How to Make Money Blogging (Part 2: Monetizing your own blog)
In the first part of the “How to Make Money Blogging” series, I discussed how to become a professional blogger by writing for others. Also, in the follow-up to that post, I answered questions from readers.
Today, we’ll talk about making money on blogs you own, rather than as a hired writer for other people’s blogs. This is just a basic outlined tutorial, because making money with your own blog is such a vast topic. But, if you’re a beginner and you want to set up your own blog and monetize it, this tutorial is a good place as any to start learning.
Tools you’ll need:
- Domain name. This will be the main address of your blog. For this blog, it’s frugalpinoy.com. I usually buy my domain names at GoDaddy. I think it’s important to buy your own, easy-to-remember domain name, as it looks more professionaland has better recall.
- Web hosting. This is where your website will be stored. My favorite host is CynicalDog, as I’ve never had problems with them and I’ve been with them for 4 years. Other reliable hosts you can try: BlueHost, HostGator, WebHostingPad
- A blogging platform. This is the software behind your blog. For all of my blogs, I use the WordPress platform, because it is very easy to use and is highly customizable. Other blogging platforms: Moveable Type, Typepad.
- Some website-building knowhow. Apart from learning how to use your chosen blogging platform, you may need some basic HTML or CSS skills, or at least know someone who is familiar with them. This will come in handy when you need to paste advertising/affiliate codes on your blog, or when you’re troubleshooting.The internet is full of video and written tutorials on HTML, CSS, and blogging platforms. All you have to do is search for them via Google.
FrugalPinoy Q&A: How do I start as an online freelance writer?
Several readers sent me a note this week, asking me how they can start an online freelancing career. Here’s one of the emails I received:
Hello, I’ve been writing professionally for quite some time, and I’m trying to augment my income by trying out freelance writing online. I’ve only had a couple of projects, which paid about a dollar per article.
If it isn’t too much trouble, I was hoping you might help me in trying to find good writing gigs online, and maybe give me some tips on how I can start out.
Thanks very much!
- Tim
Thanks to Tim and the other readers who wrote in with their questions. I’m going to answer it in simple, concrete steps so that everything is clear. Regular readers might note similarities between this post and my previous post, “How to Make Money Blogging (Part 1)”. If you haven’t read that post yet, click here to read it, because it contains some points and definitions that aren’t found in this post – especially a needed introduction on online writing.
Without further ado, here are the steps that you can take to start your online freelance writing career:
Read MoreHow to Make Money Blogging (Part 1: Writing for others)
I’ve been visiting some filipino forums the past week, and I saw that although many Filipinos are interested in online writing, many of them don’t know how to begin, or are compensated poorly for their efforts. Maybe it’s because there’s a lack of local resources that discuss online writing as a career.
Because of this, I’ve decided to feature a series of posts here at Frugal Pinoy about how to make a living out of online writing. After all, it’s my main income stream and I have a little over 4 years of experience on the subject – especially when it comes to blogging. (In later posts, though, I’ll discuss essay writing and SEO writing, which are other ways to make money online).
Before we begin, we need to define what professional blogging is and what makes it different from personal blogging.
What is professional blogging?
First of all, the definition of ‘blog’ is this:
To put it as simply as possible – a blog is a type of website that is usually arranged in chronological order from the most recent ‘post’ (or entry) at the top of the main page to the older entries towards the bottom.
Source: Problogger.net
This means that a professional blogger is someone who writes for a blog on a regular basis – whether he/she owns the blog or not. The professional blogger or “problogger” is separated from the personal blogger based on his/her intentions. The intentions of the personal blogger is usually just to share information about one’s life to friends, family, and the outside world. Usually, when you write a personal blog, you talk a lot about your feelings and personal experiences. The intentions of the problogger, on the other hand, include the following:
Giving money to charities and causes
Recently, a friend and I had a conversation about “giving back” and donations. We both felt like we weren’t giving enough. Personally, I donate to an animal shelter as payment of utang na loob for the people who built it – they were good to me in hard times. But apart from that, I do nothing, even if I really wanted to. I don’t know if it was the busy-ness of work, but I haven’t thought about volunteering or making additional donations in months.
I also realized that in Frugal Pinoy I often talk about saving and earning money, and never about giving it away.
It’s about time that I did. Starting next month, I’ll be donating to some causes I believe in (I’ve already included it in the budget), and actively search for volunteering opportunities as well. However, I won’t be disclosing how much or to what causes I donate to, but I imagine I’ll be able to talk about the volunteering.
Also, if you have your own stories about volunteering or donating, please share them with us.
Why giving back is important to you
People often talk about how giving away donations is good for others, but that’s self-explanatory. What’s often left out of the discussion is what good you will get out of giving.
It gives you a feeling of abundance. I first mentioned this in the post “Do you have what it takes to be a millionaire?”. From that post:
Some people may have multi-millions, but if they don’t give away a single peso to anyone, for a cause larger than themselves, they probably feel cheap inside. From David Bach’s research, most multi-millionaires have one thing in common: they were giving part of their income for charitable causes, even when they weren’t wealthy yet. It’s all about the mindset rather than just the measurement of how much money you have stashed away in the bank.
It makes you happy. Scientists found evidence that giving away money gives you more happiness compared to spending it on yourself – even if you believe otherwise. For me, this is reason enough. Here’s a quote from that study:
Statistical analyses revealed personal spending had no link with a person’s happiness, while spending on others and charity was significantly related to a boost in happiness.
“Regardless of how much income each person made,” Dunn said, “those who spent money on others reported greater happiness, while those who spent more on themselves did not.”
Now that we’ve looked at the benefits of giving away, it’s time to look at how to go about it…
Read MoreCan working from home help you financially?
Today I read this article from ABS-CBN News about Filipinos who work from home or ‘telecommute’. The article lacked some depth – since they only tackled what the subjects earned each month and a basic description of what work they do. Plus, telecommuting isn’t a “line of work” like the article stated. That’s like saying “going to the office” is a line of work! Telecommuting is just one method of working that can be used across several industries. My “line of work” is writing, and I happen to do most of it online.
Here is a much better definition of telecommuting from WiseGeek (although I prefer the term ‘teleworking’):
Telecommuting, also known as teleworking, is the act of working from a remote location, usually one’s home. This is made simple with the use of various telecommunications technologies such as a telephone, fax machine and the internet.
As a telecommuter myself, I feel like a have a clearer perspective on the financial (and other) benefits of telecommuting.
Almost no transportation costs. If I worked in Makati and commuted there every working day, I would spend over P120.00 daily commuting, which would be roughly P2,400 a month. (But that’s cheap commuting, not a taxi.)
Lower food costs. I don’t have to worry about where to buy my lunch – I simply make it at home. Generally, making your own food costs much, much less than dining out. Of course, if you work in a traditional office, the alternative to eating out is baon.
No new clothes needed. I work in my pambahay – shorts and a loose shirt, or, on cold months, in my pyjamas or jogging pants. I have some semi-casual attire just in case, but I never use it.
Read MoreHelp Iligan and CDO
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