In the last post we talked about avoiding ad clutter.  Here are a few follow up tips to ensure that your ads aren’t so obnoxious that visitors leave your site immediately.  The point of ads is for users to click on them, not for them to run away!

Ads should never interfere with the usability of your site!

Bright, Flashing Ads Are Tacky

It might seem logical for ads to blink at visitors, alerting the reader to its presence.  Yes, it can be difficult to obtain a user’s attention, but users are so familiar with these ads that I think – at least for me – these ads have the opposite effect.  Users might associate these ads with scams.

Instead, lead users to your ads by positioning them in an ideal location on your site.

Sound is Obnoxious

Most people I know surf the web while watching television or listening to their own music, so when websites have music on them – whether it is just on the page or part of the ad – it’s annoying and interferes.  I either turn the sound off (making the effect moot) or leave the page.

The only ads I ever see with sound are those ones that say “You’ve Won!” which I assume is a scam, anyways.

Avoid Video Ads

These are probably the most annoying ads out of all three.  They are like a combination between flashing ads and ads with sound.  It distracts from the content, and instead of reading your blog, users will be frantically searching for the ‘mute’ or ‘pause’ buttons… if they’re not leaving already.

The Most Important Tip: Use Relevant Ads

Use ads that relate to your topic.  These are the ads that your users are interested in, and if your users are interested in the product, they’ll click on it and that will help you make money.  For example, if you are a sports blog, use ads that pertain to sports, ie sports equipment, tickets to games, or sports memorabilia.

Remember: the main reason to avoid flashing ads, ads with sound, and video ads is this: generally, they are not relevant to your content.  If they are related to your content – well, that depends on your readership loyalty.  I don’t think it’s worth it to lose readers over these ads, and there are probably other ads out there that will pay the same amount.

To make money blogging, many people use ads.  From banner ads to Google Adsense to paid reviews, there are so many different types out there, and some bloggers try to do it all.

There’s nothing wrong with doing all of these, but there is something wrong when your blog is so cluttered with ads that users can’t even see your content.  Who is really going to a website covered in ads?  I’ll bet the bounce rates on these sites are ridiculously high.

You know which blogs I’m talking about.  You’ve seen them before.  You enter their website, and have trouble finding any content.  On the right hand side are google adsense ads; on the left, vertical banners.  Popups invade your screen as soon as you enter.  You skim and scan for content, but all you see are product reviews.

Don’t be that site.  There are ways you can use ads without going overboard.

Integrate the ads in your layout

When you design your layout, think about ad space.  Columns are ideal for ads.  Play around with the column width.  Personally, I would recommend having the content space be larger than the column space.

You’ll have to have some ads at the top, of course, but they don’t all have to be up there.

Blank Space is Your Friend

Remember that blank space is often necessary.  A busy page can be overwhelming to your visitor’s eye, but if you make sure you have empty space, your site will feel more organized and look more pleasing aesthetically.  Eye your design carefully to see if it looks too cluttered.

If you have a three column layout, this is especially tricky.  Try to keep your columns thin so that your content is easily recognizable.

Supplement Ads with Original Content

As advised in last week’s entry about advice for writing paid reviews, try to mix in original content.  Wait a day or two before doing another paid review, and be sure to put original content in between.

You can do this on your side bars too.  For example, have a space for ads at the top of the right column, but perhaps then include an about section underneath, then maybe one ad, then an archive section etc.  Play around with your layout to find what works best for your site.

Moderation is Key

You might think you’ll make more money by including more ads on your website, but don’t be fooled.  You might have numerous ads, but how much are they really paying?

Whereas you might make more money if you clean up your act and start focusing on your readers.  Remember, readers come first.  Blog traffic determines your page rank, and page rank can help you attract advertisers to your site, and they might pay you more if you have a higher page rank.

If you want some feedback about how your page looks, ask your friends to take a look and join a blogging forum. For example, Bloggeries has a forum where you can post your blog for people to look at and provide advice.

How interactive elements can help your blog

Engage your readers by giving them something to do.  Reading is passive experience for a reader.  I once read that when a reader is finished reading an article on your blog, they look for something to do; for example, comment or share on Facebook, etc.

Here are a few things you can include on your blog to give your reader something to do.

Enable Comments

Yes, this is obvious, but I included it just in case.  Have a place where readers can comment on your entries.  Encourage discussion by asking a question at the end of your post.  It can be any kind of question – from sillier, fun questions to more controversial, thought provoking questions, depending on your blog.

Subscriptions

Start an email newsletter, and include a place on your website for readers to sign up for it.  Put this somewhere off to the side, but near the top of your page so people will notice it.

Make sure that you actually have interesting content to share with your readers, of course.  And definitely do not spam them!  That will only turn them off from their site.

You can try to code the newsletter yourself and send it out manually – a good idea if you are tech savvy, but many of us bloggers aren’t.  Fortunately there are some pretty good newsletter and email marketing websites out there.

I’ve used Constant Contact – they were pretty easy to work with and offer great customer service.  While they do offer a free trial, you will have to pay a monthly fee to continue using it.  So, if you want to find something else, here is an article for some more top newsletter websites.

Feeds

Users can also subscribe so that when you post a new entry, they will receive an email update or an update on their RSS Feed.  Probably one of the most popular services is Google Feedburner.

Forums

If you want to use forums on your site, you should probably already have a decent amount of traffic.  You can find some message board services for free.  Make one for your blog to allow your readers a place to meet and discuss your posts. When designing the layout, be sure to have it look just like your blog so that readers will recognize it and know where they are.

Polls

If you have room to use this without cluttering your blog, then include a poll widget on the side of your site.  You can use this to ask your readers questions, from things like ‘what would you like to read about’ to something specific about a most recent article.  For example, if your blog is about movies, ask something like “what did you think about Inception?”

Widgets

Widgets are programs you can put on your blog (typically you see them in the side columns of a blog), and can be anything from an advertisement to a poll to a game. All you have to do as the blogger is copy and paste the code onto your site.

So now you have a decent popularity and loyal following, and you want to start making money with your blog.  Paid product reviews can be a great way of doing so, but here are a few tips before you dive in.

When you start using these, you may be tempted to write them every day, but watch out! A blog that only has paid reviews will lose readership and interest, and may dissuade higher paying advertisers from using your blog.

Here are some tips to spruce up your review posts.

Space Them Out

Don’t make every entry an advertisement.  Mix them up with real, original posts.  And don’t just do this every other entry… Try to do it maybe every three entries.

Keep them on your home page

More people are going to see your homepage.  What’s the point of writing an advertisement if its buried a few pages in and no one sees it?  If an advertiser knows that his ad is going to be on your home page for longer, it will make your blog more appealing.  There are two ways you can do this.

1. Don’t update so frequently (like more than once a day)
2. Have at least 5 recent posts appear on your page.  Even this is rather low.  I would go with at least 10… 15 or 20 would be great.  (yet perhaps a little too high).  Find the right fit for your blog.

Post the whole review

Don’t just put an excerpt.  Unless you write a really creative headline, what do you think the odds of someone reading your post are?  Just try to think of it from the advertiser’s perspective: is he getting what he’s paying for?

Write a quality review

Actually look at the website before writing about it.  Do some research.  You don’t need to go too crazy, don’t spend too much time researching.  Definitely don’t copy and paste, and definitely don’t make anything up.  Honesty will appeal to your readers and gain their trust.  And when you give honest reviews that are good, your readers will be even more convinced.

Do it right the first time

Go over the requirements several times.  Double check to make sure that your links work – and that you have enough links to begin with.  This will ensure smooth sailing.

Don’t link to other advertisers in your ad

I think this speaks for itself.  Now and then I’ll see someone blog a review about one thing, but then include links in the post to competitor websites.  If I was an advertiser and saw this, I wouldn’t be happy.  It also undermines your own credibility.  Why are you telling me to use one thing, but then linking to something else?

Maintaining quality content on your blog is key to attracting visitors and keeping them.  Eventually most (if not all) writers stumble into writer’s block.  Here are a few tips how to combat it:

Make a list

When you first start your blog, brainstorm a list of topics.  (You can do this any time, really, but its best if you do it when you first start.)  Try to think of as many as possible… maybe 15 or 20.  As you are writing these, you may find other topics, add them to your list.  You may also find that some topics can be expanded to multiple posts.  Make sure you update your list every time you get a new idea!

Stay Ahead of the Game

Before you start publishing blog entries, write a few (maybe five or ten) and save them on your computer.  Once you have a decent amount (let’s say you chose ten), start with posting the first one.  Wait a few days before you post the second one; while you’re waiting, start writing blog entry #11.  Save it on your computer – don’t post it yet.  When a few days have passed, post that second entry.  Wait a few days before posting #3, and while waiting post #12.  And so on…

This way you are always a few entries ahead of yourself, and if you get really stuck, or if life happens and you do not have a chance to write, you will have a back up so your readers aren’t kept waiting… and  you’ll have updated posts for your blogs traffic.

Comments

Maybe your readers have posted a few questions or comments that you can expand into a post.  You should be checking your comments and responding to any that appear anyways.  Maybe you find yourself writing several paragraphs in response – instead, use this as a post.

React

You might see a post on another blog (of similar theme to yours) that maybe you disagree with, or maybe you have a few comments to add.  Use this (perhaps if you are polite and friendly with the other blogger, they would be willing to link to your post so readers can get “both sides” of the issue).  Stay civil of course!  Do not bad mouth another blogger; not only could it backfire and create an enemy, but it will leave a foul taste in your reader’s mouth.

Take a poll

Ask readers to submit questions and/or topics they’d like to see.

Take a Break!

Sometimes the best cure for writer’s block is to get up and take a walk.  Relax and try to focus on other things.  An idea will probably hit you when you’re least expecting.

Your site is up and ready: you have an eye-catching, eye-pleasing layout, a build up of quality content that will wow your loyal readers, and keywords sprinkled here and there to make your site search engine optimized.  But you have no readers.

There’s one very important thing left for you to do: Blog Promotion.

Blog promotion is what you do to spread the word about your blog.  It includes anything you do to tell people your blog exists.  This is very important for growing blog traffic.

Here are some steps you can take to promote your blog

1. Tell Your Friends

A great initial place to start.  Your friends can even give you a few tips, especially if your blog just started.  When you start blogging, mention it to your friends, and tell them you would love for them to post comments and start discussion.  Don’t be too pushy though, otherwise they might be dissuaded.

2. Explore Your Subject “Niche”

Search for blogs, websites and forums within your subject area and that have a similar target audience to yours.  On each site, take a look around before doing anything.  Read a few entries, pages, or forum posts and check out the about section.  See what the typical “netiquette” is and be aware of rules and guidelines.

Bloggers Forum is one discussion community that offers tips and has a board where other users can visit your blog and give tips.  However, there are more out there, so don’t be afraid to look around.  Be sure to also look for forums related to your subject area.

3. Post Comments

When you’re ready, find an entry or post and make a polite, intelligent comment that contributes to the discussion.   Focus on being constructive and adding to the conversation.  Make your input worthwhile.  Do not spam with links to your blog.  People won’t take you seriously.

Your goal here is to make friends and build relationships.  Politeness and friendliness will go far.

4. Start promoting!

A blogging forum may have a designated board for providing links to your blog.  Be sure to look up the rules before promoting your blog (you don’t want to violate them or appear to be spamming).

Once you have made a few posts and integrated yourself slightly into the blog’s community or a forum, start posting links to your blog.  Put a link in your signature.

Show how your blog is similar, but different.  Show the blog readers and forum posters that you are offering something similar that would interest them, but that is also different from what they are already getting by the current site they are on.

5. Guest Post

By this point, you should have made several friends on blogs and forums.  Approach them politely and see if you can do a guest post on their blog.  Explain what you would like to write about – and be open if they have any suggestions for you – but do not send them an already written post (as they may say no, and they may be turned off if you assume they’ll want your post).

Your post should of course match the content and theme of the blog.

Be sure to check any guidelines for guest posts – many blogs will have these posted somewhere, so look for them.

Another option…

Facebook

A few of my creative writing friends have been posting links to their articles as they publish them on Facebook.  It appears in my News Feed every day and is a great way to attract visitors.  Also include a link on your profile on Facebook, if you are comfortable with this, of course.  You can reach acquaintances this way.

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Remember to be polite at all times!  There is a distinct difference between being controversial and being rude.  It’s great if you want to post a constructive comment that disagrees, but be civil and make it clear that you are posting merely for the sake of a genuine discussion and to play devils advocate.

Writing quality content will grow your blog’s readership and increase reader loyalty.  It can also get you better paying tasks if you are using paid reviews.  Here are a few things that will help you create interesting content that will catch your visitor’s attention and help you increase your readership:

Be Original

Anyone will probably eagerly tell you that the key to quality content is originality.  This doesn’t even necessarily mean that you have to be writing new, unique, innovative ideas that no one has heard before – it can just mean writing about your life and your thoughts.  Don’t copy and paste from other blogs or other sources (like Wikipedia), actually put your own thought into it.

Just write what you tell, be honest, and something original will come out.  After all, we are not all clones of each other, we all have different ways we think about the world.  If you focus more on telling the truth, instead of trying to be original, then chances are you will become original.

If you try too hard, you’ll probably just get frustrated and run into writer’s block.

But originality is not the only thing that goes into creating quality content.  Here are a few other things that will help you create interesting content that will catch your visitor’s attention and help you boost your readership:

Have a Distinctive “Voice”

In writing, your “voice” refers to the sound your words have.  But it’s written, not spoken, you say.  Voice has to do with the tone you take towards what you are saying; it’s how your tone and word choice come together to give you a unique and distinctive style.  Just as the articles in Reader’s Digest will have a different voice from the articles in National Geographic, blog posts can have different voices.  A mommy blogger will sound different from a student blogger.

Developing your own voice takes practice.  Write every day.  Don’t think too hard about it, just let the words come out on the page as if you were speaking to someone – whether it’s a friend, colleague, or acquaintance.  Post often, and soon you will realize that you do have a distinctive voice.  Write101 has a good article about developing your voice.

Keep Your Audience In Mind

This is Writing 101.  You want to make sure that your writing is clear and comprehensible to your readers.  After you have written your post, reread it out loud to make sure it makes sense.  Try reading it to your spouse or family member and see if they understand what you are talking about.

The topic of your blog may affect your writing as well.  If you are writing about technology, you’ll probably be using words that the average person won’t understand, but your audience will.

Watch Your Grammar!

This is a no-brainer, but it has to be said: good grammar and punctuation.  It goes along with “being easy to read”.  Grammar has a purpose beyond being a lesson in grade school, and that is helping us understand each other and communicate more clearly.  It should be noted – for more advanced writers – that certain grammar rules are less used (for example, it is now more acceptable to use “dangling prepositions”, so feel free to use those, but don’t tell your English teacher I said so!)

To Recap: What You Need For High Quality Content

• Originality
• Distinctive voice
• Audience awareness
• Proper Grammar

You want to also make sure that your writing is easy for your visitors to understand and that it’s entertaining and interesting.

I’ll leave you with a quote by C.S. Lewis, writer of the popular Narnia series, that goes like this: “Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.”

You’ve set up your blog, developed some backlinks and popularity, and now you’re ready to monetize! Here are a few things you can consider if you want to monetize your blog. There are many other ways to make money with your blog, but these are some of the popular ways.

• Pay Per Click Ads
• Banner Advertising
• Paid Reviews

You should probably hold off on monetizing your blog for a few months after starting it, as you’ll want to focus mainly on creating quality content and backlinks. Once you are ready, though, you can start incorporating ads into your blog. Obviously they are going to have to be visible, but try to make them fit naturally into your layout. Don’t cover your blog in ads – especially in the beginning – as it may decrease your blog traffic, which is the opposite of what any new blog needs.

Pay Per Click Ads

When you use these ads on your blog, you are paid for every time a reader on your site clicks an ad. These are typically referred to as PPC ads or PPC campaigns. If you’re using PPC ads, you’ll want to make sure you post the ad somewhere obvious and visible on your site so that your users can see it. Still try to make sure it fits well into your layout, and doesn’t look random or out of place. Google Adsense is one of the most popular types of PPC ads.

Banner Ads

You can also make money blogging with ads.  With these ads, advertisers pay you for space on your blog, and you put their banner there. Banners come in a different sizes (125×125 and 300×250 are just a few). You can put them in different places throughout your blog. For example, you might have a side bar for ads. You can also use the long horizontal ads and intersperse them between your posts. Don’t use too many though, or you might lose some of your readers.

Paid Reviews

Another blog advertisement you can experiment with are paid reviews, but the better integrated these are into your blog, the more natural your blog will look and thus it will attract more readers… and ultimately the better it will work. (Therefore you might want to wait until you already have a good deal of entries and some backlinks). If they think you are being paid to endorse something, readers may leave or be turned off. So if you are doing this, you should put a disclaimer somewhere on the blog that says it. Give fair reviews to gain reader trust.

Interspersed with other content, these can give real dimension to your blog. If you have a cooking blog, for example, do some posts about recipes, and then a review of some cooking product or website. This is probably even better than a blog just about recipes, as it gives your reader something more to do than just read. Variety (within your subject of course; do not post about something off topic) will spruce up your blog and make it really attractive.

And as always… Keep the Content Coming

Continue to post regularly; if you stop or the gaps between posts are too long, you won’t be able to maintain a readership as viewers will not be willing to keep checking your blog. Some people say that you won’t make money from the beginning and others say you can. My advice is to be patient. If you start out with ads all over your blog, people might think you are only interested in making money and it might repel readers. It’s a cliché for a reason: “slow and steady wins the race”.

You just got started blogging, and you’re wondering, now what?  Last week we looked at the First Steps to Make Money Blogging.  Here are some more follow up steps to increase readership and head down the path to make money by blogging.

Content Creation

Develop some content.  Before you start reaching out to find backlinks, try to fill your blog with some articles and information.  When you ask for backlinks, people will probably visit your URL to see what your site has to offer and if it’s interesting enough to link back to.  If you have content there, you can convince them.  But if they see an empty site, why would they want to link to it?

Since you’re just starting to write your articles now, I recommend writing a bunch of articles before you start posting them, and then only publish them one at a time.  This way you can stay ahead of the game.  Space out your posts, but don’t wait too long as you’ll want to make sure you get into the habit of posting regularly.  When you have a lot of blog entries on the “back burner,” you have more slack and a back up in case you get writer’s block.

Branch Out… Find Backlinks

Once you have a multitude of entries, reach out to get back links.  (Backlinks are links to your blog).  You can search for other blogs with similar subjects to your own and leave constructive, thoughtful comments.  Be nice and friendly, and refer them to your own blog of a similar subject and see if you can exchange links with the blogger (you post a link to them, and they post a link to you). It’s probably best to try to find a blog that has been around for some time and has a few links, but might be looking for more.

Remember to be polite.  Show that you are also interested in their blog, and are not just trying to use them for a link – they’ll be more likely to link back to you this way.

The main focus here is developing relationships with fellow bloggers.

You can also try to submit your blog to a search engine, but it’s probably better if you get backlinks and let the search engine find you.

Guest Posts

Writing guest posts is a great way to generate traffic and backlinks.

Find a blog that gets a good amount of traffic, and see what you have to do to write a guest post.  You should look for blogs that have a similar or overlapping audience, so you can attract those visitors to your blog.  By this point, you should already have a few backlinks and therefore a few friendships with other bloggers.  See if you can guest post for any of their blogs.

Once you have found a good site, make sure you approach them respectfully and patiently. Some blogs, especially really popular ones, will probably have a link somewhere that explains how to do a guest post for their blog, so before emailing the blogger, make sure you check to see what his policy is.  Realize that they are busy, and may not be able to respond right away.  Don’t send your article in your first email – it might come across as pushy.

Hungry for more?  Here are 5 additional ways to find backlinks and promote your blog.

Use of keywords on your blog can help search engines find your blog and understand what it’s about; for the new blogger, this is called keyword optimization.  You can use Keywords in a number of places: your blog name, meta tags, meta description, your article headline, subheaders within your post and words in your post.

But be careful!  Don’t use so many keywords that it looks unnatural to your readers.  You don’t want your post to be written only for search engines, you want it to read well for your readers, too.  Keywords should be woven in as seamlessly as possible.  It may be difficult at first, but with practice you’ll get the hang of it.

What are keywords?

Keywords are words or phrases that you anticipate searchers would use to find your topic or product.  They describe what your site or post is about, and help search engines find your post.  Then, when someone types that word into a search engine, your site will appear somewhere in the results.

How to Rank Better With Keywords

You’ll rank better if you use keyword phrases.  Try using keywords that have less competition.  You can use Google’s keyword tool to search for different words and phrases and see how competitive they are.  Try to aim for phrases that are less competitive so that you can get ranked higher for those words and thus attract more visitors.

Mix it Up

When you’re writing your blog about, let’s say, a new baked ziti recipe, you might want to use “baked ziti” as your keyword.  Forget it – that’s probably way too competitive.  Even adding “recipe” on the end is still really competitive.  So what would you do?  You can try “easy baked ziti,” which is less competitive but still gets a lot of searches.  You can also try mixing it up, and instead of “baked ziti recipe,” try “recipe for baked ziti”, it’s much less competitive.  Just play around with Google’s keyword tool and also try flipping phrases around.  A thesaurus helps too!  Look up synonyms to see if they are less competitive.

Use Focused Phrases

The longer and more focused your phrase is, the higher chance you’ll convert the reader into using your site.  The longer someone has been searching for something, the more focused his search phrases will be.  And the more serious he is about finding and buying something.  So you should try to use a phrase (at least two words) because the visitor you want to attract to your website is also probably using a longer phrase.

Don’t Overload Your Site

Using keywords in your head and subheaders help the spider crawling your page understand what it is about, but doesn’t look like you were trying too hard to get picked up in a search engine.  Remember moderation is key and you want to look natural.  Be careful not to litter your blog with keywords, as this can have a negative effects and might make your blog appear spammy.

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Remember, don’t over stuff your post, your title, or your meta tags with too many keywords.  Make sure that if you use a meta description it makes sense for people to read.  Here is a good link for how to use keywords in your titles.

And of course, as usual, don’t rely on just keywords!  Keyword optimizing is only part of good search engine optimization.  You will pick up more traffic with a good layout, good content, and backlinks.

For more tips, stay tuned!  The next post will be more Getting Started tips for how to make money with your blog!