This has to be a popular question for anyone who is successful at blogging. How did you start? If you asked me what blogging was a few years ago I would have no idea that it was even a word.

How I Started Blogging

It was a dark and stormy night. No, I’m kidding thats a little too dramatic.

Actually I wasn’t working and I knew someone who made money online. He suggested starting a blog. Pick a niche and write. So thats what I did. Figured out blogspot and started writing about Fantasy Football.

It’s not the best story, but it has opened up great opportunities. Being a blogger has allowed me to build a little income and enjoy doing it.

What I like most is that if I feel that blogging isn’t for me then I could always sell, blogs and websites hold a great value.

Making money blogging has taken a little longer than I expected. I’ve been doing it a year+ now and I’m not in the place I hoped I would be. I’ve learned a lot, at least 23 things, so I can’t imagine quiting now.

Whats your story?

How did you start blogging? Why? Who motivated you to blog? Or maybe, someone has motivated you to keep blogging.

Comment Fridays have been great here, so I figured it was time to run more promotions on my blogs.

Everyone that reads Its All Free Online are looking for free samples. I figured the best way to grow and get even more readers was to give them what they want.

Every friday I will be giving away a free product sample or freebie to one of the email subscribers. To enter for your free sample all you have to do is subscribe via email. Each week I will randomly select one email on the last and send them a free sample. You MUST confirm your email address to be eligible.

This friday’s freebie will be an Arizona Iced Tea keychain.

I have plenty of freebies to give away and I am definitely looking forward to the results. In the upcoming weeks I plan to give out giftcards and more. Make sure to subscribe!

I posted a quick entrecard giveaway on Sunday. I was a little disappointed that we only had 8 total entries. I appreciate the entries we did get. There will always be more contests!

I gave each entry a number and used random.org to chose three.

The numbers 7 3 and 1 are the winners

First Place Mark – 500 Credits
Second Place Dennis – 250 Credits
Third Place Erz – 250 Credits

I hope to get a big contest going soon that will of course include giving away more credits.

I usually don’t like to promote and recommend something until I know it pays. Yesterday I received my first Pepperjam Network payment of $40.

Support Questions Answered

I started promoting Pepperjam in January and have recommended it since then. One of the things that pepperjam is lacking is a FAQ. With no FAQ, I’ve had to ask questions directly to the staff.

One question I had was why wasn’t I receiving my payments. They process payments on the 1st and 15th of every month, but only your “locked commissions”.

What are Locked Commissions?

Locked commissions are money you’ve earned 30 days after the conversion. Pepperjam uses this method to make sure there isn’t any fraudulent activity. After the 30 days that you made the sale or lead, money is put in your “locked commission”. This money you will receive the next payment period.

Payment Options

One of the best things an affiliate program can have, is multiple payment methods. Pepperjam offers three. Paypal, direct deposit, and a standard check. Changing your payment method is easy. Simply go to your “Account” and at the bottom there is payment methods. Click the bubble that you want and your done.

If you are interested in joining Pepperjam read my post about Pepperjam Already Going Viral.

Are you a Pepperjam affiliate yet?

Carl from Carlocab recently sent me an email telling me about 32 things he learned and that he was trying to promote it. He asked me to give it a mention. Instead I responded that I could do my own version of it and give him a plug that way. So thats what I have done.

I have put together 23 things I’ve learned blogging. This is from my own experience of being a blogger.

1. WIIFM or What’s In It For Me

Why read a blog? Why visit everyday?

When I first started seriously blogging my girlfriend asked me a golden question. Why should someone visit your blog?

This has given me words to leave by. Think of your reader, set yourself apart, and offer incentive to your readers. Make them want to be apart of your blog and continue to come back.

2. Content Is Not King, Marketing Is

You could have the best content in the world, but without any readers, it makes no difference. Content is King when you are building your base, but that can only take you so far.

An important thing for building my blogs has been social media. With it I’ve been able to build a successful stumbleupon account that has not only helped me, but everyone I stumble.

3. Always Show BIG Numbers

My advice has been not to show your rss count below 100 readers. Don’t show your traffic when it’s low either.

When an advertiser is looking to advertise with you these numbers are what they are going to look at. When you have the big numbers it’s going to turn them on to your offers.

4. Act Now, There’s No Later

This is a perfect example of the John Cow moo’vement (get it?). Have you had the idea of copying John Chow, but didn’t do it? Some even have, but weren’t nearly as successful.

John Cow is now cashing in on his blog. He took one silly, simple idea and made it huge.

5. Experience is Everything

Browse some of my posts from the beginning of Blog about your Blog’s posts. You’ll see the difference in not only my posts, but many of our other authors as well. I had to find out what works and what doesn’t the hard way. That’s the only way to learn.

6. You Won’t Make Money Blogging – ALONE

Again, Blog about your Blog wouldn’t be what it is now without a core of writers and the support of our readers. Without that, we’d be broke! By networking I’ve been able to expand, grow, and form friendships and partnerships with other internet entrepreneurs.

7. Blogging Is A Job

“Writing an article everyday, sponsored review deadlines, blog commenting schedules? What’s the difference from your ordinary day job? Ah well at least, you’re at home.” Carl

Exactly, blogging is a job, it’s my job. Some friends and family don’t understand how I could be making money online this way. Basically discounting it as a job. I may be sitting in a chair in front of the computer, but I’m working just as hard. Or maybe harder, because I want this more.

8. Very Good May Not Be Enough

I’ve seen lots of good bloggers come and go. They were creative enough and bought the traffic or readers, but just didn’t have the time or ‘endurance’ to keep up posting.

9. You Don’t Have To Be Passionate About Your Niche

This is definitely a myth in the blogosphere. You don’t have to be passionate OR knowledgeable about your niche. I’ve started several niche blogs without knowing very much about it. This goes for celebrities, toys, etc. As long as you learn and research your content.

10. Don’t Stretch Yourself Too Thin

Time is valuable for blogging, if you don’t have it your blog can suffer. Time management is a huge key for a lot of bloggers.

If you stretch yourself, your time, and resources too thin you may come up with many unfinished projects. Several of my blogs could do a lot better, I just don’t have the time to dedicate to them.

11. Don’t Wait To Monetize

This is another myth in the blogosphere that A-listers tell you. Just because they don’t monetize their first 6 months and now make $10,000 doesn’t mean you will.

There is no harm in throwing in an adsense block or two as long as it blends. There is no harm in putting a block on your sidebar as long as it blends. Don’t compromise your site by throwing a bunch of widgets and cluttering your blog.

12. Be Truthful

Being truthful and being controversial are two different things. If I had to pick, it would be truthful. Don’t be afraid to tell it like it is. It may get you some respect. However, be smart about it. Picking a fight is asking for trouble.

13. Experiment!

Don’t be afraid to take a risk, experiment. Have an idea for a new blog or concept? Go for it. Creating a website and adding to it gives it value. If you idea flops, guess what? It’s still worth something! Websites and blogs hold value.

14. Gurus Don’t Know Everything

It’s true, they don’t. You have to keep in mind that what works for them, may not work for you. For a long time I didn’t read Problogger or John Chow. I only check in there once in a while, but try to generally do my own thing.

15. Set Blogging Goals

I’m not very goal oriented and haven’t followed this lesson much yet, but after reading lots of blogs it has helped many. Whether it’s to have 100 rss feed subscribers by a certain date, a goal is important. More importantly, a direction is important.

16. Be Lengthy, but Not Too Lengthy

Give your readers the information they are looking for, but don’t bore them. Keep them interested in your article so they will continue to come back. I generally don’t write novels for posts, but some do.

DoshDosh comes to mind. He’s a great blogger, but unless I’m really into the topic I don’t make it to the end of his articles. However, that style and method works for him, he’s showing his RSS subscribers now. (12,000)

17. Design Is An Important Factor

In an edition of Comment Friday I asked “Does design of a blog matter?” Everyone who responded (35) said yes it does. I was pretty surprised to have such a strong response when it came to a simple design. So make sure to clean up your blog!

18. Be Personal

People like to read blogs where they feel like they know you. Put a face to your blog. I haven’t been ‘too personal’ but I do try to connect with my readers with more than just blogging.

This all starts with your about section. Make sure not only to write about the blog, but yourself as well.

19. Make A-List Blogging Friends

This is something I haven’t been able to do effectively. Someone like John Chow is a great resource to have when you are promoting something new on your blog, or really, anything.

I believe Nate Whitehill was able to launch his websites even better by having friends in high places. Thats where I first heard about him, now I check out his websites regularly.

20. Make People Feel Important

I love doing this when someone asks a great question. I write a post about it and mention them. Not only are you promoting them but you are also showing them they really matter.

I’ve been lucky to have a lot of the same people stop by and leave great comments and questions. It makes me feel like I am doing something important with just a little blog.

21. Read Other Blogs

A lot of times I’ve gotten inspiration for posts by just reading other blogs. With most ‘good blogs’ you can take away something from the majority of their articles. “Hey thats a good idea, but I’m going to do it this way.”

I hope you take something away from this article!

22. Don’t Be Afraid to Ask

Come out of your blogging shell and ask! Whether it’s for help, sponsors, promotions, information, or maybe an interview.

The biggest act of blogger kindness I have seen has to be for RT Cunningham. To make the story short, he needed help with money due to illness of his wife. He reached out to bloggers and his readers and raised $3,000. Amazing.

23. Money Helps!

A few months ago, when we were just really finding our own voice there were a few up and coming blogs. What frustrated me most, was that they bought their way in. Within a month they would have 1,000 subscribers and tons of traffic. Not taking away from their writing ability, just hard to swallow.

I couldn’t possibly cover every lesson I’ve learned blogging, but I hope you enjoyed the ones I mentioned. Thanks to Carl for this idea. I stole a couple of his headlines for my own ‘lessons’.

What lessons have you learned from blogging?

What about a new monitor for you PC? This is only one of the prizes you could win with your blog. Keep on reading, another exciting edition of BAYB Contest Roundup awaits you…

20 inch Widescreen Monitor

WhydoWork is giving away a widescreen monitor. To enter the competition write a post about WhydoWork’s new social networking features, join their community or subscribe to his rss feed by mail.
Ends on March 31st.

$100 from EzMoneyOn.Net

First blog contest for EzMoneyOn.Net, your daily source of tips about make money online. First prize is $100 cash, but there are also 1000 Entrecard credits and a free 125×125 banner design. Rules are very simple: write a post about the contest (at least 100 words) including links to the contest page and to EzMoneyOn.Net homepage (with the anchor text make money online), subscribe to his RSS feed (through a reader or by mail, or both), write him a recommendation on Entrecard.
Bonus: free back link to his blog for all participants.
Ends on March 11st.

20,000 Entrecard Credits

Your chance to gain thousands of Entrecard credits and advertise everywhere from VikingBlogger. Five winners (10,000 – 5,000 – 3,000 – 1,000 – 1,000) and a few requests: write a review of this contest (link to the contest page and to the homepage) and subscribe to VikingBlogger (either with email or an rss reader). Then leave a comment on the contest post, with a link back to your review.
Ends on March 14th.

And don’t forget to visit About Blog Contests, your daily source for the latest, simplest and greatest blog contests around the net!

Lately I’ve been getting quite a few sales in the entrecard shop. After spending a day of spending on advertising I have a few thousand left. Our latest Comment Friday winners haven’t wanted entrecard credits so they are adding up. So I figured we should give some away.

Entry

To earn an entry in this contest subscribe to our RSS feed. Reader or email it doesn’t matter. Make sure to leave a comment stating you are subscribed!

Get a bonus entry for subscribing to Its All Free Online via Email.

Prizes

First: 500 Entrecard Credits
Second: 250 Entrecard Credits
Third: 250 Entrecard Credits

Deadline

I want to give these credits away quick so this contest will only last until Tuesday March 4th at Midnight PST.