For quite a while now I've been a big fan and promoter of KeyWord Analyzer, by Chris Lee and Goran Nagy. I do believe that it's the best product on the 'net for doing keyword and niche research, whether it's for Google, Yahoo, PPC advertising, SEO....whatever it is. I use it myself, and it really has been great.
Well, Chris and Goran have just released the internet's first desktop AdWords campaign management tool, Adwords Dominator. If you use AdWords to any extent, you've got to at least do a review of it. For examplke, wouldn't it be great if:
* you could manage your whole AdWords account just on one screen
* you could easily search and sort your AdWords campaigns information
* you could tell in just one chart curve which campaigns are successful
* you could find duplicate keywords across all your AdWords campaigns
* you could see exactly which ads are working best
* you could easily Globally edit your AdWords ads
With AdWords Dominator, you can do this and a whole bunch more. Since it has just been released, early purchasers can get a significant discount, so I'd suggest you take a look at it quickly, as I'm sure that the price will go up as a result of the pent up demand for this type of tool.
Be sure to check out the 4 minute video of how AdWords Dominator works. It's really neat, and shows you quickly how powerful this tool is!
Don't be shy to let me know if you have any questions on it. I've been communicating with Chris quite a bit the past several weeks, and he and Goran are renowned for being extra responsive to prospects and customers alike.
Sunday, January 29, 2006
How to maximise your AdSense profits
10 factors determine how much profit you will make from your AdSense participation.
1. How much traffic your site gets
2. How many pages on your site host AdSense ads
3. What the click thru rate from each page is
4. What the value of each click is
5. How many ads appear on each page
6. Where these ads are located
7. What format these ads are in - size, location, layout and color scheme
8. Google's fractional pay out rate
9. How much of your site's traffic is from new as opposed to repeat visitors.
10. How valuable Google regards your site.
To maximise your site's profits from AdSense you ideally should optimise all these factors. However, some are out of your control: Google's fractional payout rate for example. This is the percentage of the revenue that Google earns from a click that it passes on to you.
Google doesn't tell you it's payout rate at present but you can run an experiment to find out what it is.
How to measure the Google AdSense payout rate
1. Set up an ad for an obscure fictional product such as a "frilltribbler"
2. Create a web page dedicated to that product and nothing else - make sure you put your product name in the metatags, the page title and the headings and then make up some wording about the product in the body of the page
3. Sign up that page for AdSense and create a separate channel to monitor earnings off that page
4. Create an AdWords ad for that product and select content-targeting for the AdGroup you place the ad in
5. Wait for your ad to appear on your site
6. Visit the page and click on your ad
7. Check your AdSense earnings for that ad
8. Check your AdWords account for that ad
9. Compare the two
Optimising the factors that affect your AdSense income could take you some time so what you should focus on initially are the factors that are going to work in your favor most quickly with the minimum effort.
They are ALL covered in detail in the AdSense Insider Course so sign up now on the Facts About AdSense home page.
1. How much traffic your site gets
2. How many pages on your site host AdSense ads
3. What the click thru rate from each page is
4. What the value of each click is
5. How many ads appear on each page
6. Where these ads are located
7. What format these ads are in - size, location, layout and color scheme
8. Google's fractional pay out rate
9. How much of your site's traffic is from new as opposed to repeat visitors.
10. How valuable Google regards your site.
To maximise your site's profits from AdSense you ideally should optimise all these factors. However, some are out of your control: Google's fractional payout rate for example. This is the percentage of the revenue that Google earns from a click that it passes on to you.
Google doesn't tell you it's payout rate at present but you can run an experiment to find out what it is.
How to measure the Google AdSense payout rate
1. Set up an ad for an obscure fictional product such as a "frilltribbler"
2. Create a web page dedicated to that product and nothing else - make sure you put your product name in the metatags, the page title and the headings and then make up some wording about the product in the body of the page
3. Sign up that page for AdSense and create a separate channel to monitor earnings off that page
4. Create an AdWords ad for that product and select content-targeting for the AdGroup you place the ad in
5. Wait for your ad to appear on your site
6. Visit the page and click on your ad
7. Check your AdSense earnings for that ad
8. Check your AdWords account for that ad
9. Compare the two
Optimising the factors that affect your AdSense income could take you some time so what you should focus on initially are the factors that are going to work in your favor most quickly with the minimum effort.
They are ALL covered in detail in the AdSense Insider Course so sign up now on the Facts About AdSense home page.
Blogging for Profit Using AdSense
This article is designed to teach you how to profit from blogging, writing to a website in the form of regular posts, without spending anything. The keys to this idea lie in two of Google’s programs, Blogger.com and AdSense.
The first obvious step is to find a niche. While it is possible to have a general interest blog, it may not be as profitable as targeting a specific subject (click here to read the logic behind targeted advertising).
Once you settled on a subject you like, its time to set up your blog. Blogger.com is great for beginners. Not only is it free (and free of ads, unlike most free hosting services), it has integrated support for AdSense (more on this later). For now, pick a suitable but catchy name and choose one of the pre-made designs.
Of course, now you have to start making posts to your blog. There are two main types of posts. The most common type of content on blogs seems to be commentary plus a link to the actual news source or website of interest. Then there are original content posts which will have others link to you (much like you do in your commentary posts). Either way, make sure its interesting to have readers coming back.
Now its time to apply for Google’s AdSense program. AdSense is a pay per click program which matches ads to the content of your page. Every time a visitor to your site clicks on one of these links, you receive a small amount of revenue (the minimum advertisers can bid for a link is $0.05, of which you receive a percentage. Many phrases can have bids as high as several dollars per click).
The content of your site determines what ads appear, and therefore how much you will ultimately make. The placement and appearance of ads, however, can have just as great an impact on how much you make.
There are a few tips for maximizing ad revenue. First, the appearance of the add itself is important. Google clearly labels all its units as advertising, but allows you to determine the colors of the links and the background. It is important that this match the look of your site. The more blatant an ad is, the more likely it is to turn off visitors. Just as important is the location of the ad units. They should appear on the top half of your page, and preferably on the left side. This insures the ad is viewed by most visitors.
Having covered the basics, its now time for you to experiment to discover what works best for your new blog. The best part is, it costs nothing to try.
The first obvious step is to find a niche. While it is possible to have a general interest blog, it may not be as profitable as targeting a specific subject (click here to read the logic behind targeted advertising).
Once you settled on a subject you like, its time to set up your blog. Blogger.com is great for beginners. Not only is it free (and free of ads, unlike most free hosting services), it has integrated support for AdSense (more on this later). For now, pick a suitable but catchy name and choose one of the pre-made designs.
Of course, now you have to start making posts to your blog. There are two main types of posts. The most common type of content on blogs seems to be commentary plus a link to the actual news source or website of interest. Then there are original content posts which will have others link to you (much like you do in your commentary posts). Either way, make sure its interesting to have readers coming back.
Now its time to apply for Google’s AdSense program. AdSense is a pay per click program which matches ads to the content of your page. Every time a visitor to your site clicks on one of these links, you receive a small amount of revenue (the minimum advertisers can bid for a link is $0.05, of which you receive a percentage. Many phrases can have bids as high as several dollars per click).
The content of your site determines what ads appear, and therefore how much you will ultimately make. The placement and appearance of ads, however, can have just as great an impact on how much you make.
There are a few tips for maximizing ad revenue. First, the appearance of the add itself is important. Google clearly labels all its units as advertising, but allows you to determine the colors of the links and the background. It is important that this match the look of your site. The more blatant an ad is, the more likely it is to turn off visitors. Just as important is the location of the ad units. They should appear on the top half of your page, and preferably on the left side. This insures the ad is viewed by most visitors.
Having covered the basics, its now time for you to experiment to discover what works best for your new blog. The best part is, it costs nothing to try.
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Run Ads on Your Blog
One of the most common ways bloggers are cashing in on web logs is by running advertisements. If you wish to automate your blog ads service, two of the most popular services available are: Google AdSense and BlogAds.
Using some ad services, such as Google AdSense, is just a matter of signing up for the service, customizing the code, and adding the code in to your blog. With ad services like BlogAds, you need to submit an application and get approved before you can use the service.
Matt Haughey, who runs PVR Blog, is just an example of a blogger who gained some success in using Google AdSense.
Even if your blog is not in the 'Top Weblogs List,' you can still profit from running ads. One way to make this work is by writing specialized and targeted content. For example, if you're passionate about vintage clothes, you can see that there are advertisers for this topic when you do a search on Google. So, go ahead and write about what you're passionate about and make sure to add your ad service codes not only in the main page of your weblog but also in the individual archived entries.
One thing you might want to keep in mind before signing up for any ad network service is that some of them may not allow you to run several codes from various services in one page. Always check the terms and conditions to verify this.
To see what other ad network service is currently available, see Advertising Networks for Blog Publishers. You can also check out Webster Flooble's Ad Network Listing.
Using some ad services, such as Google AdSense, is just a matter of signing up for the service, customizing the code, and adding the code in to your blog. With ad services like BlogAds, you need to submit an application and get approved before you can use the service.
Matt Haughey, who runs PVR Blog, is just an example of a blogger who gained some success in using Google AdSense.
Even if your blog is not in the 'Top Weblogs List,' you can still profit from running ads. One way to make this work is by writing specialized and targeted content. For example, if you're passionate about vintage clothes, you can see that there are advertisers for this topic when you do a search on Google. So, go ahead and write about what you're passionate about and make sure to add your ad service codes not only in the main page of your weblog but also in the individual archived entries.
One thing you might want to keep in mind before signing up for any ad network service is that some of them may not allow you to run several codes from various services in one page. Always check the terms and conditions to verify this.
To see what other ad network service is currently available, see Advertising Networks for Blog Publishers. You can also check out Webster Flooble's Ad Network Listing.
Sunday, January 22, 2006
How to Register a Web Site With Search Engines
Search engines catalog and index Web sites so users can find what they're looking for quickly and easily. Registering your site will make it more likely to be found by the people you're trying to reach.
Steps:
1. Use meta tags and keywords on your Web pages. Keywords are used by search engines to index pages into a searchable database. See Related eHows for more.
2. Register with individual search engines, such as Yahoo, by going to the search engine's home page and looking for a button or text link called Add URL or Add Web Page.
3. Click on this link to get directions for submitting your Web site.
4. Several sites offer site submission services. The most popular service, Submit It, allows you to enter keywords and descriptions, and choose which sites to submit your page to.
Tips:
Some of the submission sites offer for-cost services that include higher ranking or more in-depth descriptions.
Warnings:
When you submit your e-mail address through a third-party submission site, your e-mail address is often sold or given to marketing companies. Sign up for a free e-mail address (see "How to Get a Free E-mail Account") where you can direct all Webmaster e-mails.
Steps:
1. Use meta tags and keywords on your Web pages. Keywords are used by search engines to index pages into a searchable database. See Related eHows for more.
2. Register with individual search engines, such as Yahoo, by going to the search engine's home page and looking for a button or text link called Add URL or Add Web Page.
3. Click on this link to get directions for submitting your Web site.
4. Several sites offer site submission services. The most popular service, Submit It, allows you to enter keywords and descriptions, and choose which sites to submit your page to.
Tips:
Some of the submission sites offer for-cost services that include higher ranking or more in-depth descriptions.
Warnings:
When you submit your e-mail address through a third-party submission site, your e-mail address is often sold or given to marketing companies. Sign up for a free e-mail address (see "How to Get a Free E-mail Account") where you can direct all Webmaster e-mails.
Saturday, January 21, 2006
How to make profit with a blog?
How to make your blog more usable...
Weblogs are different than webpages, we are all aware of that. But there are some basic usability improvements that can be made to blogs in order to make the visitor experience much more pleasant. Over at useit.com they have created a great article outlining some of the biggest issues with blogs today and what can be done to easily improve the usability of a blog. Please take a read!
We have included some of the suggestions here and how you can easily make your own blog much more usable to your end users using Blogware:
No Author Biographies makes the blog impersonal – by adding a “webpage” into your blog you can have a permanent link to your own “about me” page. This is different than an article, instead it is a component that lives on the side of your blog that users can access easily.
No Author Photo makes it impersonal – this same “about me” webpage can also easily include pictures
Classic Hits are Buried inside the blog – By creating a favorites list inside your blog, you can easily point your visitors to classic articles that you have written.
The Calendar is the Only Navigation – by taking advantage of Blogware’s nested categories you can easily allow users to navigate to areas of your blog that will be of interest to them. Add a "category tree" to your blog to ensure that users can find what they are looking for. Consider adding a "search" function as well!
Mixing Topics will dilute your users and their dedication – again, by using your categories, and potentially controlling access to certain categories you can make your blog seem specific to one topic.
Having a Domain Name Owned by a Weblog Service seems less serious- By working with your retailer, you can easily have your own personalized Domain name to work with your blog. This will present you as the serious blogger that you are!
More suggestions are at the article noted above. Easy changes to your blog will make it much more usable for your visitors! Good luck!
Weblogs are different than webpages, we are all aware of that. But there are some basic usability improvements that can be made to blogs in order to make the visitor experience much more pleasant. Over at useit.com they have created a great article outlining some of the biggest issues with blogs today and what can be done to easily improve the usability of a blog. Please take a read!
We have included some of the suggestions here and how you can easily make your own blog much more usable to your end users using Blogware:
No Author Biographies makes the blog impersonal – by adding a “webpage” into your blog you can have a permanent link to your own “about me” page. This is different than an article, instead it is a component that lives on the side of your blog that users can access easily.
No Author Photo makes it impersonal – this same “about me” webpage can also easily include pictures
Classic Hits are Buried inside the blog – By creating a favorites list inside your blog, you can easily point your visitors to classic articles that you have written.
The Calendar is the Only Navigation – by taking advantage of Blogware’s nested categories you can easily allow users to navigate to areas of your blog that will be of interest to them. Add a "category tree" to your blog to ensure that users can find what they are looking for. Consider adding a "search" function as well!
Mixing Topics will dilute your users and their dedication – again, by using your categories, and potentially controlling access to certain categories you can make your blog seem specific to one topic.
Having a Domain Name Owned by a Weblog Service seems less serious- By working with your retailer, you can easily have your own personalized Domain name to work with your blog. This will present you as the serious blogger that you are!
More suggestions are at the article noted above. Easy changes to your blog will make it much more usable for your visitors! Good luck!
Friday, January 20, 2006
Blogger and Profits
Allison Gower was already running two companies, one a promotional packaging outfit and the other an advertising startup called qtags. So she had plenty of doubts when she sat down last spring with consultant and qtags investor John Wagner to ask if it made sense to add one more job -- chief blogger -- to her long list of duties.
A blogger himself, Wagner said yes. The logic was clear. While many traditional businesses can afford to take a wait-and-see attitude toward blogs, it's a different story for buzz-hungry startups in technology and marketing. The universe of self-published Web logs is the most active and fastest-growing part of the Net. The blogosphere brims with contacts, potential customers, and fresh ideas. Done right, blogging is like setting up a booth in the biggest trade show on earth -- every single day. Qtags couldn't sit it out. In April, Gower dutifully opened an account at blogging service Typepad.com (wordpress.org is another), and joined the rush of entrepreneurs into blogs.
Gower was well aware of the risks. It's no secret that one easy way to win attention online is to post something foolish or embarrassing on a blog, or to have things go horribly wrong. Suddenly, as other bloggers gleefully link to your postings, your flop or faux-pas takes a high-profile tour of the world. Paul Purdue, the blogging chief executive of iFulfill.com, a mail-order fulfillment company in Maumee, Ohio, gained a mass audience for his blog only when his company was in its death throes in late July. The result? Blog readers saw scores of angry comments from frustrated customers.
Before starting a blog, business owners should set out guidelines to keep the blogs free of trade secrets, inside information, or libel. You should also monitor comments posted by others on the blog to make sure it stays free of spam, libel, and even porn.
Blogs are so new that liability in many of these areas has yet to be tested, but consultants urge caution. "Employees and executives who aren't attorneys just don't realize how they're putting themselves at risk," says Joshua Estrin, president of Concepts in Success, a consultancy in Plantation, Fla. Before beginning, it's not a bad idea to get an expert to lay out the risks particular to your business. One place to start is with the non-profit group Pro-bloggers, at www.probloggers.org.
It's easy for beginners to tune into the bloggers' world safely, though. The easiest first step is to call up a blog search engine, such as Technorati.com, and type in the name of your company or product. There you can see which blogs are talking about your company and what they're saying.
Gower took a cautious approach. In the early months, she laid low, getting a feel for blogs in qtags' corner of the market, the intersection between mobile telephony and advertising. She posted a few items, but barely linked to other blogs. That made it tougher for other bloggers, using search engines or direct feeds, to see Gower, who was still learning the lingo and mores of the blog world. "We thought that until we got comfortable with it, we'd keep it close-knit," she says.
In July she picked up the pace. She's linking to other blogs. A few link to her. And her work is starting to pay off. The vague assurances she sometimes gets when calling an advertiser or an agency for a meeting often turn into solid appointments after the would-be client visits her blog. "We can see who's Googling us, and we can see how they get there," she says.
Perhaps equally important is what Gower is learning. Participating in the blog world pushes her to read other blogs. "I know now that I need to learn," she says. "It's opened me up to the world." That might be the biggest payback for all her extra work.Allison Gower was already running two companies, one a promotional packaging outfit and the other an advertising startup called qtags. So she had plenty of doubts when she sat down last spring with consultant and qtags investor John Wagner to ask if it made sense to add one more job -- chief blogger -- to her long list of duties.
A blogger himself, Wagner said yes. The logic was clear. While many traditional businesses can afford to take a wait-and-see attitude toward blogs, it's a different story for buzz-hungry startups in technology and marketing. The universe of self-published Web logs is the most active and fastest-growing part of the Net. The blogosphere brims with contacts, potential customers, and fresh ideas. Done right, blogging is like setting up a booth in the biggest trade show on earth -- every single day. Qtags couldn't sit it out. In April, Gower dutifully opened an account at blogging service Typepad.com (wordpress.org is another), and joined the rush of entrepreneurs into blogs.
Gower was well aware of the risks. It's no secret that one easy way to win attention online is to post something foolish or embarrassing on a blog, or to have things go horribly wrong. Suddenly, as other bloggers gleefully link to your postings, your flop or faux-pas takes a high-profile tour of the world. Paul Purdue, the blogging chief executive of iFulfill.com, a mail-order fulfillment company in Maumee, Ohio, gained a mass audience for his blog only when his company was in its death throes in late July. The result? Blog readers saw scores of angry comments from frustrated customers.
Before starting a blog, business owners should set out guidelines to keep the blogs free of trade secrets, inside information, or libel. You should also monitor comments posted by others on the blog to make sure it stays free of spam, libel, and even porn.
Blogs are so new that liability in many of these areas has yet to be tested, but consultants urge caution. "Employees and executives who aren't attorneys just don't realize how they're putting themselves at risk," says Joshua Estrin, president of Concepts in Success, a consultancy in Plantation, Fla. Before beginning, it's not a bad idea to get an expert to lay out the risks particular to your business. One place to start is with the non-profit group Pro-bloggers, at www.probloggers.org.
It's easy for beginners to tune into the bloggers' world safely, though. The easiest first step is to call up a blog search engine, such as Technorati.com, and type in the name of your company or product. There you can see which blogs are talking about your company and what they're saying.
Gower took a cautious approach. In the early months, she laid low, getting a feel for blogs in qtags' corner of the market, the intersection between mobile telephony and advertising. She posted a few items, but barely linked to other blogs. That made it tougher for other bloggers, using search engines or direct feeds, to see Gower, who was still learning the lingo and mores of the blog world. "We thought that until we got comfortable with it, we'd keep it close-knit," she says.
In July she picked up the pace. She's linking to other blogs. A few link to her. And her work is starting to pay off. The vague assurances she sometimes gets when calling an advertiser or an agency for a meeting often turn into solid appointments after the would-be client visits her blog. "We can see who's Googling us, and we can see how they get there," she says.
Perhaps equally important is what Gower is learning. Participating in the blog world pushes her to read other blogs. "I know now that I need to learn," she says. "It's opened me up to the world." That might be the biggest payback for all her extra work.
A blogger himself, Wagner said yes. The logic was clear. While many traditional businesses can afford to take a wait-and-see attitude toward blogs, it's a different story for buzz-hungry startups in technology and marketing. The universe of self-published Web logs is the most active and fastest-growing part of the Net. The blogosphere brims with contacts, potential customers, and fresh ideas. Done right, blogging is like setting up a booth in the biggest trade show on earth -- every single day. Qtags couldn't sit it out. In April, Gower dutifully opened an account at blogging service Typepad.com (wordpress.org is another), and joined the rush of entrepreneurs into blogs.
Gower was well aware of the risks. It's no secret that one easy way to win attention online is to post something foolish or embarrassing on a blog, or to have things go horribly wrong. Suddenly, as other bloggers gleefully link to your postings, your flop or faux-pas takes a high-profile tour of the world. Paul Purdue, the blogging chief executive of iFulfill.com, a mail-order fulfillment company in Maumee, Ohio, gained a mass audience for his blog only when his company was in its death throes in late July. The result? Blog readers saw scores of angry comments from frustrated customers.
Before starting a blog, business owners should set out guidelines to keep the blogs free of trade secrets, inside information, or libel. You should also monitor comments posted by others on the blog to make sure it stays free of spam, libel, and even porn.
Blogs are so new that liability in many of these areas has yet to be tested, but consultants urge caution. "Employees and executives who aren't attorneys just don't realize how they're putting themselves at risk," says Joshua Estrin, president of Concepts in Success, a consultancy in Plantation, Fla. Before beginning, it's not a bad idea to get an expert to lay out the risks particular to your business. One place to start is with the non-profit group Pro-bloggers, at www.probloggers.org.
It's easy for beginners to tune into the bloggers' world safely, though. The easiest first step is to call up a blog search engine, such as Technorati.com, and type in the name of your company or product. There you can see which blogs are talking about your company and what they're saying.
Gower took a cautious approach. In the early months, she laid low, getting a feel for blogs in qtags' corner of the market, the intersection between mobile telephony and advertising. She posted a few items, but barely linked to other blogs. That made it tougher for other bloggers, using search engines or direct feeds, to see Gower, who was still learning the lingo and mores of the blog world. "We thought that until we got comfortable with it, we'd keep it close-knit," she says.
In July she picked up the pace. She's linking to other blogs. A few link to her. And her work is starting to pay off. The vague assurances she sometimes gets when calling an advertiser or an agency for a meeting often turn into solid appointments after the would-be client visits her blog. "We can see who's Googling us, and we can see how they get there," she says.
Perhaps equally important is what Gower is learning. Participating in the blog world pushes her to read other blogs. "I know now that I need to learn," she says. "It's opened me up to the world." That might be the biggest payback for all her extra work.Allison Gower was already running two companies, one a promotional packaging outfit and the other an advertising startup called qtags. So she had plenty of doubts when she sat down last spring with consultant and qtags investor John Wagner to ask if it made sense to add one more job -- chief blogger -- to her long list of duties.
A blogger himself, Wagner said yes. The logic was clear. While many traditional businesses can afford to take a wait-and-see attitude toward blogs, it's a different story for buzz-hungry startups in technology and marketing. The universe of self-published Web logs is the most active and fastest-growing part of the Net. The blogosphere brims with contacts, potential customers, and fresh ideas. Done right, blogging is like setting up a booth in the biggest trade show on earth -- every single day. Qtags couldn't sit it out. In April, Gower dutifully opened an account at blogging service Typepad.com (wordpress.org is another), and joined the rush of entrepreneurs into blogs.
Gower was well aware of the risks. It's no secret that one easy way to win attention online is to post something foolish or embarrassing on a blog, or to have things go horribly wrong. Suddenly, as other bloggers gleefully link to your postings, your flop or faux-pas takes a high-profile tour of the world. Paul Purdue, the blogging chief executive of iFulfill.com, a mail-order fulfillment company in Maumee, Ohio, gained a mass audience for his blog only when his company was in its death throes in late July. The result? Blog readers saw scores of angry comments from frustrated customers.
Before starting a blog, business owners should set out guidelines to keep the blogs free of trade secrets, inside information, or libel. You should also monitor comments posted by others on the blog to make sure it stays free of spam, libel, and even porn.
Blogs are so new that liability in many of these areas has yet to be tested, but consultants urge caution. "Employees and executives who aren't attorneys just don't realize how they're putting themselves at risk," says Joshua Estrin, president of Concepts in Success, a consultancy in Plantation, Fla. Before beginning, it's not a bad idea to get an expert to lay out the risks particular to your business. One place to start is with the non-profit group Pro-bloggers, at www.probloggers.org.
It's easy for beginners to tune into the bloggers' world safely, though. The easiest first step is to call up a blog search engine, such as Technorati.com, and type in the name of your company or product. There you can see which blogs are talking about your company and what they're saying.
Gower took a cautious approach. In the early months, she laid low, getting a feel for blogs in qtags' corner of the market, the intersection between mobile telephony and advertising. She posted a few items, but barely linked to other blogs. That made it tougher for other bloggers, using search engines or direct feeds, to see Gower, who was still learning the lingo and mores of the blog world. "We thought that until we got comfortable with it, we'd keep it close-knit," she says.
In July she picked up the pace. She's linking to other blogs. A few link to her. And her work is starting to pay off. The vague assurances she sometimes gets when calling an advertiser or an agency for a meeting often turn into solid appointments after the would-be client visits her blog. "We can see who's Googling us, and we can see how they get there," she says.
Perhaps equally important is what Gower is learning. Participating in the blog world pushes her to read other blogs. "I know now that I need to learn," she says. "It's opened me up to the world." That might be the biggest payback for all her extra work.
Way to make profits
Web logs, or blogs, which started out as a labor of love, are becoming a moneymaker for writers who are selling advertising on their sites.
Some top bloggers who carry advertising say they make hundreds or, in a few cases, thousands of dollars a month. The typical take is more like $20 to $50 a month, which covers the cost of running a typical Web site.
A blog is an online journal typically written by an individual. Some are devoted to single topics, such as pets, poets or politics. Others are stream- of-consciousness musings on anything and everything. Most blogs are updated daily and feature links to other blogs.
The premiere of easy-to-use blogging software has increased their popularity.
Technorati, a San Francisco research company, says there are about 2.5 million blogs, with 10,000 being created each day.
The Pew Research Center estimates that between 2 and 7 percent of adult Internet users write a blog, and 11 percent visit blogs.
Although blogs have been around for about five years, it is only in the last year or two that advertising has been popping up on them.
The percentage of blogs that have ads is still quite low, but it is likely to grow now that companies like Google are making it easy for bloggers and advertisers to connect.
Bloggers whose readership consists of a few dozen friends and family, the usual case, are not likely to attract advertisers.
To lure ads, bloggers say a site should be about a specific product or subject. Henry Copeland, founder of Blogads, says people who want to sell ads on their blogs should plan to work on them hours a day for at least 18 months to develop a following.
"This doesn't happen overnight. You have to build a voice, a relationship, " he says.
Some people fear advertising will corrupt blogging and encourage bloggers to write for money, not passion.
"The presence of advertising clearly pollutes the simplicity of the relationship between the writer and the reader. But I think it would be really simplistic and indefensible to argue this is a unique problem in the blogging space," says Tim Bray, a blogger whose day job is director of Web technologies at Sun Microsystems.
Thanks to the Internet, "you can now self-publish. If you can build an audience, you can get paid for it," Bray says.
Here's a look at three different ways bloggers can make money:
Blogads: Blogads is a small North Carolina company run by Copeland.
Advertisers go to www.blogads.com and choose the sites they want to appear on. Prices range from $5 a week on Heretical Ideas to $700 a week on Daily Kos.
Most sites cost $20 to $50 a week, with discounts for monthly contracts. Blogads gets 20 percent of the rate; the blog gets the rest.
Blogads has a lot of political bloggers and advertisers.
Glenn Reynolds, a law professor who runs the libertarian blog Instapundit. com, starting running Blogads three months ago.
Reynolds says he's been pleasantly surprised at the results. Ads on his site cost $375 a week ($1,000 a month), and he made $4,000 in each of the last two months.
"I don't think I'll make that much this month. There's an initial wave of excitement which is likely to phase out," he says.
His site gets about 150,000 page views and 110,000 visits per day.
Reynolds and his wife even appear in one of his advertiser's ads, wearing the advertiser's "conservative T-shirts."
Google Adsense: Instead of selling ads on specific sites, Google Adsense sells ads linked to certain words that appear in the content of sites.
Bloggers say they like this approach because it provides relatively unobtrusive ads their readers might want to see.
Bray joined the Google Network by inserting some code on his blog, www.tbray.org/ongoing. That took about 15 minutes.
Among other things, Bray's site features a lot of flower photography. Now when visitors go to a page about flowers, they might see an ad for ordering tulips online, he says.
Advertisers pay Google each time a user clicks on their ads. Google gives a portion of this revenue to the site where the ad appears. Google won't disclose its prices or revenue share, and it forbids bloggers from disclosing them.
Bray says he makes about $200 to $500 a month from Google ads, after subtracting his Web hosting charges, which he won't disclose.
The average site pays $10 to $15 a month for Web hosting, although popular ones pay $50 to $100 or more.
Matthew Haughey, who runs Google ads on his TiVo-related Web site, pvr. blogs.com, says, "I'm making hundreds of dollars a month, but most people are making $5 a week."
Because Google is preparing to go public, it would not comment on Adsense. Its prospectus discloses that Adsense is a fast-growing part of its business, but it is less profitable than the advertising Google sells on its own search site.
Amazon Associates: While technically not advertising, Amazon. com has offered bloggers and other Web sites a way to make money since 1996 through its Associates program.
Sites that join the program link content on their site to books, consumer electronics and other products sold on Amazon. If a visitor clicks on the link and buys the product, the Web site gets a percentage of the revenue. This cut has been as high as 15 percent but is currently 2.5 to 10 percent, depending on the product. New York City blogger Jason Kottke, who runs www.kottke.org, participates in the program. No ads show up on his site, but if visitors click on a book or DVD he writes about, they may be transported to Amazon.com.
"I point to Amazon because it is informative," says Kottke. "I get maybe $100 a month from the Amazon links, sometimes less. It depends on how many books I'm reading or DVDs I'm watching."
Kottke says his site, which is mainly about science, media, design, technology and New York, gets 12,000 to 15,000 visitors a day.
Net Worth runs Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. E-mail Kathleen Pender at kpender@sfchronicle.com.Thursday, January 19, 2006
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