I just read a post on One Man’s Goal about valuing your visitors, and I have to say that from my experience, he, or rather Yaro, is very far off on what a visitor is worth.

Yaro Starak once told me (more or less) that the average number of visitors to your site in a single day is roughly equal to how many dollars you make in a month. So lets take One Man’s Goal for example. I get roughly 500 UNIQUE visitors a day so that would translate into about $500 a month right? Well… maybe.

There are so many other factors that have to be brought into this formula that the simplicity sake of saying something like “your visitors per day is how much you could make a month” is ridiculous to me. Your advertisers are going to be concerned about your Google PageRank, Alexa Ranking, Technorati Ranking, and maybe even your RSS subscribers, and so this will effect how much revenue you can pull from your blog and thus it won’t translate over to that simple formula of visitors a day equals how much you can make a month.

If that were true, some blogs would be making a much larger amount each month, and other blogs would be making far less than they are currently making. Your visitors are worth what you decide they are worth. I know it sounds kind of cold, and maybe not as helpful of a metric as Yaro’s advice, but that is really what it comes down to.

If you have a blog with a focused readership and lower traffic, you may make more per advertisement than a blog that has a wide reaching readership and higher traffic in part because advertising to a focused readership can be easier, and also produce better results.

Originally posted on October 24, 2007 @ 4:48 pm

JohnCow has a post up with information on how long it can take to make money from your blog.

Here is a snippet from his post:

A lot of new bloggers seem to think that once you’ve setup your blogspot.com account and you’ve written your first article, you’re set. Slap a couple of ads on and you can start planning your early retirement. If only..

The only thing that will make your blog money is you. Setting up the blog and providing it with (good or interesting) content is only half the the work. You’re going to have to sell yourself the best way you can –with your words.

I think the whole thing is interesting to read, but a little light on the key information that the post sets out to answer. He sums it up saying that it depends on the blog, and honestly, that is very true. It depends on the blogger, the blog, the subject, and how well linked and like the site is, but when it comes down to it, I would say that for the best bloggers, you are looking at around six months or more. Some bloggers won’t see a dime until their blog reaches the one year mark or more. It really depends on how aggressively you market your site.

If you are not bringing in some revenue by the six month mark and making money from your blog was your goal, then it is time to reassess what is going on with your site.

If you need help figuring out why your site isn’t monetizing well, feel free to purchase some time from me with my consulting service, and I will help turn your site around.

Originally posted on October 17, 2007 @ 8:49 pm

I haven’t got to do much traveling this year, having instead spent my money on getting married, and buying a house, but over on Daily Blog Tips, there is a great post about being a traveling blogger and I couldn’t agree more with the article.

Here is a snippet from the post:

Don’t be afraid to use pen and paper. You may or may not have access to a computer on your trip. As it turns out, though, it’s possible to manually etch your writing onto paper with a stylus. I know it sounds crazy, but it actually works. Sure, you can’t actually post to your blog, and there’s no automatic spell check, but you can always take care of those details later. The important thing is to write, so don’t be afraid to break out a pen and paper when the need arises.

Before I bought my laptop, I did this all the time. I would write out a list of points I wanted to cover, some sentences or paragraphs I wanted to include and some other miscellaneous notes to make sure that my post would come together nicely when I sat back at my computer.

You don’t need to write out every word you will use in your post, but if you don’t record your thoughts at the time, and you are anything like me, the detail, and the emotion will be lost from the post when you later try to recollect what you wanted to say.

A great post for the traveling blogger.

Originally posted on October 5, 2007 @ 9:56 pm

Looks like Adii, the self-proclaimed WordPress Rockstar, is looking for editors and writers for his upcoming WordPress Magazine.

Here are the details from Jobs.Problogger.net:

We’re in the process of setting up The WordPress Magazine and we’re looking for editors and writers to join our staff team for the various sub-sections / focus areas of the magazine.

The magazine will be run on a similar basis as Smashing Magazine, so make sure that you can produce that length and quality content if you’re interested in this position.

Note: One of the main requirements for these positions is that you need to know your way around WordPress, as you would need to produce in-depth, intelligent content about WordPress.

We are looking for co-editors (who will be offered a shareholding and a share of profits in the venture) and freelance bloggers (paid on a negotiated fee per post basis) in the following areas (feel free to apply for more than one of the positions):

1. WordPress Designs / Themes. (Co-Editor & Junior Writers)
2. WordPress Plugins. (Only Junior Writers)
3. Blog Reviews. (Only Junior Writers)
4. General WordPress News (& Related Web 2.0 news). (Co-Editor & Junior Writers)
5. WordPress Connection (connect with WP designers, developers etc). (Co-Editor & Junior Writers)

How to apply
E-mail me at [email protected] or through my blog’s contact page, specifying the following:

> Which of the positions you want to apply for
> Relevant experience in the positions you are applying for
> Examples of related content that you have produced
> Indicate whether you’re happy to accept a shareholding / share of the profits (if we appoint you as co-editor)

Seems like a great position for anyone with expertise in WordPress to get their name out there, though like any new blog, it will be hard work.

Originally posted on October 15, 2007 @ 8:30 pm