Which is the best platform for monetizing a free blog? Blogger? Wordpress? Othe

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   Xenonlitposted 12 years ago

   Which is the best platform for monetizing a free blog? Blogger? Wordpress?  Others?
   
   I am thinking about serializing my novel from NaNoWriMO and giving it it's own blog. Then I'd like to earn some pennies for my effort. What's the latest on monetizing blog platforms?

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   Novel Treasureposted 12 years ago

   I know people don't like blogspot, but I've had more success for my holiday blog and green living blogs on there than on wordpress.

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      Kerry43posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      That's great, Novel Treasures! I hope your success continues

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   MarcusJposted 12 years ago

   Blogger can do a lot of different things, and you can't ask for a better free blog platform. It offers so many integrated tools, I don't see a better value out there anywhere.

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      NateB11posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, these are the same reasons I like Blogger. It's relatively versatile and easy to use.

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   Kerry43posted 12 years ago

   I chose to remove my blogger blogs because people flag them for no particular reason and it is a lengthy and mostly useless waste of my time attempting to have them reinstated. I had this happen with 6 blogs, and decided it was not worth jeopardizing my Adsense account by remaining there working on the last two blogs which had escaped persecution. Having said that, it is a great platform for beginners, easy to use, etc.
   
   Wordpress doesn't allow monetization, unless, as I am told, you have your own domain name and fly solo. My problem with that option is, I am then left responsible for marketing and advertising my work.
   
   I know there are many individuals who will say that HubPages is not a great platform for publishing novels in individual chapters, but it does leave you with full control  of your own work, unlike Knoji and Helium, for example who require non-exclusive rights to anything you publish.
   
   I have written three chapters of a novel and published them here, and it is a good way to get your work out into the big pond and get some feedback.
   
   
   I will be interested to see which other options users recommend. What a great question!
   
   Have a wonderful afternoon
   
   Kerry

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      Chris Nealposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I've serialized my novel on Hubpages and it's not the best monetization-wise but it does allow control and distribution.

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      Kerry43posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, exactly:)

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   Lwelchposted 12 years ago

   A lot of people are also using weekly.com these days.  I don't know how well the search engines crawl it though or how much money people make.  It does support adsense but weebly takes a cut of it.

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      Lwelchposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      at auto correct "fixed" that link incorrectly - it should be weebly.com

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   mattforteposted 12 years ago

   You will get every answer to this question from different people. Then you will walk away realizing you are just as conflicted as when you started.
   
   The only real answer is: Whatever works best for you.
   Blogger is simple, and general opinion seems to be that Google favors blogger since they own it. (Although I have not witnessed this myself) I don't feel like it's a very powerful platform, yet the lack of customization makes it pretty user friendly for a basic user.
   
   Wordpress is incredibly powerful. It is true you can't advertise on a Wordpress.com blog. Host your own website and install Wordpress and you're golden. Yes, you're left responsible for marketing on your own...but isn't that true everywhere? (Even HubPages) It has a plethora of plugins you can use to customize content. The more technical ability you have, the more you can do. But even a basic user can do quite a bit.
   
   If you are very technical, Drupal is pretty powerful. The fact that you're asking this question however leads me to believe that you aren't yet that inclined.
   
   Magento has been growing in popularity. I don't know anything about it. However, on a forum I frequent - there is a member that has been doing a case study between Wordpress and Magento. So far his results  are completely lopsided in favor of Wordpress.
   
   Tumblr is popular and easy. It tends to be used primarily for images, but I'm not entirely sure why. It is among the most popular for a good reason.
   
   With all that in mind, I would suggest Blogger or Tumblr for your particular case. I don't like Blogger myself, but it is easy. And since you say "pennies" I'm assuming this isn't going to be bringing in a lot of money, which makes hosting Wordpress pointless (Hosting costs money unless you go with a free host, which are usually garbage anyway.)

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      Xenonlitposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks, all for the serious and savvy answers to my question. I will look at Hub Pages and Blogger. I just wish I could get a better ad firm than Google!  My goal is to publicize my novel series with a little serialization.

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   calculus-geometryposted 12 years ago

   You can't place any ads on a free Wordpress.com blog, so that's not an option for you if monetization is important.
   
   Blogger makes it easy to integrate Adsense since both Blogger and Adsense are operated by Google. And Blogger lets you place other ads on the sidebars using the JS/HTML widgets.
   
   Keep in mind that if you serialize your novel online, it may make it harder to find a traditional publisher for it.  Since you wouldn't be able to offer first-time rights, they won't offer you as much as a if you had a never-been-published-before novel. If you have chapters that stand alone as short stories, you may try submitting them to literary journals instead.

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   Rosyel Sawaliposted 12 years ago

   I like Blogger. That's what I'm using for my other specialized blogs. But I do have my own self-hosted site. Why don't you try it out here on HubPages since you're already a member? From what I know you can't monetize on WP unless it's self-hosted. There's also weebly and yolasite. Not sure how well they rank though.

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   Georgie Loweryposted 12 years ago

   Like a lot of other folks, I use Blogger and have for years. I have review blogs, one for Photoshopped wallpapers and another for personal blogging. It's easier for me to use and monetizing is simple. Five months ago, though, I bought my own website and I will be using WordPress for it - when I get around to working on it, of course!

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    MosLadderposted 12 years ago

    I have to throw my two cents in here, no pun intended. I have never had an issue with having my blogger blogs flagged, and I love the platform because it is so easy. I have made boh affiliate and adsense income from this platform and continue to use it. I have tried Wordpress blogs, but I don't like that they can't be monetized. I also think the platform is confusing to use. In addition, I have done a self-hosted Wordpress theme. This is simply buying a domain name and hosting, then using a Wordpress theme for your site. This is an easy way to monetize a Wordpress blog, but unless you are looking to have a Wordpress design theme for a finished, 'web design' look, it is much easier (and cheaper) to use Blogger. Just my experience at any rate. No matter what you choose, the bottom line will be working hard at it. Good luck!

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    JP993posted 12 years ago

    For how little it costs to own your own website, it's better to do that. Blogger is great is far more flexible than it used to be. The thing is if you use free sites, you're at the mercy of them. If they want to change their policy or delete your content they can and it does happen. Free sites and blogs are great if you want to make money with no outlay and you can make $100+ a day from them if you know how.
    
    If this is your novel that you have poured your heart and soul in to, i'd say get some hosting, get a domain, install wordpress and go from there.

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       Xenonlitposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       I went with Blogspot for now, but will explore other options! I don't know if I can do this, but here is my first serial installment at
       
       http://edithallen.blogspot.com/2012/11/ … erial.html
       
       
       I would like your feedback

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       JP993posted 12 years agoin reply to this

       This reply limits me to 250 characters. I take it you want to sell your novel via amazon? I can help you if this is your goal. Do you have much experience in selling? Blogger blog isn't going to cut it for your hard work.

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       Xenonlitposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       I already have two of five novels in my series at Amazon. This one goes back a few years and was an idea for National Writer's month. It's an extra. I will probably publish it once I rewrite and clean it up.

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    F-Menchiseposted 12 years ago

    I believe it is blogger, since that is the only one that I now and use; there is no much money but it is worth a try.

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    qeylerposted 12 years ago

    Weebly.  That's the best.  Lots of Templates, places for Ads...it's really good.

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    rfmoranposted 12 years ago

    I'm fond of wordpress, which is probably the most popular blogging platform. It takes a learning curve. if you choose wordpress make sure you take a training program.

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    Emilyfedposted 12 years ago

    Oh, you write for NaNoWrimo? That's great. I signed up for it but I don't understand how to get along. Maybe you could help?
    
    Am not exactly sure which blog, but I suppose a google blog would do.

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       Xenonlitposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       This was my first time, Emilyfed and it was a big disappointment. The deadline for the 50,000 words is tomorrow. We just uploaded the novel and they counted the words. We could put  a preview and a cover and that was it! The actual book did not go up

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       Emilyfedposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Thanks very much Xenolit. I guess hubpages is better right? I feel more at home here.

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    MsLoftonposted 12 years ago

    I would say blogger(blogspot), I actually prefer that platform over Wordpress. I am not sure if you can Monetize on Wordpress though. Many people use tumbler now as well, again not sure about the monetization though. Also, now Amazon accepts blogs and they will monetize it as well.

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       Xenonlitposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       The Amazon one sounds pretty good. They have better stuff to sell than Google adsense sells. I'll check that one out. I put it up at Blogger and it looks great, but I will move it to a happier place when I find one.

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    paul pruelposted 12 years ago

    I will recommend blogger and weebly. Both these hosting sites allow users for their AdSense and other sources of blog income as free users. But be careful not to abuse your AdSense account - clicking your own ads is fraud, telling your visitors to clicks ads on your blog is fraud - they are reasons why there are many AdSense publishers are kicked off.
    
    My blog at blogger: http://wikinutawesome.blogspot.com/
    
    My blog at weebly: http://incomefromblogging.weebly.com/
    
    You can also create a page for your blog at Google+ where all of your serialize novel will be shared publicly. This is my Google+ page:
    
    https://plus.google.com/107370784365406684506/posts
    
    When you set up you blog at blogger or weebly - you can flavor it by adding social networks and other bookmarking sites you are connected with from Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Google plus, StumbleUpon etc. and other publishing sites you are writing for.
    
    Blogger and YouTube are all owned by Google.

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       Xenonlitposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Excellent! I linked my blogger blog (in an earlier comment) to Google +. I will spend time this weekend exploring some of those options.

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    Sushma Webberposted 12 years ago

    Reading all the answers, the highest vote is for blogger.com. I guess the main thing is to ensure you get enough traffic to make money. There are many affiliate options and widgets to use on blogger.
    
    Have you thought of self-publshing options like lulu.com, blurb.com and others?

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       Xenonlitposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       I'm already published at Amazon and will expand to others when I get my third novel done. With 3, I will feel more secure.

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