Blogging lesson #1
All businesses have an advertising budget. These days many of them are willing to pay out of that budget to have you mention their name to your friends in everyday conversation. If you are going to talk to your sister about the new dress you bought at Walmart, or the great deal you got on a new computer at Office Max or even about the great wedding gift you got at Things Remembered you might as well get your fair share of their advertising dollars. Now is your sister getting a raw deal? No of course not, she buys things at Walmart with or without your link, and Walmart pays out of their ad budget anyway, so since we have all spent money at Walmart what is wrong with getting some back? Nothing is wrong with it, in fact plenty is right with it, but if you have been so brainwashed into thinking that referral fees are bad then just call it a “rebate” of sorts. These referral “rebates” are actually called “affiliate commisions.” Just to repeat again, you are not making money off of your friends and they are not paying you a commision, the company they are buying from is paying a commision, and you might as well be the one to get it. So ask the Lord to cleanse your mind on this. Commisions are honest dollars if your aren’t being deceiving.
The normal everyday conversation I was referring to often is in the form of a blog these days. A blog is actually a weblog, or blog for short. It is an online journal that is usually public. In the good ole days we would have some interesting news or a new recipe or a “guess what Johnny just did” story and we would walk across the backyard and share it with the neighbor across the fence. But these days either you don’t know your next door neighbor or you can’t get past their pit bull or you have moved to the country like me and have wonderful neighbors but the closest one is a half mile away. Your mom might even live in another town. So we share on a blog. And if you are like the lady who sells weird things on ebay, you might even have thousands of folks reading. Strange world huh? So, how do we get started with a blog? That is what I am going to show you. I am not an expert but I believe in continual learning and this is what I have been studying the past year or so, so I do know a little bit.
First you must think ahead and prepare for success. If the lady that sells weird stuff on ebay had any idea she would end up with thousands of readers she might do things a little differently than if she thought the only reason for her blog was to share potty training secrets. How about if you had a secret recipe from your grandma that you knew everyone in America would pay $5 for if they only knew you had it? Think along those lines. One of the secrets to success with a blog is getting traffic. So when the flood of readers comes you are drawing attention to a particular website that your blog is hosted on. And usually they have their advertising on it and they are counting on your visitors bringing them business. So if your blog is hosted by one of the big blog names you make them money. If the blog is on YOUR site you make the money for whomever YOU choose. Maybe you want to add to the family budget, or buy your children houses as wedding gifts or give to a particular ministry. I know of one in dire need. Glorybound Ministries. Either way it ought to be your choice. So you need to have a blog on your own site. It really is very simple. more coming soon………
lesson in action- notice how some of the words are links?
and .. your thoughts?