http://www.blogmastersclub.com/signup/

The club forums are already alive with activity. New members are taking the Blog Masters pledge (which I think you’ll find a bit humorous, actually).

I have talked, before, of how I have been blogging for a living for the last many years.

And, I was doing it under the radar. I’ve been at this longer than most of the other "gurus" in this space. I don’t know what took me so long to start talking about it, but it wasn’t until last year that I actually went public as a pro blogger.

In high school, I was a complete loner. In fact, I was really uncomfortable with people.

I started college with the idea of going into engineering. Why? Because my Dad is an engineer. I literally had NO idea what I wanted to do with myself.

I started working at Sam’s Club as a college job. I also served a stint at Citibank, in their IT division as a college co-op.

One thing was made VERY clear to me…

I DID NOT WANT TO BE AN EMPLOYEE.

We’re talking cubicle-city! The highlight of the week was "casual Friday".

Are you freaking kidding me?!

Yes, I was still young. But, already, I was tired of living a life dictated by others. I was tired of having my boss tell me when to be at work. I was tired of having to show up to classes at the university. I was tired of that nagging alarm clock.

It wasn’t that I was lazy. I just wanted to be in control.

So, when college graduation time was approaching, and all my buddies were looking for IT jobs, I made a conscious decision to disagree.

In other words, I decided to turn this hobby of mine - online publishing - into a full-time business. I was going to be my own boss!

No more schedules. No more alarms.

By this time, I was running PCMech.com. People found value in what I said. And, apparently, I could write.

Not only that, but I was making money at it. Not a lot, but enough to show it was at least possible. And I figured if I gave it my "all", I could potentially live off it.

In the beginning, I supplemented my income by doing some for-hire web development work. I got to know the technical side of the web very well. However, I still wasn’t in full control. Having clients is still like having a boss. And it was still time-for-money.

In other words, it wasn’t scalable.

But, BLOGGING IS SCALABLE.

But, here we were in 2001, and I had made the decision to be a professional blogger.

It wasn’t even CALLED blogging back then! But, it was the same thing.

Within a short time period, I was able to buy my first house. I had 2 cars in the garage. And I did all this through blogging.

I distinctly remember going through the approval process for my home mortgage and having to explain to the underwriter how I made my money. Talk about being a pioneer!

I met my wife on Eharmony.com. We eventually moved in together. Then, in 2007, something happened…

We got a plus sign. On a pregnancy test.

OH NO! FREAK OUT TIME!

I’m a blogger. I’m the only income in the house (my wife had quit to attend to some things). And now I was going to be a daddy.

In other words, this little baby was going to depend on me to pay her expenses, and there I was blogging for a living. Most people didn’t even see what I did as a job!!

In December of 2007, there I am in the delivery room. Holding this little girl, still a bit dirty from her birth.

I’m emotional. I’m proud of my wife for the amazing thing she just did. And, not only that, I’m feeling the pressure. I HAVE TO MAKE THIS WORK. THERE IS NO B-Sing AROUND.

Blogging isn’t a job. But, what it is is a huge opportunity to generate your own money by being an authority.

And I love it.

But, I knew some people who made more money than me. I mean, I was doing OK, but I wanted to do better so that I didn’t have to worry about my little daughter growing up poor.

These people I knew were internet marketers.

Bloggers don’t like them, right?

But, guess what? They taught me some things. By studying them, hanging out with them at conferences, and a lot of personal networking, my mode of thought changed.

And I realized something HUGE!

There is some SERIOUS POWER when you combine the skills of a blogger with the skills of a marketer.

Since this realization, my business has expanded.

In 2008, I made $141,860.08 as a blogger.

Just today, I checked my income for 2009. I have generated, as of today, exactly $102,880.61 in 2009.

So, I’ve surpassed the six-figure mark already, and we’re in July.

And this income was generated how? Through applying this deadly combination of skills I have discovered in the last 18 months to my own business.

I have reached a point as a blogger that most people only dream of.

And I want to help you do the same, in much less time.

ARE YOU READY TO START YOUR JOURNEY?

• It wasn’t luck that I got to where I am. It was sheer  tenacity, necessity level, and simply doing the right things.
• Blogging as a business is going through SERIOUS GROWTH right now.
• Many more people are going to make good money as a blogger in the coming years. Will you be one of them?

The Blog Masters Club was created to help bloggers like you rise to the top of the "food chain". I believe that, with the right knowledge and the right help from somebody who has done it the hard way, that you can get your blog off the ground and start making money MUCH sooner than you would think.

So, if you want me to personally coach you for the next 6 months, you have a limited window to join my new club.

The doors have just opened, and they will be open until Tuesday, July 14th.

After that, I have no idea when it will reopen. My students will get my full attention, and it could potentially be 2010 before I open up again.

The course will cost you $97 per month, for only 6 months. Then, you’ll never be billed again and you’ll have lifetime access to the club, including all future content, future coaching calls, forums.

Everything.

I promise you, I am over-delivering.

Oh, and if you have any doubts about it, realize that you have a full 60 days to change your mind.

Bottom line…

I’ve figured out the path to six figure blogging.
I am proof that it works.
And now I want to help you.

Because the "problogger" clubhouse shouldn’t have a lock and key on it.

Now, it’s your turn.

http://www.blogmastersclub.com/signup/

Yours in Blogging Success,
David Risley

I’ll see you in the club.

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And, I’ve got answers.

Before I answer those questions, however, let me first remind you…

Monday, July 6th, ~3:00PM.

This is the time where I will be broadcasting LIVE from my office here in Tampa, Florida. I will be answering questions about the Blog Masters Club, but more importantly I will be making myself available to answer any and all questions about your blog, how to get started blogging for money, and blogging in general.

The broadcast will be hosted by Ustream.Tv. You should make sure you have a Ustream account (which is, of course, free) because it makes chatting with me a lot easier. And here is where you can go at showtime:

www.blogmastersclub.com/live.php

I will be broadcasting at least until 5PM EST. At around 5pm, I’ll probably have to step out to go pick up my daughter from daycare. But, I’ll come back afterward to chat with you some more if I am asked.

Reader Questions Answered!

OK, here are some answers to several of the questions I have received…

Are you going to cap the membership number?

Not exactly, however the doors will remain open for new students for only one week. And, there will be special bonuses for the first sign-ups, so it pays to get in early.

How much personal access to you will there be?

You will have access to me via the live coaching calls as well as the club forums. I know that many would like to have personal access to me. All I can say is that taking care of my students will be my #1 priority, and if that involves having a personal chat together, we’ll work that out. I cannot publicly commit to it for an obvious reason - I’ll be SLAMMED! However, just know that my students will have access to me that nobody else gets except for people who know me personally.

How much will it cost?

The cost is going to be $97 to get in the door. Thereafter, you will be billed $97/month for a total of six payments. You will have a no-questions-asked refund period of 60 days through Clickbank, however I will extend that period by personally guaranteeing the whole amount. If you discover a few months down the road that you just can’t do this, I will refund all your money. So, you’ve got nothing to lose (quite literally).

This course could easily be valued at over $2,000. If you compare what we’ll be covering to courses put out by some other "guru’s" out there, you’ll see that I’m going WAY out of my way to make this affordable to you. And those other $2,000 courses wouldn’t include any personal interaction, coaching calls, a swipe file, etc.

If other similar courses would be priced for much higher, why are you low-balling it?

Simple. I want to allow as many people as possible to get into the course and I hope to make up for the low price through volume. It is just a business decision of mine.

Additionally, though, I really want to make my mark on the field of blogging. I really feel that there should be MORE professional bloggers out there. And this field has an ASTRONOMICAL growth rate right now due to a number of factors (including the economy). I don’t want the problogger clubhouse to be exclusive to only a few of us. I want to bust the doors wide open.

Now is THE time to shift your blogging into high gear.

Is it possible to cover all this in six months?

I believe so. I could probably slam it on you in a shorter amount of time. However, I don’t think you’d get NEARLY the benefit than if we slow down a bit and make sure you really APPLY the material.

Information overload is a HUGE reason why so many people don’t make it, and I don’t want to contribute to the problem. If I can help it by instead teaching you the RIGHT information, with the RIGHT practice, and in the RIGHT quantity, then I will have done my job.

What if I can’t keep up?

Once a module is released to you, you will have access to it forever. So, if you have other things going on - DON’T WORRY. The material will be there when you get the time.

Plus, a little hint: I’ve got material in this course that covers time management. Maybe it’ll help!

What if I’m still a newbie?

That OK. Here’s the deal…

The core modules of the club are geared toward one thing: becoming a professional blogger who makes money. Period. So, to that effect, I will be assuming that you know the basics of how to publish to your blog or install a plug-in.

But, if you are a newbie, I didn’t forget about you. I have over 40 videos already in the membership area specifically for blogging basics (how to install Wordpress, install plug-ins, change your theme, etc). These videos were not recorded by myself, however they will completely cover your bases if you’re still relatively new to blogging.

Lastly, if you are new to blogging – FANTASTIC! By going through a course like this now, you will be getting off to a MUCH better start than all those other bloggers who have been floundering around for some time now making no money. So, in many ways, you’re better off!

I’ll See You Tomorrow!

Remember, 3:00PM EST. I may also continue at night. No guarantees, though! I’ve got a family, too! So, I hope you can make it in the afternoon.

www.blogmastersclub.com/live.php

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What is the Blog Masters Club?

NOTE: If you want to view the video much bigger, just click the full screen button on the player.

As I mentioned, on Monday afternoon, July 6th, I will be doing a live video broadcast from BlogBase 1A (aka my office). I will be answering any questions you have about Blog Masters Club. But, even more important than that, I will stay on the air for 2-3 hours and answer any and all questions you have about your own blog. Want me to take a look at your site? Want some ideas for building a list? Getting more traffic? Come on by and ask and I’ll do my best to help you out.

The live stream will be completely free, hosted by Ustream.Tv. Details will be announced via email (so make sure you’re on the list).

And on that note…

The official launch of the Club will be on July 7th, at around 12PM EST. If you get onto the early bird list, you will have a little head start to get your “seat” in the club. I might even throw in a surprise for you.

If you haven’t yet downloaded your copy of the Six Figure Blogger Blueprint, go here to get your copy.

To get onto the early-bird list, go to:

www.blogmastersclub.com/signup/

That is the URL where you will be able to enroll to work with me starting on July 7th.

In the meantime, enjoy this video and please leave a comment to let me know what you thought. And if you have any questions for me, please post them in the comments. I’ll make sure to answer them.

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In this video, you’ll take a car trip to the post office with me. I’m heading down to check my PO Box to see if I have any checks waiting for me. While I drive, I share some of my thoughts on blogging for a living and why I personally love this line of work…

NOTE: If you want to view the video much bigger, just click the full screen button on the player.

When I asked you guys about this, I got some great responses…

Jimi Jones said:

Going full-time with blogging is exactly what I am going to do. I committed to the effort months ago and continue to march toward that end.

My friend Tony Teegarden said:

Short answer? Would I go full time? Sure, as long as my blog developed me freedom and I wasn’t a prisoner of it. Leverage and true freedom is based on systems. I believe a blog can do that if set up properly.

Zemalf said:

I’d go for full-time with my blog, or maybe full-time *income* to be more precise. Why? The financial freedom is a compelling thought and something that inspires me to keep going. And I can’t deny that it feels good to put my experiences and expertise out there, with hopes that it will help others.

One comment I’d like to respond to is that of Darren Slaughter. He said:

Great question. And for most people it really is the “dream.” Problem is, once it goes from being a passion to source of income and a proper business, it also looses some of it’s luster.

Not to mention, making money, real money, as in replace your current income, blog on the beach type money doesn’t happen all that often.

I have talked to so called A-listers that confirm not making enough from their blogs to pay the bandwidth bill. So, while blogging for a living is a fantastic fantasy, reality says otherwise.

Blogging as a business is more than a “dream”. It is very much possible. And, it doesn’t lose any luster when you are making money. If anything, it motivates you even more to keep going with it. But, the statement “blog on the beach type money doesn’t happen all that often” seems to suggest that there is some other factor (like luck) which determines your success. NOT TRUE. It might not happen very often, but that is because most bloggers don’t know what steps to take to make it happen. Also, most bloggers are left to figure it out on their own and don’t really have help from those who have done it outside of free blog content (which often gives pieces to a puzzle but doesn’t really connect the dots).

Blogging for a living isn’t a fantasy. It can be done. The fact is that most “a-list” bloggers don’t know the first thing about marketing and that is why they can manage to build up a blog and yet make barely any money. What I’m here to show you is that there IS an approach to blogging which will lead to money. And I’d like to walk you through that approach.

And on that note…

I will be sharing much more about Blog Masters Club in the coming days. The official launch will be on July 7th, at around 12PM EST. If you get onto the early bird list, you will have a little head start to get your “seat” in the club. I might even throw in a surprise for you.

If you haven’t yet downloaded your copy of the Six Figure Blogger Blueprint, go here to get your copy.

To get onto the early-bird list, go to:

www.blogmastersclub.com/signup/

That is the URL where you will be able to enroll to work with me starting on July 7th.

In the meantime, enjoy this video and please leave a comment to let me know what you thought. Tomorrow, I will share more details about what the Blog Masters Club is all about.

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Say what?! In this video, I explain what I mean and what you can do to get maximum benefit from the visitors who come to your blog.

NOTE: If you want to view the video much bigger, just click the full screen button on the player.

This video shares with you the simple concept of click funneling. The idea is simple:

1. Blogs usually contain a lot of “clutter” and potential distraction and attention grabbers. So…
2. You can get and keep a reader’s attention and maximize conversion into a subscriber or a sale by getting them OFF your blog and into a specially designed funnel (whether it be a squeeze page or a sales page, or even an article designed to sell an affiliate offer.

It is one thing to attract readers to your blog. It is another thing completely to route your readers into what you want them to do.

This video was recorded for this blog, however this strategy is only one of a large collection of marketing strategies and tactics that I will be teaching in the Blog Masters Club. I have been working VERY hard behind the scenes to create a collection of training to bring a motivated blogger into the realm of professional blogging. And in this course, I will be working with you PERSONALLY to help you do exactly that.

I will be sharing much more about Blog Masters Club in the coming days. The official launch will be on July 7th, at around 12PM EST. If you get onto the early bird list, you will have a little head start to get your “seat” in the club. I might even throw in a surprise for you.

If you haven’t yet downloaded your copy of the Six Figure Blogger Blueprint, go here to get your copy.

To get onto the early-bird list, go to:

www.blogmastersclub.com/signup/

That is the URL where you will be able to enroll to work with me starting on July 7th.

In the meantime, enjoy this video and please leave a comment to let me know what you thought. I literally recorded this video at my dining room table! Gotta love working from home.

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@miklb said:

Absolutely, because I dig not wearing long pants and shoes.

@CardCycle said:

Hi David! Not sure because I just started. What do you enjoy about it?

@ShannonAlbert said:

Yes. Freedom to live anywhere while doing something creative and helpful to others.

@CrystalsQuest said:

Absolutely I’d love to make a living with my blog. It’s my passion, and it connects me with great and like thinking people worldwide.

So, I extend this question to my blog readers.

If you could go full-time with your blog, would you want to? Why or why not?

Please leave a comment and let us know.

And before I end off and wait for your replies, I wanted to let you know that I just uploaded an audio version (MP3) of the Six Figure Blogger Blueprint. Once you claim your copy of the PDF version, you’ll get immediate access to the MP3 (narrated personally by myself) so you can listen to it in the car, at work – wherever.

Be sure to carve out some time and go through that report or listen to the audio. The material in that report goes DIRECTLY at the heart of the very question you’re about to answer.

So, here’s what I want you to do:

1. If you haven’t gotten the Blueprint report yet, go get it now.
2. Leave a comment below and let me know your thoughts on going full-time with your blog, which of course means a full-time level income.

I look forward to talking with you soon.

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This report is my flagship report, as far as I’m concerned. I really poured a lot into it.

In it, I talk about things like…

…The REAL way to generate six-figure level income from a blog

…The 3 vital questions to help you pick a profitable market for your blog

…4 tactics for increasing your blogging production even though it seems like you “don’t have time”

…The exact layout of your six figure, traffic sucking empire.

…The exact reasons why most bloggers fail to make money (and how you can avoid it).

…The exact steps to launch a brand new blog - the RIGHT way!

The report is my gift to you. I created it as part of the lead-up to my brand new coaching program, Blog Masters Club.

To get your copy, simply head on over to the the club and opt into the club mailing list. You can also sign up to my list on this very blog and I’ll send you the Blueprint immediately.

Lastly, quite a few of you have already downloaded the Blueprint and I’ve gotten some great feedback so far. I’d like to hear YOUR thoughts on the Blueprint, so post your comments or questions below.

When Is The Launch?

The launch date for Blog Masters Club has been set for July 7th, at around 12PM EST.

Over the coming days, I’ll be telling you more about it.

For those of you who would like to be able to work with me personally over the coming months to improve your blog and start turning it into an income stream, this is your opportunity.

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It was a problem beforehand. But, then some celebrities brought more attention to Twitter and, all of a sudden, the rest of the world is catching onto Twitter. And where the people are, marketers follow.

Is it a bad thing? What should be done about it?

Good Versus Bad Marketers

I know there are going to be people who have a knee-jerk reaction to this question by lumping all marketers together. But, that is a mistake.

The smart, savvy marketers realize that Twitter is a SOCIAL site and they use it accordingly. Savvy marketers realize that it is insanely STUPID to do nothing but product pitches on Twitter. It isn’t going to work.

The marketers who I follow understand this. The marketers I follow are NOT the kind of people putting out stuff like “Get 16,000 followers in 30 days”. Instead, they are simply being real people and making connections with their audience. They realize that business takes place OFF Twitter. Twitter is like a big party and you have to treat it as such.

Bad Marketers Make It Suck For Everybody

So, with that delineation established, let me clearly state the way I see it:

1. There are a lot more lazy, BAD marketers online than there are good ones.
2. The bad ones are making Twitter increasingly annoying for everybody.

Bad marketers look at Twitter like fishing. They want to build up a big following, then just keep throwing a bunch of hooks into the pool to see how many idiots they can get to bite. As a result, we get more blatant “make money online” pitches from lazy marketers. We get porn on Twitter. We get the lame auto-DMs with overt sales pitches.

What Can (Or Should) Be Done?

The way I see it, Twitter is going though the same evolution as email did – but on fast forward. Email started out small, then it grew. Then the marketers learned the power of it and it ballooned into a huge spam problem. Then an entire filtering industry sprung up to combat it. Then anti-virus and other protections became necessary.

Twitter is following the standard product development curve, but it is happening faster than we’ve ever seen it.

Like email, nobody is ever going to be able to stop spam on Twitter. It will be a constant fight between spammers, users, and Twitter itself. The one difference I see is that Twitter is a single, central company unlike email. This means that Twitter can employ protections at the core level to combat the problem. This is where we’ll see things like:

1. System-level filtering.
2. Policing of user accounts, with suspensions, bans, etc.

What Twitter has to be careful of is not to get so overly aggressive with this that they harm the platform. And therein lies the crux of the issue. After all, it is the community inviting the problem. People can choose to follow or unfollow anybody they want. It isn’t as if the user is powerless over the situation.

So, I put the question to you, my readers.

What do you think should be done about Twitter spam?

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Last week, a couple of friends of mine got suspended on Twitter. Neither one of them did anything shady in the slightest. My guess is that Twitter will eventually reinstate their accounts and that this was a result of fitting some kind of broad pattern.

What it goes to show, though, is that your Twitter profile (or any other profile on a third-party site) could be whipped out from under you at pretty much any moment without any explanation.

Build Your Network With Security In Mind

The old saying “don’t put all your eggs in one basket” comes to mind yet again.

In this business, we always want to build out our reach on the Internet. What you don’t want to do, however, is place so much focus on building out one profile that you neglect the others.

Here are a couple of things I would definitely recommend:

1. Always, ALWAYS host your blog on your own domain and on your own web hosting account. This way your presence can never be removed and any audience you build up remains your’s.
2. Build out your social reach across the web. Don’t be overly focused on Twitter. Pay attention to Friendfeed, Youtube, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.

When people build systems which are mission-critical, the idea of redundancy almost always comes into play. You want backup systems. You want a section to be able to fail without taking the whole thing down.

You could apply the same logic to your web network.

Don’t Make Waves With Twitter

I’ll make this point, too. Twitter is apparently going to be cracking down on people who aggressively build up their Twitter followings by following lots of people, waiting for auto-follows, then unfollowing the people who don’t return the follow. Tools like Hummingbird work on this principle.

I personally don’t think there is anything wrong with such tools. However, like any tool, it can be used in bad ways and in good ways. My recommendation is that you stay targeted with the people you follow, police who they are, and not get overly aggressive with how you use them. Twitter might allow 1,000 new follows per day, but that doesn’t mean you have to use it.

We have yet to see how Twitter will handle this issue, but they are aware of it and apparently not too happy about it. Realize, though, that Twitter is going through all the growing pains as email did, but MUCH faster. Twitter will need to make adjustments to deal with the increased spam and the gaming of the system. Just be aware of this and don’t do things that might lead to your account being suspended.

Let me ask you, however. Do you think Twitter should begin policing how you build up your follow list? Or do you think Twitter should let people do it as they want, as long as they don’t spam?

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Some may get confused on the basics of how to sell your own ad space. In this article, I’ll shed some light on that by providing an overview.

When To Begin Selling Ad Space

Obviously, ads on your blog will be much more valuable to an advertiser if you have an audience and traffic. So, you’ll need to have that. The question is – how much?

There is no clear cut-off for this. Much of it depends on your market. Some markets don’t see much traffic by their nature, but the audience might be very dedicated. In this case, you can sell ads on your blog despite having what you perceive to be low traffic numbers.

Because of all the various markets out there, I’m not even going to try to give you a number for a cut-off. All I can say is that it depends.

How Much?

Ahhh…the age-old question – how much should you charge? Again, it depends. My recommendation is to check out other blogs in your niche and see what you can glean from them.

You can charge based on impressions (usually a set price per thousand impressions, aka “CPM”), or keep it simpler by charging a flat monthly rate. I tend to prefer flat rates myself.

My suggestion is that you pitch advertisers on the branding opportunity rather than raw traffic numbers. The ability to associate their brand with your content serves to put their business in front of your audience. To sweeten the post, you could offer to feature them in your email list, or do a post on your blog about them (announcing them as a new sponsor, etc.)

Final price will be a result of balance between what you can offer them (quantity of exposure) and your traffic numbers. A low traffic blog isn’t going to command that much money.

If you already have a history with Adsense and have been running Adsense on your blog, then go into your account and look at the average CPM being paid for those ads. Double that number (at a minimum) to arrive at a price for your direct sales. Why? Because Google is paying you half of what they make on your site.

What About Logistics?

You could go with an option like OIO Publisher plug-in. This system integrates directly with Wordpress and works pretty well. I also wrote up an article on how to configure OIO Publisher.

You could also go with a stand-alone system such as OpenX. OpenX used to be called PHPAdsNew, but has evolved into a much more robust solution. You can still download it for free, after giving your name and email address. You can also grab an older copy for free from Sourceforge without the registration. Once installed, you can set up your different ad zones. The system will give you ad tags which you will then insert into your Wordpress theme.

To my knowledge, OpenX does not handle the purchasing process, so you would need to take care of that separately. OIO Publisher does, however, have a direct sales process as part of it so that advertisers can literally purchase ads on their own and all you need to do is approve them for them to go live.

If you end up selling ad space on your own, you need to have a way to collect payments. You don’t necessarily need a business account with your bank, but that is up to you. Paypal is probably the easiest method of taking payment. You could even set up Paypal subscription buttons on your site so that advertisers could pay you quickly and easily and be re-billed each money until you cancel. This might work if you have set prices. Otherwise, just provide your Paypal email address to your client and they can pay you normally via Paypal.

Where To Put Ads On Your Blog

You’ve got two factors to consider here:

• Ad Placement
• Number of Ads

In terms of placement, most advertisers are going to want to be “above the fold”. This means that their ad will be visible without the user having to scroll down to see it. For this reason, ad space at the bottom of a site is usually very devalued. The best places to put ads on a blog are usually:

• Very top
• Sidebar, but toward the top
• In-content (whether it be top or bottom, as a call to action)

In-content ads usually work pretty well because that is the section of the site your readers will be paying most attention to. Sidebar ads on blogs are usually the small 125×125 ads, placed in a grid. Usually these ads are more for branding purposes than raw traffic click-throughs.

When deciding on ad space, be careful not to overrun your site with banners. Remember, banners detract from the user experience so you need to be very mindful of that. Secondly, the more banners you have, the less effective any placement will be for your advertisers. So, your ad space is more valuable if you don’t have that many ads on your blog to begin with.

Who Makes The Ad?

They do. It isn’t your job to create their ad banners for them. Most people won’t even ask you to. If they do, you can either just refuse or offer to have a designer create it at their cost.

Even though they create the ad, it is within your right to refuse the banner if it in any way detracts from your blog.

How To Go About Selling The Ads

To sell ad space, you need to make it known that you even offer it. So, my suggestion would be:

• Have a page on your blog which offers advertising options
• Have a “media kit” that you can send via email which more or less offers the same information as your advertising page online. The media kit doesn’t have to be long or involved. Just get the information to them and offer them some benefits to advertising on your blog. Put it in a PDF format and you can email that PDF to people as an attachment.

On your advertising page or media kit, include the following:

• The benefits of advertising on your blog (a little mini sales pitch)
• Your audience demographics (the more info, the better. You might want to consider surveying your audience to find this information out because advertisers will want to know). Important information would be gender, age spread, average household income.
• Traffic estimates (page views, unique visitors, list size, etc)
• Prices (unless everything is customized)
• Contact information and how to start (a call to action)

Balancing the Ad Space

Network ads are a lot easier to get than direct ad sales (unless your blog is already pretty established). My recommendation is to use network ads (Adsense or other networks) as fall-back inventory, meaning it will use space not used up by direct advertisers. As another option, you could simply leave the ad spots as blank if you have no advertisers. Some people choose to do that simply because the appearance of Adsense on a blog does cheapen the blog (in some circles).

Any ad system is also going to allow you to run more than one ad in any ad space using a rotation. This is fine, however rotations make the space less valuable (due to less face time for any single ad) and you’ll definitely want a cap on how many advertisers can rotate.

Don’t Depend on Ads

As I wrap up this overview, I want to again emphasize that you shouldn’t stop with banners as your main monetization source. I will remain an evangelist for idea that selling your own products to your audience will always be the best (and more lucrative) approach to blog monetization. That said, banner ads can definitely make you money, it is relatively hands-off, and the market for it will always be there.

For more on how to monetize a blog outside of simply banner ads, download and read a FREE copy of the Six Figure Blogger Blueprint.

Good luck!

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