Using Chitika eMiniMalls With Adsense

Using Chitika eMiniMalls With Adsense

Many of the questions I’ve received about eMiniMalls related to whether they can be used on the same page as Google Adsense ads. As I wrote in my review - this was initially of major concern a number of us when we first came across eMiniMalls. As a result, one of my colleagues wrote an email to Adsense for clarification. The response was that it was allowable from the perspective of Adsense to use Chitika eMiniMalls on the same page as Adsense in the following circumstances (I’m told by a YPN publisher that this is also true with YPN):

1. eMiniMalls must be made to be NON-contexual

2. eMiniMalls must have their ’search tab’ disabled IF you choose to use the Adsense Search option (update: I’ve since heard from a number of Chitika eMiniMall publishers who say that they’ve recieved confirmation from Adsense that they ARE ALLOWED to use the search tab in eMiniMalls).

This was great news as it added another revenue stream to the sites of many without compromising another important source of income like Adsense.

NB: Chitika has another ad system, called RealContext, that is NOT allowed to be used in conjunction with Adsense - don’t get them mixed up.

It is worth noting that different webmasters and bloggers have seen difference results from using Adsense and Chitika’s eMiniMalls on the one page. These results have included:

Some bloggers have reported small decreases in their Adsense earnings. This is my experience - I’ve noticed a 5-10% decrease in my overall Adsense earnings since adding eMiniMalls. Of course this is considerably less than the overall increase in earnings that the eMiniMalls have brought me so I’m willing to take this hit knowing that overall I am in a considerably better financial position. A smaller number of bloggers have noticed increases in their Adsense earnings when they replaced one of multiple Adsense Ad units with a eMiniMall unit. This sounds crazy - bit it makes sense when you realise that sometimes less Adsense Ad units on a page can result in increase click values for some ads (thats another topic for another day)

- Some have found eMiniMalls to be so well suited to their site’s that they’ve removed Adsense altogether and are just running the Chitika ads (I wouldn’t recommend doing this straight away without testing things first).

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What sites are Chitika eMiniMalls Best on?

In my experience so far with Chitika (and from interacting with many others who are testing it) I’ve found that it seems to work best on sites that are focused upon products. Many gadget sites have signed up for eMiniMalls already but by no means are their ads limited to consumer electronics. I’ve seen relevant ads served up on a variety of sites including some focussing upon clothes, baby strollers, washing machines, jewellery and other fashion items. From what I can see - they seem to have a large supply of ads for most of the products you’ll find on sites like Amazon and Shopping.com (which is thousands of products).

Product related sites are not the only ones reporting good returns from eMiniMalls though - I know of a variety of personal and general topic blogs and sites that are reporting better than normal earnings with eMiniMalls in comparison to other ad networks that they use.

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What sites are Chitika eMiniMalls Best on?

In my experience so far with Chitika (and from interacting with many others who are testing it) I’ve found that it seems to work best on sites that are focused upon products. Many gadget sites have signed up for eMiniMalls already but by no means are their ads limited to consumer electronics. I’ve seen relevant ads served up on a variety of sites including some focussing upon clothes, baby strollers, washing machines, jewellery and other fashion items. From what I can see - they seem to have a large supply of ads for most of the products you’ll find on sites like Amazon and Shopping.com (which is thousands of products).

Product related sites are not the only ones reporting good returns from eMiniMalls though - I know of a variety of personal and general topic blogs and sites that are reporting better than normal earnings with eMiniMalls in comparison to other ad networks that they use.

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Chitika eMiniMall Sign up Process

Chitika eMiniMall Sign up Process

Signing Up for Chitika eMiniMalls is pretty easy to do. Simply visit their sign up page and fill in your details. Keep in mind their terms and conditions of being a publisher which exclude certain types of sites. When you send in your application you will normally hear back from Chitika with a response within 24 hours (time seems to depend upon what time you apply and whether it is business hours in their part of the US.

Keep in mind that in signing up you are being bound to their terms and conditions that include non-disclosure of some of your earnings information (eg CTR, click values etc). Also note that at this point of their beta test they are only accepting sites written in English.

Lastly keep in mind that if your site’s readership is mainly from Asian countries that unfortunately due to a lack of Asian merchants and low conversions Chitika does not pay out for all Asian countries and the ‘auditing’ process could decrease your earnings considerably.

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A Guide to Getting increasing your income from Chitika’s eMiniMall Advertising program.

Since my initial Chitika eMinimalls review and revelation of earnings from Chitika’s eMiniMalls my inbox has been full of questions on how to use eMiniMalls effectively. As a result I thought I’d write a guide to using Chitika eMiniMalls to refer people to. I hope this is helpful. Feel free to add your own tips in comments below.

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Way No-3

Write reviews for affiliate Products

Another way to earn with blogging is to start writing your own reviews or posts on different affiliate products. In an action (e.g sale or lead) you can get a good amount of commission from your affiliate advertiser. You can sign up for commission junction, neverblueads or some other good affiliate networks and find the product you can write on, and promote. A good and helpful review always returns something. People make plenty of money by running web hosting blogs, health & fitness blogs etc.

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Way No-2

Write reviews for other blogs

This is another good way to earn with blogging. You can go to some best review sites like sponsoredreviews, payperreview, reviewme etc. Then sign up as blogger and start writing reviews or posts on a topic of advertiser’s choice and give them two or three link backs. This way you get two things. One is the few dollars for writing reviews for advertisers and second is the update of your blog. Yeah , your blog is always up to date to get more traffic from Google and other search engines.

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Way No-1

Three old words - Sell Advertisement space

Of course selling advertisement space is the biggest way to make money with your blogs. As long as you have enough traffic on your blog, you have the gold chain. If you are starting a blog then choose the topic you can write most because people will stay on your blog as long as they have good information on your blog. Otherwise they will just read and go away forever. You can sell advertisement space on your blogs easily as much as from $50 to $200 per 125×125 banner. But this really need good and targeted traffic. To obtain traffic, you might need to read SEO Tips section to learn how to optimize your website search engine friendly and the best way to get backlinks to your blog.

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3 easy ways to make your blog profitable

3 Easy ways to make your blog profitable

Few years back, nobody was aware of what the heck is blogging. But today’s nobody care about building websites. Everyone is going to stick with blogging because its sometime fun and you can even make yourself rich with blogging.

Blogging is basically an update of your thoughts that you gives to other readers. Unlike a web forum or community website, blogging is a personal publishing system. Anyways, lets keep the heck of definition away and start the topic.
There could be many way to make money with blogs. Some can bring you a lot while some can give you only few cents a day. Its all up to you that how you run your blog and how much of course.

The key to success with blogging is to update your blog as much as you can. Do an update at least 4 times a week and you are not going to lose generic search engine traffic. Because thats the traffic which brings free money and traffic

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Create Easy-to-Read Blog Posts

Tips to Writing a Blog Post That's Scan able

One of the realities of writing content for the web is that people don't stay on any page for very long. Typically, web surfers scan a page and determine within a few seconds if it's worth staying on that page and reading further or if they should click away and try the next page they can find. With that in mind, your blog posts should be written and formatted in a way that makes them not only visually appealing but also scan able. Make sure your visitors know what you're writing about within a couple of seconds by following the tips below for creating scan able blog posts:

1. Pay Attention to Titles

The first thing your visitors will notice are your blog post titles. While it's great to use clever titles sometimes, make sure you have enough clear and concise titles, so visitors don't have to search very far to know what your blog posts are about. Also, remember that search engines weigh your blog post titles heavier than the content of each post, so take some time to consider search engine optimization when you name your blog posts.

2. Use Headings

Using the "heading" formatting options in your blog post editor not only makes your content scan able because it breaks it into smaller pieces with clear headlines for each section, but search engines also weigh text published using a "heading" format heavier than non-formatted text. Make your headings relevant, clear and search engine friendly.

3. Make Lists

Bulleted and numbered lists work equally well in turning text that could be published as long paragraphs into easily scan able content. Use lists whenever you can to break up long blocks of text.

4. Use Bold and Italicize - But Not Too Much

Bold and italics work very well to draw attention to specific text within your blog posts, but when they're overused, they become useless. Instead of drawing attention to the most important parts of your post, they make your post cluttered and more difficult to read.

5. Go Easy on the Links

Links can be very helpful in directing your readers to more information. They're also helpful in search engine optimization because search engines weigh linked text higher than non-linked text. However, too many links can have a negative effect on the readability of your blog just as too much bold or italics can. Use links but don't overuse them.

6. Use Images

Images are a great way to break up a text heavy blog post. They can help to draw attention to a specific post, add color to your blog, and help with search engine optimization. Don't use too many images though, or your posts get cluttered and your text gets harder to read rather than easier. Also, make sure you only use images that you have permission to publish on your blog. There are many websites that offer free photos to use on your blog. Take some time to learn about copyright and fair use laws before you publish images in your blog posts.

7. Write Short Paragraphs

Blog posts are easiest to scan and read when paragraphs are short. In fact, one or two sentence paragraphs are perfectly acceptable and usually welcomed by blog visitors. Short paragraphs add white space and visual relief to text-heavy blog posts. Remember to keep your paragraphs short.

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Tips to Write Blog Posts

How to Write Posts that Get Noticed and Keep Readers Interested


One of the most important keys to blogging success is providing exceptional content. Follow these five tips to make sure your blog posts not only get read but make people want to come back for more.

1. Choose the Appropriate Tone for Your Blog

Every blog has a target audience it's written for. Before you start writing blog posts, determine who your primary and secondary audiences will be. Who will want to read your blog and why? Are they seeking professional information and discussions or fun and laughter? Identify not only your goals for your blog but also your audience's expectations for it. Then decide what tone would be most appropriate for your blog, and write in that tone and style consistently.

2. Be Honest

Blogs that are written in an honest voice and truly show who the writer is are often the most popular. Remember, a critical component to a blog's success is the community that develops around it. Represent yourself and your content honestly and openly and reader loyalty will undoubtedly grow.

3. Don't Just List Links

Blogging is time-consuming, and sometimes it can be very tempting to just list links to other online content for your readers to follow. Don't fall into that trap. Readers don't want to have to follow a breadcrumb trail to find something interesting to read. In fact, they might find they like where you lead them more than they like your blog. Instead, give readers a reason to stay on your blog by providing links with your own synopsis and point of view about the content of those links. Remember, a link without context is a simple way to lose readers rather than retain them.

4. Provide Attribution

Don't risk being accused of violating copyrights, plagiarism or stealing content from another blog or website. If you found information on another blog or website that you want to discuss on your blog make sure you provide a link back to the original source.

5. Write in Short Paragraphs

The visual appeal of your blog's content can be just as important as the content itself. Write your blog posts in short paragraphs (no more than 2-3 sentences is a safe rule) to provide visual relief from a text heavy web page. Most readers will skim a blog post or web page before committing to read it in its entirety. Text heavy web pages and blog posts can be overwhelming to readers while pages with a lot of white space are easier to skim and more likely to keep readers on the page (or to encourage them to link deeper into the site).

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Tips to Choosing a Blog Topic

Tips to Choosing a Blog Topic

Building a successful blog is a commitment in time and effort. Follow these five tips to choose a topic to write about on your blog that will put you on the path to reaching your blogging goals.

1. Choose a Topic You're Passionate About

A successful blog is updated frequently (often several times a day). If your blog has a chance at success, you need to keep your content fresh, which means you need to consistenly update your blog. Make sure you choose a topic for your blog that you feel strongly about and truly enjoy. Otherwise, writing about it will feel stale very quickly. You need to be able to stay motivated about your blog's topic for a long time.

2. Choose a Topic You Like to Discuss with Other People

Successful blogs require two-way conversation between you (the blogger) and your audience (your readers). As readers leave comments on your blog or email you to discuss your posts in further detail, you need to be responsive and receptive to them. Your blog's long-term success will depend on the sense of community you can create around it.

3. Choose a Topic You Don't Mind Debating with Other People

The blogoshpere is made up of people from all walks of life with varying opinions. As your blog grows, more and more people will find it, and some of those people may not agree with everything you write. Successful bloggers enoy discussing their blogs' topics from all angles and appreciate a healthy debate.

4. Choose a Topic You're Not Overly Sensitive About

As your blog grows and more people find it, many are apt to not just disagree with you, but actually disagree so strongly with you that they may attack you personally. You need to have a thick skin to deflect personal attacks and strongly opposing opinions.

5. Choose a Topic You Enjoy Researching

The blogosphere is constantly changing and one of the most unique aspects of blogs is their ability to provide fresh, meaningful content and discussions about a wide variety of topics. In order for your blog to be successful, you need to enjoy reading about your blog's topic and keeping up with news and current events related to it thereby enabling you to keep your blog's content interesting and relevant to readers.

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Visitors away from your blog

Headlines that drives Visitors away from your blog


A couple of days ago I read a post on copyblogger that is authored by Brian who is also behind teaching sells that talks about creating membership sites thats really do works. inspite of the challenging aspects of his demanding schedule I just dont know how he gets enough time to add such valuable content to his blog consistently !!

In this post he talks about how headlines that sound unreal can ave a negative impact on your traffic. How many times have we read headings like “how to get 10000 subscibers in a single day” or “how to make million dollars in a week automated”or something similar that is obviously almost impossible (considering there are exceptions everywhere :wink: )

So the point is that in our effort to atttract more visitors to out blog and write something that compels the readers to click on our link we sometimes overdo things and makes all the difference. A lot of visitors will simply frown upon such content and never visit your blog. The only readers that will visit your blog actually will be those who are unaware of the truth behind such claims and are quite new in their search for the ultimate guide to doing this until they reallise that its now a child’s play and everyone has to do it the hard way which takes time and effort and most important patience. Yes, one thing I have learnt from bogging that made a difference in my life is patience and I am proud to be a blogger.

Coming back to the point even if you are able to pull in traffic they will soon realise the truth behind all those false claims and will never ever come back to your blog even if you are actually right in your claims in your very next post. Now dont start thinking that there are so many people on the surface of earth and it really dosent matter if we lose some of it. Traffic once lost is lost forever and it works like grapewine. Similarly when you write good content and fulfill your promises it is appreciated and people talk about it in the blogosphere, in forums, social sites and through their own blogs.

Instead of making false claims try to be more realistic in your approach and only claim what you can achieve.

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Important Tips

Taking Negative comments Positively



Lets face it, when we are talking about something and people oppose us none of us really like the guy opposing us and we call him names like moron or something similar (sometimes worse) When someone disagrees with our line of thoughts and is quite open about it ( sometimes way to open and even outrageous ) we really dont take it in a good spirits always, do we ?

I once read somewhere something on the lines of - when someone opposes you consider it as positive sign that you are on the right track !!

Talking about blogs and comments they have been together since the beginning of this world and are kinda inseparable. You must have seen a lot of blogposts with negative comments and readers disapproving of what the author has written but there are a lot of blogger who simply delete such comments almost instantly like they were waiting for this very moment and learn from it.

So how does negative comments help us and how can we take it in a more positive way or lets say in good spirits is what we will be discussing today.

New and Different Point of View

When someone disagrees with your thoughts they are usually based on some observation and thinking and most readers are kind enough to present their side of the story and thoughts in the comments. So now you have a new point of view to ponder over. Maybe they are right and you are wrong or vice versa but both of you should take it in a healthy way. If you are wrong then accept it - you wont get hurt. And if you are right and then try to convince them further with more details - they wont bite you for opposing.

So it is really the beginning of a healthy relationship between you and your reader and helps you improve your writing skills as well. Remember that each and every visitor is equally important.

Increases Involvement

Thats so true. When someone disagrees with your line of thoughts that means he has gone through the trouble of reading your post carefully and and has done his homework - its a positive sign that atleast there is one reader that is following up on your posts. It also increases involvement of other readers who start taking interest in the conversation and try to evaluate both of you trying to understand who is perhaps more correct in his approach.

It also increases your traffic :twisted:

Controversies increases publicity but fruits are short lived

Though it may sound like a good idea to purposefully create such posts and write up stories that are controversial and questionable just reap the benefits of more attention of other bloggers in the related community but many us forget that such traffic and attention is often short lived. Soon readers realize the story behind the scenes and frown upon such bloggers thinking that all he can do write crabs and take names providing no value to the community. There are alot of examples of such infamous personalities in Hollywood who are not doing anything good but still make it to the front page when they attend some party where no one can stand on properly !!

Value and purpose is all that can alone lead you to the heights of success where there are very few competitors.

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What would Seth Godin Do ?

What would Seth Godin Do ?

So i believe a lot of you came here wondering that this is something to do with Seth Godin… Well you can say upto a certain extent it is. So what is it that Seth Godin is going to do and about what ?

Actually this is a wordpress plugin which uses cookies to distinguish between your old and new visitors coming to your site and displays them a custom message that can be altered at will. So why is it names so ? Thats because it is the brainchild of none other than Seth Godin himself however the pluginhas been designed by Richard K. Miller who rightfully named it after him.

So what this plugin exactly do is show a new custom message each time a visitor visits your blog/site for the first time which gives you a great opportunity to tell them about what your blog/site is all about and how it is going to benefit them. The default message box shows the following message “If you are new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting”which can be altered to anything you like. i think it will be much better to use this opportunity to tell your visitors what your blog is all about and how is it going to benefit them, tell them something about yourself and try to connect with them in a more personal way. the message is displayed only times and you can easily change the location and time span both to suit your needs. i think 5 times is a bit more than necessary and hence you should reduce it to 3 times and choose a location that dosent irritates them. you know some visitors feel really angry with such dialogue boxes and hence it should be non-intrusive.

There is also a new version of the plugin which also allows you to show a message for returning visitors. the plugin works with cookies enabled and hence those who without this support will continuously see this message - new visitor - and it might piss them off !!

All in all this is a great plugin as it opens a new gate for communicating with your readers and gives you a chance to make them understand what exactly it is that you are trying to do or prove with your blog. It can also help in increasing your rss count giving you more exposure.

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Where to Find Affiliate Programs

Where to Find Affiliate Programs & How To Choose An Affiliate Program

You can find a list of affiliate programs and affiliate networks on thefreecountry.com's Affiliate Program page at http://www.thefreecountry.com/webmaster/affiliate.shtml To join an affiliate network or program, simply go to the site and complete their online application form. Some programs will give you instant approval while others require a human to check out your application before it is approved. Once it is approved, you'll be given some HTML code which you can cut and paste into your web page. Note that some affiliate networks and programs will not accept you unless you have your own domain name. If you are planning to earn from your site, you should seriously consider registering your own domain name.

How To Choose An Affiliate Program

How should you choose an affiliate program? My suggestion is not to choose a program according to the payment scheme, but rather according to the kind of people who are likely to visit your website. For example, if you are targeting parents on your site, links to affiliates with educational software, books and the like may generate more revenue than banners that link to web hosting companies. The most important rule of choosing an affiliate program is to know your target audience.

Another point to consider is whether you really want to join every single affiliate program that comes your way. Some studies suggest that sites that make the most money from affiliate programs are affiliates of only a small handful of programs. Furthermore, concentrating your advertisements from one network may allow you to be paid faster. If you advertise for hundreds of different affiliate networks on your site, you may wind up earning only (say) a few dollars per month from each network. If your advertiser's minimum payment amount is higher than what you can earn each month, it may take you a long time before you accrue enough to be paid.

On the other hand, that formula does not necessarily hold true for every site (or every page on your site, for that matter). For example, if your site has a particular theme, and an affiliate network only supports one or two suitable advertisers, you might want to sign up for a few affiliate networks so as to get a greater number of relevant advertisers. After all, advertisements that are relevant to your audience are more likely to be taken up than general advertisements. (What's the point of putting banners from only one affiliate if nobody is going to click them?) Automated Context-Sensitive Advertising.

One of the latest trends in website sponsorship is to sign up with an advertising network like Google AdSense The advertising network automatically checks your web page and determines the most relevant advertisement for the page. As a result, without much additional effort from you, you get advertisements targeted at the interests of your visitors. As mentioned earlier, targeted ads tend to result in better performance and returns.

Get Started

Advertising revenue is one of the most effortless way to earn money from your site. You merely have to put the banner there and wait for the money to roll in. (Well, okay, not quite. You will still need to have some visitors first before you can make anything.) Why wait? If you already have a website, let it earn even while you sleep (literally). Every day you let your site "idle" without advertising is a day of lost opportunity. All the best in your endeavour! Remember also to check out our other article, Increasing Your Affiliate Program Income.

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Work From Home

Earn $100 per A Day without Investment Unbelievable? Just Read below to get answers for your questions..............

How it is possible?

AdSense is Google's Ad Revenue Program for website owners to earn money. Adsense is one of the newest and most profitable ways of making money on the internet. You can earn an income without selling, or doing anything aside from bringing visitors to your website. If your visitor sees a text link that he or she is interested in and clicks - you will earn money from the click. The amount earned varies, and at any time can range from $.05, to over $10.00. It all depends on the ad being shown at the time.

Other Companies are Axill.Com , Axill.in , Axill.co.uk which serves ads for webmasters and gives daily cheques.

Free Auto Video Website:
We Prepared a AutoVideoWebsite which displays all videos of Youtube.com in your website. This site pulls all videos of youtube.com daily. So you need not worry about updating site. Our AutoVideoWebsite Features: Free of Cost.

We provide Installation with your Adsense and Axill Ads.

No maintenance work needed.

No technical skills needed.

Free $25 Google Adwords Voucher

Free $50 Yahoo Ads Voucher

Because this is video site people always love yor site & visit regularly.

You can set your favorite video categories fo you visitors.

Also shows Google , AOL , Myspace Videos.

You can put your own ads.

You dont need to store any videos because all videos are grabbed from youtube.

Search Engine Friendly Pages.

Life time Free support.

Lifetime Free Updates.

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Important Tips

Taking Negative comments Positively

Lets face it, when we are talking about something and people oppose us none of us really like the guy opposing us and we call him names like moron or something similar (sometimes worse) When someone disagrees with our line of thoughts and is quite open about it ( sometimes way to open and even outrageous ) we really dont take it in a good spirits always, do we ?

I once read somewhere something on the lines of - when someone opposes you consider it as positive sign that you are on the right track !!

Talking about blogs and comments they have been together since the beginning of this world and are kinda inseparable. You must have seen a lot of blogposts with negative comments and readers disapproving of what the author has written but there are a lot of blogger who simply delete such comments almost instantly like they were waiting for this very moment and learn from it. So how does negative comments help us and how can we take it in a more positive way or lets say in good spirits is what we will be discussing today.

New and Different Point of View

When someone disagrees with your thoughts they are usually based on some observation and thinking and most readers are kind enough to present their side of the story and thoughts in the comments. So now you have a new point of view to ponder over. Maybe they are right and you are wrong or vice versa but both of you should take it in a healthy way. If you are wrong then accept it - you wont get hurt. And if you are right and then try to convince them further with more details - they wont bite you for opposing.

So it is really the beginning of a healthy relationship between you and your reader and helps you improve your writing skills as well. Remember that each and every visitor is equally important.

Increases Involvement

Thats so true. When someone disagrees with your line of thoughts that means he has gone through the trouble of reading your post carefully and and has done his homework - its a positive sign that atleast there is one reader that is following up on your posts. It also increases involvement of other readers who start taking interest in the conversation and try to evaluate both of you trying to understand who is perhaps more correct in his approach.

It also increases your traffic :twisted:

Controversies increases publicity but fruits are short lived

Though it may sound like a good idea to purposefully create such posts and write up stories that are controversial and questionable just reap the benefits of more attention of other bloggers in the related community but many us forget that such traffic and attention is often short lived. Soon readers realize the story behind the scenes and frown upon such bloggers thinking that all he can do write crabs and take names providing no value to the community. There are alot of examples of such infamous personalities in Hollywood who are not doing anything good but still make it to the front page when they attend some party where no one can stand on properly !!

Value and purpose is all that can alone lead you to the heights of success where there are very few competitors.

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Give Your Blog a Boost in the New Year or Anytime

Give Your Blog a Boost in the New Year or Anytime with These Blog Resolutions

While the beginning of a new year is a great time to give your blog a boost, the resolutions listed in this article can actually be used anytime. Whenever you feel like it's time to take your blog to the next level by increasing traffic, creating a better reader experience, or any other improvement you want to make, take a look at this list for inspiration. These aren't necessarily quick fixes but rather actual resolutions - changes in behavior - that can help your blog in the long term.

1. Increase Posting Frequency

If you only post once a week, bump that up to 3 times. If you post everyday, try to post twice a day at least three times per week. Every additional blog post provides new content for existing readers to view and new entry points for search engines to help new visitors find your blog. Follow the link to learn all about blog posting frequency.

2. Respond to More Comments

Comments are what makes blogs interactive, social and different from static websites. If you only occasionally respond to comments left on your blog posts, try to respond to at least half of the comments you get. If you already respond to most of the comments left on your blog, try to respond to every comment left on your blog. You can follow the links to read more about blog comments and blog conversations and communities through comments.

3. Clean Up Your Blogroll

A blogroll is a great way to connect with other bloggers, but it's useless (and possibly annoying) to your readers if the links aren't helpful or don't work. Take some time to periodically test the links in your blogroll throughout the year to ensure they deliver value to your readers and actually work. You can follow the link to learn more about blogrolls

4. Clean Up Your Sidebar

If your sidebar is cluttered with too many ads, useless links, and images and information that isn't useful to your readers, you need to delete the unhelpful excess. Take some time throughout the year to check the contents of your sidebar ensuring it's fully optimized to provide value to your readers as well as the results you want. You can follow the link to learn about 15 popular sidebar items.

5. Learn Something New

If you want to grow your blog's audience, a great way to do that is to introduce something new to your blog. For example, if you haven't learned how to create a podcast or vlog before, learn how and add it to your blog. You can follow the links to learn how to create a vlog and how to create a podcast.

7. Try a New Promotion Method

If you want to grow your blog, then you have to take time to promote it. If you haven't been submitting your blog to social bookmarking sites, participating in social networking, using Twitter or another microblogging tool, commenting on other blogs, or participating in forums related to your blog, then you should start! Follow the links to learn more about social bookmarking, social networking, Twitter, increasing blog traffic and free blog promotion

8. Network More

Networking is one of the keys to blog success. As you meet more bloggers, communicate with other people in the blogosphere, and become better known online, your blog will grow. Take some time to use the social networking and microblogging tools available to you to grow your blog indirectly. To learn more about social networking and microblogging, follow the links for more information about Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter, Plurk and Jaiku.

9. Enhance Your Blog's Appearance

The visual appearance of your blog can have a big impact on whether or not visitors stay once they find it or return later. Take some time to evaluate your blog's appearance, and add enhancements or revisions to make your blog look better than ever. You can follow the links to learn where to find free Wordpress themes, where to find free Blogger templates and where to find free photos to use on your blog

10. Upgrade Your Blog's Functionality

There are a number of ways you can upgrade your bog’s functionality. If you're currently using Blogger.com or Type Pad, you might want to consider moving to Word press. If you're using the free version of Wordpress.com, you can switch to Wordpress.org and gain a significant amount of additional functionality. If you already use Wordpress.org, you can add plug-ins to give your blog a boost. Follow the links to read a blogging software comparison to help you understand the difference between the various blogging platforms available. You can also follow the links to read more about blogging with Wordpress, Blogger.com, Typepad, Wordpress.com vs. Wordpress.org, types of blog hosts and how to choose a blog host.

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Make Money from Blogs

How I Make Money from Blogs



It’s been a fair while since I talked specifically about my blogging earnings. I decided a year or so ago that I wasn’t going to put specific dollar figures to my income any more in public - however as I get a lot of questions from readers asking for updates I thought I’d share where my blogging income has been coming from lately. All I will say in terms of dollar figures is that I am still well and truly earning over six figures per year from the following income streams. The following is a ranking of my top 9 income streams for the fourth Quarter of 2006.

It is a summary of the income from my own personal blogs - ie income from b5media (where I am an employee as well as a shareholder) is not included - either is income from Six Figure Blogging (which continues to sell at a reasonable rate) or any speaking or consulting work that I do (very little these days anyway). I’ve also included a little information on how I use each of these income streams and which products that they offer work best for me which I hope is helpful for others looking to monetize their blogs or websites. Note - Some of the following links are affiliate links.

1.Chitika

While they don’t work on every blog (for example I don’t use them here at ProBlogger) and there is a traffic minimum to be accepted by them Chitika continue to be my highest earner. They offer a variety of ad units and income streams - the top three for me are eMiniMalls, Related Product Units and Shoplincs. They continue to work best on product related sites. Place RPU units at the end of posts (they give a good option for people to click on when they finish reading and experiment with linking directly to products in your shoplinc from product reviews (of the same products) on your blogs. I’ve written plenty of Chitika Optimization tips.

2. AdSense

When I survey bloggers about the methods that they use to make money from their blogs Google’s AdSense is always the number one response. It is a quick and easy way for bloggers of all sizes to display ads that are relevant to their content. AdSense is a ‘contextual’ advertising program where publishers simply add a piece of code to their blogs that helps Google analyze what your page is about so they can serve ads on that topic. This increases the chances of your readers clicking the ad which increases the chances that you’ll earn something from them. AdSense also provide a variety of other income streams to bloggers including a site search tool (you make money by people searching your site) and referral tools (where you can make money by recommending Google products). AdSense is how I earn around 35% of my income as a full time blogger and I would thoroughly recommend it as a way of monetizing a blog - especially for those just starting out. The most popular form of advertising on blogs is AdSense (according to a few studies that I’ve seen) and for me it’s a reliable earner that brings in a significant level of income (just under what Chitika pulls in each month). While I use referrals and their search product on some of my sites I find that normal ad units are producing the best income for me - particularly rectangle (250 x 300 pixels) ones placed close to content with a blended design. For tips on optimizing AdSense on your blog.

3. Text Link Ads

Perhaps the biggest mover for me over the last 12 months in terms of my earnings has come from TLA. While they have a ceiling in what they earn per site they are another good solid earner for me - particularly now that they’ve added feedvertising (RSS ads) which out performs any other type of RSS ad that I’ve tried. I’m hearing from many bloggers that TLA is their biggest earner now. It works best on sites that have been around for a while - you don’t need big traffic to be accepted - but having a page rank and some search engine presence helps.

4. Amazon Associates

The forth Quarter of each year tends to be a good one for me when it comes to commissions from Amazon. The last quarter is a time that people are in a buying mood in the lead up to Christmas - smart placement (deep linking inside posts) can bring great conversions. The key is picking relevant products to promote. Read more tips on affiliate programs for blogs for a few other tips on optimizing Amazon.

5. Private Ad Deals

I don’t do a lot of private ad deals (it’s something I should focus upon more but there are only so many hours in the day) but when they come in they can be significant (if you have decent traffic). I’ve just signed two deals on my digital photography blog with Apple and Adobe for the next couple of months so I suspect this one will leap up next quarter.

6. Miscellaneous Affiliate Programs

My blogs have a variety of smaller affiliate programs running from them. I try to find quality products that relate to my topics that I can genuinely recommend - often via reviews. Some of the better converting products that I’ve recommended this last quarter included - Digital Photography Secrets (a camera technique series), Pro Photo Secrets (a photoshop product) and SEO Book (Aaron’s legendary resource).

7. ProBlogger Job Boards

Not spectacular earnings but growing. I see this more as a service to readers than an income stream at this point - however it does pay for itself and bring in a few hundred dollars each month.

8.Performancing’s Partners Network

The now defunct ad network did bring in a few hundred dollars last quarter. I was sad to see this close as it offered an interesting alternative.

9. BlogAds

I don’t use them much these days but they do bring in a little each month. I noticed BlogAds decrease in performance for me around the time they went to the new version. I’m not sure if it’s my problem or theirs but apart from one blog I rarely see any sales these days. How Much Do I Spend?

A question that I’m regularly asked when I do such posts is ‘how much do you spend’ to earn what you earn? The answer is ‘very little’.

I do experiment occasionally with using AdWords to promote my blogs - but don’t have the time or patience to get into it heavily (the biggest month I’ve had with AdWords ever is $100 - just over $3 a day). Other than that I don’t do any paid promotional activities and my costs are really just hosting related and the normal ISP and office costs.

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