just hacked the theme, to allow a large video ad unit on the main page, and a smaller one down below, to attract private advertisers, since they don't play their commercials in the U.S...this also serves to post any new videos that come out, with an iTunes link to purchase at the bottom of the video unit. Most people would be thinking You Tube/Adsense videos...I'm not. tried them, didn't like the payout, or the way they look..had to pull them People don't like being sold to..they like discovering things. In every post I link to everything they want me to link to when I get promos, but I make sure that my affiliate links are in every one that I am signed up with. Music downloads, Ticket sales, Travel, etc. The podcasts that I have linked are my iTunes affiliate link...if anyone happens to buy when they go to download the podcast...I get something. I also have 4 other stores ( that need some work) through Amazon, and Ebay that sell Electronics, iPods, and Audio Equipment, that link back to the main blog from all of the product pages. I have a free desktop toolbar that I Created with Conduit.(free) All my blog posts, Twitter updates, New Dance Release and chart info, and a web radio player loaded with dance music stations from around the world. Not just my stuff, information in general in the industry. (People like gadgets, especially free ones). Unfortunately, you have to do the "try and see" method to see what you audience is receptive to, but it starts with the targeting of the audience in the first place. If you are targeting "music downloads" as a keyword...You will not be selling any downloads because people who search that, are looking for free ones..so no since in wasting your time with it. actually, anytime you target "Free" or "Cheap" or "Downloads" (in music)...you won't be selling much of anything because that attracts people who are not looking to spend a dime....adsense is the best you can hope for on that one...or CPM. Contests and giveaways help a little, but more than anything it helps build credibility, especially when you can run them with an artist, or their management...but it takes time to build that trust..people want to make sure that you are going to be around for a while, before they start associating their name, with your blog on a contest...and they also want to see how serious you are....no one is going take you seriously (unless you have a name for yourself in the industry) on a free hosted blog. I'm not saying that you can't make money with one., but, if you are unknown and new...don't even waste your time contacting people for stuff. They figure if you don't have the $20 bucks to host your own site, you are not serious, and can be gone at anytime. (trust me, I started this blog on a free hosted site) I had to learn it as I went along, test a few things out...and go through months of no money coming from that site, horrible designs, bad content, stupid headlines, bland content and no direction....and I am still a long way for where I want to be on that particular blog...it was actually the last one to make a dime...I even got frustrated a few times and stopped updating for weeks (that was a big mistake). But it was worth it. It is light years from what it started out as, but still a long way to go to be professional (in my eyes). Basically, I didn't find a whole lot out there for me....I had to go out and look real hard and create a revenue stream. The standard programs people use..Adsense, Azoogle, Clickbank, Commission Junction, don't have anything that would make me any sales...all their products would be completely out of place...and pushing "repair your turntable" ebooks, just didn't do it for me...that's more of a landing page kind of thing. A lot of people decide on the money stream, and the keyword first, and then decide to blog about it. That works for the pro's..trust me it does not work for noobs. You have to do what you know and love first...and then take what you learned and start tackling niches that you don't know with the knowledge. Once you learn and succeed at your own niche, you can do any of them. The one thing not enough people talk about is research. You need to research the market that you are trying to tackle. What people are looking for ? What they are buying? Who are the main players ? How much money is out there ? How can you create a unique selling position, or what area of a niche can you tackle that no one else has? One thing I already knew about music...is people like to get it for free. Music downloads pay crap because there is so much piracy. So there is no since in relying on that as a main source of income, unless you can build something better than iTunes. Knowing what to make money with, is also knowing what you can't make money with, or looking at the people who have failed before you. That will save you a lot of time. Sometimes, when you can't find what you want...a template that has the options you need, a banner that matches your blogs colors, and all the limitations that you find when you are like me in the beginning...don't know code, no design skills and not a lot of money....do it yourself. Make it yourself. Learn just enough to get what you want done..and don't be scared to take a chance. Don't sit back and conform to what is offered to you, make your own so that you can stand out.
You are a geyser of oh-so-relevant information. Thank you very much. Right now I'm thinking I'll do an affiliate thing with Amazon to sell albums. I'm going to review albums and link readers over to amazon.
Be careful with Amazon. It takes a crap load of traffic to break the $100 mark for payouts at 4%-7%. They also pay every 2 months. and remember...if your audience is under 30-35, they are probably not buying albums or CD's, they are downloading....and if they have ipods or iphones (which 200 million people do) , they have iTunes. My advice on that one would be, sign up for both, and offer both as a download, or ordering option. It's just a couple of linked buttons right ?
I forget to mention...Hip Hop is a very saturated niche, there are thousands of Hip Blogs and websites out there...so your situation is different from mine. I had a lot fewer contenders to rise above in the U.S market. Overseas, I am still getting my ass kicked
@ hmansfield - Thanks! I must say... All of the information you have given has inspired me and helped me get past some issues and questions I have been pondering over for a couple of months :/... even though I am blogging on a totally different topic!! I know most of the stuff you said is independent from everyone's situation, even mine, but it has triggered soooooo many ideas that I can't put my pen down from writing a list of things I need to work on and what I should do! (P.S.- If you look at my blog... don't laugh!! ) I only started the Turbo Addict blog a couple of days ago and still working out everything, just wanted to get some posts up to get some momentum going... but, like you did.. I started it with free hosting a while back... moved to a stale idea with payed hosting which just wasn't working out for me, mostly because I didn't know what type of "tuner cars" I wanted to concentrate on and which direction to take the blog.. So.... I took some time off to really research and ponder ideas of what I truely wanted to start blogging about, how to go about it, where to get my information from, what to create, what my goals were, where I want to go with my idea, where I should start, who I should target, and so on... It's starting to come together and your posts have jumped my knowledge level a ton!!! Given +Rep to you man!!! Some of the most valuable information I have ever received since I started here on DP!! I also love your blog!! Looks awesome and it's really the best dance music blog I have seen, even though I have only ran across a few. Will be keeping updated on your stuff for sure!! Time to brainstorm and put your information to work... that is after I get some sleep!!! (3:35 am here ) Thanks and hopefully your information will inspire someone else as much as it has done for me!!!
Well that's cool. Like I said, I'm not trying to say what people should do, or to follow what I do, but just to point out that you don't have to sit back and conform to the templates and niches that are given to you based on what is available to sell. Online, everything is for sale..there is a program for everything. Just about any niche can be a good paying niche, if you dominate your little corner of it...promote, and market. When you start using your imagination of what you really want to do, you will find yourself learning how to do it out of frustration, and leave the other blogs in your niche in the dust.
How do you even go about setting up an affiliate program with iTunes? That sounds like a much better idea than Amazon, because I think you're right--most people reading my site have iTunes.
You have to go to Linkshare. They have 1000's of companies, and iTunes has some decent tools with them. A good place to start, it doesn't hurt to always have iTunes with a music site, it always comes in handy. Once you get setup, drop me a line (or start a new post in the affiliate section ) and I'll give you a couple on tips to get the maximum benefit out of all their tools.
Yes it can be really profitable - 10K, 20K a month. But it need a lot of work for this. You can't reach this payment amounts with the one blog. you need to make a blog network. You have to choose a good profitable area - for example travel. then point your blogs in a few travel directions. Make a good blogs - unique design. You have to buy quality content - permanently and update your blogs like 2 times a week. Than after 2-3 month you have to start promoting your blogs. You need to find good low and middle competition keywords. Add more blog posts on these topics. So you can expect that after half year for about 200 -300 blogs, you can expect profits about 5K-10K. And profit will grow time after time. if you done right.
Again everyone nice contributions, da4455 i dont think anyone is under the illusion that 1 blog will bring in money, but if they did they are fools lol! i hear what your saying though.
hmansfield, you have provided an incredible wealth of knowledge. Much respect. I've printed off each of your posts to consider modifications to my site once my school semester is over!
Today is a good example of how content is the most important thing, and being on top of your niche all the time, will get you readers and links...not just posting enough keyword articles to rank. I got wind of a story at the recent music conference, concerning a certain celebrity (I'm not listing the name so this post doesn't come up in the serps for it). Even though it happened on Fri, I jumped on it last night because there wasn't a lot of press on it yet. When I woke this morning, that one post is at over 1600 views and climbing by the hour and overall traffic, and page views today are even better, and every link clicked today is a money link...and I still have 2 more posts to make today. None of that traffic is from Digg, Stumble or even Twitter...it is natural SE traffic because I didn't wait until morning to post breaking news...and picked up 3 or 4 great links right from the beginning that is driving traffic today, before anyone got up this morning and started searching for the story. If I had not been up to date on what was happening, (and I use everything, Twitter, Facebook, The web, Emails from contacts, My Space, etc) I would have missed my window, and been left back in the serps....missing out on all that traffic. All it takes is keeping informed and sometimes staying up late to make sure you get new information out before the next 100 guys. It's not like that everyday, but you can't be complacent if you are looking to build readers...you have to be first with your information, or you will be last in the serps. Now how many times do you think you can do that in a year if you are up on your game ? How many links is that from traffic sources (that you didn't have to ask for or pay for) ? How many more clicks is that on your ads or affiliate banners ? You can do everything right mathematically, and still not have readers. Traffic? Maybe, but readers con be sold to more than once, making less work for you. Edited: At 8pm, turns out today was my busiest day ever on this blog ! 2x higher than the previous busiest day. All it took was one post, at the right time...and I picked up some great links today. proving my own point...Content will get you free SEO (links) that i couldn't have paid for, and much better than comment links.