Affiliate Reviews Blog

Thinking of putting up your own site so you can finally make money blogging?  Well, don’t go off in a rush and sign up for the first blog hosting service you know.  Sure, the biggest names are reliable services, but some of these providers aren’t exactly the best fit for monetized blogs.  Some hosting services will give you a lot of leeway for making money off your site, while others simply won’t.

But which blog hosting services are perfect for your money-making blog, and which ones don’t cut muster?  Below is a short list of the biggest names in blogging so that you can decide which service is best for your blog:

1.  Blogger.com

Because creating a Blogger.com blog is incredibly easy, this blog hosting service has become a popular choice for bloggers everywhere.  You don’t have to pay anything, and you don’t have to have any experince in HTML or any programming language just to have your site up and running.  The problem?  Blogger.com doesn’t give you the kind of tools or customizing freedom that your blog will eventually need to earn any money.

If you’re into blogging only as a hobby, for personal reasons, or just for kicks, Blogger’s simplicity will definitely fit your purposes,  If you want to make money online, however, Blogger probably can’t support your site very well, as opposed to other hosting services.

2.  WordPress
With WordPress, bloggers have all the freedom to pick between the free blogs at WordPress.com and the self-hosted, fully-customizable blogs from WordPress.org.  Basically, WordPress.com echoes the services that Blogger.com already offers, but with a few more goodies in the package.  WordPress.com blogs cost nothing, are easy to set up, and don’t require a lot of hardcore internet know-how for you to maintain your blog.

As far as monetizing your blog goes, however, the self-hosted blog at WordPress.org is the smarter choice.  While it’s not exactly something beginners will be comfortable with, WordPress.org blogs can be downloaded for free, and support thousands of free WordPress themes and plugins out there to help you promote your content, sell products, and monetize your blog.  Customization is a breeze, but only if you’ve had enough experience with blogging and some HTML know-how.  Beginners will balk at having to pay for their own hosting, however, so going for WordPress.org has its trade-offs, especially if you’re a blogging newbie.

3.  SOLOBIS.net
Although the SOLOBIS.net WordPress Plan isn’t as well-known as other providers like WordPress or Blogger, it’s a groundbreaking blog hosting service that’s definitely worth keeping an eye on. Using the powerful WordPress engine, SOLOBIS.net offers the best of the two worlds that WordPress itself couldn’t give:  the ease and convenience of a web-hosted WordPress.com blog, plus the money-making tools exclusive only to self-hosted WordPress.org sites.

When you sign up for an account in SOLOBIS.net, you get a SOLOBIS.net subdomain (e.g., www.johnsmith.solobis.net), plus a WordPress engine-powered blog that any beginner can manage and customize without a hitch.  Not just that:  SOLOBIS.net users have over a hundred gorgeous templates to choose fromas well as a range of the most powerful, money-making WordPress plugins.  Ordinarily, you would have access to these monetizing tools only if you had a WordPress.org blog and paid for your own web hosting, but the SOLOBIS.net WordPress Plan offers all these perks at absolutely no cost.

The fact that these themes and plugins are pre-installed in your blog means that you won’t have to waste time running around and looking for the right tools that will help you make money blogging.  In fact, if you think of it, your SOLOBIS.net blog is actually ready to make money way before you are.  It’s perfect for beginners who want to learn how to blog profitably without losing their heads, and it’s just as great for experienced bloggers who can only stand to benefit from all those money-making tools.

Now that you know what the differences between these blog hosting services are, it should be easier to make a choice about which provider you’ll choose.  If you just want to blog for the heck of it and don’t want anything costly or fussy, Blogger’s for you.  If you’re into monetization and if you’re eager to make money blogging, then WordPress.org and SOLOBIS are right up your alley.  If you want a free service that gives you all the best things that a paid blog can give you, however, SOLOBIS is the right provider for you.

Technorati Tags: blogging, blogging for money, e commerce, ecommerce, make money blogging, make money online, online business, sell products

When it comes to professional blogging, it’s hard to make sweeping generalizations, especially when it’s about the average earnings of a blogger.  Some people make money blogging fairly easily, ringing up a thousand dollars in revenue in their third month alone.  Some bloggers, however, don’t have as much luck, even if they felt that they did their best with their sites.

If you’ve hit a dead end as far as your blog’s earnings are concerned, there’s bound to be a combination of factors behind that.  Below is a list of some fairly common reasons why a blog isn’t earning as much money as it should:

1.  You’re asking for money too soon in the game:

Blogs take a long time before they can get recognition and be established as a credible source of information for a particular niche.  Because of this, it’s probably going to take a while before you see any rewards from your efforts.  Competition is stiff in the blogosphere, and much of the first months (or the first year!) of your blog will be spent in establishing why you’re different from the rest.  Until you’ve actually made a name for yourself (and your blog), revenue will be hard to come by.

For some people, it takes only three months before they start to make money online.  For others, however, it can take longer than a year before any rewards seem apparent.  Be patient, work hard at your blog, and your efforts will pay off sooner or later.  Exactly when that will happen is still a mystery.

2.  You’ve come to rely too much on advertising:

Everyone knows that advertising campaigns make the blogging world go ’round, but just because they’re a decisive factor in the size of your revenue doesn’t mean that you should make them the major player in your strategy.  Remember, your readers aren’t visiting your blog to admire the Google Adsense layout you chose.  Instead, they’re there to find valuable information and interesting insights about your chosen niche, preferably the kind of content that they won’t find anywhere else. 
There’s nothing wrong with trying to sell products or promote a service for an affiliate partner, but keep the ads spare and the quality of your posts as high as you can.

3.  You don’t update enough:

Some bloggers work under the assumption that 3 or 4 blog posts in a week is a good posting rate if they want to monetize their blogs.  Unfortunately, bloggers have to work much harder than that, especially if they’re just starting out.  By delivering fresh content at a regular pace, you’re giving off the message that you can be relied on to provide new and valuable information every time.  Regular updates also prod Google and other major search engines to index your blog frequently, which can positively affect your search engine rankings in the long-term.

4.  Money is your primary concern:
Let’s face it: if you’re in it only for the money, you’re probably not going to make a lot.  This is because blogging is more than just coming up with a working marketing strategy or finding a topic that’s hot and popular.  Instead, it’s all about what YOU can offer to your readers.  Most bloggers end up writing about topics that are popular, not exactly those that they’re passionate about.  The important thing here is to find a niche that you love and avoid marketing shortcuts that don’t help you make money blogging in a sustainable way.

If your blog hasn’t yielded any rewards yet, don’t take it as a sign that your blog won’t go places.  Just stick to the job at hand, fine-tune your strategy, create high quality blog posts, and cultivate both the patience and passion necessary for maintaining your blog.

Technorati Tags: blogging, blogging for money, e commerce, ecommerce, make money blogging, make money online, online business, sell products