Want to make money on your blog? Own your Niche

That's Blogalicious

If you are trying to make money with your blog, you will most likely need either a very targeted audience to pitch advertisements to (say Comic Books, and specific Comic Books at that since there could be several groups that are only loyal to certain brands).  You will then research the heck out of that niche and post as much information as possible.  You will also become “known” on other people’s blogs that are related to this niche.  You will then see very specific targeted users who could be interested in purchasing something from the niche.  The bottom line here is to Own the Niche.  You have to become one of the premier bloggers on the subject, you have to display your knowledge of the subject.  Interaction with the community is also a must, as the community builds you will be seen as an approachable expert.  How many experts do you know that you have access to?

Here is a list of items to cover to Own your Niche:

1. Research - find out all the blogs, newspapers, magazines and any other medium that covers your niche.  Keep a list of them and visit them often and read as much about the niche as possible.  You can then use these as reference points within your posts.
2. Write – this can not be said enough.  Through a experiment I did over the last couple months, posting more often drew in more traffic than posting once a week.  So if you are going to start a blogging endeavour to make money online, start with ONE blog and post frequently.  Frequently means several times a week. 
3. Continue for years – yes, Years.  Some of the top bloggers in any industry have been blogging about a subject for years and have slowly seen their user base (traffic) grow.  This does two things for you.  First, it establishes you as an authority and not just a flash in the pan, and second it helps with the Google search results.  The more targeted your blog is, the more likely it is to show up in searches for that subject, especially after a couple years of information being written. 
4. Comment on other blogs, magazines, newspapers when possible.  Comment on the comments.  The more your name is out there talking about a specific subject, the more people will recognize you as one of the authorities on the subject.  You would be surprised to see how many hits you can get from people clicking on your name from other websites.
5. Fill out your profile on every social site and become approachable.  People interested in a niche like to be able to ask questions and converse about the subject with someone knowledgable and interested in the subject.  Putting your contact information out there or replying to comments when possible is an excellent way to build a repoir and relationships.
6. Create merchandise.  Creating merchandise for your brand, site, etc. is fairly easy.  There are several sites out there that let you upload an image and sell shirts and hats and mugs to your users without ever having to handle the product or the sales process.  Check out From Pink Slip for more information, we are teaching you how to load and sell on Zazzle (a print on demand site), step-by-step.
7. Attend conferences.  As soon as you can save the money to attend a conference, do so.  You will then be able to meet and network with other experts or other interested people.  The key here is to NETWORK.  Going to the conference and not talking to anyone will be a lost opportunity.  Even if you can not go to the conference, maybe you could network with someone who is, then interview them after or during.  Don’t know anyone attending a conference?  Let me help – Go out to www.Steven-Sanders.com.  He is trying to get to the Affiliate Summit East in NY. 
8. Write about the conferences you just attended and the people you met.  This will both further establish to your users that you are one of the top experts in the industry, but also “make second contact” with some of the people you met.  Writing about and linking to their sites after you meet them will give a lot of
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10.   Did I mention Continue for Years?  Building a company and a brand is not a overnight event.  Unless you have major connections and can advertise your site on traditional media for free or little money, it is going to take a while to get a lot of followers.  Even then, you already built those connections, so that time would be included in the time it took to build the company.  Bottom line – things take time.

So, if you are looking to make money online, make sure you have the time, patience and interest in the niche you are going to be writing about. 

Ben
Blogmaster General

Teaching you how to make money online by blogging, how to blog, and the basics of blogging.