Although I've lived in Cincinnati for a year, the city still feels very new to me. When classes were in session, I hardly ever went anywhere besides campus and the grocery store. In the past few months, I've slowly gotten to know my neighborhood but I've been to few places outside Clifton and the Gaslight District and I know very few people outside the UC English department. Fortunately, an online publication called Soapbox has become my source for all things Cincinnati--and one of my few sources of income.
I've recently begun writing short articles on local nonprofits, some of which can be found here and here. Conducting interviews forces me to come out of my hovel and find out what the community has to offer. While I'm not currently in the market for a Kombucha brewing workshop or an excuse to march down the streets of Covington wearing a decorated shoebox on my head, I now know where and how to engage in such activities and how people like me can lend a hand and have a blast doing it.
I'd encourage anyone in the Cincinnati area to subscribe to this free weekly publication.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Sunday, August 7, 2011
How (Not) to Earn Money Online, Pt. 2
As I mentioned in Part 1 of my post, I've been exploring ways to earn a little cash from home and find out just how many of the enticing offers out there are even remotely credible. On the one hand, I despise the profit motives that have made health care unaffordable, the companies that bribe our politicians to keep their taxes low, and the industries that destroy the planet to sell us non-renewable resources, thereby polishing the brass on the Titanic. On the other hand, I realize that we all have to eat and, thanks to the aforementioned factors, healthy food isn't cheap these days. I don't judge others for trying to make capitalism work in their favor when it so often makes their lives harder, but I think it's important to recognize what we are doing and continually reevaluate our choices.
I'll be the first to admit that when I see ads on a website, I do my best to ignore them. Although I do purchase items online, I've always done it through the company's main website. I've never once clicked on a banner or a flashing box on someone's else's blog. I set my browser to block pop-ups and get very annoyed when one slips through. Choosing to put ads on my blog, therefore, is both a gamble and a violation of the golden rule; I'm hoping that my readers will be less annoyed than I am and more inclined to respond to the following three tactics.
1. Pay-per-click. Google AdSense, in my opinion, is one of the best options because it does not require anyone to purchase anything. Another pay-per-click program is Bidvertiser, but I've had problems getting their banners to show up correctly. With pay-per-click, a few cents are deposited into your account every time someone who visits your blog clicks on an ad (only one click per person per ad per day is counted). I don't feel as if I'm imposing too much if I ask people who visit my blog to contribute a few extra clicks, and now that I know how the system works, I'll be doing the same on every blog I visit. Have I made money? Yes, but only about $30 in the past month.
2. Affiliate links. Sites such as Linkshare, PayDotCom, Clickbank, and Commission Junction provide ad codes that you post to your blog. The ads you see to the left for APY 60 and the Only Natural Pet Store are some of the products I promote. I also promote products in greater detail in my posts, such as the Anatomy Study Course and The Thyroid Solution. If someone just clicks on the link, I get nothing. But if someone actually buys the product through my link, I get a commission, either a flat dollar amount of a percentage of the purchase. In addition to links on my blog, I recently took a free trial of an online data entry course where I learned how to submit links to search engines, classified ads, email safelists, etc. Have I made money from any of this? Not a cent, which is why I'm not promoting the course here.
3. Referrals. The links on the left for Linkshare, InboxPays, and SendEarnings (the second two are discussed here) are examples of referral links. If someone signs up using my link, I get a commission. I haven't made any money from referrals yet, and the fact that I just admitted I've made no money from affiliate marketing is probably enough to dissuade my readers from wanting to try it. If they did, however, it would only cost them a few minutes of their time and they might be far more successful than I have been.
Why have I not been successful, you ask? Here are just a few of the snags I've hit so far:
1. Clicking requires clickers. In other words, if your blog doesn't get much traffic, neither will your ads. I'm currently taking steps to get more traffic, but in the mean time, my main source of revenue is a handful of friends and relatives who click faithfully. Thanks, Mom!
2. Lack of a niche. A big part of the equation is posting ads for products your readers are likely to want. For example, if you write a cooking blog, your readers are likely to respond to ads for cookbooks, kitchen supplies, restaurants, etc. Google does some of the work for you by generating contextual ads based on your blog's content. My blog, however, is, by definition, eclectic. A reader who is interested in leopard geckos, for example, probably won't be interested in books on thyroid function. For this reason, I may eventually divide my posts into several blogs by topic. Contextual ads can also backfire if your niche is very specific. If you write a vegan cooking blog, you don't want an ad for a steakhouse to pop up, but Google is likely to do just that.
3. Many products available for affiliate marketing are obviously shady. For every legitimate offer, there are countless magic pills for super fast weight loss and penis enlargement. I refuse to promote any product that makes these kind of claims, especially when it is targeting people with chronic illnesses who are desperate for a cure.
4. The Law of Gravity. "Gravity" is a calculation based on the number of affiliates, number of sales, and a bunch of other figures that make my math-challenged brain hurt. First I made the mistake of trying to promote products with very low gravity, figuring that I'd make more sales if I'm the only one selling them. It turns out no one was selling them because they just don't sell. Then I made the mistake of picking products with extremely high gravity, which means that someone else has already sold them to everyone. Somewhere in between, there is a happy medium, but I've yet to find it.
Although I've failed to generate much of an income, I've learned a great deal about a world I never knew existed. Now I'm eager to learn more. What experiences have you had with blog advertising? What ads do you respond to? How annoying do you find my ads? What does it take to be a successful affiliate? What worked for you and what am I doing wrong? Your criticism is welcome.
I'll be the first to admit that when I see ads on a website, I do my best to ignore them. Although I do purchase items online, I've always done it through the company's main website. I've never once clicked on a banner or a flashing box on someone's else's blog. I set my browser to block pop-ups and get very annoyed when one slips through. Choosing to put ads on my blog, therefore, is both a gamble and a violation of the golden rule; I'm hoping that my readers will be less annoyed than I am and more inclined to respond to the following three tactics.
1. Pay-per-click. Google AdSense, in my opinion, is one of the best options because it does not require anyone to purchase anything. Another pay-per-click program is Bidvertiser, but I've had problems getting their banners to show up correctly. With pay-per-click, a few cents are deposited into your account every time someone who visits your blog clicks on an ad (only one click per person per ad per day is counted). I don't feel as if I'm imposing too much if I ask people who visit my blog to contribute a few extra clicks, and now that I know how the system works, I'll be doing the same on every blog I visit. Have I made money? Yes, but only about $30 in the past month.
2. Affiliate links. Sites such as Linkshare, PayDotCom, Clickbank, and Commission Junction provide ad codes that you post to your blog. The ads you see to the left for APY 60 and the Only Natural Pet Store are some of the products I promote. I also promote products in greater detail in my posts, such as the Anatomy Study Course and The Thyroid Solution. If someone just clicks on the link, I get nothing. But if someone actually buys the product through my link, I get a commission, either a flat dollar amount of a percentage of the purchase. In addition to links on my blog, I recently took a free trial of an online data entry course where I learned how to submit links to search engines, classified ads, email safelists, etc. Have I made money from any of this? Not a cent, which is why I'm not promoting the course here.
3. Referrals. The links on the left for Linkshare, InboxPays, and SendEarnings (the second two are discussed here) are examples of referral links. If someone signs up using my link, I get a commission. I haven't made any money from referrals yet, and the fact that I just admitted I've made no money from affiliate marketing is probably enough to dissuade my readers from wanting to try it. If they did, however, it would only cost them a few minutes of their time and they might be far more successful than I have been.
Why have I not been successful, you ask? Here are just a few of the snags I've hit so far:
1. Clicking requires clickers. In other words, if your blog doesn't get much traffic, neither will your ads. I'm currently taking steps to get more traffic, but in the mean time, my main source of revenue is a handful of friends and relatives who click faithfully. Thanks, Mom!
2. Lack of a niche. A big part of the equation is posting ads for products your readers are likely to want. For example, if you write a cooking blog, your readers are likely to respond to ads for cookbooks, kitchen supplies, restaurants, etc. Google does some of the work for you by generating contextual ads based on your blog's content. My blog, however, is, by definition, eclectic. A reader who is interested in leopard geckos, for example, probably won't be interested in books on thyroid function. For this reason, I may eventually divide my posts into several blogs by topic. Contextual ads can also backfire if your niche is very specific. If you write a vegan cooking blog, you don't want an ad for a steakhouse to pop up, but Google is likely to do just that.
3. Many products available for affiliate marketing are obviously shady. For every legitimate offer, there are countless magic pills for super fast weight loss and penis enlargement. I refuse to promote any product that makes these kind of claims, especially when it is targeting people with chronic illnesses who are desperate for a cure.
4. The Law of Gravity. "Gravity" is a calculation based on the number of affiliates, number of sales, and a bunch of other figures that make my math-challenged brain hurt. First I made the mistake of trying to promote products with very low gravity, figuring that I'd make more sales if I'm the only one selling them. It turns out no one was selling them because they just don't sell. Then I made the mistake of picking products with extremely high gravity, which means that someone else has already sold them to everyone. Somewhere in between, there is a happy medium, but I've yet to find it.
Although I've failed to generate much of an income, I've learned a great deal about a world I never knew existed. Now I'm eager to learn more. What experiences have you had with blog advertising? What ads do you respond to? How annoying do you find my ads? What does it take to be a successful affiliate? What worked for you and what am I doing wrong? Your criticism is welcome.
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