Skin Natural : how to earn money from blog

Showing posts with label how to earn money from blog. Show all posts

Saturday, September 19, 2015

Blogger Series Vol. 15 - Continuing with Monetization Methods!

So, last time, I had mentioned how I monetize my blog. Let me talk about various things which you can do. The list is exhaustive but I am going to talk only about things which actually appeal to me or I have a bit of experience with.

Sponsored Posts

Yes, this is one of the simplest way to earn quick bucks. The company contacts you and asks you to write a post. You negotiate the price and deliver the post by the said date. It pays well if you have a good page rank and fan following for your blog. More the reach, more you can charge.

But, the method has some serious drawbacks. Not all readers are happy with sponsored posts. Such a post can end up looking very advertising without any benefit for the reader. Excess of such posts can cause a fall in the readership. And, worse of all, the brand approaching you might not be related to your niche which is a waste. And, the last is quality of the website you will link back to.

So, before you start negotiating, do a proper research on the company, its product and if possible, try it out before doing a post on it. But, maximum sponsored posts are on services or websites which you might not always be able to give a try. So, the best option there remains to weave a creative and useful post around the theme of the product so that you can provide one unobtrusive link in between somewhere.

sorry but this is not possible in virtual world :D

Also, be sure that the company is gonna pay you for the services. It is always good to get the payment before the post goes live. Otherwise, they might never respond back. Some companies approach the big bloggers directly for sponsored posts but for regular bloggers, you can check out sponsoredreviews.com and payperpost.com which provides an interface between the brands and bloggers and takes a commission from the amount you earn.

Ad Networks

Infolinks is not the only one which provides contextual links. There are small ad networks (generally closed) which when joined ask for the best ad space on your blog and pay you on the amount you fix (if they think it is worth it!) One which I know is blogher network which allows only women to join. But, I think googling would reveal a lot more.

Adspace Renting or Text Links in the Posts

Sometimes some companies may just approach you for adspace renting or would ask you to place some text links in some of your posts or insert some keywords with links.

You can rent out the ad spaces to them and charge them depending on the placement of the ad and the ad unit size. The only issue with such kind of collaborations is that you have to be extremely careful of the kind of websites you are linking to.

These are the ones I can remember right away. I shall put up ones I recall in another post!! So, what are your monetizing methods?

Saturday, August 8, 2015

Blogging Series Vol. 12 - My Story of Blog Monetization!

So, two days back I get a mail from Roshni asking me how did I go about monetizing the blog. Ohk, so a long story short, content is the king whenever it comes to anything with blogging!! Now, let me start with my story.

Adsense and Infolinks

I had applied for adsense (January 2010) right when I had started blogging (December 2009). Yes, I was ignorant that the blog needed to be 6 months old and few other restrictions when it came to adsense approval of blogs from India. So, obviously, they refused.

Then, infolinks came my way and it was easy to get accepted so there it was. I had started earning money right from the start of blogging. But, don't be buoyed, it was a measly 1$ per month or something like that and it took almost a year and half (June 2011 to be precise and I had integrated it in January 2010) to reach the threshold of 50$. But, fortunately, all time I did not falter and was very regular with blogging and slowly the traffic got better.

Adsense and Chitika

In the mean time, I had again tried for adsense after making sure that all the clauses were fulfilled. My blog was 6 months old and I had almost 400-500 posts up and had a decent traffic. Again I was rejected :(

So, I signed up with chitika. It wasn't really a great earner so I removed it quite soon.

Finally Adsense!

And, suddenly in the start of January 2012, adsense accepted me just like that. The year had started on a good note. And, adsense is quite a good source for earning money according to me except the getting accepted business.

I have to mention that first year has been quite up and down in terms of money but it was decent.

Private Advertising Networks

And, in this year, I have been contacted by private advertising networks which are also turning out profitable. In fact, they quite compliment the adsense income. I would not mention them because I am not really sure how their application and acceptance standards are.

Final Thoughts...

After so much struggle, I have understood one thing. Ultimately, it is the content which drives traffic which drives advertisers which brings money. Also, another thing I have learned is more content you publish is directly proportional to money you earn.

This post is just about how I tried to monetize my blog. I shall in some weeks write about how to monetize your blog, some of its basic principles and other networks and ways to monetize but one thing you already know - content is the king!! And, patience the key.

What other advertising networks do you think are great to earn money? Do you know of any which are better than the ones I have mentioned, not that I have mentioned many?

Blogging Series Vol. 10 - How to overcome Blogger's Block?

Blogging Series Vol. 9 - Reviving Old Posts!

Friday, July 10, 2015

Blogging Series Vol. 18 - Why is it so wrong to make money from a blog?

I have been blogging for a really looooong time, so long that I feel I am an ancient now!! But, one thing, I have been always wary in all these years is how I earn money and get readers. Yesterday, yet another adwords coupon came along in my mail and I was wondering if it would be a good idea to make use of it while it lasts!!

But, then, I remembered all the flak around certain beauty blogs promoting their pages on facebook and getting likes. I mean, what is so wrong about paying to make facebook promote your page. It is not like you are forcing the people seeing your ads to like it, right? It is entirely their choice to like your page or not. And, paying to promote your page is a business decision which is absolutely sensible. Look at all the brands in the world!!

Why is it that when it comes to bloggers, they seem to get a huge share of criticism if they do one effort to earn money. If you think money is gonna decrease the quality of content, it is entirely justified and then you have a choice of unsubscribing. But, till that time, I think it is fair to give the blogger time and space to experiment with monetizing options.

Blogging full time is a job and bloggers also need food and shelter, just like the rest. And, making money through blogs is not exactly easy, especially if you want to get home loans and such. So, people do whatever they can. May be readers, I know most of you understand these issues and this post is targeted to only few who choose to be exceptions, could be more supportive of that fact and give sometime to your favorite blogger to figure out options.

From my personal experience, I can say that in these four years I have tried many ad networks and blog designs and have stuck to this minimalistic one since almost two years because I found out a balance between ads and content which satisfies me. Similarly, your favorite blogger will also learn. Just give it sometime. Money is very alluring in the beginning.

What do you think? Is making money really so wrong?

Friday, January 9, 2015

Blogging Series Vol. 16 - Are you setting up goals for 2014?

I do not remember if I did a round up of the blogging goals achieved in January, 2013 but I do know that I did not do it yet. The reason being the second half of the last year fared badly for my blog as you all are already aware! I guess I was taking blogging too seriously and it became really monotonous because of which I felt like being burnt out all the time.

Anyways, leaving all that aside, I would say that the blog was doing quite well in first half of 2013 and I would like to take the blog from there!! So, for all you bloggers over there, are you creating strategies for your blog this year or just keeping simple.

Aim High but keep lesser goals as well

I had decided last year that by the end of 2013, I would like to earn some x amount from the blog. It is a good goal but there was no plan as to how I was going to achieve it so I would say this time I am gonna breakup the entire schedule into short term of 3 months or a quarter so even my blog would have a quarterly appraisals now on :)

Keeping the Goals flexible
I had last year not accounted for the changes in my life which would take a lot of priority over the blog. Needless to say, I was unsuccessful in achieving the goals!! So, I am gonna adjust my goals this time over a range so that at least the lesser range would be feasible in any case!!

Taking out Time

Yeah, this is like a huge issue right now for me. So, my major goal has become this that I should have enough to post at least a meaningful paragraph everyday. Of course, I have not done it consistently in the new year either!! But, I am trying.

Enjoying the Blog

Lately, I have realized it has more of become an obsession to post instead of just enjoying the posts!! I am always brain-storming as to what to write today. That is something I want to stop and really sit and enjoy the blog while I write it.

And, treat yourself for every goal you achieve

There is a huge advantage of keeping small goals. I would not have to work my ass off obviously and when they are reached, I can always treat myself and get motivated to reach out for more!! Nothing is more motivating than success itself.

So, what goals you are setting for your blog this year?

Blogging Series Vol. 14 - Why do you love blogging?

Blogging Series Vol. 13 - How to improve traffic on the blog?

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