How To Monetize Your Blog - Part 1
Whether you already have a blog or are about to start one, the thought of making some money off your blog must have surely crossed your mind. Here are some useful tips on how to go about monetizing your blog:
Get a Domain Name and a Website Host
Getting your own domain name and hosting is a must. Sure, there are many sites (e.g. MySpace, Facebook, Wordpress.com, Blogger) which allow you to start up a website for free. However, your options to successfully monetize your blog will be limited.
In order for you to get paid for traffic from your site, you will actually have to own your website. That means you have to buy a domain name (e.g. www.mydomainname.com) and pay for your hosting yourself. Otherwise, you won’t be able to put ads on your website. First, advertisers will only work with you if you are the registered owner of the website. Second, the companies that offer free website space won’t allow you to put up your own ads. It’s as simple as that. They want all the advertising dollars for themselves. That’s how they make money after all.
Owning your own website also has other advantages. When you own your website, you’re the boss. That means, you can make all the changes to it that you want. You can customize way better than any free hosting platform would allow to do. What’s more, paid hosting plans also let you receive a lot more traffic. Since you’re paying for bandwidth, they’d better give you a lot of it.
Once you’ve decided you want to have your own website, you have to find a company to register your domain name and host your website. There are many companies to choose from. While it’s possible to register your domain name with one company and get a hosting plan with another, it’s usually easier and cheaper to get both from the same company. In fact, most companies let you register at least one domain name for free when you sign up for a hosting plan with them.
I put together a list of the major players in the domain name and website hosting business. Top Website Hosting & Domain Services
The plans and features they offer vary. Some hosting providers give you the choice between hosting plans with Linux servers vs. Microsoft servers. Linux servers are generally better suited for people who want to run a blog or forum website. In fact, the most popular blog and forum softwares (e.g. Wordpress and phBB) are available for Linux servers only. Don’t be confused by the name. Anybody with a Microsoft OS or any other non-Linux OS will still be able to access your website. In fact, my own website uses a Linux server, too.
The two hosting companies that I’d recommend the most are BlueHost and DreamHost. Both companies give you a free domain name and plenty of website space and bandwidth. Bluehost is said to provide somewhat better customer service than DreamHost. On the other hand, there’s a $50 coupon (Coupon Code: HOSTING50) you can use with DreamHost. So I have to say DreamHost is the better deal overall.
Build your Site
Once you got your domain name and website hosting set up, you need to build your site. If you’re going to set up a blog, I highly recommend Wordpress. It’s easily the most popular blogging software out there. Best of all, it’s free and easy to install and use. You won’t need any programming skills to use Wordpress. It’s extremely user-friendly.
If you want to set up a discussion board, you should consider phpBB. It’s a little more difficult to set up but just as popular and free of course. That said, you should realize that it’s a lot more difficult to run a discussion board than it is to run a blog. Most importantly, for your discussion board to succeed, you need way more visitors. With a blog, you’re the only person who has to post anything. Sure, others can comment on your post, so you can still have some sort of discussion, but you’re the person who provides the topic. With a full-fledged discussion board, you need much greater participation. You can’t be the only topic starter. The bottom line is that a discussion board needs very high traffic and member participation to succeed. Needless to say, that’s very difficult to do when you’re just starting out.
Find the Right Topic for Your Website
If you want a lot of visitors to your website, you have to realize that your website will have to be as much about them as as it is about you. If you think you’re very special, you can talk about your daily life and post a lot of pictures of yourself. Well, if you’re really hot, that strategy might work. Otherwise, you might be better off talking about things that you know a lot about. Try to find a niche for yourself. Something that makes your website unique and something that you are passionate about and that you can see yourself writing about for months if not years. That way you are also less likely to compete against other more established websites.
How To Monetize Your Blog - Part 2
How To Monetize Your Blog - Part 3
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