Collect Great Memes, Art, and Graphics – You’ll Need Them originally published at Make Money Writing Online

There are many, many different ways to develop and publish a website, but nobody ever got fired for using WordPress. WordPress dominates the charts for the percentage of content management systems (CMS) published across the internet. It is also frequently, and competently updated.

A WordPress Version Update Procedure: The fast, fast version

My process for rolling out WordPress updates is terrible from the viewpoint of best practices, but I’m a busy man. Backing up, testing, rolling back, as they say, “Ain’t nobody got time for that.” Rather I pick one of my sites that hasn’t started doing much traffic lately, and I update WordPress on it. No backups. I’ll just see if it ends up working.

Then I work up the food chain, so to speak. Installing on progressively more important sites in my web properties portfolio. I stop if it breaks. I keep going if it doesn’t. It usually doesn’t. The good thing about being an open-source software property with full-time employees and decades of institutional memory is that you tend to produce stable, usable, updates. Some of the longer running WordPress theme makers have a similar advantage.

Of course, there is no reason to take the chance.

There are these penguins that gather at the edge of an ice cliff while waiting to go into the water. None of them tries to jump first, but eventually, too many penguins in too little space, and one of them gets bumped into the water. The other penguins carefully watch to see if a predator pops up to eat the poor, accidental sacrifice. Then, if the coast is clear, they jump into the water as well.

No Bonus for Being First to Update WordPress

Fortunately for those of us running WordPress websites, there are a lot of brave penguins out there jumping into the water. Detaching from this metaphor, I usually wait a few days and see how things work out. If there is a major problem, the web will burst with that information, and you can skip this update.

If there is no chatter– don’t worry about tiny slivers of misgivings — then it’s time to upgrade alt.nerds.obsessive.

Have a nice update.

About the Author

Brian is a professional freelance writer and serial web publisher with over 10 years of experience building, monetizing, and selling websites. Brian says that his advantage is that he can both design and build a website, and also fill it with content. Brian can be found in his basement writing office most days.

WordPress Version 6.2 originally published at Make Money Writing Online

It is a common occurrence for a link with the title like the one at the top of my amazing writing tips article to have nothing at all with the phrase that was just clicked. This reminds me of the old days (I can officially say that now that I’m 50) when webspam filled the internet in order to capture clicks and Google searches. I made plenty of money generating it myself on platforms known as content farms or content mills. Ah, the simpler times, where getting enough money for a sweet night out was just four or five 300 word articles away.

By now you should be outraged that I haven’t given away even one of the 4 most profitable ways to write clickbait. Here are links to our other articles that are about, or tangentially about the original headline.

Okay, now that we are about 200 words in, and spell check did me a solid with fixing my misspelling of tangentially (seriously, what is the i doing there anyway?). I will now offer a maximum profit clickbait secret. It you have already heard of it, too late! No refunds.

#1 Insist They Won’t Believe It

Most people will believe what they read, barring obvious bias or outrageous hyperbole, but it’s like smelling sour milk, your instinct is to tell your brother to smell it, and his instinct is to go ahead and smell it even though he knows that it is spoiled. In this case you are smelling the won’t-believe-it milk. Also, it is #3 that you won’t believe. Why #3? The same reason grocery stores keep the milk in the back. You have to go through the whole thing to get to #3, which gives plenty of time to show ads, unless you have an ad blocker.

#2 Use a Number

Someday I will as a psychiatrist or neurologist, or whatever why it is that humans respond so notably differently if there is a number involved. Are so many Americans that terrible in math that anything resembling numbers makes them tremble in obedient fear? Is the promise of four so enticing because it’s more than only three? Or is it that the commitment to only four means that the reading time will be shorter? I could Google it, but that’s not the point of this article, so I won’t bother. Feel free to comment below.

#3 Use a Celebrity or Beloved Place or Thing

Everyone has known for years that the National Enquirer is fake, and when I read Us magazine, I feel like the surrounding pressure has lowered so much that I can feel the oxygen my brain needs oozing back out into the surrounding atmosphere. — Phew. OK I put it back. Technically oxygen leaving to a lower pressure environment is called diffusion. Alright, seriously people will click on anything involving a celebrity, especially if it is something bad about the celebrity.

#4 Have No Shame

This article can hardly claim to be useful, yet here we are. On the one hand, I feel good about tricking you, on the other hand, I’m really a good person inside, so if this wasn’t satire, I would be ashamed to have written it. Don’t get me wrong, cash papers over the shame, so if I had been offered like $200, I’d be okay with it.

Hey, kids! This is a comedy from the 1900s called Beverly Hills Cop 2. The scene is where undercover detective Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) is pretending to take a $200 bribe to make some parking tickets go away when in fact he needs to use Sidney Bernstein’s computer to get information about the case. This is very funny and Beverly Hills Cop the original is as well.

It relates to this article very tenuously because the bribe here is $200, which is what I stated would be required to cover up some minor level of shame. It is also a sham. People click on things with videos in them, so we’ll call this #5, but don’t tell anybody.

4 Profitable Ways to Write Clickbait (You’ll never believe #3) originally published at Make Money Writing Online

Where Do My Keyword Sessions Count Come From

So, you say, “If there is no data from Google for searches then how do I get a count of sessions?” Then, you ask, “Where do the keywords that show up in my various reports come from?”

Google Analytics can only report on keywords that visitors use to arrive via organic search.

The session count, or per visitor count, that you see represents how many people searched for those keywords somewhere that is not Google. Those search engines and directories happily share keyword data with content creators so that they can maybe improve or expand their content. The best way to help visitors to your website is to ensure that you provide what they are looking for. This is much easier when you know what they were looking for.

Obviously, other search engines and directories get far less searches than Google and therefore send less traffic to your site. So, when you see that you have 500 sessions, but just 40 clicks and 15,000 impressions, or something like that, the keyword counts are based on visitors sent your way by non-Google sources. The difference in the counts are the searches that Google sent you.

Why Do My Keywords Count Not Match My Visitors Count originally published at Make Money Writing Online

As we may have covered before, I run what I like to call an empire of websites that I build, guide, and nurture into money making websites. That requires a lot of different hats. For example, as of today on this website, I’m really focusing more on its appearance and structure, both of which are hurting its potential. While I love being a Web Developer in Colorado, my first passion is always writing. That voice you hear in your head? Mine is always writing, sometimes a long narrative across multiple locations and times, sometimes a single scene, brought on by what I saw in the refrigerator. Most common of all, writing a piece of dialog, getting it just right, and of course, following up with the response that would make what was said, the perfect thing that could be said.

Oh dear. I’ve gone all ADHD on this post. I’m sorry, but– and this was the point– I’m supposed to be working on the behind-the-scenes coding and user interface pieces to make this website both more useful, and more profitable. However, I allowed myself to write an article about this fun Colorado locations drawing mug I recently acquired. That should be it, but I came back here and realized that I had taken time away from this project.

In an effort to provide some value to this project and my website empire overall, I will allow this bit of writing to stay here for the time being. The lesson, which I am in no place to supply today, if you are going to make money writing online, you must be disciplined enough to write what you need to write more often than you find yourself writing what you wanted to write.

Writing What Else? originally published at Make Money Writing Online

Yeah. Me too. Presenting my Google helpful content update tweets, now in blog format.

Writers and Google Helpful Content Update

Google has a new “helpful content” update coming out. The goal, according to Google, is to help truly useful content outrank content that is geared more toward ranking highly than being useful. Ironically, Google has already been saying that this is the best way rank highly.

You all remember “Content is King,” don’t you?

Apparently, content was only king if someone else wasn’t targeting Google better than you. The real irony here is the idea that it will be any different once those who target Google figure out the new system.

That is if there is a new system. Google is a master at getting unpaid minions trumpeting the party line. In fact, often, just getting every SEO on Earth to stop/start doing something is just as good as actually fixing the SERPs.

As a writer, I take pride in my work always being useful even when I’m writing for a client that does payday online gambling kitten grooming. So, theoretically, my content and those who have published it should rank higher.

But remember. At the end of the day, Google search results are a popularity contest. How well the title of your article matches the exact search text and then the ties are broken by how many links point to your article. Everything else Google does is to minimize cheating.

Check out this review of Wallethub.

The whole quality of links, and links from related sites, push was about keeping people from cheating to get links. This helpful content update is about keeping people from cheating by generating piles of content to increase the chances of matching search text.

Will Google’s helpful content update work? Absolutely, sort of. It’s nice that Google is tackling the problem of cheap and autogenerated content that gets 100 on whatever SEO plugin you are using, but if you think Google can distinguish between pretty good and really good…

I have a bridge to sell you.

For us writers, there is no change to our Google strategy. Write good stuff, like you always do. Try to match your title to the search. Then, use every trick you know to get it linked as many times as possible. Repeat until you have Days of the Week Ferraris in your garage.

The Rest of the Update

Those tweets make a pretty good article about the Google helpful content update after all.

Let’s talk turkey.

Nothing has changed. Unless you were a seedy, semi-black hack, hidden lair having, content pusher, spitting out computer generated content spun into hundreds of articles, this update will unfortunately have no effect on you. Pretty much everything that isn’t spam filled trash is “helpful” and the notion that Google can tell which article is more helpful than another is wishful thinking.

Some sites will find that their old tactics no longer work. They’ll regroup and come up with new tactics. How long and how well that works is up to them and Google. It has nothing to do with you.

As a writer, the answer is always the same. Write more. If you can get it linked and target it toward searches that people make, all the better.

Google Helpful Content Update originally published at Make Money Writing Online

This is still mostly true barring any funny business, or hyper-competitive categories where Google algorithmically, or manually, stacks the deck. That being said, your website probably needs to look pretty decent, especially to first time viewers who show up via a Twitter link, a recommendation, or search results. To this end, one can drop a few bucks and get a WordPress theme that more or less takes care of everything; that is until you get that itch on the side of your brain that says, “Hey! What if we spiffed this up a bit?”

ADHD and a New Day in the Web Empire

Hi! I have ADHD. (addessories.com) Having ADHD means a lot of different things to a lot of different people but, most of them can relate to starting a project that you are crazy excited about, getting pulled away to do something else, and then forgetting all about it.

Bearing that in mind, welcome to MakeMoneyWriting.com my blog idea from many, many, years ago when I decided I should separate what I write on my professional freelance writing site (ArcticLlama.com) and what I write about building your own websites, or otherwise profiting off your writing online.

GeneratePress Premium WordPress Stuff

It would appear that I bought GeneratePress over a year ago. Installed the default template here and then updated it once or twice. Then, today, when I’m flying out of town, I had a thought about which premium WordPress themes and plugins I owned, because of course I did.

I have two ways of knowing what I past-me bought that today-me can’t remember. One is seeing if I have a login in my password manager. If so, then I have some sort of account there. The other is to check my tax receipts folder. If I bought something for my online website empire business, I’m sure I deducted it.

So, it turns out that my GeneratePress Premium subscription “expired” in January. Now, they can’t keep me from using the code I already have, that’s some sort of WordPress licensing thing, but I might be blocked for updates. What I really need is a theme that looks better than whatever I slapped on before.

Elementor Premium WordPress Stuff

Enter Elementor. I don’t remember why, but I have a note for it in Notes (the Office one) where I keep all of my “remember this when you start a new website” stuff. I’ve never used Elementor that I recall and I have no account or receipt to indicate otherwise. I can only assume then that I read, heard, or saw something that recommended Elementor and I like the cut of their jib.

Here is where things get interesting. Elementor offers two different setups. In one setup, you get “optimized” WordPress hosting AND the ability to use Elementor premium stuff on ONE website for $99 per year.

If you don’t already have hosting, and you are only looking to build one WordPress site, then this is a great deal. It’s hosting for less than $10 per month and you get their premium stuff. But… if you have or are planning on more websites, $100 each per year is too steep.

They have a different option where you can use the Elementor premium stuff on 25 websites for $199/year. That’s a non-starter until I know I love it. There is a 1 website for $49, but that seems a poor value. You can get 3 websites for $99 with some sort of small font special.

GeneratePress vs Elementor vs Both

I like the sound of that, but again, what if I don’t like it, use it, need it? That brings me back to GeneratePress. Although my sub is expired, I could still mess around with it. I can use their $59 per year premium subscription for up to “500 websites”.

There is something about Elementor that intrigues me. Probably because it’s new and we ADHD adults love something shiny and new. It’s not like I CAN’T drop $49 or $99 and run with it, it’s just that I don’t want to waste money on subs I’ll forget to cancel

I need to finish packing and get on an airplane but I don’t want to lose this train of thought, so here we go. I’ll update/correct/fix/link this later.

WordPress Themes Designs and Good-Looking Websites Done Easy originally published at Make Money Writing Online

There reality is that most writers have lots of things to write about. They just can’t force those ideas into their brain at will. And, when they do come up with great ideas to write about their topic, they dismiss them as not worthy, too complicated, or something like that.

A Blogging Calendar or Writing Calendar

This is where a blogging calendar, or writing calendar comes in handy. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy. I use one of those desktop blotter calendars you can get for less than $10 at any office supply store, or from Amazon. Fill in a topic on each day for each blog, or website, that you generate content for. Soon, you too will have a tons of topics. As an added bonus, you can start to see trends and upcoming events that you might want to capitalize on.

For example, if you are filling in your April writing calendar, you might want to consider topics on Spring, or on filing your taxes, or planning for a big Mother’s Day weekend. You may also happen to notice that you are writing a lot about a specific topic. You can either take the opportunity to spread those topics out, or conversely perhaps market the upcoming list of topics as a way to get detailed information for your readers.

The trick to effectively using a writing calendar is to be willing to move articles around. If you need to publish something else on the 23rd, then just cross out the original article and write it down on a new date.

Most importantly, you need to know when to ignore your writing calendar.

Sometimes, you’ll get the writing fever, where you muse wakes up, jumps on your back and whips you forward. As an experienced writer, you know that these days and times come with far too many less motivated days in between. When you want to write, write. And when you want to write about certain topics, then do that. Your publishing calendar will be there later when your muse hops off and goes to lie down in the warm fields of grass for a long rest.

Writing Calendars and When to Ignore Them originally published at Make Money Writing Online

Qualify for AdSense

Now, it is not hard to qualify for AdSense, no matter what the link building whiners will tell you. All you need to do is build a reasonably decent looking website and fill it with enough worthwhile content. However, if you are trying to juggle dozens of websites as part of a growing ad funded web empire, finding the time to add enough content can be tricky.

The good news is that if you keep those old auto-approved websites up and running and getting the occasional ad display or click, AdSense will happily keep them on your active list and show those sweet money earning ads on them. The bad news is that if you have several websites in various stages of building and updating, you might not notice that one (or two) websites going inactive on your AdSense account. Usually, it’s your own fault because you took the site offline to upgrade it, or you updated the site and forgot to put the AdSense code back on. Either way, no AdSense traffic for too long and you get the old “Requires review status. Once that happens, you need to requalify and that site might not qualify anymore if you ditched a bunch of the traffic, or if you abandoned the site to the magical land of passive income.

Recovering From Needs Review

Now, if your website becomes inactive, and you bring it back online filled with content and with a decent design, then no harm, no foul. Otherwise, your review will lead to “Needs attention.”

Assuming you aren’t a scammer, or trying to build something shady, the most likely issue with your website is that it no longer has enough content, or the content it has isn’t worthwhile. The fix is simple. More, quality content.

Ironically, this poor website falls into that category.

Once upon a time it was filled with what, in my humble option, was plenty of high-quality content, but I was working on other things. Some of my other efforts overlapped with this site dedicated to making money writing online and I let the content here grow stale. In all honesty, there was still a trickle of traffic and if I had just left it alone it would still be approved for AdSense to this day.

However, I didn’t like the look of it, so I started messing around with new designs and themes. I deleted a bunch of content that I either didn’t like, or was out of date, and redirected the URLs. Then, I decided to move it to one of my better hosts in an effort to clear off one of my older hosts that I didn’t really want to keep using or paying money for. Then, well… life happened. I had freelance writing projects to finish. I ended up in the hospital for several months with cancer, and then a “usually fatal” fungal infection. I worked on other things. By the time I got back to MakeMoneyWritingOnline.com and put it back online it had gone to Needs review. Thanks to all the content I deleted, there really wasn’t much left.

So, here we are. A website about making money writing online that isn’t making money. Irony can be pretty ironic sometimes

New High-Quality Content

The solution is straightforward, add more high-quality content. On one hand it’s easy. On the other hand, the only way to generate high-value content is to take the time to write it. As a writer that should be easy. But, also as a writer, I always have more that I want to write than I ever could write.

The solution?

Planning.

Something this ADHD brain isn’t the best at. Actually, that’s a lie. I’m great at planning. I’m not so great at doing the activity planned for 10:00 am when I’m interested in something else. So, the solution is sticking to the plan. I probably won’t do that either, but at least if there is a plan eventually the guilt-monster will get me to crank out some content.

See you then.

In the meantime, there’s always Amazon…

Don’t Let AdSense Sites Go Inactive originally published at Make Money Writing Online

Just write something.

Current and Fresh = Active and Used

When it comes to earning money from your website content writing, the reality is that you are going to need traffic. In order to get traffic you’ll want to build an audience, and get subscribers, and develop and email list, and a bunch of other things. You’ll also want to show up in search engines when people look for content on your websites. This is where writing something, anything, is so important.

There are literally billions of webpages out there. The search engines, whether it’s Google, Bing, Yahoo, Duck Duck Go, or whatever else, all have to index and rank those pages for their search engines to work. They use programs called spiders to move around the web finding and indexing content. As you can imagine this is an intensive process.

In order to make it all work, the different search engines all have various shortcuts and algorithms that help them rank and index faster. Many of these tweaks are trade secrets, but one well known maneuver used by all search engines is noting the freshness, or current state of various websites and acting accordingly.

So, for example, if this website gets updated every day, the search engines will eventually decide that they need to come check and index new content every day or two. If this website gets updated monthly, they’ll notice that too. If it doesn’t really get updated at all for a while, they probably only show up when a new link points them this way.

More importantly, for most of your online money making endeavors, a fresh, or current website, ranks higher than older, stale content, and its links are more powerful as well. So, if you have a knitting website which links to your sewing website, the links from the knitting website are much more powerful if they are not considered to be coming from an inactive website.

Current Content = Powerful Content

While it is important that the content you are actually trying to get ranked highly, and that which you actually want to drive traffic to on all of your websites, should be the highest quality, best effort you can manage, the posts necessary to keep your page “alive” in the minds of the search engines can be less inspired. No one is saying your posts should be low quality. However, not every post has to be an amazing, inspired idea. Write good quality posts, just write about those less in-depth things as well.

In other words, just because you are a professional writer doesn’t mean everything you publish must be a 1200+, in-depth, treatise. Don’t forget, 300 words can be just as useful if you are making a quick point, or answering a simple question.

(Note: This assumes, as most things on this website do, that you are a good writer. A good writer’s efforts are often higher quality than a non-writers best effort.)

Keep your websites active by updating them on a regular basis, and watch your online writing portfolio increase its income and value. Otherwise, your ad revenue from AdSense and others will dwindle, not just on the websites you are not updating, but on those that depend on the incoming links from those sites as well.

Write Anything for Better Earnings and SEO originally published at Make Money Writing Online