Changes at Blogitive

Blogitive is making changes again. Now they only want bloggers who are using a wordpress blog on their own domain name.

There have been some changes with Wordpress that has made it very 'search engine' friendly,and I can understand that. But, is it worth it to run out and make the new blog?

Blogitive wants 10 000 bloggers on their site. Yet, I have gone for many weeks without a single job posting. At one time, I made about $100 a week from them. Now - nada.

If you are a paid post blogger, then you want to be listed at every site. However, I am not sure that it is good business to start making blogs, paying to host them, buying domains, and embarking on a search engine and directory submission program - just for a company that hasn't proven they are able to keep bloggers working.

I know that there are still some bloggers who are making good money. And, I know that blogger is favoring bloggers with their own domain and wordpress like Sharon Hurley Hall's www.getpaidtowriteonline.com. But, I wonder how much it is worth it.

I believe that one reason they are making this change is because Wordpress accepts their directories. This is all good for them, but what about 'my' readers on 'my' blog. I know that a lot of bloggers are building blogs to get clicks and money from Google and other venues - but what about those of us who want to keep our visitors right here, on our blogs?

I will probably start an experiment soon - but I just wondered if anyone has current positive results.

Basic Tutorial

There are so many sites that tell writers they can get paid to blog. Most of them have something to sell. Few are written by people who are actually doing it. Except now.

I am making about $300 - $700 a month blogging, and that is only after ten months.

HOW TO BUILD A BLOG

You can get paid to write blogs. The first step is to set up about 10 blogs. You need to also set up a squidoo lens and a myspace lens - at least one. The most important thing to remember is that this is 'not' a get rich quick scam. You will need at least 400 posts online before you will start seeing any income.

TYPE OF BLOG

-ADSENSE
The most important thing to do is find out what type of blog you need. If you want to make Google Adsense money and learn from an expert then go to www.writingup.com (Here is my referral code. If you do sign up, please give me the boost. http://www.writingup.com?referer=4062)

Another good site is bloggerparty.com. These two sites get hundreds of thousands of hits, and more important, they come up on Google searches. I make 90% of my Google Adsense money from blogs on these sites.

Yes, I have received Google Adsense checks. I expect to be receiving one every month within the next four to six months.

It may take several weeks, or even months, to learn which blog communities people are clicking at, and which ones they are not.

www.writingup.com, www.bloggerparty.com, www.blogger.com are good for this. Wordpress.com is good, but you need to download a plugin.

-PAY PER POST
This is where companies pay $5 to bloggers for posting their client's press releases. This can be tricky. You usually get 20 at a time, and only 24 hours to post them all. If there is a mistake, the post is kicked back into your inbox and it must be fixed before you are paid.

One such company is Bloggingad.com another is reviewme.com
If you are going to use PPP then do not use www.wordpress.com - they ban sites with PPP ads.

www.writingup.com, www.blogger.com, www.bloggerparty.com is great for this.

-AFFILIATE
I was paid to write one person's blog. This person had so many affiliate codes on the page it was impossible to navigate the blog. I have Amazon code, and I write book reviews and then link to the code. I also have code for my web hosting - a great webhost company that offers me server quality and size, for only $4.50 a month. This is all the affiliate I do.

I also don't try to use general code. If you go to my blog www.Historical-Novel.blogspot.com, you will notice that I have linked single book pictures and code.

www.wordpress.com is a great place for this because the blogs look professional and have credibility. I receive very few clicks from my www.writingup.com or www.bloggerparty.com blogs.

-ALternatives
Along with blogs, there is also Heliumknowledge.com, ww.reviewstream.com, etc.

HOW TO BLOG

Each blog should have similar topics, but not the same. If all the blogs have different topics then it will be too hard to make a living. The best bloggers write one article or post and then write 5 versions to put on five different blogs.

The content must be personal, conversational, based on your own experience, and link to references.

Write as if you are talking to a friend on the telephone. Do not preach or teach. Conversational language uses simple sentence structure and a grade nine vocabulary. All posts should be based on experience. Do not write a post 'how to make money.' Write 'How I make money.'

Reference links are important. 1. Google will use them to increase the rank of your blog. 2. Readers will know that you are not making the information up.

LINKING

This is as important as hits. The more incoming links the better. The best way to get dozens of inbound links is to write free articles with a link to your blog at the bottom.

NETWORKING

Post in other people's blogs. Reply to threads. Talk to people. This will attract readers to your blog.

You also need to promote your blog on Tecnorati and then go to www.pingoat.com and ping it 'AFTER EVERY' post.

For more information read www.writingup.com/gracepub There are more than 500 posts to help you learn to start a career as a work at home freelance writer.

Do You Use BlogCatalogue Properly?

At another blog community, I found a post stating that Blog Catalogue is a waste of time. I had to look twice, before I realized that the author was serious. Then, I went to their blog neighbourhood and found why.

1. This blogger never helped promote other people's blogs

2. There was no 'recent visitor' widget (high enough on the bog that the screen shot captures it and show other blog catalogue users) So, the big bloggers who will trade a 'view' for appearing as a recent visitor will over look him.

3. He did not collect a neighbourhood of similar blog communities - so no one knew he was there.

4. He obviously didn't appear on other blogger's 'recent viewed' widget (my neighbourhood is good - but it offers no incentive for people to repeatedly visit your blog)

5. He himself had not chatted with other bloggers or even participated at Blog Catalogue

So, there is nothing wrong with Blog Catalogue - there is something seriously wrong with this person's expectations. If you give nothing - you get nothing.

Directorie Enteries

The SEO world is buzzing with the news that Google is now giving 'exec' status to links from inside directories. This is leading many bloggers to rush out and start listing in directories, but instead - stop and think.

You need at least 500 links, think of how many widgets this will add to the bottom of your blog. This will make a big mess. Buying for links means that you do not need to put a widget on the website - but -

Paying for links is not a fool proof method of being listed. Many directories are started by people who want a 'get rich quick' scheme and then just abandon the directory when submissions get to the point where their 'get rich quick' scheme turns into a 'job.'

My experience shows that if you pay for 250 directory submissions, then you'll actually get about 70 - 80 links. Now, if you are paying less than $.50 each - this is still good value.

There is also a 'scheme' to make people think that paying $200 for one link to a PR8 blog will 'do the trick' and pull your blog up. While it is true that high PR pages pull up low PR pages - it is not true that paying $500 for one link on a PR8 page will not increase your blog's PR.

The important thing is to remember that blogging is a job. Part of that job is linking.

Now, what can you do? Well - Forums are also receiving a big boost when it comes to PageRank. As much as directories, but few people make money from forums, so no one is writing about it. If you want to build great PR, I suggest that you start participating in forums - and leave the directories alone until you have the money to buy links.