Website Design by Teli

This is my first publicly available theme for WordPress called Simplicity. It is a minimalistic 3 column theme done in white, black, and grey with hints of green. (more…)

Darren Rowse currently has a nice discussion going on about blogs and AdSense and whether or not AdSense is really worth a blogger’s time.

Based on my own experience, I would say the answer is: it depends. It depends on your niche, your target audience, and your traffic.

I have never really been a fan of putting all your eggs in one basket (learned that one the hard way), so I would suggest creating a more diversified revenue portfolio for your blog such as AdSense, affiliate programs, selling text links in house, alternative advertising networks, and/or partnerships.

What will really work for your blog will depend on your blog’s goals and target market. If it’s a highly personal blog which varies in topic, you may not be in a position to earn a fortune from it, however, you may be able to earn enough to pay for hosting. If you have a blog in a highly targeted niche area, you increase your chances of earning a decent consistent income.

With a site that only has 1000 visitors a day, you’re not going to make a fortune on AdSense… or on anything else. ~ Michael Moncur

Actually, this depends as well. I have a site that has considerably less than 1,000 unique visitors per day (heck, I’m lucky if it breaks 1,000 for the month) and it consistently earns me $250+ per month. It may not be a fortune, but the income is only slated to increase as it climbs in search engines and the traffic increases.

This particular blog is on a very small specific niche and is relatively new, but the audience is inclined to sign up/purchase the products I recommend. If they cannot find the product they’re looking for on my blog, they are likely to click out of my website on an AdSense ad.

I am not saying that earning money from your blog is as easy as taking a magic pill — it takes work, diligence, dedication, and a good dose of common sense, but I know it is very possible to earn money from blogs.

If your goal is to earn money from your blog, then it is just like any other business and it needs to be approached like any other business – with a level head and a plan.

It seems that podcasting is set to take off, but I was recently enlightened on MP3 licensing issues. Apparently, MP3 is not a free to use technology and the patent is owned by a wealthy French company who likes to enforce its licensing/royalty regulations.

Since podcasts are generally distributed in MP3 format, I wonder how it will affect the many podcasters and soon to be podcasters. Their licensing affects those who use MP3 for commercial purposes and earn over $100,000 gross annually and ‘commercial’ can be as simple as earning a nice chunk of change from running AdSense or an Amazon affiliate program on the website distributing the MP3 files.

I don’t know how they would be able to truly enforce the licensing/royalty fee, but frankly, I would not want to be on the business end of a cease/desist followed by a bill for past due royalties.

So your comment stats are barren (or pretty close) and you want more people to offer feedback, but you don’t know where to start without sounding desperate — that’s where 10 Tips For Getting More Comments on Your Blog [PDF 150k] steps in. (more…)

BlogJet is a desktop blogging application which allows the user to update their blog without needing to open their web browser to do so. The review below is focused on BlogJet version 1.5, the latest stable release available for download at their website. (more…)