How To Boost Profits On A Blog That’s Not Making Money

By Andrew Hansen
http://andrewhansen.name/blogging/
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I’ve been getting asked alot lately:

“Why isn’t my blog making money?”

So I thought it was time for a blog post.

This is more targetted to those using blogs for affiliate marketing, but equally if you’re selling your own products, trying to get opt in subscribers, or Adsense clicks. Here goes…

Fortunately, there’s only two reasons why your blog isn’t making any money.

1. You’re not getting enough traffic.

or

2. You’re not pushing enough of that traffic towards the links that make you money.

The first, you find out from your traffic stats, from your hosting cpanel, or external analytics software.

The second, you find out from the tracking stats of your affiliate program, the stats in your Adsense account, or your own personal click tracking for your outgoing links or “actions”

From this analysis, one of two questions follow:

“WHY am I not getting enough traffic?”

or “WHY am I not converting enough of my visitors into making me money?”

The first question is easier to answer: you haven’t promoted your site yet. There’s so many ways to get traffic that we couldn’t cover them in a single post, but what you need to do in that situation is clear… more promotion.

But the second question is harder to answer. If you’ve already got traffic and you’re not making money from it… what do you do?

Here’s a simple 3 steps to monetizing your blog.

1. Before you can monetize your visitors, you need to understand them. If you’re like most bloggers, (or content site owners of any kind) you’ve got lots of traffic, coming from different places, and landing on different pages of your site.

From looking at your traffic stats, you can see where your traffic is coming from and which pages their landing on.

Next you have to be clear about what the people who are reaching your site are really looking for…

For example, someone who found your site in the search engines, from the term “how to train your dog” is looking for something different to the person who found it searching for “best dog food tips”.

And that’s just the beginning.

You have to know what people are already buying in your niche, what info they’re MOST looking for, and what feelings or desires they’re most looking to fulfil through your content.

When you know these things, then you can make decisions about WHAT you promote on each page of your blog, whether it’s an affiliate program, an Adsense ad block, or an opt in to get specific info from your website.

2. Once you understand them, you need to convince them. So once you know WHAT you should be pushing or using to monetize your visitors, you need to work out HOW to push it. What’s the right way to present your monetization/offer/advertising to them that will result in the greatest profit.

The “how” part actually needs a few steps:

a) First you need to get their attention with your links. Some common cures to your ads/links not getting enough attention are:

- Their positioning: You have to put your ads where people will see them. Too many people are ashamed to be advertising on their site, so they hide their ads/links away where no one sees them. If you’re promoting things that you know and believe in, you should be proud to be advertising it.That putting the ads “above the fold”, getting them into the post content, where the readers eyes are going and they are “engaged”.

It can also mean changing them around regularly so people don’t become “blind” to your ads. Maybe one day there’s an Ad in the post content, the next day it’s in the top of the sidebar. So it looks fresh and people don’t get used to ignoring it. Makin sense?

- Their relevance: People landing on different pages of your site are very likely going to be more responsive to different offers. You need to try to get on every page, the offer/link/ad that is most relevant to the people who are landing on that page. Yes, this is more effort than hard coding a banner into your sidebar that shows to all visitors but… do you want to make money or not? Don’t be a nerd, make your monetization as relevant to each page of your site as possible.

b) Then you need to convince them to take the action. Bloggers and friendly content writers too often fear being the big bad sales person. But it’s the same deal, if you’re promoting products/ads/links that will help people and that you believe in, why be scared to put your sales hat on?

You need to include calls to action, tell your readers what you want them to do:

“So dog training doesn’t have to be such a pain, CLICK HERE to learn how you can get a truly obedient dog in just a few minutes a day”

“If you found this valuable, check out the banner at the top of the screen to get XYZ benefit that is really attractive”

etc

And make the call to action stand out too. Put it in bold, a different colour, put >>> towards it, test whatever you like to make sure that whatever happens, they SEE IT!

ALSO, HOT TIP: Include links/calls to action in the middle of your post as well as the end. Some people aren’t going to read all the way to the end of the post and are going to leave your site anyway, so why not have them leave on a link that could make you some money?

3. What you don’t measure, you can’t improve. It’s no good doing any of this stuff if you’re not testing to see what difference it makes. Get your metrics first, so you know how many clicks/opt ins/sales you’re getting per visitor, then start testing your changes. Make a change, leave it for a few hundred (thousand, depending on your traffic) visitors and note the difference.

Stick with what works, and keep testing different variations of what doesn’t.

The reality is that it’s going to take alot of experimentation to be able to maximize your blog revenue but if you’re committed to testing, trying new things, and doing more to truly understand your visitors, anyone can make more money from their existing blog.

This is a good read for those who want to build a “blog income”. You have complete giveaway rights to this ebook should you wish to share it. Get it Here!

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Blogging For Moolah

Blogging For Moolah
Here’s a free gift. Blogging for Moolah - how to monetize your blog, or even start a blog with the intention to make money.

This is a good read for those who want to build a “blog income”. You have complete giveaway rights to this ebook should you wish to share it. Get it Here!

Get BloggingToTheBank

Blog Marketing Tips: Turn Your Blogging Traffic Into Sales

John V
http://Email-Marketing-Cashflow.blogspot.com

John C. Vincent/CEO/The Opt-In Marketing System
http://urlfreeze.com/JCV/BloggingToTheBank/
http://urlfreeze.com/JCV/BlogMastermind/

How To Make Money From Your Blog

John V
http://Email-Marketing-Cashflow.blogspot.com

John C. Vincent/CEO/The Opt-In Marketing System
http://urlfreeze.com/JCV/BloggingToTheBank/
http://urlfreeze.com/JCV/BlogMastermind/

How Anyone Can Cash In With Their Own Blog

When you hear the term "blogger" do you think of yourself? If you're like many people then you might find the idea intimidating! While most people enjoy reading blogs, there are few people who think they can become bloggers themselves. It's time to put that thinking aside because anyone can run a successful blog!

One of the major hang-ups is that some people don't like to write. If you find this is a problem for you, it can feel like getting your blog started is hopeless. The good news is that you don't have to be Mark Twain to write good content. People care less about how you say it and more about what you're actually saying.

It also helps that content is generally expected to be short and to the point on the web. People are so busy these days that breaking your text into small paragraphs and bullet points is ideal. That makes your life easier as well!

Another hang-up you might have is that you don't consider yourself to be an expert on any one topic. Once again, you can easily overcome this. The way that people go from being in the dark to being an expert is by researching! Research your topic and start writing about it and you'll be an expert soon enough.

Now that you know you CAN start your own blog, it's helpful to know how you can cash in! Basically, people are always looking for information on the web. There are also always people who are buying things online. You're going to attract people with the things you write, and set your blog up so that you can entice them to buy things they are interested in. It's a great way to make money!

Your first step needs to be picking a topic that will be a good money-maker for you. Look to see if there are ads and products readily available. You should also try to narrow your topic down so it's easier for people to find you. For example, instead of "weight loss" you might write about "weight loss for first time moms." Narrowing things down is helpful for you and your blog visitors!

After you've chosen your topic you will:

Find a domain name
Get hosting
Do Keyword research
Write Content
Monetize

That's a very simplified version of the steps you're going to take, but that's all there really is to it! Blogging is something that does take some time and effort, but it's also something that anyone can do. You can cut down your learning time a lot by looking to the blogging experts to learn their exact process. You can tweak things and make them your own from there!

After that, cashing in is just a matter of writing content, choosing the best monetization strategy, and watching the profits start to roll in. The best thing for you to do right now is to decide that you are going to become a blogger, and take action right away. Success is right at your fingertips.

http://Email-Marketing-Cashflow.blogspot.com