Making money with a website?

[nickerjones]

Yes I believe so... Blogspot worked because it gives you a page and you can put the code in any box you want , i.e. on the header, the side, the body etc.. ......

[Claeren]

Originally Posted by Barnes

If you're looking for an easy way to create a website without having to learn html, CSS etc, Check out: Squarespace

Awesome website!!



Claeren.

[Azure]

Yeah, Squarespace is pretty good, although a tad bit costly.

With Google ads, you can create ads, give the colors, pick the size and all that, and you post the html script into your webpage, or on blogspot into the thing they give you. IIRC, blogspot has a built in adsense thing.

You can always search Google to find out how to do it too. 'Adsense on Squarespace' for example.

[Claeren]

Seems to me like it makes more sense to start with a free blogging service, then add adsense, and then if you are getting the readership and have the content look at building a website with a squarespace-type service or other hosting service? And of course if you actually want to make money and have a lot of user generated content the last step is pretty important if you want that level of control over how your site works?

Cool discussion though.


What cool tools do people use? Anything?

(I never care the subject, it is always interesting to find what really effective straightforward tools and resources other people are using. Beauty of the internet really... )


Claeren.

[Rathji]

I use Blogger right now. Its fine, and if you want to straight up design your site from scratch they can handle it.

I think the biggest reason you would go with Squarespace is to set up a nice site quickly. The amount of storage for monthly fee is fairly steep, but the tools are amazing. You could get a cheaper option but the tools, while totally serviceable, are really not as nice as Squarespace.

I think the best idea, is use something like blogger to see if you really want to maintain a site and see if you are generating traffic with your content. If you are and it seems promising, then you could easily upgrade to a better service and hope to recoup your costs in adsense dollars. Reality is you won't be breaking even for quite a while unless you have a really good idea and lots of content.

[Azure]

Blogspot is alright, but its nothing compared to Wordpress.

That being said, I'm sorta expecting Google to start offering more features on blogspot.

As for your question Claeren, that is what I would do. Start a simple blog and get traffic to it. Then start thinking about going for a paid service.

You really do need a lot of traffic if you want to do anything money wise with a blog.

[GoFlamesGo]

I took the advice from this thread along with the golf thread in the off-topic forums, and it inspired me to create this site for fun: www.golfcalgary.blogspot.com

Let me know your thoughts and suggestions. Enjoy!

[nickerjones]

Originally Posted by GoFlamesGo

I took the advice from this thread along with the golf thread in the off-topic forums, and it inspired me to create this site for fun: www.golfcalgary.blogspot.com

Let me know your thoughts and suggestions. Enjoy!

I clicked some of your links... Hope that helps... there was some good info!

[nickerjones]

Well I have dried up ... I have been stuck at 60.10 for 2 days... Yesterday I even had 8 clicks and got 0.00 .... kinda weird !!! 60 bucks in 2 weeks isnt bad I suppose but I gotta get to 100 to get any checks lol!

[GoFlamesGo]

Originally Posted by nickerjones

I clicked some of your links... Hope that helps... there was some good info!

Thanks I appreciate it! I clicked on some of yours as well. Best of luck with the site.

[Russic]

I recently started up a blog through squarespace and absolutely adore it. So damn cool.

[nickerjones]

Originally Posted by Russic

I recently started up a blog through squarespace and absolutely adore it. So damn cool.

Are you using Adsense? What the address of your blog?

[GoFlamesGo]

Originally Posted by nickerjones

Are you using Adsense? What the address of your blog?

I have another blog that I started a couple years ago that makes some decent coin with Adsense (www.calgaryradioblog.com). It gets over 3000 page views a day and earns me a hefty google cheque every month.

You just have to be patient and give it time to grow. Try to post as often as you can so you can keep the blog fresh with quality content. This will encourage people to keep coming back.

Good luck.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by GoFlamesGo

I have another blog that I started a couple years ago that makes some decent coin with Adsense (www.calgaryradioblog.com). It gets over 3000 page views a day and earns me a hefty google cheque every month.

You just have to be patient and give it time to grow. Try to post as often as you can so you can keep the blog fresh with quality content. This will encourage people to keep coming back.

Good luck.

I kinda quit doing anything with my blog. Partly because I ran out of time, and because it got boring after a while. But I was seeing decent results.

I'm not at all interested in your site content, be it golfing or whatever, but its still extremely catchy. You got something good going there.

[GoFlamesGo]

Originally Posted by Azure

I kinda quit doing anything with my blog. Partly because I ran out of time, and because it got boring after a while. But I was seeing decent results.

I'm not at all interested in your site content, be it golfing or whatever, but its still extremely catchy. You got something good going there.

It definitely takes a lot of time and hard work to get a site going, but you're much more likely to stick at it if you write about something you're very passionate about. Plus it's also makes it a lot easier when you have a couple admins/mods to help watch over the site and a couple associates help contribute by writing articles.

[Azure]

Well I stopped mine for the time being.

Simply don't have the time right now.

[nickerjones]

Any updates for anyone on their money making ... I think I am right at or a lil over a month and am at 98 bucks. It seems to have slowed down but ill keep posting on the beginners blog....

Originally Posted by GoFlamesGo

I took the advice from this thread along with the golf thread in the off-topic forums, and it inspired me to create this site for fun: www.golfcalgary.blogspot.com

Let me know your thoughts and suggestions. Enjoy!

Also I took some inspiration from this and started a hockey deals blog to see if i could generate more money and blog interest. http://dailyhockeydeals.blogspot.com/

I just started it yesterday but I spent some of today emailing a lot of online retailers and asking for some "special coupon codes " that I could use as an incentive for people to follow and come to the blog. I said it would drive traffic your way if you gave me some codes. 2 have responded. One told me to call and talk to them tomorrow and the other gave me a code. Want the code?? Go to the blog and follow and leave a comment !!! HAHA

[GoFlamesGo]

If you're looking to earn more money with your site in addition to google adsense, you should also sign up for a free linkshare.com or cj.com account and add a couple affiliate merchants that's related to your site. To give you an example, I added a couple RockBottom Golf and KnetGolf links and banners to my golf blog. My new blog is about a month old and I've already generated $1500+ in sales on 20 orders. The affiliates that I use pay me about a 10% commission on every sale. This is a great way to grow your website's revenue and not just fully rely on google adsense.

I'm glad my blog inspired your new hockey deals site. It's a good idea and I wish you the best of luck with it. BTW, you should fix the hockey deals link in your signature.

[nickerjones]

Originally Posted by GoFlamesGo

If you're looking to earn more money with your site in addition to google adsense, you should also sign up for a free linkshare.com or cj.com account and add a couple affiliate merchants that's related to your site. To give you an example, I added a couple RockBottom Golf and KnetGolf links and banners to my golf blog. My new blog is about a month old and I've already generated $1500+ in sales on 20 orders. The affiliates that I use pay me about a 10% commission on every sale. This is a great way to grow your website's revenue and not just fully rely on google adsense.

I'm glad my blog inspired your new hockey deals site. It's a good idea and I wish you the best of luck with it. BTW, you should fix the hockey deals link in your signature.

yeah my problem is finding some way to generate traffic and followers.. I have contacted online retailers and they gave me the heads up on some sales for this weekend .. so i got them a day early..All the people have to do is call ahead and mention the blog...

However still not much traffic or followers..

I will def try linkshare!! thanks for the heads up!

btw , did you just add a HTML widget and then put a code in for the banners of different companies?

[nickerjones]

Well so my Adsense is up to like 99.15 so I am thinking ... WOw i will get my first check soon... WRONG!!!! I get an email last night saying google has disabled my account due to illegal activity... WTF ..

I dont know what i have done illegally ? Anyone have ideas or suggestions?