| Key Terms | | | | on the sidebar of my blog. |
| EPC = “Earnings Per Click” | | | | The First Post |
| | | | Each day, I will get a series of Google News |
| CTC = “Cut The Check” (coined by | | | | Alerts e-mailed to me about the members of my |
| Rasheed Wallace) | | | | fantasy team. My daily postings will be guided by |
| Passion is the essence of successful online | | | | my ideas and thoughts about my team. The |
| content creation. With the advent of Blogger and | | | | sample post I included was driven by reading a |
| other easy to use blogging platforms, even the | | | | news alert about Ichiro’s first good game |
| unsavvy computer user is able to put content on | | | | of the year and how I traded Miguel Tejada for |
| the web for others to read and respond to. | | | | Ichiro, which was an incredibly stupid move. Since |
| It’s even more gratifying to be able to | | | | Ichiro is the focus of my post, I make sure to |
| make money from communicating your passion | | | | use his name in my post title. I then proceed with |
| to others…and it is so easy to do. | | | | my mini-rant (making sure to include the names |
| I believe that most readers of this article are at | | | | of all the players involved). |
| least adept enough to start a blog with Blogger | | | | In addition to my Technorati tag for |
| and perhaps even place a Google Contextual Ad | | | | “fantasy baseball”, I also add tags |
| in the code. However, there are many other | | | | for “Ichiro Suzuki” and “Miguel |
| steps to take that can maximize your | | | | Tejada” which serves the purpose of |
| “blogging” ability to not only reach | | | | getting my site into Technorati for people |
| your audience but to make money from blog | | | | searching for those players. Technorati tags also |
| visitors. | | | | increase the keyword density of those terms in |
| Using a real example, I will give you a formula | | | | the blog, aiding in the SEO effort. |
| that you can easily follow, with little baby steps, | | | | If you are new to the blogosphere, you’ll |
| that will allow you to start making money with | | | | ultimately develop your own posting |
| your web content. | | | | style…just always be sure to use your |
| My Passion | | | | targeted keywords in each post. |
| “You know what I like? Baseball!” | | | | Monetization |
| Robert De Niro as Al Capone in “The | | | | Google Ads / Affiliate Programs |
| Untouchables” | | | | One needs to develop a certain amount of |
| I am a fantasy sports junkie. To me, 14-6-8 | | | | content before you can apply and be accepted |
| aren’t just SERPS, they could also be Boris | | | | into the Google AdSense Program (I’m |
| Diaw’s basketball stat line. Now that | | | | leaving out Yahoo’s program because |
| fantasy basketball season has ended (and I did | | | | it’s still in beta). Since I already have an |
| win my league), I can focus full time on fantasy | | | | AdSense Account, I can skip this step. |
| baseball. | | | | I’m going to give you a couple of very |
| During the course of this article, I am going to | | | | important rules that advanced AdSense Publishers |
| create and monetize a blog about one of my | | | | already know and use to help increase their |
| fantasy baseball teams ([ I will use Blogger as my | | | | website’s revenue generation. |
| platform, though I will host the blog myself (and I | | | | |
| strongly recommend that you do this as well). I | | | | 1. Make the background of your ad the same |
| will take you step by step through the creation | | | | color as the background of the page. On my |
| and monetization process as well as give you my | | | | fantasy baseball blog, I have decided to place my |
| first post. I encourage you to copy my entire | | | | ads in the “body” of the |
| process when you create your blog...I think you | | | | blog…the color of which is #F6F6F6. I wish |
| will be happy with the results. | | | | to customize my ads so they blend into the blog |
| My Process | | | | background. Within the AdSense interface, I click |
| First, I set up my account and enter the pertinent | | | | on “Custom Palettes”. I go to the |
| FTP information. For this exercise, I will be | | | | “White” palette and replace the |
| working with the “Sand Dollar” | | | | background and border colors with |
| Blogger template. It isn’t the most | | | | “F6F6F6”. I then save my custom |
| aesthetically pleasing of the choices, but it will | | | | palette for use in my blog. |
| allow me to place my skyscraper ads down the | | | | 2. The second cardinal rule of maximizing AdSense |
| left side of the page without changing the CSS in | | | | revenue is making your ads seem like they are |
| the code. Studies have shown that people viewing | | | | part of your blog content. Given that I can only |
| your website are more likely to notice content | | | | place a maximum of three ads on a page, I make |
| located on the left margin of the page (see the | | | | the following selections: |
| Google Eye Tracking Study for more detail). So in | | | | - I want to place a 728 x 90 Leaderboard Ad |
| order to maximize monetization of my blog, my | | | | directly above my most recent post. Making sure |
| ads will be placed on the left. | | | | I’m using my custom palette, in my blog |
| Once I get into the Blogger interface, I click on | | | | template, I drop my code just after "div |
| the “Settings” tab to begin my | | | | id=mainClm" |
| customization. Many default settings should go | | | | - I take a 300 x 250 Medium Rectangle Ad and |
| unchanged…I will only focus on those that | | | | place it directly above my RSS Feed in my |
| should be altered. | | | | sidebar. |
| (Basic Tab) Title: Your core keyword(s) should be | | | | - I withhold using my third ad for now. I will |
| in your title. “Fantasy Baseball” is | | | | continue to experiment with different ad |
| mine…hence “Tru Fantasy | | | | placement. |
| Warior’s (the name of my team adapted | | | | Given the ubiquitous nature of contextual |
| from the Ron Artest rap record label) Fantasy | | | | advertising, many new publishers forget that they |
| Baseball Blog” is a workable title for SEO | | | | can become members of affiliate programs and |
| purposes. | | | | make money through sales of affiliate products. |
| Description: Needs to contain your secondary | | | | For “ease-of-use” purposes, I |
| keywords. In my case, they would be the | | | | recommend that newbie publishers simply join one |
| members of my fantasy baseball team. I list each | | | | of the bigger affiliate networks Commission |
| name here. | | | | Junction, Linkshare, and Shareasale are the most |
| (Publishing Tab) | | | | prominent). |
| File Name, URL: The name of your file needs to | | | | When I choose an affiliate merchant for my blog, |
| be “index.shtml” instead of | | | | I know that I need a tight nexus between the |
| “index.html”. Note that if Blogger is | | | | merchant and the blog subject matter in order to |
| hosting your blog, you can’t do this. | | | | make sales. I know that with some of my older, |
| Notify Weblogs.com: Click “Yes” | | | | more established websites, I have done really well |
| (Formatting Tab) Show: I tend to favor showing a | | | | making sales with anti-aging products that have |
| lot of content on the home page. I would raise | | | | excellent payouts. However, I wouldn’t |
| the number that’s in the default…how | | | | consider placing those banners on this blog |
| much would depend on the amount of content | | | | because my audience won’t be interested. |
| that will be created. | | | | The sports merchandise merchant I choose here |
| Post Template: I would tag all my posts with the | | | | will be much more likely to make revenue for me |
| Technorati tag for “fantasy baseball”. | | | | even if the payouts are less. |
| I visit Technorati, click on the “tag” | | | | Blog and Ping |
| tab, and determine that I need to add the | | | | Why do this step? To let the various blogging |
| following code into the “Post | | | | search engines know that I am continuing to |
| Template”:fantasy baseball(Archive Tab): | | | | update my blog with fresh content. |
| Archive Frequency: Choose “Daily” | | | | The easiest way for me to “blog and |
| Getting Content | | | | ping” is as follows: I surf over to I fill out |
| I will signup for Google News Alerts for each | | | | the information requested, including my site feed |
| player on my team. Each day, I will receive an | | | | URL (which is found in the Blogger Interface by |
| e-mail containing news stories about that | | | | clicking Settings / Site feed). I will come back to |
| player…their actions on the field will drive the | | | | this site periodically to repeat the process. |
| postings that I make. | | | | Link-Building |
| Placing an RSS Feed on the Blog | | | | Link-building is an essential part of search engine |
| Placing an RSS feed on the blog will not only | | | | optimization, so I will need to build links into my |
| provide my readers with relevant content about | | | | blog in order to drive more traffic to it. Many |
| the targeted subject matter, but it will also aid | | | | articles have been written about how to build links. |
| any search engine optimization efforts. | | | | For purposes of this exercise, I’m going to |
| I’m going to create a simple RSS feed for | | | | follow a beginner’s technique that will allow |
| my blog that will focus on some players on my | | | | me to build some relevant links quickly and easily. |
| fantasy baseball squad. Note that this | | | | |
| won’t work if Blogger is hosting your blog. | | | | 1. I go to Linkmarket.net and register my website. |
| | | | I upgrade to full membership. |
| 1. I go to Google News and click on Advanced | | | | 2. I download and install the Google Toolbar. |
| Search. | | | | 3. I now have the ability to trade unlimited links |
| 2. I create my search and I see these results. | | | | with over 40,000 websites. I only want to trade |
| 3. There are two primary feed types: RSS and | | | | links with sites relevant to mine. Trading links with |
| Atom. Google News allows you to create either | | | | pharmaceutical sites isn’t going to help me |
| type of feed. I click on the Atom link. | | | | with SEO for a fantasy baseball website, nor will it |
| 4. I take the URL of the Atom Feed to | | | | benefit my site visitors. I click through to the |
| Feedburner, a service which enables me to | | | | Sports Directory of Linkmarket. |
| format my feed in a manner that allows me to | | | | 4. I offer to trade links with each website in the |
| include it on my blog. I place the feed in the | | | | Fantasy and Baseball Categories (and if I’m |
| “Burn this feed right this instant” box | | | | feeling really aggressive, I’ll trade links with |
| and follow the steps until my feed is live and I get | | | | the Basketball, Football, and Hockey websites, as |
| a new “Feed URL”. | | | | well). Before I decide to trade links with a site, I |
| 5. Moving right along, I now need to download | | | | visit the site in order to check its Google Page |
| some software that will allow me to display the | | | | Rank. It matters not to me what the Page Rank |
| feed on my blog. RSS2HTML is what I use. Note | | | | is, so long as it’s not zero. |
| that this software will only work if my webhost | | | | 5. If the website accepts my offer to trade, I |
| supports PHP. Although I’m sure that | | | | place their code in my Website Template in the |
| easy-to- implement ASP solutions exist as well, I | | | | sidebar beneath my links header. |
| haven’t used any of them. | | | | 6. I will most certainly get offers from other |
| 6. I unzip the downloaded zip file and I see the | | | | website offering to trade links with me, which |
| two necessary files that I need to upload to my | | | | I’ll accept so long as linking to that website |
| webserver: rss2html.php and sample-template.html. | | | | will be valuable to my blog visitors (and if their |
| I open the latter file (if you don’t have an | | | | websites don’t have a Google Page Rank |
| HTML editor, use “Notepad” on your | | | | of zero). |
| PC). At the top of the page, I delete everything | | | | Note that to achieve long-term SEO success, |
| between the title tags, the h1 tags, and the h2 | | | | you’ll need to earn inbound links…not |
| tags. I then change the “Table | | | | just trade for them. |
| Width” from 100% to 30%. These are | | | | Conclusion |
| purely stylistic changes that I am making. I then | | | | When you are communicating your passion to the |
| save the file and upload both files to the root of | | | | world, it doesn’t feel like work. When you |
| my webserver. | | | | are communicating your passion to the world and |
| 7. I go back into Blogger and I open my template. | | | | earning money at the same time, it’s even |
| I scroll down until I see | | | | better. If you haven’t participated in this |
| \"div id=\"sideBar\" | | | | most basic area of online commerce before, I |
| Remember how I generated a Feedburner URL | | | | invite you to take the plunge. I’ve |
| (step #4 above)? I need it now. I place the | | | | attempted to spoon-feed you a process that can |
| following code directly below "div id="sideBar" | | | | easily be followed by someone with a minimal |
| When you do this yourself, just substitute your | | | | technical background. If you choose to embark on |
| Feedburner URL for mine. I save the template | | | | such a journey, it will be rewarding, educational, |
| and republish it to the web. I should see my feed | | | | and a heck of a lot of fun. |