Well darn, I was kinda hopin you folks would do a newbie blog trial to prove me wrong

[Bec]

Ok, but you'd given me the impression you were very new to installing blogs. I just got a chuckle from it is all.

huggies

i may not know more than the basics about wordpress, but i do work with several blogs as a writer and collage maker, and i do know how to make sales. i know several webmasters who make good sales with their handwritten blogs who don't even use widgets. for that matter, you can use a variety of methods to get traffic to a blog including sending your own 404 traffic, putting the blog on all your link pages in your freesites, avs sites and hubs. for that matter, you can scatter links to the blog on your freesites and avs sites.

on the other hand, there are people who make few or no sales on handwritten blogs with traffic, and their issues have nothing to do with wordpress wideget and setup and everything to do with their pics, what they link, what sponsors they use, the niche/theme of their blog, how they link and their text.

[Bec]

... marking up another foot in mouth disease attack on Mercury in Retro .... :rip:

[Bill]

Well, the big question I'm asking is, can a newbie make money with blogs, should blogs be a primary focus, and if so, how should they go about it?

Or is suggesting a newbie do blogs the adult business's equivalent of a snipe hunt?

If blogs are the new freesite, how should a newbie do them?

Blogging is an interesting topic.

I've no idea who has the big store of blog knowledge - maybe it's you, Bec? I just got great empathy for the newbies - it must be confusing as hell. And I'm always interested in learning anything I can manage to learn.

[Bec]

When it comes to selling ... Patti will probably always have more of a clue, and it really doesn't matter what it is you're selling WITH ... be it a blog, tgp website, Link list, freesites, AEN sites, or a combo of all of the above. I was just yanking her chain because she is new to installing the wordpress software, which falls under technical and not under sales skills.

If Patti wants to offer a class, I'm all for it, and I will probably chime in now and then.

To answer your question, there really isn't a solid "this is what to do" answer for what/how to sell adult material. It isn't a "build it and they will come" business scenario, no matter what others may tell you. It takes work. You have to stick with one of the merchandising areas and LEARN it. Develop relationships with other webmasters to help with traffic exchanges, link trades, etc -- talk to your reps for promotional ideas and materials. And don't be afraid to do something a little different. Think outside the box.

Don't overlook webmaster services. You can make decent money if you can write well, or design, or video editing, and a slew of other jobs that need doing to have a successful program. And that program can be non-paysite as well as paysite ... both types use extra people to get things done.


Give it a minimum of six - 12 months, and if nothing happens inside a year you're obviously not cut out for this business.

[basschick]

i know first-time bloggers who started making money with their blogs almost immediately. on the other hand, i know people who never make money with them, although i must admit that i can't see how they manage this.

blogs are NOT a snipe hunt. they are an easy way to learn a few things instead of a lot of things. they don't require design skills, they don't require an understanding of page layouts or plenty of other things. there are some people who use blogs as part of their income and some who use blogs for most or all of their income. keep in mind that a person who makes most of their money with a blog spends a lot more time on it than a casual splogger.

step 1 would be to choose a niche or theme.

some successful blogs aren't niche blogs, but they revolve more around the personality of the owner. these are harder to make money with initially as in a way the owner's personality IS the them. they tend to have more gossip, celeb or movie news, etc. a niche or theme is easier to work with.

make it something interesting enough to you that you can write about it at least several times a week, and sound like you know what you're talking about. i have a friend who doesn't know much about twinks, and when he writes about any twink, he uses terms like adorable and cute repeatedly. he probably should have created a blog about a type of guys he knows more about.

the niche you choose should have no less than 7 sites you can promote in that niche that supply enough good content that's also big enough. they'll need to update that content periodically. if you can find 15 sites, even better. make sure that there's enough nudity if it needs nudity and that the pics / vids live up to the niche.

make sure there are some blogs to trade with in that niche or else that you have enough traffic elsewhere to send it. not all trades have to be the niche - sometimes you can get good traffic from a more general blog.

[HunkyLuke]

...can a newbie make money with blogs

Yes absolutely!

should blogs be a primary focus

you should never focus only one one marketing aspect in this business, you should think of blogs as part of building your empire

If blogs are the new freesite, how should a newbie do them?

Like freesites, you start with one, learn and then do a second one, learn more and then do a third one. In no time you will have a good selection of blogs running and if you are any good they will be making you money too.