How to Find a Niche For Your Blog

It is important to realize that your choice of a niche can have a significant influence on the success or failure of your new blog.

Deciding on a theme can be a daunting task. What exactly are you going to write about? Your niche needs to be a popular topic that many people are interested in.

If you are going to blog about yourself, then you better have a very interesting life, or you will have difficulty keeping your readers coming back for more. You should choose a topic that will make it comparatively easy to grow your readership and build a strong following.

Since many bloggers write about their favorite subjects, it’s not a bad idea to start brainstorming by writing down a list of your hobbies, interests, and any areas of professional expertise. Now try to determine a niche you can target within one of those areas.

Should you blog about automobiles in general, or the latest sports cars? If you choose too narrow a theme then you may struggle to come up with regular, fresh content. And if you choose a topic that’s too general your readers may be confused by a jumble of seemingly unrelated posts.

You might consider niches within the following general topic areas which have proven to be popular for blogging:

• Automobiles
• Computers and Information Technology
• Digital Cameras
• Gadgets
• Music
• News
• Photography
• Politics
• Shopping

If you plan to use Pay-Per-Click advertising to get traffic to your blog, then remember also that the hottest topics might have the highest pay-per-click fees.

You can sometimes get great niche ideas by browsing at Blog directories and sites like Google Blog Search: http://blogsearch.google.com

Since it is so time-consuming trying to com up with the ‘perfect’ niche idea, many bloggers and webmasters have turned to specialized niche discovery tools. I particularly recommend Online Gold Finder and NicheTopics.

With Online Gold Finder you can uncover profitable, undiscovered online markets with just a couple of clicks. Read more about Online Gold Finder at: http://www.moneyforblogging.com/goldfinder.htm

NicheTopics is quite handy in a different way. You get to use some great research that’s already been completed by an expert. It is a ready-to-use report on 109 unique, untapped niches. Read more about NicheTopics: http://www.moneyforblogging.com/nichetopics.htm

The tools above are not free but consider for a moment. If you are planning – or would even like – to make some money from your blog, then it will be worthwhile to start off with a well-researched niche.

If a particular tool uncovers a good niche that pays an additional $5 a day, it will pay for itself inside the first month!

Don’t forget, it will be very difficult to change the theme and niche of your blog later. So invest some time wisely during your planning stage.

You will be off to a strong start in building a successful blog.

Discover The Power Of Blogging

The dark circles under his eyes are evidence that he has been pecking away at the keyboard again. Night after night he sits, mesmerized by the computer screen surfing forum after forum filling the blank spaces with his comments and opinions about senseless issues, political debates, religious matters, business strategies and shopping options. All the while his marriage is deteriorating, his children are growing up and away, his business is wavering on the brink of bankruptcy, spiritual matters are being neglected, all to which he is oblivious.

One day he happens upon an internet forum about blogging. “What in the world is blogging?” he wonders.

Suddenly he becomes enthralled with a new mission. He has to get to the bottom of this. With all the time he has spent on the internet communicating with people throughout the world, he has never heard of blogging. He wants to learn everything there is to know about it…

Blogging is a relatively new phenomenon that is truly undefined due to the fact that it is not yet what it will become. Currently weblogs teeter on the edges of interactive journalism vs. personal archiving and information sharing. Different bloggers have varying purposes and goals. Some aim to record their thoughts, some to share resources and information and some to tell stories. Blogging has also been used as a tool for educating readers and for providing customer service and communications as well as serving as a tool for self-expression.

With Google’s introduction of the AdSense content-targeted advertising program, you can even generate some revenue from your blog as you get paid per click for Google Ads accessed from your blog. Don’t create a blog on the premise that you’re going to get rich from advertising payments or you may be sorely disappointed. Rather, view the ad program as an added bonus for the time spent filling your blog with useful content, or as getting paid a little for doing something you enjoy.

The best way to get started blogging is just to jump in and get your feet wet. Decide what you want to accomplish through your blog. Is it a tool for getting things off your chest? Sharing your thoughts and feelings? Providing information? Tracking events?

Reading through various blogs will provide you with some ideas for your blogs purpose and for developing your writing style.

Find a blogging medium that you are comfortable with. There are some options out there for free blogs and there are some paid services that are very reasonable, some for commercial and some for non-commercial use.

Probably the quickest and easiest way to start your own blog is to use a hosted service like Blogger – http://www.blogger.com. Getting started with Blogger is a three step process that you can take care of right now. You simply create an account, name your blog and choose a template and you’ll be ready to get started making blog entries. Once you get comfortable with the basic process of blogging, be sure to visit the “Help” section of the Blogger website to learn more about advanced uses and blogging options.

Part Three – Keywords, Tags, Categories – Oh Vey! I Am So Mixed Up!

Okay so now we know all there is to know about content and keywords. Hah! But you did get the basics. It may be a good point to stop and talk about Keywords, Tags, Categories and all that as well. Logically, in progression this should come much later, but because there seems such misunderstandings about Technorati, Del.icio.us and other tagging systems, it may be a good place to put this down.

These articles began because of a thread at Absolute Write called “What Is Your Technorati Rank?” On perusing that thread I realized that many writers were placing their hopes in something that just was not going to happen. More so, they were actually misreading the importance of certain “rankings” and thus ignoring the more important factors.

If you read the previous articles in this series you now hopefully understand “keyword basics”. So we are going to use Technorati for our example.

So along comes techie #1 and says:

“Hey, you know what. Blogs are becoming mainstay business. They are great for people with no knowledge of HTML and you can literally put up a web-site Weblog in minutes. So now they are multiplying over the net faster than rabbits, and the Search Engines are ignoring them for the most part as most of them contain personal musings and ramblings. So why not create a sophisticated search engine for blogs?”

“Great idea,” says techie #2, “a search engine from blogs. And that means anyone who has a blog will want to register with us. But how are we going to build it. Obviously, normative search engine technology is not what we want.”

“You know what?” says techie #1 “we are going to take keywords, call them by a different name and create a closed system!”

And thus Technorati was born.

What essentially goes on in Technorati, is you define what you write with “tags”, Technorati tags. These are keywords, (with a special HTML parameter). Keywords just like you will learn to use in your meta tags. Technorati then in a CLOSED SYSTEM connects all the blogs with the same keywords. Technorati does not look at content to a great extent (to my knowledge), they pay attention to the tags re: keywords that you input. If you do not input keywords they use your keywords in your Blog setup.

Okay this is great for all those people looking for blogs say about hairdressing. So they come to Mr. and Mrs. Hair&s blog because the Hair couple input keywords as Technorati tags. Simple.

Technorati now goes one step further. Technorati rates your blog based upon a few parameters. One of those “important” parameters is how many other people in the Technorati Network (Only those IN the network, or those using Technorati tags) have linked to your blog or a post on it. So by gaining links (there is no concept on Technorati as “bleeding links” as far as I know), you move up in the ladder. But even Technorati also keeps track of how popular your blog is. You can have 200 links into your blog, but if no one visits then your standing will not go up to the top 100.

Okay, that is Technorati. Important for bloggers? Well it is a popular site, and growing. So the answer would be yes. Important for Google, MSN and Yahoo — not on its own…yet there is one critical Caveat.

When someone links to your site in a blog or web site, the href HTML links are in the code. The Search Engines when they read the code with their bots (see how much web lingo you know already!) sees these links. Those get added to the amount of sites linking to you. They are “hot links” or “back links” into your blog or posts in your blog. So linking not only works in the closed world of Technorati tags, but also works in the Wide World of Search Engine placement. Those links are important. Now if you get linked in a very popular blog, that counts for a lot in the world of Search Engine placement. (As we discussed in the previous articles.)

So while it is nice to know your Technorati ranking is going up, what is IMPORTANT is to remember to use their tools of tagging and linking to get others to discover and link to your blog. That gets noticed by the Search Engines. Not immediately to be sure but if you are being hit a great deal and have links to you, sooner rather than later the Search Engines will pick up your blog and your keywords. They will NOT look at the Technorati tags though, they will look at your meta tag keywords and your content. (Oy Vey! so many things to remember)

Del.icio.us and others work on the same concept, though del.icio.us is more centralized and called a “social book-marking service”. Just remember the rule of thumb:

The more sites that link to you and your post, no matter for what reason, the better it is for you and your position in the Search Engines.

Okay now what are Categories? Categories really belong in Wiki format, and this is not the scope or place to discuss Wiki and the technology behind it. I own a new Wiki site, and you are welcome to peruse JewishPedia because on a Wiki site you can view all the code to each article.

Categories in blogs (Wordpress implements them automatically) are a way to search for something. I have Categories in my blog, but this is a code implemented Category Listing in Google&s blogger system, where when you click, the blog does a Google Blog search in my blog for all articles related to that word. And thus it depends on Google&s specific Blog Search Engine (not their regular search engine).

Remember, Google and others have specific Blog search engines. It is important to be on the top in those as well, BUT for mainstream, if you are using a Blog for whatever reason, your goal is to be in the normative search engines as well, and in a good placement there.

So there you have it. Tags = Keywords. Technorati uses them in the closed world of Technorati. The employ linking counts as well. These keywords and links, if done correctly, are also very useful for Search Engine rankings if your blog is popular. deli.ci.ous uses them for “social” blogging.

So don’t give up on Technorati. Just don’t believe it is the golden answer to be good rankings in the Search Engines. It is but one of the myriad of possibilities.

“The more sites that link to you and your post, no matter for what reason, the better it is for you and your position in the Search Engines.”

Dear Diary, Dear World – All About Blogging

The Internet has changed the way we live, breathe, and even write – in fact, it is mainly due to the blogging phenomenon that we receive headlines, change them, and even get the latest buzz on issues newspapers and popular media will not dare tackle. Blogging has become so common, it has prompted dictionary makers to create new terms. For instance, each article on a blog is called a “post,” “entry,” or “blog post.” A person who blogs is called a “blogger.”

But what is blogging, and why is it so popular?

Blogging refers to the activity of updating one’s blog. What is a blog? A blog is a web log, or an Internet-based publication which contains articles about a variety of topics. Blogs are either run on dedicated hosting services, or they can be run on any ordinary web hosting service using scripts meant for blogs.

Blogs often focus on a particular subject. They can tackle movie reviews, political issues, important local news, or one’s personal opinion. Most blogs serve as online diaries, and will contain personal images, artwork, and writing.

Blog posts will contain the following elements.

• A title – Some personal bloggers have modified this, and have added subtitles to add “meat” to their entries. They may indicate the music they are currently listening to, their current mood, and the subject of their post. Journalistic bloggers will often link their title to similar articles available online.

• The body – This is the main content of the blog. It can be a fictional entry, in the case of story or novel blogs; or a non-fiction entry, in the case of other blogs, such as news blogs or diaries.

• A permalink – this is the link to the individual blog entry, which other bloggers can use if they would like to link or refer to the article.

• The date – this is simply the date, time, and sometimes place in which the entry was first posted.

Some blogs may also contain the following.

• A comments section – this enables readers to make comments or react to the blog entry. This is also a useful way by which other bloggers can make themselves, and their blogs, known.

• The tags – this is the section where bloggers list the categories under which their current article falls. For instance, a post on “Saving the Whales” can be categorized under “environment,” “whales,” and “ecology.”

• Trackback – Also known as pingback, this is a list of links of other sites that refer to the article or post.

There are many different kinds of blogs available, depending on the topic they tackle. A few types include the following

• Personal – These blogs focus on personal experiences, and feature an online diary, usually with images or artwork. Some photoblogs fall under this category, where bloggers post pictures instead of writing about their experiences.

• Paid – Some bloggers are paid to blog their career experiences, or the latest news about a company.

• Socio-cultural – Some blogs are devoted to socio-cultural experiences, and can allow people of other cultures a glimpse into the quirks and specialties that make other cultures unique.

• Science – Some scientists have taken to blogging about their research findings, or to share laboratory techniques. Such a method, however, has been met with derision in the science community, since it overrides the traditional peer-based review of research.

• Political or News – Some blogs focus on the latest news, and can even offer political opinions on certain subjects.

Blogging is definitely here to stay, and it can influence cultures and headlines through the widely popular medium of the Internet. Have you tried blogging yet?

How To Find The Right Blogging Platform For Your Needs

Choosing which blogging platform to use is one of the most important decisions that you can make as a blogger. The right platform can make blogging a breeze, and the wrong platform can make blogging a chore. Because the program that you use to blog with is such a powerful part of your blogging experience, it is well worth putting in the time to find a platform that provides your ideal balance between a user-friendly interface and a flexible framework that allows you to make your blog look and feel unique. Finding the right platform isn’t always easy, but with a little bit of contemplation and a little bit of research, you will be on your way to finding the perfect blogging platform.

Deciding what your priorities are in terms of ease of use versus customization. Most highly customizable blogging platforms, like moveable type, are a bit more difficult to use than very automated platforms like wordpress. If you are new to blogs and to internet technology, you might want to sacrifice the ability to create a custom background design or to integrate a unique font into your template in order to find a program that will be easy for you to use. On the other hand, if you are a veteran web designer with knowledge of html or javascript, you will probably find the limitations of a user-friendly platform to be frustrating.

There is no such thing as a blogging platform that is objectively the best platform, because every blogger has unique needs. The blogging movement is very much about individuality, so it makes plenty of sense that there would be many different platforms available that are designed to meet the needs of different kinds of individuals undertaking different kinds of projects. This diversity is a good thing, because it means that you will almost certainly be able to find a program that suits your level of technical aptitude.

However, the fact that no two bloggers need the same thing from a blogging platform can make your search for the right platform a bit tricky. When you are reading reviews of different platforms, try to keep your priorities in mind and do your best to take into account the position that the reviewer is coming from. For example, a negative review written by an accomplished software designer who complains that a popular platform is too limited may tell you that the platform in question is ideal for a beginning blogger. There is no such thing as the perfect platform for everybody, so instead of looking for the “best” platform, look for the best platform for your specific criteria.

What Is Affiliate Marketing And Can I Get Rich Using It?

Simply put, Affiliate Marketing is the Internet version of commission sales. You make a deal with a company where they agree to pay you some amount of money to display some type of ad to visitors at your site to get them to go to the company’s site and do something.

That something may be as simple as clicking on the ad itself (Pay Per Click), identifying themselves to the advertiser for further action (Pay Per Lead), or getting the visitor to buy something, either on the spot or within an agreed upon timeframe (Pay Per Sale).

There is tremendous debate about who started the first affiliate program, but Amazon’s is probably the most successful (it was started in 1996). Around that time Linkshare, arguably the first affiliate network, was launched. I met with the Linkshare folks when they were first getting started, and they struck me as clever people with a great idea. BeFree, another early ad network that is now part of Commission Junction, was another company that got in early.

Unfortunately the dot com bust also caused a bust for affiliate marketers. Google’s Adsense, combined with a growing economy and Internet ubiquity, brought the business and ecommerce in general back to robust growth.

Can you get rich from affiliate programs? More generally: Can you get rich from Internet Marketing?

Sure. This is America. Just don’t expect to get rich overnight. There’s no such thing as getting rich quick. It takes time, energy, and a lot of hard work. The poster boy for getting rich off the Internet has to be Darren Rouse of problogger.net. Darren admits to making several hundred thousand dollars a year with his blog, which shows other people how to make money on the Internet.

My first observation in getting back into the online world after six years offline is that the people who seem to be making the most money are the people who have products and services that they sell to people who want to make money on the Internet. I think that’s pretty funny, but it’s not going to last forever.

What’s the formula? It’s all about numbers. Get people to visit your site, engage them with your content and your ideas, and get them to do something that will make you money. The more people you can get to the site, the more chances you have to get people to take the action that enriches you.

Since you’re reading this article I am assuming that you think you have a program for getting people to your site that is working well. If not, you shouldn’t be reading about Affiliate Programs…you should be reading about programs for getting good traffic to your site, which I plan to cover at a later time.

Here are some examples of sites that make money, and how much they make (they are from sites for sale listings around the Internet):

A myspace.com support website has 60,000 unique visitors a day and makes about $1.8M per year.
A free tattoo website has 1,500 visitors a day and makes about $6000 a year.
A weight loss blog has 1,600 visitors a day and makes $36,000 a year.
A dictionary, encyclopedia and reference site has 1,800 visitors a day and makes $2,400 a year.

How much will you make? It all depends on the nature of your site, how good the content of your site is, how well the ads are integrated into the site, and if you have chosen the right offers for your audience.