Blogging has become one of the very best ways to make money on the internet. This is because blogs are generally simple to set-up, easy to monetize and easy to add content to. Another important advantage of blogs is that the search engines love them. Fresh, updated content is what the search engines want, and good blogs provide just that. In this article, we will discuss how to create and grow a successful, money making blog.

1. Choose the Right Niche: You will need to choose a niche that is fairly narrow, but not so small, that you will have a hard time generating interest. You also want to choose a niche that has a relevant affiliate program, or lends itself to some other type of monetization.

2. Be Consistent: To make money with blogging, you have to be consistent. This means posting on a regular basis. Create a schedule and then stick to it. Your readers will know when to expect content from you and will come back to read it. If you are inconsistent, they might stop coming back all together because they aren't convinced that you are committed to your blog.

3. Be Available: One reason blogging has become so popular is because it allows others to leave comments and speak their mind. Be sure to respond to a few comments every now and then and create real dialogue and interaction.

4. Be Relevant: Make sure that your blog posts are relevant. Provide information, videos, or images that your readers are actually interested in. Do your homework. If you give your readers information that they want, they will be sure to return.

5. Monetize: This is pretty obvious. If you want to make money with your blog, you will need to monetize it. Google AdSense, Yahoo, Chitika, the Newsroom, Affiliate programs and your own products or services are all great ways to make money with your blog.

6. Optimize: You should always optimize your blog, just as you would any website you wanted to receive high search engine rankings for. This means including your targeted keywords in the title, meta, description and H1 tags. Placing your keyword and related ones throughout text is important as well. Be sure that your blog posts and title also include various keywords. If you are using a Wordpress blog, be sure to use plug-ins that will help you rank well. We will discuss which ones those are in a later article.

7. Reach Out: Visiting and interacting with other blog owners and internet marketers is a fantastic and free way to generate interest in your blog. Try leaving comments at relevant blogs. Don't spam, leave a well thought out comment, that provides something of value and leave your link. Placing the title of your blog and a link to it in your signature link, is another way to bring attention to your blog, as you interact in online forums.

8. Build Links: Having high ranked websites pointing to your blog is still the most important part of search engine optimization. You should make a concerted effort to continually get back links. Social bookmarking sites, article and blog directories are a good place to start. You can pay someone to build links to your website for you if you don't have the time or motivation. Digital Point Forums, is a great place to outsource this.

9. Be Newsworthy: Not too many things in the world of business are better then free publicity, unless of course, it is negative, free publicity. Online press release sites make it very easy to write and distribute a press release that you have written yourself about your blog. Submitting a press release to prweb.com can help you get a ton of back-links and free traffic. If you properly optimize your release, you should see it and your blog receive much search engine love.

10. Be Controversial: Ok, you don't have to get crazy or outlandish here, but a little controversy can be a good thing. It might be something as simple as speaking out against a popular ebook that turned out to be garbage. Tell the truth and generate a little buzz.

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