20 Never to Miss Recommendations for Your Blog.

Here today, we have been receiving much of emails asking for advice about starting a blog, about how to blog, about blog topics, and about creating meaningful content. These are the answers and recommendations we tend to give.

1. Find Your Niche. You needn’t have a niche, but it helps. When learning how to be a blogger, it’s important to ask yourself what you’re passionate about. Running? Cooking? Being a parent? Have you found your passion? If so, whatever it is, write about that. If not, then you must first find your passion. (Note: We generally recommend that people don’t start a blog about minimalism or the paleo diet or any other heavily saturated topic. But what we really mean when we say this is: don’t create a blog about something unless you have a unique perspective. If you’ve embraced simple living and have a unique perspective, then by all means have at it. Enjoy yourself.)
2. Define Your Ideal Readers. Once you’ve found your niche, you need to know who will be reading your blog. For example, we blog about living intentionally. Thus, our ideal readers are people who are interested in exploring minimalism so they can clear the path toward more meaningful lives. If you want to write about your newborn baby growing up, that’s wonderful: your ideal readers are probably your friends and family. If you want to write about restoring classic cars, that’s cool, too. Tailor your writing to your readers (whether it’s your family or local community or whoever else will read your blog).
3. Add Value. Your blog must add value to its readers’ lives. This is the only way you will get Great Quality Readers to your site (and keep them coming back). Adding value is the only way to get someone’s long-term buy-in. We both learned this after a decade of leading and managing people in the corporate world.
4. Be Original. Yes, there are other blogs out there about the same thing you want to write about. Question: So why is your blog different? Answer: Because of you. You are what makes your blog different. It’s about your perspective, your creativity, the value that you add.
5. Be Interesting. Write epic, awesome content. Especially if you want people to share it with others.
6. Be Yourself. Part of being interesting is telling your story. Every person is unique, and your story is an important one. The important part of storytelling, however, is removing the superfluous details that make the story uninteresting. A great storyteller removes 99% of what really happens—the absorptive details—and leaves the interesting 1% for the reader.
7. Be Honest. Your blog needs to be authentic—it needs to feel real—if you want people to read it. You can be your blog, or your blog can be you. That is, do you really embody the stuff you write about? If not, people will see through you. “Be the change you want to see in the world,” is the famous Gandhi quote. Perhaps bloggers should build the blog they want to write for the world.
8. Transparency. Being transparent is different from being honest. You needn’t share every detail about your life just for the sake of being honest. Always be honest, and be transparent when it adds value to what you’re writing. (You won’t ever see pictures of us using the restroom on our site, because that’s just not relevant.)
9. Time. Once you’ve learned how to start a blog, you’ll learn that blogging takes a lot of time, especially if you’re as neurotic as we are (we spent over 10 hours testing the fonts on this site). And see those black Twitter and Facebook icons in the header? We spent hours on those, deciding what was right for us). That said, once you have your design set up, don’t tweak it too much. Instead, spend the time on your writing.
10. Vision. The reason our site design looks good is because we have a great host, we have a great theme, and most important, we had a vision of how we wanted our blog to look. Once we had the vision, we worked hard to make that vision a reality. (Note: neither of us had any design experience prior to starting a blog.) It’s hard to create a beautiful blog if you don’t know what you want it to look like.
11. Find Your Voice. Over time, good writers discover their voice and their writing tends to develop a certain aesthetic, one that is appealing to their readers. Finding your voice makes your writing feel more alive, more real, more urgent.
12. We Instead of You. Use the the first-person plural when possible. Statements of we and our are more powerful than than you and your, especially when talking about negative behaviors or tendencies. The first person comes off as far less accusatory. Think of it this way: we’re writing peer-to-peer—we are not gods.
13. When to Post. Question: When is the best day and time to publish a blog post? Answer: It doesn’t really matter. We don’t adhere to a particular schedule. Some weeks we post one essay; sometimes we post three. Yes, it is important to write consistently, but you needn’t get too bogged down in the details.
14. Social Media. Yes, we recommend using Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to help connect with your audience and other bloggers, but don’t get too caught up in it. Focus on the writing first, social media thereafter.
15. Ignore Negative Criticism and Stupidity. Sure, we get a lot of negative comments and stupid questions from ignorant people who aren’t really our readers (e.g., negative comments like “You’re not real minimalists” and stupid questions like “Are you guys gay?”). We call these people seagulls: they fly in, crap on your site, and fly away. But we pay them no mind, because we didn’t start our blog for them. Delete their comment and move on.
16. Research. Spend time researching what you’re writing about. The reason we are able to use so many helpful, relevant links in our essays is because we put in the time to research our topics.
17. Keep It Simple. This is where minimalism can be applied to starting any blog, irrespective of its genre. No need to place superfluous advertisements or widgets all over your site. Stick to the basics and remove anything you don’t need. Remove anything that doesn’t add value.
18. Picture. Put a picture of yourself on your blog. People identify with other people. If two goofy guys from Ohio aren’t too afraid to put their pictures on their site, then you have nothing to worry about.
19. Comments. If you’re going to have comments on your site, then read The Five Words That Kill Your Blog by Scott Stratten.
20. Live Your Life. You’re blogging about your life (or about certain aspects of your life, at least), so you still need to live your life. There are things that we always put before writing: exercise, health, relationships, experiences, personal growth, contribution.

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How to Start a Good Loking Blog in 30minutes

BY KAREN EVANS :

So you want to start a blog. That’s great! Not only is blogging a great pastime, if done right, it can grow into a lucrative online business.
But to really succeed with blogging, you need to stand out. According to research by NM Incite, there are 6.7 million blogs in the world. That’s a whole lot of competition… If you’ve already setup a blog, check out my resources page for tons of tips on how to stand out in the
marketplace of ideas.
If you’re new to blogging, on the other hand, it helps to get started off on the right foot. That’s why I’ve put this guide together for you, to walk you through the process to setup your blog in 5 easy steps.

Here’s how to start a blog:

1. Choose a blogging platform.
2. Register a domain name and hosting.
3. Design your blog.
4. Add content.
5. Get traffic.

The goal of this page is to help you get started the right way. From years of coaching and helping people with their blogs, I’ve found that many people make mistakes when starting a blog, sometimes resulting in them abandoning the project altogether. We don’t want that to happen.
So I want you to take the time to thoroughly read this post. It’s about 4000 words long, so get comfy and set aside some time; I’m going to walk you through the entire process of setting up your self-hosted blog, so you ‘get it right the first time’.
Ready to create your blog today? Alright, let’s get right into it.

Step 1: Choose the right blogging platform (WordPress)

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Before you can even start worrying about how your blog will look like, you’ll need to choose your blogging platform. 
There’s a lot to choose from. You are able to create a blog with many different blogging platforms, such as WordPress, Tumblr, Blogger and more…
However, given that there are over 72 million active users using WordPress today, it’s clear which platform is the boss. Even my own blogs and sites are built with WordPress blogging platform. Here’s why:

• It’s FREE for everyone to use (including themes, layouts and add-ons that many other blogging platforms don’t provide).

• It’s super easy to set up.

• It’s secure; WordPress is always updating their software and keeping everything sound and secure, so there’s rarely a worry of having your blog come under hacking attacks. No wonder Facebook, NASA and even university blogs are using WordPress.

• It’s HIGHLY customizable. There are hundreds of free themes and plugins that add more functionality to your blog, from contact and subscribe boxes to plugins that improve blog performance and more.

While the other blogging platforms are generally all pretty OK, nothing in my opinion has ever come close to matching the freedom and customization options that WordPress offers. So without a doubt, go with WordPress. Especially when you are just starting out.

Why you shouldn’t create a blog on a free blogging platform

Without a doubt, you need to self-host your WordPress blog.
Think about it – what famous, successful blogger you know is using a free blogging website like “nollyrexblog.freeblogs.com” instead of their own domain name like “Nollyrexblog.com.ng”, for example?
It’s not just that – free blogging platforms have other problems too – including…

• You don’t control your content – the blogging platform does. They could shut you down any time, and for any reason. Don’t believe me? Read this.
• The web address of your blog will be long and hard to remember (like yourfreeblog.blogspot.com) instead of a catchy, branded address you choose.
• You’re not allowed to advertise on most free blogging platforms, making it much harder to ever make money from blogging.

All of these limitations apply to the WordPress.COM blogs. What you really want is to self-host a WordPress blog – it’s the same software without all the limitations!
If I were you, I’d start with a self-hosted blog on my own domain from day one. Setting up a blog like this is WAY easier and less expensive than you think.

Finding a domain name and web hosting provider

Now to exciting part! To set up a self-hosted blog on your own domain name, you’ll need two things:
Domain name – This will be your personal blog address where people find you over and over again. For example Google’s Domain is www.Google.com. Your new blog domain name will be www.YourBlogName.com, except you’ll choose what’s going to be behind YourNewBlog. The cost of a domain name is usually $10/year, but if you follow this guide all the way, I’ll show you how to get one for much cheaper.
Web hosting – This will be the home of your blog address and content that’s on the blog. Without web hosting, you’ll be unable to use your domain. Think of it as a computer hard drive that stores all your content on your blog (images, blog posts and so on). The cost of web hosting is usually somewhere between $2-5 per month.
It’s less than an XL coffee at Starbucks, so it won’t break the bank. But it’s an important investment to your blog success.

Where should I get my domain name and hosting?

When it comes to hosting, there are only two things that matter.

• Page load speed – The average amount of time (in seconds) it takes your blog to load.
• Uptime – 99.9% isn’t enough (it’s 42 minutes of downtime per month). You should be aiming for 100%.

There are hundreds of different web hosting providers. They all offer you a similar service (domain + hosting) with a similar price, but since I’ve dealt with and monitored many famous and recommended web hosting companies like Bluehost, iPage, Godaddy,Whogohost etc…
I now only use and recommend www.HostGator.com for domain names and web hosting.
Why? Nothing has ever come close to HostGator in terms of blog load speed and uptime (see below):

HostGator has great performance, they are easy to use and it’s probably the best pick for beginners.
However, you can always go with another web hosting as long as it’s fast, reliable and offers unlimited storage & bandwidth. This helps you to avoid problems later on.

Step 2: Set up a Blog on your own domain name (self-hosted WordPress)

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If you don’t have a hosting or a domain name yet – don’t worry. I’ll be showing this in a minute…
At the end of this step (2), you will have a fully working self-hosted WordPress blog on your own domain name! Sounds promising, huh?
If for some odd reason you don’t want to use HostGator, you can always choose another hosting provider. I can’t promise they’ll be that good, but the registration and the set up process should be some what similar. Some hosting companies do not have one click install for WordPress. If that’s the case, see this guide for installing WordPress manually (not recommended for beginners, though).

1. Go to www.HostGator.com and then click “Start Your WordPress Blog”.

Remember: Since I’m using HostGator by myself too, I’ve negotiated a discount for people who use this guide (72% off). This discount should be applied automatically. Enjoy

2. Pick a Domain name for your blog

Already have a domain name?
Just write it in the right box (I already own this domain) and keep moving to the next step by scrolling down a bit.
How do I choose a good domain name?
Choosing a bad domain name is one of the most common mistakes I see bloggers make. Be sure you choose a domain name that is…

1. Easy to Remember – Don’t choose a nonsense name, something tough to spell, or a long name full of dashes. “www.best-tech-gadgets-in-the-world.com” won’t ever stick in someone’s head, but something like “www.socialgeeks.com” rolls off the tongue.

2. Unique and Descriptive – You want a name that reflects who you are and what you care about. Be creative and build an identity you’re excited about!

3. Trustworthy – Domain extensions like “.com”, “.org” or “.net” are the most popular, with “.com” being the one most people think of first. Try to avoid crazy extensions like “.rocks” or “.biz”, as these are less commonly used, tougher to remember and not as trusted.

Type the domain name you want to use in the box, then click “next”. If the name is available, you’ll be able to claim it. If it’s not available, choose another one.

If the name you want isn’t available, HostGator will show you some alternatives that are similar – or you can punch in a new name and try again. I’d suggest you to use something that ends with .com, .net or .org

3. Choose your blog hosting plan

I recommend the “Hatchling” plan for now – you can always upgrade later if you decide you want more advanced features, but you get more than enough with the Hatchling.

4. Complete your registration

Once you’ve chosen Hatchling plan and found a name you like that’s available, you’ll need to register it by putting in your contact and billing information.
You’ll also have a chance to customize your package a bit. This is a chance to save some more money, so don’t skip it! Apply discount code “STARTBLOG”



I would take a look at each of these additional services to see if you want any of them.  I don’t believe they are necessary for you at this stage.

5. Log in to your new account and install WordPress blog

It may take a few minutes for HostGator to register your account, so be patient. You should get a confirmation email when your account is ready.

Once you’ve logged in to your control panel (all the information you need for that should be on your inbox) , it’s time to install WordPress. Thankfully, this takes just one click!

• Log-in to your Hostgator control panel
• At the top click “Get Started With WordPress Today”
• If WordPress isn’t there for some reason, scroll down a little bit on the control panel and click on “Quick Install” under the Software & Services section. Look at the top of the page, in the left sidebar section for WordPress.

Once clicked, you’ll be automatically transferred to Mojomarketplace.com – don’t panic, this is just a site that helps HostGator install platforms (like WordPress).
You should immediately see a screen where you’re offered to “Install” or “Import” WordPress.
Click “Install” to get to the next step.
When you’re finished, “Install WordPress”. Once you’ve done that, you’ll see a loading bar at the top of your page that will eventually tell you that your WordPress blog has been installed and you’ll see your log-in credentials.

6. Log in in and check out your new blog

Once the installation completes, you’ll get an email that shares your login information, including an “Admin URL”. (In case you missed that notification bar)
To log in to your blog, click the admin URL. If you forget this URL, it’s simply www.yourblog.com/wp-admin (where “yourblog” is your domain name).

Congratulations – you now know how to make a blog using WordPress. You’ve installed WordPress and set up your blog, all on your own! As you can see, it was really easy and straightforward.

Step 3: Designing your blog

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In this section, I’ll show you some WordPress blog basics, including:

Sample of a customized WordPress blog (SmartPassiveIncome.com)

• Changing your blog’s design
• Installing new plugins/features
• Making your blog search engine friendly

If you’ve set up your blog, you’re now ready to start using WordPress and customizing your blog. I promise – it’ll be pretty easy and fun at the same time.
Remember: You can log in to your blog by going to www.yourblog.com/wp-admin/ and using the credentials you set up with HostGator or any other hosting company you used.

Changing Your Blog’s Design (Themes & Layouts)

WordPress blogging platform uses design templates called “Themes” to figure out how your site should look. Changing your blog’s layout and design is as simple as installing a new theme.
There are over 2,000 professionally designed, fully-customizable and free themes to choose from – so you’ve got a lot of options. If you want to see premium themes and designs like the Genesis Framework, head over to Themeforest.net

Here’s how to find and install a theme you love:

When you log in for the first time, you’ll see a dashboard or admin panel that looks something like this:


Mouse-over the “Appearance” tab in the WordPress sidebar, then click on “Themes”.


On the next screen, you’ll see several themes are already installed. If you don’t like those, click the “Add New” button at the top, or the great big “Add New” square to start searching for a theme.

Now, you’ll see tabs where you’ll find featured, popular and brand new themes, as well as a “Feature Filter” and search bar.


I really like the “Feature Filter” option, because you can choose themes in certain color schemes, select specific layouts and even choose themes with built-in advanced features.
Just choose the options you want, then click “Apply Filters” on the left hand side. If you’re finding this challenging, just search by keyword – there’s no wrong way!


When you’ve found a theme you like, click “Install”. You’re nearly done!
Once the theme has been installed, all that’s left to do is click “Activate” on the next screen:

Configuring your blog to be search engine friendly

There are some things you’d need to do to make your blog more search engine friendly. Search engines do not like two things:

1. Ugly and clumsy URL-s – http://yourblog.com/2012/04/topic-a/author-Karen/how-to-start-a-blog. A much better way is to use: http://yourblog.com/start-a-blog

See the difference? One is filled with irrelevant information and the another one is short, clean and neat.
In order to change your links to a more cleaner, click on the “Settings” -> “Permalinks” and use the following settings:

2. Spam comments – Unfortunately, lots of people want to leave automate spam comments on your blog. They do that for couple of reasons – to get people from your blog to their blog and to advertise their services/products.

To avoid that, make sure you moderate your comments. Here’s how to do that: Go to “Settings” -> “Discussion” and tick those two options.

Step 4: Adding/Writing Blog Posts and Pages

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By now you should have fully working WordPress blog on your own domain name. You should also have a custom blog theme that fits with your blog’s topic. Congratulations – you’ve done a LOT and I’m proud that you’ve managed to get so far.
In the LAST step, I’ll show you how to write your first blog post and share some tips for writing blog posts.
In this section, I’ll show you…

• How to write a post inside WordPress
• How to add images, links and format text
• Some quick tips and tricks for writing great content

Using WordPress to Blog

Adding a New Post

To add a new blog post, click the “Posts” section on the left hand side-menu, then click on “Add New”.

On the next screen, you’ll see something like this:

You can add the title to your blog post in the top field, and your content goes in the big text box below the title.
You can save your draft or publish your content live by using the box menu on the far right of the page. You can even schedule the post to be published later – or make the post private so only friends can see it.

Once published, your new post can be found in the “All Posts” section of the “Posts” tab, so you can edit it any time.
Let’s take a quick look at some things you can do to spruce up your post:

Adding Images

To add an image to your post, click the “Add Media” button right above the lower content field.
Tip: Before you click “Add Media”, be sure you’ve left your cursor inside of your blog post where you want the image to show up. Otherwise, you’ll have to move it later on.


Next, click the “Upload Files” tab on the screen that pops up, then click “Select Files”.

Once you’ve found the file, double click it and WordPress will upload it automatically.
When the upload is finished, make sure the image you want is selected, then click the “Insert into post” button to add the image to the post you’re writing.

Adding a Link

Linking out to other websites is a great way to build relationships and share interesting content.
To add a link, click on the icon in the toolbar that looks a bit like a chain link.

On the pop-up, you’ll need to enter a few important bits of information.

• URL is the web address of the link you want to share. Make sure you include “http://” before the “www.” address, or your link will be broken.

• “Link Text” is the text you want people to click on to get to your link. It might be “Click here”, or anything you choose.

• “Open link in a new window/tab” – it’s a smart idea to check this box. Otherwise, when someone clicks your link, they’ll leave your blog.

• If you want to link to an existing page, you can use the “Search” section to find a post or page you’ve already created and click it to add a link.

Finally, click “Add Link”, and your link will be added where you left your cursor in the post you were writing.

Adding Headers & Editing Text

It’s a good idea to use headers and bolding to make your content easier to read and scan.

Adding Headings

To add a heading, click on the drop-down menu on the bottom left of the toolbar.

Try to only use “Heading 1” once within your page (usually at the top), and use “Heading 2” or “Heading 3” for other sections in the copy, as this is better for search engines.
Tip: You can also highlight the text you want to change in your blog post, THEN click on the dropdown menu and select the format you want the text to be in.

Editing Fonts

You can also bold, italicize, underline and even change the colour of your text in a click or two.

• “B” is for bolding
• “I” is for italics
• “U” is to underline your text
• “A” will open a dropdown menu where you can select font color

As you can see, this is all pretty simple for someone who has worked with Microsoft Word.

Step 5: Start Growing Your Blog

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Now that you have set up your blog and know the basics, it’s time to make your blog successful. Many
beginners struggle at that point, thus I’ve put together a handful of guides to get you going easier.
If I were you, I’d suggest you to go and check my resource page . It’s nothing too much, but enough to get you going and a bit more.

Things to do after you’ve created your blog:

The first thing I’d do is create a proper About Me and Contact page.

• Creating a perfect about me page (This is usually the most visited page on your blog)
• Adding a Contact Page/Form on your blog (So that your readers could contact you)

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

Q: What blog site should I use?
A: WordPress is the most popular platform, powering over 25% of the web! Best of all: it’s free.
Q: What should I write about? What blog should I start?
A: Recipe blogs, fitness blogs, and business blogs are some of the most popular. Here’s how to pick a blog topic people will really want to read.
Q: How do bloggers make money?
A: There are a number of ways including advertising and digital products, but some people just do it for fun. Check out my article How To Make Money From Your Blog.
Q: How Do I Pick A Domain Name?
A: I would suggest using your real name (because you can change it later).
Q: Are blogs social media?
A: Blogs can be considered social media, because they have comments and social interactions. However from a technical standpoint, analytics software does not count blog traffic as social media traffic.
Q: Is blogging dead?
A: No way! Over 409 million people read blog posts every month. You’re reading one right now!
Q: What’s the difference between a blog and a website?
A: Blogs are frequently updated with articles while a website is generally “set it and forget it”. Blogs might have less features than a website and just focus on creating really good content. For this reason a blog is more socially active, with shares and comments.

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Best Ways to Monetize Your Blog/Websites

Now that you have your blog set up and traffic is coming your way, you’re ready to start monetizing your blog.
You must have seen or heard about people who make a lot of money from blogs. Some people aren’t even afraid to show it off to their readers. Here are a couple of folks who do extremely well with blogging:

1. Pat Flynn from SmartPassiveIncome.com makes around $80,000 per month (he started his blog 5-6 years ago, though).
2. Lindsay from PinchOfYum.com makes around $20,000 per month (she started her blog in 2010).
3. Regina from ByRegina.com makes around $7,000 per month.

Email marketing to your own list the best way to make money with your blog.

List building refers to adding new subscribers to your email list. You can entice readers to subscribe by offering a free gift exclusive to subscribers and, of course, by consistently producing great content that people want to come back to.
But how does this help you monetize? It keeps people in-the-know. When you launch your eCourse, start offering consulting services, or publish an eBook, your subscribers are going to be the first ones to care. So, if you want to see quick results after a launch, be sure you have an email list built up to gain access to a pool of interested individuals.
That’s not to mention that you can also monetize your email campaigns with banner ads and affiliate links, too. In some cases, you might even set up a separate paid subscription email list for exclusive tips and offers.
If you want to start gathering your visitors you will need a email service. I recommend Constant Contact. *Constant Contact has a 60 day free trial (no credit-card required). After that their pricing starts as low as $20/month but I was able to get you 20% off if you click here! I like their service because it isn’t expensive, they have excellent support, and a great autoresponder management system.

Here are six more excellent ways you can monetize your blog:

1) Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is a type of performance-based marketing. As the blogger, you include links to a product or service offered through another business’s affiliate program. If one of your visitors clicks on that link and purchases the good or service, you’ll receive a cut of the cost.
That’s how I monetize my blog here at Start Blogging Online.
If you choose to join an affiliate program, it’s always a good idea to:

1. Only promote products relevant to your niche.
2. Only promote products you’ve personally used and recommend.
3. Include a disclaimer on your site as to not mislead your readers (like I do here).

So how do you get involved in affiliate marketing? You can start by joining a popular program such as:

• Amazon Associates
• ClickBank
• LinkShare

But you don’t have to stick with just the big-name programs. Businesses can also set up their own programs for a single product or a small group of products, and you can become one of their affiliates. For instance, a fellow blogger might offer an affiliate program for eBooks or eCourses in your niche, which would be a great opportunity for you since it’s highly relevant to your readers.
How much can you make through affiliate links? Melissa Culbertson of Blog Clarity points out just two examples of a mommy blogger and decorative concrete blogger who make $20,000 and $32,000 per year respectively, and that’s with minimal visitors.

2) Google AdSense

Some people create a self-hosted blog solely for ads and Google AdSense is one of the most popular ad networks around. Simply put, you make money by displaying ads on your site. There are two ways to start earning cash from Google AdSense:

1. Based on impressions: This depends on page views. For instance, for every 1,000 page views you get, you earn a set dollar amount.
2. Based on clicks: Regardless of page views, if a visitor clicks on the ad from your site, you’ll earn a certain cut of the ad revenue. This can range anywhere from $0.01 to a couple of dollars depending on the ad.

AdSense is compatible with free Blogger blogs and self-hosted WordPress blogs, but keep in mind that it won’t work with a free WordPress blog (although you can monetize with WordAds if you have a custom domain).

How much can you make with AdSense? Well, that all depends on your traffic and how many people are willing to click on your ads. (Remember that you should never click on your own ads since Google can penalize you for it.) Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income has reported earning upwards of $3,000 per month on AdSense revenue alone, but other bloggers like Spencer Haws of Niche Pursuits have reported earnings well over $10,000 per month.

3) Course and/or Services

If you’re already teaching your visitors through your blog, why not create an exclusive learning opportunity by building a paid online course? A common way to sell these courses is by setting up an 8-week course through automated email messages or releasing the full package all at once so students can work at their own pace. Just some examples of online courses include:

• Audience Business Masterclass (from Firepole Marketing)
• Article Writing Masterclass (by Carol Tice and Linda Formichelli)
• Social Media Training for Serious Marketers (from Market Motive)

How much can you make selling eCourse memberships? Again, this all depends on how much you sell it for and how many people are willing to purchase the course. Gina Horkey of Horkey Handbook made over $1,000 in her first month after launching a freelance writing eCourse.
Like courses, you can also offer services. For example, many bloggers are also freelance writers, and they get paid to write blog content for other people. Other common services include speaking engagements and private coaching. Depending on your niche, you can get more specific. A wedding blogger, for instance, might offer wedding planning services.

4) Consulting

Consulting is another popular way to make money through your blog’s traffic. With these services, you charge a fee to give feedback to readers. For example, let’s say you blog about social media. You could charge $75 for a one-hour Skype session where you discuss your client’s social media strategy. Along with the Skype call, you might send a full written report via email on how to improve that strategy.
Let’s look at a few examples. Jim Connolly of Jim’s Marketing Blog sells two-hour-long “Pick My Brain” sessions for $319 a pop to discuss marketing tactics. Sophie Lizard of Be a Freelance Blogger sells one-on-one mentoring sessions for freelance bloggers in packages ranging from $197 to $497.

5) Paid Reviews and/or Banner-ads

If you’re generating a decent amount of traffic, you might be approached by a business looking to sponsor your site. There are usually two requests you get in these cases:

1. Paid reviews or sponsorship posts
2. Banner ads

Paid reviews are when the business sends you their product and pays you to write a review about it, but you are not obligated to write a positive review. Alternatively, some businesses will sponsor a specific post in exchange for a link back to their site. It is an ethical practice to disclose the sponsorship to your readers.
Banner ads are just what they sound like. They’re ads you place in “banner” style, usually in your sidebar. The business sponsoring the ad will often pay you monthly to keep the ad up on your site.

6) eBooks

Writing eBooks is a super popular way to start selling a unique product in your industry, and it’s ideal for pretty much any niche. With so many self-publishing opportunities available, too, it’s easy to get your book published and ready to sell with major retailers like Amazon or directly on your site.
How much money can you make? Darren Rowse of ProBlogger reports earning $72,000 in just one week after launching his eBook. If you’re not terribly well-known, you can still make a decent chunk of cash. Steve Gillman reports at The Penny Hoarder that he made about $2,000 from an eBook on ultralight backpacking that he wrote in just a few days.

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Make money online with this 6 steps

LOOKING FOR WAYS TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE WITHOUT ANY INVESTMENTS, THEN THIS POST IS FOR YOU. MANY PEOPLE HAVE BEEN ASKING ME WAYS TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE, BUT I THINK IS TIME..FOLLOW THIS UP AND TRY 2 OR 3 OF IT AND GIVE YOUR FEED BACK.

 

1. Article Written Service

 Bloggers and webmasters are always looking for new and unique content for their blogs and websites. Digital point forums can be a good place to start though its full of scammers and spammers, but still, you can
make decent income writing articles. You will be paid $2-$10 per article depending on the quality of articles. You’ll be instructed on the quality of articles, niche, number of words etc while making a deal.

 2. Writing blog reviews and paid posts

If you have a blog which already gets decent traffic you can start doing sponsored review for your blog. This also holds true for those who have a YouTube channel. For YouTube channel, you can Click Famebit which is free to join & get sponsored offers.  Remember to review good products, businesses and websites only. It’s again zero-investment income if you are using free blog hosting service of Blogger or WordPress.

 3. Guest posting for your clients

It can make you earn a lot. Guest posting has great benefits regarding traffic, exposure, credibility and recognition from search engines. Just imagine how much can you charge if you have the caliber to get a guest post approved on ShoutMeLoud! Your clients will pay you thousands of dollars.Though, I think it’s stupid to do for others. It’s just too valuable. But, if you are in much need of cash, try it.
For this you need to have writing skills & you can find a list of high authority blogs that allows guest posting here in my next article.

 4. Affiliate Marketing

  The Affiliate marketing is the best way for anyone to start earning money online. This requires zero investment & you can use your blog or even your social media platform like Twitter, Facebook to promote & earn money.  I know many bloggers who are earning thousands sitting at home just with affiliate marketing. 

5. Blog Commenting Service

Most bloggers don’t know which blogs allow auto-approved comments. There are thousands of high traffic blogs which allow auto-approved comments.
Do research on the internet, make a huge list and start commenting service for other bloggers. Or just sell the list. You can similarly sell the list of do-follow comment blogs; comment Luv plugin enabled blogs; top commentator plugin enabled blogs, etc. Bloggers will be happy to pay you a few dollars for the list. Use forums to sell your list.

6.  Become a broker for webmasters and website owners

Earn commission by getting them clients who pay for advertisement. Join webmasters forums and contact itraders to get this kind of work. These are all free ways to make money online and survive anyhow. Personally, I won’t recommend anything other than points 1, 2 and 4.

Another popular way to earn money is by heping someone selling their website or domain. This is a big business & with every successful sale, you can earn anywhere from $20-$20,000. Usually 10% of the selling price of website or domain.

 

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