Make Money Online

Why 365 Blog Posts (Or Even Less) Is All You Need To Become A Successful Blogger

by MAHESH MOHAN on February 13, 2018

Why 365 Blog Posts (Or Even Less) Is All You Need To Become A Successful Blogger

Ever wondered how many blog posts you need to become a successful blogger? Well, I will show you why 365 blog posts is all you need for traffic, income, and probably fame.

If you’re planning to start a blog then people might have recommended you to write once weekly, twice weekly or maybe one daily. Yes, it’s true if you want to make your blog hyper-active, engaging, and would like to increase the number of subscribers.

But it’s also true that you can become a successful blogger and increase your blog traffic without following any publishing schedule.

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Make Money Blogging: What Does It Take To Generate 1,000,000 Pageviews & $3,000 Per Month

by MAHESH MOHAN on January 31, 2018

You want to make money blogging? You do? I can help you. But don’t think I am going to give you yet another 101 ways to make money online. Because it doesn’t work that way at all. Seriously.

If you already have a blog and is exploring ways to monetize your blog then here’s a list of over 40 Google AdSense alternatives to make money blogging.

Over the past several months, I have been trying to scale-up my content creation process — to create more blog posts per month in a consistent way. However, I was not able to do it and is yet to find a way that works for me.

But the good thing is, I ended up doing a lot of maths. I love maths. No, not the stuff that you and me learned at school — differentiation, integration, algebra, matrices, etc. — but the one applied in real life.

In fact, that’s how I ended up writing a fun blog post about How Much Traffic Do You Need To Make $100,000 a few years back. It was all about traffic and income and surprisingly it became one of the most popular posts on my blog.

So, today I just wanted to do a reverse blog post based on the numbers that I have worked out.

That is,

How Much Money Should You Invest In Content Marketing To Generate 1,000,000 Pageviews And $3,000 Per Month

And it’s about traffic, income, and costs too.

The only problem is, the math that I have used on the previous blog post can be applied to almost any blog/website out there. But the current math can’t be as it’s mostly based on my own traffic insights plus few case studies.

So, there’s every chance that the actual figures applicable for your own blog could be a lot different from mine. Needless to say, it ultimately depends upon your website’s niche, authority, and marketing efforts.

For instance, the number of pageviews of a blog depends very much on its bounce rate. Even a slight change in bounce rate means a lot in terms of pageviews.

My bounce rate is over 85% and the number of pages per visit is 1.30/visit. Now if I’ve managed to reduce my bounce rate to say around 80% then the number of pages per visit will be around 1.50/visit.

And it will easily result in a 15% jump in pageviews (with zero additional content creation).

Coming back,

Make Money Blogging: I just want to decode four questions

How Much Traffic Does Your Blog Need To Make $36,000 Per Year In Ad Revenue
How Many Blog Posts Do You Need To Generate A Million Pageviews Per Month
How Much Money Should You Invest In Content Marketing To Generate A Million Pageviews Per Month
How Much Time Does It Take To Reach Your Traffic Goal

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How Much Traffic Do You Need To Make $100,000 With Google AdSense

by MAHESH MOHAN on January 31, 2018

How Much Traffic Do You Need To Make $100,000 With Google AdSense

Is it really possible to make $100,000 a year from Google AdSense (or by selling ads on your website/blog)? If so, then the real question is how much traffic do you really need to make big bucks with Google AdSense?

While it’s true that we can’t predict the Google AdSense income exactly, we can optimize the ads in different ways so as to make the most out of it.

Google AdSense

Also, you must make sure that your website category is advertising friendly because your AdSense income depends a lot upon the category of your website. You can use Google AdWords Keyword Planner tool to find out the competition in your industry.

If there is enough competition (i.e. if the suggested bid by AdWords for keywords in your niche is high) then we can assume that Google will fill your ad spaces with high paying ads (see how AdSense works).

For example, if you Google search “loans” then you’ll see a lot of ads so it means that if you have a blog related to personal finance then there will be enough competition for your ad space.

Now I’ve randomly added few keywords to Keyword Planner to find out its suggested bid by AdWords. Here they are:

Google AdWords Keyword Planner

As you can see, the competition for keywords related to “finance” is very high compared to keywords related to “food”. Of course, the suggested bid is just an estimate and the real cost-per-click varies a lot.

But still, even if it’s $5 then it means a lot. Why? It’s because the cost per click to advertise on Google is very high compared to cost per click on Google Display Network. So if an advertiser is paying $0.50/click on Google then he may be paying only $0.10/click on Google Display Network.

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Sponsorship: An Income Stream That Works For (Almost) Any Blog

by MAHESH MOHAN on March 14, 2016

Blog Sponsorship

It’s been several years since I dropped Google AdSense (or other ad network) from my blog. Of course, Google AdSense is the biggest (and the most popular) ad network with millions of publishers.

And it is perhaps the best ad network as well because with Google AdSense (or any other ad network) our ad inventory never goes unfilled. It basically means that we always have an ad to show, and every pageview that our blog generate adds to the revenue.

However, the reason I hate Google AdSense is because of their CPC and RPM. Why? Because it is totally unpredictable.

For instance, if my blog has generated 100,000 pageviews last month and I have earned $500 from Google AdSense (which is totally possible) then it doesn’t really mean that I will make $500 next month too (even if I generate the same amount of traffic).

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There was a time when I was averaging less than $0.50 per click and then there was another time when I was averaging over $1 per click with Google AdSense.

And that’s a significant difference because it means the RPM can be as low as $1 or it can be as high as $6. In other words, truly unpredictable.

Then I started accepting blog sponsorship (or sponsored ads). No, I didn’t sell any text links or paid posts for SEO to brands. And I didn’t want to fill the blog with ads either. Instead, I focused on user-experience and quality.

The first thing I did was, I created an “Advertise” page that showcases all the available advertising options on my blog.

And there I specified the pricing, blog stats, and the ad guidelines clearly in such a way that I could send its URL to anyone who is interested in placing an ad on my blog. Simple as that!

If you explore my advertising page then you will see that I also sell an ad unit called “In-Post Ads”. Unlike a site-wide ad, it’s all about placing an ad within an existing blog post. It worked perfectly for me because I was able to sell a few long-term ad placements for $250-500 per slot.

It’s like, I got paid some $250-500 for writing and publishing a blog post on my own blog about stuff I cared and loved the most. And the best thing… unlike a “Sponsored Review”, I didn’t have to review a product/website that I personally don’t like.

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So what’s the problem here? I guess you’ve already imagined that by now. Who’s gonna buy it?

True. It’s not so easy to get blog sponsors and it can take a lot of time (and maybe effort too). And then the next challenge would be to say “No” to a potential advertiser.

You know advertisers and brands are everywhere and they are always looking for new advertising opportunities.

Even if you don’t have a high-traffic blog you can sell ads (or get sponsorships) if you make your blog look good.

Because…

“If you can’t make it good, at least make it look good.” — Bill Gates

And it works!

Blog sponsorship is not something new. Even big brands are doing it. For instance, I recently noticed that Search Engine Land is selling “Sponsored Content” apart from selling DoubleClick ads and text link ads.

What’s so attractive about such private ad placements is that it’s a guaranteed income (sort of). But the problem is… we may not get a sponsor every single month.

And sometimes (actually, more often) we may have to reject an offer if their offer is less than what we actually deserve. Or, if promoting their product can degrade our blog in one way or another.

For instance, there were several instances when I rejected offers simply because they were asking for text links and paid posts for SEO (or dofollow links and posts).

And then there were few of them who offered $50 for an ad when the actual price is $300. Just like that.

A quick reminder, just because it worked for me (or for another blog) doesn’t really mean that it will work for you. And I can’t even say if it’s a viable ad model for you as every blog is different. Really different.

Also remember, it’s also about how you’ve placed your website in the marketplace.

Happy Blogging! :)

The 18 Best Affiliate Programs & Networks For Anyone And Everyone

by MAHESH MOHAN on September 30, 2015

Affiliate Marketing

Image Credit: Flickr

Affiliate marketing, as you might probably know already, is a multi-billion dollar industry and it’s by far the best way to monetize your website or blog — unless you have your own products and services to sell.

If you have a content rich website then there are hundreds of thousands of affiliate programs and affiliate networks available on the web that can make you a fortune. In fact, the secret to six-figure blogging is affiliate marketing.

The reason is pretty simple… if you are monetizing your website with the right affiliate program then it can make a lot of money with little effort (of course you need a content rich website with a handsome amount of targeted traffic).

It’s just that it takes some time to figure out what’s converting and what’s not.

So first things first.

Affiliate Programs & Affiliate Networks: What’s What, And What’s Not?

Affiliate programs are also called associate programs and it’s a deal between an advertiser and a publisher. For instance, if I’ve a created a software and is promoting and selling it via my blog then I can also generate additional income by inviting my blog readers to promote it in exchange for a commission.

So let’s say, if you referred a buyer for my newly created software product then I offer you a 50% commission (or 50% of the additional income that I have generated because of you). So if you refer more people to me then you make more income.

That’s why affiliate marketing is also known as performance marketing. And it’s a win-win, right?

Now if I have the resources then I can run an affiliate program by myself — within my own blog or website — and then it called an in-house affiliate program. But if I don’t have the resources or don’t want to manage it myself then I can sign up as an advertiser on an affiliate network. [Read more…] about The 18 Best Affiliate Programs & Networks For Anyone And Everyone

What Is Fiverr, Anyway? 13 Gig Ideas To Make Money On Fiverr (Or Elsewhere) #Review

by MAHESH MOHAN on September 17, 2015

Fiverr is the most popular micro-job marketplace on the web where you can sell almost any of your random services. I said random because it’s a marketplace which is much more diversified than what you can imagine.

Here’s proof:

As you can see, it’s got terrific value.

Where else on earth can you get those gigs done for $5?

What you saw above was just a tiny list of some top rated gigs on Fiverr. But, that’s not all folks! There are a lot more bizarre gigs that you never would have thought of. In fact, there’s an official category for those gigs (go here if you’re curious).

First things first.

A micro-job on Fiverr is called a “Gig” and gigs start at $5. It basically means that the base price of any service on Fiverr is $5 (also known as one Fiverr). But the order can be hundreds of dollars if you provide add-on services (known as “Gig Extras”).

It’s certainly a place where people do what they love and get paid for it.

Originally, the tagline of Fiverr was “What are you willing to do for $5?”. Today it’s not just a micro-job marketplace but much more than that as the gigs now “starts at $5”. And like I said, the total order value can be hundreds of dollars by way of “Gig Extras” or “Custom Offers”.

Thanks to some of those Fiverr competitors that were offering gigs of almost any value. Anyway, Fiverr is still one of the best way to make money online — as long as you love what you do and can offer something unique and valuable. [Read more…] about What Is Fiverr, Anyway? 13 Gig Ideas To Make Money On Fiverr (Or Elsewhere) #Review

Freelance Writing Tips: Everything (Almost) You Need To Know

by MAHESH MOHAN on September 4, 2015

There are not enough freelance writers. Seriously. Whenever I come up with a freelance writing based topic, I mention that it’s extremely competitive. If there’s a writing gig on a freelance writing marketplace such as Upwork.com (formerly oDesk.com), Fiverr.com, or elsewhere then there will be a ton of applicants — even if it’s just a micro-project.

Today I have a perspective that contradicts the statement “freelance writing is extremely competitive”. Over the past many months I have successfully failed to hire an affordable writer for this very blog — no, It’s not that I am going to make my blog multi-authored — I just happen to want to write and publish blog posts in a consistent way.

You might already have noticed that neither do I write regularly nor do I focus on a single topic. I only write about things that I find interesting at that point of time. Therefore I don’t have any plans to hire an army of content writers to publish 100s of blog posts a month — like the Mashables and BuzzFeeds of the world are doing.

I was just looking for someone — preferably a contributor or an editor — who could help me finish a blog post much faster. Because now I take several days to finish an in-depth or lengthy blog post (like this one). So I thought I could outsource the “writing” process and focus only on research and editing by myself — to save a lot of my time and effort.

And you know what happened? It never worked — at least for me!

If you have been following my freelance topics then you probably know that I’m not a freelance writer myself — but I wish I were one. However, as you can see I can write for myself but definitely not the way someone wants me to. And yet, I got a ton of writing opportunities in the past — by way of guest blogging, SEO writing, web content, etc. and I was forced to deny all of it. :(

So what’s the point?

Simple! You don’t have to be a native English speaker or a best selling author to make money writing.

If you can write, then money can be made. Absolutely!

But no, that doesn’t really mean that you can become a six-figure writer in few months/years just because you know how to write few sentences. It doesn’t work that way at all!

The real questions are… Can you write quality content? Can you write content that meets the criteria or guidelines set by your client? Can you write error free (both grammatically and technically) content? If your answer is ‘Yes’ to all the above questions then you can become a successful freelance writer. Guaranteed!

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