Monetizing and Optimizing Your Blog

Posted on November 10, 2010 by Roy Reyer

Generating revenue with your blog and acquiring targeted readers from your blog. It is one thing to build a following, but what can you do with that following once you have it? Take aways from PubCon session; “Monetizing and Optimizing Your Blog”

Moderator; Joe Laratro

Speakers; Duane Forrester – SEO Microsoft/MSN, Brain Clark – CopyBlogger

Duane Forrester – How to make money with your blog

The light and fluffy feel good side of blogging

Critical that any blog topic is approached with passion
Pick something you like, don’t chase trends
If you’re passionate, it will come through in your writing
Your audience will know if it’s lacking

Niche

Select a niche
Select a niche that is in a niche
Still lots of opportunities in niches areas, look for them

Going broad has

Been done
Doesn’t allow you to differentiate yourself

Target

Know your audience
Bring them content they want
Use keyword research to help you understand what topics in your niche are hot-what users are searching for
www.keyworddiscovery.com
http://adwords.google.com/o/Targeting/Explorer
Select products that are directly related to the topic, or creatively related to the topic

Amazon stores have not converted very well for Duane – One well developed site has not made one sale

Things that sell the best are stand alone
Blending your ads will help
Users today are ad-savvy
Be selective where you place your ads

Test everything

Change colors
Change ad sizes
Track results
Leave things live for at least a week between changes
After a couple months, implement the best performers
Never stop testing for best results

When to Walk away

As Kenney Rogers says you got to know when to fold em
If a topic is not generating revenue, move on
If a template is problematic find another
Don’t invest your time in s something that is not giving you value
There is vale in learning

Video a story about something dumb people in your industry have done

Shopping Carts – Off the shelf are never optimized, create your own for you environment

Best Books

Don’t Make Me Think
The art of SEO

Brian Clark – How to make more money with blogs

High Level Blogging – Not an advertising model

Began formulating this back six years ago

Instead of your content supporting your advertising, your content is advertising

Content Marketing: Give away valuable content to the right people, and then sell them something closely related. You also need to make sure that there is a market out there for your stuff.

Tell people how to solve their problem, and then sell them a solution that makes solving the problem even easier.

Emotional engagement is the foundation of selling anything. It begins with people knowing who you are and liking you.

We make emotional buying decision and then use logic to support the purchase.

We do business with people we know and that we like.

The “Five A” approach to Seductive Blogging

Authenticity – Don’t just be you, be the BEST YOU. Have a voice that people can trust
Attention – What is the goal you are trying to achieve here goes back to the content. One of the most important skills you can learn is how to title your articles. Attention has to be earned.
Authority – Becoming the expert in your niche is your goal
Action – People want to buy from people they like and trust. People will tell you what they want to buy if they like you. You want to go into an area where there is allot of competition. Giving away free content when your competitors charge is a great way to build trust.
Acceleration – You will find new business opportunities when you have a large audience. Copyblogger makes three million dollars a year because of its partnerships.