One of the biggest mistakes made by new webmasters is not positioning their ads correctly. By “positioning,” I refer to putting the ads:

1. on the right page; and
2. at the proper location on the page.

Regarding point #1, many people assume that the home page is the page that gets the most traffic. That’s not necessarily the case. Knowing how much traffic your site gets is not enough. You should know more detailed stats, such as what page of your site gets the most traffic, for what keywords does your site rank the highest, where do your visitors come from, etc. The more you know about your site, the easier it will be for you to monetize your site. Gaining traffic to your site is already difficult… at least try to make the most out of the traffic that you receive.

Regarding point #2, putting your ads at the right location on a page can have a dramatic impact on your earnings. How to know what location works better? Experiment. If it means changing the layout of your site to accommodate your ads, do it. By experience, try to put yourself in the shoes of your visitors and ask yourself what catches your attention on a page. Once you’ve answered that question, position your ads around that area.

Networking is about building connections. There are two aspects to networking:

1. expanding your network; and
2. strengthening your network.

A good and sustainable online campaign is about more than just building links. In fact, when you think about it, building links is part of networking. Why need a strong network? Because it will increase your presence on the Web and your credibility amongst other bloggers. Take this scenario for instance: You have an announcement to make, but have no connections online. You probably will have to issue a press release. Press releases only reach so many people. The other scenario: You have a strong online network and send an e-mail to all the members of your network asking them to spread the word. What happens? You tap into their readership. Want to go further? How strong is your network? If it is very strong, you can ask them to forward your e-mail to their network and so forth. That’s how a “word of mouth” campaign is built online. Add this to your press release campaign and you have a better/ far more reaching online marketing campaign.

So for those focusing only on “link exchanges,” this is not the way to go. And, as a last note, nothing bothers me more than someone suggesting a link exchange and not following up on it or suggesting a blatantly unfair/unreasonable/unjustifiable exchange (i.e. home page link vs. resource page link)… duh!

Promoting a new blog is hard. Why is it so hard? Because it’s an uphill battle. You are competing against other blogs that are already established. As most webmasters already know, one of the key ways to gain visibility online is to have inbound links - meaning having other sites linking in and, hopefully, linking in with relevant keywords. That is hard to do because why would another site go out of its way to help you gain visibility? You would just represent additional competition to them… That’s one of the reasons why webmasters enter into “link exchanges.” They try to exchange links of equivalent value in order to benefit both sides.

From experience, the easiest way to promote a blog/ site is to start with the objective of building something good, as opposed to something spammy. Writing good content will bring added value to those who visit your site and, if some of those people happen to be webmasters, they might link back to you or include you in their network.

That said, one of the main things when starting a blog is to try to get the attention of other bloggers/ webmasters that are writing on the same subject(s) as you. How to do that? Two simple ways are:

1. participate in forums and have a link in your signature directing people to your site/ blog; or
2. comment on established blogs (most of them allow a link back to your site as an incentive to encourage people to comment).

There are many other ways to get other bloggers/ webmasters’ attention, but the above is very easy to implement.

One last word of wisdom. Don’t try to actively promote your site too early. It is not good to promote an “empty shell.” Patience is key. Let your blog/ site grow and, as it gains a critical mass, you can start with more active promotion.

Starting a blog is hard work and requires commitment. Many people start with a lot of goodwill and enthusiasm, just to let that go after a few weeks or months. The rewards of blogging are first and foremost personal from my perspective. Writers write because they enjoy it and, as a plus, hope to make money out of it. Same for blogging. If you start a blog with the expectation to make money, you will soon find yourself disillusioned. Traffic doesn’t come easily… and without traffic, money doesn’t come. Money on the Web is a simple process: build your traffic and then monetize that traffic.

The best when starting a blog is not to write too many posts. At the beginning, nobody will read your blog anyways, so why put in the effort? From experience, it is better to start slow and find your rhythm. Once you have found your “style” and what makes you different, you can proceed to write more frequently. By that time, your number of readers will probably justify you investing more energy into your blog.

Start slow but try to be consistent. Ever heard the story of the turtle who beat the rabbit in a race?

“Websites” (please refer to the distinction made in the previous post) offer more flexibility in terms of design. Although it would be preferable to have some knowledge of html, that is not necessary. There are few softwares on the market that allow people to make websites such as FrontPage, etc. (FrontPage is now discontinued by Microsoft, but I forgot the names of the new programs currently on the market. I say “new programs” because Microsoft has one for normal websites and one for SharePoint websites.)

The good thing about having a website as opposed to a blog is that a “traditional” website can have static content, meaning that you don’t have to feel compelled to write an entry regularly. On the other hand, a blog that is not updated on a frequent basis cannot succeed.

Another consideration when choosing between starting a blog or a website is the purpose of your undertaking. Obviously, a blog would not be the appropriate format for an online store.

The above being said, many people choose a “hybrid solution,” which is to have a website and a blog incorporated as part of the website. A blog incorporated as part of a website does not have to be updated as frequently, yet is a good medium to communicate with visitors without being too formal.

In recent years, there has been a steep increase in the number of blogs on the Web, which begs the question: “If I want to establish an online presence, should I choose to start a website or a blog? Although technically blogs are also websites (because the latter term is all-encompassing), I will use this artificial distinction for the purpose of this entry.

1. Blog defined: “A blog (a portmanteau of web log) is a website where entries are written in chronological order and commonly displayed in reverse chronological order.” - Wikipedia as of September 3rd, 2007.
2. Website defined: “A website (alternatively, Web site or web site) is a collection of Web pages, images, videos and other digital assets that is hosted on one or several Web server(s), usually accessible via the Internet, cell phone or a LAN.” - Wikipedia as of September 3rd, 2007.

From experience, someone should start a blog if that person is not technically inclined. Blog platforms are user-friendly and once a blog is set up, a blogger can go ahead an write his/ her entries without having to worry about design or formatting issues. There are few websites that offer free blogging accounts such as Blogger or WordPress, but I would not recommend opening a free account. Blogging is time-consuming and is a long-term project. The value of a blog is heavily dependent on its goodwill, which is closely related to its URL (Web address) and the traffic it gets. Opening a free account leaves your blog dependent on the website that hosts that account. If that website changes its policy or whatever, you’re pretty much screwed (blogs hosted on free accounts don’t have their own URLs, e.g. “http://blog.wordpress.com” or “http://blog.blogspot.com”). “Screwed,” meaning you might have to start all over again, if you ever decide to… Inject a few bucks to get your own domain name and to host your blog. This way, you will be the king of your own domain.

Another good attribute of a successful blogger is the ability to write well and to write a lot. Successful bloggers are often prolific writers who enjoy sharing their ideas and perspective on subjects they are interested in. Maintaining a blog requires that it be updated on a regular basis, meaning that you better have a lot to say.

So to summarize, you should start a blog (as opposed to a website) if:

1. you are not good with programming;
2. you like to write;
3. you write a lot/ are a consistent writer;
4. you believe you can share specific knowledge or experience; and
5. you are committed to growing and promoting your blog.

Well, enough said about blogging. The next entry will be about whether or not to start a website.

* I just noticed I didn’t share my perspective on joining a blog network. Will do that in another entry.

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