Tips for New Bloggers
Much thanks to you all for the great comments and feedback on my Blog Income Report.
I started blogging in Feb. 2008 on a Free Blogger Site with absolutly NO CLUE what I was doing. As my friend at MoneyEnergy mentioned in one of her comments…it took like 6 months to get my first Adsense Check.
While I still know very little about making money online, I am now making enough per month to cover a decent little car payment, and my site statistics are heading in the right direction every month. That being said, I’ve got a couple of tips here that might save you some time if you are just starting out blogging. If you post often enough, and follow a few good ideas, you should be able to get an adsense check or affiliate check within 2 months or so.
Tip #1 Forget Blogger, and go straight to a Hosted, Wordpress site with a theme that accents your content and is easy to use. This was, BY FAR, the best thing that I did. Hosting through HostGator.com is only $10 per month, and it is well worth the investment. It gives your blog a much more porfessional feel than the basic blogger or wordpress.com package.
Tip #2 Invest in a good domain name! Search GoDaddy.com for hours if you have to so you can buy a good online brandname to build your blog around. I personally made a mistake on this one, as I probably could have done alot better than “The Almost Millionaire” as it is kind of long and most people don’t think or care about Almost Millionaires…but it has worked well, and made sense to me at the time.
Tip #3 Spend some time writing 4-7 of your BEST possible articles focused on what type of blog you are trying to develop, personal finance, SEO, marketing, private equity, investments…whatever. Just focus your efforts on your best stuff within your chosen topic.
Tip #4 Spend about a two weeks finding blogs like yours. Make meaningful comments to show your interest and support for those blogs. Invest your time in developing friendships with those bloggers who are receptive to your comments and seem interested in interacting with you. There are TONS of great bloggers who like to help newbies, but there are a lot of JERKS out there too, who will never support you or give you the time of day. Focus on the friendly bloggers, and avoid those who show no interest in you…and don’t take it personally, there are just some guys who are so big they don’t have the time in the day to respond to comments and develop relationships. FYI, a few guys who are great at developing online conversations are Sire from Wassupblog, Mitch from I’m Just Sharing, and Dave at Do You Dave Ramsey. There are more, I wish I had time to name them all.
Tip #5 Invest your time and money in learning from others who have been successful at making money online and from blogging. There is literally millions of pieces of good information out there that can help you learn how to do AdSense, or affiliate programs, or networking marketing. I try to read something new every week as I try to figure out the endless possibilities that the Internet offers.
Tip #6 REPEAT STEPS #3, #4, AND #5 OVER AND OVER AGAIN. Stick with it! Worst case scenario, you will have all your thoughts online and organized, so you can easily write your autobiography when you are old, rich, and famous 
I apologize to all of you who already know all this stuff, as I realize that most of you know WAY more than me about making money online. I post this though, because this stuff would have seriously helped me when I started online, and I may not have wasted 6 months posting on blogger for my 3 visitors a day. My hope is that all of you who read this blog will leave you #1 Tip for New Bloggers in the comments section. That would be awesome!
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April 23rd, 2009 at 3:54 pm
Thanks for the great advice AGAIN, tam! Looks like pretty soon you’ll have to strike-out the “almost” in your title.
Mikes last blog post..Contrarian Kicked To The Curb
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April 23rd, 2009 at 3:57 pm
@Mike,
That would be ideal brother, I try to wake up every day and do the next right thing that will lead my family towards our goals…financial, relational, spiritual, and the like.
Peace,
TAM
The Almost Millionaires last blog post..Tips for New Bloggers
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April 23rd, 2009 at 8:34 pm
You’ve got me re-thinking about starting to blog again. Do you think there’s a captive audience for outdoors/wildlife/hunting compared to this type of financial/investment crowd? Enjoy reading your stuff B.
Grant
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Almost Millionaire Reply:
April 24th, 2009 at 12:59 am
Grant,
I really think that you should do it brother! The point is that you love hunting, camping, etc…and can offer valuable insight and community to others who have a passion for that too. Just start putting interesting stuff out there, and others will join the conversation.
Looking forward to it my friend! Let me know if you need some help.
-B
Almost Millionaires last blog post..Tips for New Bloggers
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MoneyEnergy Reply:
April 24th, 2009 at 5:18 am
Grant, there definitely is! There’s a niche for everything… just focus on your passion and find other bloggers in that niche and start a community, even a community blog… I’ll check out your site now, sounds interesting – great domain name!
MoneyEnergys last blog post..How Long Does It Take To Make A Viable Side Income Blogging?
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April 23rd, 2009 at 8:48 pm
Thanks for the tips! I plan on working to practice them more.
Right now I am really considering looking into a new theme and spending a little bit more time writing out some better posts.
I find that I will generally find some slow time throughout the day and write out what I am thinking about rather quickly. I have found that taking time to produce better content goes a long way.
Matt @ My Financial Recoverys last blog post..Credit Card Situation Update
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Almost Millionaire Reply:
April 24th, 2009 at 1:03 am
Focusing on unique content should really work well for you Matt! I’ve been to your blog several times, and you have a good start. I’m looking forward to seeing how the financial recovery unfolds!
Almost Millionaires last blog post..Tips for New Bloggers
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April 23rd, 2009 at 8:59 pm
Blogging is a blast! Where else can you share your passion and even get paid for it if you want? I wish I had started many years ago!
Nice tips Brandon!
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Almost Millionaire Reply:
April 24th, 2009 at 1:03 am
I agree buddy! BTW, I’m going to get back with you soon on the XL stuff…life has been crazy, nothing that we are not all dealing with though.
Peace!
Almost Millionaires last blog post..Tips for New Bloggers
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April 23rd, 2009 at 9:00 pm
Great tips TAM,
The one thing I have done from the start is just do what I love and continue with that…if you have fun along the way, you are bound to find it less like “work” when writing posts and at the same time, you will not get discouraged when the first few weeks or months go by without any ad revenues.
I also now make some side money, but its nothing compared to my income from stocks and really dont expect to be a dot com mogul, its all about having some fun, sharing with others and hoping for the best!
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Almost Millionaire Reply:
April 24th, 2009 at 1:05 am
You have hit the key Aman! You have to love what you are blogging about, or it will seem like a chore. You have to make sure you enjoy blogging about your topic so much that you would do it for years even if you never received a dime…becuase you believe it is that fun, or exciting, or important, etc.
Almost Millionaires last blog post..Tips for New Bloggers
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April 23rd, 2009 at 10:39 pm
I love reading blogs, but don’t have the energy to write. I’m content to be a knowledge grabber.
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Almost Millionaire Reply:
April 24th, 2009 at 1:06 am
I don’t see anything wrong with that Doug! I like “knowledge grabber”
Makes sense to try to gather as much info as you can about topics that interest you, and the best thing about blogging is that it is free…and no trees are killed in getting this info to you.
Almost Millionaires last blog post..Tips for New Bloggers
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April 24th, 2009 at 5:16 am
Another great post Brandon! You’ve definitely mentioned some good points, especially about picking a good domain name – not the kind of thing you want to change once you’ve got your backlinks, etc. So other than what you mentioned, my number 1 blogging tip right now might be to foster good comments and interaction on your own blog. It’s not always possible to reply to *every* comment, but definitely at least one reply is necessary to show your readers you are listening and paying attention, and are still alive… and not some “ghostwriter” filling in for the owner.
MoneyEnergys last blog post..How Long Does It Take To Make A Viable Side Income Blogging?
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MoneyEnergy Reply:
April 24th, 2009 at 5:22 am
BTW, Almost…. I only mentioned your adsense check because I remembered reading about it in one of your posts in the early days and it was inspiring to see – so for some reason I just remembered that, again, in seeing how well your blog has done recently! It was a good ballpark figure for me to aim towards, so thanks for mentioning it!
MoneyEnergys last blog post..How Long Does It Take To Make A Viable Side Income Blogging?
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The Almost Millionaire Reply:
April 25th, 2009 at 11:37 pm
Yours was one of the first blogs I read when I got started…so we must have helped each other!
The Almost Millionaires last blog post..Tips for New Bloggers
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April 24th, 2009 at 6:35 am
Way to go TAM. I am forever telling people to host their own blogs, and when you consider it is such a small investment it makes you wonder why they don’t give it a try. Heck, some of my friends spend more on smokes a day than it would cost them to host their own blog.
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The Almost Millionaire Reply:
April 25th, 2009 at 11:39 pm
Thanks Sire, I hear you on the smokes. I’m glad I don’t…$6 USD a pack here in Michigan. Hosting is only $10 bucks a month, how do you argue with that?
The Almost Millionaires last blog post..Tips for New Bloggers
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Sire Reply:
April 27th, 2009 at 10:09 pm
Yeah. I wonder if they just don’t realize how inexpensive it is, even though we keep telling them, it just isn’t getting through. Perhaps they imagine it to be difficult to set up or something?
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April 24th, 2009 at 10:09 am
Good post Tam!
I personally found blogger to be okay (I would prefer Wordpress, and will move across eventually). With a custom template I have set up it now looks much better than the standard Blogger templates available. Good to see that things are progressing for you.
Well done.
Regards,
Joshua.
Josh Moores last blog post..Finance 101: How to budget
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The Almost Millionaire Reply:
April 25th, 2009 at 11:41 pm
Hey, Thanks Josh. I agree that blogger was OK, but I had a hard time figuring out the custom template stuff, and I believe you will be AMAZED by the functionality of Wordpress or Drupal. They far surpass blogger.
The Almost Millionaires last blog post..Tips for New Bloggers
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April 24th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
[...] The Almost Millionaire has some tips for new bloggers. [...]
April 24th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
I’ve been real happy with the jumb from blogger to wordpress. I still need to set up adsense though, and google analytics, or I’ll never get the revenue going.
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The Almost Millionaire Reply:
April 25th, 2009 at 11:41 pm
I’ll help you with that SOON, I promise!
The Almost Millionaires last blog post..Tips for New Bloggers
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April 24th, 2009 at 8:16 pm
Fantastic tips Brandon. We all made the mistake of starting off on blogger but lesson learned.
Make Money Onlines last blog post..Important Factors In Web Design
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The Almost Millionaire Reply:
April 25th, 2009 at 11:42 pm
Thanks for your support MMO. Just thought I should say that! You have been stopping by for a long time and it is appreciated!
The Almost Millionaires last blog post..Tips for New Bloggers
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April 25th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
Great stuff TAM and thanks for the endorsement.
I have to agree that I love the commentary and discussion we get into in our posts and back and forth comments. It’s hard to engender but I like to think of the articles as the opening remarks kicking off a good conversation, discussion, or even friendly debate. Sometimes you learn more in that forum than in the articles… and you certainly build the relationships there.
On that front… for as much as I’d love to grow my rev stream… I appreciate the community cultivated through blogging.
Thanks again for the endorsement AND the great advice!
Dave
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The Almost Millionaire Reply:
April 25th, 2009 at 11:45 pm
You got it Dave, it is truly all about the relationships. I think it is going to be a hoot to meet some of you all in person sometime. That would really be cool! I read once that John Chow gets together with some his blogging friends every now and then, I’ve thought that is a great goal ever since.
The Almost Millionaires last blog post..Tips for New Bloggers
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April 26th, 2009 at 3:31 am
There are so many things I wish I would have done different on my site now that I know more about blogging. I went the Wordpress route, but there are still things I wish I had known a year ago.
Great list of tips!
pfincomes last blog post..18 Passive Income Opportunities to use your Tax Refund on
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The Almost Millionaire Reply:
April 27th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
@passive,
I agree with you. If someone would connect me with a good book on wordpress tips for new bloggers, I would buy it in a heartbeat. It is never too late to keep improving, ya know!
The Almost Millionaires last blog post..Tips for New Bloggers
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April 27th, 2009 at 4:48 pm
I think the most salient point here is #5, unfortunately a blog without traffic doesn’t get read. Personally I’m starting with smaller easier articles and working my way up slowly to some big hitters – I want people to read them!
Good tips though
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The Almost Millionaire Reply:
April 27th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
Chris,
Thanks for the comment, and for using the word “salient” (best word used in any comment this year! I sould send you a prize)
Anyways, Makes alot of sense to start with easy to digest content to get people interested and engaged early. Sound like a good path for your blog, which I enjoy btw!
Peace,
TAM
The Almost Millionaires last blog post..Tips for New Bloggers
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April 28th, 2009 at 10:55 am
[...] – The Almost Millionaire gives us a list of tips for new bloggers. I wish I had this list when I first started [...]
April 29th, 2009 at 12:42 am
Outstanding tips for new bloggers. I began blogging in march so I’m relatively new but I did my homework before I started and most of the tips you provide I knew. That doesn’t take away from the fact that these tips rock!
Sam | Real Online Money Making Strategiess last blog post..Clickbank Affiliate Marketing
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April 30th, 2009 at 12:44 am
I certainly can’t stand blogger sites, they sometimes make it harder for people to comment on them–so you lose your interactivity..
I definitely appreciate the friendliness of fellow bloggers–they truly make the blogging experience and related hard work worth it..:)
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May 6th, 2009 at 10:06 pm
Just found your blog – it is great. I really want to start up a blog and a few weeks ago just went and started one on blogger – wrote something cute – and then never went back!! I have since then been doing some proper research so that I can actually make a REAL site that will grow and make me some money (really need that!). Finding it hard to think of a good niche so researching that at the moment. Don’t really have a burning passion (too busy with university and kids). I have bookmarked your site and will be exploring it over the next few weeks. Just wanted to start doing what I’ve been reading about – leave comments!! Thanks very much.
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The Almost Millionaire Reply:
May 7th, 2009 at 12:06 am
Jayne,
I’m glad you found the site and am excited that you are going to get things going with a blog soon. You will not be disappointed with wordpress or hostgator. Those two things are great places to start. Zip me an e-mail if you need any help.
Best,
TAM
The Almost Millionaires last blog post..Free Advice (Always worth what you paid for it)
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May 14th, 2009 at 8:07 pm
Thanks for the interesting post. It helped me pass the time at work. I will definently visit this site again. Bookmarked!
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May 17th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
i started on blogger too – its OK and there is some local traffic within the blogspot community but they pissed me off with the comments and I moved over. In the end of the day you can make money on pratically any platform free or hosted – its more about your keywords and SEO ability than anything else
Passive Income – Liss last blog post..Passive Income Day 3 HubChallenge
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May 19th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
Hi TAM, thanks for leaving your comment on my blog.
You have a great list of tips. Tip #4 is especially helpful for me. I have a rough idea of what to do but your list really helps to crystallize it in my mind. Thanks!
You asked for my tip for new bloggers? Ok here’s mine – Stick to the Proven Money-making Topics listed on BigIdeaBlogger.net
LOL! Sorry for the shameless advertising!
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July 16th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Make it easier for visitors to reach your home page easily and from any where in your site. Have clear headings for each paragraph …..
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July 16th, 2009 at 7:24 pm
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October 9th, 2009 at 12:39 am
Good tips for new bloggers. With your advice and a little elbow grease they can make a successful blog.
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November 5th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
As a newbie, I can tell you that all of us just starting out appreciate you taking the time to share a starting point to get us headed in the right direction. The hardest part of getting a blog that generates income (or so it seems) is that the topic and information must have value and not just rambling thoughts one has.
Thanks for the time to offer some tips and I wish you much success in getting your “internet lifestyle” business where you would like it to go.
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