One of the most important parts of your blog has nothing to do with your content, design, or monetization methods. It is essential to keep close tabs on your traffic if you expect your blog to succeed. This may not be the most fun part of running a blog, but when it comes to necessities, it is right at the top of the list.
There are many things that you will learn from charting your traffic.
1. First off, you can find out where your traffic is coming from. This is important because you do not want to be one of those bloggers who says, “Who cares where it comes from as long as it comes?†The reason you should care is simple. When you know where your visitors are coming from you should then be able to increase this number, while also catering more to their needs.
2. For a blog, it is important to know when people are visiting the most. Why, you may ask? This way, you will be able to better space your posts. If you only plan on making one post a day, and the majority of your traffic visits at lunchtime, you will want to make sure that your new content is available.
3. Tracking your traffic will also give you a good idea of what search terms visitors are using to find you. In turn, you can better target your site to these terms, while also trying to increase your performance with other keywords.
4. And perhaps most importantly, knowing the details of your traffic will allow you to monetize to your fullest potential.
Can you get away without tracking and monitoring your traffic? Sure. But when it comes down to it, this is not a good idea. The more that you know about your visitors the better your blog will become. And this works out for both you and your visitors.
A few days ago I wrote a review on Associated Content. At that time I gave information on how many articles they have accepted, the average pay out, etc. I also mentioned that I would be starting to write some articles for them again if I could find the time.
Well, I submitted five articles, and the results are in. They are as follows.
Sticky Notes: Three Ways to Use them in the Office
This may sound like a silly topic, but as I was thinking of ideas I was writing a note to myself. So I said, “What the heck?†It took me about 10 minutes to write this article, and within one day AC had offered me $5.54. This is not my highest offer ever, but not bad for a few minutes worth of work.
What to Consider when Buying Custom Sticky Notes
I have to admit that I use my fair of sticky notes on a regular basis. So I figured since I already wrote one basic article on this topic, I might as well dive in with some more detail. Again, AC offered me $5.54. I have no clue why they offered a number that is not rounded off, but who cares? My guess is that the same editor reviewed both pieces.
Going to a Game at PNC Park
Since I live in Pittsburgh, I figured an article about PNC Park would be a great topic. I’ve seen a couple of Pirates games this year, so my knowledge of the park was fresh when writing the article. Ten minutes to write, and $6.02 was headed to my PayPal account.
Order Sporting Event Tickets Online
I love sports, and have found that ordering event tickets online is a great idea. I actually did this for the first game that I attended this year at PNC Park, so again, I decided to take one topic and break it into two. This article only fetched me $4. My guess is that other content producers have covered this in depth. But hey, it is better than nothing.
Working from Home: How not to concentrate
Working from home is great; the distractions are not. That is why I put this article together. Even though this is a saturated topic, a lot of people are interested in working from home. That is probably why I received an offer of $7.50, which was the highest offer of the bunch.
Although I did not keep track of every last minute, I estimate that it took me approximately 40 to 45 minutes to write and submit these five articles. My income for that time: $28.60 or $5.72 per article.
These numbers were quite encouraging; especially because a lot of people have been complaining about AC as of late. If I had the time to churn out five articles per hour, that would work out to approximately $229/day based on eight hours. Some articles would surely get rejected, but it is nice to think that a few bucks can be made here and there.
For me, the key to writing articles for AC that get accepted is two fold. First off, I like to write in groups of five. This keeps me on track, and allows me to get the articles done in a timely manner. Secondly, try to break topics into smaller articles. This way, you only have to research once; if even that. For instance, since I bought tickets to a PNC Park event, I wrote one article about the park and the other about buying the tickets. Easy enough, right?
I have 10 more articles submitted at this time. My plan is to write five a day for them so that my long term study has solid backing. Within a month or so I will have a much better idea if making a full-time income from AC is possible as well as how well their payment and acceptance system works. Â
I don’t think that I am a stupid person, but I do call myself dumb when it comes to technology, the internet, and things of that sort. The fact of the matter is that I have no idea how to code websites, design pages, or anything else along those lines. I can set up a WordPress blog, make some very basic changes, and a little bit more. But even with that being said, I still have no problems making a full-time living online.
So many people think that they do not stand a chance online because they are not internet savvy. But I am here to show you that this is definitely not the case.
The great thing about the internet is that you can learn about anything if you are willing to take the time to read. Since I have always loved reading, this is fun for me. So when I first decided that blogging was a great way to make money, what do you think I did? That is right; I began to read as much as I could about this way of earning cash. As I found information I printed it out, saved it, and marked websites as favorites. The bottom line is that if you are willing to learn, you can make money online.
Additionally, once you have a blog set up, you will be able to experiment with different ideas. When I was choosing the theme for my first WordPress blog I almost drove myself insane. It took days for me to find the one that I would finally settle on. But today, I do not put nearly as much time into this process. Instead, I find a good theme and then start to experiment. Things are easier on me now, but early on I was in the same shoes as many beginners. I had no idea how to add Google Adsense, or change the names of pages. But over time, I experimented and now this is all second nature.
Remember, you are not going to break anything that you cannot fix. This is not to say that you should go nuts, but do not be afraid to attempt to make changes. After all, experimentation is the only way that you are going to learn.
I might not be stupid when it comes to overall learning ability and knowledge, but as far as the internet is concerned I am not the brightest bulb on the tree. But so what? Sometimes I think that it is better off this way. Since I do not know a lot I never end up over thinking things. And all in all, my basic knowledge has done me good so far!
