photo credit: teadrinker

You can read additional posts about wealth in: It’s Your Turn to Beat the Odds and 50 Ways to Save Money as a Blogger.

While this post wasn’t intended to bore you with insight into how blogging will be affected by any downturns on the Internet and elsewhere or more of the same old rhetoric of tips to help keep your business/blog growing or how to make money online, I want to reintroduce the topic of wealth.

As a blogger, each of us is extremely opinionated - it is what blogging is all about.  Personally, I feel that blogging should do more than provide a source of income.  It should be able to create an unknown source of wealth, in more ways than one.  If you think about it, there are multiple ways to expand upon the knowledge base that you have, from the first minute after you become a blogger.

The Steps

Before you start a blog, you might have the background knowledge to write like a professional, but you might not have the proper communication or community site-building expertise to captivate your audience and further grow your blog.

Let’s take the example of everyone.  At one point, each one of us wasn’t accustomed to blogging.  Sure, you might have heard about blogging from other forms of media, but for the most part, you didn’t know how to blog for the multiple forms of earnings you could possibly receive.

The traditional process of starting a blog is as follows:

1. You hear about blogging, the fundamentals and basics of blogging, and the success stories of fellow bloggers who have made it big.
2. This magical process of blogging begins as you launch your first blog.
3. The writing of posts, leaving comments, and networking with others begins.  You start strong, but steadily grow your blog.
4. You gradually build out your name and network of sites, and you become well-known in the blogosphere.
5. Heaps of profit begin to flow in as a result of your hard work and dedication.

Although this isn’t the exact process of how people started their first blog, it can be said that this five-step process is true for many, or else they wanted it to be.

What is Wealth?

Wealth, and blogging are completely different to each person you ask to define the term.  One may perceive wealth as a monetary object, while another may directly relate it to what you have, not just physical aspects of your life.

Some of the richest people in the world may not have a single cent to their names - they may be a contributor to their community, making them an enormous asset to the world as an entire community.  In the same way, bloggers that generate absolutely no income can be some of the richest bloggers of them all.

• Wealth is all in the eye of the beholder, or the person that views the person with the wealth.
• Someone with nothing may have the most fundamental aspects, which can lead to the greatest wealth.
• Wealth is not necessarily cash.  It could be knowledge, or the quality of profuse abundances, such as talents.
• Over time, wealth is built- it doesn’t come all of a sudden, unless you make some kind of initial investment into a program, which would warrant a winning (i.e. lottery, drawing).

Building Wealth Through Your Blog - Content

Start your blog by showing your readers that you are serious in your fight to make a bold statement in the niche your blog is centered.  Lacking in this category will create a distrust in you - your readers will think you won’t be able to maintain your blog, thus leaving it shortly after this.

Despite the fact that you may be writing a personal blog, a lot of site “flippers” deeply examine a blog as soon as it appears on their screen - to see if returns could be made for purchasing the site/members, and at what rate the owner would be able to sell the site for, even if it isn’t currently for sale and they have no plans on approaching the owner about it.

Your content should be reflective of how you want to run your blog, not how others think you should be running it.

Creating Wealth Through Advertising and Other Miscellaneous Methods

For starters, the main method to become rich through your blog, in more ways than one, is to incorporate or add advertisements to the sidebars and other areas of your site.  You will be able to generate an income, either through a per-click, per-impression, or per-month basis, depending on the route that you want to take your blog and the advertisers requesting to advertise on your site.

Remember that you shouldn’t spend all your blog’s earnings and that any remaining cash from your blog should be reinvested to help grow your blog; purchase advertising on other blogs, renew your domain and hosting, or start other projects/continue your first blog.

Other ways people make money blogging:

• Promote products through sponsorships or affiliate/referral sales.
• Grow an offshoot of their blogging business, such as consulting, book sales, an offline business, etc.
• Run a charity organization, with the main focus being money earned through the blog.
• Create an event, or membership site, where people must join and become a member, either for a one-time or monthly recurring fee.

You don’t have to scam people or rip them off by adding dozens of advertisements to your blog, however.  All it takes is a single link/offer, and the readership levels required to fulfill the earnings that you want to generate from your blog.  Sincere dedication to what you want to accomplish is the only thing it takes to become a wealthy person through blogging.  Thousands have done it — you’re next.

Your Turn - What thoughts do you have on this subject?  How do you feel about wealth - is it “cash” or other forms of assets?  While this wasn’t a complete guide to “making money online”, what advice can you give other readers, relating to your experience as a blogger thus far?

Requirements

• Tell me what this blog is lacking.
• Do so in the comments, and interact with other commentators.
• Is there anything that should be changed?
• What do you want to see from this blog?
• How can I separate this site from others?
• Do not be afraid to ask questions or harshly criticize me.

The main goal of this is not because I have a lack of post ideas, but I would like to gain some insight into what my readers truly want.

This post will be deleted/closed after a some criticism has been received.

These tips are intended for bloggers who place PPC ads on their site, like Google AdSense or other services, rather than other services, with charge based on independent figures, such as banner ads that you sell privately.

Ugly Ads

Often, advertising is placed in large groups, making it obvious that you want to generate a profit from your site rather than providing a service to your visitors.  When people visit your site, they immediately look for your content, services, or a term that was discovered through the use of a search engine.  Remember that advertising was first placed on websites to help support the owner’s time and expenses in relation to the website, so this is the main method that I promote when it comes to advetising.

One of the main methods that people tend to favor when increasing their return on their advertising space is by creating “ugly” ads - not in the sense that they actually devalue the ads.  Instead, these ads are able to leverage more clicks, as people are “tricked” into thinking they are links, integrated with the site, or actually provide a resource within the site itself.  

It may be a deceitful practice, but advertisers are doing it everyday to harness more revenue, despite having a large budget or great designers for their marketing.  These ads may even appear on your site should you select banner/large-size advertising on your site.

Main characteristics of these ads include:

• White space is used to make the ad blend into the area that it has been placed.
• Blue or black underlined text is used to make the image appear as a link.
• A rudimentary image has been designed, either generic or not relating to the linked-to site.
• The ad often asks a question, inviting the viewer to answer it, by “selecting” the answer on the ad.

Unprofessional Sites

Again, it isn’t difficult to find sites that have been created for AdSense or other forms of advertising, solely for placing affiliate and sponsored links.  You may think that they aren’t generating a lot of income, but in truth, they are.  The owners and creators of these sites are by definition spammers, but they know how to generate a small revenue each month from these sites, finding that they do particularly well for people searching for terms that have been “spun” off of terms found on other websites/blogs.

In a sense, nearly any blog can generate money, even if the design of the site is ugly.  You can have a site cluttered with ads, filled with empty space, and still generate the same income as one that is filled with original content, substance, and a few ads.

Characteristics of these sites:

• Very simple theme, typically the default.
• Ads (typically Google AdSense) integrated into header, footer, and sidebar.
• Little or no experience is required to set these sites up, just hosting and a domain, in some cases.
• The site provides little resources to the visitor - only “encouragement” to click on the ads.
• Little or no citations are provided to the original source of the work.
• No media (or advertisement media) is provided, signaling that the site is only intended to make money.

Essentially, even if you create an unprofessional, unorganized site, you will be able to generate an income, but not the readership that you need to survive in the competitive arena of blogging.

Other Styles

Multiple methods can be used to “attract” readers to view and click on the ads.  The main keys are that you maintain a balance between the amount of ads and how you present them, offset with a daily dose of new content.

The following tips are, once again, general in nature, so I am not providing a one-stop resource for placing your advertising.

1. Use tracking software to see where visitors are clicking, sometimes referred to as a heat map.
2. Place advertisements at the beginning, or implemented within the content.
3. Try to place advertisements “above the fold” so more visitors are able to see the ads without scrolling.
4. Don’t combine multiple formats within an area, unless you find a way to pull this off correctly without destroying your theme/design style.
5. Incorporate ads into your theme, as they will appear as links, but possible still providing resources to your readers, and some extra cash in your pocket.
6. Continually experiment with new formats and options.

When it come to designing your advertisement space, a lot of time and work should be spent, if this is your main source of advertising.  There are many different approaches to selling advertising space on your blog, but this post won’t go into much depth on them — instead, I’ll be looking at how you should be designing the whole process of advertising on your site.

What Advertisers Look For

The two main areas that advertisers look for when advertising on a site is: how much does the ad cost per month (or period), and the potential return, through figures given by other advertisers on the site or traffic analytics.  From these, the advertiser will decide whether the community and visitor base is strong enough to see this return.

Secondly, advertisers look to see whether everything is complete in the process to advertise on the site, or simply lacking the details necessary to base their decision off immediately.  For example, if there are no details about where the ads display, how will the advertiser know if/when his ads are placed on the site?

Your Advertisement Page

At this point in time, my advertisement page is not completely finished.  I do not have exact details or images depicting where the ad zones are, but you can base that off the blocks in the sidebar where they would be placed.

One of the best ways to distinguish your site from the next in your niche is by creating a killer advertising page.  On this page, there are a few main ways to accomplish this, outlined below.

1. Make the Link Prominent - You want to attract new advertisers, right?  Then, don’t bury the link in your other pages, and link to it in your header, where advertisers are able to place their link/banner (use empty spaces or the bottom of each area to do this), and in your contact page, if you have a direct advertising email.  By doing this, anyone that visits your site, even if they are not interested in advertising, will be able to see what your rates are and whether you have any spots open.
2. Supply and Demand - Don’t expand your advertising space simply because more people want to advertise.  Create a “reserve list” to allow advertisers to purchase ads in advance, resulting in the ability to raise prices in the long-term, rather than increasing the number of ads displayed on your site.  For example, you can sell ten banners for $1 apiece or one for $10.
3. Tell Advertisers Your Terms and Conditions - Many sites and visitors do not like placing “flashy” or long-loading advertisements on their site.  They generally detract from the value of the site in mention, resulting in a less-than-ideal situation for both parties.  If you don’t lay out these terms when someone advertises on your site, they may file a complaint/spread word about your policies, ensuring that you never see a dime from advertisers again.- How long does each advertisement run?  Can you purchase long-term advertisement spots for a reduced rate?
   - Can you request to have the advertisement taken down before the month is over, and do you receive a pro-rated refund/have a money-back guarantee if the advertisement doesn’t give a good return for the advertiser?
   - What are all the sizes and types of advertisements sold on the blog?  Can you purchase links in the feed or sidebar?
   - Have you had any advertisers that have been satisfied with the results your site gave?  Provide some testimonials.
   - What methods of payment are accepted?  PayPal, check, credit card, AlertPay, etc.
4. Advertising Areas - Create a visual image of where advertisements will be placed, including feeds, if that pertains to your blog.  This way, advertisers will be able to see where their advertisement will be placed, and how many others will be “competing” against theirs.
5. What Subjects Does Your Blog Focus On/Visitor and Readership Rates - These two areas are also crucial.  While some blogs may only have 10,000 visitors per day, they may also have 50,000 readers, bringing the daily visitor rates to ~60,000 theoretically speaking, a huge difference in the method visitors use to read the content.  If this is the case for your blog, make sure you are able to express this to your advertisers, as they may wish to advertise in the feed rather than on the site.  Secondly, be transparent about the subjects you include on your blog.  If the business or website they are hoping to advertise doesn’t appeal to this niche, then they have no reason to advertise on your blog/website.

Designing the Advertisement Areas

Blogs that are ad-heavy may appear to receive a lot of new advertisers each month, but the truth is that many of these may be placed by the site owner to think the site is popular and profitable.  The cold, hard fact is that these sites don’t have many daily visitors, and are simply “deposit” pages for the site owner to collect a few cents each day form the dozens of blocks of Google AdSense and affiliate programs placed on the site.

If you choose to go this route, this post isn’t for you, as you are targeting advertisers that don’t care about the human visitors the site receives, rather than the links they are able to build.  Instead, this post will help you create an area that is in heavy-demand, heavily sought-after area that advertisers are lined up to advertise on.

Sidebar Advertisements - Begin your site’s advertising by focusing on gaining a few, high quality sites, meaning that you shouldn’t place more than two to four 125×125 banners in this area.  As your traffic and advertiser rates go up, you should increase this amount to continue growing your income.

General Tips: Don’t overcrowd your advertisement area, use spacing (5-10 pixels) between each ad - vertically and horizontally.

Feed Advertisements - Use only a few advertisements in your feed, or you’ll distract from the value of “subscribing” to your site.  Depending on the click-thru rate from your feed to your blog, you should base your feed’s price off this, in addition to how many subscribers vs. blog visitors you receive.

General Tips: Keep the feed advertisements as small as possible, but raise the rates, as there is less “supply.”  Typically, I’d suggest one large image/banner and up to five text links.

Other Ad Formats: Keep the ad sizes all in relative sizes to the standards set forth by the Interactive Advertising Bureau.  You can create your own format around the size of your sidebars/headers, but you will find that advertisers first target the common sizes and formats.

Conclusion

The main purpose of offering advertising on your blog is to help advertisers connect with a more distinguished audience from the rest of the sites available.  From this, you want to offer an attractive set of advertising plans, all presented within your site the way you think the advertiser wants them to be displayed - to highlight both parties’ services/products.

One of the main reasons that blogs don’t get the level of advertisers they want is because there is a lack of details surrounding purchasing an ad or too many affiliate programs are promoted on the site, rather than pure advertising space.

What tips do you have to share with other visitors/readers about advertising on their site?  What methods work for you?

The reasons for doing this aren’t limited to simply personal blogs, which can be shared with friends and family, but also for corporate and organization blogs, in that you don’t want the public to view or comment on these posts, which are meant to be private.

In WordPress, it is quite easy to set the whole blog to private.  To do this, go into the main Settings area, then select “Privacy.”  Within this area, you’ll find the button to “block search engines but allow normal visitors.”  This is your first step to “removing” your blog from regular visitors who may stumble upon your blog.  

Another approach to creating a similar block on your blog is by “keeping posts private”, in which you have to manually mark posts as private, found in the WordPress sidebar, below the Publish Status drop-down menu.  In order for visitors to read your posts, they’ll either need to sign-in or use a password to access your content.

Blogger also has a few methods to deter regular visitors from visiting your site.  First, sign into Blogger, then enter the “Basic” settings area.  A few options down, you’ll find a drop-down list to disable/enable listing your blog in search engines or their listing system.  These two options will prevent people from finding your blog through these methods if set to ‘no.’

Secondly, you should also use the “Permissions” to add people who can contribute and view your blog.  Much like other free platforms, this is more limited than hosting with your own system, including WordPress, as you can only invite up to 100 members, compared to “unlimited” with others.  You are able to set this to people you choose or your blog authors only.  

Conclusion

This list was a short overview of the methods to “privatize” your blog to your visitors.  While this defeats some of the main purposes of starting a blog and the benefits you gain while blogging, it can help you separate your personal blog from one you use for other purposes, such as professional work.  Family members and friends will be able to read this blog, while not allowing outside commentators or visitors to access your blog (or leave comments).

Magazine Themes vs. Basic Themes
Mimbo Pro and Dojo

Technically speaking, magazine themes are no different than regular themes, there is simply more coding involved and more options when you look at the feature sets and time it takes to code and edit the theme’s functionality areas.

However, there are several distinct characteristics of these themes that make them stand out when you dissect the different types of blogs competing in the same niche.

Note: For any future references to the term “premium,” it means that you are paying a price for the theme, not simply in quality.

1. Approximately 70% of Magazine Themes Cost Money - For this reason, they may not suit every price point and require you to pay someone to develop additional features for the theme, such as additional columns, areas, and so on, which may simply make your site appear more cluttered than it should be.  Free options lack support, one of the main reasons that I advise you to stick with premium themes in this case.
2. Quality of the Theme - Although not all premium/magazine themes are created equal, many premium magazine themes feature the same options, such as the ability to rearrange content through the use of sidebar widgets, color schemes, etc., which all help you avoid editing the hard-coded functions, leaving your site looking as though it hasn’t been professionally edited (defeating the purpose of paying someone to design your theme).  You should be able to take a look at the coding/design of the theme before purchasing, including through the use of a demo site the designer has set up.
3. Time to Build Your Site - If you have just started your blog but don’t have much time to spend waiting until you “officially” launch your site, it may be best to start with a basic theme, then evolve from there to add the features that your site requires.  For example, many magazine themes include the ability to add drop-down navigation menus, which may help if you have dozens of pages that fall under the same category, or want to place more internal pages visibly in the header of your site.
   On your side, many magazine themes require hours of setting up the theme before you can ultimately publish daily without much additional coding.  You first have to set up where specific categories are displayed, how the columns will work, and the ifs and hows of monetizing your site.   On the other hand, these same areas will draw in more visitors and revenue, as visitors will be viewing more content.
4. Layout - Magazine themes don’t conform to web usability standards like basic, two or three column themes do.  They may require that visitors click or browse through multiple categories before they are able to find the post that interests them, has been recently published, or hasn’t already been read in their feed reader (assuming they are also subscribed).  In this respect, the layout can be both more problematic when designing your site.  On the main page of a magazine layout, the same content is displayed that would be displayed on multiple pages of a one or two column theme.
5. Back-end Features - The Options Panel, as many designers and theme users call it, creates a separate area for the user of the blog to customize the way the theme looks on the front-end, in the same way that widgets work.  Rather than editing the theme’s CSS and (X)HTML, all you need to do is add your Google Analytics tracking code to the “tracking” area, for example, and you never have to worry about where you need to add this information - a huge time savings.  Plugins, additional areas, and functionality can be activated/deactivated through this method, meaning additional “child” themes can be implemented should you or the original designer choose to add them at a later point.
6. Content/Categories - Because magazine themes focus on a few categories, then disperse them throughout the main page, it is important that you will be able to focus on between 5-10 main categories, then branch off and use tags for distinguishing the rest of your content.  If not, you may need to re-label all your posts, working from the ground up to layout the navigational structure.  Everything will appear messy and unorganized if you don’t do this.  Another main aspect of this process is that outdated content will stick out for visitors, so you’ll want to focus on posting new content into each category at least every three days - leading to more “work” in the end if you only publish new content to a few categories each week.  You’ll become more productive and focused once you have established the main concentration of your blog’s content.
7. A Longer-lasting Design - Over time, two and three column themes lose their appeal, as visitors tend to become attached, then detached from a site’s design, going out of style.  Magazine themes generate more appeal, through the use of ever-changing thumbnails for each post, sidebar content that constantly changes, and an overall more professional design.  Initially, your budget may be broken, but in the long-term, your site will reap more visitors and potential revenue as a result of the investment.
8. Professional vs. Blog Look - Magazine websites have a more distinguished look than blog layouts, as the template looks like the themes of news websites, rather than the millions of blogs using the same structural design - with right-aligned sidebars, and a main content area.  I’d recommend personal blogs from staying away from magazine themes for this reason, unless you are able to produce the level of content required.
9. Other Reasons - There are a few other reasons why you should move or consider switching your theme over to a magazine-type site, including: your content becomes “pushed back” to previous pages before enough of your visitors get to read it, especially on multiple author and high post-frequency blog; you can’t highlight enough information with a typical 1/2/3/4 column theme; pages, categories, and tags have become unorganized and you want added accessibility and usability for all your visitors, not just those that visit your site from search engines; and/or the ability to change which content is placed with the most spotlight on - with magazine themes, you are able to customize which post is displayed in the “featured” area, as well as the excerpts displayed on the main page. 

Before delving into the process of choosing a magazine theme, be sure you are prepared to constantly tweak and modify your theme before you get the “look” you want.  People who purchase one of these themes are generally more successful in the long-term, but it’ll take more time to specify what content, features, and add-ons you want to display initially.  You also have to look at the design from the screen of your reader - can they quickly visit your latest post, or do they have to jump through multiple pages before they find the post they are looking for?  All of these things must be taken into consideration, or your blog, in the transformation to a “professional” design will continue to shout “blog.”

In a future post, I’ll cover some of the best themes, as well as options for each type of blogger.

Comment on this post to express your opinion on magazine themes and if (and how) you’ve used them on your blog.

The main purpose behind the site/service is to help web users discover the best websites on the web.  It is similar to other sites, although it focuses more on being able to directly review, rather than comment on content that others have created, not specifically news items or content that only lasts a short period, then leaves - content on StumbleUpon tends to be of higher quality than other sites.

Main Changes

Previously, visitors had to join the site or download the toolbar (Firefox, Internet Explorer, and SeaMonkey) in order to use the service to its full extent.  Now, more features, such as being able to view the top stories from the main page, any subcategories, and people you may share similar likes with.

The new homepage is, in my opinion, much more attractive and helps explain what the site is about better than the previous design.  In addition, it places more focus on the stories that members have recommended and the people who make up the community.

At this point, it appears that the full conversion (or partial) may not be entirely complete, as there are still broken links and pages that revert back to the original design upon login; in addition, some pages break out of the new browser toolbar, making it necessary to revert back the installed version.

Other Changes

Some of the problems that I have encountered, with some stated above, include the fact that you can’t “negatively” rate an item, meaning that unless a page is pulled from the random generator, that it will likely continue to become more popular.  The new browser toolbar only allows you to “Stumble”, “Like”, and rate an item, or add it to your favorites.

If you go to rate an item using the star rating system, you aren’t given the choice of how many stars - when you want to rate something one star, you are brought to the review page, where the only option is to say “Yes, I like it.”

Only 1/10 links that would normally link to a toolbar/page view worked, with the others returning 404 errors, signifying that any campaigns people are currently working on may be put on hold, or that traffic isn’t flowing through the system as it should (unless it is a localized problem).

- All-new profile pages.

- Improved navigation helps you move quickly across the site.

- All-new review page that makes it easier to find related content and members.

- Rate and review sites using the toolbar or website.

Two new ‘premier’ partners, The Huffington Post and How Stuff Works will be working with StumbleUpon to attract new visitors to their popular/unfound articles using a similar approach as the entire site on large collections of websites.

Traffic Chart for StumbleUpon

Conclusion

While I realize that this is a beta release of some things to come, it appears as though it was released just a few days too early as major functionality, such as linking is broken.  Currently, you can’t save the sites that interest you with the new toolbar, and during the “phasing out” process, only a few pages will be displayed using the JavaScript toolbar.

I also believe that an additional reason why this browser-independent toolbar will make waves of change is due to the fact that you won’t be hindered by the install of yet another plugin/extension into your browser, making it easier to switch between different browsers.  Plus, with more people connecting to the Internet wirelessly and through mobile devices, the new toolbar only requires JavaScript or Flash to have full functionality.

The one change that many people hope will come out of future releases of the site/toolbar is that it will improve the connectivity between the service, sites, and members, as well as encouraging people to promote the content that they like - driving traffic to website owners’ blogs/sites.

New StumbleUpon Toolbar

You can read the announcement post from the Official StumbleUpon Blog here.

Main Category

First, think about one of your favorite hobbies, passions, or things you love to do in life that you can write about.  It should be something that you are comfortable sharing with others, knowledgeable about, and something with a lot of content that you will be able to expand upon.  While it has been proven that topics can be extremely diverse, you should first focus on a broad subject.

For example, if you like reading about celebrity news, then you should consider writing about celebrities (a wide subject), then you should consider smaller topics, or you’ll become overwhelmed with the amount you should be writing about every day.

Things to Consider

• How often will you *or want to* publish on your blog?
• Is the niche overly crowded, or is it a newly created subset of a larger niche.  For example, some bloggers have found a lot of traffic/profit in creating a separate blog for the 2008 Election.
• Don’t be afraid to create a blog about “nothing” in particular.  This could be your personal blog, which you will be able to spin further ideas off of to become more focused.
• You should put a fair amount of thought into your first blog/site, as your future ventures could be influenced by this decision.
• As long as your remain dedicated, blogging about something you love is the only way you can continue growing your blog.

Sub-Category

Once you have chosen your main category, think about smaller, or subsets of this main category that you will be able to write about.  It should be specific, but not so specific that you will only be able to write ten posts on the subject.

Some bloggers make the mistake of creating a blog that covers so much content that they become frustrated before their website makes it big - resulting in content that is sparse and doesn’t reflect upon their original goals.

In the end, many bloggers feel it is best to write about what they feel relates to them and their readers most.

Browsing the Web

It can be difficult at first to navigate the Internet and find what interests you most, a devotion that you will be able to comment on, inviting others to share their similar interests.  Again, you want to make sure that the niche isn’t overly crowded, there is still plenty of content to create, and voids to fill in terms of the perspective you will bring to the blogosphere.

Start by doing some keyword searches for the niche that you want to get into, then work from there to develop one that suits your personal preferences.

Remember One Thing

Your space is your space - not someone else’s.  Unless you don’t attack another group of people and your country doesn’t block content you produce, you are free to blog about anything you want to.

This was a quick roundup of ways to choose a niche.  There are dozens of other methods, so this should not be viewed as the one source for discovering your perfect niche.

Many lists like this deal with how to make money online, but you typically need to spend cash (which many do not have a whole lot of extra lying around), so this post helps the average and semi-professional blogger deal with that and help you become a more frugal blogger.

Keep in mind that many of these tips pertain to the person who is already paying for, or looking into doing each of these tasks related to their blog.

1. Use an open-source blogging platform (and for nearly everything else), rather than one that requires you to pay a fee each month.
2. Don’t purchase advertising on other blogs.  Use natural methods to increase your readership levels and traffic over time.
3. Ease yourself into blogging.  Don’t rush anything or you’ll end up buying more than you need.
4. Don’t purchase e-books - there are many free ones out there; read reviews of them if you do really want to purchase one to be sure that it is isn’t classified as a ripoff.
5. Only purchase a blog theme and upgrades if you have the cash/monthly earnings to support it.
6. Advertise wisely on other blogs.  Make sure that you choose one that has a good click through rate and has a decent amount of traffic.
7. Use natural promotion methods.
8. Plan and create posts that can be published at a later time - you’ll be able to focus on other things dealing with your blog or earning.
9. Develop a mindset that you need to make money from your blog, but be conservative in the ads placed on your blog - people who don’t blog for money earn more than those that do.
10. Remember that just because a more expensive host will be able to handle more traffic and has more features, it doesn’t mean that your site(s) traffic will use the services that have been promised with the plan.
11. Don’t open any email that claims to be from a payment processor or other service that you may or may not be a member of - they will claim your login details, and you’ll most likely lose money or have your identity stolen.
12. Purchase hosting for more than one year at a time.  Although rates may be just $2 cheaper per month, it’ll add up in the long run, so you’ll be able to get “free” months.
13. Search for deals and coupons for services, like hosting, that you would normally pay full price for.
14. Ask a blog owner if you can get a lower price, or a long-term deal on their blog.  Most times, they’ll be flexible with pricing.  If not, asking never hurts.
15. Don’t be disappointed with low earnings from your blog.  Decrease the price of your ads, and you’ll likely see an increase in advertisers, giving you a better perspective of what people are willing to pay.  With a large queue of advertisers, you will be able to steadily increase the cost.
16. Turn off your computer, laptop, and other associated electronics when not in use.
17. Invest in a DSL or cable plan for a fixed rate.  There will likely be an increase in cost over low-priced dial-up lines and other services, but you’ll be browsing at a faster speed for a price relatively the same.
18. Budget the amount of money you spend each month on hosting, promotion, and other fees.  Surprisingly, you’ll find that your spending is higher than you think it is when you break down all the miscellaneous costs.
19. Spend more time blogging and less time doing things that don’t produce an income stream online.
20. Sell advertisements directly from your site using a plugin like OIO Publisher or through ad brokering services including Performancing Ads, BuySellAds, or Project Wonderful.  Going with a direct advertising solution cuts out the middle man, saving you money.  The last three solutions help connect you with other site owners who may be interested in advertising on your site.
21. Don’t scam your readers.  They won’t return and you’ll be at a loss for earnings when you try to build up your brand again.
22. Outsource some of your work to someone else.  This may be as small of a task as replying to emails or managing your entire blog.  There will be fees involved, but you’ll have more time to work on other projects.
23. If you think something is a rip-off, it is.  Don’t purchase subscriptions to services that claim to help you, but simply promote their referral/affiliate links, which contribute additional funds to their goals.
24. Compare domain costs.  Although many are around $10/year, there isn’t a huge difference except in branding if you choose a cheaper domain, such as a .info, or other less common domain name.  They are just as easy to promote, except in some services, but you can save up to $8/year.
25. Create your own content - you’ll save money that you would normally have to pay someone specializing in the writing and copy part of your blog.
26. Learn some new skills - from coding to design.  It’ll take some time, but you can do it for little to no cost, other than reading others’ ideas, tips, etc., or purchasing a book on the subject.
27. Tell your side of the story.  Visitors will likely connect with you, rather than seeing a blog run by someone who is solely paid to do so.
28. Stop being afraid of losing money from your blog.
29. Save money on hosting fees by using less images and using an image-less design, then focus on textual content, not images, videos, scripts, etc. - they just add unwanted reflections to what you want readers to see.
30. Establish a time frame as to when projects/posts/etc. should be completed, for example: “I want to publish at least one post every day.”  Make sure that you are able to accomplish this goal and any others that you set, so you can continue growing your blog.
31. Save money to put aside if you need to purchase advertising or other fees associated with your blog’s operation.
32. Consolidate all your domains (websites) into one main hosting account, or diversify them to save money.  For example, use one “major” host for larger sites, while sticking with a “smaller” host for your landing pages, smaller sites, etc.
33. Make lists to organize your goals, where you will be advertising, and more.  They will help you stay better organized and more productive.
34. Have only one blog until you are able to expand with a better workflow.  Just because you have multiple Blogger blogs doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll make more; you’ll simply have less time to spend on each one.
35. Buy “used” blogs.  Check directories where you can buy or sell blogs.  Find a blog that has already been established, so you can start with some sort of earnings flowing in - saving you time and money when you look at the long-term picture.
36. Don’t throw anything you need away.  If you scrap the idea for a blog post or new project, write it down in a “miscellaneous list” and come back to it later.
37. Place your blog’s (business) earnings and personal earnings in different accounts, and only touch the business earnings when you need to make a drawing for personal use.
38. Constantly make sure that you are meeting your goals, or that you are able to continue growth, with stagnant growth at the very minimum.  Negative growth means that you will be losing money in the long-term.
39. Don’t falter under stress.  Your blog will go downhill and you won’t have the alternative income stream that you were looking to produce from your blog.
40. Take advantage of trends in the market.  Promote products that will generate money, or at least relate to current trends, in order to leverage additional traffic to your blog.
41. Persuade your readers to become more frugal by offering them tips and advice - this advice will help you become a more economical person, too.
42. Obviously, don’t cut corners or you’ll end up paying more in the long run.  This can include anything from advertising to blog hosting.
43. Invest more time and money into something that does work.  You’re looking for more return - view them as securities in your blogging venture.
44. Join a group of bloggers, who will be able to support each other, contributing money to help support each other financially and through distributed content.
45. Don’t follow by example.  Lead by example.  Start your own trends and you’ll earn (and save) more.
46. Leverage the power of social networking sites to draw traffic to your blog.  This will save you time and money over purchasing private advertising and other methods, such as Cost Per Click-driven systems like Google AdWords.  The traffic may not be as targeted, but it’s free.
47. Drop any tools that aren’t worth using - even if they’re free.  Test and use new blog tools (albeit free) and see how they perform - in terms of driving traffic or doing what they promised to do.
48. Grab up those free samples, beta invites, and more - you might get rewarded for trying out these products, and they could be an asset to your blog and/or visitors.
49. Subscribe to blogs in your feed reader - it’ll save time and you’ll pick up on offers for discounts to products that you may need to purchase, such as plugins, themes, hosting, etc.
50. Work on the backbone of your financial health from the ground up - you’ll find it easier to focus on the monetary aspects of blogging.

Each day during the week ending September 27, Technorati had a new post published with insight into the current state of the blogosphere.

Technorati defines the Active Blogosphere as: The ecosystem of interconnected communities of bloggers and readers at the convergence of journalism and conversation.

For the 2008 State of the Blogosphere Report, we wanted to go beyond the numbers to deliver insights into bloggers and the state of blogging today. Who are the bloggers, why and how do they do what they do, and what is the impact on their lives and work?

To find out, we conducted a survey from a random sample from more than 1.2 million bloggers who have registered with Technorati. In addition, we have supplemented the survey results with our traditional analysis of Technorati’s index data.

For convenience purposes, here are the links:

• Day 1 - Who Are the Bloggers?
• Day 2 - The What and Why of Blogging
• Day 3 - The How of Blogging
• Day 4 - Blogging for Profit
• Day 5 - Brands Enter the Blogosphere

I will discuss a number of the main points mentioned in the study, including analysis and information that was provided.  References to images are included, so you should use the associated content.

Content included is copyright Technorati, Inc.

Blogs Continue to Grow

The number of blogs being reported by sources such as comScore, eMarketer, and Universal McCann all report figures of bloggers, people reading blogs, and total blogs ranging from 22.6 to 346 million blogs/bloggers/etc. - a large indication that the mainstream media is continuing to adopt blogs.

The Term ‘Blog’

As the debate continues to grow as the term continues to be swayed by blogs that appear more as “magazines,” although they are still connected, include a comments area, although more than 95% of the top 100 US newspapers have reporter blogs.

Stats

These figures relate to the image shown in the study.

• 133 million blog records indexed by Technorati since 2002.
• 7.4 million blogs posted within the past 120 days.
• 1.5 million blogs posted in the last 7 days.
• 900,000 blog posts in past 24 hours.
• 76,0000 blogs with Technorati Authority of at least 50.
• Top 100 blogs by Technorati Authority (image).

Day 1 - Who Are the Bloggers?

More than half of all bloggers have a household income of over $75,000, and are generally affluent and educated.  Three out of four are college graduates, while 42% have attended graduate school.

Half of all bloggers are on their second year of blogging; 59% have been blogging for more than two years, indicating that a majority of bloggers have been blogging for more than a year.

Global Bloggers

- Two-thirds of bloggers are male.

- 50% are between the ages of 18-34.

- Four in ten have an annual household income of $75K+; One in four have an annual household income of $100K+.

- 44% are parents.

In the United States, a majority of bloggers do not live near the largest metropolitan areas.  The largest concentration is near the San Francisco Bay Area, followed by New York City, and Los Angeles.

- 43% of blogger respondents live in the United States.

- 72% of bloggers write in English.

Technorati Authority

In June, 45% of the bloggers that posted have an Authority of at least one, meaning they have produced content that has been linked to by another website/blog.

How Bloggers are Identified

- Personal bloggers blog about topics of personal interest not associated with their work; makes up 79% of total.

- Professional bloggers blog about their industry and profession, but not in an official capacity for their company; 46% of total.

- Corporate bloggers blog for a company in an official capacity; 12% of total.

Four out of five bloggers tend to be blogging for personal reasons, while about half of bloggers are professional bloggers, generating some sort of income for their own business, and another 12% blog for an official company.

Blogging in General

The “new” aspect of blogging is now over, as 49% of bloggers report that they are on their first blog, while 51% of respondents said they are not on their first blog, with many on their 6th+ blog.

Day 2 - The What and Why of Blogging

A majority of bloggers write about multiple topics, of both personal and professional topics, which are both equally popular.  Half of bloggers consider their writing style to be sincere, conversational, humorous, and expert.

Prominent Topics: Personal/Lifestyle, Technology, Other, News, and Politics

Reasons for Blogging

The main reasons that people begin a blog is to “speak my mind on areas of interest,” “share my experience and expertise with others,” and “to meet and connect with like minded people.”  Read the rest of the article to find additional reasons.

Measuring the Success of Blogs

75% of bloggers measure success in personal satisfaction; 58% in number of posts or comments on their blog; while 53% on the number of unique visitors.  Revenue stood at only 16%, followed by “number and quality of new business leads” at 10%.

Concealing Your Real Identity on Your Blog

44% of respondents said that it isn’t important at all; 24% not that important; 20% somewhat important; followed by 12% of very important.  The main reasons for wanting to conceal their identities were to ensure that their family and friends were not exposed or harassed at 44%, followed by “other” at 36%.

Additional reasons include: It allows me to break news and post rumors I hear about without fear of receiving bad info, personal safety and privacy, and respect for my company.

Impact of Blogging on Personal Life

A majority of bloggers responded that they have made friends who they have communicated with online, but never met in person, and have become more involved with my hobbies/interests as a result of blogging.  Professional and corporate bloggers also responded by saying that blogging has benefited them.

Blogging Has Opened up Unique Opportunities

People in the survey responded, saying that they have been invited to interest group events, blogger roundtables, and have been endorsed as a sponsor/reviewer.

One third of bloggers have received free products through their blogging career (whether sent to them, at blogging conferences, etc.).

Day 3 - The How of Blogging

Time Spent Blogging

The average blogger spends between 3-10 hours per week blogging, making up roughly 42% of the entire population.  24% spend at least 10 hours, followed by 34% spending less than 3 hours per week.

Help While Blogging

78% of people who took the survey reported that they are the sole person who writes on their blog, followed by unpaid help at 13%, and paid staff at just 9%.

Posting by Technorati Authority

In order to get into the “Top 100″ list, the average blog produced 310 posts, over the course of 23 days (factoring out to about 13 posts/day, with the next 500 at 20 days/125 posts, and the next 5000 at 13 days/25 posts. Clearly, the top 100 blogs need to continue producing that high level of posts to remain at the top.

Tag Usage

- 71% of top 100 blogs use tags.

- 59% of next 500 blogs use tags.

- 45% of next 5000 blogs use tags.

- 36% of all active bloggers use tags.

- Most tags fell under the News, Music, Video, Internet, or Blog categories.

Blogging Tools

85% of blogs use a commenting system, 84% have archives by date or category, 82% have built-in syndication, and 70% have a search box.  An average blog uses seven out of the thirteen tools listed, with the average blog using at least four widgets.

Main Methods of Visitor Attraction

- Listing their blog on Technorati, commenting on other blogs, listing their blog on Google, and tagging their blog posts.

- The “average” blogger uses at least five of the methods included to attract visitors.

Connection to Readers

Between six and ten percent of all bloggers have worked to meet their readers, while 53-70% of all bloggers have not worked to create any events with their readers.

Statistics and Analytics Tools

Google Analytics is the primary method of capturing the level of visitors that blogs receive, used by 66% of bloggers.  SiteMeter and StatCounter follow behind this, in use by 1/5 bloggers; 42% use more than one service; and in total, more than 100 tools are used.

- 49% of blogs receive less than 1K visitors/monthly, 33% 1-10K, 12% 10-50K, and 6% 50K and higher.

- 54% of blogs receive less than 5K page views/monthly, 25% 5-20K, 13% 20-100K, and 8% 100K and higher.

Blog Investment

In the past year, the mean US$ invested was $1,020, with the average blog investing just $50, and the maximum was $200,000 (although many “sites/projects” would cost more than this).

Day 4 - Blogging for Profit

Advertising on Blogs - Types and Percentages

- 46% run no advertising on their blog

- 38% have search ads

- 28% have display ads

- 20% have added affiliate marketing links

- 6% participate in paid posting

- 5% are spokesbloggers

- 4% run rich media ads

- 28% use three or more methods

Advertising Management

The largest group of people use self-serve tools to offer contextual ads or use pay per click ads on their blogs (69%), followed by affiliate advertising links, getting paid for purchases generated by visitors (35%), and negotiation with advertisers directly (19%).

24% of bloggers do not want their blog cluttered with ads, 24% do not want to make money from their blog, and 21% do not have enough visitors to make it worthwhile.  Additional categories make up the remaining percentages.

Average Income

The average blog, according to Technorati, makes more than $6,000, followed by the top 1%, who generate more than $200,000 yearly.  $75,000 was the average income for those who generated more than 100,000 unique visitors per month ($6,250/month).  The median was just over $22,000.

Bloggers who do advertising on their blog/offsite spend an average of $1,800 annually.  The median revenue of U.S. bloggers, at $200, typically spend about $50 on their blog.

Average CPM for advertising in the U.S. is $1.20; mean is $4.20, and the maximum is $30 (CPM US$ is cost per thousand impressions).

Day 5 - Brands Enter the Blogosphere

More than 80% of people have posted product or brand reviews on their blog, with only 18% who have never done so.

Credibility in the Blogosphere and Media

71% report that blogs are taken more seriously as sources of information; 51% say more people will get their news and entertainment from blogs than traditional media in the next five years; and 49% say blogs are just as valid media sources as traditional media.

U.S. bloggers spend “nearly twice as much time online as U.S. adults 18-49, and one-third as much time watching television.”

Participation in “Web 2.0″ Activities

- 84% comment on articles or blog posts that they have read.

- 69% have subscribed to an RSS feed.

- 68% watch videos online.

- The average person participates in at least 5 of these activities.

Brand Messaging

61% of bloggers feel that other blogs entice them to learn more about products and services, followed by web content at 46%, and TV, print, or outdoor advertising at 33%.

Conclusion

Please be aware that this is simply a summary of what was stated in the report - please visit the main article for additional information on the history and future of blogging/blogs.

Many of the figures didn’t come as much of a surprise to me, although it was worthwhile knowing some of these figures to better target certain groups.  I believe that some of the figures were skewed by participants, who didn’t state their correct income, as $6,000/yearly appears slightly high for the average income.

In addition, this article can help bloggers who look at trends, as the previous reports can be found in the archives, for comparison.