WHAT IS SEO?

Yeah, what really is SEO? Why do I need to study SEO? Well, for people who wants to be on top of the search engines like Google, Bing & Yahoo, you really have to. And if you really want to have a decent income from your blog you have to be "searchable."  According to wikipedia-- 

"SEO (search engine optimization) is the process of improving the visibility of a website or webpage in search engines via "natural" or "unpaid" search results. Optimizing a website may involve editing its content and HTML." 

Personally, I don't have any idea on how  editing HTML was, so maybe I will focus more on the content of my blog. But in the long run, i will try to understand more of the HTML thing. I just need to do it one by one or else my head will explode! Hahaha! So why is it important? Simple! If you are searchable, then traffic to your website will come naturally. And TRAFFIC means MONEY! For bloggers like me who wants to earn from blogging, traffic is the main factor! It's as simple as that. But if you want to have a further study about SEO, wikipedia has the answer just follow this link or just Google for it!


Let me now introduce to you the tool I am using to help me optimize the content of my blog. The seotoolscentral.com. You get optimization advice, you get to monitor & analyze your site performance. And the great thing about this is, it's completely free!


I now realized that blogging is really tough but in the same way challenging. Just put your heart into it and everything will be just for fun. Don't pressure yourself too much for money. Just take it slow, cause there's a saying:


"There is no one giant 
step that does it... 
It's a lot of little steps."

UNDERSTANDING ADVERTISING CODE

With my recent post, I introduced you to different company which gives you opportunity to monetize your blog. Let me now discuss the meaning of their advertising code to help beginners like me to understand it on a much simple terms. Now let's do math!

• IMPRESSIONS - the number of times the advertisement was shown or delivered.
• CTR -  click through rate - this is the rate in percentage format which is   obtained by dividing the number of times the ad was clicked by the number of impressions. (ad clicks / impressions = CTR%).
• CPM/CPT/CPI - cost per mille/cost per thousand - cost of an advertisement for every 1000 audience or impressions . Used as marketing benchmark. This is obtained by dividing the cost of running the advertisement by the number of audience and then multiply it to 1000. (ad cost / impressions * 1000 = $CPM)
• EARNINGS - this is calculated by dividing the CPM by 1000 then multiply by the number of impressions. (CPM /1000 * impressions = $$$)
• PPC - pay per click - host are only paid when the advertisement was clicked. 
• CPC - cost per click - the amount of money the advertiser pay to the publisher for every single click.

"The essence of mathematics 

is not to make simple things 

complicated, but to make 

complicated things simple."

MONETIZING YOUR BLOG PART 3 - CLICKSOR & ADBRITE

Clicksor.com is another great way of monetizing your blog. Just like infolinks they also have inline text advertisement. But aside from that, publisher just like me, have much more potential in earning big by adding their high paying ad formats. For a beginner like me, my personal favorite is the pay per view, where the advertisement pops-up under the browser each time someone visits your website. No need for ads to be clicked because it is rated on how many times it is viewed and its frequency is controlled by you meaning you control how much you want to earn from this. They also have banners available in different sizes and referral program either for advertiser and publisher. Adbrite is also a great alternative if ever you're not approved by Google Adsense. Although they are slightly smaller company, they are just as trustworthy as to their reputation. And with their optimized advertisement, you could never go wrong. 

"Optimism is the

 foundation

 of courage. "

MONETIZING YOUR BLOG PART 2 - AFFILIATE PROGRAM

Affiliate program is famous nowadays for people who want to earn online. But I tell you it's not that easy if you're not that eager to promote your product. But there are also marketing affiliate program which I think is easier to promote because you don't need to promote at all. I'm talking about amazon.com. They have been in the business for 16 years and everybody knows about them. All you need to do is display the products that they sell on your website. I  know amazon.com has established already their reputation when it comes to giving their online shoppers a wide variety of  items in different category. And since Christmas is very fast approaching, why not check the SHOP page to see what's on display. You could find gifts to give your loved ones or to yourself. And if you don't see what you're looking for on my display, go ahead and use the search engine provided for a more convenient and easy way of shopping. And if you're looking for a big sale or bargain items, this maybe the right one for you -- tripleclicks.com. They also have a wide variety of items in different category. And what special about them is that everyday they have different "DEAL OF THE DAY" that you could really say a bargain! This is also another affiliate program I've joined which is sponsored by SFI. Let me give you a brief information about SFI. SFI was first launched year 1998 with only one product which is only available in the United States. And now they have more than 28,000 products and services that can be sold in more than 190 countries all over the world.  You could always check their business track record on their website. In here you could choose how you would like to earn. Either sponsoring another person to be an affiliate or referring people to buy online at tripleclicks.com. It's your choice where you would like to concentrate but it would be better if you could do both. Links and banners are available on my SHOP page.

"Whoever said money 

can't buy happiness simply 

didn't know where to go shopping."

PROMOTING YOUR BLOG

Joining different bloggers community and forums on the net is one way of promoting your blog. Aside from always publishing it on the wall of Facebook and tweeting about it on Tweeter. One of them is bloggers.com which I joined recently. In here, you get to meet and promote your blog to millions of other bloggers from all over the world. But other than that, meeting new friends with same interest is a plus. In that community you get to talk and express yourself about other blogs and gaining comments in return, that I could say helpful  because you get to know other people's opinion about your topic, be it negative or positive. It all depends on how you accept criticism. There are also lots of newbie like me in there so no reason to be intimidated because everybody is very much welcome. Another community I've joined is mybloglog.com which is powered by Yahoo. In this community you could join different groups which is relevant to your interest. They have also widgets  that you could embed in your own blog. This is what I love about blogging. The world is widely open for you. Not just for an opportunity in making money but also in winning friends and I mean millions of friends with the same field of interest. Aside from that you would also gain "genuine traffic" to your website. I mentioned "genuine" because they wouldn't just visit your blog but they would read what you're posting and who knows they would become your followers too. Unlike on traffic exchange sites, they just surf for credits. But I'm not saying that I don't like traffic exchange sites because I owe them a lot for increasing my page views. I'm just trying to differentiate the kind of traffic they would both give to your blog. Nevertheless, they are both beneficial to you.

"A friend is one of the 
nicest things you can have, 

and one of the best things you can be."

DRESSING YOUR BLOG

Today I've learned how to manipulate my blog's template. If you've seen my blog before, this is now the new look. Pretty much simple yet informative. I want my readers to know me better through my blog so I surfed the internet to look for a design that compliments myself. If you only knew how many hours I've spent just to understand how to do this...I knew you'll gonna say -- "You really are a newbie!" But you know what, it's really fun doing this while blogging. It's just like decorating your own home. You get to discover new things about designing your humble niche. Adding gadgets and widgets to entertain your visitors. Maybe you're wondering why would I waste my time decorating my blog while the most important is the content of what I am posting. Yes, you're right! The content is the most important but still you should also consider the image you are projecting in your blog. As to my own point of view, it is also important how well you maintain the looks of your space. Just like in your house, you always clean to make it look presentable to your guest. That also applies here. As to first impression, your blog should look interesting. But be sure that the content is suited to the layout you choose so when a reader saw your blog, they already knew what is being discussed on such blog. Cause when you place your blog on traffic exchange sites, surfers will not look into your blog unless the look of it is appealing to their eyes or something in your blog catches their interest. So you see, customizing your blog is just like building your image and presenting it to world wide web. The more unique, the more interesting. But don't forget to show the real you. Always remember, this is your own space. Some will like you while other won't. As the saying goes:

"Always be a first-rate 

version of yourself,instead 
of a second-rate version 
of somebody else."

MONETIZING YOUR BLOG PART 1 - INFOLINKS

So this is my day 3 and I'm still not making money. But I'm not disappointed at all. You're probably wondering... WHY? I've got my traffic, I already have 3 followers I may say but still not earning with it? Simply because I haven't monetize it yet. And according to my research the number 1 source to earn from your blog is to have paid advertisement with it. So when someone clicks that advertisement, automatically you earn with it. As to my case, I already applied for Google Adsense, which I think is the most famous paid advertiser most blogger prefer. But then, I still have to wait for a week to know if I'm going to be approved or not but I'm hoping for the best. On the other hand, luckily, I was approved by the INFOLINKS! These links are part of a pay per click advertising program called Infolinks. Infolinks is an In Text advertising service: they take my text and create links within it. If you hover with your mouse over these double underlined links, you will see a small dialog box containing advertisement related to the text marked. You can choose to either move the mouse away and go on with your browsing, or to press on the box and go to the ad page which is relevant to the text. Click here to learn more about Infolinks Double Underline Link Ads. So you see, you really could earn from blogging. You just have to learn HOW. And most of all you need to have lots of perseverance if you really want to succeed. As the saying goes...

"You can't go through life 
quitting everything.
If you're going to
achieve anything,
you've got to stick
with something."

TRAFFIC FOR MONEY

And here comes day 2. You're probably wondering what I did to have 100+ page views just on my second day. Aside from promoting my blog on social media site like Facebook, People String, MySpace & Twitter, I also joined some traffic sites for other countries to see my blog. Hoping some of the surfers would take time to read my post. I just feel so excited to see my page views counter ticks. And seeing my visitors came from different countries keeps me amazed how traffic exchange sites really works. But then on the contrary, not every visitors in your site would be your followers or readers. Unless they are interested on what you're posting. As to my site, I already have 195 viewers but don't have any followers yet. Would you like to be the first? Hahaha. Well I know it's part of starting from scratch. There is no famous blogger, I believe, that starts from the top. I'm not in a hurry anyway. I'm just enjoying what I'm doing cause I know there's yet a long way to go. And I would end this post again with a simple quote about patience....

"If you add a little 
to a little,

and do it again, 

soon that little

shall be MUCH!"

IN TO BLOGGING

Are you like me who is frustrated making money online? Joining several paid to click (PTC) sites just to earn extra money to support for a living or just want to earn while enjoying surfing the internet? Well I have been there and still  making money on such sites until now. But when you start earning, you still want to earn MUCH more. PTC sites in my opinion is not a stable source of income. So trying a different approach on money making using the internet is my next goal. In which I am starting right now. Yes! You're right! BLOGGING. And since I'm still a newbie I think reading a lot about blogging would be the best instrument for me. But I don't worry too much cause there are lots of bloggers out there who are very generous in sharing their thoughts and experiences when it comes to blogging. So if you're IN to blogging why not start today? Who knows one day you'll be as famous as other blogger in your country and much more in the world wide web. Don't worry this is only the beginning. I promise I would share every knowledge I would gain along with my newest adventure.  And before I end this post I would like to give you an inspirational quote: 

"You don't have to be great to get started...

But you have to get started to be GREAT!"