ProBlogger

ProBlogger has moved

ProBlogger has moved and had a complete redesign - you can now find all my new and old tips, case studies, problogger news and other writing at www.problogger.net. Change your bookmarks now and get our new RSS feed at http://feeds.feedburner.com/ProbloggerHelpingBloggersEarnMoney.

RSS ads in Boing Boing

One of the biggest blogs going around, Boing Boing, has decided to experiment with RSS ads in their feeds. They publish their full content in RSS and have placed ads on every third ad using the contextual ad service being tested by Feedburner and Overture (not available to the public yet). Feedburner currently only allow most bloggers to display amazon ads using their service but contextual RSS feed advertising is sure to follow on a wider scale in the months ahead.

Does Frequent Posting Boost Traffic?

Susannah is tracking if her blog's traffic levels correlate with her levels of posting and writes:

'Generally speaking, it looks like the theory of more posts = more traffic holds true, but of course what the logs don’t tell you is that on the days I was posting a lot I was at a blogging conference and the blog URL was up on the projector between every session. Nor does looking at this graph reflect the posts that were controversial. That first spike is accompanied by a barely significant increase in post numbers, but was on a topic that caught a lot of interest.'

This is something I've done a little research into on my own blogs also. What I've found (although I don't have as nice a graph as Susannah) is that my overall traffic does tend to increase on days that I post more - however there are a couple of further observations that are worth making.

1. The increased traffic on the days where I post a lot comes mainly through RSS feeds. My feedburner stats show quite clearly that the days I post a lot I get more RSS readers. That makes sense.

2. My biggest traffic days have little to do with the quantity of posting - instead they have more to do with two other factors:

a. What I post - As Susannah writes - controversial topics, useful tips, posts with intriguing titles etc can all spark an influx of traffic. Similarly - posting on a topic that is being searched for on Google (whether you did it by accident or by design) is obviously another traffic generator. Three weeks out from the Melbourne Cup horse race posting a post titled '2004 Melbourne Cup Winner' (and then adding the winner the moment the race finishes) is one such way of spiking your traffic.

b. Who links to me posts - the beauty of blogging is that a blogs success is so often in the hands of other bloggers. My very biggest days traffic always comes from larger sites linking up to my posts. When a site like Slashdot, Gizmodo, Engadget or a major newspaper link up the rollercoaster ride can be quite staggering. I still remember the first day Slashdot linked up to one of my posts and crashed my server in three minutes of them linking up - that had nothing to do with post quantity and everything to do with some unknown person submitting my site to a megablog.

So - yes quantity of posting helps and is a good strategy for building traffic levels - however the heaviest traffic is generally a result of some other factor.

3% decrease in Keyword Cost in January

Those bloggers utilizing Adsense as an income stream who track their statistics usually notice that the price paid per click fluctuates from month to month. I track my cost per click earnings and it is not unusual to have a 20% drop or rise from one month to the next. Fathom Online tracks this too across many keywords and noticed that in their last period after the holidays that there was significant drops in some kewords and an overall drop of 3%.

'Most surprising was the 28 percent drop in Telecom-Wireless products and services from $1.09 to $.79, possibly reflecting the trend to give cell phones as a gift during the holidays. Keywords in the Consumer-Retail category also decreased significantly by 11 percent from $.58 to $.52 per keyword, evening out some of the huge gains that category registered early in the fourth quarter 2004 when the frenzy to buy shopping keywords was at its peak.'

This doesn't surprise me in the least - with the rise in keyword costs in the lead up to Christmas things had to slow down at some point.

Check out theirtable tracking different keyword categories - the big winner this last month was Finance/Mortgage keywords.

Hopes of a Professional Blogger

When I asked readers at for questions for my upcoming interviews with Professional bloggers - Bobby Masteria asked:

'Ask long time probloggers what have been their fears, hopes and expectations.'

I've written about my expectations and fears and now thought I'd turn to hopes.

1. Internet usage is booming. The statistics show that more and more people around the globe are going online and that it continues to be a medium with incredible potential to communicate with the masses quickly, cheaply and with little fuss. Similarly the statistics show that more and more people are becoming familiar with and readers of blogs. This has to give the average problogger some hope. The more who read blogs the less problem congestion of the blogosphere (see my fears post) becomes.

2. On a personal level I hope that my blogging will continue to provide me and my family with a source of income. I don't expect and am not aiming to become a millionaire from blogging but would love to see it achieve a level (and sustain a level more importantly) where it would enable me to give a significant amount of my time to some of the causes that I feel passionately about (both inside and outside of blogging). The last year of blogging has seen me get to a point where this is a reality - and whilst I do other paid work from time to time I do so not because I need the money any more but rather that the work itself is something I'm passionate about and am energised by. My hope is that this will continue.

3. Blogging that Gives a Voice - I've written on numerous occasions that I believe that blogging has the ability to give a voice to the marginalized. Another hope that I have is to test this and see if it is more than just a lofty ideal. In the past few months I've noticed more and more bloggers testing this and proving it to be the case. Blogging can and does have a social concern edge which I'm very hopeful about.

Again - I have other blogging hopes - but I'm interested in yours. What are your hopes for blogging - both on a personal level and on a wider blogosphere level?

SEO Techniques

Tanya at SEO and Affiliate marketing blog is writting a well thought out series of posts on Search engine Optimization which so far has four steps to it.

Step 1 - Picking a domain name
Step 2 - Research your niche or theme
Step 3 - Building your site template
Step 4 - Building a Product Page

It is not really written from a blogging point of view but rather from a pure SEO perspective - but none the less there are some good general points in there that should help bloggers.

Fears of a Professional Blogger

When I asked readers for questions for my upcoming interviews with Professional bloggers - Bobby Masteria asked:

'Ask long time probloggers what have been their fears, hopes and expectations.'

I previously answered the expectations part of this question - now I'll turn to 'fears'

Fears: I don't really have too many extreme fears about my blogging. I'm trying to take the approach that everyday that I can earn a living from blogging is one day longer than what I ever thought I'd be able to achieve. Having said that there are a number of concerns that I have that have the potential to end or at least limit what I do....

1. To some extent I'm at the mercy of the Search Engines - particularly Google. Google's December update left me with a third of the traffic that I was averaging which was a pretty confronting experience. It brought back to home for me how powerful an organization like Google is and how small individual bloggers are in the scheme of things. It also motivated me to find other ways of finding readers which will only make my blog stronger. I guess in the back of my mind is that the next update could similarly further decrease my position in Google's results and could be a hit that I'm not sure I could absorb.

Of course yesterday saw the traffic (or most of it) return with another update from Google. I guess I'm learning that Blogging can be a bumpy ride.

2. Congestion of the Blogosphere (and the Web in general) - The past 6 months I've noticed many new blogs starting up with the express purpose of making a dollar from a niche topic. Competition is heating up as new bloggers and webmasters continue to enter the marketplace. I'm a firm believer that competition is good - it creates interest in your niche and it drives you to produce a better service - however in the back of my mind I wonder how many blogs and websites can be sustained on each niche topic? There are only 10 top 10 spots on Google for each search term so the more competition the smaller one's chances of being seen there.

I'm sure there are other fears and concerns - I fear that my Adsense program could be taken away from me for reasons out of my control, I fear that the US dollar will continue to fall in comparison to the Aussie dollar and arode my earnings and I fear I'll wake up one morning and my sites will have disappeared.... but in the scheme of things these are not things I worry about every waking moment of my day - they are just things in the back of my mind that I come back to in those quiet moments

What are your blogging fears?

Could AdSense direct deposits be around the corner? - JenSense.com

Jen at JenSense observes that the new referal program from Adsense seems to be set up to pay out using direct deposit. She hypothesizes that perhaps this is an indication that direct deposit payments might be coming. This would be a massive relief to many publishers using the system who have to do a lot of messing around to cash their cheques.

Read Jen's column at Could AdSense direct deposits be around the corner?

Do you start blogs for Passion or Money?

When I asked readers over at ProBlogger what they'd like to ask professional bloggers Hashim asked:

'Ask them do they choose topics they personally enjoy or just what will make the most money'

Good question - I'll ask those I interview but will answer for myself here.

To answer it bluntly - Yes.

Yes I do choose topics I personally enjoy (or perhaps for some its more of a 'interest' than enjoyment) and yes in some cases I choose topics that have the potential to be good income earners. When I find one that I both 'enjoy' and is an 'earner' I tend to do a little dance around my office!

I've attempted to do a blog or two on a topic that was purely about earning me an income but I found it very difficult to keep up my enthusiasm for it. I suspect my readers could tell this and so ended up leaving that blog alone to die a lonely death. I find that the blogs that I am drawn to and read the most are written by bloggers who are passionate about or have expertise in their topic. Makes sense really - who wants to talk to someone who doesn't enjoy the topic of conversation in real life!?

It is possible to run a successful blog on a topic you're not interested in - but it will be a lot harder task than one that you do enjoy. My advice - stick to something you've got a passion for (or could get passionate about) and you'll sustain your blogging habits for a lot longer.

Tell us what you think? Do you start blogs for Passion, Money or Both?

2005 Business Blogging Awards are Back

After some big problems with their voting system the Business Blogging Awards are back up and running. This time around it seems that the voting is working nicely. You can place a vote for my little site here in the Best Overall Blog category if you so desire - although the competition is pretty good from some of my favorite blogs.

Open Mike on Blog Design

I'm going to open up the comments on this post for anyone to say anything they like on the topic of blog design.

I spent half an hour or so today looking through the blogs nominated for this year's Bloggies awards. I was particularly looking through them with an eye for the way that these blogs were designed. By no means am I a blog designer (as you can no doubt tell from this blog - which is about to receive a facelift) but I do appreciate good design. There were some beautifully designed blogs in the collection - especially some of the photoblogs which I love surf through.

I was particularly surprised when going through the nominated blogs by the number of them that used very basic template designed blogs - particularly of the blogger variety. They were by no means the majority of blogs - (there was around 10) but for some reason it left me a little surprised. Whilst I have nothing against templated blogs I am someone who is drawn to sites which people have made look a little different.

I was left wondering if perhaps I'm a snob - whilst I always talk about how content is the number one thing a person should work on my reaction to templated blogs perhaps exposes a bias. Of course the bias doesn't stop me reading templated blogs - there are quite a few on my daily RSS feed list (althouth RSS does tend to cut out the design issues).

I was wondering if I'm alone in my blog snobbery? How important is blog design to you in finding quality blogs? Are aesthetics and design something you look at when you go to a new blog or are you someone who is drawn in by content...or something else? Am I a snob? What is good blog design? What is your favorite blog in terms of design? The floor is yours.

Blog Consulting - What's that?

Jeremy has a good post over at InsideBlogging answering the question - 'what does a Blog Consulting Company do?' which is well worth the read if you're thinking about engaging a blog consultant or if you're interested in becoming one.

Google Backlink Update: Feb 05

It seems that Google is doing a back link update. I noticed it last night with a rise in my SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) and a corresponding rise in traffic on a couple of my sites. The increased traffic was coming from Google which is usually an indication that an update is underway. Its not back up to the levels of traffic that I had after the pre Christmas update (which knocked off two thirds of my traffic overnight) but its a step in the right direction and something of a relief for me.

Read more of what people are saying about the update at Digital Point: Google is updating and Webmaster World: Major changes in Google Update Starting.

Have you noticed any difference in your google referrals in the last 24 hours?

Google Referral Program

It looks like Google Adsense are now using a referral affiliate type program whereby if you refer an advertiser that spends at least $20 to Adwords or a publisher that earns $75 with Adsense that you earn a commission ($20). They describe the program as follows:

'The Google referral program is designed to help businesses make money by referring small to medium-sized businesses to Google. You simply apply and once you're approved, place links (or graphics) on your site, and then every time you refer a company that spends at least $20 with Google AdWords or earns $75 with AdSense, you earn a commission.'

They say in their FAQ that they are currently only accepting US bases sites in this program (doh!).

This program will probably suit sites that have an audience of readers who have websites that are commercial in nature.

Learn more at:

Google Referral Program Home Page
Google Referral Program: More information
Google Referral Program: Sign up Form
Google Referral Program: FAQ

Sony Pays $25,000 a month for Gawker Blog Sponsorship

A couple of days ago we mentioned that Gawker had launched two new blogs including Lifehacker - a blog about downloading software and time saving that has been sponsored by Sony. Today Adage (subscription required) announced that that sponsorship is worth around $25,000 per month! Now that is some serious sponsorship which is a lot higher than most blog sponsorship deals that I've been privy to the details of. The article goes on to say that the deal includes some exposure on Gizmodo and will run for around 3 months.

$25,000 a month is pretty good for an untested new blog - although it being a Gawker blog almost guarantees some pretty serious readership.

I've recently been negotiating with an Ad Agency for one of my blogs. They have a client interested in a sponsorship deal for a month long test period. I'm keen to give it a go - not just because its potentially worth a few thousand dollars (I'm not in Gawker's league but a guy has to start somewhere) but also because I'm interested in testing the effectiveness of this type of campaign. I will of course keep you updated here.

The article from Adage is worth the read. Here is a snippet:

'And Gawker blog readers, even if there's only a million who flock to a site, are considered “prime influencers” in the niche they frequent. “They are connectors -- people who are into technology and are influencing people about the technology they are into,” said Brad Bowers, co-founder of BlackInc. Ventures, an agency that provides outsourced business development and revenue generation to small- and mid-size Internet companies.

When he approached Sony for his client Gawker, he told executives, “The people on blogs are talking about your products and are early adopters.” With the deal Sony comes across as a company that's forward-thinking and learning how blogging works, he added.

Not everyone is convinced that traditional online ads are suitable for blogs. “They can cheapen and compromise a blog,” said John Cate, vice president and national media director in the San Francisco office of Carat Interactive, part of Aegis Group. At this stage, he favors encouraging his client to “counter-blog” if the information on a blog goes against his marketer. But, he admitted, “if it's a good piece of content and the audience is there, then it's worthy of advertising.”'

Read more at SONY PAYS $25,000 A MONTH FOR GAWKER BLOG

Yahoo! Blogs

It looks like Yahoo! have been getting into the blogging thing with the launch of Yahoo! Japan's Blogs beta. I wonder if we'll see this rolled out world wide at some point from Yahoo!? The features of what they are offering look pretty comprehensive with them coming complete with RSS feeds, accepting trackbacks, statistics, a favorites system, guest book etc.

Found via Susan Mernit's Blog and Blog Count

How to Find Money Making Blog Ideas - Part 3

Coming up with creative and profitable Ideas for blogs sometimes feels more about luck than anything else. But in my experience there is a number of steps you can do to better your chances. This is the third and final part of a series on finding Money making blog ideas. Also see part 1 and part 2 for the full picture.

5. Collaborate - Blogging doesn't have to be a lonely introspective task - in fact I've found that when you share your ideas and passions with other bloggers it can come alive. Pick a few trusted bloggers to run your ideas past. You may just use them as a sounding board to critique and give ideas or you may actually open your idea up and invite them to become a partner in your blog project. This is especially worthwhile if you've picked a topic that is big or outside of your expertise. The wonderful thing about collaboration is that if you choose your partners carefully you'll end up with a blog that is so much better than what you could have done alone. I've seen this happen on a number of occasions in the past year, starting mainly with the Olympics Blog which I involved a number of others in. Had I kept the idea to myself I doubt it would have been anything near the success that it was - the topic was just too big and my technical expertise with databases and other aspects of that blog were well beyond me.

So grab a partner and see what comes together when you put your heads together.

6. Respond (quickly) - It is all very well to have an idea, to predict a trend or to know what every man and his dog is going to be searching for on the internet in a month's time - but getting the idea up and into a blog quickly and looking professional is another thing. At Breaking News Blogs we now have the ability to have a basic, well designed and optimized blog up and running in less than 15 minutes. I know that if an idea hits or a news story breaks that I wish to cover with a completely new blog that I can have a professional and unique looking blog up and running within minutes.

This is crucial in many instances because if you don't do it someone else will and the space that existed for a blog or two to cover the niche will be gone. This was illustrated by the many blogs that rose up overnight to cover the Tsunami story a month or two ago. The niche to cover that tragedy was filled within hours of the event by a few quick thinking bloggers.

So think ahead about how you'll respond quickly if you need to. Will you start a blogger blog? (they take minutes too - but won't be as uniquely designed unless you have some templates ready) - will you start a Typepad blog? (quick to start but cost a few dollars) - will you have some templates ready to go on your own domain? Of course responding quickly is not always important - with some blogs (non breaking story ones) its better to take your time and think it all through - but its good to have the option of a quick launch blog.

7. Blog - This is where the starting point of this series began with the main thrust of my post on Researching a Profitable Blog Topic. Just do it! Of course having read all the above you might be too worn out to start a blog, seeing it all written out like that is a little overwhelming - however its not a specific process that I follow - rather it is a way of blogging, a rhythm that I've gotten myself into over a couple of years of blogging this way. I don't put set time aside to 'observe' and then have a period of 'predicting' etc - it has just become a part of who I am as a blogger and a part of my daily rhythm of life.

I could (and probably will) write much more on the topic - this series has only scratched the surface and I'm aware could be expanded in many directions (many of which I've covered in the 500 or so posts in my archives). If you have any ideas or suggestions to add to please do so in comments below so we can learn together.

Blogkits Announce 7 new Banner Ad Sizes

Blog Kits have just released 7 new sizes of banner advertising - designed specifically for bloggers. Whilst I'm surprised that they haven't gone for some more standard sizes (eg 468 x 60) which would allow them to be used as alternative ads for Adsense, there are a few nice sized buttons there for sidebars.

I might just have to give some of them a go in the weeks ahead.

How to Find Money Making Blog Ideas - Part 2

More and more people are finding ways to make money from blogging but few pro bloggers are making their money from their personal, general themed blogs. In most cases it takes a blog either with a tight niche or fresh idea to make it big in the blogosphere - but how do you find those ideas? Before reading on you might like to read Part 1 of this series.

3. Dream - Most mornings you can find me at a local cafe for at least for 30 - 60 minutes. The reasons I go there are numerous. For one coffee is an essential ingredient in me thinking creatively (that should almost be a point in and of itself) but secondly I do it to intentionally get out of my 'Blog HQ' (my office) and into a different space. I usually leave my laptop at the office and just take a pen and my journal and use the time to dream.

You see I find it easy to fill my head up with wonderful information, observations, predictions and knowledge but unless I put time aside to dream about how blogging could fit with the information I'm gathering the dots may never be joined. Get out that journal again and add to your list of potential topics - what would you love to write about? What would be an outrageous topic to blog on? What type of person would you like to write a blog for? Think outside the box you've been living in - open your mind and come up with as many creative ideas as possible. Nothing is too stupid - not until the next stage anyway.

4. Strategize - Get your journal full of Observations, Predictions and Dreams and start doing a bit of realistic thinking on the ideas you've got. Ask yourself a few grounding questions and put aside your 'anything is possible' attitude for a while (anything IS possible, but sometimes it worth being realistic about the barriers to success). Here are some questions to ask:

• What (how many) other sites/blogs are covering this topic already? Can I compete?
• Is there a niche within the niche that these other sites are not covering that I could concentrate upon?
• How many people are currently searching for this topic (or will be)?
• Who are searching for information on this topic?
• How might I monetize this blog?
• How much would ads pay for this topic using contextual advertising?
• What affiliate programs might work well with this topic?
• Do I have the expertise to cover this topic?
• Do I have the time (and energy) to adequately cover this topic? Will I have enough time and energy in 6 months time?
• Do I know anyone else who might be better at writing this blog that I could partner with?
• Would it be a better idea to submit this topic to an established blog network than to do it on my own?
• Could I generate enough content to comprehensively cover the topic? What sources would I use?

Of course there are many more questions you could and should ask yourself going into a new blog. Don't get bogged down in strategy but be realistic about it.

How to Find Money Making Blog Ideas - Part 1

Susannah linked up to my How to Research a Profitable Blog Topic post and writes:

'What Darren doesn’t say is just how to come up with those money-making ideas. He’s clearly got the knack of latching onto current issues appropriate for blogs, but not everyone does.'

That got me wondering - how do the ideas come? I started jotting down a few ideas this afternoon about how I coax ideas for new blogs and posts out of my mind and soon found I had more than a single post on my hands. So here is the first part in my mini series on how to find money making blog ideas:

1. Observe - I am an information junkie. I watch too much TV, read too many books (I never make it to the end though), spend way too much time on the internet, squander hours in the news agents flicking through magazines, spend more time at cafes watching people than eating food and am a sucker for any article, website or conversation that is about 'trends or predictions'.

If you want to create a blog that is going to be read by as many people as possible you must be in touch with where as many people are at (or will be at). What are they eating, drinking, doing with spare time, watching on TV, thinking about, lusting after, obsessing about etc. Don't only observe what others are doing - take a look at your own life, look at your spending paterns, TV watching habits, interests and passions and you might just find a great topic in your own life! I also find that stimulating myself with new sights, sounds, tastes, places, people can also help get the creative juices flowing. Keep a journal (I use a whiteboard and a spreadsheet) of your observations which you can come back to later.

2. Predict - I've written about this before but it is a lesson worth repeating. Think ahead. Ask yourself the question - 'what will people be searching on the internet for next week, next month or next year?' This is connected to your observe task. As you read the paper/internet/magazine - keep an eye open for upcoming product developments, events, trends etc. If you see one start writing about it. It isn't really a mind blowing suggestion - but I'm amazed at how many bloggers begin blogging about movies and events the day they start rather than two weeks before when the search engines have time to pick them up and index their posts.

So look ahead, write your predictions and hunches about what people will be searching for in your journal and better still start writing some posts (or even start a new blog) on those topics to test how they do in the Search Engines. Be as specific with your posts as possible - for example last year in the lead up to the final show of American Idol 3 I wrote a post titled American Idol 3 Winner. The day the winner was announced guess who was (and still is) number 1 on Google for that term. It was a good day and showed me the power of thinking ahead.

Interview with a link spammer

The Register has an interesting article today titled Interview with a link spammer that gives an insight into the mind and methods of one of the growing number of people that seek to use yours and my blogs for their own gain:

'So how and why do “link spammers” - as they generically call themselves - do it? Are they the same as the email spammers? What do they think of what they do, ethically? And what can stop them? If you're affected by this spam, say because you run a blog, or a website, or like the other 99.9 per cent of Net users just come across the stuff, Sam explain the important thing to remember is it's nothing personal. They're not targeting you personally. They're just exploiting a weakness in a system which blossomed just at the time that Google cracked down on the previous method that spammers used, where huge “link farms” of their own web sites pointed circularly to each other to boost each others' ranking.'

The Rise of Business Blogging - 'Listening'

Steve's got a good article on The Rise of Business Blogging which ends with three good solid pieces of advice for those wanting to get into business blogging:

'Step One – Listen: The best way to become acquainted with the power of blogs is to read them and see what they’re talking about. Using tools like Google, PubSub and Feedster, you can find easily blogs that are already discussing your company/brand and its industry. Also be sure to check out sites like BusinessBlogConsulting.com and Adrants.com, which include examples of blogs done right and wrong.

Step Two – Reach Out: Once you have identified influential blogs, reach out to them by carefully posting comments on their sites. Let them know you’re listening. Some may invite you to sponsor their blog, which also can often offer a high ROI. Blogs can help your company build awareness among influencers who will talk about you to others. Marqui, a telecommunications company, recently began experimenting paying bloggers $800 per week if they mentioned their product. While the results aren’t known, blog advertising is certainly going to become a lot more prevalent in the years ahead.

Step Three – Launch Your Own Blogs: Finally, once you feel you have a firm grasp on the medium, roll your own weblogs. This can range from everything from a CEO blog to a product team site and more. Figure out first who you’re trying to reach, who will have the most time and what people in your organization are willing to be the most transparent. '

I really appreciate Steve's advice - whilst a couple of posts back I advised the 'just do it' method of researching a new blog topic - I was writing more for the experienced blogger wanting to start new entrepreneurial blogs. There is a danger when blogging of rushing into a niche topic without really thinking ahead. I know that if I'd just spent a little more time thinking about some of the blogs that I've started that I would have done one or two of them quite differently. I needed to spend a bit more time in the 'Listen' phase. Of course there is only so much listening that one should do - there comes a time when you have to move past that and actually bite the bullet and start that blog you've always wondered about.