Hello, and thank you in advance for your responses. I'm a college student in Vermont who has recently learned of a few passive income techniques commonly practiced on the web. Being in a somewhat uncomfortable money situation, I've decided that the first way I would like to try and use Google's AdSense would be through the use of blogs. I understand that blogging is generally a fine way to get published, and the content is easy to generate, as it can be based on personal interests. Google even recommends Blogger.com as a place to get started, and Blogger.com has an AdSense module that displays AdSense ads right in the blog. Aside from the uninspired templates that the site provides, it doesn't seem too bad at first! I understand also that AdSense awards payment per click based on certain keywords, and that some words pay higher than others. I intend to eventually find a domain for myself, with which I will generate income around a niche, as so many have suggested on this forum. In the meantime though, I am using my blogs as a testing ground for driving traffic through the free site, as opposed to having to register my own domain. The word 'free' is important to me because currently I have very, very little money to throw around for the remainder of the month. It all boils down to this: I would like to as people on this forum if they have had any good or bad experiences with Blogger.com specifically, or another free blogging site where AdSense has been used. I'm curious about the following: - How does Google crawl the site, and what will best affect the blog's search engine position? - Are these methods affected by the fact that the domain is a part of Blogger.com? - In a structured environment where Blogger is acting as my host, what advice can you give that might help me draw traffic while not sacrificing content? I have other questions, but I don't want to look too broadly with my first post. Thank you for your time. I know AdSense can take time to pay off, but I'm willing to wait for a few months and learn in the process. Ideally, I would like to find the confidence to start up several independent domains with several content pages on each. That goal is long-term for me at the moment, but once I start my regular job in the Fall, I can begin.
There's gonna be people who have had bad experiences, good experiences, and amazing experiences with blogger. The answer for these types of questions is almost always "it depends." This is definitely a good way to get your feet wet and obtain more skills and knowledge before you do venture out into these several independent domains. Feel free to PM me if you want to ask direct questions. I'll do my best to answer them.
With blogger, you can have your own domain name. It costs $10 per year through godaddy. You handle it right on the blogger site under Setup I don't believe there is any difference how google crawls the site whether it's blogger or anything else. I have all my sites through blogger. I have two blogs which I write for my own enjoyment and don't worry too much about keywords. Even with that, i'm still able to pick up organic traffic because of my post titles. My other sites, also through blogger, are written with keywords in mind. One, which is about two months old gets almost total organic traffic. For traffic, try out linkreferral.com. To get to the top of your category, you have to daily, look at 30 sites, review 5 of them, make one post to the forum and pick one favorite. I've gotten a wealth of info off the forum. I've gotten great advice via the reviews. And I've turned up some interesting sites which I've marked as favorites.
Thanks for the link, and the advice. My two blogs are currently based in personal interest, and I'll be venturing into what might make good keywords for additional sites in short order. I've noticed Blogger allows for AdSense modules in the layout of the blog itself, but is there a way to place the code you generate in the AdSense account on those side-panels? I'd like to try tailoring placement and color schemes, of course.
Blogger will do just fine. You can add a HTML page element and insert adsense code in it. Then place it anywhere you want it.
Yes, you can place the adsense ads on the sidebar. You can also customize the color schemes. Conventional wisdom is the color of the ads between posts should match the colors on your template. I haven't seen any comments about colors of the ads on the sidebar
Thank you again for the link. Upon browsing the community after signup however, it would seem that a huge portion of the websites in my section were blank, dynamically created sorts of pages without much content, or otherwise pages that truly just look like they were stuffed with ads to get impression traffic. What does being high in the category ranking do for someone? I'm inclined to think most of the users probably just click on through 30 sites and give a high rating...I saw plenty of sites that I would rate as terrible have five stars from fifty people.
blogging is a great way to start if you don't have money to get started.... feel free to drop by my blog in my signature (one year millionaire) .. a lot of the articles are targeted towards making money with blogs...
What category did you put yourself in? In the computing/tech cat, unfortunately, there are a lot just as you describe. I don't even look there. If you are high in a CAT, you'll be at or near the top of the first page that is displayed. When I'm on the first page, I'll get 20-30 hits a day. Yes, there are some terrible sites and I sometimes wonder about the ratings too. Then I learned that you can change your site on LR but the reviews don't start new. So those great reviews could be from a previous site the member had up. LR does a couple of things for me: It give me traffic I have had very helpful suggestions from reviewers who take the time And the forum (Other) can be a wealth of information What is your site about? Might it work in another CAT? Maybe even MISC?
You guessed it, my site ended up in the computer and tech category, and yes, there are some fairly awful pages there with fantastic ratings. But your explanation makes a good bit of sense. I'll take a look at what other categories might be best, or perhaps simply start a new blog, as they are both fairly new.
If you get high rankings, you get more traffic and more possible click-throughs. You'd most probably earn more. Blogging about personal interest is fine but as you said, you have to target a certain niche or certain keywords if you like to drive in highly targeted traffic and possibly get conversions.
I agree. I just stumbled across the rough draft of user James Dean Nash's ROI eBook, and though it could do with a good edit, it has a wealth of question-answering information for a newbie like me. The Keyword Tool and Traffic Estimator in particular have got me opening Excel and thinking of a niche. I'd like to ask a question or two about it, though. - Advertiser competition is a good thing, as that generally means there will be higher bids for ad space, yes? - The idea of "backlinks" makes me wonder how many places I can post a useful article and still drive it back to my website. On a web site with 20 to 30 pages of targeted keyword content, it doesn't really suit a blog type website in my opinion. Do people succeed with free pages anyway? Or, does everyone spring for hosting and an independent domain? My major in college seems to provide a few high paying keywords with some heavy clicks. I've been toying with the idea of writing about it.
Getting your own domain is a good idea. If you find a topic with a niche keyword/phrase use that in your domain name. I use Godaddy and love them, but never pay full price. You should be able to get a .com from them for $7+ and if you can't find a coupon, PM me and I will look up the one I use for you.
That would be excellent, charter. How difficult is it to set up a web site from scratch? Does GoDaddy include a toolkit? Also, I realize the number of keywords you want is based on the size of the site, but is there a formula users might have to determine what might make a good (marketable) keyword? I have my own opinions, but having never done this before, I would like a small amount of assurance before putting my money down that I do indeed have the opportunity I see.
I have two blogs...one is the learn to earn which is in my signature. The other is a travel blog (travelsnippetsandmore.com). They are both focused so I can write articles about any kind of money/internet/earning or travel and have the article link back to my blog. I sprung for my own domain name, through blogger, because I write for PayPerPost and there are a lot more opportunities if I don't have .blogspot. in my site name. Actually, with a blog on many and any subject, you might be a good candidate for PayPerPost . I am very limited because of the limited focus of my blogs. I started with them in April and have earned about $500 so far.
PayPerPost looks to be interesting, though both of my blogs are too young and perhaps too specific. I may start a third up just to investigate it though, and a blog about everything and a broader scope might bring in impression-based revenue as well, with the proper distribution. I would perhaps consider a service other than AdSense to pursue that route, as I hear there may be better opportunities for impression-based ad programs.
Yes. I'm aware, but I have hope. And there are a few ways to get word out - I even witnessed a few of my friends volunteer to be contributors today, and I didn't even have to ask them. With a little coaching, I think I might find myself with some good content. Social networking is a big plus from what I hear. Though, I am tight on cash, so is there another method that with the appropriate amount of hard work might yield a quicker earning? Once the summer is over I'll be focused more on the long-term.
You don't have to spend money to promote you site. I haven't spent any money. I use Adsense. I am an affiliate with sites like Clickbank and Commission Junction, among others. I write articles that link back to my sites. I use my Feedburner banner in signatures when I can. I use Stumble. Lots of ways to promote. Today a Stumble got me about 150 visitors to my learn to earn blog. And that cost me nothing