Blogging Series

I have to say that my hubby has given this blog a new lease of life. I had been just so tired of thinking of what to post everyday and nothing would turn up in my mind. And, then, he went ahead and announced to my in-laws that my blog had won the indiblogger awards and they were happy! And, when finally my mom unpacked the award which reached home yesterday, my mom was so angry with me for not telling her about it all. I do not know what to say!!

And coming back to today’s post, there is nothing better than your own comfort zone. I love typing my posts from the coziness of my bed and blanket. Where do you love to blog from? Do you love to use your study table or the sofa or have you created a workspace in the house? Or, may be sitting in a park where ideas come to you in a jiffy? I do not also mind taking my laptop to a wifi connected bistro and sipping coffee and eating all junk all day long and composing the posts but I have not done that YET. 

These many days I have so missed blogging but I never understood that what I was missing more was actually sitting comfortably on the bed and typing away! It feels like heaven as I get back to my older routine of coming back home and fueling my growling tummy and having a bath and sitting with lappy in my lap. 

I have finally got almost everything in order. The wifi is set up, the laptop is up and working and I get to spend sometime alone in which I can finish this work. He is gonna kill me if he reads this 😀 

Anyways, I have seen or rather read that most of the work from home bloggers or full time bloggers actually create workspace in their house to use for blogging. Do you do that?

I do not think that I can stick to it even if I become a full-time blogger. It is just so cumbersome to sit on a chair and type. I even hate sitting in my office which is why most of the time I roam around and you would ask when do I even get my work done 😀

I do know that many people do find a workspace set up more inspirational to work. It increases your own seriousness towards the work and especially when you work full time, you need to be a lot serious to blogging. The habit also helps in keeping the personal life separate or be worried about posts all day long.

Did you know Jeffrey Archer is such a meticulous writer that he writes from 6-8 AM, 10-12 AM, 2-4 PM and again 6-8 PM. He also advises that it is always good to set your schedule as to when you will write (the tip is for writers but also applies to bloggers) and do nothing else in the time but write even if you do not want to. Also, it is good to take regular fresh air to give a break to your brain. (Source)

I do not remember if I did a round up of the blogging goals achieved in January, 2013 but I do know that I did not do it yet. The reason being the second half of the last year fared badly for my blog as you all are already aware! I guess I was taking blogging too seriously and it became really monotonous because of which I felt like being burnt out all the time.

Anyways, leaving all that aside, I would say that the blog was doing quite well in first half of 2013 and I would like to take the blog from there!! So, for all you bloggers over there, are you creating strategies for your blog this year or just keeping simple.

I had decided last year that by the end of 2013, I would like to earn some x amount from the blog. It is a good goal but there was no plan as to how I was going to achieve it so I would say this time I am gonna breakup the entire schedule into short term of 3 months or a quarter so even my blog would have a quarterly appraisals now on 🙂

Keeping the Goals flexible
I had last year not accounted for the changes in my life which would take a lot of priority over the blog. Needless to say, I was unsuccessful in achieving the goals!! So, I am gonna adjust my goals this time over a range so that at least the lesser range would be feasible in any case!!

Yeah, this is like a huge issue right now for me. So, my major goal has become this that I should have enough to post at least a meaningful paragraph everyday. Of course, I have not done it consistently in the new year either!! But, I am trying.

Lately, I have realized it has more of become an obsession to post instead of just enjoying the posts!! I am always brain-storming as to what to write today. That is something I want to stop and really sit and enjoy the blog while I write it.

There is a huge advantage of keeping small goals. I would not have to work my ass off obviously and when they are reached, I can always treat myself and get motivated to reach out for more!! Nothing is more motivating than success itself.

So, last time, I had mentioned how I monetize my blog. Let me talk about various things which you can do. The list is exhaustive but I am going to talk only about things which actually appeal to me or I have a bit of experience with.

Yes, this is one of the simplest way to earn quick bucks. The company contacts you and asks you to write a post. You negotiate the price and deliver the post by the said date. It pays well if you have a good page rank and fan following for your blog. More the reach, more you can charge.

But, the method has some serious drawbacks. Not all readers are happy with sponsored posts. Such a post can end up looking very advertising without any benefit for the reader. Excess of such posts can cause a fall in the readership. And, worse of all, the brand approaching you might not be related to your niche which is a waste. And, the last is quality of the website you will link back to.

So, before you start negotiating, do a proper research on the company, its product and if possible, try it out before doing a post on it. But, maximum sponsored posts are on services or websites which you might not always be able to give a try. So, the best option there remains to weave a creative and useful post around the theme of the product so that you can provide one unobtrusive link in between somewhere.

sorry but this is not possible in virtual world 😀

Also, be sure that the company is gonna pay you for the services. It is always good to get the payment before the post goes live. Otherwise, they might never respond back. Some companies approach the big bloggers directly for sponsored posts but for regular bloggers, you can check out sponsoredreviews.com and payperpost.com which provides an interface between the brands and bloggers and takes a commission from the amount you earn.

Infolinks is not the only one which provides contextual links. There are small ad networks (generally closed) which when joined ask for the best ad space on your blog and pay you on the amount you fix (if they think it is worth it!) One which I know is blogher network which allows only women to join. But, I think googling would reveal a lot more.

Sometimes some companies may just approach you for adspace renting or would ask you to place some text links in some of your posts or insert some keywords with links.

You can rent out the ad spaces to them and charge them depending on the placement of the ad and the ad unit size. The only issue with such kind of collaborations is that you have to be extremely careful of the kind of websites you are linking to. 

These are the ones I can remember right away. I shall put up ones I recall in another post!! So, what are your monetizing methods?