Making money with Blogspot - Step Three

In steps One and Two, you learned how to create a blog and customize it for maximum appeal and profitability.  Now you need to populate your blog with substance. 

It's time to start writing about the topic you chose in step one.  From the dashboard, click on the blue New Post button.  You'll get a screen that contains this:

Before you begin writing whatever you want, try to structure it a little.  Take a look at your keyword list and think of how you can incorporate several of the words and phrases into your title and prose.  Consider writing offline first, either in WordPad or some other word-processing program, and then cut-and-paste your results into the blog.

Your long-term goal is to create many posts, or articles, on your blog's main topic.  The more you have, the more appealing your blog will be to visitors, and the higher it will rank in the search engines. 

See the "labels" box on the lower right?  That's another place to fill up with keywords.  the more keywords on your page, the more the easier it will be for both the search engines and AdSense to know what your page is all about.  That's important, because then your blog comes up in search results performed by potential visitors, and ads that appeal to them appear on your pages.

Making Money with Blogspot.com - Step Two

In Step One, you created a blog using keyword research to choose an effective title and address.  Now we'll see how you can customize your blog so it's more helpful to the visitors, more appealing to the search engines, and more profitable to you.

You can click "customize" from the blogspot bar on top of your blog, or click the "layout" link on your dashboard, and you'll get to a screen that has something like this near the top:

Take a little time to click each of the tabs and see what's on them.  Below each tab is a selection of links for that tab.  There are many customizable features to your blog, and making your blog unique will impress your visitors. 

Once you've given yourself an overview of the customization, click on the "Monetize" tab and select one of the three choices there (I recommend accepting the top one) and click the orange button at the bottom to confirm your choice.  There are several ways to customize the monetization, and we'll return to that later.

Now click on the "Layout" tab and get a screen that has this in the middle:

Familiarize yourself with the different sections of your blog's page.  Essentially, there's a top, side, middle (where the blog entries will be), and bottom (or footer).  The top section is where your blog's title and description will be.  If you've not already done so, click on the edit link to add a description to your blog.

Remember this page from Google's free keyword tool:

If you didn't print it out (or export the contents to a file on your pc), you can always revisit the link and enter your primary keyword again.  The reason for this is to find related keywords that you can work into your description.  There will be other places to use these, so I like to print out the pages and highlight the ones that are both applicable to my site's content and are easy to work into text.

The next thing I like to do is click the "Add a Gadget" link for the top section (you'll want to do this for all sections, but this is as good a place as any to start).  Look at all the choices available.  Some of this are more appropriate for some sections of your blog than others.  For the sake of appearance and functionality, I like to add just two "gadgets" to the top section of my blog: AdSense and Text. 

Click the plus sign next to AdSense, and a small window will pop up that lets you customize the AdSense gadget on top of your blog page.  It's your choice, but I prefer banners here.  Depending on the template you chose, you may go with a 468x60 banner or a 728x90 leaderboard.  Leave the button set to text and images, and accept the blending color choices by clicking the orange "Save" button in the bottom right corner of the window.

You can add the text now, or save this step for later.  Whenever you do it, bear in mind why you're doing it.  The text will greet your visitors - both people and search engines - and tell them more about your site than you were able to fit in the description below the title.  Be sure to refer to your keyword list, and include several related keywords that not only provide a more thorough description of your site, but helps AdSense know what ads to include?

What?  How does AdSense know what ads to put on my page?

Google's AdSense is context-sensitive.  Google will read your page and guess what it's about from your content.  It will then choose ads that relate to your content, and thus appeal to your visitors.  That's another reason it's very important that you use high-value, related keywords in your title, description, text, and even your posts.

Now look at the gadgets on the side of your layout page.  This is another great place for an AdSense gadget.  I like one of the vertical banners (either 160x600 or 120x600), but you may opt for the 125x125 button. 

The side is also where I like to include the search box, blog archive, and sometimes my profile (if you choose to create a blogspot profile, it can appear on as many of your blogs as you choose, but it will be the same one for each blog, so make one that's appropriate for all of them).

Continue around the layout page and customize each section to your liking.  You can always come back later and change these so don't worry that you're committed to any choices you make.

As far as AdSense goes, your page is limited to three ads.  If you have one at the top and one on the side, then only one will appear between posts (if you choose that option) or bottom of the screen.  If you select AdSense for more places, then some will be blank.

Next: Adding content.

Making Money with Blogspot.com - Step One

Congratulations.  You're about to start making money online!

The first step is to think about what you know or what you like doing, and would like to write about.  That's going to be your frst blog (oh yeah, once you start doing this, you're going to want to have several blogs).

Now visit Blogspot's home page and create an account or log in with your Google ID.  After you click on the Create New Blog link, you'll see a screen that contains this:

Choosing your title and blog address are very important steps.  Avoid the mistake that many people make when they enter their name or something they think is cute or funny.  If your blog is going to be successful, you want your title and address to be words that people are searching for.

Open a new tab or broswer window, and go to Google's free Keyword Tool.  This is designed for their AdWords customers, but works just as well for you.  You should see a screen that looks like this:

Enter your blog idea in the box, enter the verification word in the box below, and click the "Get keywords ideas" button.  If you enter "model trains," for example, you might see results like this:

At this point, I click the column heading "Global Monthly Search volume" to sort the results in descending order.  Look at all the search terms related to your idea.  The bigger the numbers, the more people have searched for that term in Google.

If you scroll down the page, you'll see additional search terms related to yours:

Either print out these pages or export them to a file you can save on your computer.  They're all valuable words that you're going to want to use.

Now go back to the window or tab where you were creating your blog, and find a really good blog address that's available.  What's a really good address?  It's one that says what you do, and is also a popular search term. 

In our example, we might try "modeltrains" or "model-trains" (without the quotation marks, of course).  Try one and click on the "Check Availability" link.  Don't be discouraged if your first few choices are taken.  That's why we have the list of keywords.  Maybe we'll have to use "train-sets" or "toy-trains" for our address. 

Remember, you're trying to find an address that is relevant to your blog's theme, and is something that people are searching for. 

Once you find something that is available, Use the same terms for your blog's title (in the box above the address box).  Why?  The search engines love this.  And if the search engines love it, then you'll rank high in search results and thus get more traffic. 

Once you've completed these steps, enter a verification word and click on the "Continue" link.  On the next page you'll choose a template that appeals to you. 

Congratulations!  You've just created your blog, and are ready to start building it up!

Next: Using gadgets to create a layout that makes your blog work.

How to make money online.

Have you ever wondered who is making money online?  Did you think it was possible to make money from home using your computer?  Are you ready to join the thousands of people who have already learned how to make money on the internet?

Then today is your big day!

Right now you're reading one of my many blogs.  This one is about making money, but I have others devoted to my favorite hobbies and interests.  I also have several full-fledged websites that earn me money too.  Why?  Because I'm tired of working for others, and have learned that you have to take control of your future - especially in this economy.

If you've never made your own blog, I'll show you how build one.
If you have created a blog or two, I'll show you how to make them better.
If you have a few blogs, but don't have much traffic, I'll show you how to fix that.
If your blogs have traffic, but aren't making you any money, I'll show you how to monetize them.
If you have a money-making blog, but want to join the big leagues, I'll show you how to create a real website that does that!