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BLOGGING TIPS CONFESSIONS OF A SIX FIGURE BLOGGER BY ZAC JOHNSON ✼ TABLE OF CONTENTS
Dedication Preface How Blogging Has Changed My Life What You Need to Know About Blogging Going
Live With Your Blog How to Get Started Right Now Monetization and Blogging for Profit The Importance
of Social Networking & Blogging The Power of Guest Blogging Must-Have Wordpress Tools & Plugins 10
Must Do’s for Serious Bloggers Taking Your Blog to the Next Level ✼ Blogging Tips Confessions of a Six
Figure Blogger By Zac Johnson Copyright 2012 Published by ZacJohnson.com All rights reserved. No part
of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the
author. This ebook was produced with http://pressbooks.com. ✼ DEDICATION ✣ To my amazing wife
Reena, my world would never have been the same without you. You’ve been with me through it all and
words can not express what you mean to me. You are my rock and are always pushing me to be a better
person and surpass my goals. I love you. To my loving family, Mom Dad and Heidi, for always being there
and letting me walk the path less traveled and create my own future and always standing behind me.
From the early days of playing “buy and sell” with comic cards to flying across the country while in high
school to attend my first internet marketing conference, you’re the inspiration and backbone that made
all of this possible. To the greatest dog in the world, Foxy. Even though you can’t read and understand
this, you still play an important role in my life and business. I will always value the long hours we spend
together in the office while I take care of the day to day operations and how you always sit by my side. I
also love how you let me know when to take a break from work by constantly hitting me with your nose
til I bring you outside for a walk. And last, but certainly not least… to everyone I’ve met and talked with
over the past decade and a half in the world of internet marketing. To every person who spent the time
to send me an email, read my blog, introduce themselves to me at a conference and especially those of
you who are reading this book right now. I thank all of you, as none of this would be possible without
you! Zac Johnson, September 2012 ✼ PREFACE ✣ My name is Zac Johnson and you may already know
me from my popular blogs, ZacJohnson.com and BloggingTips.com. Since high school, I’ve been
determined to make money online and since then, it has developed into a passion for helping others do
the same. While it’s been 15 years since I first started making money online, it’s just as exciting a process
today as it was then, and there are new ways to generate revenue every day – it’s all about being
creative and building an established brand around yourself or your product. In addition to running my
own personal blog at ZacJohnson.com, a few years back I acquired a very high end and established blog

at BloggingTips.com. Through both of these blogs, I have been able to grow my brand to new leaps and
bounds, while also creating new opportunities for revenue and growth. In this book, we are going to
cover everything from the basics of blogging, to building your own brand, and eventually creating your
own part-time or fulltime internet business while using blogging as your main source of traffic, branding
and revenue generation. Before we get started, I want to make it absolutely clear to everyone that
blogging is serious business! The upfront investment costs of starting a blog on your own is relatively
low, but the return on investment is strictly based on the time and dedication you put into your site.
Blogging is not a get-rich-quick or overnight method to success, but I will show you the exact steps that I
have taken to get to where I am today. To learn more about me and how I first started making money
online, thus becoming a well-known figure in the internet marketing and blogging space, be sure to read
my full story on my about me page. Here’s to your success and I wish you all the best! ✼ HOW
BLOGGING HAS CHANGED MY LIFE ✣ Before we jump into the basics of blogging and how you can get
started, first it’s important to understand what blogging is and how it can help change your business and
life. I’ve been making money online for over 15 years now and blogging for a little over five years, but
there is definitely a big difference between the two. I can almost break down my life in the world of
online marketing by “before blogging” and “after blogging.” Before I started blogging, I was strictly an

internet marketer meaning I created and managed ad campaigns. This was my bread and butter, and not
only was I great at it, but I also enjoyed doing it! It wasn’t till 2007 when I launched my first blog at
ZacJohnson.com that I really put myself out there and informed others about how I was making a living
through online marketing. Sure, I started speaking at affiliate marketing conferences in 2001, but having
a blog really puts you out there in the general public’s eye. Working as a teenage affiliate marketer to
blogging out of my own home today have proved my overall growth in leaps and bounds. What I want to
stress in this section of the book is how many opportunities are available when you put yourself out
there and become an authority in any niche. Let’s take a look at just a few of the opportunities that I
have been blessed with, all thanks to people connecting with me through my blog at ZacJohnson.com.
Creating a Brand and Business of My Own As mentioned earlier, before I

started
my blog, I was an internet marketer pushing ad campaigns. I already had my own network of content
sites that made good money, but I was still relying on ad networks and having to bring in new revenue
sources when ad campaigns would come to a close. By creating ZacJohnson.com, I built a powerful brand
that I represent – essentially, “I” have become the brand. I’m responsible for the content and voice on
my blogs and in the process, have also opened up a whole new world of potential opportunities and
partnerships that couldn’t have been formed if I were still “just an internet marketer.” From the USA All
the Way to AUS In 2000, I made the journey across the country from New Jersey to California to attend
Commission Junction University (CJU), which was my first internet marketing conference. This experience

in itself was like no other. I was 18 at the time and sitting among some of the biggest names in the world
of internet marketing. This was the launching pad for many of my future connections in the coming
years. CJU was the first conference I ever attended, and it provided me with the learning and networking
experience to connect with other big names in the industry. Networking with the people at CJU resulted
in lots of fresh business and helpful new contacts, which would eventually lead to me speaking at several
conferences and events in the next few years. Since launching the blog, the interest and demand for me
speaking at other conferences and events has greatly increased. This includes being a keynote speaker at
AffiliateSyd in Sydney, Australia! Whether it’s New York, Las Vegas, California or even Australia, you never
know where you may be invited to speak at next or who is reading your blog and attending your
speaking events. Therefore it is always important to take the time to put yourself out there and speak
with everyone who wants to share their time with you. Television Appearances on ABC & Fox News
Speaking of never knowing where you may end up next, two amazing opportunities that came as a result
of the blog and my speaking engagements, were my appearances on both ABC News and Fox News on
“The O’Reilly Factor.” It’s one thing to get your name and blog mentioned on a well-known website, but
television is a whole new level! One extremely important piece of advice that I can offer to all of my blog
and book readers is to always go above and beyond your expectations. Making yourself available, and
being personable and friendly with everyone you meet can go a very long way. Taking chances and
putting yourself out there is a must. For every ten opportunities that you might come across, perhaps
only one or two will result in success, but this is what it takes to make it in the world of blogging and
business. There are some very big egos in the world of internet marketing, and not letting your head get
too big is a sure way to find success and opportunities in areas that you may never have thought of. I
always make an effort to help anyone who asks for my advice or respond to an email someone sends me
after they have read something on my blog. Not only do I enjoy helping people learn how to make
money online, but I know how important it can be to get advice from others in the industry when you’re
first starting out. You never know who might lead the way for your next big business opportunity.

Building Amazing New Partnerships One of the most amazing things about having an authority blog of
your own, is the never-ending flow of emails, advertising requests and contacts you get on a the
never-ending flow of emails, advertising requests and contacts you get on a daily basis. Many of these
emails will be people looking for handouts, but there will also be plenty of legitimate emails and
opportunities that can come in. Whether someone sends me an email with a simple question, saying
they enjoy the blog content or are looking to get a review on their latest website or service, I always take
the time to respond to all of them. It’s always great to hear from my readers and learn about their
various successes, not to mention the importance my blog and content has had in their lives. These are
just a few of the many opportunities and benefits that blogging has opened up to me and helped

changed my life in the past few years. ✼ WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BLOGGING ✣ For the
average person, blogging may not seem like a big deal. Not too long ago, if you said you were a blogger,
people would give you an odd look and either have no idea what you were talking about or simply think
you were wasting your time with your little online journal site or a silly hobby. The truth is that blogging
has evolved drastically over the past several years and it’s quickly become one of the most powerful
methods for quickly creating websites, growing out brands, connecting businesses with customers and
even becoming multi-million dollar companies. Many of the blogs on the internet are powered through
the use of a free software application called Wordpress. Wordpress is a content-management system
that makes it easy for anyone to create a blog and publish content online. There are over 50 million
Wordpress-driven sites on the internet and over 100,000 new sites are created daily. If you know how to
use a simple writing program like Microsoft Word, then you should have no problem getting used to
Wordpress and creating a blog of your own. To set up a blog, you are going to need to register a domain
name and set up a web-hosting package, which is where you will host all of your blog content and the
Wordpress software. Don’t worry about the technical details, we will get into the specifics of setting up
your first blog later in the guide and this is something I can even set up for you! can even set up for you!
Instead of asking yourself why you should start a blog, ask what you could be missing out on by NOT
having a blog of your own. As mentioned earlier, I’ve been making money online for over 15 years now,
but I’ve also been a blogger for a little over five years as well. It was only natural that if I created a blog
on something I understood intimately, it’s focus would be on teaching others how to make money online.
In 2007, I created my first blog, ZacJohnson.com. The site focuses on teaching people how to make
money online while also sharing my personal and business experiences over the years. Since launching
the blog, I’ve had an amazing amount of success as a result. I’ve helped my readers generate over $5
million dollars in new business with my sponsors and recommended ad networks, and I’ve built new
business relationships and friends through the blog. Looking back at just the past few years and what has
been accomplished as a result of starting my own blog, it’s a little frightening to think how much I could
have missed out on by not having one. If you’ve been thinking about starting a blog of your own but
simply haven’t taken the leap, now is the time to get started. You don’t need to be an entrepreneur, have
a business on the internet, or even be a high school or college graduate! Anyone can achieve success
from having their own blog, and in this book we are going to break down the whole process from the
initial concept ideas, to building out a resourceful site that people flock to on a daily basis, and how to
turn your readers into customers and thus, profit. Why Blogging is the Future of Branding The internet
and time is a funny thing… what was hot last week may be old The internet and time is a funny thing…
what was hot last week may be old news today. The same thing can be said for the way websites,
businesses and brands go through different phases online. If you were fortunate enough to be using the
internet around 10 years ago, you may remember how simple everything was. Most websites were made
of simple HTML designs and looked nothing like the complicated images they are today. Loading times
were slow and video was out of the question – and blogging, well that was something that would change
the internet landscape in the coming years. The big difference between the internet of previous years
and the internet of today is that sites are continually loaded up with a massive amount of content in real
time, and that’s the way it should be. The days of throwing up a simple HTML web page with content and
never updating it again is over. This is why many people and businesses are turning to blogging as the
best way to conduct business and grow a brand online. When it

comes to blogging, the benefits are endless. Blogs allow websites and brands to constantly update their
sites with fresh new content that people can share and comment on. Search engines also tend to land on
blog-based websites because they are often updated more than other standard websites. The more
relevant and updated the content, the more likely search engines will rank you higher in the search
results. Blogs need to provide value to the reader and also create a two-way conversation. This is exactly
what your potential readers and the search engines are looking for. Setting up a blog of your own to
achieve both of these goals is both easy and inexpensive. Even when the concept of “blogging” first
came out, it really wasn’t the “cool” thing to be doing. MySpace was one of the first major sites for
creating profile pages that allowed for daily status updates and connections with friends, but pages that
allowed for daily status updates and connections with friends, but blogs were more looked upon as
online journals and ways to write personal feelings and opinions online. Now it is the complete opposite,
not to mention a business and marketing requirement. Everyone has a blog today, and if they don’t, they
should! From grandparents to teenagers, pets, local businesses and many Fortune 500 companies, the
power of blogging is truly changing the way business and branding is performed online. Another reason
why blogging is so powerful is because it is a two-way conversation. Remember how we were talking
about how the old days of HTML sites were just pages of content that were uploaded once and forgotten
about? That content did not allow for conversation as readers didn’t have the option to leave feedback
or update information. Once we were all introduced to the world of blogging, all of this changed. Now
readers can leave comments, use profile images to show who they really are, and even leave links in
their profiles that link back to their own blogs. All of this leads to a powerful two-way conversation that
makes blogging more critical, personal and brandable than any generic HTML-based website could
accomplish So why is blogging the future of the internet and branding? There are many reasons why
blogs are useful, but one of the most important reasons is because it brings more personality and life to
the businesses or people they represent. Blogs allow customers and businesses to relate and interact
with each other on a level platform. You no longer have to feel like a customer or just a number to a
brand. The more a customer feels like a valuable asset or voice to a brand, the more loyal and rewarding
they will be to the business. If you visit a company blog and leave a comment, more often than not, you
will receive a comment or response back. This is the type of branding and connection we all need to see
and use, not only from a business standpoint but as bloggers and people in general. It doesn’t matter if
you are a blog owner or a reader of a blog, it is important to remember that blogging is a two-way
conversation and you get out of it what you put in. Your readers will determine the overall success and
growth of your blog by how they interact with your content and how you represent yourself through
your blog. ✼ GOING LIVE WITH YOUR BLOG ✣ There are two different ways to create a blog of your
own. You can sign up for a free account through services like Wordpress.com and Blogger.com, or you
can sign up for your own web hosting service and domain and therefore own all of your content. Let’s
quickly break down the pros and cons of each. Creating a Blog Through a Free Blogging Network Two of
the most useful online services to create a free blog are Wordpress.com and Blogger.com. All you need
to do is visit their site and sign up for a new account. You will then be given a URL that is hosted under
their domain name and Wordpress will already be set up and installed for you. The benefits of setting up
your own blog through a free service is that they do all of the work for you, and of course it’s free. One
negative of using a free blog-hosting service such as Wordpress.org or Blogger.com is that you may be
limited in terms of what you can do with your blog. There restrictions range from the amount of blogs

you can set up to your site design and what type of content you can post on your site. Since you are
hosting with a free service, you must play by all of their rules and restrictions. The most major negative
to using a free blog-hosting service is that users generally don’t have a domain name of their own, but
will instead be hosted as a sub site under the service’s main domain address. Not only can this look sub
site under the service’s main domain address. Not only can this look unprofessional, but also if you ever
plan to make money or turn your blog into a business, this is not a good route to take. Lastly, when using
any type of service that is hosted elsewhere, you are potentially “held hostage” to the network and are
obliged to follow any future rules and changes they might come out with. In short, all of your content is
managed and owned by these other networks. Creating Your Own Domain Name and Hosted Blog When

I am asked what route someone should take for setting up their first blog, I always recommend that they
take the time to research a domain name and invest in hosting their own site. The cost of securing your
own domain name is usually less than $10 a year, and hosting is generally under $10 a month as well.
While many people may not have the money or want to spend money on their first blog, the low
investment of having your own domain name and owning all of your blog is well worth it! If you are
going to create a blog for business use or plan to eventually make money with the site, it’s almost a
requirement to have your own domain name as it heightens the level of professionalism of your blog and
brand. Setting Up Your First Blog Whether you are going to choose a free blog-hosting service or get set
up with your own domain, the process of setting up your own blog is fairly simple. If you haven’t already
set up a blog of your own and are looking for a web host, I currently offer a free blog installation service
for anyone who signs up with my recommended web host. In addition to having your blog set up, I will
also give you access to some great premium Wordpress themes, and will additionally install the top
Wordpress plugins into your blog as well. As mentioned earlier, the cost is less than $10 a month, and
your blog will be up and running almost instantly from the time you sign up. You can learn more about
this opportunity at http://zacjohnson.com/freeblogsetup. What Are You Going to Blog About? One of
the biggest obstacles to starting your own blog is not knowing where to start or what to even blog about.
Before getting started, these are the two most important questions you must answer, as they will
determine the future and path your blog takes during its long life span. It’s easy to lose track and focus
on a blog that you don’t have a clear plan of attack for. I have seen this happen with many blogs and
have also experienced this myself. Setting up your blog is actually the easy part. Knowing what you are
going to blog about and thinking several months or even years into the future on what and where your
blog might be is the hard part. If you don’t know what you want to write about, then you should start to
figure out what your long-term goals for the blog are. To help you decide on the right blog focus, keep in
mind that your blog will should fall into one of these three categories: Blogging for Fun Blogging for
Money Blogging for Business Once you decide on which of these paths is right for you and your blog,
choosing the content and focus will be that much easier. No matter what focus you have or topic you are
going to be writing about, you need to make sure that you are going to have enough content to write for
many need to make sure that you are going to have enough content to write for many years to come. It’s
important to choose a topic that you will not lose interest in and something you can build with time.
Blogging for Fun Many bloggers first start out with a “fun” blog of their own. This can cover anything
from their favorite hobbies, television shows, personal experiences, politics, etc. Having a fun and
personal blog of your own is always a great way to start out simply because you won’t have the
pressures of trying to monetize your site. Bloggers may also feel insecure about their writing quality or
style, and starting with a fun or personal blog is a great way to improve those skills while learning how to
build out the blog. If you’ve ever wanted to have a blog of your own, a personal blog focused on a fun
topic or something you have a passion for is a great way to start. Not only will you be building your first
blog, you will also learn how to create new and original content, write for your audience and maybe even
start to see new readers share and interact with you. In the long run, bloggers that are focused on
something they are passionate about and love, usually find that their content is of a higher quality than
when they write about a random topic just in the hopes to make money. Blogging for Business In the
beginning, blogs were generally more about personal and entertainment issues, but the focus has shifted
and now more businesses and companies are blogging. When blogging becomes a matter of business,

there are many different ways to approach the type of content that is produced. Some businesses will
use their blog for branding
purposes and focus their content on bringing in new visitors to blog for branding purposes and focus
their content on bringing in new visitors to their site and creating brand awareness. Other companies like
to keep their blog content strictly about company updates and new services and products offered. There
is no right or wrong way for a business to run their blog, it’s just a matter of preference. A financial or
banking blog that is looking to bring in potential new customers but doesn’t want to spend money on
advertising may focus their blog content on answering financial questions that the average consumer
might be looking for. These blog posts tend to show up in search engine results, which means more
viewers will browse the blog and potentially become a customer of the business or brand. Another angle
is to be creative with your content and look to bring in as much generic traffic as possible. Many
well-known businesses and brands have been able to greatly expand their exposure and presence online
by creating original and viral blog content that people want to share with their friends. This can be
anything from celebrity news, funny commercials created for YouTube or even blog-commenting

contests. It’s this type of “out of the box” creativity and originality that allows companies to go from
catering to a small niche audience, to drawing in readers worldwide. Blogging for Money There is
actually a big difference between blogging for business and blogging for money. Many of the top blogs in

the world are making millions of dollars, but they were never meant to… or they might not even sell any
products or services. Perez Hilton, Engadget, TMZ and TechCrunch are all examples of major blogs that
have gone on to generate millions of dollars. The value in these blogs is that they produce incredibly
targeted content, and because of their massive traffic and niche audience, they can charge a lot of
money to their onsite advertisers. and niche audience, they can charge a lot of money to their onsite
advertisers. As mentioned earlier in the book, I’ve been blogging for five years now at ZacJohnson.com
and have done extremely well at monetizing the site. I also don’t sell any products through my blog but I
have been able to generate a decent amount of revenue by offering my quality content for free by
focusing on sponsored advertising, sending referrals to ad networks, writing review posts and sending
quality traffic to other companies online. What is the common theme among the different types of blogs
mentioned above? Easy… they all have their own niche market, which means the content they produce
is very specific and continually up to date. Finding the Right Niche for Your Blog In the last chapter, we
covered the difference between blogging for fun, business and for profit. The end result and content
produced for these blogs are generally quite different. We also briefly touched on some of the
well-known blogs that are making millions of dollars every year, and how each has a unique niche of
their own. In this section, we are going to discuss how you can find what niche is right for you and your
blog’s focus. Blog About What You Know Whether you are starting a blog for fun or for profit, you should
be writing about a topic you know about. The last thing you want to do is create a blog and find out a
few days in that you have no idea or interest in what you are writing about. Not only will your content be
uninspiring, it will also make keeping up the blog even more daunting and time consuming. Another
reason why it’s important to blog about what you know, is that one of the primary goals for your blog is
to become an authority site that people visit for specific information. If you are going to be using your
name or brand, you for specific information. If you are going to be using your name or brand, you will
definitely want to make sure you know what you are talking about, as you want to be seen as an expert
in the field and not a hack. It is okay if you don’t know absolutely everything there is to know about the
topic you have an interest in. Many people like to start blogs to help them learn and grow through the
blogging process. This is often seen in the “make money online” niche, where bloggers will create a blog
documenting their success and failures on how they are attempting to make money online. It may take a
lot of time and effort for anyone to get to “expert” status, but this is one example where you could start
out as a novice and become an authority figure by documenting your progress and growing out your
blog at the same time. Blog About What You Like We just mentioned the importance of writing about
what you know, and just as important, you should be writing about what you enjoy. Many people start
blogs in hopes that one day they will make money from the sites and perhaps even replace their current
incomes and jobs. But the last thing you want to do is create a blog that starts to make a little bit of
money, but is on a topic you absolutely hate or have no interest in. When you blog about topics that you
are passionate about, it’s that much easier to create not only great content, but also a lot of content. I
personally love writing on my blog, ZacJohnson.com, about new ways to make money online, case
studies and everyday experiences I have in the world of online marketing. Since I enjoy what I am writing
about, the content reads extremely well to my audience and I’ve been able to produce over 1,000
original posts of content, which to me does not seem like work at all! Create a blog about something you
are truly interested in and dedicated to and you will see quality and growth. Blog About What Makes
Money Of course, the ultimate goal is blogging about something that makes money and is also a topic

you know a lot about and love. It was quite easy for me to create ZacJohnson.com and write about

making money online because I had a great deal of experience in doing so before I started the blog. I was
also fortunate because I was able to become a well-known authority figure and blog in the online
marketing space. There is money to be made from all of the ad networks and websites looking to get
exposure to my audience of affiliate marketers, bloggers and entrepreneurs. Again, it’s all about choosing
the right niche and market, and then creating a quality service or product people love. To be honest, it
probably won’t be as easy for the average person to find a topic they truly love, have a lot of knowledge
in and make a lot of money at the same time… but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. There are a
number of blogs out there that are “accidentally” making a lot of money. By “accidentally” I mean that
these bloggers did not start their blogs with the intention to make money, but they kept building up their
content and readership over time and went on to sell advertising relating to their content or created
their own products through their blogs. When it comes to monetizing blogs and your traffic, there are
plenty of ways to do so and we will cover them in a later chapter. Finding a focus for your blog so that it
makes money, while also being something you are interested in can be a challenge. A great way to get
started is to make a list of your three favorite hobbies or topics that you would like to create a blog on.
Now look at the list again and see if you know a lot about these topics and could write at least fifty
original posts. If this is still the case, the next step is to see what are the top websites and blogs in these
particular fields. Study their websites, see who their advertisers are, what products they are selling and
what their business model is. One example of a blog topic that many people are interested in starting is
sports. This is an excellent concept for a “fun” blog, but very hard to monetize, and here’s why. Think
about the last time you went to ESPN.com, and what you did at their site. You likely went to look at
scores and maybe see some highlights, then left their site. 99 percent of the people visiting their site are
doing the same thing, and the only reason they can make money with their blog is because of the
massive traffic they are pushing through their site and the high-value brand they have. Now think about
that same sports concept, but with your own blog. People may come to your blog because you are
writing controversial posts about athletes, or you’ve built up a solid fan base for your favorite team…
but it will still be very hard for you to turn your traffic into sales and revenue. Another method for
coming up with potential blog topics that might be good for generating revenue is by using the Google
Adwords tool. Through this tool you can search for specific phrases and topics, then get estimated results
on the amount of searches made for these terms per month. You will also be able to see how much
advertisers are paying per click to be seen in the search results. This is also a good tool for comparing
your blog topics against each other to see which might be more profitable. In the end, blogging for the
sole purpose of making money is what most of us will attempt to do. This is usually the opposite way
that successful authority blogs are created, but it can still work if you take enough time to research the
topic and monetization methods before getting started. Bloggers Do It Better No matter what niche you
choose or direction you are going to take with your blog, there is always money to be made. The critical
factor is being better than the competition. What makes Drudge Report and Perez Hilton more popular
than many of the other well-known celebrity gossip magazines and news websites on the internet? They
are usually breaking the news first. This is what puts them ahead of the curve and gives them the
massive audience and thus the advertising dollars they receive. With millions of websites and blogs out
there fighting to get the eyes of your audience, you must continually adapt and learn how to be one step
ahead of your competition. Why Your Blog Needs to Be in a Niche of Its Own Back in 2002, I was
speaking at a conference and the title of my presentation was “There are Riches in Niches.” Now it

seems like the word “niches” is thrown all over the place in the world of internet marketing. The bottom
line is, the phrase is still true today and completely relevant to the blogging world. Since we keep
mentioning “niches” in this book and I’m sure you will hear it another gazillion times, I thought we
should just give you the Wikipedia definition so you truly understand what the word means. A niche
market
is the subset of the market on which a specific product is focusing. So the market niche defines the
specific product features aimed at satisfying specific market needs, as well as the price range, production
quality and the demographics that is intended to impact. It is also a small market segment. For example,
sports channels like STAR Sports, ESPN, STAR Cricket, and Fox target a niche of sports lovers. Just like
sports channels have their own niche market audience, you should treat your blog the same way. Having
your own niche audience is important not only your blog the same way. Having your own niche audience
is important not only for your content, but it will consistently keep you on your toes in terms of your
blog’s direction. Why every blog falls into a niche of it’s own When it comes time for you to think about a

niche for your blog it’s also important to think about what you want to do with your blog. A good way to
figure this out
is to see how you can cater to your possible blog audience. People use the internet mainly for three
different reasons, they either want to buy something, research something or be entertained. Your blog
should fall into one of these categories. Sports blogs would fall into the entertainment category, while a
product-review blog would be part of the purchasing category, and a health-related blog could be for

research. BloggingTips.com is a great example of a wide-reach niche blog. Obviously, all of the content is
focused on blogging, but it also focuses on writing, blog themes, link building and social media. If I
wanted to create a tighter niche blog, I could focus solely on building a “wordpress themes” related blog.
Once you have thought of a niche for your blog, you should be thinking about what you would expect to
find on an authority site that is about the same topic. The bottom line is, no matter what niche you
select for your blog you are going to want to be the best at it and provide the most useful and relevant
content. Creating a blog in a niche that you can keep writing content for is key. Some niches are small
and others are massive. If you are going to blog about fishing, you can write about fishing locations, bait,
types of fish, fishing gear and so on. An example of a niche that might not be as easy for you to keep
writing content on is “bubble gum,” as there is only so much you can say about it. To expand your reach
and ideas for content, you may want to focus on “candy,” for example, instead of the smaller focus of
“bubble gum.” As a blog owner you will want to make sure your content always stays on topic and within
your niche focus. The last thing you want to do is lose focus on your content and get spread too thin. The
tighter your niche, the better your blog may perform, as long as there is always something to write
about. How to make money in different niches When it comes to monetizing your blog and building a
long-term business plan, having a niche for your blog is the foundation of your site. Knowing your niche
will allow you to plan for growth and monetization in the months and years to come. Let’s use my idea of
a “wordpress themes” blog to discuss ways we could monetize that type of content. With a wordpress
themes blog, you would focus on creating new content daily or weekly on the latest wordpress themes
available. Since you would be featuring themes from various sources, you could link content within your
articles back to the original websites where these themes can be purchased and perhaps earn a referral
fee or commission on each referred sale. Another way for you to make money from this type of site
would be to have other wordpress theme sites advertise directly on your site. Since other design sites
know your audience is looking to purchase and use wordpress themes, it would be a perfect match for
their audience. As you can see, with a tight niche focus for your blog, it makes it that much easier for you
to find advertisers and relevant products to promote. We will cover many different ways to monetize a
blog later on in the book. When a blog doesn’t have a niche of its own What if your blog doesn’t have a
niche at all? There is nothing wrong with not having a specific niche, but these types of blogs are usually
for personal use and not meant to be grown and monetized into something big. Once again, the reason
for this is that it would be very hard to monetize your audience and content when so many different
angles and topics are being discussed on one site. In the world of blogging, it’s not unlikely to see a
personal or hobby blog gain some traction and start to build up a loyal following and readership. This can
be for many reasons – for example, its readers may really appreciate the type of writing and information
that is provided by the blog, even though it may be scattered all over the place. Either way, the blog is
slowly transforming from a personal or hobby blog into a business of its own. When this happens, you
must decide between keeping your blog focus scattered among many topics and niches, or pull out what
is performing well on your blog and starting a new niche blog focused on that hot topic. The domain
name or name for your blog can also play a big part in the niche process, especially if you were to create
your first blog with your personal name and it has started to turn into a business of its own. This is also
something we will discuss in the next chapter. You should now understand the concept of breaking down
a niche, choosing the right topic for your blog and even some ideas for monetization. Now would be a
good time for you to make a list of potential niches and topics for your blog. Once you have an idea on a

niche or topic, think about what you will write content on, how you will cater to your readers and any
monetization plans you might want to implement down the road. Selecting a Great Domain Name for
Your Blog Domain names are the real estate of the internet. Just like you own your own physical property
where your house is located, the same concept can be used for the internet and where your website or
blog is built. the internet and where your website or blog is built. Having a great domain name is a dream
for many online marketers and site owners, but since there is only one unique domain name for every
word, getting a high-end generic domain name is usually extremely expensive or not even attainable. For
this reason alone, it is very important to make sure you take some time to think about a great domain
name for your blog before you get started. When it comes time for you to select your domain name

there are a lot of options you will have to
consider. This can be
anything from the name and length of your domain, the extension (or TLD) that is right for you, and
whether or not to use your personal name as the domain name. Choosing the Right Domain Extension
The most popular and sought-after domain name extensions are .COM, .NET and .ORG. These extensions
are also referred to as TLDs, which stands for “top level domains.” The difference between the domain
TLDs is of little significance now, but just for reference I have listed what they were originally created for,
as referenced by Wikipedia. .COM: Originally intended for use by for-profit business entities, for a
number of reasons it became the “main” TLD for domain names and is currently used by all types of
entities including nonprofits, schools and private individuals. .NET: Originally intended for use by
domains pointing to a distributed network of computers, or “umbrella” sites that act as the portal to a
set of smaller websites. .ORG: Originally intended for use by non-profit organizations, and still primarily
used by some. These were the original intentions for the domain extensions listed above, but today it
really comes down to getting the domain name that is available or closest to what you want. Nearly all

generic .com domain names are already closest to what you want. Nearly all generic .com domain names
are already taken, but there is a slight chance you can still register it in .net or .org form. In the end, all
you need to know is which one you will be using for your site. Generally, the most sought after domain
names are .COM names, then .NET and .ORG. There are other domain name extensions out there like
.PRO, .INFO, .WEB and many more, but I would recommend staying away from these domain names and
only focus on the big three. It is rare to find any legitimate and established business running off these
domain extensions, and most of them were created just to generate more sales for domain name
companies. The majority of people in the world are familiar with .com, .net and .org domain names, so
it’s best to stick with what people know. When domain names first came out, they were limited to only
22 characters in length. In 2000, the limit was increased to 63 characters. This was mainly due to the
massive growth of the internet and demand for more and longer domain name options. You can also use
numbers and dashes in domain names, though this is usually not recommended. In addition, you can
also register domain names based on your country location, though the generic TLDs will always be the
most sought after and used world wide. Choosing a Simple and Descriptive Domain Name When it
comes time to actually search for and register your domain name, you may find this to be a very time
consuming and frustrating process. There are currently over 140 million different domains registered and
thousands of new domains are being registered every day. This means there is a very good chance that
someone owns the domain name you were thinking of using, so you will need to get creative in your
decision process or will need to spend some money. Before creating your blog, you are going to want to
have a domain name that instantly tells people what your site is about. The best domain names in the
world are generic ones that tell you right away what they are about. Even having a longer domain name
like “FreeCreditReport.com” still works well. Right when you see the domain name, you know what to
expect from their site. Then on the other hand, there are the websites and companies that got creative
with their domain names and thought up something original, such as “Travelocity.com” and
“Expedia.com.” They are both travel websites, but have been able to make their names and brands a
household name. The same holds true for companies like “eBay.com” and “Amazon.com.” Their names
don’t tell you what they are or what they do, but they have done an excellent job at branding their
names and services around the world. Since so many domains are already owned, there is a good chance
that you will have to get creative with your domain name, or add an additional word to your generic
keyword or niche, such as “blog,” “now” or “my”. Another important issue to consider when choosing
your domain name is that it doesn’t get confused with other names or brands already out there. Before
registering your domain name, say the site name out loud and think about how you would say it to other
people as if you were on the radio. Make sure not to use numbers in your domain name instead of actual
words, such as “2” for “to,” or “4” for “for.” This can be confusing for potential site visitors. It’s easy to get

discourag ed during the initial domain name choosing process, but
you will eventually come up with something that works. There are also plenty of other options for
registering unique domain names, such as using your name and buying domain names that are already
owned and up for sale. Registering YourName.com No matter what type of blog you are going to create, I
would strongly advise that you grab “YOURNAME.COM” if it’s still available. With seven billion people in
the world, it’s only a matter of time before someone grabs your name as a domain name, if they haven’t
already. I personally bought my name in every form and domain extension possible. I first purchased the
domain name ZacJohnson.com back in 2000 and didn’t have a use for the domain until I launched my
blog in 2007. It was this premature thinking that allowed me to own and register the domain name
before it was purchased by someone else. Even if you don’t have a use for your name as a domain right
now, you may in the future. Also the minimal investment of a few dollars a year is nothing compared to
the price you might have to pay to buy it from someone else, or never having the domain at all. In the
end, having my own name as a domain name for my blog worked out extremely well. At the time of my
blog launch, I knew I was going to keep the blog for life. The focus was to brand my name, build an
authority site and continue to grow the site for years and decades to come. I have been contacted by
many people who have started their first websites and blogs using their name as their domain name,
then ended up spinning off their sites in different directions. This can be negative, as it would be very
hard to sell and likely not something you would want to give away. Keep this in mind before using your
name for your blog, and what direction you would like to go with your site. Stay Away from Brand Names
and Trademarks If you are going to create a blog that focuses on a specific brand, product, service or
company, it’s important to make sure that you stay away from using well-known brands and names in
your domain name. For example, if you were going to create a blog that focused on Microsoft software
product reviews and wanted to register “MicrosoftSoftware.com”, there is a good chance that you would
quickly hear from their legal team and would have to shut down the site and hand over the domain
name. have to shut down the site and hand over the domain name. This happens all too often and it’s a
matter of rolling the dice on whether or not a brand will come after you for using their trademarked
names. The possibility of getting into legal troubles and losing your domain name and site simply isn’t

worth it. Instead of using trademarked words in domain names, go for generic words that can focus on
the same topic. Using “wordprocessing-software.com” instead of “Microsoftsoftware.com” is a great
example, and would keep you safe and legitimate. Buying Great Domain Names and Using Domain
Expiration Services When purchasing your domain names, you can go to any domain registration services
such as NameCheap.com or GoDaddy.com. Simply put in the domain name you would like to register and
they will let you know if it’s available or not. The majority of people that use NameCheap and GoDaddy
are looking to make generic domain name purchases, however there are many other sites out there that
focus on selling premium domain names such as Sedo.com and GreatDomains.com. If you have a budget
and a dire need for a great generic domain name, you will definit
ely want to visit these premium
domain name services. Just like there are premium domain name registration services, there are also
domain name expiration services. What these services do is allow you to buy, track and pick up domain
names as they expire. Domain expiration services can be extremely valuable if you ever forget to renew
your domain name and it expires, or if you are able to secure a domain name that was previously owned

and now expired and up for sale again. Domain names are purchased on a yearly basis, and can be
renewed at the end of the year. If the domain name isn’t renewed, it will be released to the public again,
but most domains are scooped up by domain expiration services to be resold at higher prices. Two
domain expiration services I have been using for years now are NameJet.com and Pool.com. You can
create a free account at their website and make a list of domain names that are already owned, which
you can add to your watch list. Should any of these domain names ever expire and be dropped, the
domain expiration service will pick it up for you and put it into auction. I’ve been able to secure some
really amazing domain names through services like these, such as ZacJohnson.net, PPC.org and
Blogging.org. If someone already owns the domain name of your name, using a domain expiration
service might be one of your best chances at ever getting a hold of it. Finding a Quality Blog Hosting
Service Now that you have a better understanding of how important your domain name will be for your
blog, it’s time to find a web hosting provider as well. Just as the domain name can be considered the
property of the internet, your web hosting provider can be considered your house or storage center.
Every website or blog on the internet has some form of web hosting. All of the content that you add to
your website or blog is hosted on a computer, most likely in a data center. A shared server usually powers
smaller sites, while huge sites may be powered through dedicated servers and huge data centers. For the
average starting website, you will be able

to get by with “shared hosting” and never really need to be concerned with the issues of managing
services or the traffic specs of your sites. Depending on the size of your website or blog, how many you
own and the traffic and data that you are pushing across your network of sites, you may need different
hosting capabilities and services. In this chapter we are going to cover the basics of hosting and what you
will need to look at when getting set up with your first hosting company. My Personal Experience with
Hosting Companies Before jumping into the specifics of web hosting, let me tell you that I have been
with many companies over the past 15 years and on both sides of the hosting end, meaning that I have
had both shared services and dedicated servers of my own. When I first started to create my own sites
back in the mid to late ‘90s, I hosted most of my sites with free hosting services like AOL, GeoCities and

Tripod, many of which no longer exist. In these scenarios, you were given a limited amount of free
hosting space. All of the sites and content were also hosted under their main URL, which means you
would have an address like members.aol.com/screenname. At the time this was fine, but there had to be
a better way, which of course was getting your own domain name and hosting. I soon registered my first
domain name for $70 for two years from Network Solutions, which was the only place for domain
registration back in the day. Then I found a quality web host for around $39 a month. Long story short…
this was over a decade ago and a lot has changed with hosting since then. In 2006-2007 I created an
extremely popular web site at MySpaceNow.com, which ended up receiving over 100,000 unique visitors
per day. At first I was on a dedicated server of my own, but then was paying $10,000 a month in hosting
fees because I was pushing so much traffic and hosting so many images and data through my sites. I was
soon advised to order 16 Dell servers and have them set up in a storage center to manage all of the
traffic flowing through the site. As you can see, I’ve been through it all with hosting – from free AOL
member pages, to getting set up with shared hosting and even my own data center full of servers. I’ve
had some great web hosts, and I’ve had some terrible ones… fortunately there is so much competition
in the web hosting market nowadays that you can simply change hosting companies if you come across
one you don’t like. The most important thing to know about choosing a web host is using one that is
reliable and has a 99.99 percent uptime. For me what’s even more important is having accessibility to
the company and their support team. Every quality hosting company should offer support through their
website, online chat, telephone and by email

. What to Look for When
Choosing a Web Host To be honest with you, the process of finding a web hosting company can be quite
frustrating. Getting your first website set up with a host isn’t a problem at all, but if you already have
sites hosted elsewhere and you want to transfer them to another host, it can be quite the task. It’s
annoying, stressful and time consuming. With that said, the most important thing to look for when
finding a web host is finding one that will cater to you. As mentioned earlier, there is massive
competition in the hosting business, and price isn’t always the best way to choose with whom you are
going to host. Many hosting solutions have shared hosting packages for less than $10 a month, but if
they don’t have quality customer support and can’t keep their websites up and running 99.99 percent of
the time, saving a few dollars will be the least of your worries. One of the best ways to find a quality web
host is to look around for real customer testimonials and reviews. If you know any big websites or blogs

online, feel free to ask them who their host is, and most of the time they will let you know who they are
using and what they like about them. Don’t rely on the search engines for testimonials, as most of these
are review sites just trying to make sales. make sales. For the average website or blog owner, any basic
shared hosting package is usually more than enough to house your domains and content. If you would
like a more powerful solution, you can always upgrade to a dedicated server, which may run an extra $50
to $100 a month. Getting into the deep specifics and technical aspects of hosting can be overwhelming
for anyone looking to start their first site, but the majority of hosting solutions all offer the same service.
What you want to make sure to you keep an eye on is the bandwidth, storage, customer support, and
supported features and control panel options. If you are unsure what the best hosting package for your
needs are, it’s always best to contact the hosting company and have them explain their packages and
how to meet the needs of your sites. Who I Use to Host All of My Sites As mentioned earlier, I’ve been
with many different companies when it comes to
web hosting solutions. My
main concern is finding a quality host that always keeps my sites up and running, but also finding one

that I can have a close contact with and be able to get a hold of them through email and online support
tickets any time of the day. I’m currently hosting all of my sites with a dedicated server through
HostGator. Since I have high traffic sites with a lot of content, it’s important for me to work with a
hosting solution that can cater to my needs and keep an eye on my site’s uptime and traffic levels. I’ve
actually been working with HostGator for some time now on creating an easy and low-cost solution for
first-time site owners to get set up with a blog without having to deal with the stresses of choosing a
web host, installing Wordpress and getting their blog set up with quality themes and plugins. You can
learn more about HostGator and having me personally set up your first blog later on in the book in the
“How to Get Started Right Now” section. Have Your Blog Up and Running in Minutes When it comes to
setting up your first blog, you have a few options. This can be anything from downloading and installing
the latest version of Wordpress onto your server, going through a simple one-click installation process or
simply signing up for a free account through a blog-hosting service. At this point you should have a good
understanding of the type of blog you want to create, the domain name you would like to register, and
an idea of who to use as a web hosting solution. In the rest of this chapter, we are going to cover the
basics of why Wordpress is the recommended tool for creating your blog, along with the many different
ways to set up and install your first blog. Why WordPress is the Best Blogging Solution? When I first
started creating my own web sites from 1996 through 2007, I was using Microsoft FrontPage software. It
was a great WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor and I must have created thousands upon
thousands of pages with it. Through this software, I was able to create many different types of websites
to fit my needs. During the process, I was also picking up some basic HTML knowledge, which is the basic
coding for how sites are designed. I was never interested in being a programmer and I hate messing with
any type of coding or database work, and that is why I loved creating sites with FrontPage. It wasn’t till
2007 that I created my first blog using Wordpress that I stopped using basic HTML sites for my business
and myself. Once I got used to Wordpress, ther

e was simply no going back. I haven’t touched or created an HTML page since! Using Wordpress has
been a blessing for me and it makes my life so much easier. Just take a look at a few of the reasons why I
love working with Wordpress so much. It’s free and easy to use Scheduling and adding content is a
breeze Millions of plugins to accomplish anything Ability to create and add custom themes Designers and
programmers can code Wordpress to do anything you can imagine For these reasons alone, it should
make you want to use Wordpress, but don’t just take my word for it. According to Wordpress.com, there
are currently over 75 million Wordpressdriven blogs on the internet. From simple blogs just set up for
personal blogging, to multi-million dollar companies running off customized versions of Wordpress… the
software is running sites of all sizes, and in every niche. Granted, there are other blogging platforms out

there such as MovableType and Joomla, but Wordpress has become the standard and when it comes to
finding themes, plugins, designers and programmers, you just can’t go wrong with choosing Wordpress.
Whether you want to create a simple blog, or set up an online ecommerce store to sell goods, or even
attempt to build an authority site and brand online, it can all be possible through the use of Wordpress
and its customization tools. How to Make Your Blog Your Own At this point, if you have the option to go
live with your new blog, then you will likely find that you have a very simple and plain default theme for
your blog and not much content. Basically, your blog will simply be lost in the crowd of the millions of
default theme Wordpress sites. Throughout the rest of the book, we will continue to discuss many
different ways you can bring life and originality to will continue to discuss many different ways you can
bring life and originality to your blog, and how you can really make it your own place on the internet. As
with any new type of software or training, you may be overwhelmed with all of this new information, but
I promise you, Wordpress is one of the easiest programs you will ever use and you will be a blogging
master in no time. It really is amazing what you can do with this software because each WordPress blog
can be incredibly unique and distinct from the millions of other sites running the same software. There
are many things that you can do to make your blog stand out from the crowd, such as changing your
wordpress theme, using plugins to improve user experience and of course focusing on creating quality
content. More important than anything else, don’t be intimidated! It’s much easier than you think, and
the best way to get started is to simply set up your first blog right now. ✼ HOW TO GET STARTED RIGHT
NOW ✣ I must have rewritten this book three of four times before finally going forward with a version I
liked. Originally, the plan was to create a guide that covered everything about blogging from start to
finish, which was a lot of basic information. Once I finished writing it all up, I hated how it read and
didn’t like how it became another technical “how-to guide” that most people won’t need, or even worse,
waste my readers’ time with the basics that anyone can look up on Google. Instead of covering the dead
simple basics of getting set up with a blog of your own, I came up with a better solution. I can just set it
up for you! If you are completely new to blogging and have no previous experience with domains, web
hosting and setting up a Wordpress blog, I want to make it simple for you. I have an excellent
web-hosting company that I use for all of my websites and blogs. After talking with them about my
concept for the book and how it was focused on blogging, they were immediately intrigued and asked
how they could help. This was excellent to hear as I’m always looking to recommend companies and
services that I personally use. I told them I’d like to be able to offer my book readers an exclusive deal
that would set them up with an excellent hosting package at a special rate, which is exactly what they
did. Long story short… if you don’t currently have a blog of your own and want to Long story short… if
you don’t currently have a blog of your own and want to get started, you can sign up with my
recommended host and I will personally set up your domain, hosting and your wordpress blog. To make
the offer even more enticing, I will also throw in some premium themes that you can choose from to
make your blog stand out from the crowd. These themes would cost you anywhere from $39 to $69 to
buy individually, so that’s a great savings in itself. Lastly, for anyone that signs up for hosting through my
free blog installation service, I will also provide you with access to my exclusive members-only coupons
area. This will give you exclusive deals that only my book readers have access to. All of these exclusive
coupons and deals were set up specifically with my site partners to provide you with only the best
discounts on logo design, site promotion, content creation and much more – all recommended services
that I currently use myself. On top of all of that, I’m always just an email away. Once your blog is set up, I

won’t leave you in the dark. Just shoot me an email with any questions you have and I will gladly give
you my feedback. The last thing I want is to lead you into a sales funnel that ends up costing you more
than you expect, so here is the rundown on the type of hosting package you should set up. You can visit
http://zacjohnson.com/freeblogsetup to get started. Going Live with Your New Blog Once you have
placed your order for your new hosting account, you can log into your account and set up your blog or I
can do it for you. All you need to do is forward me your confirmation email at hosting@zacjohnson.com.
This email contains your new hosting package information and I will gladly set everything up for you. This
process usually is information and I will gladly set everything up for you. This process usually is done
within a few hours, but may take up to 24 hours due to supply and demand. I will also follow up with you
on your premium themes that you can use with your site, along with your exclusive money-saving
coupons. That’s it – your blog will then be live and you are ready to go. It’s really that simple! ✼
MONETIZATION AND BLOGGING FOR PROFIT ✣

The end goal for almost every blogger is to be able to create a blog that eventually turns into a profitable
business and perhaps even replace their current job or income stream. No matter what type of blog or
traffic you have, there is always going to be new and creative ways to monetize your traffic and make

money with a blog. And the great thing about running your own blog is that you can continually tweak
and play around with different forms of monetization till you find the one that works best for you and
your site traffic. Direct Ad Sales The most widely accepted and successful form of monetization on
websites and blogs is through banner advertising – yes, those annoying blinking things you see on the
side of the screen that are hard not to click! Banner ads come in all shapes and sizes, which makes it easy
for you to place them on your site and allows you to start earning revenue right away. There are many
different ways to make money off placing banner ads on your blog. You can sell banner advertising
directly, either by using a third-party advertising network or partnering up with a banner ad marketplace
like BuySellAds, which can sell advertising for you (but takes a percentage of each sale). There is a good
chance you are thinking to yourself, ”I hate banner ads and never click on them!” That may be true, but
the truth is, banner advertising is still alive click on them!” That may be true, but the truth is, banner
advertising is still alive and well and making more money than ever, especially if you have a powerful
authority brand that other related companies and services want to have exposure on. Selling your own
banner advertising can be quite a task, especially when your blog is new. When I first launched
ZacJohnson.com, I didn’t have any advertising on the site for the first nine months. It was important for
me to wait until I had consistent traffic flowing through the site and started building up a strong
following of loyal readers. Affiliate Marketing When I first started making money on the internet back in
the day, I was sending thousands of customers to Amazon.com and getting a commission every time
someone clicked on my links to Amazon and then placed an order. This process is referred to as affiliate
marketing, and it was how I would make a great majority of my money online over the next 15 years.
Amazon.com is the perfect example of affiliate marketing because nearly everyone has placed an order
on their website at one point or another. The Amazon.com affiliate program is also one of the major
reasons why the company is so successful. The concept of affiliate marketing is simple and extremely
effective. Websites will pay their site partners and affiliates a commission every time a lead, sale or
action takes place after someone clicks on an affiliate link. All of the tracking, payments and customer
support is handled through the affiliate program or ad network. The best way to understand how an
affiliate program works is to refer back to Amazon.com. Lets say that you have a blog on popular books
or movies. If you sign up to the Amazon.com affiliate program, you can link to the actual books and
movies on Amazon.com whenever you mention their names on your blog. If and movies on Amazon.com
whenever you mention their names on your blog. If anyone clicks on these links and places and order
through Amazon.com, you would earn a commission for each sale and Amazon.com would send out a
commission check for all of your sales at the end of the month. Amazon.com is just one example of a
huge site with an affiliate program. The majority of major online stores have affiliate programs of their
own, and there are also affiliate networks such as CJ.com, Shareasale.com and LinkShare.com that host
thousands of programs under one network. Referral Marketing Blogs in affiliate marketing niche are
quite interesting. Not only is it acceptable for bloggers to talk about how much they make with their sites
and ad campaigns, but it’s actually encouraged! The reason for this is that most blogs in these niches are
created to help others learn how to make money online and spread awareness on how affiliate
marketing promotions and ad networks work well. One of the perks for the blog owners who promote ad
networks is that they might receive a referral commission for any new affiliates or advertisers that they
send their way. In the past, I have written some great posts on ppc marketing and have given away free
landing page templates. In these posts, I used examples of how you can promote offers through affiliate

networks like Neverblue. Since these posts were read by thousands of blog visitors, many of them went
on to join Neverblue and start making money for themselves, to the tune of over $2 million in earnings.
As a referral to Neverblue, I was able to earn a 2 percent commission on all of the earnings from my
referrals. This is a perfect example of how you can make over $1,000 an hour from blogging. If you focus
your time and effort on creating really useful and amazing content, these are the blog posts that will
continue to make you money for years after you write them. This is just one example of how powerful
blogging and referral marketing can be. However, the days of referring new affiliates to ad networks and
getting a large referral commission seem to be coming to a close as less networks are offering referral
programs, and the ones that still have them
in place are only paying in the 1 to 2
percent range. Building a Mailing List The success of any blog is all about growth and bringing your
readers back to your site on a daily/weekly basis. As important as quality content is, it just isn’t enough.
Many of your visitors will simply forget the name of your site, or will just be too busy to ever return. The
truth is, the majority of people that visit your site for the first time will likely never come back. Building a
mailing list is one of the best ways to keep your readers coming back for more, while also increasing your
readership on a daily basis. Your blog’s mailing list should be focused on providing value to your readers.
You will never get anyone to enter their email address to subscribe to your most recent posts or get on
your newsletter simply by asking for it, you need to offer something in return. What works best for most
bloggers is offering free downloadable reports or auto responder series with helpful tips and tutorials. In
addition to placing a “subscribe” button on the side menu bar of your blog, it’s also recommended that
you include a subscribe box at the bottom of your blog posts, as this is one of your last attempts to grab
their information before they leave your site. One of the most effective ways to get people to join your

mailing list is through the use of pop-up subscribe forms. You will probably notice some of your favorite
blogs using these already. Aweber has lightbox popup features available to all of their members, and
PopUp Domination is one of the best-selling Wordpress plugins for setting this up as well. Both of these
solutions will display a pop-up window in your browser after visiting a blog. On my blogs I set my
subscribe form to fade in and display after a user is on the site for 3 seconds. I also limit the subscribe
form to display once every two weeks per visitor, so it doesn’t get annoying. The user can then enter
their email address to subscribe to the mailing list, or simply close it out and continue browsing the site.
The bottom line is that these types of mailing list forms dominate and convert your potential one-time
visitors to long-term subscribers. Many bloggers have seen increases of 100 to 300 percent just from
implementing these kinds of signup forms that are available through Aweber or Popup Domination.
Create a Free eBook / Bonus As mentioned in the previous mailing list point, creating a free guide or
something of value to entice your readers to join your mailing list is an excellent way to pull in more
traffic. Deciding on what you will offer to your blog readers and how you will create it is also important. If
you already have an established blog with lots of content, you can easily go through and collect your best
posts, rewrite and update them, then pull everything together for a free ebook to offer your readers. Not
only is this seen as a value to your blog readers, but you will also be able to gain daily exposure of your
best content to all of your new readers. There is a vast difference between having a form on your page
that simply says “Join Newsletter” versus “Get Our Best Blogging Tips!” Which one would you rather sign
up for? Paid Forum / Membership Areas One of the growing trends in the “make money online” blogging
space has been to create your own membership-based forums or private members area. The concept
behind a private members area is to offer a premium service or coaching outside of what your regular
blog readers will receive through your blog. Many blogs will write up content on the overall concept of
something but not provide full tutorials. In the paid members area of your site you would provide
everything there is to need to know about your blog topic. To better explain, here are two examples. In
the “make money online” niche, bloggers will talk about how they are making money with an offer, but
will actually provide little detail or value in their posts. If there were a paid members area for the blog,
then they would likely provide the ad campaign details, creative used and their ad spend/profits. This
same concept can be used outside of the “make money online” niche as well. Let’s use a crafting blog as
an example. In the free blog content, you can show pictures of a finished product and do a write-up on
the different crafts you will need to complete the item. If there is a paid members area, you might offer
your paid members a video tutorial on the process of creating the craft from start to finish, along with
photos of each step. I’ve actually joined a few of these forums and found they are well worth the dollar
or so it costs per day to access them. At the end of the day it’s all about creating content that people are
looking for and providing value – and it’s applicable to any niche you can think of. Making the leap from a
regular blogger to coming out with your own premium content is never easy. However, the process is
much easier when you take the time to grow out your site with great content and to establish a loyal
following. From a site owner’s point of view, if you can get enough paying members, it’s a great new
source of income that also heightens the quality of your site and brand. The business model is that you
are providing premium content and access for your paid members to such extras as online consulting,
tutorials, case studies, guides, forum access and much more. Google Adsense One of the easiest and
most successful ways for any website or blog to start serving ads and thus make money fast is through
the use of Google Adsense. Google created their own advertising platform that makes it extremely easy

for site owners to place a line of code on their site that will automatically start displaying Google
Adsense banner ads on a site. The benefit of using Google Adsense on a website or blog is that you don’t
have to manage any advertising, billing or anything! It’s really that easy. You just need to focus on getting
quality traffic to your site and as long as people are clicking on Google Adsense ads, you will get money
month after month. The downside of using Google Adsense is that the ads being served generally don’t
make a lot of money. Most sites will only earn a few cents per click on their Google Adsense ads, but
what is even worse is that you will lose visitors on your site at the same time because when someone
clicks on a Google Adsense ad, they are taken away from your site. A better alternative is to serve your
own advertising and have the link that was clicked on open in a new tab or browser window. Google
Adsense has made billions of dollars for Google and their site partners. If you enjoy blogging and want
nothing to do with managing advertising, Google Adsense is probably right for you. However if you have
a wellestablished brand or high-value traffic going to your site, it’s not the best monetization option as
you will still be losing traffic for only a few pennies. Blogs with traffic that have a high-value dollar per
visitor will do much better with selling advertising directly on their sites or focusing their monetization
with selling advertising directly on their sites or focusing their monetization efforts on their own
products or services. Contextual Advertising Banner advertising isn’t the only option for getting paid to
place advertisements on your site. The concept of contextual advertising is much like Google Adsense,
but the ads are actually placed within the text content of your site. Once you sign up for a
contextual-based ad network you will be provided with a linet text within your site content and turn
them into a related advertiser link. When a visitor hovers over these links, a small pop-up window will
appear for the advertisement, and if they click on the link, you of code to place on your site. This ad code
will then search for relevan will earn a commission. The benefits of using contextual advertising is that it
doesn’t take up any extra space on your site, since it’s all placed within the real text content of your site.
Just like Google Adsense, you would want to monetize your traffic to its fullest potential before using
contextual advertising as it can be slightly distracting for blog readers and can diminish the overall user
experience and quality of your blog. Self Promotion & Consultations Why are most of us blogging in the
first place? For many of us, we want to grow our name recognition and our brand. Blogging is one of the
cheapest, easiest and fastest ways to get noticed. Once your blog grows to the point where you have a
loyal following of readers, your name and brand will be established in the process. With everything now
in place, you are in a position where you can start to sell yourself and your expertise. Throughout the
book, I am continually pushing the concept to be that “go to” person for whatever subject matter it is
you are passionate and knowledgeable about. Using your blog as a platform to bring in new consulting
work and premium services is an excellent way to increase your overall exposure, clients and revenue.
Paid Blog Post Reviews Another lucrative source for generating revenue with a blog is by offering
review-based articles on your site. Depending on the niche market that your blog is in, there is likely a
whole world of advertisers and products just waiting to get exposure on your sites. Not all blogs offer
review services, but many do, and depending on the type of traffic you have at your site, your audience
may actually benefit from the reviews. Since my blog is in the affiliate marketing and make-money-online
niche, I’m always doing reviews on products and services that I use for my business. Some of these
reviews are written to spread awareness about the great services, tools and ad networks out there, while
others are done at the request of the advertiser or company. No matter what niche you are in, your blog
can benefit from providing quality reviews to your readers. If you have a blog on crafts or gardening and

you’ve found some great new products in a local store or online, you can write about them on your site
then link to them through an affiliate program. Another scenario is that an advertiser in that same niche
might come across your site and ask for a review on their product. Since it’s all related to the topic of
your blog, your audience will find value in it. There are also a number of review-based ad networks that
can provide you with reviews for your site. SocialSpark is one of the largest review-based marketplaces
that connects advertisers with blog publishers to create sponsored blog posts. As a blog owner, you can
join their network and find advertisers who are looking for quality and original reviews on their products
and services, while also offering compensation in the process. Established Blog Flipping Now that we’ve
covered many of the best ways to monetize your blog, it’s best to finish off the list with the idea of
potentially selling your site down the road. Ever since Flippa.com launched a few years back the business
of buying and selling web sites and blogs has never been easier. I’ve personally used their marketplace
for several site purchases and currently have over six figures in transaction history with them. I
personally prefer to focus on building large authority sites, but there is a whole industry of single-person
businesses building up small niche blogs, and then flipping them for a quick profit on sites like Flippa.
Small sites will only bring in so much mone

y,
but at the same time I’ve seen many blogs sell in the five to six figures range on Flippa. The goal behind
selling any website for a substantial amount of money is to continually build up your blog with quality
content, grow your RSS feed readership, mailing list subscribers, and create legitimate revenue sources.
This is what the higher end buyers are looking for when it comes to listings on Flippa. Without getting
too much into the complications of figuring out how much a website or blog can potentially sell for, I do
want to point out that their site is an amazing resource for learning how other sites monetize their
traffic. If you would like to learn more about Flippa and how to start buying and selling websites, I’ve
written a whole book on it called “Flip This Web Site.” ✼ THE IMPORTANCE OF SOCIAL NETWORKING &
BLOGGING ✣ The big question is, are you utilizing the social networks to your personal branding and
blogging advantages? The way people are finding and reading information on the internet is quickly

changing. Less people are actually visiting websites and blogs or even signing up to RSS feeds, but
instead are using social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Google+ to get their news. We are now
living in a viral and fast-paced world, and not only does information spread fast, it also now has a limited
lifespan as well. Getting your blog content in front of your audience as fast and conveniently as possible
is now a must. In this chapter we are going to talk about the importance of social networking and why
you need to make a solid effort to cover all of your bases. This includes everything from building
exposure for your own brand and providing your followers with quality content that keeps them coming
back, and of course by being the real-life voice behind the sites and services you represent. Where You
Need to Be & Why There are a ton of social networking sites out there, but we are going to focus on the
big 3, which are Facebook, Twitter and Google+. If you don’t already have accounts set up with these
sites, you should do so right away. Here are a few useful tips to keep in mind when creating your social
networking Here are a few useful tips to keep in mind when creating your social networking pages:
Select a name or username that is available across all of the social networks. You don’t want to have
“user123” on one network, and then be known as “user245” on another. Make it easy for your readers
to find and follow you across all networks. If you are going to be using your social networking pages to
represent yourself, make sure you are using actual photos of yourself. For brands, be consistent with logo
and site designs. Why You Need to Be Active on Social Networks As mentioned earlier, more and more
people are using social networks to stay up to date with their friends and the world around them. Being
active on social networks is a simple and easy way to introduce a prospective customer or reader to your
blog or brand. And by responding to social users’ comments and interacting with them, it will likely result
in them following you and your sites online. The last important note to mention about creating a
powerful and useful social following is to actually provide quality content. It’s of course easy to
automatically send your latest updates and RSS feeds to your Facebook and Twitter accounts and leave it
at that… but where is the value? Make sure you stay active on your social network pages and don’t
copy/paste the same content for each. The best way to look at your social followers is to think of them
real people with whom you are having conversations. The last thing you want is to give them something
irrelevant and boring, then have them walk away (unfollow you). Creating Facebook Fan Pages for Your
Blog With nearly a billion users worldwide on Facebook, it would be a complete With nearly a billion
users worldwide on Facebook, it would be a complete waste not to take advantage of what their social
network has to offer. There is a good chance that you are already using Facebook with a personal profile
account, but did you know that you can create “Fan Pages” for events, blogs, brands, personalities or
anything else you can think of? Facebook limits the amount of “friends” you can have on personal
accounts to 5,000, but with a Fan Page there is no limit to how many users can “like” your page. Through
these fan pages, you can send your latest blog updates, connect with your followers and also come up
with some creative ways to build up a massive following like some very well known brands have. There is
no cost to set up a Fan Page on Facebook and you can create as many of them as you like. Make sure that
you take the time to create a Fan Page for each blog or brand you have, and also focus on increasing your
likes and following on a daily basis. In addition to creating Fan Pages, Facebook also offers one of the
best self-serve advertising platforms on the internet. If you ever wanted to target your exact audience
based on their demographic information and interests, then you must try it out. Through Facebook
advertising, you can put ads for your blog, your Facebook Fan Page or anything else right in front of the
people you would like to target . Below are a few more ways that you can improve your social

networking presence and exposure online. Google Authorship / Writer Bio in Search Results Social
networking pages are now becoming an important status and ranking system for search engines as well.
If you have a Google+ account and have set up the Google Authorship permissions with any blog posts or
guest posts you write for other sites, Google will then show your author info and Google+ account
information in search results. Not only is this Google’s way of allowing credit to the original and rightful
owner of online content, it’s also a great way to garner more attention toward your content through
search engine results. Creating Viral Content & Using Infographics The real power of social networking
and viral content is all about your ability to create content that people want. If you want to create
something that will go viral, you will need to make it easy for people to share and also ensure that it
gains attention, whether it’s positive or negative attention. A great way to stir up a new wave of
attention and traffic to your blog is to talk about controversial topics that inspires reader feedback. Who
is making news in your niche market? Can you swing politics into your niche topic? Infographics are
graphic, visual representations of information, data and knowledge, but more importantly, they are an
excellent way to grab a whole new audience of readers and pull them to your site. Not everyone likes to
read long blog posts, and infographics are fun and quick to read. The creation process behind
infographics can be complicated and time consuming, but there are a number of services out there who
can create them for you. Here’s why infographics work so well: A fun way to share information People
will share them on social networks Blogs will post and share your content, resulting in backlinks Creative
way to reach new customers and readers Infographics are a great way to build out your blog as other
websites love to repost this type of content on their blogs as well. When other blogs post your post this
type of content on their blogs as well. When othe

r
blogs post your infographic, you will also gain a link back to your site as the creator of the image. Should
you decide to have an infographic created for your blog, be sure to focus on a topic that will be around
for a while and something that people will want to share with their social networks or post on their blog.
Creating content focused on “how to,” “stats” and “authority figures and brands” in your niche is a great
way to get attention. Creating top lists or controversial topics that might be shared elsewhere is a great
way to create quality link bait that could result in new traffic to your site for many months to come. Link
bait is the concept of creating content or something for the sole purpose of getting other websites, blogs
and people in social media to link and share your content with others. Placing Social Buttons on Sites
Another great way to keep your blog active in the social networking world is by including social
networking buttons on your blog content. There are plenty of free plugins out there that you can install,
which will instantly add Facebook, Twitter, Google and other “share” related buttons to your posts.
Should any of your blog readers find your content interesting enough to share, all they need to do is click
the button and it will get posted to their own social networking pages. If you have a site with great viral
content, these sharing buttons are a must-have and can result in thousands of new visitors to your site.
We have really only scratched the surface of what social networking has to offer. The best way to
appreciate and learn how to use it, is to actually sign up and start using Facebook, Twitter and Google+.
Social networking isn’t for everyone, but it is an extremely useful way to increase your personal brand
and blog following online. Connect with other people within your niche and build up your following in
the process. The people within your niche and build up your following in the process. The important

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