Revenue through Writing - Getting Technical

By Anthony Rogers
I was about to start writing article #3 - “Steps to starting a home business” – but as I started to form the outline in my head, I realized the length would exceed the recommended maximum on-screen article length by a good 600 percent! (Something about internet reader’s attention spans being short – I prefer the more flattering explanation though; on-screen reading can be a bit tiring on the eyes!)

So – I’ve decided to break this series up much more than originally planned. I won’t bother projecting how many articles this will become!

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As was mentioned previously – if you have a good, entertaining writing style, are an expert (formal or de facto) in any area, and have the self-discipline to make regular contributions to a blog or website – then you have what it takes to begin generating revenue.

Before we get to the how, let’s talk about the why.

The Why

The internet - once the “information super-highway” – is slowly transforming into the “information-less super-landfill.” How many times have you searched for a particular topic, only to find generic pages filled with ads vaguely related to your topic? And if you, out of sheer desperation, clicked on one of those ads, you probably found that it didn’t lead anywhere much better!

The internet is a victim of “get-rich-quick” schemers. A very small minority of these schemers have struck gold; very big gold – and that is enough to whet the appetites of millions of others. So now there are entire networks of websites, chalk full of advertising and sales gimmicks, but little content.

While this is, in general, an obviously bad thing, it does open up opportunities for those who can provide genuine content. And if you can provide genuine content, then you also have a platform to provide legitimate, useful targeted advertising.

And that is the key: legitimate and useful. People are tired of seeing ads for diet pills when they’re checking the weather. Unrelated advertising is a huge turnoff. People are being conditioned by email spam to completely disregard anything on the internet that is not directly related to what they’re searching for.

That’s the why, now for the how.

The How

Obviously the place to start is figuring out what you want to write about! Nearly everyone has hobbies or areas of expertise – maybe it’s fixing vacuum cleaners, maybe its building bridges. Maybe it’s weaving baskets. The beauty of the internet is – no matter how obscure a niche your interest resides in, there’s someone else out there who is also interested! In fact, there are probably many people. You have the entire globe as a potential audience.

In fact, you may have more success with an obscure niche than with a broad, popular topic, as you won’t have the intense competition! So don’t be afraid to have at it, even if you feel your niche will have a very limited audience.

Time to get your hands dirty!

So you’ve chosen a topic, and feel your have the necessary writing skills to provide genuine, useful content. What next?

The easiest and cheapest way to get your content on the internet is via a blog. In fact – it’s usually free! Take a look at www.homeschoolblogger.com, or www.blogger.com. These are two among many sites that provide a free blog account.

Just in case you’re not familiar with what a blog is – it’s the online equivalent of a traditional journal, or diary. You use an interface similar to that used to send emails, except instead of sending an email, you post the text to your blog. So if you have the technical ability to send an email, you have the technical ability to write a blog! If you’re comfortable, you’ll also have options to decorate your blog – upload pictures, set the color scheme, font styles, etc.

The other method, that gives you ultimate control over how your blog looks and functions, is to set up your own website. In the interest of simplicity, I’ll save the details on setting up your own website for a future article.

After you’ve set up your blog account...

Now it’s time for patience! If you’re a very good writer, it may only take several months for your traffic (how many people visit your site) to build to appreciable levels. The key is consistency. You can’t write for 2 weeks, then give up and wait for something to happen. You have to write, write, and write some more.

This is a good time to mention an important point. As you delve into this process, “generating income” should not be your driving motivation. Maybe it is what prompted you to begin a blog – but don’t fall into the trap of making it your primary motivation for writing. It will only frustrate you, and probably guarantee failure by burnout. You need to write because you enjoy writing. You need to write because you are passionate about a topic. You need to write because you feel you have something others are looking for, and want to share your knowledge. If you find yourself constantly checking your visitor statistics, or being obsessed with growth trends, you need to back off and re-focus on writing for the joy of writing. I’m speaking from experience here!

But consistency and patience will pay off. That’s a fact, as long as you’ve got good content. One of my favorite examples – a blog that I personally enjoy – is here: justenjoythejourney. Over the last 2 years, Lindsey has written over 500 articles. That’s nearly 20 articles a month – that is dedication! What’s the result? 27,000 visits in the last 6 months. Assuming basic internet growth trends (the bulk of those visits probably occurred in the two most recent months), she will probably be receiving 10,000 visits a month very soon, if not already! That could easily translate into $300/month or more, given conservative ad click-rates. Not bad for doing something you love to do! And in another year? Who knows – the potential is huge. Some popular blogs have been known to generate thousands of dollars a month just from advertising. Granted, you do have to be a very good writer to attract that kind of audience!

So you’ve got a blog, and you’ve got some traffic...

Now you’re ready for advertising. Before I get into the technical details, I want to reiterate a previous point.

You want your advertising to be relevant. It must be relevant, or you are simply going to annoy your potential traffic away from the site!

A second point – your ads should be non-intrusive. That means they should mesh in color-wise with the rest of site, and for heaven’s sake, don’t make anything blink!

Remember, your content is primary. Keep your ads subtle and out of the way. Don’t get greedy and interrupt your content every ten lines to insert an ad!

Signing up with Google Adsense

Developing Adsense was an absolutely brilliant move by Google. Everyone wins. Advertisers can advertise to a targeted audience; the audience receives relevant, useful advertising, bloggers and webmasters have a very easy to use method of generating income from their content, and of course, Google gets their cut.

You should already know from the previous article how Adsense works. But I’ll post it again here for reference:

1. A vender wants to promote his service or product to a targeted market.
   
2. The vender signs up with Google and sets up their ads, along with a set of keywords.
   
3. The webmaster/blogger of a site puts a small script on their pages; Google analyzes the content of their site, and automatically places ads that match the site’s content, based on the vender’s keywords.
   
4. Every time someone clicks on one of the ads, a certain amount of money is deducted from the vender’s account. Google takes a portion of that money, and passes the rest on to the webmaster/blogger, who has a receiving account. One click is worth anywhere from a couple of cents to several dollars.
   

1. The first step is to set up your Adsense account on the Adsense website. To do so, use the link mentioned above – it will take you to the Adsense application page, where you’ll fill out some basic information. Once your application is accepted (usually just takes a few minutes), you are ready to create and insert the ad script, which you’ll paste into your blog.
   
2. In your account, you’ll see a tab near the top called “AdSense Setup”. After you click it, a page comes up, and on it you’ll see a link for “AdSense for Content”.
   
3. Here you decide what kind of ads you’ll use. You have your choice of text, images, or text and images. Pick one, and click the Continue button near the bottom of the page.
   
4. Here is where you set the color and size of your ad unit. You can see the various layouts by clicking the “Ad Formats” link.
   
5. Once you have your ad set up (to be non-intrusive!), click continue. The page that comes up next contains your script. Simply copy this script, and place it in your blog template (on the side bar, at the bottom, etc). There will be instructions for modifying your template in your blog hosting account.
   
6. You’re done! If you’re familiar with the internet, this process takes about 30 minutes. If you’re not, expect to spend an hour or two. But it will be an hour or two well spent!