Niche blogging is selecting a very tightly defined niche area and writing about it. For example instead of writing about weight loss which is a very broad topic you would write about a small segment of weight loss such as cleansing to lose weight.

If your goal is to make money niche blogging then you will want to select a topic that will earn. Some commonly know popular earners would be weight loss, going green, relationships, travel, acne, hair loss and other topics. Take one of these and zero in on a segment of it. When I made my niche blogs I considered the articles I had written at pay per click sites and how much they made. I personally found that recipes, music, crime and life skill ideas did not do well for me. What did do well for me were articles on weight loss, making money, beauty etc. I took my favorites and developed them into websites.

But if you just throw a website up and start writing you will rarely make money. You need to target words that people are searching for so you show up in the search engines. And of course many of these topics are very competitive because they can make a lot of money.

So you need to find keywords to target that will fit in with your niche blog. I personally use and highly recommend Micro Niche Finder. When I started I used Google Adwords tool. But I found it to be a long frustrating process when looking at so many keywords. With Micro Niche Finder the work is done for you. You type in a keyword to search and it will pull up associated keywords. Then it will look provide different information; how many people are searching for the term, how much the term pays in ad clicks and more. Most importantly it will tell you how hard it would be for you to rank high in Google for the term. It will give you a green light if its a go and a red light if it is a no. Micro Niche Finder is a huge time saver.

I print the list of key words that are green and this will be the basis for my niche blogging website. Next I select a name. When you are searching key terms in Micro Niche Finder you can click on the domain name tab and immediately know if your best keyword phrase is available in .com, .net or .org.

What happens if it is not available? You can either choose another key phrase or add something to the key phrase. For example if your key phrase is PinkWidgets and PinkWidgets.com, PinkWidgets.net and PinkWidgets.org is already registered you could go with PinkWidgetsZone.com, PinkWidgetsCenter.org or PinkWidgetsSpot.net.

Should you take a .info or different extension if .com, .net and org are not available? That is a personal decision. I have had good luck with .info’s but many stay away from them.

I recommend registering your domain name at NameCheap.com.  NameCheap offers good pricing on domain names and privacy. A domain name runs around $10 a year. You can also check on the availability of names at NameCheap.

Hosting is next on the list. Sometimes people ask if they should use a free hosting site like Blogger or Blogspot. The answer is no. Because you do not control those sites. So you are niche blogging on a site that can change rules, delete your account or disappear. I just read a sad post on a forum from a blogger whose blogspot was deleted. He was given no warning and had over 300 posts on it.  Free is not the way to go. Think of it as building a hotel on land you don’t own and that helps put it in perspective.

Hosting runs under $10 a month and is an essential investment. I recommend Hostgator.

Now it is time to pick a WordPress theme. You can use a free or paid theme. One easy way to find a theme you like is to google the terms you are looking for along with WordPress theme and then look under the images instead of the text results. You can waste many hours looking for WordPress themes. If you plan to build many blogs my advice would be to find a flexible theme you can use over and over.

Now it is time to install your WordPress theme on your website. You must first install WordPress on your site. This is done at Hostgator through the Fantastico Panel. Hostgator has step by step tutorials for you to follow. This is very simple to do so don’t be afraid to try it. If you purchase Hostgator hosting through my link email me and I will do it for you; Hostgator hosting.

Now it is time to log in and see your site. There are a number of plug ins you will want to add to your site to make it work efficiently and there are online tutorials on how to add plug ins. I will also do this for you if you use my link for Hostgator hosting. I recommend using All in One SEO pack, Google Adsense (to add Adsense automatically) and other plug ins depending on your need. For example if you plan to only post once in a great while you may want to add Old Post Promoter which will rotate old and new posts so your site looks fresh.

One plug in I love is Reviewazon. This plug in pulls content from Amazon based on keywords you give it. So you can pull in anything Amazon carries and earn a commission. Brad at Reviewzon is amazing and will give you step by step help if you have any trouble with the installation. Click here to get a substantial discount on Reviewazon.

Now that you have your blog set up it is time to start niche blogging. You will want to use the keywords you found with Micro Niche Finder. Use the keywords in the title of your post and sprinkled through out your post. On the side of your blog you will see “Post Tags”. It is important that you include tags or keywords from your article post. Click publish and you are on your way!

Next it is time to think about monetizing your niche blog. There are many ways to monetize a blog. Adsense is one of them. Google Adsense is free to sign up for; sign up at Google. With Adsense advertisers pay to have their ads on your site. Micro Niche Finder will tell you how much the rate is, as will the Google Adwords tool. You will get a percent of the rate shown.

It is important to note that with Google Adsense you must have a privacy policy on your site. If you need help with this contact me.

You can also put affiliate products on the blog. There are many different affiliate companies. You will make a selection based on the type of niche blogging you are doing. Some of my favorites are;

Share A Sale – wide variety of products.

LinkSynergy – wide variety of products.

MoreNiche - health and beauty products, excellent support.

Amazon – Low commissions but wide variety of products.

Clickbank – Online products ebooks, software etc.

I would recommend starting out with just two or three companies. Select products that you feel add value.

Recent changes in FTC laws require that you post on your site that you are an affiliate of the products you sell on your site. You can post a disclaimer in the About section of your site or elsewhere on the niche blogging site.

So now that you have products and/or Adsense and posts on your site it is time to get traffic. You can have the best niche blog in the world but if you don’t get traffic no one will see it.

There are many ways to get traffic. There are many ways to drive traffic to your site. Some of these methods include article marketing, posting on forums, using a link to your site in your signature, submitting the RSS feed of your niche blog to feeds such as FeedAge and social bookmarking. I will go into more detail on traffic in another post.

UPDATE! I now have a new site devoted to helping you drive traffic to your website. Visit http://www.SEOmenu2go.com my FREE BACKLINKS site.

Once the traffic comes to your site, you may want to capture your readers email address depending on the type of site you have. The best way to do this is by offering a free report. You can write a report yourself or find a pre-written PLR report. PLR stands for private label rights. These are articles you can rewrite or publish verbatim. They are usually inexpensive and a quick way to get a report for your niche blog.

To get the report your readers will need to opt in to your mailing list or auto responder. In my opinion the best autoresponder and the one I use for some of my sites is Aweber. They offer a $1 trial for a month. Once you have an autoresponder set up, it will automatically send out your emails. You can also make a pop over box to pop over when readers visit your blog to invite them to sign up for your newsletter. There are so many blogs out there it is easy for people to forget about your blog if you don’t have an autoresponder so it is well worth it to get one. Use my link to sign up for Aweber and I will help you select and find a report, make a pop over and help you put the newsletter sign up code on your site.

One of the most important things with niche blogging is to offer your readers value. You will want to provide great content and offer goods and services that you believe in. That is how you will build your readership.

It takes time to build your readership and you may have questions along the way. One community that can help you build your blog is WP Goldmine. WP Goldmine is a group of very supportive people that discuss ideas and strategies to take their blogs to the next level. The site focuses on Niche Blogging and offers step by step how to videos and reports. If you are interested in joining a trial member ship is only $1. Click her to try WP Goldmine for the $1 Special Offer. I am a member of the site and am constantly learning new things there, even though I have been niche blogging for some time now.

It took me several years of working diligently to build up my niche blogs and to learn what to do. But it was well worth it. I won’t say exactly what I make but I will share that it is very financially rewarding for me.

I have picked out the best of the best methods and things that I use that took me much time to learn. Hopefully this report will save you some time and help get you on the road to niche blogging fast.

UPDATE: A short time ago I joined The Keyword Academy. I would very highly recommend this program. They have a method to make link building and finding the “money” keywords very easy. In addition the forums are full of support, advise and challenges. The Keyword Academy focus is on both niche blogs and supersites. I would very highly recommend this program. It is taking my income to a new level. They have a $1.00 trial program. Read my review of The Keyword Academy or go to the Keyword Academy site and learn more.

If you have any questions do feel free to email me at info@WriteForMoneyOnline or info@MyLilGoldDress.com.

Happy Blogging!

Lee

Affiliate marketing is a method of generating income by placing ads in your blogs, newsletters, and other marketing material for products and services. Advertisers pay you based on customer sales, leads or clicks.

AFFILIATE COMPANIES LIST

You register to be an affiliate either with an individual company or an affiliate site. Then you put banners, widgets, text links and other product information on your website, blog, newsletter etc. There are a number of different compensation structures. Payouts will differ according to the advertiser and the type of affiliate program you are workng with. Below are some typical methods of compensation.

Pay Per Click (PPC) – You are paid based on the number of clicks that result from your ad placement.

Pay Per Sale (PPC) - You are paid based on the number of sales that result from your ad placement.

Pay Per Lead (PPL) – You are paid based on the number of leads that result from your ad placement.

There are many affiliate sites. After you have completed an application, you will have to be approved. Some sites approve automatically. Others will look at your website and make a decision. Once you have been approved you may find that the affiliate site carries hundreds of products and you may have to submit an individual application to carry certain product lines.

I want to make it very clear that if you are at all serious about developling a website online you should get a website that you control. This means you should pay for hosting and a domain name.

I recommend GoDaddy for domain names and BlueHost for hosting. But there are other good ones out there also.  A domain name runs about $12 a year and a hosting plan $10 or so per month for unlimited websites.  (Tip: Do not get your hosting at the same place as you buy your domain names.)

Using free platforms puts you at risk. Your site can be removed at any time. You are driving traffic to a site you don’t own. That said, some of you may want to play with a free website and free website design before you go the paid route.

So here is a step by step plan for you to get a free website and free website design.

Step 1

Go to www.webs.com. On the main page fill in the domain site name you want and a password. Webs.com offers an easy way to get a free website and free web design.

Step 2 

Click create a website.  A new screen will open up asking for more information; your email address, date of birth, country and gender. Your user name will be the same as your site address and will be prepopulated with the domain site name you chose in Step 1.

Step 3

Scroll down the screen and select a template. If you prefer to use advanced HTML you can upload your own. If you use webs.com, you have 300 templates to choose from. Templates range from a patriotic theme to floral backgrounds to modern designs. You can change your template at anytime. Most templates come in several color choices.

Step 4

Check “I agree to the terms of service” and click create my sites. A screen will pop up offering you different levels of service. Choose Basic (Free).

Step 5

Next a screen will pop up that asks if you want help building your site. Click Yes. Webs.com will then recommend pages for your site. It will walk you through the steps to develop each page. Pages make include a blog, photo gallery, shop etc.

Step 6

Spend time experimenting with the different easy to use site builder options that webs.com offers. You can delete pages, add pages, include links, add photos and video etc. There are lots of options for your free website and free website design.

Step 7

The webs.com is supported by ads so your website will have ads on it. You can however, upgrade (at a cost) to a no ad website. However, if you plan to do that you should switch to a hosting company where you can host unlimited blogs for the same price.

You can also register your domain name if it is available through webs.com but I would recommend registering it through a less expensive registrar such as GoDaddy.

Enjoy playing with a free account but if you find you are enjoying the site and plan to develop it fully, you will want to migrate to a paid platform that you control. You can then use your free website as a backlink to help drive traffic to your paid site.

Squidoo is a free site where you create lenses. Each lens focuses on a topic of interest to you. You can create a lens on just about anything.

As you create your lenses with the easy modules Squidoo provides, you can select ways to use Squidoo for profit by adding Amazon, eBay, Cafe Press and other modules that Squidoo has available. You can also add your own affiliate links. Squidoo shares the profits from your lenses with you. You get 50%, Squidoo takes 45% and gives 5% to charity. If you are using your own affiliate links you keep all the earnings you make. Squidoo also has it set up so you can donate your earnings to charity if desired.

The key to making money with Squidoo is to provide quality content and drive traffic to your “lenses”. You can’t make a sale without traffic.

The first step to Squidoo for profit is to get a Squidoo account. Sign up here. Next be sure to change the global settings in your dashboard. You can elect to keep all the money or donate some or all of it to charity.

Then follow the easy steps Squidoo gives to create a lens. You can add photos, widgets, and more with the modules. Create lenses each week and you can grow your income.

I highly recommend Pot Pie Girl’s ebook, “One Week Marketing”. In the ebook, Jennifer gives step by step tools and directions on how to choose a niche and keywords to use Squidoo for profit. You learn to create a lens that can earn. She also describes how to drive traffic to your Squidoo lenses. Jennifer offers a free 18 month report to help you get started at Squidoo. Get Jennifer’s free report here.

Keep in mind that Jennifer has tons of lenses at least 50+ and she earns income with other online businesses. Think of Squidoo for profit as a way to make some pocket change and potentially more if you work hard at it. It is also a great way to drive traffic to your blog or website.

I just made my first lens. Check it out here and let me know what you think; Squidoo.com/SkinCareForWrinkles.

Sign up for Squidoo and get Jennifer’s free report here.

Well my lenses that I spent quite a bit of time on were locked.  Apparently, they have stricter rules now on what is and is not allowed on Squidoo. It is unclear specifically what is and what is not allowed on Squidoo. At this point I would advise new Squidoo users to be sure your lens follows the new rules. You may want to use Squidoo to point links to your own website to drive traffic there or use the affiliate modules Squidoo provides so you are sure the affiliate link is allowed.

GREAT NEWS! My lenses were unlocked as meeting Squidoo criteria and they are back online.

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Do you have a special talent or skill. Can you write a poem, keep a secret, add someone on Facebook, share your favorite recipe or tweet a note to all your friends? If you can do any of these things you can make money with Fiverr.

Fiverr is a neat little site that allows you to list your services for others to buy. You earn a flat rate of $5 for each service you sell less Fiverr’s transaction fees.

Recently, Fiverr members were offering to review a website, send a postcard from China, make comments on your blog and much more.

It is easy to make money with Fiverr. Sign up for an account. Be sure to give yourself a name that is appropriate to the type of skills you will be selling.  Then simply add different “gigs” that you are willing to do for 5 bucks.

Though five dollars may not sound like much,  you will make money with fiverr by being consistent. One fiverr gig a day works out to an extra $150 in your pocket every month. Two a day gives you $300. Less transaction fees of course.

Let’s say you offer to send tips on saving money on taxes. If you write up a short report and email it out every time someone pays $5 for the information, it will take you just a few minutes each time and your fiverr gig could pay out very nicely over the long term.

You can also do skills that will require more time such as evaluating someone’s music, designing things etc. The choice is yours.

Fiverr pays out when you have $40 in earnings. Learn exactly what you need to do to set up gigs, promote them and make money with Fiverr……

Got a service or product you feel is worth more than $5. Fiverr is not the only game in town. The popularity of the site has resulted in many more sites like Fiverr where you can sell your goods and services. And many of these allow different prices.

Gigswood allows $4, $9 and $19 gigs and they claim same day pay. Fittytown gigs are priced at $50. Gighour says it takes no fees (except for Paypals cut and allows $3, $5, $7 and $10 gigs.
Here are some sites like Fiverr to consider;

http://dealerr.com/

http://www.fittytown.com/

http://gigbucks.com/

http://gighour.com/

http://www.gigme5.com/

http://www.gigswood.com/

http://i-will-do.com/

http://www.justafive.com/

http://magicgig.com/

http://www.myntmarket.com/

http://taskarmy.com

http://tenbux.com/

http://uphype.com/

http://zeerk.com/

Want to learn more about how to make money with Fiverr?

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Virtual Assistant Checklist

It’s got 103 service ideas that might just help you find your VA specialty.

Also be sure to check out my Virtual Assistant Article here; Virtual Assistant Article.

Here are some things you should know if you are applying for a call center job:

~ Call center employees are usually paid either by the minute on the phone or by the hour. Generally wages run about $10.00 per hour, with less paid for training.
~ Raises are infrequent and generally small.
~ You are expected to be on the phone, with minimal breaks during your shift.
~ A zero noise tolerance is expected by most call centers. No barking dogs or crying kids in the background.
~ Health insurance benefits are usually minimal and often not a good value.
~ You don’t have to pay to drive to work, or for work clothes. You do have to pay for electricity to run your computer and for your phone line. You also have to provide a headset.
~ You will often have to pass a credit check (usually at your expense) and if you do not pass, you are not refunded the money. This usually runs about $40.00.
~ Many call center jobs are tough and demanding with company computer systems not always working correctly thus making your job more difficult.
~ There are a wide variety of call center companies and they have different personalities. Explore your options.
~ Yes you can work in your pj’s!

Good luck and please post your experiences here.

Click here to go to  Get a Work at Home Call Center Job (List of Call Center Jobs).

Click here to return to Get a Work at Home Call Center Job (Overview).