I’ve been blogging here for 10 days now. It’s not my first blog but it is the one I’ve started to put some serious time and work into.
I originally started At Last I’m Free earlier this year with the hope of finding various ways to earn money online. I guess I just did not put enough time in early on and this blog so far has failed to really take off. However it still stands as a place to document my online money making life and it will continue to be a place to post stuff like this.
10 days in and lot’s of reading I am still utterly confused about how on earth I will be able to realize my dream and make money online.
Google Adsense looked amazing but after reading and reading and reading and reading some more the overall view seems to be that you need a lot of visitors (Tens of Thousands) to make it work out. I can’t see that happening to me any time soon!
Helium.com seemed like a great idea. I have submitted 5 articles and have enjoyed doing so but to date have only earned 5cents! I guess it’s something though and I will continue to submit as it is a fun thing to do and after all that’s the one thing I really am gaining from all this. My bearded Dragon article has just made it to number 1 so I’m very happy about that (I’ll post it up here soon).
Associated Content seems to have had great reviews from people so I just signed up yesterday. I have hoped this may earn me some money and earn me some more enjoyment but right at this moment I am finding it very hard to think up any original articles and this is what it thrives on. It does seem like a great place to be involved in so hopefully you will wish me luck here.
Oi Parks is a website (Note: Now Dead) that I have set up to sell large format prints to UK customers from their supplied digital photos or from a selection of art available on my site. I still have more of my stuff to add and I hope it will grow to be a large directory but I have come stuck trying to think of ways to promote and market and really need to start finding a strategy and stick to it.
Pay Per Post (Note: Lost my Google Ranking for using these!) has accepted that I have applied the code on my website but I think I need to get a Google Page Rank of around 3 before I am eligible for any opportunities. I’m not 100% sure how I go about doing this so I best find out and get onto it. It seems like a fairly good scheme. As long as my readers know it’s a sponsored post I hope they will not have a problem with me featuring it.
I also want to start a few more niche blogs and want to use Wordpress (Note: This blog now uses wordpress…. it’s the best!) for these are most of the serious bloggers seem to use this and I want to know why!
So I guess that’s what I am up to mostly. It sounds mostly negative so I need to stop crying like a little baby and start really working on networking and making my blog worth a read and find my own voice.
So far so many people have been helpful with or without them knowing. I now have many blogs that I read everyday and am attempting to become an active commenter as I know this is the a great way to enjoy the blogging experience and create awareness for my online presence.
If anyone has any ideas about any new schemes I should try then please let me know and I would love to give them a try.
Thanks, I’ll post an update on everything soon.
17. July 2007 at 3:20 pm
Welcome to my world! I’ve made less than $5 with Helium and AC combined. Adsense made $2.84 after 3 months of daily blogging! But I live in hope… I have a 5 year old successful website that earns anywhere between $200 – $300 each month in adsense – so I know it can be done. But I am new to blogging and it’s a different world altogether. Good Luck!
17. July 2007 at 4:33 pm
Since you wanted to know why people use WordPress. I’ll tell you why I switched. Don’t get me wrong I think Blogger is great, however, WordPress is a much more powerful platform and allows for more customization. There’s also many “plug-ins” available that provide you with great tools to optimize your blog.
17. July 2007 at 8:03 pm
Hey Forest,
Just wanted to wish you good luck and lots of success with your blog!
You’ve got a really great start for only being up for 10 days, so the sky’s the limit!
Shine on,
Aaron
18. July 2007 at 8:47 am
The main reason most of the serious bloggers use Wordpress is that it allows more control over what you present at your blog and how you present it.
Then there is also the fact that it is free, open source (you can change whatever you want if you are technically savvy enough), and because it has a large community behind it. Keep in mind that Wordpress is not the only choice. There are other free and open source alternatives out there to run your blog. But if you’re just starting out and don’t know much of the technical side of things, it’s a good place to start, because it is generally easy to use and has a lot of people who also use it and can help you out when you get into trouble.
About your quest for an online incoming. The good news is, it is possible. The (slightly) bad news is that it is not ridiculously easy as you are finding out for yourself. The main trick is to get more traffic at the end of the day, that will increase your earning potential.
You seem to be stuck about how to increase your PageRank. Simple answer: get more links to your site. More detailed answer – try these two things which will eventually get you where you want to go:
1) Submit your blog posts to Blog Carnivals regularly.
2) Join forums on topics of interest and add in your site address into your signature on the forum. Then proceed to be active on the forums and add useful comments to threads.
Do these things consistently and eventually (Google updates every 3 months), your PageRank will go up for sure.
Sorry for the long comment, but I thought you could use some straight forward answers. Best of luck with your blog.
18. July 2007 at 2:30 pm
Hi Forest, nicely done! Yes, WordPress is definitely going to make your life easier.
Never really took to Helium. I mean, I tried submitting some articles, got a couple of cents out of it, but never really understood how to make it profitable. I know some people have been successful, but I imagine they’re ones with more time on their hands.
19. July 2007 at 2:21 am
Hi Forest,
Just drop by and hope you are doing well with all your effort. I believe if you’re constantly putting in right effort and keep improving, your income will sure come from somewhere
Joanne
20. July 2007 at 9:40 am
Hey Mark, if you come back and see this, what is your URL?