Here are ten quick rules for making money from your blog…
Readers Are Essential
Don’t ever forget about the people who made your blog popular - your readers. If you have a group of loyal readers that have been visiting your blog for a long time, a little gift would be appreciated. Contests also let your readers know you care about them, and they can also bring in some new faces as well.
And remember, valuable traffic = more readers = more popularity = more money.
Pop-Ups Are Evil
DHTML and regular popup windows are the most vile thing to hit the Internet. Unless you feel like killing off your blog, you should never have any form of popup.
Diversification Is The Key
Income diversification is the best way to bring in money. Selling text link ads and banner space is a nice way to have a fairly steady income each month that you can fall back on in the “just in case” scenario. Also, don’t forget about affiliate programs.
Constant Layout
If you have to constantly change your blog’s layout when you start using a new ad or affiliate program, maybe it is time to invest in a professional design. Professional designers know some neat tricks for sucking that extra dollar or two out of your blog by blending ads and banners in with your layout.
User Experience
If your reader’s experience on your blog changes drastically because of some new monetization technique, you should probably change it back. When you add in advertisements, banners, etc the overall user experience should remain the same.
Respect Your Superiors
Just because you might be making big money doesn’t mean you should badmouth your peers. In fact, becoming friends with them can help both of your blogs. You can share ideas, link to each other’s posts, guest post, etc. You never know, you could get a high-traffic link or two from your superior’s blog that gets you a few extra bucks as a result.
You Don’t Have To Discuss Your Profits
For some bizarre reason a lot of people seem to think you have to discuss your profits each month. Although some people like seeing how much you make, nobody is going to leave your blog just because you keep your finances to yourself. It really isn’t the reader’s business to know how much a blog makes, unless you make in their business.
It Takes Time
It takes time to make money from a website, and it takes longer to make money with a blog. Be patient.
Not Every Post Need To Be Monetized
By this I mean you don’t have to post ads or affiliate links in every post on your site. If anything, doing so will make you look like a sellout, which will result in less readers.
Understanding And Experimentation
Blog monetization is all about understanding your previous mistakes and experimenting with new techniques. Tell your readers if you add in some new feature, and read their reactions. If people get mad about it, remove it. By understanding your previous mistakes you are ensuring that the same screw-ups will never happen again.
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