Why did you get into blogging?
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I started a blog simply because it just made sense. I have had several different versions of my own site online since about 1996, when I first started spending time on the internet. Over the years, I learned a lot about how to build websites, how not to build websites, and what I should expect to encounter during the 'running a site' process.
Back in the day, I would code all of my own websites in pure HTML using the best website building tool ever, Notepad. Was it a lot of work? Sure. Was it worth it? Well, yes. I was able to set up a place where I could post my own thoughts and ideas (even though nobody ever saw it). The format was pretty cool, as well. I'd have date stamped updates whenever I would post a new thought...it was great.
And it was a blog before blogging as we know it.
So fast forward to today. I don't hand code my HTML anymore. I'm just too lazy for that, and I really don't remember a lot of it, since I don't use it. Now I just run WordPress. Really, it's faster and easier (although since I can't make my own themes and I don't have the cash on hand to buy a custom theme it doesn't always look how I envision it).
Getting started in blogging, for me, was just a logical progression from what I was already doing.
Why did you get into blogging? Leave your comments below!
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Happy New Year from The Sugarbuzz Project!
Photo by Optical Illusion
Welcome to 2010, everybody! It's time to look ahead and see what kind of goals we can wreck...er...set for this new year. But before we do that, let's take a look at our goals from the past year and see how we did.
So my biggest goal was to see if I could make $1000 on the internet this past year. If you recall, back in 2008 my goal was only $500, which I reached. Doubling that amount really was easy to do, especially thanks to a stellar CPC campaign that I found over at Logical Media. Unfortunately, that campaign is now a thing of the past, but with that single campaign I ended up pulling in over HALF of my goal. Not bad for $0.10 per click, right?
2009 was definitely the year of Twitter income for me. Not only did I find a beautiful CPC campaign to (ab)use on Twitter, but I found many other avenues that worked great for monetizing my Twitter account. If you want to know a bit more on how I made money on Twitter, just click here.
Another major goal was to start building my Twitter following. If I remember correctly, my goal was to have 1,000 followers. What can I say? That was easy.
So what about 2010?
I'm glad you asked. Here's a short list of goals for 2010:
1. Instead of increasing my monetary goal twofold like I did last year, I think keeping it at the same level will be a good idea. So my goal for 2010 for web-based income will stay at $1000.
2. Find creative ways to do some marketing. I would actually like to have a decent side income from my web activities. I mean, I realize that this blog is really just a hobby, but if it can help me pay my bills, why not? Especially since my job is at risk and I've been dealing with some very serious personal issues. The more money I can make the better. My goal is to actually find new techniques that work.
Really, those are my two goals for 2010. I have proven to myself that it is doable. Now I just have to do it.
Outside of this blog, my goals are to be a better role model to my children and friends. This year has been personally devastating for me. I've pretty much lost everything that I held dear; namely my family. So now that I'm dealing with a painful divorce, it's been difficult to keep myself motivated as I should be. The last six months have been hell on earth for me, and I plan to do better for my children as well as for myself. The last thing they need is a dad who they perceive as someone who doesn't care about them. And right now, the best (if not only) way I can do that is to work hard, pray hard, and just try to do the best I can.
I've also submitted my application to go back to college, so we'll see how that works out. I've got about 14 days left to sign up for classes, and my car is dead where it stands. I'm working on a plan to get another car right now, so that should be fun if I can get it going.
Well, that about wraps it up for this year. I hope you all have the best year ever in 2010!
If you like these posts and want to stay in the loop, please subscribe to my RSS feed and follow me on Twitter. And if you really like this stuff, you can buy me a coffee! Oh, and if you like being an insider, be sure to join the mailing list...I never spam, but you will get some insider specials!
Do You Have Personality?
I just got in for lunch from doing a bit of looking around town for a part time job. I was at this place, and I met the owner, and one of the first things he said to me was "You've got personality."
I wasn't sure if this was a positive thing or a negative thing.
Of course, when it comes to blogging, personality can mean the difference between dry, boring, and dare I say normal content and the type of content that keeps readers coming back for more. The advantage to blogging is that you actually want to put yourself into the mix, because if you don't, reading your blog can be as boring as reading a financial newspaper.
But in the analog world, I'm pretty sure it would be difficult to find someone with the personality of Jim Carey or Fred LeBlanc (Cowboy Mouth, woohoo!) sitting on the board of directors. Not that it couldn't happen, but I kind of doubt that it would be likely.
Anyway, have you ever been told that you have personality? By whom? Did it work out in your favor or did you want to go back and show them just how much personality you did have?
Comments, leave 'em!
If you like these posts and want to stay in the loop, please subscribe to my RSS feed and follow me on Twitter. And if you really like this stuff, you can buy me a coffee! Oh, and if you like being an insider, be sure to join the mailing list...I never spam, but you will get some insider specials!
How does John Chow make money blogging?
I've been watching this video off and on. It's a presentation that answers the question 'what does John Chow do to make money with his blog?'. This is very good information! There's a lot of marketers on the net that would charge for this kind of information, but here it is, free to the web.
You can either see it at JC's blog, which can be found here, or watch the video below.
My Blog Business Model from John Chow on Vimeo.
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Diversity in Monetization
It seems like every time I'm hanging around on the Digital Point forums, I see somebody ask questions along the line of 'how can I make money online with my site?' only to be bombarded with a salvo of answers that contain one piece of advice.
Not that getting a random persons favorite network (most likely Google AdSense) is a bad thing, but many people fail to branch out beyond one network at a time and simply choose to sit around scratching their heads wondering why they aren't putting money in their pocket.
If you have ever watched any stock market advice shows, or listened to Dave Ramsey, you already know the best method. The answer is simple: diversify!
First, if your website is getting a ton of traffic, then Google AdSense might be a good thing to run. However, if you only rely on AdSense for income, you are not playing with a full deck. You are simply trusting that some of those visitors will click on the ads. Since that's not guaranteed (and many people tend to get ad blindness), you need to do more than just run AdSense.
You might look into something a bit more mouse-catching, like Kontera. No, I'm not saying replace AdSense...run both! Kontera, at least for me, gets more clicks because many people are curious about the double underlined keywords in my articles. Not only that, but there are many people on the net that aren't quite as marketing savvy as some of us, and see a link that looks a bit funny and are, for some unknown reason, compelled to click it just to see what happens.
Yeah, those are the people that want you to fix their computer on the weekends because their kids broke the dang thing on that internet...whatsit...
But lets' take this a step further. You can have all of the good traffic in the world, but if people don't click your AdSense or Kontera links, you get nothing. That's why, if you are pulling good traffic, you need to also get hooked up with a CPM ad network like ADSDAQ or AdBrite. That way, you get paid based on the number of impressions the ad makes, regardless of whether people click it or not.
Also, if your blog is well established, you could probably sell some adspace directly to readers or other bloggers in your niche. Pure profit is a good thing!
If you are only using one or two monetiziation methods on your site, you are missing out on untapped opportunity. Branch out! Get paid!
If you like these posts and want to stay in the loop, please subscribe to my RSS feed and follow me on Twitter. And if you really like this stuff, you can buy me a coffee! Oh, and if you like being an insider, be sure to join the mailing list...I never spam, but you will get some insider specials!
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