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Contents

Introduction xxi 1 Blogging for Money 1 What Is a Blog? 1 What Makes Blogs Different? 2 The Added Benefits of Blogging 3 Making Money with Blogs 4 An Introduction to Professional Blogging 4 How Much Could You Earn? 5 Pro Blogging Is Not a Get-Rich-Quick Tactic 5 Direct and Indirect Earning Methods 6 Passive and Active Income 9 Is Pro Blogging Right for You? 10 Which Monetization Method Is Right for You? 10 How to Make Blog Advertising Work for You 12 Blog Strategies 13 Multiple Blogs 13 Freelance Blogging 13 Building and Flipping 14 Measuring a Blog's Success 14 Traffic 15 Subscribers 17 Comments, Feedback, and Interaction 18 Links 20 Search-Engine Results 21 Summary 22 2 Niche Blogging 23 10 Reasons Why Niche Blogs Are Successful 24 How to Choose a Profitable Niche Topic for Your Blog 26 Are You Interested in the Topic? 27 Do You Have Experience or Expertise in the Topic? 27 Is the Topic Popular? 28 Is the Niche Growing or Shrinking? 29 What's the Competition? 30 What's the Competition Neglecting? 31 Will You Have Enough Content? 32 Is the Niche Able to Be Monetized? 34 How Wide Should a Niche Be? 35 Should You Try Niche Demographic or Niche Topic? 36 Gala Darling 36 TCGeeks 37 Sports Networker 38 Choosing a Niche 39 Tools for Helping You to Choose a Niche for Your Blog 40 Summary 42 3 Setting Up Your Blog 43 Choosing the Right Blog for You 43 Blog Platform Choices 44 Hosted versus Self-Hosted 48 Hosted or Self-Hosted-Which to Choose? 53 Choosing a Domain Name 54 Factors to Consider When Choosing a Domain Name 54 Registering a Domain 57 Creating Your Blog 59 Four Steps to Setting Up a Hosted Blog at WordPress 59 Setting Up a Custom Standalone Blog Using One-Click-Install 61 Enhancing Your Blog 66 Adding a Contact Form to Your Custom WordPress Blog 67 Blog Design Considerations 69 A Word on Color 70 Customizing a Blog Template 71 Summary 72 4 Blog Writing 73 What Is Good Content? 73 Usefulness and Uniqueness 74 Writing Tips for Bloggers 76 Scannable Content 77 Using Titles Effectively on Blogs 79 How to Use Titles Successfully 80 Opening Lines Matter 83 Post Length-How Long Should a Blog Post Be? 83 Post Frequency-How Often Should a Blogger Post? 84 Keeping Posts Granular 86 20 Types of Blog Posts 89 10 Steps to Writing a Successful Series on Your Blog 93 Building an Interactive Blog by Encouraging Comments 96 Summary 98 5 Blog Income and Earning Strategies 99 Time to Make Money? 99 Factors to Consider 102 Monetizing Directly with Advertising 102 Ad Payment Types 105 Finding Advertisers 106 Preparing for Advertisers 106 Finding Advertisers 108 Approaching Advertisers 109 Taking Payments 110 How Much to Charge 110 Ad Formats 110 How Many Ads to Display 111 Optimizing Advertising 112 Other Direct Forms of Income 112 Affiliate Programs 113 Tips for Using Affiliate Programs on Your Blog 113 Donations 115 Classifieds 117 Merchandise 117 Subscriptions 118 Indirect Income-Earning Strategies 118 Freelance Blogging 118 Magazines and Books 121 Speaking 122 Consulting 122 Employment Opportunities 123 Selling e-Resources 124 Networking and Business Partnerships 124 Summary 124 6 Buying and Selling Blogs 125 Introduction to Buying and Selling Blogs 125 Why Sell? 126 Why Buy? 127 Deciding to Build or Buy 128 Buying to Sell (Flipping) 129 Blog Sales Basics 130 Investing in an Older Blog 130 Investing in a Newer Blog 131 Having a Game Plan 131 Valuations 131 Calculating a Blog's Value 137 Buying a Blog 138 Selling Blogs 140 Where to Sell Your Blog 140 How to Sell Your Blog 142 Blog Sales Case Studies 144 Summary 149 7 Blog Promotion and Marketing 151 Building Readership 151 Building a Content Magnet 151 Blog Relations 152 Gaining Attention through "Link Baiting" 158 Is Link Baiting Ethical? 158 Successful Link-Bait Ideas 159 Running Competitions 160 Search Engine Optimization for Blogs 163 Off-Site SEO 163 How to Generate Quality Inbound Links 164 On-Site SEO Techniques 165 Bottom Line on SEO 166 Guest Posting for Links, Reputation, and Traffic 168 Guest Posting in Practice 168 Increasing Page Views on Your Blog 172 Building Community and Getting More Comments 174 Summary 176 8 Build a Sticky Blog Community 177 How Sticky Blogs Grow Your Audience 177 Community Helps Make Your Blog More Useful 178 Community Builds Social Proof 178 Community Members Become Advocates 178 Communities Become Content Generators 179 Why Community Is Important for Monetization 179 Community Increases Page Views 179 Social Proof Makes Promotion Easy 179 Community Delivers Value to Advertisers 180 Community Increases Blog Value 181 Key Steps to Growing a Sticky Community 181 Start with Comments 182 Creating Reader-Centered Posts 182 Using a Personal Tone and Personal Media 183 Making Interactive Tools and Projects 183 Inviting Reader-Generated Content 184 Becoming a Cheerleader 185 Giving Readers Jobs 185 Assigning Reader Homework 186 Providing Multiple Avenues to Join or Become a Member 186 Embracing Off-Site Media 188 Being the Community You Want to Form 189 Engaging Your Audience 190 Setting Up Reader Homework 190 Giving Readers a Job 192 Answering Reader Questions 193 Making Readers Famous 193 Playing Matchmaker with Your Readers 195 Establishing an Intentional Engagement Plan 196 Learning from Your Community 197 Content Ideas and Directions 197 Needs and Desires That Need Solving 198 Likes and Dislikes That You Can Leverage 199 Product Ideas and Practicalities 200 Potential Partnerships 201 The Dark Side of Community 202 What Are Trolls? 202 Setting Up Preemptive Measures 202 Dealing with Trolls 203 Summary 204 9 Social Media and Your Blog 205 Determining Which Social Media Sites to Use 205 Social Bookmarking 206 Social Networking 206 Media Sharing Services 206 Implementing Social Media Promotion 207 Writing for Social Bookmarking Success 207 Engaging Your Followers with Social Media 213 Using Twitter 213 About Twitter Messages ("Tweets") 214 Using Facebook 216 Using LinkedIn Groups 219 Summary 222 10 Secrets of Successful Blogs 223 About Success in Blogging 223 Analyzing Top Blogs 224 What's the Average Blog Age? 224 What's the Posting Frequency? 224 How Does Social Media Factor In? 225 How Do Blogs Make Revenue? 226 What's the Blog Language? 226 Learning from Niche Blogs 227 What Are Some Successful Niche Blogs? 227 Lessons from Niche Bloggers 228 Learning from Top Blogs 229 ProBlogger 229 TechCrunch 231 Scobleizer 233 The 4-Hour Workweek 235 PopCrunch 236 The Key to Blogging Success: Bloggers Tell Us Their Success Secrets 238 Summary 239 11 Creating Something Worthwhile 241 Knowing Your Audience 241 Being Remarkable 242 What Causes Ideas to Spread? 243 Making Your Blog Useful 245 Useful-Blog Properties 246 Creating Useful Content Today 247 Summary 250 12 Taking Your Blog to the Next Level: A Case Study 251 The Launch of DPS-Years 1-2 251 Building Foundations 252 Monetization 256 Consolidation and Expansion-Years 3-5 256 Staff Writers 257 Expansion of Topics 257 New Design 257 Social Media 258 Increased Focus on Affiliate Marketing 258 DPS E-books 259 DPS Today 260 Using E-mail to Drive Traffic and Make Money 260 Concluding Thoughts on the DPS E-mail Sequence 266 Holiday Promotion 267 Summary 267 13 Going Beyond Your Blog 269 What It Means to Go Beyond Your Blog 269 The Blogging Goal Triangle 270 Community Interaction Leads to Attention 272 Getting Known, Spreading Your Ideas, and Attracting Visibility 274 Going from Blog to Print 275 Book Writing 277 Speaking from Blogging 282 Networking, Making Contacts, and Building Partnerships 286 Networking Confidence and Self Esteem 286 Selling Coaching Programs and Consulting 289 What You Need to Get Started 290 Getting Customers 291 Five Lessons from My Journey 292 Summary 294 Index 295

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