10 Essential Tips for Launching Your Business Blog

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Are you thinking about launching a blog promoting your business? You are not alone. A recent study by GuideWireGroup revealed that close to 89 percent of businesses polled use blogs as a way to communicate with their customers. In another survey, Burson-Marsteller found that 15% of the companies on the Fortune 500 list have blogs. A successful business blog can generate tens of thousands of dollars in revenue each year, with figures for large corporations typically much higher.

This is proof that business blogging is becoming a mainstream marketing tool. That does not mean, however, that blogging comes easily or naturally for many companies, their owners and employees. Blogging, like any form of content, takes up quite a lot of time and resources - namely, you have to know how to write (or have access to good writers) and you have to update your blogs with fresh, original and insightful new material on a regular basis.

This is should in no way scare you away. It should, however, inspire you to learn the basics of business blogging before you turn your baby loose on the world. Planning your blogging strategy first is a wise move, because it gives your blog a greater chance of success. However, if you do not feel up to the challenge at all, you need not worry – outsourcing is always an option. Anyway, here are 10 tips for launching your business blog:

1. Identify your readers

Before you start writing anything, make sure you understand who your target audience is. This is also known as your “buyer persona”, which marketing guru David Meerman Scott defines as “...a distinct group of potential customers, an archetypal person whom you want your marketing to reach.” Basically, you want to tailor your topics to the group(s) of people who are most interested in your Products and/or services. Otherwise, you are missing the mark and losing out on potential leads and sales. To identify these buyer personas, there are 3 important questions you should ask yourself:

· Where do your customers come from?

· What type of content will be useful to them?

· Where do your customers hang out online?

2. Create social media accounts

If you have not already done so, register accounts with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube. Start with these four and expand later. This is important because you need places to post links to each new blog post, so that your groups, fans, and followers can read them. Posting on social media also encourages people to subscribe to your RSS feed, another great way to promote your blog.

3. Establish your social media presence

Lay the groundwork for later blog promotion by establishing relationships with your target audience. One of the best ways to do this is through social media. Now that you have accounts set up, you can join forums, listen to conversations and hear what people are saying about your industry. Add thoughtful and insightful comments whenever possible.(No spamming!) Outsource or hire employees to do this if you do not have enough time, but try to contribute every once in a while if possible.

4. Decide on a place for your blog

You can either put your blog on a page within your website or give it its own domain. Your choice depends largely on your goals. Do you want the blog to be part of your site, and linked to it directly? Or do you have plans to use your blog for other purposes, such as to earn revenue through ads or creating a secondary business from it?

A blog can help your website to rank higher, and it can also rank highly on its own. Therefore, think about your long-term objectives when deciding where to place it.

5. Choose a blogging platform

You have quite a few options here. WordPress is currently the premier choice for professional blogs, but you can also check out Joomla, Blogger, TypePad and others.

6. Use the right keywords

If you are placing your business blog on a page within your site, most likely you will be using the same keywords for your blog that you are already using for your site. If you have done good keyword research, then these are the keywords that best reflect your business. Ideally, they are also the search terms that people are using to find you. If you are placing your blog somewher else, consider if any keyword changes need to be made. You may want to take your blog site in a different direction from your site. Again, this depends on your goals for your blog.

Incidentally, if your blog does have its own domain, you will want the domain name to be brandable, easy for consumers to recognize and search engine friendly.

7. Plan your posts

Think about the direction you want your blog posts to go in. A good way to stay on track is to start with one main topic and draft a few entries in advance. Publish them on a regular schedule (can be automated!) and you will have a supply of targeted blog posts that add fresh content to your site and point back to your business each week. Coming up with topics can be a challenge, but there are a lot of helpful resources on the Web if you should get stuck.

8. Network with opinion-leaders

Once you have got your blog up and running, it is a good idea to check out other bloggers in your industry/field of expertise. See what they are doing, what they have to say, and leave insightful and helpful comments on their blogs. This kind of web networking will help you establish relationships with these people, which in turn will prompt them to help spread the word about your blog and your business. This kind of free advertising is invaluable. It connects you to credible and respected individuals within the blogosphere and markets your business for you.

9. Promote your blog

As mentioned earlier, offering a blog subscription through an RSS feed is an effective way to promote your blog. There are other ways to get the word out, as well. Write an optimized press release (PRWeb.com), submít articles to directories that link to your blog page, submit your blog to social bookmarking sites such as StumbleUpon and Digg (or set up an account with Ping.fm and have it done automatically). Make sure that you link to your blog posts in your social media posts.

10. Analyse results

If you are going to take the time to blog for marketing purposes, you will want to know how well you are doing, right? Since it relies primarily on the building of human relationships over time, blog ROI (Return Of Investment) can be tricky to measure. But there are many tools at your disposal to help you determine how much or how little your blog is contributing to the bottom line.

Free online tools like Google Analytics and Google Alerts provide you with information about how your customers are finding you online, and can tell you a lot about your blog page, in particular. Facebook Insights is a great way to track activity on your Facebook account. Many more tools are available, so look into them.

Like any project, launching your business blog is all about preparation. If you do your homework and lay a solid foundation, your blog will produce results (although it may take awhile). Keep in mind that blogging is a form of content marketing and, as such, is primarily about building relationships with customers. So, be patient, follow these tips, and watch your business grow!

Good luck!

 

P.S.: You might want to watch this highly informative video:

How to Get Better Visibility on Google

 

Related article:

Online Business Myths that are Way Off

 

 

Technorati-Tags: online business,make money,more traffic,business blog,marketing

How to Really Make Money with HubPages

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In this post I am going to show you what you can do to really make money with HubPages. You may have to invest quite a bit of time and work but in the end you will be among those who earn a substantial income by publishing successful articles (or hubs) on HubPages.

The obvious answer as to how to make money on HubPages is to actually have something to say. Some value to add. Some information to provide. While it is important to understand how to use keywords, you should not take it too far.

Do not become obsessed with SEO linking schemes and do not stuff your article with keywords. In short, do not overdo it. Provide good, useful information and do it consistently. Yes, I said consistently. The people who publish hubs on HubPages on a regular basis are the people who make the most money.

If you consistently write about a certain subject (which you do not need to do) it will help you establish yourself as an expert in a niche. But more importantly, it will enable more effective link building between your hubs. Write between 10 and 20 hubs on the same topic and interlink them all. It is always helpful to provide links to more pertinent and useful information.

If you write about honey-bees (wow, that is what I call random), write another hub specifically about the nutritional value of honey and another about the American or European honey industry and another about the actual honey making process and another about how bee-keepers go about collecting the honey.

I do not know if there are any honey-hounds among the people who read this article, but hey, it is just an example. I hope you get the point. This kind of coverage will help bounce traffic around between your hubs, will establish some authority, and will build trust from readers and will even help you earn backlinks from thematically related websites.

Notice that I wrote “earn” backlinks.  It is important to understand that a natural organic link from someone who genuinely finds your work interesting and helpful and thus wants to share it with their readers is priceless.  That is what the game is all about.  It is how you succeed with content online.  And, yes, it is how you make money as well. One natural link is worth a hundred forced links.

Making money on HubPages also requires doing a little bit of promotion.  To be honest, you are not required to do anything, but it will really help you gain exposure for your hubs if you build a few links to them. 

One of the best ways to get more traffic to your hubs other than understanding how to write for a specific audience and doing a bit of keyword research, is to create links from article directories.  Ezine Articles is probably the most widely known and consistently tops the Google search results pages for thousands of different niches. 

You are allowed to include two footer links at the bottom of your articles, which you can use to point to your other work at HubPages. Use keyword-rich anchor text to promote your hubs. Using the honey example, you could write a basic article about the health benefits and the downsides of honey. (Actually, honey, being a 100% natural product, has hardly any downsides.)  Make it around 400 - 500 words long and make it worthwhile – the Ezine Articles staff has to approve it. That means you have to meet their quality standards - which can be a little tricky in the beginning. Build at least one link to each of your HubPage hubs.

Write another hub titled something like “My Honey Hubs” or “All You Ever Wanted to Know About Honey” and include links to all of your honey-related hubs. This link post will give people a gereal view of all the content you have written; it is also a great way to build links. 

Another way to promote your hubs is by building a blog on one of the free platforms (Blogger or Wordpress.com, for instance) and linking to each of your published hubs with a short description of what it is about. This may help widen your search footprint and drive more traffic to your hubs.

See how each link-building exercise is also providing value at the same time?  This is what will work in your favor over time. If you consistently think about your audience and provide valuable information or entertainment, you will succeed in making money online – not just with HubPages, with any blog or website. 

So go get started making money on HubPages. 

To your success!

 

Related articles:

How to Make Money with HubPages

How to Make Money with HubPages 2: Backlinks

 

 

Technorati-Tags: HubPages,income streams,make money,affiliate programs,article writing,link building

Search Engine Optimization for Your Blog – 5 Tips to Get You Started

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Easy SEO Tips to Make Your Blog More Search Engine Friendly

Making your blog search engine friendly as well as easy to navigate for your visitors is at the core of SEO. Here are a few starter tips that will help you get more traffic and achieve what you want to online.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of making a blog or website more easily accessible to search engines and telling everybody - machines as well as people - what your site is about. This is the basic task of SEO. It is about making your website easily understandable and following certain standards and practices.

It is also about getting your blog or website ranked higher in the search engine results pages (SERPS) so that your site gets more traffic and you can more easily achieve your objectives.

Five Basic Tips for Better On-Site SEO

1. Write a Clear and Catchy Title that Includes Your Keyword(s)

This is a smart thing to do for two reasons. One, it clearly tells potential readers what your post or article is about and lets them know what they will get out of it. Two, it makes it clear to search engines that the term you use in the title is a very important one on that particular page. This will help said page rank higher in the search engine result pages for your chosen keyword(s).

2. Link to Your Homepage and Other Related Pages from New Blog Posts or Articles

When you write a new blog post you should link to related pages on the same site. Make sure to use keyword-rich anchor text that explains in a couple of words what the linked-to post is all about. This will help further strengthen the SEO of the page and will give your readers a clear path to information may also be interested in. You can also link to your homepage with the keywords you are focusing on for the site as a whole. Again, this helps your readers navigate the site with greater ease, keeps them on your site longer(hopefully), and will strengthen the SEO qualities of your homepage.

3. Use Your Chosen Keyword or Keyword Phrase in the Body of Your Content

Just like you want to use the keyword phrase in the title of your article, you want to make sure to use it in the body of your blog posts or website content. This will reinforce to search engines and website visitors alike what your content is about. If your blog is about “designer shoes for men”, you want to target that exact phrase and include it in the body of the writing. Studies have shown that you get the best results by using your chosen keyword or keyword phrase once every 80 -100 words, if possible.

4. Write Posts or Articles of Decent Length

Each piece of content you publish should be at least 250 to 500 words long. The more you write, the more material search engine bots have to work with when trying to figure out what your site is about. Longer, informative posts should increase traffic to your site over time, and the better written your work is, the more people will link to it, which will help your content in search rankings. You may also find that terms you have not thought about are bringing people to your site as well because you will have more combinations of words on every single page of your website.

5. Write Great Content that is Useful, Informative and Original

The most essential and most difficult of all SEO methods. People sometimes forget that the best way to enhance the success of a site is to write extraordinary articles that people will naturally want to link to, bookmark, and show their friends and family. Making sure your content is really good will help you more than any other search engine optimization methods every will. Focus on creating value for your readers - and you will have a successful site.

If you choose to apply only one of the methods mentioned here, this should be it: Write amazing stuff that people fall in love with.

It is very hard – if not impossible - to create a hugely successful blog overnight. The bloggers who are making a lot of money work harder than most and put in the hours to create great content. That being said, if you write something so useful, so helpful, so entertaining, or –hopefully - all of the above, you could be among the few who become successful almost overnight.

It takes work, dedication, and some promotion, but you can create a successful blog and even make money from your efforts. You can start a blog for free at Blogger.com or Wordpress.com, but you should also consider starting a blog on a private hosting service and with a domain name of your choice right away. The latter kind of blog will be more valuable in the long run since you will own it outright. Of course, you can always transfer a free blog to private hosting later on.

If you are looking for professional hosting, Just Host and Host Gator (and no, I am in no way affiliated with either one of them) are currently two of the best blog/web hosts and their rates are low (starting at around $ 4.95/month). You even get a free domain name for life with some of the plans. Kill two birds with one stone.

But whatever you do, always remember that the more work you put in, the better your blog will be in the long run. It can be very lonely at times when you feel like no one is interested in your work, but one day the flood gates will open and you will have a popular site.

Essential Information:

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization.

Better SEO leads to more readers, more subscribers, and making more money online.

SEO is the process of making your website more accessible to search engines. Basically, the clearer you are about the content of your site or its function, the easier people will find it and the higher it will rank in search engine result pages (SERPs).

Toyour success!

 

Related articles:

Great Content is Still the Best SEO Strategy

7 Tips for a Successful Website

 

 

Technorati-Tags: seo,search engine optimization,more traffic

7 Tips for a Successful Website

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In this post I am going to give you 7 tips that will help you make your Blog or website better and more successful. Whether you have a personal blog, a niche site, or a blog attached to your online business, these tips will surly help you make it great.

1. Write Longer Posts

A lot of “gurus” recommend writing short posts/ articles because people nowadays have short attention spans (especially online). While this may be true, there still are people who like to read detailed, informative, well-written posts. Furthermore, longer posts tend to have more of your keyword phrases in them which will help with your search engine ranking. Google is especially fond of long articles, whereas other search engines, Bing for instance, prefer articles in teh 250 – 400 word range. 

2. Make Your Blog Accessible

Use a two or three column theme which is not too cluttered. And do not make it an obstacle course for people to find out who you are. If readers get to know you better, it is easier for them to get “involved” in your site. They may even become regular visitors or subscribers. 

3. Write Strong, Catchy Titles

Try to use strong keywords related to your post in the title. And always deliver what the title promises. Also, create tags (and a tag cloud/list, if possible) that can help your visitors find what they are looking for more easily.

4. Add Images to Your Posts

Pictures are a great means for drawing your readers into the articles you write.  If nothing else, they keep the visitor´s eyes fixed on the page for an extra second or two. Do not forget to write a caption and alternate text for the images you add (which may help them get indexed by search engines). Print advertisements tend to have images for the express reason that they attract attention.

5. Promote, Promote, Promote,Promote,…

There is nothing wrong with letting people know what you are doing. There is a key though:  You should try to get in touch with people who run similarly themed blogs and websites. In general, people who write about or deal in some other way with similar stuff are more likely to be interested in what you are publishing. Of course, this is not always the case because interesting content gets noticed no matter what, but it is a good way to get started. Engage other site owners by posting comments that add to the discussion brought up by their work.

6. DO NOT QUIT

Quitting has to be the biggest reason why a blog or website fails. It may take six months or even a year before your blog or website takes off. Keep writing good, long, informative pieces and do everything in your power to connect with others. Learn a little about keywords, learn a little about link building, learn a little about internet marketing, and make sure that you enjoy what you are doing. If you are not having fun, then - and only then! - quitting probably is a good option. You can always start a new blog or website.

7. There is no #7

Oops, I just broke the promise of my title. Perhaps you feel somewhat betrayed (see #3 on this list), but I hope you see the point I am making. Always, ALWAYS deliver what you promise so that people will find what they are looking for and will want to come back.

Good luck!

 

Technorati-Tags: improve blog,internet marketing,make your website better,online business,more traffic,successful blogging

Great Content is Still the Best SEO Strategy

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SEO (search engine optimization) plays a very important part in developing a successful blog, website, or any other kind of online presence. You want the structure of your home to be solid, strong, and well-designed. 

The same is true for your website. 

When people say that SEO is not important or even a waste of time, they are terribly wrong. Making your site search engine friendly and easily navigable and findable is very important. 

But…(yes, there is a “but”)

It is NOT the most important thing. 

The CONTENT of your site is the most important thing.

It is easy to find yourself rushing through a blog post or an article so you can get to the promotion and link building part much faster. Successful bloggers know that their job isn’t done after they finish a post. It’s only the beginning–especially with a new blog.

An informative, well-written post can be pretty lonely without anyone to read it. And the truth is, people have a lot of options. There is plenty to read out there, so you have to find readers and traffic for your site. You have to promote your work.

The best thing you can do with regard to the SEO of your site, other than making sure its structure is sound and the site itself highly searchable, is to find high quality, relevant links.

And the best way to find these kinds of links is by writing original as well as useful or entertaining content that people – yes, wait for it – want to link to!

It is a much better use of your time to focus on creating amazing content than surfing the web trying to find people to trade links with. If the content you publish on your site is great, then links will be no problem. And they will all be highly desirable “one-way” links, not reciprocal!

So, when it comes to the actual content of your site, it will pay off to make it as useful, as informative, as amazing, as scandalous, as eye-catching, and as entertaining as possible.

Great content is – and will always be - the best SEO.

 

Technorati-Tags: seo,more traffic,content,one way links,free links

How to Add 125x125 Ad Spots To Your Blogger Blog

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Currently, 125x125 ad-spots are the most widely used ad dimensions in the blogosphere. For both publishers and advertisers these dimensions are perfect for displaying text and pictures in an attractive way. And these ads do not interfere too much with the blog's content.

So if you are too planning to sell some ad space on your Blogger blog with these 125x125 spots, just follow these simple instructions:

A lot of bloggers place and control this kind of ad-spots through CSS but the ones you can add by following this guide work with standard HTML, so as to keep the process as simple as possible. Furthermore, it allows for easy customization later on.

1. Log in to Blogger, navigate to Layout --> Add a Gadget --> select HTML/JavaScript from the menu.

2. Paste the following code into the HTML/JavaScript box:

<center><table border="0"><tr>
<th width="126" height="126" align="center"><img src=" http://i606.photobucket.com/albums/tt144/saxplayer2112/ad-125x125.gif "/></th>
<th width="126" height="126" align="center"><img src=" http://i606.photobucket.com/albums/tt144/saxplayer2112/ad-125x125.gif "/></th>
</tr><tr>
<td width="126" height="126" align="center"><img src=" http://i606.photobucket.com/albums/tt144/saxplayer2112/ad-125x125.gif "/></td>
<td width="126" height="126" align="center"><img src=" http://i606.photobucket.com/albums/tt144/saxplayer2112/ad-125x125.gif "/></td>
</tr></table></center>

Note: The code in green represents "no. of columns" (2 green lines=2 columns) and code in purple represents "no. of rows" (2 purple lines=2 rows).

3. Save the widget.

4. When an advertiser approaches you, replace the links in red in the code above with the code for the new ad.

TIP: Instead of displaying all 4 banners as „Advertise Here”, it is better to use a couple of them to show any affiliate ads you may already have and keep just one or two as „Advertise Here” spots.

You may use any of the following „Advertise Here“ banners (right click on picture and choose “save as”):

 

 

In this post I have shown you a simple method for adding 125x125 ad Spots to your Blogger blog. If you are interested in making money you should definitely add a couple of them to the sidebar of your blog.

Good luck!

 

Related article:

How to Add an Affiliate Banner to the Sidebar of Your Blogger Blog 

How to Add an Affiliate Banner to the Header of Your Blogger Blog

How to Add AdSense Ad Units or Affiliate Banners Above the Header of Your Blogger Blog

 

 

Technorati-Tags: blogger help,webmaster tools,ad placement,monetize blog,blogger tips

How to Add AdSense Ad Units or Affiliate Banners Above the Header of Your Blogger Blog

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A lot of people who are interested in monetizing their Blogger blog want to know how they can add a Google AdSense ad unit or an affiliate banner above the header of their blog. Therefore I am going to show you in this post how you can place an affiliate banner or Google AdSense banner/ad block right at the top of Blogger blogs.

Setting up Blogger so that ad units can be placed above the header requires the addition of a snippet of code to the template of your Blogger blog. This tutorial is aimed at beginners and newbies to Blogger and blogging. The adjustments can be performed in less than 5 minutes.

How to Add a Google AdSense Ad Unit or an Affiliate Banner Above the Blogger Header

1. Login to Blogger if not already logged in.

2. Navigate to Layout --> Edit HTML.

3. As a precaution back up your template by downloading the full template to your computer.

4. Check the Expand Widget Templates box.

5. Search for the following line of code which in most templates will be directly after the <body> tag (The easiest way to do this is by pressing Ctrl + F and then entering the line into the search box):

<div id='outer-wrapper'>

6. Paste the following block of code directly after this line to create a new section:

<div id='topads-wrapper'>
<b:section class='topads' id='topads' preferred='yes'/>
</div>

7. Next you need to add some CSS styling to the newly created section. Please note that the banner will be centered by default. If you want to change the alignment for some reason or other you just need to change the CSS styling.

Place the following code in the head section of your template before these lines:

]]></b:skin>
</head>

The code to be inserted:

/* Top Ads
----------------------------------------------- */
#topads-wrapper {
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
position: relative;
text-align: center;
width: 100%;
}
#topads {margin: 0; padding: 0;}
#topads .widget {margin: 0; padding: 5px 0;}

8. Click on Save Template.

9. Now go to Layout --> Page Elements.

10. You will find that you can add a gadget to a new section above your header and directly below the navbar.

How to Add a Google AdSense Ad Unit

Click on Add a Gadget and choose your preferred Google AdSense ad unit. The best choices for this position are the 728x90 Leaderboard, the 468x60 Banner, and the 728x15 or 468x15 Horizontal Lines. For best results choose either the Blend Template or Match Template option. Do not forget to save when you are done.

How to Add an Affiliate Banner

If you´d rather add an affiliate banner, click on Add a Gadget and choose the HTML/Javascript widget from the list of gadgets available in the menu. You then need to paste the affiliate banner code into the content box in the popup window and save your changes. Click on View Blog and you will see your new banner displayed above the header of your Blogger blog. For more detailed instructions about adding affiliate banners to a Blogger blog please refer to my article How to Add an Affiliate Banner to the Blogger sidebar.

Tips and Troubleshooting

a) If you wish to add more than one widget to the section above the header you will need to change the template code from:

<b:section class='topads' id='topads' preferred='yes'/>

to:

<b:section class='topads' id='topads' maxwidgets='3'>

This change to the template will allow you to add up to 3 widgets above the Blogger header.

b) If you wish to display your Google AdSense ad unit only on the post page and not the home page then you need to add an <b:if> statement. For instance go to Layout -- > Edit HTML after you have created your ad unit and you will see that the code you inserted is now different. That is because the Adsense widget code has been added. You are likely to have something that looks like this:

<b:section class='topads' id='topads' preferred='yes'/>
<b:widget id='AdSense7' locked='false' title='' type='AdSense'>
<b:includable id='main'>
<div class='widget-content'>
<data:adCode/>
</div>
</b:includable>
</b:widget>
</b:section>

By inserting the code within an <b:if> statement you will be able to control where it appears. To have the Google AdSense ad unit only display on the post page you need to add the following lines of code:

<b:section class='topads' id='topads' preferred='yes'/>
<b:widget id='AdSense7' locked='false' title='' type='AdSense'>
<b:includable id='main'>
<div class='widget-content'>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'>
<data:adCode/>
</b:if>
</div>
</b:includable>
</b:widget>
</b:section>

In this tutorial I have shown you how to create a new section above the header of your Blogger blog and how to add a Google AdSense ad unit or an affiliate banner to that spot. In addition I have shown you how to place the aforementioned Google AdSense unit or banner only on the post page rather than on every page of your blog. If you have any questions please leave a comment.

Good luck!

 

Related articles:

How to Add an Affiliate Banner to the Header of Your Blogger Blog

How to Add an Affiliate Banner to the Sidebar of your Blogger Blog

Better Google AdSense Placement for Blogger

 

Technorati-Tags: adsense,affiliate marketing,ad placement,adsense above header,monetize blog

How To Add An Affiliate Banner To The Header Of Your Blogger Blog

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If you are interested in making money from your blog, chances are you will want to add an affiliate marketing banner to the header of your Blogger blog. Doubtless you have seen plenty of websites sporting advertising banners which are creating revenue for the author by way of banner clicks. With a small amount of rather simple tweaking to your Blogger template you, too, will be in a position to boost the revenue earning capacity of your Blogger blog.

How to Add an Affiliate Banner to the Header of Your Blogger Blog

There are a number of good places for a banner or an ad block, but the header of a blog is by far the most prominent area. Unfortunately, Blogger does not provide an easy facility for inserting an advertising banner into the header of your blog. To manage this you have two choices:

1. Use a custom template that comes banner ready. (There are a number of templates out there with this feature built in.)

2. Customize your existing standard Blogger template.

This post focuses on choice # 2 and shows you how to go about manually editing your template to add an affiliate banner ad. By the end of this tutorial you will have the necessary knowledge to insert a banner into the header of your Blogger blog. The level of difficulty for the necessary additions is easy to intermediate, so pretty much everybody should be able to get this done in a matter of minutes. You will be adding a few lines of code to your template plus pasting in the affiliate marketing banner code.

For the purposes of this example I will be using a 468x60 banner. This specific method of banner insertion has been tested on the following standard Blogger templates:

Herbert
Rounders
Denim
Thisaway
Son of Moto
Sand Dollar

It will also work on most custom templates that do not already come with an advertising banner in the header built in.

How to Insert an Affliate Marketing Banner into a Blogger Blog

1. Login to Blogger.com and navigate to Layout --> Edit HTML.

2. On the Edit HTML page you will see the option to back up your template by downloading it to your system. I strongly advise that you take this opportunity to backup as you are about to make a change to your template where you may not be able to restore it if anything should go wrong.

3. Once you have backed up your template place a check mark in the Expand Widget Templates box.

4. Search your template and locate the following lines of code within the header section of the template (note you can search by using CTRL + F and entering <b:includable id='main'> into the search box):

<b:includable id='main'>
<b:if cond='data:useImage'>

5. Now insert the following 2 lines of code directly below <b:includable id='main'> and before <b:if cond='data:useImage'>:

<div class='ads'>
</div>

6. Place your merchant affiliate code between the lines of code you just inserted. You will need to copy the code from the affiliate program provider to your template (better still, copy it into a program like Word , piece the parts together, and then copy and paste the complete code into your template). If you have not as yet signed up for an advertising program such as Linkshare or Chitika you will need to do so before you proceed. Alternatively, you could use my banner code in the meantime to test this banner and later substitute it for your own.

<div class='ads'>PLACE YOUR BANNER CODE HERE
</div>

7. Review the code you have entered. If you have followed the steps above you will now have code that resembles this (Your affiliate code will of course be different):

<b:includable id='main'>
<div class='ads'>

<a href=https://chitika.com/publishers.php?refid=********** style="text-decoration: none;"><img src="http://scripts.chitika.net/eminimalls/logos/468x60.png" border="0" height="60" width="468" alt="Get Chitika Premium" title="Get Chitika Premium" /></a>

</div>
<b:if cond='data:useImage'>

8. When you are sure you have correctly inserted the code into the template scroll up until you find this line in your template:

]]></b:skin>

9. Immediately before this line add the following lines:

/* Header Banner
----------------------------------------------- */
#header .ads{width:480px; height:80px; float:right; padding:20px 0px 0px 0px}

10. Click on Save Template.

11. Click on View Blog to view your new banner.

Troubleshooting

• If you need to change the alignment or padding around the banner to your own specifications you will need to change the CSS stylesheet code entered in Step 9
• You can change the alignment of the banner by changing float:right; to float:left; if you would like your banner to left align.
• If you change your template for another standard Blogger template you may need to re-enter the code in Step 9.
• Sometimes the code you get from your affiliate may be incomplete. For instance, some of Chitika´s banner codes are missing the specifications for height and width. In this case you will have to enter height=".." and width=".." yourself.
• If you change the size of your banner you will have to change the specifications of the code you inserted in step 9 as well.

In this post you have learned how to insert a 468x60 affiliate marketing banner into the header of your Blogger blog and will now be well on your way to earning revenue from multiple income streams.

Good luck!

 

Related Article:

How to Add an Affiliate Banner to the Sidebar of Your Blogger Blog

 

Technorati-Tags: ad placement,adding affiliate banner,affiliate marketing,make money,monetizing blog,how to

How to Add an Affiliate Banner to the Sidebar of Your Blogger Blog

Your Ad Here

 

Quite a lot of people are interested in making money from their blog(s) and for this reason want to learn how to integrate affiliate banners into their Blogger blog. In this post, which is the first of a series, I shall show you how to place a banner (or, in fact, any number of banners) in the sidebar of your Blogger blog. Although this tutorial is primarily aimed at newbies, but it may offer helpful tips for anyone interested in making money by adding an affiliate banner to the sidebar of their Blogger blog.

How to Add an Affiliate Banner To the Sidebar of Your Blogger Blog

Adding an affiliate banner to the sidebar of your Blogger blog is fairly easy. Just follow these step by step instructions:

1. Join an affiliate marketing program like Clickbank, Commission Junction or Chitika and select your merchant or the products you want to advertise.

2. Decide on the size of the merchant banner or banners you wish to display in your sidebar. Make sure that whatever size you choose will fit into the sidebar space - otherwise your banner ad may not be displayed properly on your blog. Typical sizes suitable for sidebars are:

• small rectangular banners 125x90, 125x125 or 150x150
• square banners 200x200 (if space allows)
• short vertical banners 120x200
• column style skyscraper banners 120x600 or 160x600

3. After choosing your banner you will be presented with the merchant code to display the banner. Right click to select all and right click again to copy the code (Ctrl + C) to the clipboard of your computer.

4. In a new tab or window login to Blogger and navigate to Layout --> Page Elements.

5. Click on Add a Gadget in the Sidebar. If you are using a customized template you may have 2 or more different sidebars, so decide which of them you want the banner ad to be displayed in.

6. Select the HTML/Javascript widget from the Add a Gadget menu.

7. Place your mouse in the content box of the Configure HTML/Javascript widget and right click. Choose paste (Ctrl + V) to insert the merchant code of your banner ad into the content box.

8. In the title box add a Title like Sponsored Ads if you wish, otherwise leave it blank.

9. Click on Save.

10. Use Blogger's drag and drop feature to pick up your new HTML/Javascript widget and position it where you want your banner ad to show up in your sidebar.

11. Save the Layout.

12. Click on View Blog to see your new banner ad in action.

How to Add Space Between Your Banner Ads

If you want more space between your banner ad and the previous widget you can add <p> before the code you inserted in the HTML/Javascript widget. If you need even more add another <p>

How To Center Your Advertising Banner

If you want to center your banner ad insert <center> before the merchant code and </center> after it.

How to Add More Than One Banner

If you want to add more than one banner ad to the same widget you can do that by pasting the code for the second banner ad below the first lot of code. If you want some white space between the banners ads insert <p> between each block of code.

In case of trouble

Your Banner Is Not Displayed

Your banner ad should appear right away. If your banner ad is not displayed at all then there is a problem with the widget you have just created. Retrace your steps, making sure you have inserted all of the code.

Only a Placeholder for the Banner Is Displayed

If you see a placeholder but no ad is displayed then the affiliate website may be off line or there may be a problem with the code in some way. Go back and make sure you copied all of the code correctly. (Sometimes the / is missing at the end of the code. Remember: All HTML code commands must be closed with a corresponding command: <a> with </a> and so on. The providers of widget and affiliate codes sometimes forget to do this.)

 

In this post I have shown you how to add an affiliate marketing banner to the sidebar of your Blogger blog and provided solutions for two of the most common problems that you may encounter. In upcoming posts on banner advertising I´ll show you how to place banners in a variety of other spots on your blog. So why don´t you bookmark this site so you can return easily?

Good luck!

Related article:

How To Add An Affiliate Banner To The Header Of Your Blogger Blog

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Technorati-Tags: ad placement,adding affiliate banner,affiliate marketing,make money,monetizing blog,how to

Online Business Myths that are Way Off

Your Ad Here

 

Just like any other occupation, running an online business is burdened with collective beliefs, common knowledge, and myths that are sometimes far from the truth. In this post I am going to tell you about some of these myths.

1. Building a successful online business is easy

A lot of self-styled “gurus” may lead you to believe that starting an online business is as easy as a stroll in the park. Get a website going, put up a few ads and money starts pouring in. Unfortunately, this is far from the truth. Starting a business on the internet is just as hard as starting a business in the “real” world, it is just as competitive – if not more so -, and can be just as demoralizing. That being said, if you are an authority in your field or a hard worker with great ideas, then you will climb to the top. But it will take time.

2. An Online business requires a different skills than an “ordinary” business

An online business is just that - business. Almost everyone who has a blog or website talks about “social media” and “web 2.0″ and the amazing opportunities tools like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter create for online businesses. And it is true, these sites do open up new ways to make money – if you know how to use them to stay connected to your audience.

But if you do not know how to connect to people in the first place or do not have a valuable service or product to offer, then these social networks and blogging services are not going to magically help you get your message out and make sales for you.

If you have sales skills or marketing skills or the ability to create a buzz around your blog or website, then you will be able to make a huge impact in the internet business world. Remember, the rules are just the same as in the real world. Create a great product, provide great service, and get as many people as possible interested in what you have to offer. Hit it out of the park for people, and you will win.

The only difference is that instead of having customers come into your store from the street, your store is visiting your target audience via computer screen or mobile phone display in their living rooms. Or any other place that has wifi.

3. Online business is just for nerds

This could not be farther from the truth. Sure, it undeniably helps to know your way around a computer, but internet tools are now so easy to use that you really do not need a lot of technical or design expertise. If you can operate a keyboard and a mouse and are willing to put in a little effort to learn about things you do not as yet know much about, then you will be able to create a viable online business.

You can also make use of existing skills if you are interested in working on the internet. If you are a writer (copy-writer, journalist,..) you can start a freelance writing business, and if you are a web designer or social media pro you can do likewise. You can even become an information entrepreneur and provide information and advice via blogs or websites and monetize your sites in many different ways. For all of you content writers out there, please read my post on how to make money with HubPages.

4. Internet marketing is nothing but spam

Sure, there is a loooot of spam out there, but there are also hundreds of thousands of legitimate companies doing business online. Every single brand name company has (and has to have) an internet presence. If they did not, they simply would not exist. There is nothing shady about doing business online. In fact, I would be surprised if in the foreseeable future you will be able to do any business at all without using the internet.

As people gravitate more and more towards the web to do their shopping, find information, communicate with friends, and plan trips and flights, there will be ever more opportunities for online businesses. If you are not preparing your small business for an all-internet world you may be left behind.

5. I cannot start an online business because the Internet is too crowded

The internet is crowded and it gets more crowded every day. But guess what, the streets of many town are also crowded with businesses, but new businesses start and established businesses fold every day.

Google and all the other search engines are becoming better at weeding out the fraudulent, worthless, and spam sites, which makes it easier for the high quality online businesses to shine. Search engine traffic is probably the most important factor in becoming a success on the internet, and if you play by the rules and create a great product or offer a valuable service, you will rise to the top, as the best often do.

6. I do not have time to start my own online business

Building an online presence is probably the easiest as well as cheapest way to further the success of almost any business, big or small. Precious few companies will be able to avoid doing business online. A website or an e-commerce store selling your product is virtually a must.

A good and easy way to start is by creating a blog. It is not as time-consuming as you might think – and  you can do it for free. Start a free blog at Blogger.com or Wordpress.com, find a custom template online that fits well with the product(s) or service(s) you offer (you want a professional-looking online presence, don´t you? ), and start getting your message out. There are a lot of things you can do with a blog with regard to promoting your company and your brand. Even just getting out there and promoting yourself will help you a great deal.

The people who work the hardest and are willing to try out different ways of doing business in order to find out what works best will be the most successful. The internet just helps by making everthing faster. This means that your business can become successful within a short period of time, but it can go down the drain just as quickly.

One of the best things the internet provides though is free access to your target audience, world-wide. You can find and reach out to your community on so many fronts, it is ridiculous. And you can do most of it for free because all it takes it time and the willingness to work hard. Getting your message across and driving targeted traffic to your blog or website are important aspects of the online game. But having an amazing product or service is the most important thing.

Create an amazing product that fulfills a need or solves a problem in an interesting or new way - and you just might become the next online millionaire.

Good luck!

 

Related article:

12 Steps to Successful Blogging

 

 

Technorati-Tags: internet business,online business,online marketing,online business myths