The Secret of Money Making Bloggers

Some bloggers have made thousands of $$ from their blogs, but, unfortunately, most bloggers failed to do so.

In order to find out the secret of those money making bloggers, I have read an interesting article posted by Chitraparna Sinha in bloggingtips.com (below). Happy reading.

5 Reasons You Aren’t Making Money from Blogging

Posted by Chitraparna Sinha on 8th Jul 2014 | 

Unlike the years when pro bloggers like John Chow and Darren Rowse came on the blogging scene, making money from blogging is comparatively easier now mainly due to:

• a lot of exposure
• timely guidance

Earning a decent $1000 within the first few months of blogging is not tough these days.
Still, there are a lot of newbie and intermediate bloggers out there who find it difficult to earn a substantial income from their blog/s.
Why?
Let’s explore.

1) You have no Writing Skills

I don’t understand why bloggers tend to ignore this fact. You need to possess writing skills for creating a decent piece of blog.
True, no one is a born writer and second, you cannot afford to hire a writer when you are struggling to even pay the blog hosting fees, learning to be a better writer makes sense, doesn’t it?
All the technical details like PR, PA and DA does matter but just because your blog has PR 3 won’t make advertisers beeline with advertorials.
Where is the quality? Advertisers want quality. Think about it.

2) You are only depending on AdSense

Move over AdSense, right NOW!
If you are creating a blog just to earn money from AdSense, you’re making a big mistake. Don’t get fooled by those online AdSense reports. The bloggers who earn thousands of $$$ with AdSense probably have more than 50 blogs running AdSense.
…and did you honestly think you can achieve the same amount of success with just one blog? Really!
Don’t create blogs for AdSense. Even Google doesn’t want that.
Even if you want to make it the main earning model, start with at least 20 blogs at once. Do you have the manpower or money for this? No? Then don’t be a cry baby!

3) You are not a Marketing Ninja

Okay, not everyone has clever marketing skills. I don’t have but I still make a decent amount every month, so I must be doing something ‘right’.
What are you doing to market blog posts?
Just some Facebook and Twitter shares will give momentary traffic spike but they don’t work in the long haul.
Think – is your content worth marketing?
Be truthful and honest to yourself. If the answer is a resounding “NO”, then first learn to create marketing-worthy content and then reach out to advertisers.
Check out Joe Pulizzi’s Content Marketing Institute for awesome resources.

4) Your Blogging Niche is NOT Profitable

If the chosen niche doesn’t have any takers, who can you blame for not earning anything?
The first step towards making money from blogging is to choose a profitable niche. Blogging is a medium to connect with a particular segment of viewers. However, the topic of your blogging medium needs to be in demand as well.
For proper keyword research and to find profitable niches, I would recommend the LongTailPro Keyword research tool by Spencer Haws.
Niche matters a lot when you want to earn from affiliate marketing, which is definitely not easy. Most bloggers and marketers fail. For inspiration, you should not miss reading about Brad Campbell who is making a cool 6-figure a year in the affiliate marketing sphere.

5) You are not Networking

Business means networking. You cannot ever have a profitable business if you don’t know how to network with others.
Sign up on any of the popular social networking sites to start connecting with fellow bloggers. Facebook would be a good first option. You can join blogging groups, talk to experienced bloggers and learn from them.

• Mix with the crowd.
• Help others.
• Become popular.

The idea is to make others recognize your blog. Not only will it send referral traffic, you will find other bloggers eager to advertise on your blog.

Endnote

Making money from blogging is not tough.
Start using that grey matter (brain!) evolution has given you.

Motherhood : a Woman's Exclusive Right

Rima Fauzi (http://rimafauzi.com) is one of the few Indonesian bloggers that I continuously followed since I started blogging in 2007.

Rima (36) is a singer/songwriter living in Brussels, Belgium since 2001, where she and her friends set up a band called The House Painters.

Based on the consent that I have got from her via Twitter@mbakrimaH, I would like to share with you one of her interesting blog post (below) about Motherhood, which may sound controversial for some of you.
I shall be very grateful to receive your comment. Happy reading.

ON MOTHERHOOD: 
TO BE OR NOT TO BE  
By Rima Fauzi
10.14.11

When I was younger, I welcomed the idea that as human beings it is our fate to couple up, get married and have children. I thought it was normal for me to think that our sole-purpose is indeed to serve God by way of non-stop praying, getting married and procreating. As I got older and more exposed to the evil ways of the west (and by this I mean the frowned upon atheistic western “logics” and “common sense”) I started to think differently.

The first thing that changed was my perception of God. I used to think God was this really grumpy old guy who just loves to smite people and take his wrath upon us, eerily leering from above, waiting for us to do something wrong and then when you think you are safe, “WHAM!” He smites us to a thousand pieces. When he is feeling lazy, he would send down his angels to make a list of all the things we do wrong then keep it in his grudge cabinet so that when we die he will happily drown us in a pool of boiling hot lava-like liquid for as long as he likes or until he has something better to do or new people to torture.

Now, I strongly feel that if there really is a God (I say “IF” because no one really knows, it’s all down to personal faith) he would most likely be a deity-like entity who is loving, understanding and kind, who emanates eternal peace and is made up of all things good, like sugar and spice.

People who say things like “That tsunami is a warning/curse from God” or, “The heretics who were murdered were asking for it, if those people didn’t take their lives, God would’ve done the job himself sooner or later” irritate the hell out of me. I know they have a right to their opinions, they do and I am fine with that don’t get me wrong, but they are just irritatingly ignorant. Yet there is nothing 

I can do to change the way they think as I used to be one of these people and I understand their way of thinking although I surely do not condone it. Nobody changed my way of thinking, it just happened gradually on its own through natural selection, personal experiences, education, social interaction and a myriad of other factors that may or may not have the same effect on other people on a similar boat.

Thank goodness I have become this common-sense worshiping, moral loving, reasoning addicted infidel that I am today. I don’t mind not going to “heaven” as from what I was told heaven is going to be nothing but a huge, non-stop orgy full of men drinking wine from the rivers and having sex with virgin angels anyway. It’s not like I haven’t been in one before and if only the men are going to have fun in this so-called heavenly orgy, I wouldn’t want to be one sitting there watching all the fun, how boring would that be, right

But, I digress.
The same thing happened with my idea of motherhood. While I know that it is indeed a natural part of life and I don’t oppose of it, I don’t think it’s for everyone. My friends told me that I will hear my biological clock ticking and I will know when it’s time. Well, I am almost 36 and either my biological clock needs a new battery or it just isn’t happening for me.

I actually don’t mind not having kids. Nope, let me rephrase that, I actually don’t want any kids.
*Gasps* “How can she say that? It’s blasphemy!!” some people may think.
Well a few years ago, I feel guilty whenever I even think about this and I certainly never say it out loud. Whenever people ask me, “So Rima, when will you have a baby?” or “Don’t you want to hear the pitter-patter of ‘tiny feet in your house??” I answer, “Not now, maybe in a few years.” (Although 
I constantly have the urge to answer the second question with, “If I want to hear the pitter-patter of tiny feet in my house I’d buy a Chihuahua and have it wear small dog boots around the house. Problem solved”)

But who am I kidding? I didn’t want a baby then, and I sure as hell don’t want one now.
Now I have become more assertive in my life decisions and I no longer feel guilty telling people that, “Kids are just not for me.” because “I think my life is perfect the way it is.”

The thing is, I know parents who don’t really want children but were forced into having them by society and their families. I have seen what that does to their children and it’s not pretty. I am fulfilled by my life, I have my routines, my job, my side job, my hobbies, my friends and my family. I am content with my life and I think I’m blessed with so many good things in life that there is nothing more I could possibly want. So why ruin a good thing?

I don’t want to have kids just for the sake of having them, “cos everybody else has them.” As if kids are a pair of Gucci loafers or a Plasma TV. No, if I ever have kids it will be because I really, and I mean REALLY want them.

If I give in to the pressure and norms of the society, I could end up resenting my kids and feel like I have given up many things I enjoy to have them. I know this sounds selfish, but it is more selfish to have kids so that people will accept you and think you are “normal”. Let me tell you something, there is nothing normal about having unwanted kids because it will screw up that kid and scar them emotionally for life, not to mention turning you into an asshole.
Now I should know, I was one of these kids. And again I tell you, it’s not pretty for both the parties involved as it is sad and unfair for an adult to have to do something they  don’t really want but feel like they “must” do while it’s especially unjust and unfair for a child to be born to parents who don’t really want them.

So the next time I hear somebody asking me that dreadful question again or making a snide remark about who will take care of me in my old age if I don’t have kids, that is when I will say “If I ever decide to have kids, I will do so because I really want to. And I will love that child and educate them so that they have free will, an open mind and a loving heart. Not so that I have a guaranteed spot in a homey retirement home.” I won’t even care if a person insinuates that women who never bear children are not real women. Yes, there are people like that out there, total bitches. 

Because at the end of the day, having children (or not) is your personal choice and nobody should be able to pressure you into doing it or talk you out of it when you want to do so. It’s your right, your prerogative and no one else.

Bloggers' contribution for Indonesia

I just just read on the blog of fellow blogger Unspun that today is the National Blogger's Day.

He explained that this event was declared four years ago i.e 27 October 2007, by the then Communication and Information Minister Muhammad Nuh when he opened the first annual gathering of Indonesian Bloggers a.k.a Pesta Blogger at the Blitz Megaplex in downtown Jakarta.

At a time when most news media in Indonesia are owned or controlled by people who have money, Bloggers provide the public with more independent and non-biased information.

Bloggers have made some contributions  to the implementation of justice. The most noticeable being the case of Prita Mulyasari i.e a mother of two very young children who was jailed for sending e-mails to her friends about the sub-standard treatment she received from the OMNI Hospital, and fined Rp 200 million but released after strongly protested by Bloggers who also collected money to pay for the fine.

Then there was the case of Vice Chairmen of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) i.e. Chandra Hamzah and Slamet Bibit Rianto who were jailed on charges that are not clear, therefore released after strongly protested by Bloggers.

In this connection I hope that Indonesian Bloggers would use their freedom wisely in accordance with the laws and regulations.

Happy National Blogger's Day.

ASEAN and Blogger

On 15 December 2008, ten members of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) including Indonesia, ratified a constitution for the organization called the ASEAN Charter.

Further, on 1 January 2010, the ASEAN China Free Trade Area (ACFTA) came into effect, reducing tariffs on 7,881 product categories in those countries to zero.

Furthermore, in 2015 an ASEAN Community shall be established based on three pillars i.e Security, Economy and Socio-Culture.

Considering that all those " big projects " will surely effect the people living in ASEAN countries, there must be  serious efforts  to socialized them to the public.

For this purpose, the Indonesian Department of Foreign Affairs is coordinating with Be-Blog (Bekasi blogger community) to organize a bloggers' gathering on :

Day/Date     :    Saturday, 7 August 2010
Time            :    9 am to 1 pm
Venue          :    Hotel Horison Bekasi, Krakatau Room, Jl. KH. Noer Ali, Bekasi
Participants  :    Bloggers in Bekasi, Jakarta and other area.

For detailed agenda and registration, please click here.

I hope that fellow bloggers would use the above event to express whatever they have on their minds, including the impact of the Asean China FTA on Indonesia's economy. 

Indonesian Fashion Bloggers

With a population of 238 million people, Indonesia has the potential to be one of the countries in the world that has the largest number of bloggers.

This can be seen from the fact that since the blog was introduced in Indonesia in the early 2000, the number of bloggers has increased three times in 2009.

What's interesting is that according to Indonesia Matters, the only site that provide blog ranking, the chart toppers are fashion bloggers who are mostly young ladies.

Please find below an article on this matter that I have quoted from Maverick, a Jakarta based PR agency.

The Rise of Fashionista 2.0

When blogging started to develop in Indonesia in the early 2000s, many people were skeptical. Some wondered if it was only a passing trend, others fretted about telling it all over the internet. In spite of all these concerns the number of Indonesian bloggers has tripled from those early days to around 6,340,000 today, according to blogger.com. Add this figure to Wordpress and Multiply databases, and the number comes easily up to about 10 million.

There has been a shift on what’s popular among blogs though. In the early years the most popular blogs were IT-based blogs. Then came public affairs and socio-politics, together with personal journals about daily life.

In 2009, however, blogs dedicated to hobbies and lifestyles, particularly fashion, started to take off. Today the chart toppers, at least in Indonesia Matters – the only blog ranking list in Indonesia so far – are fashion bloggers Diana Rikasari (http://dianarikasari.blogspot.com), Evita Nuh (http://jellyjellybeans.blogspot.com/), Dotie ‘Eclectic Du Jour’ or Michelle (http://glistersandblisters.blogspot.com/).

Diana Rikasari (http://dianarikasari.blogspot.com) was one of the early bloggers. Starting in 2007, her blog had first mover advantage and has been featured in well-known teenage magazines such as Cosmogirl, Kawanku, GoGirl and B’Girl. She loves Bloop, a local fashion brand, so much that the company asked her to launch her own fashion line ‘Diana Rikasari for Bloop Endorse’ on December 2009. Her blog is #1 in Indonesia Matters website and her influence stretches to 2,629 visitors per day.

Perhaps the enfant terribe of Indonesian fashion blogs is Evita Nuh (http://jellyjellybeans.blogspot.com/), who is only 11-years old but has a precocious fashion sense that would put Hollywood celebrities to shame. Her prosaic writing style and taste in clothes has propelled her to become one of Indonesia’s top bloggers, commanding a readership of 200 visitors per day.

Yet another current top blog in the charts is Cotton Ink (http://cottonink.blogspot.com/), which is also the brand for a line of clothes. Started in November 2008, this local brand by Carline Darjanto and Ria Sarwono has succeeded in building an avid loyal fan-base. The clothes are simple, yet interesting and considered cute since people could wear it in any way they like and as far as their creativity goes.

Then there is Fashionese Daily (http://fashionesedaily.com/) where Indonesia’s fashion and beauty fans could get information about fashion and makeup, meet other fashion and beauty enthusiasts, discuss topics in the forum and even submit articles.

Amalia Sari, one of the founders of @dandanpolfriday, mentioned some important factors that make fashion and lifestyle tweets and blogs getting more popular; “People, especially girls, love to show-off. In term of stuffs, you could get fashion stuffs cheaper and easier by buying it online in which leads us to the Internet phase. 

Regarding fashion and lifestyle Twitter accounts, Twitter accommodates us in term of easiness of sharing links with others. 

The phenomenon of fashion and lifestyle blogger also supported by magazines that keep putting young bloggers and online shops in their articles and in return, it creates buzz among the people.”

Bloggers and Good Governance in Indonesia

In the last few years, Bloggers and other internet activists have played an important role in what is happening in Indonesia.

Last year, they helped the "release" of an innocent mother of two infants who was detained and prosecuted just because she e-mailed her friends about the low standard services of a hospital.

Further, they also helped the "release" of two leaders of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) who were arrested based on uncertain legal grounds.

In this regards, I would like to quote the comments of U.S Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs Maria Otero as reported by Ethiopian Review.  

In Indonesia, Bloggers Show How Civil Society Can Promote Good Governance 

About the Author: Maria Otero serves as Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs.

Today, Indonesia is the world's third-largest democracy, and its free media environment plays an important role in the country's steady democratic development. In fact, the NGO Freedom House rated Indonesia as the most free media environment in all of Southeast Asia. Over the last decade, Internet penetration has surged, and half of Indonesia's Internet users are on Facebook and Twitter. There are over one million bloggers in the country.

On Wednesday, I met with leading bloggers and media developers in Jakarta. The lively discussion revealed the dynamic role of Internet activism in Indonesia. Even though fewer than 15 percent of Indonesians regularly access the Internet, the increasing number of people who engage online are making a difference in the way Indonesian society communicates about topics ranging from the environment and human rights to political issues, culture, fashion, and academic material.

The government, online businesses, and consumers all share a responsibility for protecting freedom of expression and freedom of information on the Internet. As co-chair of the NetFreedom Taskforce with Under Secretary for Economic, Energy, and Agricultural Affairs Robert Hormats, I was pleased to learn about how Indonesia's bloggers use the online space to express their views and advocate for change in their country through a conducive internet environment. It was helpful to listen to their views and look for more ways to engage together.

Indonesian citizens' active involvement in social media demonstrates how civil society can promote good governance and protect freedom of expression. Of course, as in any country, we must be mindful of threats to such freedoms. The bloggers at the meeting described the Indonesian social media response to a draft law on multimedia content that would form a government committee with the potential to censor online content. The bloggers voiced their objection to the draft law, citing that it would limit freedom of expression online. Fortunately, in response to online protests, President Yudhoyono put a hold on the law. The social media activism and response by the President signify the importance of partnership between government and society when securing the freedom of expression on the Internet. I am encouraged by the lively internet activism in Indonesia, and am grateful to the bloggers and government officials who are committed to protecting freedom of speech.

Under Secretary Otero traveled to Indonesia, May 16-21, to meet with civil society, non-governmental organizations, and senior government officials to discuss global issues on which the two countries can partner. As Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs, María Otero oversees U.S. foreign policy on democracy, human rights, population, refugee, health, and environment issues.

Bloggers & Journalists

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

The Constitutional Court & Bloggers

On Tuesday, 5 May 2009, the Indonesian Constitutional Court passed a verdict which refused to cancel Article 27 Paragraph 3 of the Information & Electronic Transaction Law (ITE) No. 11 Year 2008 that has been requested by a Team consisting of Edy Cahyono, Nenda I. Fadhilah, Amrie Hakim, Indonesian Journalists Alliance (AJI), LBH Press & PBHI.

In a Press Release that I downloaded from the legal blog Dunia Anggara, the Team expressed its disappointment with the said rejection; however it also mentioned some points in the verdict which are noteworthy:
1) Art.27 (3) : is for crime that can only be processed based on complaint made by victim of defamation
2) Art.27 (3) : should be deemed similar to Art. 310 & 311 of the Penal Code, thus only the main Role Player can be implicated with this crime
3) Art.27 (3) : can only be used by individuals and not by legal entity
4) Art.27 (3) : acknowledged that blogs and bloggers have similar role as the press i.e. implementing people’s sovereignty based on principles of democracy, justice & legal supremacy
5) As far as public domain is concerned, and privacy is not disturbed, cyber communities are free to conduct social control.

In this regards, I would like to quote fellow blogger Ndoro Kakung who said that this verdict provide an advantage for bloggers in Indonesia compared to bloggers in Singapore, Malaysia and Myanmar.
However, as a citizen of our country we must use this advantage responsibly i.e. by respecting other people's privacy as well as the laws, regulations & customs/ traditions, so that peace and harmony in our society can be maintained.