How to Earn Money With Your Website or Blog

Earning money online may seem like the ideal job. You can work from home, set your own hours, and will see real results in proportion to the amount of work you do. However, it can also be quite challenging, especially when you're just starting to learn the ropes. There's a lot of contradicting advice out there, and a lot of people clamoring for you to buy their program. Thankfully, there are a few simple guidelines you can follow to help you start earning with your own blog or website.

Choose Your Keywords

While it is important to write about something you're interested in, finding the right keywords can make all the difference between a website or blog that simply eats up your time and one that actually makes money. Advertisers will pay you based on what keywords are bringing people to your site, so you want to target keywords based on how much they are worth to advertisers and how much competition you will have to rank for these keywords in the Google search engine. The ideal keyword will have a high cost per click, high local or global volume, and low competition. You can find out these statistics by using the free Adwords Keyword tool. Try to find a number of related keywords that can tie your page together but still earn you ad revenue.

Set Up Your Site

Once you've found several keywords you want to target, it's time to set up your website. You can either do this through a free provider, such as Blogger, or purchase your own domain name and hosting plan. The free sites are a good option for beginners who don't have much money to dedicate to the project, but keep in mind that you can only sell websites that you personally own. A blog hosted on a free website can earn you advertising money, but you will never be able to sell it when you want to move on to other projects. If you do choose to buy a domain name, try to pick one that includes your keyword, and make sure you find reliable hosting for your site.

Write Your Content

The content is what interests people in your site. Be sure to make it informative and helpful, while targeting your chosen keywords. In order to help the search engines recognize your page, try to use the keyword in the title of your posts, at least once in the first paragraph, and several times throughout the post. Good quality content ensures that Google won't penalize the ranking of your page and helps you get more links, so be sure to put some effort into this step.

Setting Up Advertising

This is where you will make your money. Companies will pay you for customers referred from your website to theirs. You get payed a certain amount every time someone clicks on an ad. The most common company to go through for this service is Adsense, a Google program that automatically sets up advertisements that relates to the content of your website. You may also be interested in affiliates, such Amazon. These companies will put an advertisement for a specific product on your website. Whenever one of the customers you referred makes a purchase, you will receive a percentage of the profits.

Building Links

The search engines use a complex algorithm to determine which websites get listed first when a person searches for a specific keyword. The higher your website appears on the search page, the more people will click on it, and the more money you will make. The number of links pointing to your website will, in large part, determine how high it appears in the search engines. There are many different ways to build links, from article directories and blog roll exchanges to forums. The more links you create to your site, the higher its ranking will become. If you own several related websites, you can also link them to each other. Keep in mind, however, a one way link is worth more than a direct exchange. Using your keyword in the link itself will help your website or blog rank for that particular keyword in the search engines.

Earning money with your own website or blog can be challenging, but the almost passive income it can create is well worth the initial work. Stay motivated and your site will be earning before you know it.