Some cynics claim that blogging is a fad and is dying off,
solid data proves otherwise! And indications show that the
trend is still in the very early stages of growth and is
going to go ballistic!
You may be surprised to discover that blogging has in fact
been around a lot longer than most people think.
Here's a potted history:
o June 1993 Netscape begins running it's What's New! list
of sites.
o Jan 1994: Swarthmore student Justin Hall creates first
blog ever.
o April 1997: Dave Winer launches Scripting News. His
company, Userland, will release Frontier, Manila and Radio
Userland, all website and blog content software.
o Dec 1997: Online diarist Jorn Barger coins the term
"Weblog" for "logging the Web."
o April 1999: Programmer Peter Merholz shortens "Weblog" to
"blog."
o July 1999: Pitas launches the first free build your own
blog web tool.
o August 1999: Pyra releases Blogger which becomes the most
popular web based blogging tool to date, and popularizes
blogging with mainstream internet users.
0 Jan 2000: Boing Boing is born.
Fast forward...
o June 2003: Google launches AdSense, matching ads to blog
content.
o Sept 2003: Jason Calacanis founds Weblogs, Inc., which
eventually grows into a portfolio of 85 blogs.
o Dec 2004: Merriam-Webster declares "blog" the "Word of
the Year."
o Jan 2005: Study finds that 32 million Americans read
blogs.
o Oct 2005: Calacanis sells his blogs to AOL for $25
million.
o Dec 2005: An estimated $100 million worth of blog ads are
sold this year.
All of this took place well before most of today's web
users had actually heard the term "blog".
In December 2007 blog search engine Technorati tracked more
than 112 million individual blogs on the blogosphere,
confirming that blogging has become and is set to continue
as a massive, mainstream trend.
Not surprisingly, many blog owners look to converting their
online journals into some form of income generator. This
begs the question; Is it possible to earn money (even big
money) from blogging?
Results show that as more people figure out ways to
monetize their blogging activities, it is very possible to
generate an income from a tightly targeted niche blog.
While many bloggers will find they can make some money from
their blogs, it is a fact of life that there will be a few
who just "Get It" and apply techniques which blast their
blogs into money-making hyperdrive.
One such person who has done this is UK based 22-year-old
Rob Benwell who claims to earn six-figures from his
blogging empire.
Rob maintains that his massive success is down to five
simple but little used techniques (he calls the 5 Blogging
Commandments) which have literally transformed his blogs
into non-stop cash machines.
1. "Most people are still on the SEO kick," he explains.
"They stuff keywords into posts and go overboard trying to
fool the search engines. Blogs should be more organic and
imitate nature. Google,Yahoo and MSN are looking for
quality sites by real people, not someone spitting out
hundreds of blogs each month filled with keywords and ads."
2. "Every post should offer visitor value. This doesn't
mean it has to change their lives or anything. Even posts
about a related article with a link or a product review are
good. Blogs filled with RSS vomit don't offer value and
won't last."
3. "Your blog should have people coming back again and
again. RSS buttons help and an opt-in newsletter that
offers more than just updates is always a good idea. The
number one way to get people to come back is to give
excellent, likable content."
4. "After extensive tests I've seen huge differences in
blogs that are kept up to date against others that don't
get new (or very few) posts. You don't have to post every
day or even every week, but make sure you don't just set
them up and forget about them because they will die off."
5. "If you are after making the most money you can from a
blog, then the most important decision you make will be the
market you blog for. So make sure you research it well
beforehand."
Rob has written a step by step blueprint which lays bare
everything he does to build long term, profitable niche
blogs, and although from a grammatical standpoint, it could
be improved, the information in this publication goes way
beyond anything else that is available regarding turning a
standard blog into a fully focussed cash generating
mechanism.
As rough and ready as it may be, this is a great resource
for any blogger who wants to earn money (dare I say big
money) from their daily posts... I've already started to
make the recommend changes to my own sites. See you at the
bank!
----------------------------------------------------
Dave Foster owns and operates the "Solo Profits" blog and
podcast, helping to guide individual entrepreneurs and
home-based business owners to online success. To draw upon
the wealth of solo business information at the "Solo
Profits" blog and podcast - Click Here ==>
http://www.soloprofits.com
To find out more about the recommended resources in this
article click here: ==>
http://www.soloprofits.com/blogbank.html
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