Are you wondering how to use microblogging to increase your profits? First of all, this concept for me isn’t really about the money - not entirely. I do look at it as a good way to promote my blogs, websites, lenses, and other we 2.0 profiles. But, I thought I’d explore the concept about using microblogging to help us all make more money online.

I’ve been a member of twitter since last summer at around this time. I now have over 1000 tweets and over 200 followers. It’s been a productive year so far. And lately, some of my twitter followers have been tweeting about Plurk - which I’ve come to think of as a site that’s similar to twitter, but with it’s own twists. Those are the only two sites I use for the moment.

What is Microblogging?

MicroBlogging is a form of social networking. People make short updates of around 140 characters throughout the day. You find “followers”, “friends”, and “fans” depending on the site you use. When I first signed up for twitter, my first thought was - why would people care about what I’m doing? When I realized that you could make it fun as well as professional, everyone wins.

Use It to Get Traffic

My top use for microblogging is to use it to help me get traffic. When I write another blog post, I have a routine. I ping it, announce that I wrote it on twitter and plurk, and then stumble and digg it if I think it was particularly good. But of those, microblogging has been the most valuable. The traffic I get from Stumbleupon is a little fleeting. The visitors don’t seem to stay as long, and they rarely comment. The visitors I get from plurk and twitter hang around longer, read the articles, comment, and they’re likely to come back. I do a similar thing for my hubs and squidoo lenses.

Putting Affiliate Links in Your Updates

I’ve heard that some people put the affiliate links they are promoting directly into their updates. I’ve heard of people doing it. I’ve even tried it once or twice - with no results at all. I personally think the best method is to write an article or a blog post about the affiliate product and paste the affiliate link within it. Then, once it’s published, include the link to the blog post or article, not the link. I think it’s a little tacky and unprofessional to put the affiliate URL directly into the updates.

Meet New People

Another valuable thing that microblogging has done for me is help me meet new people - colleagues. As someone who works from home, I miss out on the benefits of conversing and meeting people “at work”. Well, I’ve heard people call these spots a nice “water cooler” and I feel as if that’s accurate, at least when it comes to the social aspect.

If I’m feeling stuck on something, I spend some time on one of the two sites (or both). If I need to ask people a question on what I’m stuck on, such as installing a template or figuring out something else on my blog, I’ll ask my friends on the site. After you build relationships, the people are more likely to respond to you when you share a link, ask someone to stumble or digg your latest article, etc.

What is it that you like the most about twitter, plurk, or any of the other microblogging sites?

Michele at Writing the Cyber Highway tagged me for this one. The question is … why do you love working from home? I thought I’d come up with my own little list:

1. No Boss!
2. I can create my own schedule.
3. No need to dress up … unless I want to!
4. I can do things off-peak, like grocery shop.
5. No commute.
6. Make money doing what I love - write!
7. I can enjoy the beautiful weather in the middle of the day.
8. Meet great people online on sites like twitter and plurk.
9. Making money online is fast - paced and I love change!
10. If I get sick of one project, I can either stop doing it, or never do that kind of work again. No one to tell me otherwise!

How about you? Why do you like working from home? Feel free to consider yourself tagged, if you like.

The next installment of my series on blogging will have to do with how to become a better blogger. These are some things I’ve noticed over the past few years since I’ve started blogging.

Talk to a Friend

I’ve learned that an engaging, friendly style is best when it comes to blog posts. You should be able to hear the bloggers voice, as if they’re talking to a friend or emailing someone they know very well. Now that’s not to say the writing should be sloppy. I find myself ignoring punctuation every now and then when emailing my sister, for example, but one can’t fall into that trap while blogging. The style needs to be friendly but still professional.

Don’t Overdo the Ads

I don’t like visiting blogs that have Adsense all over the place. A pet peeve is scrolling down a half a page just to skip past the ads. I don’t mind if the ads are in the posts, as long I can still see the text. In other words, I understand that you may be trying to make money from your blog - most of us are! Just make sure the ads are tasteful.

Reply to the Comments

I like a blogger who will reply to my comments - it makes me want to return to the blog. If I see that they ignore their comments, I am less likely to visit the blog often. Make the blog interactive and people will respond to that!

Build Up Your Links

This is something that I didn’t do at first, and now I am playing catchup. Building up your arsenal of links coming in to your blog is important because it helps increase traffic and also helps with the search engines. You can do it yourself by doing the following:

• Article marketing using sites like ezinearticles.com and goarticles.com
• Creating a Squidoo Lens - or several!
• Do the same with Hub Pages
• Create free blogs at sites like blogger.com and wordpress.com and linking back to your blog.

Start a List

Yes, having a list makes you a better blogger because it allows you to interact with your readers more. Plus, if they liked your blog enough to sign up, they’ll want to return - and they may need a gentle reminder. Make it worth their while by handing out something for free, like an ebook in a subject that they’ll find useful.

I’m interested in hearing from all of you. Feel free to share with me your thoughts and what you’ve learned as a blogger.

Like this tips? Check out Blogging to the Bank for even more great ideas on making money as a blogger.

I knew I had a problem when I got an email the other day. It was a friend request from a social site I forgot I signed up for! At some point, I started to keep track but it was in a messy word document that wasn’t alphabetized.

Plus, I just went looking for that file and have no idea where I put it.

So, I started a spreadsheet. I only have 5% of my account information on there at the moment and I am still looking for my old word document. But, I placed the document in a very good spot - I won’t lose it now. If you’re having the same problems as me with remembering your login information, here are the fields I put in the spreadsheet:

• Name of the site
• URL
• Username
• Password
• What the site is for (I make a note such as “social bookmarking” or “blog directory”

It’s embarrassingly simple so I wonder what took me so long to set it up. Sometimes the simple solution isn’t always the most obvious!

Learning how to promote a blog will determine whether or not you’ll find success. You could set up a blog that looks great, has wonderful content, and is monetized perfectly. But unless you promote it, people won’t know it’s there. If you want to maximize your traffic and your earnings, you’ll need to get the word out.

Article Marketing

The formula is simple. Write articles of around 350-500 words and submit them to places like goarticles.com and ezinearticles.com. At the end of the article, put the link to your blog. If you write a great article and people read it and like it, they’ll click on the link for more great content.

Social Networking

You can build up a reputation on sites like myspace.com, facebook.com, and linkedin.com. You can put a link to your blog in your profile. That way, people can find your site if they like what you have to say on the site.

Forum Marketing

The best way to use forums to market your website is to build up a reputation of being a good contributor to the site. Then, add your website to the signature. Wait until you have around 50 posts and that you like the forum community and then add your link to the signature. And, always make sure you follow the rules on the forum and don’t SPAM.

Social Bookmarking

Stumbleupon has been invaluable to my site. I get a fair amount of traffic after I stumble my best posts. I don’t stumble everything, only the ones that seem to have a great headline and useful site content. Posts like “this is what I did today” I don’t stumble. I’ll more than likely stumble this one.

Microblogging Platforms

I personally live this. I use twitter, but I also know that people use plurk and there may be some others. As soon as I make a post, I announce it on twitter. I get a handful of readers a day from this but as my friends list increases, so do my amount of hits.

Pay Per Click Advertising

This is something I have not tried but I know that some people have found this to be helpful. I may try this in the future but until then, I have no idea how to do it.

Lenses and Hubs

I use hubpages and squidoo all the time. I create a lens or a hub, add a link to my blog, and also add the RSS feed close to the end. I get a fair amount of clicks a day using this method for generating traffic. The key is to provide good content on the lenses and hubs that relates to the subject of the blog.

Great Content is Key

My advice to you would be to choose one or two methods and focus on those until you start seeing results. But remember this - no amount of promotion can help you if you’re not providing good content. If you provide information that people enjoy reading, you’ll have more repeat visitors and get free press as people talk about your posts. This happens to me - I’ve had people feature my blog on roundup type posts after posting an article that they liked.

I thought I’d spend some time talking about organizing your home and your office. For people like me who work at home, both are equally as important. If things feel cluttered and messy, I am not as creative and productive as I’d like to be. And an increase in clutter means I’ll be spending even more time cleaning. Not good.

So, I thought I’d come up with an action plan that will whip my house into shape quickly. My husband and I are planning a major move, and I want to get rid of things and organize everything before the movers come. And, I want to be as productive as possible.

• Sign up at the Fly Lady. This is someone who’s “been there, done that” and can help you get your house (and even your body!) into shape.
• Get rid of all visible clutter. I know, several years of shoving things in drawers has taken its toll on my organizational system (if one ever existed). But it is so important to make the house look nice before I get started organizing or else I’ll get discouraged.
• Start in one corner of the house and work my way around. I plan on starting in the cleanest corner so I can start off with a sense of accomplishment.

So, how quickly can I do this? I don’t know - it depends on how long I work each day at it. Today I would be lucky to get five minutes in but that’s better than nothing. Other days I may have several hours to work on it. The important thing is to do something each day, even if it’s small.

If you want to find a way to earn money on the internet but you’re just getting starting, you can setup a free blog. If you’ve been making money online for a while or you have the means to reserve a domain, find a host, and setup your own blog, I don’t recommend using the free sites.

However, there are some advantages to setting up a site on a free platform first:

1. You can make sure you enjoy blogging on the topic without spending your hard earned money.
2. Test the idea and see if you can develop an interested audience. If the idea is a good one and your traffic increases, you can move the blog over to its own site.
3. If you decide not to go through with the idea, you didn’t lose any money.
4. A great way to hone your blogging skills without losing money.

Choose a Blog Platform

Once you come up with the idea for your blog, your next step is to choose a blog platform. Here are some of them:

• http://www.livejournal.com/
• http://www.blogger.com
• http://www.tumblr.com
• http://www.wordpress.com

Of these, I like blogger the best because of the ease of use. Plus, it is simple to install Google Adsense ads and they don’t frown on promoting affiliate programs and putting ad buttons and banners throughout the side. Wordpress.com doesn’t even allow Adsense.

Write Content for Your Blog

If you want to make money with the blog, you need to learn how to write content that people will want to read. Just think about the articles and blog posts online that you like to read and mirror the style. If you write something you won’t read, chances are other people will have trouble reading it, too.

Come up with a list of topics relating to the subject of your blog. For example, if you’ve started a blog on dog training, you may feature stories of dogs who have been successfully trained as well as tips and techniques for training them.

Ways to Make Money With Blogs

The next step is to figure out how your site will make money. Most bloggers use more than one method. From the list, I use two of them - Adsense and marketing affiliate programs.

• Get Paid to Blog (Advertising). Sites like Smorty pay you to blog. All you need to do is sign up, wait until your blog is accepted, and then complete the offers. The advertiser will usually give you a link and some instructions on what to write.
• Pay Per Click Ads. You can build an entire blog to promote programs like Google Adsense, Adbrite, or the Yahoo ad program. When someone clicks on the link in the ad, you make some money.
• Internet marketing. This is where you promote products on your site. You can either use affiliate programs or create your own products. It’s up to you.
• Get advertisers. It is also possible to secure your own advertisers. Set your ad rates based on various factors such as page rank and how much traffic you get.
• Donations. It’s okay to put a donation button on your site. Some people may like your content and give you a few dollars.

My advice to you would be to select one or two methods and see how they work for you. Learn about how to make them successful and give it enough time to work. If it doesn’t work, move on. If it does work, figure out how to make even more money from it.

Also Chandra in the comments brought this to my attention - I forgot to mention it in the article. In addition to setting up the blog and figuring out how to monetize it, one needs to spend time on promoting it and building its popularity. You can comment on other people’s blogs, participate in forums, and do article marketing - to name a few.

Want more information on how to make money with blogging? Blogging to the Bank is my favorite resource. Ever since I’ve bought it, I noticed a difference in my profits.

I think it’s important for me to remember that no matter how hard I work at building up my affiliate marketing and my blogging income, I need to stay true to the fact that I am a writer. I can’t let the day go by without doing SOMETHING writing related. So I decided to set some goals for myself.

They’re pretty simple. The key is to make time for them.

• Work on a screenplay idea that I have - learn how to write screenplays and do the initial research
• Do some “me” writing each day whether it’s poetry, stories, a journal entry, writing exercises, etc
• Write one query or make one submission each day

I need to remember that I am not going to write for clients any more. Also, I am tired of blogging on free platforms. So when I get a blog idea, I’ll host it myself. I think in the long run this will be much better for business and most importantly, for my creativity. The exception to this is if I decide to test an idea to share with all of you. I understand that not everyone has the means to host their own websites and blogs.

I’ve gone on a tangent. Lol. All I can say is - my goal is to make a six figure income. I’ve long ago realized that I don’t have it in me to do it all just by writing because that would mean working really hard and trading time for dollars. If I could make $20,000 of that with writing and the rest with blogging and internet marketing, I’d be really happy.

I know I could make residual income by writing a novel or nonfiction book, but I’d rather write those things because I want to, not because I HAVE to in order to reach my goals. I’m tired of writing only because I have a monetary goal. It completely kills the joy.

If writing content is your thing, that’s okay. You don’t need to reach your goals the same way as I choose to. I just read an excellent eBook on how to make a six figure income online by writing content which was very good. If you don’t mind writing content for other people, this is a good resource for you to check out.

I have no idea what to do about my office. As my husband says, it looks like a bomb exploded. When he said that, all I could think to say was, “But I’m organizing it.” The problem with that is it’s been in this messy state for about a week. Another one of my favorite excuses is the idea that I need more book shelves. The problem with that one is, it’s the MAIL that’s all over the floor, not my books.

I need to commit to cleaning it. So I set my timer today for 26 minutes and… cleaned the kitchen. I procrastinated cleaning the office for some reason. I don’t understand why because it really is the messiest part of the house.

So my challenge to myself is to set my timer for 60 minutes and CLEAN THE OFFICE. I know I’ll be more productive. I know this will help me in the long run. I need to stop doing my work in this condition. You know it’s bad when you have to wade through piles of mail in order to get to your desk.

And once it’s clean, I can focus on organizing my business and my home by keeping track of expenses and earnings much more efficiently.

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I just purchased a copy of Blogging to the Bank so that I could become a better blogger. I enjoy posting to this blog and helping others learn how to make money online. But, I also want to find that perfect balance between providing information that people will find helpful and making some money with this blog.

I thought Blogging to the Bank would be able to help me with that. I purchased it over the weekend and the information definitely makes sense. A big pet peeve of mine is to visit a blog that is so focused on “monetization” that the overall user experience is poor. You know the blogs I’m talking about. There are so many adsense ads on them it’s hard to find the actual content.

To me, blogging is about having fun and helping people first and foremost. If I happen to make money with it in the process, that’s an extra bonus.