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To monetize means TO MAKE MONEY ON YOUR BLOG. Yes, it’s possible without private sponsors or paychecks from big companies. You can do affiliate marketing on almost every post. Ready to hear how I monetize my posts?
Monetizing New Posts
When I write a post I see as evergreen content (any of my party posts, Disney posts, Christmas posts or how-to’s), I try to monetize them because I know at some point, I’ll get some traffic on them. And I might as well make money on it as have it sit there.
Sometimes I even think up posts that will be great for monetizing: a book list, an ebook list or best iPad apps. (OK, I haven’t done that yet, but it’s a good idea!) Of course, these posts are real and appropriate–things I’d write even if I weren’t making money on them.
Monetizing Old Posts
When I was at Blissdom last year, my biggest take-home was from Sarah. She said she heavily monetizes old posts that get big traffic.
For example, my Creative Guest Book post is my most-read post ever. I get hundreds of hits on it every day. In fact, I get more traffic on it now than I did the first few months it was posted. So, I put some regular Google-type ads on it and other affiliates ads–the type of ads I don’t want to have on my normal, everyday posts.
I know that most of the people reading that post are just going to click away quickly after reading, so I’d rather them click away on an ad than something else!
How I Use Affiliate Links
Affiliate programs are awesome because many of them don’t care what kind of blog you are. Big or small, old or new, they’ll take you because basically you’re giving them cheap advertising!
I’m an Amazon Associate because they have EVERYTHING known to man. So, if I mention a book, a movie or even a kind of craft supply, I link to it on Amazon. Also, on my party posts, I usually make a widget with additional party supplies not mentioned in my post. (See?)
On my Disney posts, I put affiliate ads and links to The Disney Food Blog’s ebooks.
My Wedding Guest Book post has Tiny Prints wedding invitation affiliate links.
Whenever I mention food or menu planning, usually put in a link to eMeals.
I just look for appropriate (and non-spammy) spots to add links that will make me money! People are gonna click anyway, so you might as well make money on it!
Is it Worth It?
I think so. I’d say I make $50-100 on Amazon per month (and better at Christmas-time!). My last e-mealz check was $50. I’d be linking to these things anyway. So, it’s not much more work anyway.
So, look through your stats. What’s your top post? Add some money-making links!
Here are some fabulous make-money-blogging posts for your perusal:
How To Make Money Blogging series at Money Saving Mom
Affiliate Marketing from Blogging With Amy
Earning Online Through Affiliate Marketing and Why Affiliate Programs Work Well for Mom Bloggers at Savvy Blogging
How To Use Affiliate Marketing by moi!
How To Insert Amazon Affiliate Links Into Your Blog Posts also by moi!
Coming Soon: Part 7-9: Facebook, Twitter & Pinterest!
affiliate links used
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Have you been following along with my How *I* Write a Blog Post series? Well, it originally started as a crazy-long Top Ten {Tuesday} post which I turned into a series. I’m basically outlining every single detail of what I do when I write a post. It’s a nice step-by-step series if you’re a newbie and if you’re an old-timer, you might learn a trick, too!
Part 5 and 6 of this series were on the same topic: SEO (Search Engine Optimization) but I decided to stir them up together in this one post and attack it Top Ten {Tuesday} style. So here we go…
{wow. awesome, right?}
1. SEO
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. Basically it’s helping Google lead people to your site. Optimizing your posts so the search engine can help you! Google crawls through your post noticing repeated words, key words, bold phrases and headings and then holds onto that info until someone starts searching for it.
2. Bold
One of the easiest things you can do is to bold keywords in your post. If you’ve written a post about, oh, I don’t know SEO, if you can bold the words SEO in your post, Google is going to notice that.
And it’s not just for Google, either. It really helps your readers when you bold important phrases so they can easily scan. This may be the first sentence of each paragraph, the sucker-punch phrases or just your key words. They say readers stay on a blog post for mere seconds before clicking away. Help them stay with you with a little bit o’ bold!
3. Headings
If Google likes bold, then it definitely likes Headings. In WordPress you can find them in the dropdown menu labeled Paragraph. Or you can use the HTML codes <h1>, <h2>, <h3>, etc if you speak HTML. I tend to use <h2> most often. Otherwise it gets too big and crazy. You’ll have to experiment with how it looks on your site.
For example, my title, The Top Ten Things I Know About SEO above is with the <h2>. It’s like putting a Google exclamation point beside my title and I think it looks better and makes my post flow better.
4. URL
The other main factor for Google is your URL. There are several ways you can set up your URLs:
http://yourblog.com/?p-123
http://yourblog.com/2012/02/06/your-post-title
http://yourblog.com/your-post-title
and a few more to boot. You’ve got 70 characters to let Google know what your post is about. And if Google searches your URL to find ?p-123, they won’t bring it up for any searches! Unless you’re searching for ?p-123, of course.
(Look in your DASHBOARD-SETTINGS-PERMALINKS to change your URL to how you want.)
So, you need to make sure your URL is something searchable. For example, I would LOVE to name my post about Lydia’s Tangled Party something like, “Let Down Your Hair!” but if someone is searching for fun ideas for their daughter’s Tangled Party, are they going to google “let down your hair”? Nope. They’re going to type in “rapunzel birthday ideas” or something like that . And what do you see when you type those in? Well, looky here…
And the URL on that post? http://ohamanda.com/2011/01/11/rapunzels-golden-hair-birthday-party/ I probably should have put the word “Tangled” in it, too.
5. Title
If it really bothers you having an SEO-friendly title, you can change the title of your post and the URL of your post in WordPress. Just click edit permalink right below your title on the Edit Post page.
See? Now your title can be, “Let Down Your Hair”, while your permalink is “http://…/tangled-birthday-party-ideas”. Cool, huh?
6. Photos
I’ve gone over the SEO of photos, haven’t I? Yes, I may have mentioned it a time or twenty.
7. Categories & Tags
I am not great at this. In fact, I’m terrible at it. That’s because when I started blogging there were no categories. Only tags. So, my poor early posts have like 12,000 tags each. Here’s Amy’s take on categories versus tags. And I like it.
This is a plug-in that helps with SEO. I use it. And it makes me feel like I have a security blanket–like if I didn’t do any of the other SEO stuff right in my post, at least I did this one thing! So, get it. And feel better about yourself.
9. Unique Evergreen Content
The best thing you can do for SEO is write good content. No one is googling what Lydia and Asa did today. But some people are googling “Toy Story 3 Party” or “Creative Advent Calendars“. The more unique, helpful and evergreen (meaning it’s something people will be searching for year after year) content I write, the better chance I have at search engine hits.
My biggest traffic spike is around November when people start searching for Christmas ideas. I get constant search engine hits for my birthday party posts, Disney posts and wedding posts. For example, my top ten posts this week:
Rapunzel’s *Golden Hair* Birthday Party, Creative Wedding Guest Books, A Picture is Worth: How I Write a Blog Post, Rapunzel Party Decorations, Lydia’s Birthday Party: Top Ten {Tuesday}, The Snow White Party, Nursing School Graduation Party, The Pirate Party: Top Ten {Tuesday}, How To Throw The Coolest Muppet Type Party and Asa’s Toy Story 3 Party.
Crazy, huh? Sometimes I wonder if anyone actually reads my posts on the day I actually publish.
10. You remember the title of this post, don’t you? What *I* Know About {Basic} SEO. I am not remotely an expert. And honestly, I don’t want to be. SEO can be complicated. And it’s not a science. But I do think about it with every post and the little rules I do know, I stick by. Even little steps can help your SEO. Here are some other fabulous resources for understanding and mastering SEO:
A Comprehensive Post on SEO at ProBlogger
Mom Blog SEO by Kelby Carr {an ebook}
What is SEO? from Blogging with Amy
OK. That’s all I got. I hope you’re not embarrassed at my lack of SEO-knowledge. Or maybe you learned something. What’s your SEO tip?
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OK. You know what to do! WRITE a fabulous top ten list on your own blog. LINK back to me somewhere in it. PASTE your post’s URL in the linky below. Start LOVIN’ on the rest of the participants with tweets (#toptentues), pins, stumbles, comments or just straight up clicks! For more and specific details, rules and a fun little button see my Top Ten {Tuesday} page!
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