Now, the question is: can a personal blog earn? The answer is yes!

If you modify your blog theme a bit and make it travel-related, you will have a travel blog with a personal touch. Travel is a very hot niche in the online world and hotels and resorts will always be in need of sites to promote in.

If you love to talk about your day to day life, maybe you can describe the places that are worth visiting in your hometown, or the weather nowadays. Is there a storm coming? Is the neighborhood having a fiesta or a community event soon?

What Makes a Travel Niche Hot?

• The whole travel industry depends on international marketing and visibility over the internet. Online is where they kick ass, and this is the place where they really entice people to visit. Sure, there are magazines and reading materials, but since blogging about the places they are promoting is the trend now, they look at these places to promote in.
• Travel is not just for the wealthy, it is also be for those who are persistent enough to go abroad and look for work. Think of your ‘personal blog” as your way of helping these people read about local news and occasions.
• The online dating industry is sizzling! International interaction means there are more people now who are curious about the culture of their online friends. Someone who could be looking to marry a pinay or pinoy will go to your site to find out which traditions are unique to the race.
• There are more homesick people in the world than we know of. In particular, the massive number of Filipinos who left the country to try their luck in other places will always search the net for information about their hometowns.

How to Narrow Down A Blog Topic

The ‘categories’ feature of a Self-hosted Wordpress blog comes into play when you need to narrow down your blog topic. You can split your general niche into several smaller, more specific subject areas that will get displayed on your sidebar.

Anyone who comes to your blog for the first time will wonder what topics you talk about, and they will be able to narrow down their search for a particular post just by viewing your category list. The category names must be succinct and specific, so that there’s no mistaking what the posts under them are all about.

Example: Food Blog

For example, you have a blog about Food and you want it to stand out amongst all the other food blogs in the blogosphere. What are the categories that you could go for?

1. Sort your posts according to region of origin - French, German, Asian, Filipino food… the more specific, the better. e.g. Spicy Filipino Food, Sweet and Sour Asian Dishes
2. Ingredients - Some visitors could be looking for recipes according to the raw materials they already have. Helping them brainstorm what to cook for dinner by categorizing your posts according to the main raw ingredient in the recipe will lead to more subscribers.
3. Dish Type -  Soups, Main Dishes, Appetizers or Desserts?

Running out of Topics?

If you have been blogging for a while and you realize that you have covered every single recipe that you know, is it time to stop writing on that blog and just let the residual income from ads and affiliate links collect? The answer is NO.

An active blog has a lot of regular readers, and these readers comment on particular posts. This will give you an idea on what your regulars want to read on your blog; the topics they keep coming back for. A bit of research won’t hurt. For this, you will need a good visitor tracking system like google analytics. This will tell you where your visitors come from, which pages they visit and what they typed in the search bar to get to you.

A niche blogger must trust his gut feeling on the way his topic is slowing down or speeding up (e.g. are there new developments or research related to some of the things you have been posting about?). When the post ideas trickle rather than surge, it’s time to introduce another category; one that your regulars can relate to.

In our food blog example, your visitors could be those who are just learning how to cook, advanced cooks who are looking for new stuff to experiment with; or really homesick expats who want to know more about the dishes in their home countries. Some recommended topics to expand your food blog with include cooking wares, preparation techniques, famous chefs (and their cooking styles) and nutrition details of the different food groups.

The only question is: What is its purpose?

Adding Value

We’ve all used the nifty tool called search and more than once, we’ve found what we wanted. But there are times when we arrive on a page and become disappointed that there isn’t much info about the topic that we intended  to look up. Using a personal blog, one could be talking about experiences and things that aren’t meant to be “helpful”, but we all work under the assumption that someone, somewhere could be looking for that particular topic and when he finds it on YOUR blog, he shouldn’t be disappointed at the lack of thought put into the article. At the very least, he should be entertained.

I Know Something Some Don’t Know… You Know?

When another blogger friend told me that someone asked him to post the rules of a sport he is passionate about, he was shocked to realize that certain things we previously thought to be “common knowledge” aren’t as commonly known. Every blogger is a resource person of sorts, and we can all share a part of what we know to those who don’t.

Why Do People Go to the Internet?

If you are really clueless about what you want to talk about in your new blog, this is the question you should ask yourself. Why do you, or anyone you know, hit the net? Some come here to find recipes, some to find out prices, reviews of household items they want to purchase, or just to ogle photos or videos of things they desire. If you don’t have a domain name yet, here are some nice words to include:

• About
• Best
• Easy
• Howto

While one may not know the exact reasons why people go online, we can start second guessing their intentions by catering to what WE would go online for i.e. needing a convenient way to do something, and wanting information on the best and easiest ways to do things.

What other things, you ask?

1. Ebay - simple, can be done by anyone brave enough to put their products out there for some serious trading. A tip to those Filipinos who do this is to sell really rare books about presidents, particularly coffee table books about the “controversial” presidents (wink).

2. Game character selling - I played a massively multiplayer role playing game for a few years and I know how difficult it is to manually get your character to a certain level. Some of my friends do this and earn a lot from WoW characters.

3. Content Writing - Simply put, writing for others. Using your writing skills to help other people increase their sales, update their sites and etc.

The answer to the top question is YES, you could still blog even if you engage on these other money online activities. Blogging does not take up too much time when you get the hang of it, and more importantly, it’s an almost passive cash source once your blog is established and you are down to your routine weekly updates.

What is Your Icing, What is Your Cake?

Sometimes blogging pays a lot and for the moment it is the cake that feeds you. Sometimes it doesn’t, and it becomes the icing, and the other sources of income becomes your cake. Either way, blogging becomes your hobby. It’s where you put your personality out here in the web. To earn money from a hobby is wonderful right?

think about it and remember to have fun!

The main concept of blogging is sharing thoughts on a specific topic, and that’s what you are going to do. Sure, people you don’t know (from search engines etc.)  will be visiting your blog to gain information about your niche and will MAYBE return in the future or follow you by subscribing… but at the very onset, you basically have a picture of the person who’s going to read your blog inside your mind already.

I. The “Model” target audience

This person is your “model target audience” and he/she need not be faceless, it could be someone from your old company, someone who tells you “get a real JOB, gadamit!” everyday, or even that person who keeps mailing you about her personal LOVE problems.

At the lower left side of this blog, I have a sort-of disclaimer. I delineated who I’m writing for but I’m extending the invitation to those passers by who want to join in the conversation. It’s a lot easier to talk with authority on a topic if you have a real person before you who you know can relate to your topic.

Analogy: Imagine yourself the teacher in a class with a handful of students. If these students are “freshmen”, should you start the lecture with topics that are fit for “masteral” students? No, because the “lesson plan” you have prepared is tailored specifcally to your attendees. However, those who want to sit in may sit in for the duration of your lecture…if they want to.

II. Invite People You Know to Read Your Blog

Unless your blog is about something that NO ONE should know about you, it’s highly recommended that you tell people about it as soon as you publish your first few articles. Email them, print business cards, or simply tell them about it via chat/text.

Examples:

1. a girl blogger to her former high school classmates

“Hi. I just put up a blog about our old high school (her only blog topic), maybe you should come read some of the stories I remember from way back. Here’s the website address ….”

2. a guy overseas Filipino worker to an old friend back in the Philippines

“Guess what, I’m teaching now about how to migrate successfully as a nurse to the USA [his blog's primary topic]. You should visit because I posted some photos of American women during summer time at the beach [his secondary topic]. Here’s the website address….”

When you’ve invited everyone you know and their moms, it’s time to figure out how to attract those you don’t know… namely, the people who are looking for a particular topic in your niche.

Happy blogging!

If the internet world were the ocean, you (the organism) will belong to a particular location in it, usually with a group that shares the same living area and activities.

Niches in Blogging
When I first started blogging, I belonged to the niche of “Anything Under the Sun”, which isn’t really a niche at all. Then, I realized that there are programs and blogger communities that require me to put in a blog description. I detested having to write ‘a blog about anything under the sun’ so I came up with ways to delineate which specific niche my blog belonged to.

Guide on How to Find a Niche for Your Blog

1. You start out by pretending that you are being asked to describe your blog in one sentence. Initially you start with the simplest statement:

“This is the blog of  (a) who (b) .”

Where:
a = something about you. It could be your profession, a description of yourself, your dream profession. Anything that will instantly tell the different money networks or blog visitors what’s unique about your website….
examples: a lonely guy, an overseas worker, an immigrant, a stressed employee, a Filipino, an aspiring musician, a successful business woman, a frustrated computer programmer etc.

b = likes and dislikes, favorite activity, dreams and aspirations, current situations, present  locations, etc.
examples: likes cars, likes to sing, wants to try again, loves to crochet, loves biking, lives in another country etc.

2. Your one-sentence blog description will give you an idea on what your niche is. Basically, this means that the people most likely to visit and follow your posts are those who share the same interests or are intrigued by people like you. These are your “niche-mates”. They can be bloggers themselves or ordinary internet passers by looking to buy/sell something or simply read something about your topics.

3. Moneytize (earn money from) your niched blog by seeking out advertisers who belong to your niche. These are merchants who have products that could interest you or people like you.

Remember that your readers or regular blog visitors will always be the people who can relate with what you talk about frequently. All you have to do is find advertisers who want to sell to these people.

Where to find Advertisers

• Share-A-Sale
• Pepperjam

On succeeding posts, I will give some concrete examples of niches in blogging, and my suggestions on how you can moneytize your niched blog, so be sure to subscribe via RSS feed or via email.

Happy Blogging!

In reverse order, the top ten reasons why some people won’t blog:

10. I don’t have internet connection at home.

9. Too technical. I’m not a techie.

8. Too expensive. (Free blog?) Too confusing.

7. I don’t have the time.

6. It takes too much effort.

5. I’m not interesting enough

4. I don’t have much to share

3. I don’t like sharing [my experiences/thoughts]

2. Do I look like someone who would keep a BLOG?

and the winner….

1. It’s too difficult to figure out what to blog about

In the Philippines, we have a saying: If you want to, there’s always a way. If you don’t want to, there’s always a reason.

Blogging isn’t for everyone and I respect how you would balk at the thought of anyone in the world reading what you have to say about something. And, yes, I still love you even if you are not quite convinced that this is how I earn online.

However, because I made this blogging blog for you, I know you will still follow my progress with this blog and read how I make money online using a blog (and a dash of hardwork).

Kudos and welcome to the world of blogging!

So…. Why?

The Beginning

I built my first website to join the bandwagon called blogging. All the talk among my peers about “Making Money Online” over the internet got to me and I decided to try it. My first attempt at blogging was with a blogging blog and it… errr… sucked. It was so bad that I was forced to buy a domain of my own (my first was a subdomain, a free blog) and start over.

What I LOVE to write about

I found that I wanted to write about romance, and that’s what I did. Without thoughts of making money off it, I wrote daily about love, my past experiences and my advice to people who wanted to know more about it. Then, I branched out to other niches I am passionate about: motherhood, self esteem, business… etc.

But still… no blogging blog.

My next attempts at building a blogging blog (or a blog about money making online) also ended in an uninstall. I found it hypocritical to write about making money online when even I could not convince myself to leave my job and live off my internet earnings.

Finally…

If you read the other entries of this blog, and my About Page, you will know that I found my formula for making money online… and it worked well enough for me to give up my job and go at it full time. The formula is no secret, and some others may be better at it…

• Build English Niche blogs (free or invested)
• Write for others (freelance writing)
• Help others sell products (Affiliate Marketing)

NOW is the time to build a blogging blog. Please subscribe to track my progress.

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I. Web Content Writing: Knowing Your Strengths

I have been blogging for a year before I went into content writing. Breaking into this business is difficult, and I was quite daunted at the MASSIVE amount of competition. However, because I am technically jobless, I had no choice but to go for it.

I had to do quite a bit of self analysis before I started writing for others. I realized that my strengths include:

• Brainstorming
• Discussing a topic from a different perspective
• Paraphrasing (a talent which I honed during my employment at Inno)

II. Identify the Industries you want to write for

Owning several blogs taught me one thing: There are niches that I can write about all day long, and there are those that I don’t know anything about. When you go to elance or GAF, you will get blown away by the myriad of industries that need content.

Be patient. Do not bid on work that will take too much effort (research) on your part. Even if a writing request pays cheaply, if you know the topic by heart, it will be less time consuming.

I wrote more on this topic in my Freelance Writing Page

Early 2008, paypal allowed withdrawals to local banks in the Philippines and this was received by Filipino bloggers with tears of jubilation. Payments you receive in your paypal.com account (in USD) will be converted to pesos in paypal and then sent to your local Peso savings account as “remittance”.

Note: Most local banks will not be familiar with paypal, so my tip is to say “remittance sent through email” rather than “paypal” if you have to inquire about it. Just tell them it’s from an internet-accessible bank based in the US, if they ask from what country. When you withdraw to your bank account, an email gets sent from paypal to the bank and they will either call you to confirm if you’re expecting remittance, or it will simply appear in your transaction record/atm.

How To Get a Paypal Account

I. Link Your Credit Card (CC, If you have one) -  The whole process is easy if you already have a credit card. You will need to input your card number, the name exactly on the card (this should also be the name you have on your bank account), and the 3 digit number at the back of your card.

• Your CC must not be expired because they will charge a fee (less than 200 pesos) from the card and this will appear on your next CC bill, together with a confirmation code, which will be needed to complete your Paypal Verification.

• Paypal will also deduct money from your CC if you buy something online and your paypal balance is not enough to pay for your purchase.

2. If you don’t have a CC, you need to have a Union Bank EON card - Application for a new card takes 3 weeks at Union Bank so this is a lot more hassling. This is not a savings account, but a prepaid account. You will pay 350 pesos for annual membership, and will have to deposit at least 200-300 pesos so that Paypal can deduct their fee from your card.

Because I used a CC to set up my paypal, the EON card process is not too familiar. Kindly proceed to this article for a more detailed explanation on the EON process. Click this source.

3. WITHDRAWING money - This is the last and most exciting part of having a paypal account and making money online. Your maximum daily withdrawal will be 500 USD (for a premier account).

• Personal vs. Premier Accounts - You start out with a Personal account then upgrade to a Premier account (upgrade is free). Why upgrade? There are a lot of reasons and you will find out when you visit the site, but the most relevant to my business online is .. A Premier account can accept unlimited number of payments from other users.

When you withrdaw money to your Philippine Peso Savings Account, they will ask for your

1. bank account number
2. bank account name
3. bank code, can be viewed in this ebay page

Important:

• When you finish withdrawing money to your Savings account, the amount will only appear in your ATM/Passbook after 7 days, even if paypal transaction history says “completed”.

• If you made a single mistake , like in your Savings account number, the money will go back to paypal (after another 7 days) and you will be charged by your local bank (250 pesos) for that mistake…. so be careful!

HAPPY EARNING!!!!