Blogger vs WordPress

Blogger vs WordPress - Where should I Blog?

Blogger vs. WordPress: The Ultimate Comparison With Pros & Cons

by MAHESH MOHAN

Blogger.com (or simply Blogger) and WordPress are the two most popular blogging platforms on the web. Of course, there are tons of other free blogging platforms like Tumblr, LiveJournal, Medium, Blog.com, etc. but I’m going to focus only on Blogger and WordPress.

Blogger.com is also known as BlogSpot as all the Blogger.com blogs are hosted as a subdomain of blogspot.com. For example,http://googlesystem.blogspot.com (it’s an unofficial blog about Google). The best thing about Blogger is that it’s absolutely free and is owned by Google.

WordPress is the most loved Content Management System (CMS). In fact, 20% of the web or 48% of all CMS sites are powered by WordPress. It’s a software that lets you create, manage and publish your content seamlessly. WordPress has two flavors, namely: WordPress.com (the free hosted version — like example.wordpress.com) and WordPress.org (self-hosted version — like my blog).

So, WordPress or Blogger: Which is better?

Well, there is no definite answer as the selection of a blogging platform depends entirely upon the purpose of your blog. While a self-hosted WordPress blog is suitable for almost all your publishing needs it may not be the right choice.

For instance, if you just want to start a blog as a hobby then Blogger.com and WordPress.com is the perfect choice. And if you are a freelance writer or a photographer who is looking for a platform to showcase your portfolio then WordPress.com could be a better choice, as Blogger.com blogs are not that appealing (unless you hired a developer to design a custom template).

Finally, if you want to start a blog as a hobby but also plan to monetize it someday then you should go for a self-hosted WordPress blog (powered by WordPress.org). But if you can’t afford it then you can still start one on Blogger.com or WordPress.com and migrate to WordPress.org when you are ready.

Here’s a list of the pros and cons of each platform so that you can select the right one that matches your personal requirements. And I have also included a comparison table (see table below) to highlight the differences between Blogger.com and WordPress.com.

Blogger.com: Pros and Cons

Blogger Dashboard

Blogger.com is easy to setup but it doesn’t look much professional since the features are limited and more controlled. But the good thing is… managing a BlogSpot blog is just like managing your Facebook account.

Pros
-- You don’t have to pay a penny. It’s FREE — forever — with no ads!
-- You can start a blog and publish your first blog post in less than 10 minutes as it’s insanely easy.
-- You can manage your blog the way you’re managing your favorite social network.
-- You don’t have to submit your content to Google as your blog posts are search engine friendly and are automatically indexed by Google.
-- You don’t have to take any backups as your blog is backed up automatically.
-- You don’t have to take care about its security as it’s taken care by Google.
-- You can map your existing domain name to your Blogger account for free.
-- You can add scripts or custom codes to some extend.
-- You can monetize the blog with ads — from Google AdSense, Amazon, etc.
-- You can customize the blog template to change its appearance.
-- You can upload your own templates or can buy a new one from a third-party if you don’t like the default templates.
-- You can publish as much content as you want because there is no storage limit. Thanks to Google Cloud.

Cons
-- You can’t customize the blog post link structure.
-- You may have to buy a new template (or hire a developer to customize the template) as the default themes are not so appealing.
-- You don’t technically own your blog. If they believe that you are violating their terms of service then they may suspend your account forever.
-- You don’t get FTP access.
-- You can’t upgrade your blog as there are no paid upgrades or add-ons available.

WordPress.com & WordPress.org: The Two WordPress Flavors

WordPress.com & WordPress.org are the two flavors of WordPress and both have its own advantages and disadvantages. The name “WordPress” may not be as popular as “Blogger.com” or “BlogSpot” among readers but most probably their favorite blog is powered by WordPress.

WordPress.org is an open-source blogging software. So, anyone can download the WordPress software from WordPress.org and install it on their website for FREE. And then you own it and you manage it.

WordPress.com is the hosted version of WordPress.org and is owned by Automattic (the company who created WordPress). Since it’s managed by Automattic, you don’t have to worry about upgrades, installation, security or maintenance.

WordPress.com offers a free version with limited features as well as a paid version with premium features.

When you sign up for a free WordPress.com account your blog address will look like: your-username.wordpress.com and if you choose the self-hosted version of WordPress (that is, WordPress.org) then you can start your blog with a branded address like your-name.com.

WordPress Dashboard

WordPress.com: Pros and Cons

WordPress.com is great for beginners who want to start their own personal blog. Because there is no need to download any software or plugin or themes and absolutely no coding skills are required.

It’s simple to use. However, it may take some time to get to know its interface if you are new to blogging. And it’s also perfect for hobby bloggers or professionals who want to showcase their portfolio online.

The best thing about WordPress.com is that you can upgrade anytime to enjoy their premium features. For instance, you can purchase premium themes for one-time fees or can map your existing domain name to your free WordPress blog for $13/year.

And the best thing is… when you want to take your blog to the next level or want to enjoy WordPress to its fullest then you can upgrade to a business plan or can migrate to the self-hosted WordPress platform (by purchasing a web hosting plan).

When you migrate to a self-hosted blog you will be comfortable since both platforms share the same interface and options. But that’s not the case when you are migrate from Blogger.com.

Pros

-- You guessed it right. It’s FREE — forever!

-- You don’t have to care about upgrades or security or spam control as it’s already taken care.

-- You don’t have to worry about backups either.

-- You will love WordPress once you become familiar with its interface and features.

-- You don’t have to submit your content to Google as your blog posts are search engine friendly and are automatically indexed by Google.

-- You have the option to purchase a premium theme without upgrading to a premium plan.

-- You can upgrade the features of your blog as there are a lot of paid upgrades available.

-- You can automatically share your latest blog posts to social media channels.

-- You can map your existing domain name by purchasing their Domain Mapping Upgrade (it costs $18/year and only $13 if you already own the domain name).

-- You can join their ad network WordAds to monetize your blog and make money. But you will need a custom domain name to be eligible.

Cons

-- Your blog may display ads to non-logged in visitors. Or you have to buy the “No Ads Upgrade” for $30/year to remove ads.

-- You can’t customize the blog post link structure.

-- You don’t technically own your blog. If they believe that you are violating their terms of service then they may suspend your account forever.

-- You don’t get FTP access.

-- You can’t install any of those 3rd party WordPress plugins. If it’s anything that makes WordPress special then they are plugins. It’s plugins that can transform your blog into anything that you could imagine.

-- You can’t add custom codes or scripts.

-- You can’t add 3rd party web analytics services like Google Analytics (because you can’t add custom codes).

-- You have to give footer credits — apart from ads. So, they will add “Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com” plus a credit to the theme designer at the footer of all pages.

-- You have to pay a Domain Mapping fee even if you own the domain name. It’s free in Blogger.com.

-- You will end up paying a lot of money as their paid plans and upgrades are pretty expensive. For instance, it costs $99/year for the WordPress.com Premium package (with limited resources) when it costs only around $60 if you start a self-hosted WordPress blog.

-- You will find that the add-ons are also expensive. For example, if I start a on WordPress.com with a custom domain and want to make it ad-free with custom colors then it will cost $18 + (Domain Mapping) + $30 (Custom Design) + $30 (No Ads) = $78. Remember it’s the price of few add-ons and you still can’t enjoy Premium Themes or Plugins.

-- Your final cost of owning a free WordPress.com blog will be much higher than a self-hosted blog if you buy a few add-ons.

-- You get only limited disk space — 3 GB. If it’s a photography blog then you will soon exceed the available disk space and will be forced to upgrade.

-- You can’t monetize the blog with your own ads.

WordPress.org: Pros and Cons

WordPress - Dashboard

WordPress is a state-of-the-art semantic personal publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability.

WordPress.org is an open-source software and is the big daddy in the blogosphere. It’s very flexible, so you can customize it the way you want. That’s why majority of the top 100 blogs are powered by WordPress.

If you have a domain name and a web hosting plan then you can install WordPress from the control panel of your web hosting account in less than 5 minutes (yes, almost all web hosting companies offer one-click WordPress installation).

Or, you can download WordPress from WordPress.org and install on your server manually (very few people do it that way).

The best thing about WordPress.org is that it’s the awesomest platform to showcase your talent and build your personal brand.

Although you don’t have to be a computer whiz to start and manage a WordPress blog, it does require some technical skills (or at least assistance). Because it involves few things like: domain names, web hosting, FTP, backup, updation, security, spam control, maintenance, etc. But it’s not a big deal if you are willing to learn because there’s a tutorial for anything that’s related to WordPress.

Pros

-- You own your blog and it’s you who is responsible for its content.

-- You can customize the blog post link structure.

-- You can monetize your blog the way you want. Unlike WordPress.com blogs, there are no forced advertising.

-- You can control each and every aspect of your blog.

-- You have access to a gazillion Free and Premium WordPress Themes.

-- You can install any of those 3rd party WordPress plugins to transform your blog into almost anything you can imagine.

-- You don’t have to pay any licensing fees as WordPress is an open-source software (like Linux).

-- You can add any custom scripts or codes to your blog if they are compatible with WordPress.

-- You can add any of those 3rd party web analytics services like Google Analytics.

-- You get a huge SEO advantage when compared to free hosted blogs like WordPress.com or BlogSpot.com. Because it’s you who is in control of the technical aspects of your blog.

-- You blog is not limited to publishing alone. You can transform your blog into an E-commerce website or a membership website.

-- You can easily create your own professional email ids — you@example.com — as you own a server.

-- You can get support from the web as there are hundreds of tutorials and support forums available.

-- You can additionally get professional support for your blog as there are thousands of WordPress developers around the globe.

-- You can also get support from your web hosting company. They won’t help you to manage your blog but they offer technical support related to security, backup, performance, etc.

-- You can install WordPress on your server in less than 5-minutes. Thanks to all web hosting companies as they made it super-easy.

Cons

-- You have to buy a domain name and web hosting plan. Yes, it comes at a cost. The WordPress software is free but you will need a domain name and a web hosting plan. It will cost at least $60/year to buy a reliable web hosting service and an additional $10-15/year for a domain name.

You will see yourself learning a lot of geeky stuff. It can bother you if you are not interested in those things.

-- You can setup your WordPress blog in less than 10-minutes but managing the blog is not that easy as it requires some basic knowledge about some technical components like PHP, HTML, CSS, SQL, FTP, etc

-- You may find it difficult to cope with if you are totally new to blogging. But you can always get support from the official WordPress.org Support Forum (they’re really nice).

-- You are responsible for the security and maintenance of your blog. So, you have to make sure that the WordPress software and all your plugins are up-to-date as otherwise it may be vulnerable to attacks. Anyways, it’s not so hard and can be done in few clicks.

-- You will need more server resources as your blog grows and it means your cost will also increase. If you are on WordPress.com or Blogger.com then you don’t have to worry about scalability as you get unlimited bandwidth.

-- You have to fight spam by yourself as comment spam is a big problem for WordPress.org users. So, you have to make sure that the blog is configured with the right plugins to fight spam.

-- You have to take regular backups. It’s one of the most important task but luckily there are a lot of plugins that does that job. Additionally, you can also consider backup services offered by your web hosting company.

Blogger vs. WordPress: The Ultimate Comparison

Features	Blogger.com	WordPress.com
Owned by:	Google, Inc.	Automatic, Inc.
You get a free blog address like:	Example.blogspot.com	Example.wordpress.com
Can you map your existing domain name – your-name.com?	Yes (It’s free)	Yes (But it costs $13/year)
You get a storage space of:	Because there is no limit on the number of posts that you can have. Go here to see the other limits on Blogger.	3GB It’s the total storage limit for content, photos, or whatever you publish.
What about the storage for images?	If you have upgraded your Google account to Google+ then your Blogger.com photos will be stored in Google+ Photos and you get 15GB free storage. Otherwise, your photos will be stored in Picasa Web and it gets you only 1GB storage.	You can upload photos until you hit the total storage limit of 3 GB.
How many photos can you upload?	You can upload unlimited media because only photos over 2048x2048 pixels and videos longer than 15 minutes count toward your storage limit.	You can upload as many photos as you want until you hit the available storage limit of 3GB.
Can you upload word documents, PDF’s, spreadsheets, presentations?	No, but you can upload them to Google Drive and share its link.	Yes, but you need a premium plan to upload audios, videos, and zip files.
What is the file size limit?	There is no limit but they recommend file sizes up to 1GB.	There is a limit of 2.50 MB for images uploaded via mobile.
Is there a limit on page size?	Individual blog posts do not have a page size limit but individual blog pages (home, archive, pages, etc.) have a page size limit of 1 MB.	No
Is there a limit on data transfer bandwidth?	No	No
Do they show ads?	No	Yes (It costs $30/year for ad-free account)
Can you display your own ads?	Yes (You can monetize the blog with AdSense or any other ad networks)	No (But you can monetize the blog with WordAds if you are eligible)

Can you invite team members?	Yes, you can add new admins and authors.	Yes, you can add new administrators, authors, editors, and contributors.
Can you upgrade your blog?	No, there are no premium plans or upgrades available.	Yes, you can visit the Store (available in your WordPress Dashboard to add premium features).
Can you connect your blog to your social media channels to automatically share your content?	No	Yes
Can you publish a new blog post by email?	Yes	Yes
Can you customize the theme?	Yes	No
How many themes are available?	You can install the available ~ 50 themes or can find one from the internet.	You can install any of the available 300+ (includes free & premium) themes.
Can you install 3rd party themes?	Yes	No
Can you install 3rd party plugins?	There are no plugins for Blogger.com but you can add widgets with custom codes.	No
Can you add scripts or custom codes?	Yes	No
Do you get FTP access?	No	No
Can you integrate Google Analytics?	Yes	No (but every WordPress.com comes with WordPress Stats)
Can you import content from other blogging platforms?	No, but you can import content from another blogspot.com blog.	Yes, you can import content from Blogger.com, LiveJournal, Posterous, Tumblr, Xanga, etc. and also from other WordPress blogs.
Can you edit comments?	No	Yes
Can you password protect posts?	No	Yes
Is your blog search engine friendly?	Yes	Yes
Can you access the blog via mobile?	Yes	Yes
How can you organize your content?	You can organize your posts by using Labels.	You can organize your content by using Categories and Tags.

As you might have already imagined, both Blogger.com and WordPress.com has its own pros and cons. But the problem is… when you start a blog on any of those platforms you don’t own the blog.

If they believe that you are violating their terms of service then they may shut down your blog. A few years back Google has labelled the blog of a top finance blogger as spam and suspended it (yes, it was powered by Blogger.com) because of a controversial blog post.

That’s the reason why every pro blogger prefer a self-hosted WordPress blog over hosted ones Blogger.com, WordPress.com, Tumblr.com, etc.

Again, just because a self-hosted WordPress blog is awesome doesn’t really mean that it’s the perfect choice for you. You can always try any of the other blogging platforms and switch to WordPress when you’re ready.

So, which is your favorite blogging platform and why?

Happy Blogging!

WAYS ON HOW TO EARN CASH WHILE BLOGGING

So now you have created a Blog. Whether you chose Blogger or WordPress, this guide still applies. The first thing you wanna do is to build up your contents, there is no way you will earn cash without contents. Make it long too. Pretty much you must have to complete your blog BEFORE continuing. Categorize your blog, whether its about games, sell your products, etc,.

After building up your blog, the 2nd step is to start marketing your blog. By marketing, I mean ways to make it Search-Engine Optimized, Meaning, searchable in Goolge search, Yahoo and to any other search engines. So how do you do this?

1. SEO And Internet Marketing Basics

Internet Marketing is just a really scary way of saying “Promoting Your Blog To Get More Traffic.”

When you start a new blog it’s unrealistic to expect that you’re going to become a marketing expert or that your blog will be #1 in Google with millions of hits per month. If that’s what you’re thinking, *sigh*…

What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

SEO is the practice of getting your blog to rank better in the search engines. There are many types of SEO, from the words in your posts to the way other sites link back to your site, and even making sure that the search engines can find the information on your site.

Search engine companies spend a lot of time making sure that their results are relevant, useful, and accurate. What that means to you is that you need to make your blog’s content relevant, useful, and accurate.

Want a successful blog? Your goal is very simple…

Become a trusted source of high quality information for your readers.

Top 3 Ways To Market Your Blog

One of the best things that you can do to show the search engines that your blog is important is to promote yourself. That means getting your blog out there and sharing your posts with other people.

In Content SEO

In content SEO is structuring your posts and using the right words so that the post gets ranked in the search engines. The words we use and how we use them in our blog posts are critical components in our SEO strategy.

Social Media

Social media is here to stay, so if you’re not already active on social media sites, then it’s time to roll up your sleeves and get busy.

Email List Building

You may not think that having an email list is important, but it’s still the best way to share and communicate with your audience and time after time, when it comes to making money with your blog, the money is in the list. So start building your list now.

2. Social Media 101

What is Social Media?

At its core, social media is simply the exchange and sharing of ideas and information through technology.

Social media is about sharing, connecting, and building relationships. Unlike traditional media, it’s a two-way communication. It not only allows you to broadcast your message, but it allows your readers and followers to respond to your message.

Which Social Media Sites Should I Use?

The short answer to this question is that you should use the social media site that you relate with most.

If you’re already active on any of the sites below, then use that one. Social Media platforms are as diverse as we are and the goal of social media marketing is to connect with your readers. Chances are, they are on the same social media platform as you.

If you’re purely in it for the money, then stick to the top 4 in the list below, they have the largest audiences.

For now, pick JUST ONE. It’s important to master a single social media platform before trying to add another one. If you sign up to too many sites at one time, both your time and your content will get diluted.

Popular Social Media Sites

Facebook

Facebook is probably the most well-known social media site. You can create a personal profile (or a Page if you’re a business), add friends, message them, and create status updates.

Get started with Facebook

Twitter

Twitter is social networking and micro-blogging site that lets you stay connected through the exchange of short status messages, or “tweets”. Tweets are messages limited to 140 characters or less.

Get started with Twitter

Google+

Like it sounds, Google+ is the social networking component of Google. It’s quite possible the most powerful and most confusing social media platform yet.

Get started with Google+

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a “professional” social network targeting professional and business relationships. The guidelines for what you can post and share is more strict that either Facebook or Twitter.

Get started with LinkedIn

Instagram

Instagram is a mobile photo-video sharing and social networking service that enables its users to take pictures and videos, apply digital filters to them, and share them. Users can follow other users and comment on their feeds.

Get started with Instagram

Pinterest

Pinterest is more of personal media sharing than a social media. Pinterest allows users to save images and categorize them on different boards. They can follow other users’ boards if they have similar tastes.

Get started with Pinterest

YouTube

YouTube is a video sharing a social media site. Users can upload, share, and favorite videos. They can also comment on other videos and post video responses.

Get started with YouTube

3. 5 Step Social Media Marketing Plan

Here is a 5-Step Social Media Marketing Plan that you can use over and over again as you add new social media platforms to your marketing efforts.

Step 1: Select A Social Media Platform

If you’re not already active on any of the social media sites, an easy way to find the best one for your niche is to look at your competitors. Search for the leaders in your niche and look at their number of Facebook, Twitter, Google+ followers.

If they have 200,000 Facebook fans but only 1,000 twitter followers that’s a good indication that Facebook may be a better fit for your niche than twitter. (but it could just also mean that the other blogger is more active on Faceboook – so check more than one competitor…)

Step 2: Set Up Your Social Media Profile

Include your primary keywords in the title and description if possible. You should always be thinking of creative ways to include your blog’s primary keywords anywhere that links to you.

Write a good description about you or your business. Be as detailed as possible, but don’t share any information that you do not want to be public. A good place to start is to look at what you wrote in your about page on your blog.

Use a real photo of you – preferably a headshot. Social media is about connecting with people and you can’t do that if you’re hiding behind a fake persona. Your picture should match your personality – whether silly or goofy, your readers need to know the real you.

Link to your blog either in the About section, or some of the social media sites provide a section to include links to your websites. (Also make sure to link to your social media account from your blog using a widget like Simple Social Icons – BlogPress provides this one for you.)

Step 3: Meet People

Find and follow the key influencers in your niche. You should have found some of these when you were researching your top competitors in 5 Important Questions lesson.

Next, look to see who they follow and selectively follow those people. We’re building a network but if you’re the new guy on the block, you need to take the first step. CAUTION: do not blindly follow as many people as you can – be very selective and only follow the key people in your niche.

Once you’re following these people, you will start seeing their posts in your feed. Take the time to make intelligent comments and participate in the discussion. Share their posts. They may not follow you back initially because you’re too new. Show them that you’re here to stay and that you can add real value. Only then will they follow you back and recommend you to their friends.

You should try to do this a little each day or each week. If you follow 1000 people your first day on a social media site, you will look like a spammer.

Don’t forget to follow back. Sooner than you think, you will start getting new followers. Selectively follow those people back. I say selectively because you don’t want to clutter up your feed with junk. Make sure that they are interesting and relevant as well.

We have made some very influential, long-term friends on social media. That’s not going to happen if you come across as a slimy spammer who only promotes his own stuff. Social media is very much “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours”.

Step 4: Share Interesting Content Regularly

It’s important to share your own content, but it’s also important to share related content in your niche. Your content should be a mix of text, images, and even video.

The more interesting, relevant, and useful your content is, the more it will be liked, shared, and linked.

What is interesting content?

-- Articles, images, and videos from your website and other related websites

-- Surprising facts or statistics about your niche

-- Inspiring quotes always get shared

-- How to, funny, or inspiring videos in your niche

-- Emotional content – whether it’s funny or appalling, people want to feel

-- Customer testimonials

-- FAQs related to your niche

-- eBooks and free downloads

-- The occasional product promotion or really great deal

How often should I post?

How often you should post depends on many different factors, including your niche and the social media site where your sharing your content. Here are some rough guidelines…

Facebook Personal Page

First, let me say that I don’t recommend posting about your business on your personal pages. However, if your blog is humor, recipes, or other personal niche, then it could be OK. It really depends on your friends and how close your blog topics are to your personal life.

In general, post to your personal page as much as your want, but keep the topics “personal”

Facebook Business Page

If your blog is more professional in nature and you decide to go with a Business page, then 1-3 times per day should be your limit and the content should high quality. It should be relevant, useful, and actually provide value to your business niche.

Twitter

Twitter is REAL TIME. The more you post the better… You’ll catch different followers at different times of the day, so it’s even OK to repost something multiple times throughout the day.

Google+

Whether personal or professional, Google users tend to be more techie. You can post as often as you like, but make sure your posts are interesting, engaging, and useful.

Step 5: Measure And Adapt

Pay attention to how many new followers you’re getting, which posts are getting shared, liked, or linked, and even the time of day and post frequency that gets the best results.

You can only improve if you know where you are. Your success depends on knowing what works, what doesn’t, and making changes accordingly.

And most importantly…

DON’T QUIT – It takes time and energy to build a following on Social Media and the results are not instantaneous. Be patient and just keep chugging and you’ll look up one day and wonder how you got so popular!

4. Email Marketing - Why You Must Build Your List Now!

One the best things you can do to market your blog is to launch your email marketing campaign. Here’s why you need to start NOW!

What Is Email Marketing?

Ethical email marketing is simply sending emails to a list of people who chose to receive them. They have given you permission to send them emails – they actually want to hear from you. Anything else is spam. Your goal with email marketing is to create loyalty and trust with your subscribers so that when you recommend a product or service to them, they trust you and they buy. It really is that simple.

Why You Need An Email List

If you’re not building your email list right now, you’re making a big mistake. There’s an old saying – “the money is in the list.” Well, it’s TRUE.

Here are just a few reasons to start your email marketing campaign NOW…

Visitor retention.

You work hard for every visitor that comes to your site. If they leave without even having the opportunity to subscribe to your list, you’ve lost a potential customer and/or loyal follower. People are busy. Even if they love your blog, life happens. Email provides a way to help them remember who you are.

Everyone has email.

Seriously, EVERYONE you know has an email account. Whether it’s a personal account like gmail or a work account, they have an email address that gets mail every single day. I may not check social media every day, but I do check my email every day – that’s where the important stuff goes.

It’s a very targeted audience.

These are people who went to your blog and liked it enough to give you their email address. They want to hear from you and you know that they’re interested in your niche.

Increased Exposure = Increased Sales.

Buyers typically need multiple exposures to a product or service before they buy. They need time to learn to trust you. Regular email marketing campaigns to your list ensures that you are top of mind with potential customers so that when they are ready to buy a product or service in your niche they’ll buy it from you.

Repeat blog visitors.

Emails are a wonderful way to get repeat visitors to your blog. Subscribers click on a link in your email to read a post on your blog. This is a great way to let your readers know that you’ve published new content.

Email does not expire.

There may be something hot and trending on Twitter today (or even this hour), but it’s gone tomorrow. You’ll never find it again! That’s not the case with email. It stays in your inbox until you delete it. Your message will be there waiting for your subscribers even if they’re gone on vacation when you send the email out.

Your list belongs to you.

While you may have thousands of followers on social media, those followers do not belong to you. If your account is terminated for any reason, those followers are simply GONE. There’s nothing you can do about it. That’s not the case with email. Your email list DOES belong to you. You can download and backup your list of subscribers and even migrate them easily to a new email provider.

Convinced? Good. Let’s start building your list…

We personally use and recommend MailChimp as your email marketing service. In our experience, they have the best list management tools and excellent chat support when you need help.

Now that you are done marketing your Blog, let us now monetize that blog. Your blog does not have to be an expense. It can make some money – even replace your day job. In this module you’ll learn the basics of Ad Networks and Affiliate Marketing.

Let’s get started…

1. How To Make Money Blogging

You can make money online a variety of different ways, but you’ve probably learned that blogging can be very lucrative. After learning how to start a blog, it’s a lot of fun to express your ideas to the world. Many people get a lot of fulfillment from it. But if it doesn’t make any money, you’re still stuck in a day job! We assume you want to make money online, so today we’re talking about 5 easy ways that you can make money online with your blog and build your financial Independence!

Pay Per Click (PPC)

Pay Per Click (CPC) is what an advertiser pay to search engines and Internet publishers for a single click on their advertisement, which directs one visitor to the advertiser’s website.

Google’s Adsense program is the biggest player here. It’s pretty simple to get running as a publisherger. You sign up for an account, use their tool to build an ad code, and then paste it onto your site. People click on those ads and Google pays you x amount per click. Hence the name “pay per click.” This is a great way to make passive income.

Basically they bring together advertisers and website owners and in return you split the profit with them. Google pays 68% of the money that they typically receive. They’re basically charging a third in commission, but two-thirds of something is a whole lot more than 100% of nothing.

The ads are contextual which means that they are selected based on your website’s content. They come in both text & graphic banners, and have various ad sizes.

Microsoft & Yahoo use to have their own Publisher programs, but have since exited that market. Yahoo recommended Chitika as replacement to its former publishers. Here’s a list of top 10 alternatives to AdSense.

Basically this type of cost per click blog advertising is great until you get big enough to attract direct advertisers – and that should be your goal!

Banner and Text Ads

Banner ads could be super lucrative and really help you make money online, but not always the easiest to get the off the ground. They range from simple logo to various ad unit sizes. It is what it says it is. Say you know Al of Al’s Health Foods and he wants to pay you ‘x’ amount of dollars a month to put his logo somewhere on your site. That my friends, is a banner ad…

It might seem like easy money, but there is a barrier of entry. As we said repeatedly, build your audience first, then the advertisers. There are also tons of ad networks out there, but most of them require that you have at least 100,000pageviews per month. Furthermore most of them pay pretty low ad rates, depending on your niche.

A text ad is similar to a banner ad but you are putting text (similar to a Google Ad) on your website. This is not the same as paid links which we highly discourage!

The difference can get blurry, but essentially if someone approaches to buy a link placement, you should be careful. Yes it’s easy money, but if search engines like Google ever catch on, then your website could be harshly penalized in lowered ranking. Many webmaster found their website traffic slowed to a trickle as the result.

Paid Product Reviews

Basically, when people are going to buy something, they go online first to see what people are saying about it. Companies know this and now often pay bloggers to review their products. Nothing wrong with it – just be sure to disclose that you are being paid to review it, or have a general disclaimer in your terms of use.

In late 2009, the FTC began to legally require bloggers and online publishers to have such disclaimer on their websites. However, bloggers get make money online, so we have to play by the rules!

Amazon Affiliate Program

Amazon is the original granddaddy of affiliate programs. It’s where if someone goes to your web page and sees a little widget that says “Bob recommends this book on puppies” and that person clicks on that link and buys the book, you get some money.

Of course these days Amazon carries a lot more than books. You can find almost any retail item on their site. It’s a great way to earn money when you start. It’s easy because you can find items similar to your niche.

The downside of the convenience is that the payout is relatively poor with many items paying as low as 4%. So you might want to pay attention to specific affiliate programs as you begin to grow.

Sell Stuff (Yours or Other People’s Stuff)

This is our personal favorite way to make money online! For example if you’ve got a dating blog, and you have a rabid, dedicated following, and you’ve got tons of great posts that people love to read, why not collect your posts and make them for sale in a book/e-book format?

Plenty of sites like Chuck Norris Facts or Texts from last night make a ton of money off of this. Or you can even build premium content available only to paying members. Viola, now you have recurring income!

The numbers can add up dramatically if you offer substantial value and keep your members satisfied. This can lead to other sales opportunities such as coaching sessions, workshops, and other products.

You can even hire ghostwriters to create the product. That way you just sat back. Let them do the hard work, pay a fixed amount, and then collect a potentially lucrative payoff down the road.

Or if you don’t want to mess with your own product – because there are things to manage like sales pages, additional web hosting, customer service, & creating the product, then sell other people’s stuff. (affiliate programs)

The key is to partner with some of the really successful people in your niche to sell their products on your site for a commission. Hopefully they have a turnkey system setup that result in a high probability of sales. You don’t want to be a guinea pig to help someone unproven to work out the bugs in their sales process.

Many eBook authors will give you as high as 75% – 100% commission for each sale. (They make their money with repeat sales and memberships). So take advantage and build your success!

You can check Google for sites with affiliate program.

2. Getting Started With Google Adsesne

Why We Recommend Google Adsense

We recommend starting with Google Adsense as your first source of revenue because it’s free, you set it up one time, and then just let it run. It’s true passive income.

You don’t need to understand A/B testing or ad managers. You don’t have to reach out to advertisers or research products to promote. And while there is a setup and approval process, in the end it’s just simple.

Get started with Google Adsense

NOTE: Google Adsense requires you to have your own domain name. This is their requirement, not ours. But if you chose Blogger. then it is still fine without your own domain name. Domain name is like your URL to your blog (e.g cas-gamers.com). Another requirement is that your blog must be online for 6 months now.

How To Put Script Code On Your Blog

There are a few tricks to actually getting Google Adsense up and running on your blog.

Once your account is approved and you’ve created you first ad unit, it’s time to start placing ads on your blog.

NOTE: Google provides a comprehensive list of supported ad sizes and where they will fit on your blog.

We'll talk about WordPress here since Google Adsense and Blogger is both a product of Google, Inc. that makes it easy to integrate the two without the need of tutorial. The WordPress Visual Editor will mangle (or strip out) certain parts of any <script> code that you enter. This is for security reasons and to protect your blog, however, it can be very annoying when you’re trying to monetize your blog.

Here’s how to place your ad code (e.g. – from Google Adsense code snippet) in your blog.

There is a very useful plugin is called Raw HTML Snippets.

This snippet allows you to add things like facebook widgets, google ads, and email subscribe forms to your sidebar or in a post.

You will see the plugin under Add-Ons ->Raw HTML Snippets.

Inserting Your Ad Code

Create your Google Ad and copy the ad code.

Create a new snippet and paste your ad code there.

Save the snippet and click the link that says “<<back to main page”.

On the main snippet page, copy the shortcode including the brackets (ctl-c) into your buffer.

You can then paste this shortcode where ever you would normally paste the ad code – and now it won’t get mangled!

Sample 1: Paste the shortcode into a Text Widget in the sidebar

Sample 2: Paste the shortcode within the content of a page or post

3. Ad Types And Recommended Placement

In this article, you’ll learn how to get started making money on your blog. The first step of that is understanding where and how to place ads on your blog.

There are basically 3 types of advertisements that you can put on your blog.

Types Of Ads To Place On Your Blog

Text Link Ads

A text link is a few words with a hyperlink that goes to a product or service that you are promoting. This is not the same thing as selling an SEO text link to someone – don’t ever do that! This is recommending a product or service and then linking to it. You can place the link in your regular content, a product review, or other type of content.

I don’t recommend placing text link ads in your sidebar because this will result in a link from every page on your blog to that product or service. This can be bad for SEO if the other site gets dinged in any way – that bad blood will come back to you!

Banner Ads

A banner (or image) ad is simply an image that when clicked, takes the user to a recommended product or service.

Network Ad Script

The is a piece of code that you place on your website. You get this code from the ad network that you are signed up to like Google Adsense. This script code reserves a place on your website that will be populated with ads served up from the network.

This can also include your own ad server that you manage yourself like Google’s DFP – we’ll save the how-to on that one for later – once you’ve gotten through this first 90 days.

Recommended Ad Placement

Google Adsense Recommendations

Here is a heat map published by the Google Adsense team on the best ad placements. (White is worst. Bright orange is bets.)

My Recommendations

Here are the locations and ad types that I have personally gotten excellent results from on my blogs – in order of highest clickthrough.

-- 300×250 image ad at the top right within the content of my posts

-- 300×250 image ad in the sidebar – top right (note that I do not have left sidebars on my blogs)

-- A bulleted list of text links at the bottom of post content

-- Text links within the text of my posts

-- 300×250 image ad in the sidebar – top right (2nd position)

4. Affiliate Marketing 101

What Is An Affiliate?

Simply put an affiliate is someone who recommends a product or service in exchange for a commission on the sale of that product or service.

How Does Affiliate Marketing Work?

Here’s are the basics of how affiliate marketing works.

-- You have a blog.

-- You identify a product or service that you are comfortable recommending to your readers.

-- You sign up to that company’s affiliate program.

-- You recommend the product or service to your readers via text link, review, or other advertisement.

-- They buy the product or service.

-- You receive a commission for your referral.

NOTE: Make sure that read and understand the FTC Guidelines for affiliate disclosures. Please review these new rules yourself and if you have questions, please ask your own legal counsel. BlogPress cannot and does not give legal advice to our customers.

Affiliate Marketing Tips For New Bloggers

Join affiliate programs of products you know and trust.

There are THOUSANDS of products and services with affiliate programs claiming to make you rich. Your best bet is to stick with companies that you already know and trust.

We recommend ClickBank in this 90-Day Success Plan because we know and trust their program and they offer a searchable, ranked database of products that you can promote on your blog. Plus, they handle all of the payment processing and support. They are the ONLY company that we’ve worked over the years who consistently pay on time and in the amount you expect.

Promote products that have a purpose.

When researching products to promote, look for products that offer real value. Look for products that teach, solve a problem, or remove pain or fear… The products you promote should touch your audience at an emotional level. They will not buy a product just because it’s interesting or pretty.

Write good content.

Your readers will be more likely to purchase the products you recommend if they trust you. To earn their trust, you must provide value consistently through solid, high-quality content.

If new visitors come to your site and all they are ads and overly promotional content, it’s doubtful they will even come back, much less buy anything from you.

Focus on SEO and growing your following.

Make sure that your content is thoroughly optimized for the search engines. This will generate free traffic to your affiliate promotions. Also, build your Social Media profile. More traffic means more conversions.

Test. Test. Test.

Get the most from your traffic. Whether you’re getting 100 visitors per day or 10,000, the higher your conversion rate, the more money you will make.

Try different ad formats, layouts and text. Test writing reviews vs. a casual mentions. Test different products against one another. Our rule of thumb is that you should always be testing something.

Progress over perfection and be patient.

Don’t get stuck trying to make everything perfect before you begin your affiliate marketing campaign. Yes, it will take longer to make money in the beginning, but make your mistakes at a lower traffic level – it will cost you a lot less money!

Don’t listen to the hype about making $100,000 this month. While it is possible, it’s not probable. Growing a solid, ethical business takes time. And if you’re brand new at this, it’s foolish to expect to become an expert overnight.

5. Getting Started With Clickbank

We recommend Clickbank because we’ve been working with them for a long time. We know and trust them. I know that on Wednesday, I will get a direct deposit in my bank account in the amount indicated on my account.

There are MANY affiliate programs out there that promise the moon and deliver nothing. They don’t pay on time. They don’t pay the right amount. The products don’t convert.

This is another reason why we recommend Clickbank. There are 1000’s of products in their database and they include critical details about how well the product converts and how much money you are likely to make if you promote that product.

So let’s get to it.

Create Your Clickbank Account

The signup process is very simple but there is one thing I need to mention here.

Your “account nickname” cannot be changed once you set it. While it is your username, I don’t recommend making it the same as your other “private usernames”. Your customers will see this.

It should be related to your blog topic so that when people see it, they will recognize it.

Get started with Clickbank

Read the Getting Started Guide

Now that you have a ClickBank account, you’re probably eager to get started as a ClickBank affiliate. Before you dive into creating HopLinks and promoting products, though, we recommend reviewing a few articles from Clickbank that will help you get started on the path to being successful as a ClickBank affiliate.

4 Steps to Affiliate Success

This article contains our recommended business model for new ClickBank affiliates. It teaches you what you need to know about choosing a niche, getting traffic, and promoting products successfully. Be sure to watch these videos before taking any other steps!

Using the Marketplace

Once you’ve gone through our affiliate training and made some important decisions about your affiliate business, the next step is to learn how to use the ClickBank Marketplace to find products to promote and create your custom HopLinks. This article shows you how to find relevant products to promote to your audience.