Earn with blogger - Part2

When you’re just starting out in blogging, your first stop should
probably be Blogger (www.blogger.com). Blogger has two main
strengths:
1. Set-up is fast. You can be up and running with your own
blog in five minutes. Really!

2. It’s owned by Google. That means your AdSense
implementation is going to be smoother than a greasy ice rink.

1.1 Creating A Blogger Account
There are a few things easier than creating a blog at Blogger: falling out of bed is easier; finding nothing to watch on TV is easier; and spending money is easier... and that’s about it.

The first stage is to create your account by choosing a username,
a password and a display name — the name that will appear on
your blog. Most people don’t want to put their real names on their
blog but there’s no reason why you can’t do that if you want to.
The second stage is to name your blog. Again, you don’t have to wrack your brain trying to come up with some fancy title. “John’s Blog” or “Jane’s Place” is good enough. At the same time, you’ll be asked to create your own URL. This will be
http://[your_choice].blogspot.com. You might have to enter a few
possibilities before you come up with an address that hasn’t been taken. You’re not the first person to discover blogging!

You can also host your blog somewhere else if you want to, which is nice if you have a domain name of your own that you’d like to use. But if you want to save time, just use Blogger’s own server.

And finally, the third stage is to choose a template. Blogger offers
twelve templates to start with and once you’ve made your choice
you can tweak it to make it suit your taste. They’re all good,
professional designs though, so even if you leave your template
unchanged, you’ll still have a good looking site. And if none of those
twelve take your fancy you can change it for a different template
later. There’s a good selection at http://blogger-
templates.blogspot.com.

And that’s it! You’ve got a blog.

You’ll then be taken to a page where you can start writing and
posting. You’ll also be able to change the settings and formats of
your blog, control the comments and play with the template if you
want.
The most important points on the blog though are what you put in
the writing space — and you can start doing that right away — and
your AdSense ads. You can start putting those in right away too.

1.2 Adding AdSense To Blogger

Your blog is managed from a “dashboard,” which lets you add new posts and change your blog’s settings. Directly beneath the options to do those tasks though is a link to sign up to AdSense. You can also find the AdSense page at:

Settings > Template > AdSense
To create your AdSense account all you have to is tick the check box that says that you agree to the terms and conditions and click the button at the bottom of the page. Blogger has even completed the rest of the form for you.

I do recommend that you read the AdSense terms and
conditions though. I know most people take one look at these
contracts, assume that everything is okay and tick the box. But with AdSense, they’re important. You want to understand what you can
and cannot do to get users to click. Get it wrong and you could find
your earnings cut off. You’ll get a summary of the highlights when
you complete AdSense’s own form, but it’s worth being familiar with the entire thing.
Once you’ve applied for AdSense, you’ll be sent your confirmation
email and asked to choose the format of your first AdSense ad.

1.3 Optimizing AdSense on Blogger

The principle behind all success with AdSense is to make your ads look like part of your content, not like ads. Blogger assumes that’s how you want your ads to look and it’s a wise assumption. It’s why the default color scheme when you’re first asked to choose your ads is the “Blend Template.” matches the font colors of the content and title of the ad to the content and title of your blog.
Don’t choose any other color scheme. The Match Template is ugly and while choosing other schemes will make your blog look pretty, they won’t do much for your revenues.

But Blend Template isn’t perfect. It doesn’t match the font color of the ad with the font color of your blog. The easiest solution is to
first choose Blend Template, then Custom. All you’ll have to do next is change the color of the font. Very easy.

A much tougher choice is the format of the ad.

When you’re optimizing your AdSense ads, it’s important to put the right ad format in the right place. You start by placing one ad at the top of the page and you’re likely to get the best results there with one of the following: a 234 x 60 half banner, a 180 x 150 small rectangle or a 468 x 15 horizontal row text link.

Why are these formats the best choices for the top of the page?

The half banner fills the space very neatly above the first blog entry;
the small rectangle leaves plenty of space around the ad, helping it
to stand out even though it looks like content; and when the ads

are optimized, the horizontal text link will look like a menu bar of a conventional website.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use the other formats. You should. But you should use them in different places on the page. Once
you’ve added some content to your blog, clicked the link in the
confirmation email and filled in the AdSense application form, your next job will be to put more ad units on your page.

1.4 Adding Ad Units To Blogger

So you start your blog with one AdSense unit at the top of the page. Google though lets you place up to three ad units on a page, one
text link unit and a search box. Each ad unit will display unique ads
so you won’t be spamming your users with the same ads over and
over again.

Stick to just the one ad Blogger gives you and you’re wasting some valuable opportunities.

The people at Blogger know this of course and that’s why they
explain how to put another ad unit in the sidebar. You can find that
guide at http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=974
What Blogger tells you is that you’ll need to log in to your AdSense account and click the tab marked Ad Settings. You’ll then have to choose your ad format and select your colors.

Blogger recommends that for the sidebar, you choose between a
125 x 125 button, a 120 x 600 skyscraper, a 160 x 600 wide skyscraper, a 120 x 240 vertical banner and a 180 x 150
small rectangle. Those are all good choices and you’ll have to test them to see which one works best for you. Start with the button,
follow your stats for a week, then replace it with a skyscraper and
compare the results. You should soon discover which delivers the
best CTR on your site.
I’d probably skip the narrow skyscraper and the small rectangle but I do recommend that you put in a vertical text link. These are
perfect for sidebars and slip in so smoothly under the links that
you’ll believe they were made to go there.

The colors, of course, should match the colors of your blog.

You’ll then need to copy the AdSense code and — here’s where it gets interesting for people who don’t know their HTML from their elbow — you’ll need to paste it into your blog template.
Log back into your Blogger account and paste that AdSense code immediately after the lines that say:

Now, if you’re thinking “If I can put AdSense code there, then
maybe I can put another unit somewhere else too...” then you’re thinking like a soon-to-be-rich AdSense publisher.

If you’ve got the default ad at the top of the page, a second ad in the sidebar, then I recommend you put another ad in the body of your blog.

Oddly though, the people at Blogger aren’t thinking like soon-to-be-
rich AdSense publishers and they don’t make it easy for you. Here’s what you have to do...

Log into your AdSense account and choose an ad format and color. If you’re placing an ad at the bottom of a blog entry, I’d
recommend either a banner or a half-banner. If you want to put
an ad at the start of an entry then a square or rectangular ad unit will work very well.

Both those options work very well.
The colors, of course, should still match your blog. Copy the code, open your Blogger page and click:
Template > Edit Current
About a third of the way down the page, you’ll see a line beginning “/* Posts”. Pasting your AdSense code after one of the sections in this unit will place an ad unit in the body of your blog.
Be sure to check the preview before you save and republish to
make sure the ad is appearing where you want, and feel free to
experiment with different placements if you find your CTR is lower than you expect.

Setting up an AdSense-earning blog is very easy on Blogger. It will take you minutes to get your blog up and running and your first ad showing at the top of your page. It might take you a few more
minutes to put a second ad in the sidebar and a little longer to find a good position for your third ad unit.

But even all those minutes together is really no time at all, and you’re ready to earn!