There are so many popular affiliate programs for bloggers. However, not every blogger can duly evaluate them. Here are a few tips which should help bloggers get the best results from any affiliate program.

1. Sincere recommendations always work

There are thousands of  affiliate programs for you to choose from to recommend to your blog’s audience. However,   making money from them is not so simple. Your blog’s readers have at least some level of trust and respect for you. The quickest way to lose them is to recommend something that they will  not benefit.

Always give an open and honest review of the product. You will get the best results. You should include both it’s weaknesses and strengths. Your readers want to know what they are buying first. Even though they know a product has limitations, they may still buy it if it meets their special requirements.

2. Find the most suitable affiliate programs for your audience

Put yourself in your readers shoes, and consider what they might be looking for in your blog. Are they shopping for specific blogging related tools? Might they be looking for premium blog themes? What would convince them to purchase?

3. Your blog’s traffic is one of the key factors

Your blog’s traffic is definitely key when it comes to make money with blogs. The more people see your relevant and well placed affiliate links&banners, the more likely they will make a purchase.  Focus on building a good reader-base.

4. Always link to good quality products

Make sure you are linking to the best products money can buy.  If you find the best product for your readers, they are more likely to buy from you. Always choose companies and products with good reputations.

5. Positioning of links matter

Position your ads in the hotspots on pages (top of a left hand side bar – or inside a post – or at the end of a post etc). This is crucial for your success in affiliate advertising.

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Thousands of blogs are being created every week and many of them are making critical mistakes within the first week of starting. If you are thinking about starting a blog here are some things that you should think about and do within the first 7 days of starting your blog.

Day 1: Don’t launch until the blog is properly setup
Many people launch a blog that is not fully setup; the design may not be complete or the RSS feed may not work. Before you launch your blog make sure that your design is complete, RSS feed is working, you are setup to ping the blog search engines and your blog is optimized for the search engines. Day 1 is the most crucial day because without launching with all these things in line it can hurt the future success of your blog.

Day 2: Pick a topic and stick with it
It is your blog so you can write on what topic(s) you want to write on, but whatever topic(s) you choose, you want to stick with them. If you blog about gadgets don’t switch the concentration of your blog later on. Your readers are most likely interested in gadgets and if you start wondering off and start blogging about random things such as furniture they will lose interest and stop reading your blog.

Day 3: Be consistent
The frequency you blog at is up to you. If you want to blog monthly that is fine. If you want to blog weekly or even daily, that is also fine. But whatever frequency you blog at make sure you stick to it. Don’t blog daily and then skip a whole month; by blogging on a consistent basis your readers will know when to expect new blog posts and they will be there, ready to read them.

Day 4: Don’t leave your readers stranded
Within the first few days of blogging it is really important to interact with all of your readers. If someone emails you asking a question or suggesting something make sure you respond to them. If someone posts a comment on your blog make sure you respond back with a comment, an email or even both.

Day 5: Get to the point
You can post a whole book and it might be the greatest thing you ever wrote, but that does not mean people will read it. If you write concise and detailed posts the chances are more people will read them versus really long drawn out posts.

Day 6: Spice it up
Add some flare to your blog. Keep your readers on their toes by doing something unique, funny or even something out of the ordinary. Whatever unique thing you do, it can really help keep your readers coming back for more.

Day 7: Don’t expect the world
It is very unlikely for your blog to become popular within the first week. It can take months if not years to create a popular blog. Just because things might not have gone the way you wanted in the first week, don’t give up. Keep on writing and your blog will grow in popularity.

Whatever type of blog you have started, whether it is a personal blog, company blog or even a blog you started to make extra income, don’t forget to communicate with your readers and other bloggers and also have fun while you are doing it!

Source : Neil Patel

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When I was asked to appear on The Lab with Leo Laporte, the producer wanted me to just give three to five beginner’s blogging tips because my session was only six minutes long and there would be not be enough time to go any deeper. I made up the five points I wanted to talk about before the show. However, during the actual taping, Leo was only interested one of them. Since I didn’t get to talk about all five beginner’s blogging tips on The Lab, I figure I would talk about them here.

Beginner Tip #1 – Blog About Something Your Passionate About

If you are not passionate about your topic, you are not going to stick to it. The best way to decide what to blog about is to ask yourself, “Would I do this for free?” If the answer is yes, then you have found your topic. People who blog only for money seldom succeed.

Beginner Tip #2 – Get Your Own Domain Name

While it certainly is possible to start a blog for nothing by using a free service like Blogger.com or WordPress.com, I recommend every blogger starting out to get their own domain name. The cost is next to nothing and you can still host it for free if you want (Blogger allows that).

If you do not wish to use the Blogger platform, you’ll have to pony up for web hosting but that’s pretty damn cheap as well. BlueFur (they host this blog) has hosting solutions starting at $5 per month and they’ll give you 15% off if you enter JohnChowRocks in the coupon code.

Having your own domain makes you look more professional. While it may not make you a pro-blogger, the ad networks will take you a lot more seriously. Some ad networks will not accept a site unless it has its own domain name. If you do it right, having your own domain and web hosting won’t cost you anything because the income the blog generates will more than offset the cost.

It’s better to get the domain name at the start than down the road. The last thing you want to do is build up a blog with Blogspot, get a ton of backlinks, PageRank, Alexa and Technorati rankings, and then have to move it to its own domain and start over. I’m sure Kumiko can relate.

Beginner Tip #3 – Update The Blog Often

A non-updated blog is a dead blog. If you cannot commit to a consistent blogging schedule, then it’s best not to blog until you can. This is where blogging about your passion comes in. If you’re passionate about the topic, then chances are you’ll keep blogging about it. Ideally, you should update the blog everyday.

Beginner Tip #4 – Get To Know Your Readers

Blogging is a two-way street. You cannot exist without readers (well you can, but what’s the point?), and readers don’t exist unless they have something to read. Blogging is about forming relationships. There’s the relationship between you and the readers and relationship between you and other blogs in your niche. It is up to you to get to know them and form this relationship. Many readers have stated that when they’re reading my blog, it’s like a one-on-one conversion. That was not done by accident. It’s all part of relationship blogging.

Beginner Tip #5 – Monetize The Blog With Multiple Sources

When the time comes to monetize your blog, don’t stick with just Google AdSense. There are now tons of ways to make money from blogging. Check out my recommended moneymaker list. If I were to use only Google AdSense, there is no way I would have been able to pull down nearly $12,000 last month. Google accounted for less than 10% of April blog income. Do not put all your eggs there.

I use eight different methods to make money online. Only two of them are banner ads. During the Lab interview, Leo pointed that my blog doesn’t looks it has that much advertising at all. When he found out how many different advertising models I used, he was shocked. The key to monetizing a blog is to run as many advertising products as you can get away with while still providing a good user experience.

These were the five begginner’s tip I wanted to get across on The Lab with Leo. However, the only point I was able to talk about was the last one, which isn’t that surprising since everyone wants to know how to make money online. I hope that the next time I’m on the show, I’ll be able to talk more about the other tips.

Source : John Cow – www.JohnCow.com

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