Blogs

1. 59

   Jule Romansposted 14 years ago

   Okay, here's what I want to know....
   
   Are free blog sites (like blogger, for example) really likely to get honest traffic? Can they rise to the top in google? Do people actually read and pay attention to websites with blog-type extensions in the url?
   
   I am not wirting personal expression blogs. I am interested in  developing a few focused websites for niche markets.  Since I am brand new at this, I don't expect my first few chosen niches to work immediately. I want to make all my mistakes somewhere  that is not only inexpensive, but also "safe" for my future web-reputation. 
   
   I've been thinking of experimenting with blogs to learn more about how to develop my content. It won't really be that useful, though, if I can't count on the blog to get some kind of natural traffic.
   
   Any suggestions?

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   1. 58

      Mark Knowlesposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Self hosted worpress blogs and a little time spent on buying a domain.

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      1. 59

         Jule Romansposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks, Mark.  Does that mean I really need to buy a domain to do legitimage experimenting?  I plan to buy a domain as soon as I get my balance, but I want to try to learn as much as i can for free first.

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         1. 58

            Mark Knowlesposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            That is a lot of questions all rolled into one. A lot of people do not see a blogger blog as "legitimate" although you can learn with them and then move to self hosting - same with wordpress - you can try them out - move to self hosted and move domains or host a domain with them.
            
            Hubpages is really, really good at ranking for a lot of niches - and totally worth giving up the 40% of impressions for.
            
            In the end though - you will probably end up with your own hosted blog and a domain that is niche specific. This will give you more information about how to go about that:
            
            making money from a blog
            
            
            I suggest a three pronged approach - hubpages, your own niche specific domain and a blogger blog.

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            1. 59

               Jule Romansposted 14 years agoin reply to this

               AHA. Thank you. That makes sense. I will try that. I think Ihave three niches, maybe four, figured out.

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   2. 81

      Rafiniposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I'm in the same boat, only for different reasons, meaning I"m not interested in niche markets or trying to sell.  I'm only here for the writing and if I sell anything it will be a bonus, but I still wanted to gain traffic. 
      
      Anyway, I heard about blogger and shetoldme - those are the only ones I'm going with (so far? lol) and it seems to me my traffic doubled since I joined shetoldme - I'll go see if I can check.
      
      okay - almost double.  I went from 388  the first 30 days to 709 total - I joined shetoldme 2 weeks ago.

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      1. 59

         Jule Romansposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Are you kidding me????? *runs over to join*

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      2. 71

         ThoughtfulSpotposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Wow.  That's an impressive jump.  But, keep in mind, that that is most likely not all from shetoldme.  I'm sure it helps, and the backlink alone is good for rankings.  But, as you publish more, and as the time factor kicks in, you will see an increase from those factors as well.
         
         I'm not poo-pooing shetoldme, I started using it to, and find it useful, but I think it helps to keep things in perspective.  Just because the increase happened at the same time, doesn't mean its ALL related.
         
         (But good going on the increase!)

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         1. 81

            Rafiniposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            true, true, so true,  I am believing the increase is because of shetoldme but I really don't know.  I did hear somewhere that shetoldme can increase your traffic better because of where it puts you  in search engine rankings - or something like that   lol   I don't know, I just went for it.

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2. 75

   sunforgedposted 14 years ago

   i dont think perceived legitimacy is an issue with earning from your viewers.(Since you earn when they leave)
   
   but it does seem to be MORE difficult to gain high search ranking in even moderately competitive fields with a blogspot domain as your money site.
   
   I have dozens maybe even a few hundred blogpsot domains that serve to spread exposure to my more important money sites. ( I can make a blogpsot blog in half the time it takes to make a hub)
   
   But without your own hosting you are limited to WHO will partner with you.
   
   eBay wont want you, many affiliate networks wont accept you. even if your are part of a network individual advertisers wont partner with you.
   
   Without your own hosting and domains, YOU are not legitimate in the eyes of the best partners who could pay you.
   
   A well researched keyword rich domain that is self hosted will earn its costs back almost immediately.
   
   I think a lot of marketers and search engines dont see blogpsot as legitimate and maybe even more tech savvy web users. But does John Q Public know what a domain is? I dont think so.

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   1. 59

      Jule Romansposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I am guessing that would be the same for weebly, too?
      
      I find working with blogger more difficult than hubpages. I'm not sure why. I think it is because it seems more complicated to get my affiliate links in. I feel like I have to write more, I am not good at HTML, and my blog posts never seem to look as good as my hubpages pieces.

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