Another shocking statistic:

76% of companies do *not* have any form of conversion optimization… and 48% believe they have zero control over conversion.

I think that is ridiculous.

Conversions are one of the few things you do control. Unlike most marketing efforts – which require third-party sites like Google or Twitter – conversion exists on your site, which puts you in 100% control of your destiny.

But can you improve conversions? Absolutely.

Here’s how…

Introducing Conversion Funnels

Conversions rarely – if ever – occur in a vacuum. In order for your prospect to sign up, contact you or buy your product/service, they probably go through a number of contacts.

For example, let’s say you’re trying to get more customers. A traditional conversion funnel may look something like this:

Landing page with opt-in >> follow up emails >> pitch >> convert

Each step can help build trust between you and your prospect. Done incorrectly, it can also lose your prospect forever.

A Simple 9-Step Process to Create Highly Successful Conversion Funnels

Step #1. Set up an autoresponder.

I personally use Aweber, but Get Response works well, too. Mail Chimp offers a free service for the first 2,000 subscribers, which might be a good idea if you’re just starting out.

All autoresponder services let you create forms without coding. If you use WordPress there are a number of premium plugins which let you customize the forms further.

Step #2. Create a valuable “bribe” for opt-ins.

Give your prospects a reason to opt-in. Here are a few ideas for offline markets:

• Sales: “10 Steps to Doubling Your Referrals”
• Investments: “20 Steps to a Recession-Proof Portfolio”
• Weight Loss: “A 14 Day Plan to Lose Weight, Look Sexier and Live Longer”

OK, so what do these all have in common?

For one, they mention a specific number. This helps set expectations with your prospect. When you say “14 Days” they’ll expect 14 emails over 14 days… and are more likely to open your emails.

Secondly, they all mention specific benefits. What sales pro doesn’t want to double their referrals? Including a specific benefit lets your prospects know you’re here to help… not just sell them something.

Step #3. Write down your products and services.

Write down everything you currently offer, and add a few new ideas as well. I’d recommend offering at least three different products/services, which will be offered over the first few months of your autoresponder series (more on this in a second).

For example, service professionals like realtors and financial planners could offer paid consultations, video training, or premium content in addition to their regular services.

If creating something new is too intense, pitch your services/products in different ways. Financial planners could offer retirement planning, college planning, or investment analysis without having to actually create anything new.

But what if you’ve got just one product?

Well, you could create a basic/premium version, create a complimentary product, or offer a service in conjunction with your product.

Different offers let you target different sub-markets, which increases your customer’s lifetime value.

Step #4. Map out your emails on an excel spreadsheet.

Don’t write any emails yet. Just write the headlines for now.

I usually write three times more headlines than I plan on using. Just brainstorm, get the ideas out there and delete the weakest-sounding ones.

Step #5. Organize headlines into a logical order.

For example, if you’ve got three emails about selecting mutual funds, then put them together in the series (say, emails 3, 4 and 5).

Pro tip: create a series of emails about a specific problem, then create a product that solves it.

In the above example, your product could be your exact process for selecting mutual funds. Since you’ve already sent them several emails about this problem, your readers will be ready to act on your solution.

Step #6. Write 80/20 emails.

Write 80% of your emails without pitches (or more). And when you do write a pitch, don’t use a hard sell.

Instead, discuss a common problem your prospects have, and offer advice in the email. Then, explain how your product/service can help them.

This “soft-sell” approach can work wonders with your audience, because even if they don’t buy now, they’ll still continue to read your emails and may buy later.

Step #7. Schedule the emails in your autoresponder.

I’d recommend sending an email every 3-4 days. Ideally, you should have enough emails to last for two or three months, and include one promotional email a month.

Here’s an example of a conversion funnel – with the days in between emails – in Excel:

You can download the spreadsheet here.

As you can see, there are only three product pitches (in yellow) and three follow up pitches (green). The follow up pitches can include testimonials or announce you’re closing the offer within the next 24 hours.

With 30 emails sent every three days, that’s almost three months of drip-fed content.

Step #8. Create a landing page

No matter how you drive traffic – PPC, SEO, guest posting – use landing pages to offer your bribe in exchange for opt-ins.

You can hire a designer to help with this, or – if you use WordPress – consider using Premise to design landing pages without knowing code.

The folks at Copyblogger also have a fantastic series on landing pages to help get you up to speed.

Step #9. Split test

Assumptions are for suckers. Rather than guess what your prospects want, show them different landing pages and keep the winner.

You can test:

• Headlines
• Sub-headlines
• Prices
• Guarantees (e.g., 30 vs 60 day money back guarantees)
• Video vs. Copy
• Site Design
• Call to Action (“Sign up Now!” vs. “Join Today!”)

Once you’ve set up your conversion funnel, use split testing to improve it. Google Website Optimizer is the most popular free tool, while Visual Website Optimizer and Unbounce are popular paid options.

If you are new to split testing, read this article on split testing for more background on how/what to test.

Does This Seem Like A Lot of Work?

It is. You’ve got to develop products, write emails, set up landing pages and a whole lot more.

But here’s the thing: you’ve only got to do this once. After that, your prospect will opt-in for your bribe, receive valuable information for the next three months and (hopefully) buy your products and services.

It doesn’t matter if five or five thousand people go through this process…their experience will all be same.

Awesome

Got questions? I’m down there in the comments, ready to help!

###

About the Author: Adam Costa created two conversion funnels just like the ones outlined above. The first is a travel site and the other helps travel bloggers make money. If you like travel, you should really follow on him Twitter.

It’s understandable. Shady publishers and editors prey on vunerable writers who want to see their names in print. Writers are constantly burned by “write for free now and earn later” promises in which “later” never comes.

However, in the angry buzz of the debate something gets lost. Choice and education. There will always be writers who consider using their talent without traditional compensation. Instead of helping writers make informed decisions, we  as a community often take the abstinence-only approach – IT’S WRONG, NEVER DO IT.

Is it really free?

The first step to weighing a work-for-free option is to look at whether the project has any compensation opportunities. Writers work in exchange for items and services all the time. A little web content work in exchange for a new website. A little PR work in exchange for lessons from a yoga studio.

Just be sure that you follow three simple rules when bartering services:

1. Set clear boundaries. Define the services you will provide and the services or products you expect in return. This prevents misunderstandings and keeps either party from taking advantage of the “freebie” situation.
2. Determine cost. It should be expected that your standard rates are used for services you provide.
3. Put it in writing. This is not only helpful for tax and business record purposes, it makes the transaction official and binding.

Is it for the greater good?

Wielding a hammer may not be some people’s idea of how they want to volunteer, but wielding a keyboard may feel just right. Providing writing services to help a charity or organization is a good thing. Sweating over a keyboard or a hot stove both take time and effort and each can be a great help to someone in need.

Are you prepared for the lack of payoff?

Writing for exposure. *Sigh* That’s a tricky one. Certain publications swear by it, but when their blog only reaches 12 people and four of those are family members, the “exposure” doesn’t help a writer one bit. Then you have the Huffington Post model: huge reach and definite opportunities for exposure. However, when the publication makes a deal for a large sum of money, whether it’s for advertising or through the sale of the blog, there will be writers who feel slighted when left out of the monetary windfall.

There is, of course, the possibility that exposure may never come. Before you get into an “exposure” deal,

1. Use metrics to define success. How many blog hits, how many subsequent work requests, book sales, etc.
2. Recognize and get comfortable with not being able to eat, spend or pay bills with exposure. Exposure has to translate into dollars through other avenues to be successful.
3. Have a time limit and exit strategy. Give the exposure enough time to produce results, but have an end date in place if it doesn’t show signs of panning out.

Can you afford to do it?

Whether working in exchange for goods and services, as a volunteer or for “exposure,” carefully weigh the costs of the commitment. There are time costs, including time away from other business-growing opportunities, i.e. querying, working on gigs for other clients, etc. There are also actual costs: electricity, Internet, the standard writing rate… This is one of those tough choices that a writer has to make from a business perspective, especially if the project will be ongoing.

Most of the time I’m against writing for free. It distracts writers from doing things that can both further their careers and enable them to pay bills. Writing for experience can be accomplished while making money – don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. There are, however, situations in which free can work out for writers though they are not as common as “job” listings would have you believe. It’s a personal, business decision that should be made with research and with realistic expectations.

Have you written for “free?” Why or why not? What other things should writers consider when weighing a non-traditional pay option?

Deb’s note: I started writing this post on the plane to Las Vegas (and BlogWorld) last week. Since then I’ve seen Darren Rowse’s post at ProBlogger called, “The #1 One Reason My Blogging Grew into a Business.” Check it out if you can, it’s a must -read for anyone who wants to blog for a living.

FWJ began four years ago as a blog filled with leads for work at home moms like me. As you know, it’s evolved quite a bit over the past few years. Something happened this past spring that caused me to change my outlook about FWJ. Instead of a simple blog or network of blogs, I treated it like a business. Don’t get me wrong, I was always business-like in my dealings and accounting, but in June, I took it to a whole new level.

When I lost my full time job, I decided I wasn’t going to look for another. Instead, I wanted to work harder on making this network more profitable, and more beneficial to those reading it. Instead of looking for a job, I was going to make FWJ my full time job. It made a difference.  Instead of simply posting and building traffic, I’ve also been:

• Meeting with accountants to find out my next course of action as a small business owner.
• Negotiating with advertisers
• Researching advertising, traffic, SEO and other blog building techniques
• Working hard on branding
• Working hard on FWJ’s (and Deb Ng’s) social media presence
• Forming lucrative partnerships which will enable this network to keep going
• Doing some heavy analysis into the demographics of this community and other freelance writing communities
• Networking, not only with other freelancers, but with other people and businesses to form mutually beneficial relationships

Some of the things I learned at this time:

• You can’t please everyone
• You have to spend money to make money
• Networking totally rocks
• If you focus on one thing, instead of multitasking, you’ll have better results
• Sometimes you just have to go for it

Some of the changes I noticed since devoting my full time attention to FWJ:

• Traffic has seen a significant increase
• Advertisers have been coming to FWJ, instead of the other way around
• Ad revenue beyond private sales (Adsense, etc.) has increased to the point where it’s a full time income
• A major online brand inquired about purchasing FWJ
• Lots of Tweets and ReTweets featuring FWJ links
• Community growth
• A whooooole lot of email
• More links to blog posts at FWJ
• Major brands have taken notice

This is only a few months worth of work and effort. Can you imagine if I had put this much time and energy into FWJ since day one? Of course, that wasn’t possible because I needed to help provide for my family. However, being patient and persistant and not giving up over 4 1/2 years enabled met build FWJ and see it to its potential.

Luck vs Hard Work

Someone once told me I was lucky. This has nothing to do with luck. I worked hard to build this network. It became a huge part of my life. I focus attention to it every day. It’s kept me up late, and caused me to rise very early. It’s been the subject of blog wars and forum spats. It’s my life, not luck. I have to tell you, it’s not easy to come up with content every single day for 4 1/2 years.

Is it Worth it?

You bet it’s worth it. I’m not going to claim to be some expert, guru, A-list problogger, but I managed to find something that I love – something that works. It’s been worth all the time and effort I put into it. As Darren Rowse begin_of_the_skype_highlighting     end_of_the_skype_highlighting said in his post about blogging as a business, when I stopped treated my blog as a hobby and more as a business, it began to work for me.

If you want to make your blog work for you, know that it’s not easy. It’s not as simple as opening up a blog, stocking it with keywords and slapping on some ads. There’s a lot of research, promoting and networking involved.

Tell us the story of your blog. Is it a business? Can it become a business? What are you doing to ensure its success, and what are some of the results you’ve seen since beginning?

I think I’m going to ramble a bit…

As a professional blogger and consultant, I take pride in my brand. My name, Deborah Ng, is my brand. My brand is also this blog network, Freelance Writing Jobs. I hope it doesn’t sound like a big load of ego to say that many people equate my name and my brand, with the freelance writing jobs niche. Though I didn’t set out to have a heavy web presence, once I my reputation began to build I realized the importance of my name and my brand. I worked hard to get to this point and I’m very proud of my brand and what it’s become.

As much as I will do everything in my power to help them succeed and make names for themselves, the bloggers who write for FWJ aren’t as well known as the “Freelance Writing Jobs” brand. This has nothing to do with them or me. When you write for someone else, you’re paying more attention to their brand than your own.

In the past I wrote for many brands including b5Media, Oxygen Media and About.com. It wasn’t my name that stuck in everyone’s minds when they read my work, it was the brand. That’s not a complaint, I was happy to get my start with some well-known names. However, if you want to make money as a blogger, it’s important to think about whose brand is more important – yours or the people you’re blogging for. If the answer is you, think about how you can build your own brand while still earning money elsewhere. If you’re happy building someone else’s brand without being well-known, that’s OK too.

If you want to build up your name as a writer for someone else’s brand, you’re going to have to think about ways for people to remember your name above or in addition to the name of the brand. The last thing you want to do is overshadow the brand you’re being paid to promote. You’re also going to have to consider how your employer feels about you building up your own brand while being paid to build up his. I recently experienced that very conflict.

Very few bloggers make a name for themselves on someone else’s blog. I’ve blogged for enough people and businesses to know this is true. Blogging for other people pays the bills, blogging for you builds your brand (and can also pay the bills). Blogging for other people enables you to earn some of the money coming in from that blog. Blogging for yourself allows you take control of all of your blog’s income. Blogging for myself allows me to take this blog/network in any direction I’d like. Blogging for someone else has me going someone else’s route, and I may not always agree with where we’re headed.

This blog is called (and about) “Blogging for a Living”. I’d be doing you a disservice if I told you you’ll become a household name blogging for someone else. However, you can earn very good money as a blogger for hire. Not all bloggers make thousands of dollars each month with their own blogs. Not all bloggers for hire are “A Listers”. If you want to make money as a blogger, the first thing you’ll have to determine is whether or not you want to do so building up your own brand or someone else’s. You can do both, but then you’ll also have to be prepared the people who pay you to blog won’t like you spending so much time on you. Knowing where you want to take your name or your brand will help you to determine where to exert most of your energy.

If you want to spend more time building up your own brand, think about how you’re going to reach the people you want to reach and how to create trust and build a good reputation. Just as you want your clients to trust you, you’ll also want your community to trust you. Trust breeds success. When you blog for someone else, you’re working more to create trust with your client than your community. Hopefully as a professional blogger, you’re also building trust in your byline, but the community’s happiness is secondary to your client’s happiness. I once had a client who felt comments were too distracting and turned them off. She didn’t care about community, she cared about content. You’ll work for all kinds as a blogger for hire. Some bloggers enjoy letting an employer handling all the sordid details so they can just write. I prefer having the best of both worlds.

Tell us about your brand. Is your brand important or is it your preference to build up someone else’s brand? Do you want to be famous or are you happy enough to do your job, earn your check and enjoy the incognito life?

Discuss…

I always liken blogs to real estate. There are several similarities. For example if you choose a good domain name, your location, you can sell your property for a good price. Moreover, if you have curb appeal, the right kind of traffic and valuable content and a steady revenue base, you can sell for a good price.

I’ve entertained several offers to sell over the past couple of years, but turned them all down. Usually those offers weren’t enough money to warrant serious consideration. Not when you consider I earn a steady income, have over 6500 subscribers and thousands of visitors each day. Not when you consider how many advertisers seek me out on a regular basis. Not when you consider how many new writers consider FWJ to be the place to go for advice for getting started.

Yesterday the CEO of a very recognizable brand asked about buying FWJ. After I picked myself up off the floor, I experienced a flood of emotion:

• Validation: A major name in our business likes what I’ve done here enough to not only notice FWJ but to own it.
• Confusion: Why do they want to buy MY blog? There are thousands of blogs about writing and freelancing? Why does mine have value – and how much is it worth to them? Why FWJ?
• Greed: It would have to be a really (and I mean REALLY) good offer to sell FWJ.
• Sadness: What would I do if I didn’t have FWJ? This is my life and my livelihood. It’s my biggest source of income and my favorite thing to do each day. What will I do every day if I can’t blog for you?
• Pride: See validation above. Plus, to have this company want to own my “baby” is truly an honor.

Now, as I write this I know I won’t be idle. I have several other properties, one set to launch very soon. I enjoy building things from scratch. I can flip blogs like some people flip property. However, it’s FWJ. Not just some little blog, but my pride and joy. Something I put my heart and my life into. How can you put a price on passion?

I’m torn and I didn’t sleep well last night. We’re talking about FWJ. The little writing job blog I built into a network in four and a half years. It’s like selling a beloved family home or marrying off a child. FWJ is me, it’s my brand.

Think about your blog and everything you put into it. Would you sell? At what price?

I’ve been thinking about sponsored advertising a lot this week. Many bloggers won’t have anything to do with sponsored post advertising as they feel it’s a sell out and will turn off their readers. I can appreciate that. I think, though, many of us are lying if we say we don’t wish to make good money with our blogs. Make no mistake, FWJ is first and foremost a blog providing a useful service to freelance writers. However, it’s also a business. Blogging is a business. The bloggers at this network expect payment and I hope to turn a profit.

With that said, I’ve turned down most offers for sponsored posts because they don’t fit with this community. I mean, I have a price but I’m not a total whore. I also believe in full disclosure and transparency for sponsored posts, which means if anyone paid me to write a post for them, you will know so you can draw your own conclusions.

As I wrote earlier, the rules for blogging are that there are no rules. We all do what we feel best works for our own situations. Sponsorship isn’t selling out. It’s a business decision some bloggers choose to make. I can’t fault them for that. As long as a blog continues to provide awesome content, advertising and sponsorship is never a deal breaker for me. No one thinks twice about buying a heavy issue of Vogue featuring 100 pages of content and 500 pages of advertising. I look at it the same way.  As long as it’s not overly spammy and they’re honest about sponsored posting, bloggers should do whatever they feel best to survive without being accused of selling out.

What do you think?

I’m always asked if I turn away advertisers and, also, how I choose the ads displayed at FWJ. Since I received a flurry of advertising questions over the weekend, I thought I’d answer them here.

Yes, I’ve Turned Away Sponsors

I’ve turned down quite a few sponsors because I didn’t appreciate the way they treated their workers. I have to tell you though, it tore me apart to do so. When you run a business and you need to pay the bills, you don’t want to discourage a revenue. It takes six to eight hours  each day to write for and maintain FWJ, plus the bloggers who work here have families to feed. Sometimes I’ve taken ads from places I wouldn’t work for myself, but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t work out well for other members of this community. Keep in mind I only choose places with a good reputation, even if I don’t always approve of their pay rates. If they have a history of treating writers poorly, I pass.

How I Choose Ads for this Network

Some people might consider me a hypocrite for choosing some ads, while not allowing others. For instance, I’ve allowed advertisements from some residual-based websites. If you know me, you know I don’t much care for residual based websites because I don’t think many of them ofter a livable wage.  Before I approve an advertiser, I research his track record. I look online, I talk to other writers, I might even give them a phone call. If they can convince me the majority of their writers are earning a good living, I’ll allow their ads.

I choose ads from places with a good reputation. If a majority of the writers in this community work for some of these places and have a good experience, I may choose their ad from their recommendation even if I don’t agree with the pay. In the upcoming weeks you may see an ad here from a popular residual based network. I spoke on the phone with their people and they assured me the majority of their writers receive a livable wage each month. The average reported monthly earnings for their writers convinced me to allow their ads.

The Ethics of Choosing Advertisers

I try to be ethical about who advertises here and who doesn’t. Sometimes I receive emails from people who question why certain ads are here. It’s tough to explain my reasons to others, especially the folks who don’t want to “get it”.

I allow ads if I:

• Feel it’s a good place for brand new writers to get their start
• Feel they treat their writers well
• Feel it’s a place offering a positive experience to writers – especially writers who are just starting out.

I don’t allow ads if:

• They’re scammy
• The majority of their writers don’t earn a livable wage
• They’re scammy
• There’s just no way I can personally endorse them.

Do I choose ads with my readers in mind? I try to. There might be an advertiser I’m not sure about but if members of my community use them and swear by them I’ll go with the ad. I also look for the places that offer writers a good beginning, even if I wouldn’t personally use them.

I want to thank everyone who took the time to write me to ask about advertismeents on FWJ. I hope I answered all of your questions.

1. I was able to work at home
2. I would be doing what I love
3. I was looking to gain more social media experience

The job was a valuable and enlightening experience, but I missed working for myself, especially the flexibility. I decided to return to freelancing, but also to build up a business as a social media consultant. My biggest priority however, is returning this blog to it’s former glory.

Don’t get me wrong…

This blog does well, don’t get me wrong. Without being front and center to promote, write tons of content, toss out the link love and schmooze with advertisers, we were beginning to lose traffic and revenue.  I have a year’s worth of ground to make up. Which brings me to today’s topic…

Redefining my blogging goals

In the past my goal was to earn money as a blogger for hire, and keep this blog going as a lucrative side project. Now, I’m going to vice versa the whole thing. I have blogging and social media clients, thankfully, but my main goal is to build this blog to be my number one source of income, so I can rely on others less and less.  I will do so by posting more, networking more and working with advertisers more. It was a mistake to put this wonderful blog network on the back burner, but you can bet we’re cooking with gas now.

What are your blogging goals? How can you take it to the next level?

Mistakes when applying:

You cut and paste from Word or another doc. application: This can result in some funky formatting and make your email look unprofessional.

You attach your resume or bio: NEVER send attachments unless a potential client asks you to specifically do so. Most folks won’t open attachments, and some have them blocked. However, if you have pertinent clips what should you do? Cover it at the end with a quick, “Magazine clips are also available upon request.” Exchange “magazine clips” with business clips or what have you as needed.

You’re long-winded: Long winded isn’t even great on a paper resume, but it’s the kiss of death on a web resume. Web writing is partially about being succinct. If your resume / bio shows that you can’t be you’ve already gotten off on the wrong foot.

You make spelling, grammar, or other errors that ‘writers’ shouldn’t make: Come on now, I know you know this one. Don’t do it. Note though that web writing technique is different than other sorts of writing. Short blips in bullets are fine for a web resume.

You post the great resume wall of text: HIT ENTER! I’ll say it again… hit enter. I get emails from people who have questions about writing online, and that’s cool, but I don’t make it through half on them because my eyes don’t enjoy reading 60 lines+ of text in a row. Potential employers don’t want this either. Make your text skim-friendly. Note that some bold headings and bullets will help as well.

You leave the subject blank: In the subject should be the job title you’re applying for.

You use a lame-ass email: Sexy_writer@yahoo.com is NOT a good email. iwriteawesome@hotmail.com is also lame. If you can use an email with your name, or the name of your writing biz (if you have one).

You include too many irrelevant facts: No one cares about your ceramic dog collection or the fact that you like creating scrapbooks in your spare time. Keep to the facts which one, keeps it skim-friendly, and two, keeps it focused.

WHEN TO BREAK THE RULE ABOVE…

• You say where you’re from (quickly) – this has landed me jobs because where you’re from is a good conversation starter.
• The potential client ASKS for some personal info.
• Your personal info actually relates to the gig. When I applied for a pregnancy blog I write for I did mention that I’d worked as a doula, went to college for nursing/midwifery, and went through childbirth myself, because it made me look more credible.
• You can say it all in a few sentences. Something quick, like, “On a personal note, in my free time I like music, Frisbee, and have an insane addiction to chocolate” can add a bit of personality to an otherwise blah resume, but you need to add this at the end, and do so for gigs that seem a little more casual.

You add in your entire educational career: Fact, none of the clients I have right now asked me about my education ever, in fact, over the span of my writing career almost no clients have asked – good thing too since I’ve got degrees in math and science, not writing. Education is less highly rated in the online writing world than experience and your clips are. Sometimes a client will ask and by all means include it. OR the info may add to your credibility (like holding an RN degree when applying for a health site) but otherwise, education info only takes up space.

You don’t include links to clips: If you don’t have online clips, start a blog. If you don’t want to start a blog, start your own website and post your clips there. Clients want to see your clips.

For more tips on applying for blogging and online writing gigs read:

• Applying for Blogging Jobs – Do You Need A Resume?
• Sample introduction letter for blogging and online writing gigs
• Applying for a Blogging Job: When to Blow Off Directions

Coming soon we’ll look at mistakes not to make when posting your resume or bio on your personal website.

After my last post, 5 Reasons You’re Not Making Any Money as a Blogger, some of the members of this community asked if I could offer a few tips for promoting blogs without being spammy or annoying.

A key to successful blogging is knowing there’s a fine line between self promotion and spam. The important thing to remember is to build relationships rather than spreading links everywhere you go. If you only drop links, you’ll turn off potential readers. However, if you take the time to participate in discussions and get to know people, they’ll want to learn more about you and what you do.

Here are a few tips for promoting your blog without spamming the people you need most:

1. Post in forums - Forums are a terrific way to build up relationships and have a conversation with like-minded people – as long as that’s what you’re doing. When every comment you make is pimping an article (“I wrote a post about that once, check it out…”), you’ll find yourself banned or shunned in no time flat. When you take time to have an intelligent discussion with people who share the same vision, they’re going to want to check out the links in your signature. Conversational marketing works better than spam.

2. Visit other blogs - Other blogs in your niche are not your enemies or your competition, they’re colleagues. Instead of worrying about another site stealing your traffic, or who is higher in the Google Rankings, use other blogs to your advantage. Participate in the comments and offer a useful point of view. If you left a thoughtful remark, others might be include to check out the link in your signature line. Keep in mind it’s considered spam to drop your links anywhere but the appropriate space. Don’t drop links in your comment post unless invited to do so.

3. Join Facebook groups – Are you blogging about sewing? Facebook has sewing groups. Are you blogging about golf? Facebook has groups for golfers. Are you a celebrity blogger? Facebook has plenty of groups for star gazers. The purpose for joining these groups serves a couple of different purposes. The first is that you’ll be sharing news and tips with other people in the group, which will no doubt lead to ideas for new blog posts. Plus, as you build up relationships and friendships with others in the group, they’re going to be reading your profile more and checking your links.

4. Enjoy the conversation at Twitter - Notice how I said “enjoy the conversation?” I didn’t say, “do nothing but tweet links.” Again, it’s all about relationships. Search Twitter and find people who you think might be interesting to follow. Look for your favorite bloggers and the people who share similar interests, then start talking. Once you build up a following share links – but again – not all the time. Balance it out. The quickest way to be unfollowed is to only Tweet links.

5. Explore Ning - Like Facebook, Ning has many social media groups to explore. Find interesting groups to join and take part in discussions, or create your own. The possibilities are endless.

6. Promote your expertise – If you know enough about your topic that you can blog about it on a regular basis, you probably have some level of expertise. Promote yourself as an expert by giving interviews on other blogs, podcasts, websites, and more. Subscribe to a service such as HARO and look through the interview requests for suitable opportunities.

7. Guest post at other blogs – A couple of years ago, I wrote a guest blog post at ProBlogger and I gained much traffic as a result. Since then, I’ve guested at other blogs, also with positive results. Find the top blogs in your genre and offer to write a blog post or do an exchange with other bloggers so you can each benefit from the others’ traffic. (But don’t mistake guest blogging for stocking someone else’s blog with content for free. )

8. Use your keywords – I despise keywords. I probably could’ve been in Google’s top 10 for many search terms if I was more diligent about using them. I think keywords and phrases make writing sound unnatural. However, if you want to catch the attention of the search engines, there’s no other option. I don’t recommend finding keywords that sound awkward or don’t work in a sentence, but do find the top searches for your subjects and use them to your advantage.

9. Have a contest – Contests are a terrific way to gain new readers. Find something to giveaway and promote it on Twitter. If you use a service like Profnet for prize sponsors you’ll find many businesses are more than willing to offer prizes in exchange for promotional opportunities. If it’s a decent enough contest, other blogs will offer coverage and you’ll pick up some good backlinks.

10. Use your email signature -Your email program is bound to have a signature function. Put a link to your blog in the signature so everyone who receives email from you can check out your blogs.

11. Offer to have a cross blog discussion - Do you and other bloggers in your genre share opposing (but respectful) points of view? Offer to have a cross blog discussion where you each talk about an agreed-upon topic and link to, and make reference to each other’s blog posts.

12. Link to other blogs – Linking to other blogs is always a good thing. Not only do you catch the attention of other bloggers who might reciprocate, but if the other blog allows trackbacks, a link to your blog post will appear in the comments. Linking is good karma too.

13. Linkbait - Ever write a blog post that just went viral? Everyone linked to it, it received much Stumble love and months later, you’re still receiving traffic from it? A good linkbait can be a wonderful traffic booster.

14. Frequent posts – The more you post, the more likely folks will check back  on a regular basis. When you leave a blog to languish or only post sporadically, readers respond in kind. They might bookmark you for later reading, but they won’t stop by once or twice  a day. If you have a reputation for being a frequent poster, your readers will drop in often.

15. Attend conferences – I absolutely love attending blogging and social media conferences. They’re a great way to learn and a terrific way to meet people. Conferences are the one place where your can hand out business cards and talk about what you do without being labeled as self promoting. Every time I attend a conference my blog gains new readers.

16 – Take out an ad – Contact other blogs and websites in your genre about advertising. If you’re short on funds, offer to do an ad trade. If you’re not short on funds, invest in Google Adwords or another high visibility program. Everytime I’ve placed an ad for FWJ, I’ve more than doubled my investment.

17. Use social media buttons - See the “Tweet This” buttons at the bottom of the post? They work. If your readers enjoy what you write, they’re also likely to promote it. They’ll give it a Tweet or a Stumble and if you wrote something particularly brilliant they may even submit it to Digg or Reddit. While some days are better than others, there’s no denying these puppies work.

Blatantly holding up signs and saying, “Come to my blog, dammit!!!!” doesn’t sit well with many people. Taking the time to build relationships and use more subtle forms of promotion is not only more acceptable, but it works.

What do you do to promote your blogs?

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Thanks to that famous $100,000 Google check and the whole “make money online” craze, everyone who blogs thinks they’re going to earn enough money so they can quit their day jobs and retire in style. It’s a nice thought. Realistically very few people make hundreds of thousands of dollars blogging each year. It’s not a stretch to earn a livable wage as a blogger, however.

If you’re spending all your time blogging and have very little in the bank to show for it, you may be taking the wrong approach. Whether you blog on your own, or blog for someone else, there are plenty of factors to ensure a profitability. Not knowing enough about what it takes to make it as a professional blogger, or making the wrong choices can hinder your success.

1. You’re Not Giving it Enough Time

Blogging takes time.  If you’re starting your own blog, or your pay is contingent upon traffic, please know you’re not a failure if you don’t have thousands of hits and page views in the first few months. Very few bloggers become overnight sensations. How can you gain immediate traffic if no one knows you’re around. You have to build up a community first. Read up on traffic building techniques and become involved in other like minded communities. You’ll find a slow steady rise in traffic helps to build buzz. Promoting a blog is a full time job in itself.

If you blog for someone else and your employer expects heavy traffic immediately out of the gate, find articles and blog posts on building traffic and help him to realize this doesn’t happen right away. If you’re starting a brand new blog, chances are it’s not going to earn any money for some time. If your pay is contingent on traffic, remember you’re only going to be earning pennies for at least the first few months, and probably some time after that.

2. You’re Not Working for the Right People

So here it is. If you’re only earning a portion of revenue or traffic bonuses, you’re not going to earn much money, especially if it’s a new blog. And even more especially if it’s for a name or brand no one has ever hear of. (and yes, grammar police, I know what I just typed so please hold off on your hate mail.)

As noted above, blogs don’t make money off the bat. Your client or employer may have a genius idea, but that doesn’t mean squat if no one knows about it. Before accepting any jobs for revenue or traffic bonuses find out how much revenue the blog is receiving or projected to receive and how much traffic is coming in, or predicted.  Do the math before you agree to the job and you won’t waste your time stocking a blog with content for little or no money. If you wish to earn a living as a blogger, try applying for salaried positions or gigs offering you a flat fee. If you’re expected to promote your blog, in addition to writing, make sure that’s included in the price. You can’t expect to make a living as a blogger by blogging for someone who pays chump change.

3. You’re Not Using the Right Advertising Formula

Monetizing a blog is tough. The FWJ network is doing ok, but I know it can do better. I’m finally finding a good formula. It took years of studying my community and other communities in the same niche. If you’re monetizing your own blog learn about your community. Are they clickers or buyers? What are their interests? What sorts of products are they most likely to buy? What do they search for – what search terms did they use to find your blog? Play around with the different types of advertising until you learn which types bring in money and which types don’t. It’s not enough to slap up some ads, you’ll also need to learn something about your demographic.

4. You’re Not Doing Enough Shameless Self Promotion

Bloggers self promote, if they didn’t no one would know about their blogs. It’s not enough to only post, however.Successful bloggers take advantage of social networks, forums, guest blogging opportunities and more in hopes of raising awareness to their own blogs. Notice I didn’t say spam? There’s a difference between self promotion and spam – if you want folks to become interested in you and what you do, join in the conversation rather than spam with links.

5. You’re Not Choosing the Right Niche

Nichey blogs are cool and fun but they’re not always good for making money. How much money do you think a blog about click beetles or paperclips will earn? If you’re going to get nichey think about how many people you will actually reach and what types of advertising opportunties are available for your genre. Research to see if there are other blogs in this area and what they’re doing. This is why a lot of network blogs don’t do as well as the owners had hoped, they’re too nichey. There’s not enough traffic and advertising opportunities to earn a decent wage.

Those interested in paid blogging often ask me how I got my start as a blogger. When I think about it, I have to admit that for me the answer is that I took baby steps to get to paid blogging positions.

While no doubt there are a few bloggers who become overnight sensations and earn six figure incomes for their very first blog, I tend believe that those bloggers are the exception and that my experience is more typical for most paid bloggers.

Before becoming a blogger, I already had a successful freelance writing business (specializing in business and technical writing). I actually began my blogging career as a reader of blogs. For about six months, I read dozens of blogs each and every day. My initial focus was on business and writing, but I also began to read blogs about how to blog.

The next baby step was starting my own blog. At first, very few people came to my blog and I quickly learned that there is much more to blogging than simply writing a good blog post. Blogging is dynamic. It is about interacting with your readers. It is also about driving traffic to your blog.

At this point, I began to look for blogging mentors. I even joined an informal network of bloggers run by seasoned and successful bloggers — Gayla McCord, Char Polansky, and a few others. The informal network was a great learning experience for me and it introduced me to some bloggers that I otherwise would probably not have met. (Unfortunately, the network has since disbanded, or I would link to it here.)

The informal network of blogs also opened up many guest blogging opportunities for me. Through the connections that I made, I was able to write guest posts for a wide range of blogs. This expanded my reading audience and gave me additional sample posts.

As I grew more confident about my blogging I moved on to my next baby step, I began to apply for paid network blogging positions. Since network bloggers have to post regularly and often, I tried to target my applications specifically towards topics that I already knew a lot about.

At first, my applications to network blogs were unsuccessful. Finally, however, I landed my first paid gig as a blogger. I was ecstatic!

In general, I can tell you that the network blogs were looking for two things:

* Did I have a blogging voice? By this, they meant could write in a conversational fashion that was somewhat unique to me.
* Was I able post often? To determine this second criterion, the network blogs looked at my personal blog to see how frequently I updated it.

As a network blogger, I was exposed to the network’s training – much of which was general enough that it could be used for any blog. I was also encouraged to get involved in social media. My pathway to learning about social media was much the same as my pathway to learning about blogging. I read everything that I could find about social media and then I got directly involved.

Finally, my experience as a network blogger led to some higher end blogging opportunities as well as to some professional ghost blogging opportunities.

As you can see, my baby steps to paid blogging didn’t lead me to overnight blogging success. However, it did lead me to some interesting and comfortable blogging gigs. I also have to say that along the path I met some wonderful and interesting people.

What’s your story? Are you a paid blogger? Leave a comment and share how you became involved in blogging.

(Laura Spencer is freelance writer and blogger. She has 19 years of professional writing experience, seven of those years as freelance writer. Laura is currently on the blogging team at Freelance Folder. In the past, Laura has blogged for b5media’s Business and Blogging and for Know More Media’s WorkFromHomeMomma. You can learn more about Laura on her blog, WritingThoughts.com.)

So you want a freelance blogging job and you see lots of places advertising for bloggers in exchange for a rev share, should you accept? Well, if your goal is to make money blogging you may want to learn a little more about rev shares and how they work before signing on the dotted line.

What is a Rev Share?

A rev share, or revenue share, is when a company pays you to blog in exchange for part of the advertising revenue. The split all depends on the company. Some offer a 50-50 revenue split, others more and some less.  You don’t get a base or per post pay, just a split of whatever money comes in each month through advertising revenue.

What’s Traffic Got to Do With It?

Whether a blog is earning advertising dollars has everything to do with traffic. For instance, a blog only receiving a couple of hundred visitor a month isn’t going to earn much in the way of advertising. On the other hand, a blog with thousands of visitors a day, might do very well.  If a brand new blog is offering a rev share, you’ll want to think about whether or not it has the traffic and ability to generate an income.

How Much Money Can I Earn with a Rev Share?

Again, it depends. Some folks do well with rev share opportunities, but the truth is, many don’t. Many networks and blog owners offering rev shares bring in very little. I once worked for a rev share and earned pocket change for a months worth of work.

Questions to Ask Your Client

If you want to apply for a rev share opportunity you want to be sure it’s worth your while. Ask your client these questions:

• How much traffic are you bringing in each month? – You want to know exactly what you’re getting into.
• May I receive a copy of the blog’s stat report each day? – without knowing how your blog is doing traffic-wise, you have no way of knowing if you’re receiving all that’s due to you.
• How much revenue are you currently generating? - Your client should be able to confidently tell you how much you will be earning each month. Not a projected income, not what you “could be” earning one day, but how much the blog is generating now.
• May I see a revenue report? – If your client is quoting an impressive figure ask to see back up. This way there’s no disappointment when he tells you he’s earning $150 a month, but you really end up earning $7.

Don’t commit to a rev share unless you go into it with the understanding you may not earn any money at all. Most blogs don’t build up traffic or earn any kind of money for months. Research the blog and ask questions before agreeing to do any work. The last thing you want is to put in hours of blogging, and in nothing in return.

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If there’s one thing I learned in four years of FWJ, it’s that if you don’t know a thing about your community’s habits, you won’t be able to monetize your blogs. For instance, most of the freelance writing community are “clickers” not “buyers”. Putting up affiliate ads for products and services doesn’t work. However, many pay per click ads work or job search tools that pay me for each sign up also do OK. Truth be told, the bulk of FWJ’s income comes from Google Adsense. That doesn’t mean Adsense is the best source of revenue for you, however.

I didn’t learn all this right away, however. It took years of trial and error. I tried to sell books, writing products, magazine subscriptions and other items of interest of writers but no one was buying. Now I use a combination of job affiliates, pay per click and text link sales.

Sell Products on Product-Oriented Blogs Only

If you’re wishing to monetize your blog, your going to have to research your demographics and your community’s habits. For instance, if you have a food blog, folks might be ok with affiliate products for cooking stuff. If you have tech blog, selling gadgets may work well in your favor. A poetry or history blog might not do so well with product sales though.

Analyze Your Traffic

Many times bloggers will start a blog and immediately put up ads only to wonder why no one is buying. Give it some time and use your stats to analyze your traffic first. After traffic is flowing, figure out where folks are coming from. Learn what they’re talking about and what their interests are. Engage them in conversation. Learn which posts get the most comments, back links and traffic. Once you know your readers’ habits, you’re ready to monetize your blog.

It Takes Time

Finally, know that it takes time for a blog to bring in income. If I use FWJ as a case in point, I earned pennies at first. After several months, I was earning between $20 and $50 per month. It took two years of steady traffic building for me to earn $100 or more each month in revenue. Now, four years later, I’m earning over $1,000 a month. Of course, much of that goes to the maintenance and content for this blog, but that’s for another post. My point is, many bloggers make the same mistake. They start a blog, throw up a few random ads, and throw in the towel a few months later when the money isn’t flowing. Taking the time to do it right makes all the difference in the world.

So, as mentioned earlier, we’re going to start discussing the ways one can really earn a living as a blogger. To do this, we’ll also have to discuss why some folks aren’t earning money as a blogger. For instance, by being too nichey.Don’t get me wrong, many “niche” blogs do well. However, it’s been my experience that niche blogs get lost in blog networks.

Pick a network, any network. Now…from that network pick out the real “standout” blogs. Tell me, how well is that sewing blog doing? And the blog about recycling? Even the most popular blog in the network, does it really get more than a couple of thousand visitors each day? My point is, sometimes being nichey in a network isn’t always the best career move.

If  you do want to touch upon a niche, my recommendation is that it will probably be just as profitable, if not more,  to start your own niche blog. This way you can post on your own schedule and keep all the profits for yourself. Yes, it’s slower getting started, but if you rock the promotion and know what you’re doing, you’ll do well.

Just about all niche blogs that do well, aren’t part of a blog network. (And by “well” I mean a livable wage.) It’s free to start a blog and keep it going. Simply pick a platform, pick a design and begin writing. If you want to place ads on your blog, you can do that too. Read everything you can about SEO, building traffic and promoting blogs, and then get out there and pimp your blog. It takes time. In the meantime you’re not stressing out at the thought of writing 25 blog posts each month and earning a measly $50 for your efforts. Plus, you may be establishing yourself as an authority in your topic, something that might land you good traffic, book deals, speaking gigs, and more.

So niche, by all means, but before you do get your research going. Talk to other bloggers in the niche – both in and out of networks – and see which route is the most profitable and less headache inducing. Research their traffic and blogs. See what they’re doing right and what they’re doing wrong and use it to your advantage.

Yes you can earn money  as a blogger, just blog smarter…not harder. There’s no reason why you shouldn’t write about your favorite topic, and earn money from it too. Look into all avenues, weigh the pros and cons and figure out a course of action that best works for you.

For the past few months I’ve been thinking a lot about this blog network. I sunk a lot of money into a redesign and sometimes I have the pay the bloggers here out of pocket, but I don’t have any regrets. Yeah, I do wish this network was more of a money maker, and I suppose if I left it as a single blog with only me blogging, I’d be making quite the profit. But it’s not about that, at least I didn’t think so.

Then I had this conversation with someone after church yesterday,  with a woman who is thinking of starting a blog to go with her website.

Her: Isn’t it  a lot of work for nothing though?

Me: It’s work I enjoy.

Her: How much time to you spend working on it every day?

Me: At least an hour or two, sometimes more.

Her: But you’re not making money?

Me: I’m making money, just not much of a profit…lately. Some months are better than others.

Her: So you do some writing, this blogging…and then you keep it running and they click on the ads?

Me: Also other people blog. And yes, sometimes people support the ads.

Her: Only sometimes? That doesn’t seem right. Do they buy the stuff you advertise?

Me: No. I don’t use product based advertising anymore for that reason. I just finished an ebook though, and I’m hoping for some sales there.

Her: Are they buying that?

Me: One or two so far. It was just released and it’s only the weekend.

Her: So you have this blog and thousands of people visit it each day and only some people support the ads and no one buys your books or the products in the ads…tell me why you’re doing this again?

Me: It’s about the community and helping people find work. It’s about a group of amazing people. People who help people every day.

Her: Sounds like you’re the only one doing the giving if you’re not making a big profit.

Me: It’s not about a profit. It’s about building something and watching it grow. It’s about people helping people, and writers helping other writers find work that pays. Besides, my profits are steadily rising. I have faith I’ll get there.

Her: Sounds like a lot of giving – and a lot of taking – but not from you.

Me: That’s not true at all. I have a generous community.

Her: Mmm hmm. I think I’ll hold off on this blogging business for a while.

It’s hard to explain blogging to someone who doesn’t get it. If it was about bringing in a lot of money, I would have given this up a year or two ago, but it’s more than that. It’s about giving a community of wonderful people a place to visit.  It’s about helping other people who are in a situation I was once in.  It’s about giving a platform to a bunch of talented bloggers. But it’s not about the money…is it?

Recently I told you about how I had my Adsense account yanked from this blog, resulting in an 80% loss of income. As you can imagine, losing this much income at the same time we had to switch to a new server (a big and unexpected payment) almost devastated us. But I’m not writing this to give depressing news. I’m writing this to offer light at the end of the proverbial tunnel.

I know of many bloggers who lost Adsense to their blogs for various reasons and thought there was no chance in ever getting back in Google’s good graces. This isn’t the case at all. Though I wasn’t happy about losing my main source of income, the folks at Google were pleasant and accomadating for the most part. They worked with me in helping me get reinstated. Granted, it took several weeks, but I’m ok with that. Sort of.

The good news is that losing Adsense forced me to look for other forms of advertising. I still haven’t found anything that brings in as much money to the FWJ network as Adsense, but I did find a few possibilities. I also found a couple of affiliate programs that are actually bringing in results. In the past, I couldn’t find any affilaite programs that worked.

So yes, Viriginia. There is life after Adsense. I’m not ready to give it up yet, but it’s good to know there are alternatives (which we will explore here soon).

I couldn’t figure out why this would happen. We don’t ask for clicks nor do we run ads from a competing networks. So you can imagine my surprise when Adsense all but disappeared from FWJ. The reason? It was the “Support our Sponsors” box at the top of the sidebar.

I have since removed the offending heading and hope to be reinstated. In the meantime, I offer this cautionary tale to you. Even something innocent such as encouraging your readers to support their generous benefactors can be enough for you to lose your Adsense income.