Blogging for Fun and Profit---Traffic, Traffic, and more Traffic

I started blogging for fun about two years ago.  I just began writing on whatever topic seemed of interest to me on any given day.  Then over time I began to focus in on themes such as weight loss, since I was trying to lose 80 pounds and matters of faith because I was a lay leader in a religious congregation.  I signed up for two online courses about how to build your presence on the internet mostly because my oldest son was making a living doing so to the tune of six figures.  I was about to retire and thought “what the heck” may as well try it to supplement my retirement income. 

Here’s some of what I learned:     

Internet business is fueled by the number of people who come to your website.  The term used by internet entrepreneurs is “traffic”.  The more traffic you get to your site the better.  Advertisers pay you by the number of clicks on their ad.  The number of sales you are able to secure is mathematically predictable by the number of visitors to your site.  Internet traffic is the magic that makes money flow in cyberspace.

The first thing a new online business or individual needs is a website or blog-site.  Neither is particularly difficult to establish if you know where to go on the world-wide-web.  I used Blogger for my first website.  You can get a free blog at “Blogger” by going to https://www.blogger.com/tour_start.g.

If you wish to start right off with a website you can use WordPress at http://wordpress.org/.  Don’t be overwhelmed with the process, just be methodical and it all will make sense, especially if you check your site regularly. 

An important hint is to keep track of passwords.  If you begin to have too many to deal with you can use a password memory program such as RoboForm.  Don’t worry about what to write, just start writing about whatever is on your mind. You will find a niche as you get better at writing and using the programs.     

Link your blog posts to your Facebook and Twitter accounts.  You can track the number of “reads” your blog gets overall by putting a tracker on your site. If you wish to know which posts get read the most you can do so on your Blogger stats by clicking on “design” in the upper right hand corner of your blog and then click stats on the list that pops up to the left hand side of the next page.   

After two years and 130 blog posts I am approaching 14,000 reads.  It begins to grow exponentially as you improve your skills and consistency.  Doubling retirement income is not really hard if you persist and know some of the tools used by successful online entrepreneurs. Give it a shot and you will probably fall in love with the power of the internet while the $$$$ begin to flow.       

If you would like a look at more detail of how to grow traffic at your website or blog, sign up for my secure email group to the left of this post.  I will always respect your email privacy by not giving your address to anyone else.