Friday, February 6, 2009

A Profitable Blog Starts With A Long Term Plan

By Ian Pelham

A lot of folks are out there wanting to blog for cash. This is a goal almost anyone can accomplish if theyre reasonably intelligent, want to work hard and know the basics of blogging.

However, very few people manage to reap the profits they want from their blog. Most people who attempt to make money with their blogs do not succeed for two reasons.

They meet with disappointment and this can destroy the desire they had to continue in the process.

Others just dont plan. They want to turn a profit with blogs but dont realize their plan is unrealistic so they dont stick with it.

In order to be successful at for-profit blogging, youll need a large readership. The more traffic you have, the more that advertises will pay you.

However, cultivating the regular visitors that you will need in order to make a profit isn't easy. As more and more blogs appear each day, having a great idea or a wonderful writing style is no longer enough to get attention. You need to be able to market your blog effectively.

Too many bloggers spend all of their time writing posts and almost no time marketing their project. To be certain, updating as often as you can is a great way to keep your blog high on blogrolls and high in blog search engines like technorati, and once your readers know that you update frequently they will return to your site on a regular basis.

It doesnt matter how often you update your blog if no one is going to your page.

Take the time to bring visitors to your site, partly by setting up link exchanges with other bloggers. Make contacts within the community of bloggers so that you can win traffic to your site.

Even if you have the greatest idea for a blog and are a marketing genius, you will not sustain success for awhile. You need time to build up your readership and it will probably take several months for you to even turn a profit.

Stay committed to your blog project even through this difficult time and youll attract the visitors you want to attract. Then reward yourself for being so thorough and sticking with a marketing/blog plan.

There are many free blogging tools on the market, but loading up your blog with all of the free accessories that you can find isn't necessarily a good idea.

Visitor counters, an exciting font, free .gif photos and a flashy background might actually backfire. The trick to getting the most out of these kinds of tools is to be selective about them.

Make an informed decision about what you can put on your blog by checking out the different kinds of free blogging software and tools out there. Dont forget that just because its there, it doesnt mean you have to put it on your site.

Be restrained and select only those options that will be of use to you. If you can find out your visitor count through some other method, you wont need a visitor counter on your site. If you have a text-based blog, having a much too flashy background will only distract the reader from the site.

Assess what items you do need and be realistic about what will work. Even a free blog tool will not really be an asset to you in the long run. - 21151

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