For the last three years, I've been preparing income taxes for people. I like the work, and am happy to talk about tax law when people call with questions. I find it's helpful to teach my clients about aspects of the tax law that apply to their situation. So naturally it made sense for me to create Income Tax Advice.
At first I just wanted to talk about the amusing situations in which I found myself. Then I started sharing advice and teaching about interesting features of tax law. I also found a few articles to share. I hope the blog is helpful or entertaining to visitors. One great thing about it is how focused the AdSense ads are. By keeping my articles all about taxes, the ads are all for tax services and software. Should I write more often, I've little doubt that my blog will climb up the search rankings and visitors will click on those ads.
And that's one reason we do this. While you're probably reading this to learn how to make money online, and are interested in making money with blogspot, there should be a part of you that just likes to write. Because, as I've explained often, you need to post a lot to make your blog interesting to both the people and search engines that visit it. So it should be a labor of love.
Your own cyber soap box
I created The Cantankerous Consumer so I could vent about the stupid things companies do to their customers. Instead of steaming about a negative consumer experience, I use the blog to express my dissatisfaction with the store or other business that doesn't seem to understand customer service.
In my career, I've always been focused on service. To me, my boss, my coworkers, our vendors... everyone is a customer. I treat them all the way I would want to be treated. It's actually easy to deliver good customer service, so I don't understand why so many people go out of their way to not do it. So, it's very frustrating to me when I am subject to bad service.
It's also very satisfying to enjoy great service. To be fair to all, I don't hesitate to let a company know when they've done a very good job. Or tell a manager that one of his or her employees did a really good job. As much as I write about bad service, I'm even happier to tell of good service.
So The Cantankerous Consumer was created to tell it all. And that's what you can do too. If there's a topic about which you like to write, and can write about often, then that's a topic which can be the subject of your blog. Regardless of what your topic is, there are going to be people searching for it (go ahead, enter anything into the free keyword tool and see how many people search for that). If they're searching, they'll find you. If they find you, your traffic will translate to ad clicks. That's how your cyber soap box will become your money maker.
In my career, I've always been focused on service. To me, my boss, my coworkers, our vendors... everyone is a customer. I treat them all the way I would want to be treated. It's actually easy to deliver good customer service, so I don't understand why so many people go out of their way to not do it. So, it's very frustrating to me when I am subject to bad service.
It's also very satisfying to enjoy great service. To be fair to all, I don't hesitate to let a company know when they've done a very good job. Or tell a manager that one of his or her employees did a really good job. As much as I write about bad service, I'm even happier to tell of good service.
So The Cantankerous Consumer was created to tell it all. And that's what you can do too. If there's a topic about which you like to write, and can write about often, then that's a topic which can be the subject of your blog. Regardless of what your topic is, there are going to be people searching for it (go ahead, enter anything into the free keyword tool and see how many people search for that). If they're searching, they'll find you. If they find you, your traffic will translate to ad clicks. That's how your cyber soap box will become your money maker.
Use social media to promote your blog
Once you get your blog set up and have begun making regular posts to it, create a Facebook page and Twitter account associated with your blog. Whenever you post to your blog, send a tweet or post to you page's wall on Facebook.
Tell your Facebook friends about your page, and from there they'll learn about your blog. The more ways you get the word out, the more traffic you'll drive to you and the more money you'll make.
Tell your Facebook friends about your page, and from there they'll learn about your blog. The more ways you get the word out, the more traffic you'll drive to you and the more money you'll make.
Say something
Anything. Yesterday I told you how important it was to post often to your blog. Here's a couple of examples.
One advantage of my photo blog is that I'm always taking photos and thus have many opportunities to make posts to the blog. Even though "a picture is worth a thousand words," I don't think the search engines place as much value on images as they do on text. So I try to add descriptive text and a short story to each photo I post.
Did I say a couple of examples? You bet. One is this post itself. Talk about meta.
One advantage of my photo blog is that I'm always taking photos and thus have many opportunities to make posts to the blog. Even though "a picture is worth a thousand words," I don't think the search engines place as much value on images as they do on text. So I try to add descriptive text and a short story to each photo I post.
Did I say a couple of examples? You bet. One is this post itself. Talk about meta.
You're bulding something here
The basic foundation of a successful blog is the accumulation of your blog posts. The more you create, and the more frequently you create, and the higher quality of your creations, the better you will do and the more money you will make.
Why? Simply because that will give both your human visitors and the search engines a reason to visit your blog. The search engines check for updates more when they know that a blog updates often. The more they see, the more they index, and the more that can be found in searches. Human visitors aren't a lot different. If they know you've got constantly changing content and new reasons to visit, they'll come back often too.
Do you know what they call a web site that doesn't ever change? A cobweb site. Don't be one of those. Keep writing for your blog, and keep finding content you can add to your blog, and you'll soon be making money with blogspot!
Why? Simply because that will give both your human visitors and the search engines a reason to visit your blog. The search engines check for updates more when they know that a blog updates often. The more they see, the more they index, and the more that can be found in searches. Human visitors aren't a lot different. If they know you've got constantly changing content and new reasons to visit, they'll come back often too.
Do you know what they call a web site that doesn't ever change? A cobweb site. Don't be one of those. Keep writing for your blog, and keep finding content you can add to your blog, and you'll soon be making money with blogspot!
Hiking the money trail
My first blog went through a few iterations before becoming what it is today, Colorado-Wilderness. At first I thought it would be about photography, but when I started a full-blown website devoted to photography, I figured this should be something else. I go hiking almost every week in the summer and fall, and like sharing my photos from the hikes, and it's easy to write a few lines about the place I went, so creating a blog about hiking and camping Colorado seemed like a good idea.
Notice how I make full use of the text boxes on top and in the right sidebar to work in keywords about hiking, camping, backpacking, etc. Between all that text and the content of my posts, it's not hard for AdSense to figure out what type of ads to place there.
Other things to note include my use of affiliate advertising and the pages feature. At first I just had single entries devoted to camp food, backpack checklists, etc. but I made them into pages to visitors could find them easily. I think stand-alone pages are easy for search engines to find as well.
This blog is a consistent earner for me, and will continue to be one if I keep posting with any regularity.
Notice how I make full use of the text boxes on top and in the right sidebar to work in keywords about hiking, camping, backpacking, etc. Between all that text and the content of my posts, it's not hard for AdSense to figure out what type of ads to place there.
Other things to note include my use of affiliate advertising and the pages feature. At first I just had single entries devoted to camp food, backpack checklists, etc. but I made them into pages to visitors could find them easily. I think stand-alone pages are easy for search engines to find as well.
This blog is a consistent earner for me, and will continue to be one if I keep posting with any regularity.
Zen and the Art of Money Making
You never know when or where inspiration will strike. A friend on Facebook posted something about Zentangle, and I had no idea what it was. I did a quick search on Google, and found that it's some sort of meditation through doodling. Actually, to those who take it really seriously, that's an oversimplification. It seemed like the type of thing that would develop a following, and thus something about which I could easily create a new blog.
Zentangling began in January, and already receives a dozen visitors a day. As I explained in my three-step process, a keyword search showed me what words to use in my text boxes and labels. I created a Facebook page to promote the blog, and every time I have a new blog post, I add a link to it on the wall.
Zentangling began in January, and already receives a dozen visitors a day. As I explained in my three-step process, a keyword search showed me what words to use in my text boxes and labels. I created a Facebook page to promote the blog, and every time I have a new blog post, I add a link to it on the wall.
My newest money-making blog - Green Power
When trying to decide what theme your blog should have, you can:
- Write about what you know - what's easier than sharing your expertise or passion for a subject?
- Discover a new interest - if there's a topic that interests you, learn about it - and write about what you've learned
- Stay abreast of trends - what's up-and-coming in the world? Find a trend that others may be looking up, and create a money-making blog by responding to their searches
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