He asked me for a solution that time. Frankly, even I was little perplexed on the way forward. The issue is that his content is fit for really serious folks and there is a limited way I could help him. Then something happened. I had asked all my clients for a “blog road map for 2010.” I had forwarded some blogging resources found in this site. So, he wrote back again stating that he needed to monetize. I too got out of my mental logjam and forwarded him some ad networks to register. The first one to approve him was Adbrite. Then the second one to approve him was chitika.

Frankly, I was skeptical about the combination. But, in the back of the mind, I thought, if Chitika + Adsense then, why not chitika + Adbrite ?

Frankly, the small Indian blogs could use this as an option if they have similar problem.

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The increase will take effect on January 13th, 2010. This increase will not affect previously made bids, your previous bids will continue to pay 65%.

Those who can, should increase the price of the blog listed there. You cannot complain much, Sponsored Reviews is the best out there in its class.

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Well, you can tell by the way I use my blog,
I’m a looser’s man—no time to talk.
Traffic is down and no one’s around, I’ve been kicked around
Since I was born.
And now it’s all right. It’s OK.
And you may look the other way.
We can try to understand
The Blogging Times’ effect on man.

Blogging’s goin’ nowhere, somebody help me, yeah yeah yeah, Stayin’ alive!

I absolutely loved (I still love it) this song in my fledgling blogging career. The scars are permanently etched in my memory. Heck, every time I pitch to the client, I start with “you don’t want your website to be hanging in internet and no one will ever see…” No, its not fear psychosis that I use to sell my services to them (you see that is an old paradigm in selling, I subscribe to newer ones BUHAHAHAHAHAH!), it’s my own fear psychosis that haunts me. At the same time, as years have gone by, it helped me to drive my clients websites too. If not paid for doing it, I always make it a point to remind them to do it.

Bloggers need motivation at various stages. I will stop at and address just the second stage.

Stage I: Potential bloggers need motivation to start a blog. Almost everyone has a latent desire to blog, but, it has to be translated to action.
Stage II: Beginner bloggers to keep going. This is where the blogger can make or break his blog.

Right, you followed my guide on a good blog and wrote your first content. Then you wrote your second content, then the third one, then the ……. 4th one. No one came to your blog and then you get bit demoralized. Trust me, you have all the reasons to get demoralized. You deserve it. But, atleast you figured out that by just creating a blog and writing some sentences is not enough. so, you followed my other post on “possiblng ways to get blog traffic” and tell some of your friends to come and visit. But, to no avail. You know, getting traffic is damn hard. It’s even harder to retain it. You should understand that folks on internet are in tearing hurry and have no time. The internet is such a big place that some one has already done what you are trying to do and probably done it better. They have first mover advantage and are slick bloggers. To get your head out of blogging waters and make a blogging watermark is going to take helluva time.

Get a fact in your head booster, good bloggers work very hard even when they have succeeded. You need to work equally hard.

What is the solution?

Be honest. Have right expectations. This is very important. Its not possible to grow one of the biggest blogs with dry topics. In my opinion, things that sell are celebrities (I am trying to be modest) or Movies or Gadgets etc. There are exceptions in every category. So the subject of your blog is say ‘soda Ash,’ don’t expect ‘celebrity blog’ kind of traffic. Expect similar response in making money on that blog. The demotivation comes from wrong expectations. Another point is the traffic won’t drive in, you have to drive the traffic. In a day, take some time to drive traffic ( “possiblng ways to get blog traffic” ). You need to shout to be heard.

You can even try two blogs, one for your subject matter and other for popular subjects. This might also reduce your demotivation. I tried that sometime back and it worked for me.

I have addressed the core issues of demotivation during blogging. Other motivation points are the general everyday motivation techniques we use, after all, blogging is no different from the things we do everyday.

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I wanted to tell you the most important point in the beginning, but, you will have to scroll down to figure what it is?

Few Important Points

1) You definitely need writing skills. Its very important. Actually more important that the subject matter. If you don’t have those skills, don’t worry, practice makes man perfect. You don’t need a degree in writing skills.
2) Just ensure that you are to the point. On internet, people don’t have much patience and have low attention span. See that you don’t write anything that is just for the sake of writing. Remember, people won’t read it for the sake of reading. They might not come back.
3) Don’t be rude. Didn’t your Pa (or Ma) tell you that?
4) Put up a great heading and it should be simple to understand.
5) Post a content at least once a day. I know you will have issue doing this, but, I will clarify this in a different post on how you can remain motivated to do this.
6) Never copy anyone’s content. If you have to, credit them.
7) Be original. If you try to pretend, people will come to know.
8) Use simple words. Don’t write tough sounding words, so that people will have to sit with a dictionary (unless you are trying to teach English).
9) Try not to put up a lengthy post unless you have to.
10) Keep the content neat, Like proper headings, paragraph separations etc.

This is what I originally wanted to tell you “Content is the King.” This will make or break your blog. If you can’t, never try to make a great content, because, there is no such thing as great content. Make workable content, this is important.

If you have more such ideas, you are open to tell me that in the comment box.

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I am not sure what will work for you but, I will try to attempt to give you how it could be done. Before, we go into the traffic building detail, you must post atleast 6 or more post on your blog. This will help you when the search engine spiders come to visit your blog.

Search Engine Submission

When I started my first website, I went took time to submit it on google via this http://blogsearch.google.com/ping. Then I used http://www.google.com/addurl/ . This two are an absolute must. There are so many free websites which enable you to submit your website to other search engines. http://www.addme.com/submission/free-submission-start.php is an example. Please use them.

Over the years, the search engine submission and using google webmaster tools has done a lot good for my sites. The “search” traffic is the most important traffic you should look into.

Blog Broadcasters

There are a lot of sites like Digg, technorati, stumble upon etc where you should submit your article links. It helps a lot. A lot of time, the traffic it brings will boost your confidence.

RSS Feeds and Email Alerts.
Once some traffic comes to your blog, offer them RSS Feeds (default with many blog softwares) and Email Alerts Facility to them.

Blog Directory
Just search google for “Blog directories” and see the results. Try to submit your blog there. Most of the Blog directories have minimum criteria like “unique URL / Domain name”, minimum 6 months of existence and recent posts.

Posting links
You can post your links to other similar blogs. You should not spam. You can participate in their discussion and link to your article for adding to your debate. If you don’t, your post will be deleted and your time will be wasted.

Content Uniqueness
Though, I will address the content is a separate post in “What makes good content for a blog.” The uniqueness of the content will bring traffic back.

Social Networks
Now a days social networks like twitter and facebook will help you bring in traffic. Use them.

Paid Traffic

I have seen may blogs advertising in in google adwords. This is fine. There are other options like revisitors .Personally, I have not used them. But if you are looking at paying for traffic, this could be an option.

As I wrote before, there are only the possible ways. Some people are already well connected and they can email their blog url to them. Some blogs are interest group centric and hence get the traffic. Your method could be different. You can post your comment on how you increased your traffic. My next post will be “What to do once the blog traffic starts.”

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Generally, its very useful that you start a blog on subject that is close to your heart or you are the subject matter specialist. Don’t blog for the sake of making money. I started like that. I started with something that was close to my heart and ofcourse, I was a subject matter specialist on that. I did not do it to make money.

let me begin by saying that blogging is going to cost you. Blogging cost will include money, time and emotions, atleast these are the biggest cost in my opinion. On the other side, blogging can be fun, emotionally satisfying and if lucky, you will have traffic and some money. Having defined the “whats in for me” of blogging, lets get to basics of blogging.

Free blog vs Exclusive blog

If you are a beginner, you must start with a free blog like blogger or typead or wordpress to get the hang of blogging. The money cost is not much, the other costs described above may be much more. If you manage to grow your blog, then its fantastic. I know atleast Google Adsense and Amazon, which have monetizing opportunities for free blogs.

An exclusive blog, in my view, is characterized by exclusive domain name, a rented server ( a guide to buying a server “Search for a perfect webhost” )and a content management system. This is preferred by most advertising networks. I will strongly suggest this method.

Which content Management System?

I am sure, that you will be struggling with this decision. I wrote abut it “Content Management System for a beginner.” Let me tell you that I still stand by WordPress. If you cannot handle it yourself, you could use a professional help or a free lancer. You could also contact me via the Contact Page. A lot of providers do it for various fees. Some are expensive and some are not. I am one of the expensive ones, but, at the same time, I have clients staying with me since 2006.

Design

People (mostly Indians) have an idea that the best design or the best home page will attract most users. so, they add flash and other stuff on their blog. I have written about it “To Flash or Not To Flash‘. Please keep your blog simple. Design should mean that your blog and articles are more accessible. A “very good Design,” in the sense flash, heavy banners etc should be avoided. The people come for your content, remember that.

Content

You must have heard that “content is the king.” Please keep it as a thumb rule. This is why I told you that you should “start a blog on subject that is close to your heart or you are the subject matter specialist.’
You just cannot make up the content. Copying someone else’s content is not a long term strategy. Some of the best content’s have following characteristics:
A) Self written
B) Emotional (humor, anger etc)
C) Fact file
D) Controversial

I will write a separate post “What makes good content for a blog.”

User Involvement

It’s very good to keep user involved via your comment box. Some people have turned comments off. Whatever you do, see to that the comments are clean and there are no spams.

I am sure, you have got the basics of getting up a blog.

My next installment will be on “possible ways to get blog traffic.”

More Blogging Resources can be now found in Cub Blogger

Online or offline, every one wants to write for me. They want easy money. Every time, the story “usually’ is same. Let me tell you.

Accoster:” Do you make money on your websites?”
Me: “little.”

Accoster: “How?”
Me: Some advertising, some paid articles.”

Accoster: ” How many people work for you?”
Me: “Enough. Sufficient to handle the job.”

Accoster: “I have a proposal for you.”
Me: “No thanks, I am married.”

Accoster: “Lol, I meant business.”
Me: “Relieved. shoot!”

Accoster: “You download writing work for me and give me a cut.”
Me: “You are asking for a job, Where is the business part?”

Accoster: ‘ I mean, you concentrate on getting the work and I will finish it. We can share the revenue.”
Me: “umm… sorry, I can handle all the work and keep all the money.”

Accoster: Oh! commeon, I can write better than whats on your sites.
Me: “Wonderful, why don’t you write for yourself?”

Accoster: “I did, but I was not successful. You see I am not good at marketing myself.”
Me: “How true!”

Accoster: “LoL, how do you make all that money?’
Me: “A lot of hard work.”

Accoster: ” I mean, who gives you money to write?”
Me: “Internet is full of opportunities, for example you can read this ‘ Making Money on Indian blogs.”

Accoster: ” I have tried those, I still don’t make money.”
Me:” I understand.”

Accoster: “Can you help me with making money on blogs.”
Me: “Yes! I have a charge for that.”

Accoster: “How much will you charge?’
Me: “Rs xxxxx/-. It includes the website and the consultancy. The content and hard work is yours”

Accoster: “That is too much.”
Me: “I understand.”

Accoster: “Can we have a partnership?”
Me:“I am listening.”

Accoster: “We can work together, we can start a joint blog.”
Me: ” No thanks, I am loaded.”

Accoster: ” If I pay you what you are asking, how fast I will make money.”
Me: “If you do everything as I say, probably 3 years.”

Accoster: ” How much time it took for you?”
Me: “3 years.”

Accoster: “That is too much, i don’t think I have the patience.”
Me: “I understand.”

Accoster: ” Ok, I will be back with you later, I have a meeting to attend.”
Me: “Have a fantastic day!”

Can connect to the situation? You have a blogspot account, you don’t make money on blogs and do not have enough traffic. Either the blog is very young or you have not put enough hard work on content and have not promoted it.

Blogging money is easy

Welcome to the biggest myth on the internet. A blog or website is no magic that you start one, write something and wait for people to come and read and money to flow. Like all businesses, you need to nurture and grow the blog, just like you do it to a offline business. Its downright frustrating and unrewarding.

No doubt, some bloggers have made very big, but, it is usually few dollars a day, which becomes decent at the end of the month or may be few months.

I am sure, a determined blogger is not yet discouraged. Next article will be on the possible ways you can make a good blog which has traffic and potential to make money.

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This article, I am not going to talk about how your blog should be, or how it should be maintained. I will leave that for another day. I will concentrate upon what could be the options of earning the revenue. I would like to know what your opinions are, I have opened up the comments on this article.

Traffic based Earnings

If you have a traffic based website, it depends where is your traffic coming from and how much is your traffic. If you have a pure Indian traffic, you have little choice except google adsense. Don’t waste your time on anything else. But, don’t loose heart, you can skip to my next heading “Page Rank based earning.” If you have a decent percentage of your traffic coming from US and western region, you have a wider choice. Other than google adsense, Adbrite will also make sense. I have noticed that only Adbrite allows smaller websites. Others have either higher requirements or too low for your CPM earning capacity due to your traffic. On the flip side, if any Indian has ever received a check from Adbrite, you can put your hands up. If putting up the hands is tiring, please use the comment box.

I would also suggest you Popup Traffic. Unlike the name suggests, it is actually a pop under. In my opinion, it will earn you better than Adbrite, but, use them as a combo. Your readers are not expected to be peeved major time.

If you have some US search traffic, try to add Chitika with your existing google adsense or Adbrite code. If Chitika works, then it will work better than Adbrite, but, only Chitika code will not do.

Page Rank based Earning

Page Rank (PR) is something that you can check here. Normally, if you have a PR 3 + blog, you have good earning potential. You could get link advertising or you can get to post reviews with links and earn. There is lot of debates on the internet on whether you should sell links on your website / blog or not. Its a dilemma and you got to deal with it. For those who think its right to do it, I have certain suggestions. King among the link revenue generators is Text Link ads. Next best in my opinion is teliad. You can also try out with LinkWorth.

Any other ideas Monetizing Indian websites and blogs?

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Alexa.com (since April 1996) is a Amazon company, say’s the website. Among other things Alexa Site Information is an database of information about sites that includes statistics, related links and more. Is Alexa perfect model?

I had downloaded Alexa Toolbar and installed it. I am not sure if it actually helped frontierindia.net ranking. But the rankings definitely shot up. At the same time the frontierindia.net was accepted in Google News and Newsnow.co.uk . Google News and Google search had boosted the traffic. The return visit traffic also increased. There is no conclusive evidence that the claim of a Alexa toolbar helps ranking.

Another observation is that since frontierindia.net’s US and Europe traffic increased, the Alexa rank improved. Or do more US/European users have Alexa toolbars than the users from other places? Does Alexa has a US traffic bias? I see that Indian news sources have high ranks in Alexa. But I don’t discount the fact that US traffic helped frontierindia.net Alexa rank.

One thing is for sure that the page views contribute heavily to the Alexa ranking. Even if you have low visits but higher page views, your website is going to climb high. This i am saying after comparisons with other target websites (do not wish to divulge). Since frontierindia.net page views went up, it started moving higher.

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I had no working knowledge of HTML. A lot of friends pitched in. But the question of sustained publication came into issue. HTML was not the solution. Microsoft technologies are not for the cost minded people. It is ok for large enterprises. Buying a windows web server package was costly too. I had little knowledge of php mysql.

Someone recommended content management system based on php/mysql and specifically, Drupal. Drupal is the king of CMS’s. It is free. I bought a web server space and started installing Drupal. Even if you read the installation guide for Drupal (or any other CMS for the first time), it can be quite intemedating. Any way, trial and error, reading and practicing, I installed Drupal. Next I realized, Drupal needs html skills (then) for posting content. I searched around for more CMS’s, I got mambo, Xoops , wordpress etc. I started learning the basics of php.

WordPress was a blogging software, so out of question. Mambo was more popular than xoops, at least used to win awards. So, I deleted my Drupal installation and uploaded Mambo.

Mambo was ok for a beginner. Installation was easy. Php knowledge helped. Learnt a lot of tricks of CMS. While, it was going great, my search engine rankings were not great. The SEO package costed something. Another interesting development happened, mambo developers split and made Joomla. That was it! I decided to look around.

Blogs were in news. Hence, I headed to wordpress, installed, and tested it. Migrating my website to wordpress would have created issues. So copied my key content to wordpress and bingo, it was ready. I deleted the mambo install, it was burning bridges, no looking back.

Meanwhile my php/sql skills and web server re-selling picked up via Frontier India Technology. I had quit the old company and started on my own. I bagged quite a few websites and I built it on wordpress.

WordPress is a blogging software, but, can be made look like a website instead of blog. A lot of themes and plugins to support wordpress users. Its easy to install. You need to know working knowledge (if expert , nothing like it) of php/mysql to maintain wordpress. But its lot easier than other CMS in my opinion.

Having said all that, if your needs are not serious, many companies offer free blogs. If you need your own blog with own url, wordpress is a good option. Some free blog providers like “Blogspot” allow you to use your own domain name too.  If you need a website that can be updated regularly, you can consider wordpress. If you are very newbie to web and need a CMS, I can do it for you for a fee.

More Blogging Resources can be now found in Cub Blogger