Earning Money

At one time, the biggest thing that people were always on the search for was people to ‘bookmark’ their websites because if they were getting bookmarked, chances were, the person would return. A return in people meant an increase in profitability. But, when RSS appeared, bloggers suddenly jumped from the use of a ‘bookmark this page’ to a ’subscribe to this RSS feed.’ And, it was for a good reason. Rather than you having to go to each site on your bookmarks, you could just check a feed where all your subscriptions were and it consolidated everything.

And thus, bloggers went on an epic journey trying desperately to get people to subscribe. People did whatever it was that they could to get people to subscribe, but in the end, it did not prove easy. I can say from personal experience that it is quite difficult to get people to subscribe. So, how do we do it? How, as bloggers, do we get people to subscribe to our feed and increase our popularity? Those are things that many bloggers have asked and here are a few of the ways that I have collected and believe work wonderfully.

1. First and foremost, write good content. If your content is not enjoyable to read, why are people going to look forward to reading tomorrow’s post? If you write content that benefits the people, you will get more subscribers.
2. Make the RSS subscription button very obvious. If they can see it at the top of the page, they may be more willing to click and subscribe. If it’s hidden, they won’t go.
3. At the end of your post, put a “click here to subscribe” link that leads to your RSS. Since they are reading the content, if they see this link, chances are, they may click on it and that’ll be your increase RSS.
4. Set up an e-mail RSS feed. For some people, they’d rather get an e-mail update when your blog is updated. Best part is if people subscribe to a reader and to the e-mail update, it makes your blog look even more popular.
5. Hold a contest and make it mandatory that people subscribe to your feed via the e-mail. Just say that they need to subscribe via e-mail and that is how they can win. Since they have to give their e-mail, that is your way to send the winners the ‘you won’ e-mail. Sure, some may leave, but not nearly as many as you think.

Getting people to subscribe to your feed is nothing easy, but I think that the first step is probably the most important. People want to read good content and they want it to be interesting. If it sucks, they won’t come. I know that I have a hard time subscribing to a feed if I can’t stand the content.

Another thing to keep in mind is the displaying of a feedburner counting widget. I used to put the counter up and then I took it off because my count was low. I don’t believe in putting it up unless it is very impressive and in my eyes, impressive is very high, so that’s why it’s still not up. Who wants to subscribe if no one else wants to subscribe? People hate to be the only one doing something, so if hundreds have already subscribed, others will gladly follow much faster than if only ten subscribed.

Increasing your RSS subscriptions is incredibly important. You are looking to get constant readers because that looks good for advertisers. And, if you work effectively on your interlinking of posts, it will not only keep your RSS feed high (since it only is counted if someone reads it), it will also get people to your web page because they are clicking a link to another blog post. More traffic is more money.

The point is very simple, really. If you can increase your RSS feed subscriptions, you will see an increase in earnings. You can make more money selling paid reviews and you can increase the sale of RSS links. And it naturally looks good because if you have a high RSS feed, chances are, you have a lot of traffic to your site and advertisers obviously love that. So, try and get people to subscribe to your site. Try and increase the RSS subscriptions because it will help you to appear bigger and better and that just allows for even greater growth.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

I remember when I was younger, I used to walk around saying, “I am never going to get a credit card, I am only going to use cash.” I thought that it was not a good idea to ever use credit cards because all you were doing was risking having to pay the credit card companies more money and you were going to be stuck paying interest. I didn’t realize the concept of just replacing cash with a credit card and using the card when you have the money. And when I learned that, my credit went straight up.

I got my first credit card a year ago and I decided that I was going to be very generous with my spendings because I always knew that I could make the money if I needed to really fast. Because of that, I made some riskier purchases. I bought all my books with my credit card which was four hundred dollars, something I did not have at the time. But, then my Father came through and gave me the money, so I paid off the card. But, a huge purchase like that (when your card is only a grand limit), that really helps.

I never really carry cash around with me anymore because I am always looking to build my credit. Last year, I applied for a Student Loan and I was denied because my credit was non-existent. A year later, I applied for a loan and I was approved. That’s the point of credit and that’s the great thing about using my card. I was able to pay for tuition with a loan that I didn’t need a cosigner for. A lot of people my age (19) have horrible credit, but if you take a few basic rules and take them to heart, your credit will go up and you will see a great increase in your ability to take loans out.

1. Only spend what you have. If you’ve got $200 to spend, spend it on your card, but pay it back in the first month.
2. Pay it back in the first month. Don’t wait to get your invoice. If you have online banking, pay it back in a week or two IN FULL. Never pay interest.
3. If you want to take risks, ensure that you can make the money back in a minimum 20 days. So, if you have $200 and want to get a $400 guitar, go for it, but ensure you can get the $200.

Number three is risky, but I’ve done it before. The point is, you want to make purchases that you can pay back in one month. You want to use the card. If you use it and pay it back, your credit goes up. If it goes up, you get better rates for loans. And, if you use your card with those special ‘points’ and stuff, you can actually get things as well. Sure, it’s not much, but why not get 1% of your spending back? That’s still some money back and since it’s a rebate, it’s TAX FREE! So, stop using the green and start using the plastic. Get your credit up. It’s important.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!