http://bloggingexperiment.com/archives/how-to-triple-your-current-adsense-income.php

People who have been following this website since the start know that the first ‘make money’ website I stumbled upon was Blogging Experiment. Author Ben Cook had a lot of great advice for people just starting their blog.

Nine months into the experiment, Ben sold his website for 5 figures.

The new author, Max Davis, has already chimed in with some great advice for bloggers.

The link I posted is to an EXCELLENT article about how one can increase their AdSense revenue. Some may find it unethical, but in the cut-throat niche market, it could be a key to success.

http://www.ezmoneyon.net/green-money-free-wordpress-theme/

I was at the Blogging Authority forum and one of their contributors posted a link to their first monetized theme, which they call Green Money.

This is a FREE Monetized theme, which most are, but usually they are poor at best.

When I saw the first screen shot, I really liked the way it was laid out so I decided to download it and apply it to one of my smaller blogs, just to see how it looked and reacted.

It is slick, with great advertisement placements that remind of so many of the ‘problogger’ websites out there. It is easily customized and widgets can be added with no problem.

The thing I LOVE about this theme, is unlike most monetized themes where they try to cram as many ads as possible into a theme, this one makes you feel like your looking at a smooth, regular theme that just happens to be monetized.

It is SEO ready, and I will report back in a few days how the site responds in comparison to the old theme it was running.

When I decided to start creating websites and creating content blogs, I did it for one reason besides the obvious second income stream. It was because I was able to post blogs from work or other locations, which mean I could really maximize my time and earning potential.

One thing that I didn’t realize was the fact that it may prove difficult to do any major editing or customizing from work. Many places of employment do not let you use FTP or other tools needed to get the sites modified. The same goes for a lot of the free wi-fi providers. You may not be techincal, but if you modify websites and read a little about technology you have heard of proxy servers, which help businesses monitor and control traffic that leaves their network. In addition, there are plenty of monitoring programs and other things in place to help companies keep out malicious and unwanted visitors.

I have found a few work arounds that have helped me tremendously. They are all secure and safe, and hopefully won’t get you in trouble from your local IT people. Please be aware if it is against your companies policy, you may want to save any website editing and content posting until you get home.

I have found a great free FTP site at http://www.net2ftp.com. Here, I can use my normal FTP login and password to access my files. It doesn’t not connect through the FTP protocol, it is all done remotely so to the proxy servers and proxy blocking software, it just looks like normal HTTP stuff. There are also no meta tags that end up being blocked by the cookie cutter website blocking programs, so you are pretty safe to travel to this site. They layout is nice, faily painless, with very few advertisments. They give you lots of editing options, folder creation, renaming, moving, and several different means of uploading. You get a fully functional FTP client, in a nutshell. The Java upload tool doesn’t appear to work through my work browser, but the flash one does. Play around a little, you will find this is an excellent tool.

One draw back is while you can upload multiple files at once, you cannot upload entire directories with one click so you do have to do a little manual work to create directories. But if you are in a pinch and really want to get that new theme up, it works fine. The best part is if you are just making simple code modification (like putting in a new advertisment code, changing the color scheme for example) you can do it in your text editor (which every single work computer should have) and upload it that way. Painfree FTP from work. Just the way I like it!

Some hosting companies offer a file manager, and these usually work from most places. Problem is they are pretty weak in terms of user interface. I user Go Daddy, and their file interface is worthless from work. Net2FTP offers full FTP, without the hassle.

Photoshop Express is another wonderful tool that I have discovered recently. Very recently, it just went live yesterday. I spent quite a bit of time on it today, it it blows every ‘virtual’ web photo editor out of the water. Photo editing on the web used to be a myth. Photoshop Express makes it possible.  You can do all your basic editing here so it is easy to customize advertisement banners, logos, pictures or anything else you could need. I used it for the first time to create a logo about an hour ago right from my work computer. It does offer indexing, and you get a 2 gigabyte alotment to upload your photos.

I know there are a handful of other online photo editors out there, such as Pikcik and Photoflxer, but I do not feel they offer the same quality as the new Photoshop Express.

In a pinch, I have used the Roflbot to create banners. If your work has blocked photo editors they more than likely have not blocked the Roflbot. Roflbot is a website that people go to and create those Lolcatz photos that are all the rage now. But they offer a few fonts so you can make simple logos or banners.

A really simple method you can employ is to create your blog posts using whatever word processor you have, and emailing them to yourself. This method got me through many posts before I found alternatives. If you don’t feel comfortable emailing yourself from work, you can always bring a thumb drive. You can find these dirt cheap at almost any store that sell electronics.

What tricks have you devised to let yourself blog while at work? I’d like to hear!

I remember when I was galavanting around in my first rock and roll band. We were all a bit green in the business world, but we were ambitious and thought we definitely would be the next big thing. In hindsight, we really had no idea what it takes to be the next big thing, nor did we have a plan. Then a few months passed, and nothing. We were playing shows, but where were the fans? Where were the record companies handing out the big checks?

Sound familar? If you replaced band with blog, you would have roughly 97.3 percent of all bloggers current plan. I will get back to the blogging aspect in a minute.

In need of a jump start, the band got one great break. We had an opportunity to do a radio station show in Chicago for one of the most listened stations, Q101.  We worked the break, and next thing you know, the radio station put a small amount of muscle behind the band. And the buzz it generated helped us get our feet off the ground. In fact, that one moment probably transformed my entire understading of industry and big business.

For bloggers, finding that break is almost impossible. Takes a lot of hard work and a lot of luck. But there is something to be said for buzz and its money making potential.

Personal experience tells me that if you are in the money-making genre of blogging, or you are just looking to create a website that will generate enough traffic to earn a living, here is some food for thought.

I created a website for a gentleman named Richard Mims. He has been one of the more outspoken people in regards to the Drew Peterson / Stacy Peterson missing persons case. Richard had been on a lot of news shows, speaking about the case and his relationship with the people involved. I created the website to be VERY minimal on monetization, because the intent of the site was so he could speak his mind. The only monetization I put on the website was Google AdSense with the intent to cover hosting costs. The site only ran for one week before I decided to remove myself from it because of the hoopla surrounding the case in general. But the facts are pretty astounding. It shows what a little bit of buzz can do.

I am going to compare two websites. One I created for Richard Mims and one I have been running for about 7 months now.

For the length of this discussion, I will be referring to Richard’s website as Website A. The website was created on Jan 26th. I shut it down on February 1st. The content was pretty weak in general, just someone speaking their mind. It was sometimes hard to read, as this person was not a professional writer to say the least. There was no real SEO configuration because it really wasn’t a niche website, but he had a lot of ability to promote it including several large national news outlets. In the short week it was up, the website did over 32,000 unique visits with over 240,000 page impressions. AdSense registered just over 30,000 impressions as well, so the statistics come pretty close to matching up.

It is against Adsense terms of service to dicuss exact figures, but I will throw out some ballpark figures. Over 200 clicks generated over $50 dollars in revenue in that week alone. The site was configured with one ad block, 250×250 showcasing 4 ads per impression. It basically had the exact same setup as this blog, minus the 125 ads and the banner ad. Pretty minimal in terms of ads, in my opinion.

Website B, which does a lot less traffic, has a lot more monetization in place. It’s specific niche is graphical humor. I have banner advertisment, a couple of 125×125 ads, and a wide range of select placement for AdSense advertisements. There isn’t a whole lot of writing but what is there is a pretty easy read. That website averages less than 10,000 site visits per month, but it generates roughly 100 dollars a month in revenue after hosting costs are factored in. The AdSense click though rate and amount of clicks is right about on par with Website A.

Logic tells me that a website that generates as much traffic as Website A but had the same configuation as Website B would make roughly 300 dollars a week; possibly more if the niche and ad configuation is optimized.

Every website is different, and finding your proper advertisement setup will make a world of difference. But this is proof, once again, that traffic is the main factor in determining how much revenue you will make. As great as your content may be, if generating revnue is your main goal, traffic must be generated.

Hope you catch the buzz!

I have started playing around with Twitter. Basically, it is a microblog/social networking site allowing people to follow you, similar in my opinion to the way you would follow a bloggers RSS feed. I have been hearing the twitter named dropped for sometime now but hopped on the bandwaggon after seeing several of my friends using it in conjunction to their Facebook accounts.

I haven’t quite figured out how I could use it to my benefit blogging, but it is pretty neat to follow my friends daily rantings without having to find them on Myspace and Facebook.

So, like any good blogger, I googled it to find out what all the hub-bub was.

I found this handy dandy article at, you guessed it, ProBlogger.

Seems like another potential promotional tool for those in the niche blogging realm. I am going to spend some time on it the next few weeks and I will report back on my findings.

Been getting a few emails here and there asking why I haven’t posted any new tips or techniques recently.

Quite frankly, I have been too busy with other blogs, websites, work, and songwrting to do much on this site. One of the keys to a money making blog is consistant updates so you keep your readership up. I suppose I have failed recently, but as I stated before, this blog is about tips and techniques, not about me personally making a whole ton on money.

Now that things have slowed down on the other fronts, I will be again updating more frequently, including a case study from a website I ran that proves no matter what type of website you have, buzz alone can generate quite a lot of revenue.

I have spent the past 10 performing in rock and roll bands. I have learned how to create a business, optimize it and make it run like a well-oiled machine. This also occurred while sleeping on dressers, in bathtubs, on floors, in vans and well, basically any other place a human can possibly sleep. We achieved our goals with limited resources, even more limited money, and non-stop dedication.

I have spent the last year using those same skills in creating my web business. To this point, it has proven to be a challenging yet exciting endeavor. It hasn’t been easy to learn how to make money online.

Over the next 30 days, I will be posting my personal 15 steps on creating a successful monetized website or blog. I will post one lesson every other day. I will be comparing the two lifestyles, the work ethic needed to be successful in each, and how I related my experiences in the music industry to the web. It should be entertaining and hopefully enlightening to you, the reader.

What are my credentials? From the music end I have been in the music industry 10 years in two rock and roll bands. Those bands placed over 30,000 CD’s in to circulation. I have taken part in over 400 concerts and have played with some of America’s best talent, including Plain White T’s, Treaty of Paris, and Fall Out Boy, among others. My credentials from the monetized website end include two content heavy websites in the top 100,000 for Alexa rankings and three more nearing that level. I also maintain and manage 7 blogs including this one. This has earned me a decent, but not yet self-sufficient income. I continue to work hard to make money blogging.

I do not make any promises. It takes a lot of work to build a successful web business. These are the steps I took while relying heavily on my former career as a full-time musician. These steps will focus more on the business end and putting yourself in line to make money and less on the actual specific monetization techniques. There are millions of blogs (including mine) that has information like that. This is more or less a rundown on how I started my business.

Step one. Finding the correct vision.

Every ‘how to’ blog will tell you that finding that niche to make money is the most important thing you could do. I disagree. What is the point to finding a ‘money making’ niche if it doesn’t agree with your overall vision? When I started my first band, I wanted to artistically convey the emotions that I was feeling. That was the vision. I had no idea on how to make money in music, I didn’t know the rigors of touring, nor the importance of promotion. All I knew was I wanted to make people happy with my music. You should be telling yourself the same thing about your blog. Personally, you shouldn’t be thinking monetization right away. It should be all about the quality of the writing and the desire of the blogger.

Some bloggers set out right away with the vision to make money. They devise their plan, put it into action, and they are making money faster than you can blink.

That is really rare. It is about as rare as a band forming, writing a record, and become extremely popular within a few months. It does happen however. A perfect example of that within the music industry would be Pearl Jam.

What a lot of people don’t know about the Pearl Jam back story is the members of that band came from an already established and popular band. It occurs this way with bloggers. Some of the bloggers that explode on to the scene may already have a readership based on their previous career or experience. You cannot just expect to have built in readers and start making money.

You should look in to your reasons for creating your online presence. Are you doing it for the right reasons? Do you feel you have the time to convey your vision? Is it strictly a ‘money making’ endeavor or are there personal reasons for blogging?

When I first got in to the whole blog game, I spent quite a bit of time reading and reviewing other blogs. Right away, I knew if the person was a talented writer, if they had a good vision for their blog, or if their blog was going to disappear in a few months because it lacked vision and structure.

When you find that vision, you will notice the rest will start to fall in to place.

Step two will be about creating the proper plan. I will be comparing finding the right musicians to finding the right resources. Until next time!

http://www.dailyblogtips.com/ways-to-make-money-online-with-website/

Every so often you run across a really nicely formated list that will actually help a blogger.

I am on Yaro Starak’s email newsletter and within the newsletter was the link to this  amazing article on all the different ways people can monetize their blog.

I don’t know if anyone could have created a better list than this, so I am not going to try. I will just link and say enjoy!

Enjoy!

I still search Google for tips. There, I said it.

I am not THE authority on how to make money on the web. Does this shock you? I know, I know. You all come to this blog because I am clearly the next Darren Rowse.

As I was furthering my blog education I came across an article I had somehow not seen to this point. It is by blogger Courtney Tuttle. I was searching for ‘How to increase my RSS count’ when I came across his blog. He was discussing the importance of quality writing as the number one way to increase RSS count.

I agree with him but this in particular post wasn’t the one that caught my attention.

In the post about RSS count, he linked to one of his earliest posts on his website. It is called 5.263 Words to Starting a Profitable Blog. It is a fantastic piece of writing, one of the best I have read about starting a profitable blog. This article will start you on your way in helping you make money online.

Court goes step by step from creation to monetization, and I mean EVERY step. Including picking a domain, how to upload and configure Wordpress, and how to monetize among others. He created this article when his blog was only two weeks old, and you can tell because he has very few comments at the beginning.

I wish I would have had this article a few months ago, but none the less, I spent a long time reading it over today. His tips are wonderful.

It isn’t every bloggers dream to make a ton of money on the web. A lot of people are in it strictly for the writing and release aspect of blogging. That is how I got started. But then, somewhere along the way I discovered you could profit and make a decent income off your opinions and content. By sharing my information and my skills, I have worked hard to create a side business.

That just about came crashing down this past week.

Sometime near the end of January, I was commissioned to do a website. Seemed like a pretty simple proposition. This individual needed a blog/website set up for his personal opinion. His opinion was controversial, which I knew going in, but figured the laws would protect me and my civil liberties. All I was to be doing was designing and maintaining the website.

I also knew going in to this project that the site would do lots of traffic. I thought it could be good for my own monetized blog, and possibly could attract new clients to my side business.

Initially I was correct. I attracted one additional client who wanted me to design and configure a Wordpress blog for him. I also received a spike of traffic from this website as well. Made a few extra pennies on Adsense from my blog, and also added a few extra RSS subscribers.

Eventually a snafu erupted and I was caught in the middle because I was the website administrator and owner of the domain. I had to speak with some detectives regarding the content of the website and basically had my life throw in to a blender for a few days.

It has all settled down now, but in retrospect I came to this conclusion which I consider the hardest and most important lesson someone can learn when it comes to blogging.

You are still as responsible for your actions online as you are off line.

If you attract controversy, you will do damage to your reputation regardless to how above-the-law you are. Even if you do nothing wrong, you should try to steer clear of situations you KNOW could put you in hot water.

People are too quick to sell out their beliefs and morals online for an extra dollar or hit to their website. They also feel they are hidden well behind a computer screen. I am here to tell you that you should stand up for yourself and only do things you would feel comfortable with doing face to face with another human. A website built on legitimate contacts will always build stronger in the long run than a business that was built on quick hits.

Your ulcers will thank you later!