How to Start a Blog For Money – Write Your Passion

If you like to put ideas, opinions and thoughts for all to read or see then Blogging is a Very Viable and Good Choice 😀

Truth is, some people are blogging for a living, as Main income and making some very serious cash.

Typical Successful Malaysia Blogger example will be:

  • Paul Tan(blog on the Malaysian and world automotive industry. Includes cars, bikes, trucks, motoring tips, test drives, and reviews)
  • Kenny Sia(blog on Personal Stuff, Celebrity,Travel etc)
  • Lilian (5xmom-Blog on  about living, loving it, humour with some crass, a little bit of sex thrown in, more on relationships, sometimes religion too and just about anything that comes to her mind)

 

Before you start to develop a blog, you should seriously consider the topic or Niche you’re going to cover on it.

You can choose any topic from Under the Sun!

Just use the Google, Search engine to check what topics are available.

Learning to Blog is not tough.

I think your Kid is better candidate! 😀

The first step to starting a Blog For Money is finding something about which you are passionate that you think others can be passionate about, too.

Mine is on topics of Making Money, Personal Finance and Financial Freedom! 😀

This is an Interesting write on Blogging:

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Whiz kids on the blog

By JASON LIOH

WHEN avid blogger David Cheong Mun Hoe started his blog, titled Royalshortness five years ago, he did not expect that blogging would eventually open up doors and raise his profile as an individual. Today, he finds himself attending happening events and parties, watching movie previews, testing out gadgets that have not been released publicly and having meals at newly opened restaurants. Best of all, he’s doing all that – and more – while earning some extra money at the same time.

David started blogging because he loved to write. Half a decade later, blogging has become part of mainstream culture, especially among urban youths. Blogs have in the past couple of years proven to be an effective tool for advertising, spreading awareness and increasing brand exposure, so naturally advertisers have come knocking. The advertisers emerge

David Cheong’s blog has many pictures of him at events.

The wide acceptance of blogs and blog advertising here was aided by the emergence of home-grown blog advertising agencies, Nuffnang and Advertlets two years ago.

These agencies While working diligently securingget clients to advertise on the hundreds and thousands of blogs in their network. To reward and keep the bloggers in their network happier, these agencies othese agencies offffer them free movie tickets and invitations to happening events in the city.

Nuffnang, which claims to be Asia Pacific’s first blog advertising community, has even taken to collaborating with its clients to organise themed parties throughout the year to bring bloggers together.

Information technology diploma student, Nigel Tee Tjin Hoe is already enjoying the perks of being a blogger just a few months after he started his blog in September 2008.

“I have taken part in more than 10 competitions over the last six months to win myself passes to parties and events organised by or associated with Nuffnang. They have been very generous in giving out tickets and I always managed to win one or two tickets,” said the 19-year-old.

Nigel added that he only started putting Google Adsense (a website advertising programme by Google) and joined Nuffnang early this year and has already earned about RM100 and RM50 from the two blog advertising programmes respectively.

“I did not start my blog with the intention of making money out of it. but because I want to blog.The money I earned through my site is just an added incentive; I am passionate about blogging.”

Money talks

While there are bloggers who are against commercialising what is essentially their personal sites for profit, people like Nigel and David obviously hashave no qualms about embracing blog advertising with an open heart and mind.

“I have nothing against blog advertising. In fact, I have a couple of advertisements on my blogs now. People are bound to catch on when they realise the impact blogs have made on the masses, cyberspace and traditional media,” said the 24-year-old business analyst.

Nigel Tee is already enjoying the perks of being a blogger just a few months after he started his blog last year.

David’s blog features his posts about events he attends and showcases his photos from outings, holiday trips and weddings he attends. He also gets offers of work now.

“There are people who write in to ask whether I would like to be the official photographer for their events and weddings after they saw the pictures in my blog. My blog has certainly opened up many opportunities for me and it can only get better,” said David who wishes to pursue a photography career in the future.

The two bloggers mentioned above blog a lot on food, events and entertainment. in their posts.This wasn’t always the case for Nigel. He started out as a socio-political blogger but changed the focus of his postings after reading stories about bloggers who have been arrested and sued for some of their more controversial statements and actions.

New generation

Success stories like Nigel’s and David’s have spurned a whole new generation of bloggers who are taking to lifestyle blogging, a “genre” often associated with good advertising support.

These blogs are sometimes seen to have content of little value, filled up with “cam-whoring” photos. Some bloggers, including those from the pre-blog advertising era, label such blogs as shallow and of little substance.

However, Nigel is not too concerned about such perceptions. He contended that it is their blogging style and they can write whatever they want in their blogs. “Most female bloggers tend to post cam-whoring pictures and still have huge amount of daily hits because people do not mind looking at such pictures,” he added.

Bloggers like Jamie Chin Suk Yee and Cherlin Tan Tzia Tzia feel that ultimately, it is up to the readers to decide what they like.

Jamie said that some readers are lazy to read and prefer to look at beautiful pictures instead. Cherlin, meanwhiles, concurred with Nigel that it really boils down to a particular blogger’s style. “Everyone has their own way of blogging and there are always people who will find such blog interesting. “There are always pros and cons and it is up to the readers to judge their favourite bloggers,” concurred Cherlin.

The two share a number of things in common. Both are attractive teenagers who started blogging out of curiosity and due to peer pressure. They have personal and lifestyle-themed blogs, and often feature advertorials on their blogs, which also means that they are making money from their blogs.

“Blogging is the in thing now. There are lots of bloggers out there and the number of people reading blogs is increasing every day. It is not surprising if we say blog advertising is quite an effective way of creating awareness,” said Jamie.

(From left) Jamie Chin and Cherlin Tan both feel that cam-whoring is just another blogging style and it is up to the readers to judge their favourite bloggers.

The other side

Still, there are downsides to having a popular blog that makes money. When Jamie’s blog began to attract more new visitors, she started to feel restricted. She refrained from writing about her family and simply ranting.

“I now write about events and places I have been to or things that I found interesting or worth sharing. My posts still convey my thoughts but nothing too sensitive or emotional,” she said.

On the other hand, the thought of earning her own pocket money has motivated Cherlin to take blogging more seriously and update her blog regularly.

“Even on days when I am less inspired or lack of materials, the thought of my readers visiting my blog hoping to read something new will push me to come up with something interesting and worth blogging about,” she said. Nevertheless, advertising is a great motivation – among other advantages of course – for one to start, or continue blogging. There are bloggers who started this pastime long before such advertising came and conquered cyberspace and are still at it.

Sure, the perks are great incentives. But in the long run, like most of things, sustaining a blog all boils down to substance, perseverance and integrity. But who is the judge of that? In the eyes of the advertisers, the readers (and consequently, the customers) are king.

* The writer, Jason Lioh, runs a successful blog of his own, jasonmumbles.com, and he was kind enough to add a post to our R.AGE Blog. Check it out here

Sources:http://rage.com.my/writeups/story.asp?file=/2009/7/1/personalities/20090701095700&sec=personalities

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No sweat

By JASON LIOH

STARTING a blog is so easy these days that anyone can do it within a few mouse clicks. There are many sites that offer free blogging platforms and service including WordPress (www.wordpress.com), Xanga (www.xanga.com), LiveJournal (www. livejournal.com) and Blogger (www.blogger.com).

Choose the one you prefer. For beginners, Blogger is popular due to its simplicity and user-friendly interface. At those websites, do:

1. Sign up with your preferred username and password.

2. Pick a title for your blog and its corresponding URL.

3. Select a template from the many available templates.

4. Start blogging!

If you think you have what it takes to earn quick bucks with your blog, sign up with some of the many blog advertising programmes such as Google Adsense, TextLinkAd, LinkWorth, Kontera, Blogitive, Blogvertise, ReviewMe, FoodBuzz, SocialSpark and PayPerPost, to name a few.

Some of the afore-mentioned programmes require exclusive participation by the blogger, meaning that you are not allowed to put ads from other programmes on your site. Do make an effort to read the fine prints, terms and conditions before signing up to avoid being blacklisted or banned from taking part in the programme.

Homegrown Nuffnang (www.nuffnang.com.my) and Advertlets (www.advertlets.com) are currently the two main blog advertising networks that act as the middleman between the players in advertising industry and bloggers in Malaysia.

Exclusive membership status for these two programmes come with added bonuses, so choose wisely. Perks including higher earnings, exclusive invitation to its parties and events happening in town, special screening of latest movies, customised widgets and advertorials. Attracting traffic

Your daily traffic and monthly hits will determine your earnings. The higher your traffic is, the more money you will be earning. Hence, after creating your blog and joining one of the many blog advertising programmes out there, it is time to work on attracting visitors and driving more traffic from search engines to your blog.

Here are some handy and simple tips that might help you one way or another:

1. Pick a blog title and URL that are easy to remember.

2. Content is king. A blog with good and interesting content will gain a following and rank high in search results.

3. Update your blog constantly and frequently so that visitors will have something new to read whenever they visit your blog.

4. Choose a title that describes the post best. Search engines are able to determine the relevancy of keywords and search phrases easily, quickly and presenting the most accurate result of your blog to readers.

5. Tag and label your posts with appropriate and relevant keywords. Search engines rely on keywords to source the Internet for the best matched and most relevant sites for its users during a search.

6. A comment can turn into a conversation with commenters returning to your blog to read your reply. They would feel welcome in your blog too!

7. Leave a comment when you visit a blog to inform the blog owner that you were there, and the blog owner might just visit your blog out of curiosity and courtesy. He might be interested in your contents after visiting your blog, and become a regular visitor.

8. Ping your blog posts in blog portals such as Project Petaling Street (www. petalingstreet.org) or blog aggregator’s exclusive ping portals.

9. Do not be shy, come out and meet other bloggers that you have met online. Attend bloggers’ gatherings and parties to gain more exposure for yourself and your blog.

10. More advanced method is doing search engine optimisation (SEO) for your blog that will improve your blog’s ranking in search engines.

Sources:http://rage.com.my/writeups/story.asp?file=/2009/7/1/personalities/20090701101203&sec=personalities

10 Responses to “How to Start a Blog For Money – Write Your Passion”

  1. hi Agnes,

    Thanks 😀

    I am NOT a Guru!

    I still learning new things everyday 😀

  2. Talking about Malaysian blogs, I like kongtechnology. They always provide us new and funny tech stuff. :p

  3. if you copy and pasted from jason’s blog and from r.age, i think that’s hardly known as ‘very professional’..

  4. hi Kay,

    Do You Read that I quote the sources?

    TQ

  5. Yes the content is important. The rest always updating your blog to keep your visitor is coming.

  6. Hey!
    Really good post
    Respect!

  7. Very good information! i learn so much from the info you put up!

  8. I am always reading blogs for or related to $$$ …. i also tried to blog, but not full hearted i guess, hence the motivation energy is die off … i think I should start that again after reading quite a number of your articles

    Thanks

  9. Keep it up, Lee!

  10. How to become a millionaire
    Reviewed by SHARIDAN M. ALI

    The Millionaire Formula
    Author: Dr Jeffrey Chiew with Tan Thiam Hock
    Publisher: Estate Planners Sdn Bhd

    DR Jeffrey Chiew was born in a slum, but managed to make his first million by the age 25. And now he is sharing his secret recipe on the path to riches via his book which he co-writes with financial expert Tan Thiam Hock.

    As both writers are Malaysians, the context of the book would be relevant to locals. This, in no way, undermines the universality of the book’s main subject that focuses on the power of the mind to achieve your goal.

    The simple language without overpowering financial jargon is also a plus point.

    But the ultimate question that lingers around this type of wealth development tips and strategy book is – can the book make me rich?

    Well, according to Chiew, if you want to be a millionaire, you better start thinking like one. Interestingly, in his first step, unlike many other wealth development books, Chiew focuses on one’s mindset, or in his own words, “mental programming”.

    Next, you must value your own net worth that take into consideration your total asset and liabilities. This is to get a snapshot of your current financial situation, whether it is positive or negative.

    He thinks it is important to get oneself organised. As simple as it may sound, the execution is not that easy but Chiew manages to streamline the process that I find quite useful.

    The book includes a sample table that organises your income and spending.

    The third step is rather important as it guides you to what you want in life and setting realistic goals in a specific time frame.

    Fourth, it may sound cliche but in reality many people dream about being rich without any financial goals at all.

    Once you have set your goal, the book guides you to plan how to achieve your success that involves changes in your everyday routine. One apparent useful tip is to keep a daily and monthly checklist that tracks your saving and spending as well as a reminder on your ultimate goal.

    Fifth, the book also lists investment opportunities that include four mountains of wealth, namely business, property, financial market and the Internet.

    The sixth step teaches you to save and manage your debt. Before you get too ambitious to save more than 10% of your salary, one has to manage and try to reduce his debt.

    One way is through debt consolidation where it involves taking a loan with a low interest rate to pay off all your other debts with higher interest rates.

    The last step is about how to make your money work for you. The writers explain the differences between savings and investments. Suitable for beginners who want to gain financial freedom. If Chiew can achieve it, so can you!

    fr:biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/10/10/business/4827602&sec=business