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50 Reasons Why your Blog Isn’t Making (Enough) Money

Posted by Harshad

50 Reasons Why your Blog Isn’t Making (Enough) Money


50 Reasons Why your Blog Isn’t Making (Enough) Money

Posted: 14 Mar 2013 04:39 AM PDT

I believe we bloggers have experienced this at least once in a while where our blog simply is not making enough money to buy the bananas we crave. We have done everything we could, yet our AdSense earning is so pitiful that it’s easier to just cut our losses, pack up and go.

But after years of blogging, I visited my old blog and realized all the mistakes I’ve been making that led me to abandon my sweat and toil for greener pastures. But one good thing came of it. I was able to write this article based on my experience.

blog not making money
(Image Source: Fotolia)

Yes, I’m going to tell you 50 reasons why my blog sucked at making money. Why should you read this? The question is why wouldn’t you? If there is a reason your blog isn’t making money, and you can identify with any of the 50 reasons here, that means that there is still a chance to salvage it!

So stop feeling sorry about yourself. Buck up and learn from your mistakes, and turn all that wondering into working for a better blog, and a better tomorrow. Here are 50 reasons why your blog just couldn’t prosper.

The 50 Pitfalls of a failed Blog

Essentially, your blog isn’t making money because…

#1. It’s a fact that 99% of bloggers are not making money. So you are in the majority. Stay strong, comrade.

#2. You have more ads than content. When was the last time your visitors actually saw your content?

#3. You use advertising networks that never pay you. Not to be confused with $0.01 AdSense earning.

#4. You create content for marketing, but not content worth marketing. Think about it.

#5. Your marketing campaign is not impressive, making it easy to forget. Write to impress!

#6. You put too much time on social marketing, especially those “Share me & I will share you back!”

#7. You hired a bad marketer. If he promised 1 million views per month, why is he working for $100?

#8. You didn’t establish your brand well enough, and don’t even think about parodying the greats.

#9. You’re poor at blogging your niche. Web design is not about saving JPG to PDF to DOC.

#10. Your niche is hardly profitable. Well, there’s your problem: who is going to pay to advertise on your meme blog?

#11. Name 5 of your friends that are in your niche. Money is attracted to crowds, start networking.

#12. If it wasn’t for the post date, I would’ve thought you updated your blog years ago. Blog about the latest.

#13. Your content is not viral. Photo that looks nice? Meh. A photo that moves? Holy, Mother of Instant Share!

#14. You copy other people’s content. We do not need yet another 9gag.

#15. Your content makes people’s life harder. Stop making WordPress themes that get people hacked! You know who you are.

#16. You blog about complicated things (that 99% of your readers don’t understand nor care about).

#17. Your content is too common and boring. Your reader will run away faster than you can press Publish.

#18. Your ramble off-key too much. If your Photoshop blog appears in the results for "Dirty Politics", restrategize.

#19. You post too inconsistently. Cry less, update more.

#20. You chose to twist the truth, "as explained in this free e-book which costs only $9.99. Click here Now!" … NO.

#21. Your grammar is so terrible that Grammar Nazis flock to your articles with their "guns" ready and still ran out of ammo. Sometimes less is more.

#22. You use too much internet slang. Would you have paid for a product that "has swag"?

#23. You use profanity for your adjectives, adverbs and conjunctions. Only teens and trolls love them, and in an average blog, they both contribute almost next to nothing in terms of monetary value.

#24. Your content format is insane. Too many colors spoil the palette.

#25. You spend too much time counting visitors than trying to keep them coming back to your blog.

#26. You took your basketball game to your blog, and made no effort to stop bounce rates. (Ok, that was a bit lame.)

#27. You treat your readers like they are your ex. "Take it or leave it, honey." Oh no, you didn’t.

#28. How many marketers does it take to promote your blog efficiently? Zero, get your readers to do it. Love your readers.

#29. Your blog has too many commenting trolls. But did you give them a reason to troll you?

#30. You need to wink (hint) constantly to get your readers to look at your ads. *wink*

#31. Your blog loads too sl… ow…. *buffering*… … *buffering*…ly. That does it, I’m outta here. Optimize.

#32. You have too much cheesy animation on your blog. YouTube treats your readers nicer anyways, and that’s where they will go.

#33. Your blog design is too dark and it’s painful to read. My eyes! They burn!

#34. You make questionable decisions with your blog design. What the… is that an animated GIF?

#35. So you want to earn money from mobile readers but need them to scroll everywhere to see ads? Deploy a mobile site with mobile ads.

Another 15 more to go..

#36. If content is king, then keywords are the queen. Make sure you have 3 keywords for every webpage.

#37. You hired a bad SEO specialist who ignores your content. Hire a "Content Strategist" instead.

#38. You went too complicated with SEO. All you need to get Panda & Penguin love you is great content.

#39. You sell text links. Don’t destroy your lifetime income for $10 a month, $50 a year, $150/forever.

#40. You care too much about SPAM: Site Positioned Above Mine. And please, don’t spam them.

#41. You care too much about SEO. Enough with that 46th meta keyword, make proper content. See #36.

#42. If you google your site name and your site doesn’t appear in the results (aka Google hates you), keep quiet, and sell the site.

#43. Blogspot is your site’s middle name. With just $15 you can buy a domain name, and credibility.

#44. You feel like the title of most blogs – Just Another Blogger Blogging. Develop your style & inspire.

#45. You didn’t set an income goal for your blog. Imagine playing soccer without the goal net – you will never score.

#46. It’s not making money because you are just blogging. Use your traffic to sell one hell of a great product, or service.

#47. You try to cheat readers. "I don’t care what you did, but if I can’t trust you, I ain’t coming back." Can you blame them?

#48. You think more about making money than blogging. You make decisions that are motivated by money more than blogging.

#49. You spend too much time worrying and crying. When life gives you lemon, make lemonade, bottle it up and sell it!

#50. You spend too much time reading articles like this “50 Reasons Your Blog Isn’t making Money". We kid. But for reals, don’t just sit and wait. Do it. Act now.

What’s your Reason?

So which of the 50 sins listed above did you commit? I consider myself lucky to have made some money from selling my old mistake-cluttered blog but it is a lot easier to start afresh than to clear up all these mistakes. But that’s just me. What do you think could be a reason that your blog isn’t making money?

Share and share alike.

Freelancers: Juggling Deadlines and Priorities 101

Posted: 14 Mar 2013 04:41 AM PDT

Deadlines can be a nasty thorn for many freelancers. I personally feel that deadlines make me more concerned with the outcome, rather than the job itself. Also, many freelancers have to face quality issues, just because they had to stick to deadlines.

Unfortunately, everything in life comes with an expiry date, and whether you like it or not, deadlines will continue to haunt you if you don’t keep them in check.


(Image source: Fotolia)

What many miss out is the fact that deadlines have shaped freelancing as one of the most thriving industries of the 21st century. Also, the fact that since deadlines make freelancers accountable, it has also made the profession as well as the industry more organised.

If freelancers can act smart and show more purpose, they can deal with this issue of deadlines more effectively.

Have a say while agreeing on deadlines

Clients are very dominant, while choosing freelancers for their projects. If you, as a freelancer, are not comfortable with the given deadline, then the client might choose someone else. Ironically, that’s where freelancers usually commit their most common mistake.

Since they need work, they usually agree to any given project deadline, even when they cannot commit.

Freelancers should never accept any work, if they know they will struggle to have to deliver on time. They should always give more emphasis to quality, and see, when they can deliver quality work, before agreeing to deadlines.

Ask the right questions & Follow Up

We usually get carried away by the excitement when we strike a job deal. And in the process, we tend to forget going into the nitty-gritty side of a project. That’s where everything goes wrong. How many of us really ask the right questions before we strike a deal?

For those who agree to a project before they get into the details, they may be in for a shock when the submission takes place. The client may be expecting something totally different and thus reacts with much negativity, criticism and may even fully reject your work, demanding a major overhaul.

Communicate!

This happens because there was a complete lack of communication. You might put the onus back on the client saying he has not mentioned exactly what he wanted. But in reality, the onus lies with the freelancer to ask all sorts of questions required to understand the project before finalising the deal and the deadline. If you don’t, some other freelancers will.

Freelancers should also keep note of the fact that keeping in touch with the client during the course of the project, especially, when the project is a large one, helps in streamlining; if something goes wrong during the earlier discourse, it still helps you to stay ahead of the deadline.

Shift your priorities according to the given deadline

Freelancers usually have more than one project in their schedules. The best way, perhaps, is to finish the task with the earliest deadline, and then proceed to the next one. This will allow you to not let deadlines weigh down your mind. The more it weighs, the more the quality suffers. It is important to infuse quality in your work, without letting this issue interfere in any way.

Deadlines should assist

Freelancers usually consider deadline as a ‘dead end’ upon which to submit their projects. This is a clear sign of mismanagement. What a freelancer should look to do is to consider deadlines as tools to assist them in completing projects, and not as a date set up to hang you at the gallows.

This attitude will eventually help you to prepare well enough and stay ahead of the deadline.

Can’t Make The Deadline

You may have given your best shot, but still fell short of your commitment to deliver on time. You may have been held back by a home emergency, a community event you couldn’t get out of, falling sick or gotten into an accident.

Regardless of the reason, basically, you need to ask for an extension. Do not under any circumstances offer cheap excuses.

Ask For An Extension

Genuine excuses will definitely be considered and actually much appreciated, and most clients will be willing to extend the deadline or make adjustments on their side to allocate for the delay on your end. Be very straight forward with them, give the an exact extension period you need and be ready to let go if your clients can’t agree to them.

Don’t worry, they will come back and work with you since you have proven yourself accountable. Just don’t delay them one time too often.

Use Productivity Tools

Gone are the days when the walls of cubicles are filled with post-it notes and colored scribblings of what is due to whom and when. The idea behind the practice is now transferred into apps, tools, calendar reminders and the likes, all in your device. Some come with options to create reminders that you can set months in advance, others let you keep track of your progress so you know how much time you have left to work with.

Any.do, Evernote, Wunderlist and TeuxDeux are just a few apps that can help you with scheduling your daily activities. The best use of these apps is that it helps freelancers to stay creative, focus on their work, and work fearlessly, without worrying about missing their deadlines.

Conclusion

The bottom line, though, is one should push hard to stay ahead of deadline(s), and part of the experience of being a seasoned freelancer is being able to juggle his or her priority as the jobs come in.

Of all the many experience you have to show for being a well-traded freelancer is the ability to keep all of your clients satisfied with the quality of your work, delivered on time.

10 Mobile Apps That Earn You Real Cash & Rewards

Posted: 13 Mar 2013 09:48 PM PDT

How much do you pay for apps on your iOS or Android device? Do you know that you can earn real cash and rewards from using certain apps? Granted that you will have to work for it by carrying out tasks like grocery shopping or checking out a new line of clothing, watching trailers, taking photos, and meeting new people. Sound interesting?

Then, you really should check out these 10 apps that will earn you real cash and rewards (gift cards and redeemables). We’ve split the tasks from the rewards to help you figure out which app to try out first., but something tells us that you’d probably be checking all of them out. Some even help you to get in shape and to do your part for charity.

1. Field Agent

What to do: You turn into a field agent for some field work, carrying out small missions in your neighborhood. You’ll get instructions of what to do and where to go, places like your local shopping mall, grocery store, or any landmark. The jobs must be completed within 2 hours, and is on a first come, first served.

What you get: Each job is worth between $2 and $12 (paid via PayPal).

Platform: iOS

Field Agent

2. CheckPoints

What to do: You can earn points for checking in to a grocery store, cafe or shopping mall, scanning the items that you buy during these errands or even when you recommend a friend to join CheckPoints.

What you get: The earned points can then be redeemed for rewards like Amazon.com and Walmart gift cards, games, cool gadgets and more.

Platform: iOS | Android

CheckPoints

3. EasyShift

What to do: Complete simple assignments (Shifts) such as taking photos, giving an opinion, or recording the price of a product. After you complete several tasks, you will be promoted and will then be able to unlock higher-paying assignments and other valuable perks.

What you get: Payments will be made via PayPal and can be processed within 48 hours.

Platform: iOS

EasyShift

4. App Trailers

What to do: Preview trailers about apps and earn points while you’re at it. Help the app makers improve their app trailers by sharing honest opinions about what they need to add to complete the trailer.

What you get: You get paid half a cent for each video you watch. For trying out a demo (of an app), you can get paid between 9 cents to a dollar. Joining via a friend’s referral code may give you a head start of 50 points.

Platform: iOS | Android

App Trailers

5. Iconzoomer

What to do: Take photos of what is asked in your assignment: your lunch, your drink, or the shoes you are wearing, and earn money for each snap. Share a comment about the snapshot (if you got a feedback you want the manufacturer the know, this is your chance), and that’s it.

What you get: Earn money for each completed assignment via PayPal or get free merchandize. There is also the option to donate to charity via Unicef.

Platform: iOS | Android

Iconzoomer

6. GymPact

What to do: Exercise at the gym and earn money. Seriously! Once you’ve made a week-long pact on GymPact, you get paid for every day you go, and you have to pay for every day you skip. Those who get to the gym to exercise get to claim their monies from those who didn’t!

What you get: You’re getting $0.50 to $0.75 per workout which must lasts a minimum of 30 minutes. And you get to follow your exercise regime, and keep fit and healthy.

Platform: iOS

GymPact

7. Gigwalk

What to do: Be a Gigwalker and run special assignments for clients at a preset price. You could be asked to take photos of a place, hand out fliers, check out a new bistro or a new product, or even become a mystery shopper. You essentially become your clients’ eyes and ears simply by being at the right place and the right time.

What you get: Get paid from $10 to $15 an hour.

Platform: iOS

Gigwalk

8. Shopkick

What to do: If you are a heavy shopper and love trends and bargains, earn ‘kicks’ just by being yourself with Shopkick. Find participating shopping places that allow you to earn kicks with every walk-in and/or purchase and you will be able to redeem rewards with the ‘kicks’.

What you get: You get a first look at items at the store (while earning extra ‘kicks’) even before an actual walk-in. Use your ‘kicks’ to unlock gift cards and products you can redeem.

Platform: iOS | Android

shopkick

9. ESPN Streak For The Cash

What to do: Think you know your sports team? Then name your predictions for each game and make sure you get the longest winning streak of the month. To make it tougher, you have to make the call for 10 different sports and maintain your streak.

What you get: The longest winning streak for a team or a player will win a monthly grand prize of $50,000.

Platform: iOS | Android

10. Phewtick

What to do: Get Phewtick on your phone, meet up with someone, scan a QR Code and voila, get paid just for meeting people.

What you get: Earn points that you can cash out, or donate to Unicef or the Red Cross. And meeting new people for work or leisure.

Platform: iOS | Android

Phewtick

More Apps!

Here are 7 more apps where you can earn money just by answering surveys, watching videos, downloading free apps among others.

Cash King: You earn money for downloading and trying out free apps (including new games), watching videos or completing surveys. Get paid via PayPal or receive Amazon.com gift cards in return.

Platform: Android

Cash King

Get Paid to Play!: Watch some video ads, download and play some new games, and register on websites to get paid. You can withdraw your payment from PayPal.

Platform: Android

Get Paid to Play!

NPolls: Share your opinions by answering polls. Topics may cover politics, sports, social trends, lifestyle, brands and more. You are paid usually around 20 cents per survey.

Platform: iOS | Android

NPolls

Mobile Rewards: Sign up for a free service, watch a Youtube video, or mention a product on your Facebook Wall. Earn credits that can be redeemed in cash via PayPal. Use a referral link and you can earn 100 credits for every friend who signs up, plus 10% of their earnings.

Platform: iOS

Mobile Rewards

JunoWallet: Play games, watch videos, complete surveys and invite tons of your friends to join JunoWallet. A variety of rewards via Invites (3 levels) which can come as giftcards for games, pizza, coffee, movie tickets and more.

Platform: iOS | Android

Earn Money: Download free or paid apps, register to free or paid websites, or watch ads to earn points that can be accumulated and turned into cash. Payment is done via PayPal.

Platform: Android

Earn Money

Thumbspeak: Answer questions in polls and surveys and get paid for your opinion. Get paid via PayPal or cash in on gift cards.

Platform: iOS

Thumbspeak

Creating Custom Ringtones For iPhone [Quicktip]

Posted: 14 Mar 2013 04:05 AM PDT

Bored with using the same ringtone as every other iPhone user out there, or do you have a special part of a song that you want to put as your personal ringtone? You can always check out ringtone sites to find the tune you like or, you can try to create your own custom iPhone ringtone.

Settings - Sounds

If you don’t already know, you have to use a unique ringtone file format that the iPhone recognizes, an m4r file format. With iTunes, you can easily create custom ringtones in m4r format, with any of your existing songs in your library.

We’ll show you how to slice up your favorite parts of a song in your iTunes library, then transfer it to your iPhone for use.

Creating The Unique iPhone Ringtone File

First select a song or sound clip from your iTunes library. Right click on the song and select Create AAC Version.

Ringtone Step 1

iTunes will duplicate the same file with all its naming details, in a different format. You can tell them apart by right clicking on one of them and selecting ‘Get Info’. Under ‘Kind’, it should say AAC audio file.

Ringtone Step 2

At the same window, select ‘Options’. Here, you determine the Start Time and Stop Time of the clip. The length should be less than 30 seconds. You will need to play the clip several times and use trial and error to get your snippet in the correct spot.

Ringtone Step 3

Once you are satisfied, click ‘OK’.

Locate the same AAC file, right click on it and click on Create AAC Version to create a second version of the AAC file. iTunes will then create a version of that song that is only 30 seconds long.

Ringtone Step 4

Now right click on your song snippet, and click on ‘Show in Windows Explorer’ (for Windows) or ‘Show in Finder’ (for Mac). Rename the file type from .m4a to .m4r, and give it a different name.

Tip: If you are not sure which file it is, the file size of the 30-second clip should be a lot smaller than the original AAC file.

Ringtone Step 5

Once renamed, you can drag that .m4r file into iTunes.

Ringtone Step 6

Transferring The Ringtone To Your iPhone

In iTunes, the ringtone you’ve created should be under Tones, and from there, you can rename it and then drag it into your iPhone. After that, click ‘Sync’.

On your iPhone, change the ringtone under Settings > Sounds.

Settings - Sounds

You can choose to delete the full AAC version of song to avoid duplicate files.

Ringtone Step 7

An Alternative

If you think this process is too long, we have featured free apps that allow you to download free ringtones and alert tones to your iPhone. All you have to do is transfer it to iTunes and then to your iPhone.

Checking Temperatures On The Go With Thermodo

Posted: 13 Mar 2013 09:40 PM PDT

Need a temperature app on your iPhone or Android? At the very best, your smartphone would only be able to feed you readings of temperatures given out by meteorological departments and the likes, but if you want to measure the temperature of your immediate surroundings, this may be the device for you.

Robocat has designed and created Thermodo, a thermometer which measures the temperature around you and it will feed the readings into your smartphone.

Thermodo is a tiny electrical thermometer that comes with a keychain so you can keep it with your keys. As far as we know, it’s available in black, white and anodized aluminium.

thermodo

Inside Thermodo is a passive temperature sensor which works like any temperature reader out there. To use it you can just pull Thermodo out from the holder and plug it into your phone audiojack.

thermodo plug into iphone gif

Thermodo will display the temperature with the companion app they came with. Alternatively, you could download and use Thermo as it works just fine. There’s no network connection required to use this, and it takes mere seconds to get a perfect reading.

thermodo display

The creators of Thermodo, Robocat, has already reached its goal in Kickstarter. By pledging this project for $25 on Kickstarter, you’ll received one copy of Thermodo around August of this year. The makers are also releasing an SDK so other developers can integrate Thermodo with other devices and/or software.

thermodo plug into iphone

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