Top Blogging

FeedBurner is Good for Your Blog’s Health

noreply@blogger.com (Razib Ahmed) — Fri, 15 May 2009 19:46:00 +0000

We all want to be successful blogger and there are several ways to measure the success of any website or blog. One of the top things that is considered when measuring this success is the number of feedburner readers. If you look at the websites like Tech Crunch, you will notice that they have more than 2 million feedburner readers, but on the other hand, I have only 1 feedburner reader in this blog. So, it clearly shows that this blog is not successful, but Tech Crunch is very successful. It does not matter if you are a new blogger or an established blogger.

If you have not added a feedburner option in your blog, then it is the high time to do it. Always remember that feedburner can bring some extra benefit for you. It helps your readers to read your content much easily and they do not need to visit your website. They can read even in their browser like Opera or from their e-mail box. So, do not waste your time and open an account in feedburner and it is not difficult. It will give you some extra benefits too.

Sitemeter: A Must for Every Blogger

noreply@blogger.com (Razib Ahmed) — Sun, 10 May 2009 17:46:00 +0000

In the last 3 years, my blogs have been visited by more than 8 million people. You may wonder that how I know about the number of visits. There is a very simple answer: Sitemeter. I think that it is an essential took for every blogger. It does not matter how big or small your blog or website is- you have to have it for understanding about your visitors. With it, you can have good knowledge about how many visitors come each day, week, month or even in a year. You can also know about the amount of your pageviews and IP sources. You can also find out about the sources of the visitors and with which keywords they come. These are very helpful and a if you want to make some money in this field then you must have this kind of data in your hand.

Don’t make Castles in the Air about Earning Money Easily

noreply@blogger.com (Razib Ahmed) — Sat, 09 May 2009 16:50:00 +0000

This is an advice, I would like to give it to every newcomer in the field of blogging. Most people I have seen in real life or online think that blogging is very easy and anyone can do it because it is nothing more than just writing some words. In fact, attractive advertisements of earning money online has given the impression to some people that you can earn money by blogging easily and then you can get a lot of money and enjoy your time by going to vacation in Pacific islands. Those people who believed to have this kind of advertisements are nothing but police who are making castles in the air.

I have been writing about South Asia for more than 3 years and I have got some success by learning a lot about my own field.

Do you Update Everyday: You Should

noreply@blogger.com (Razib Ahmed) — Thu, 07 May 2009 16:41:00 +0000

Today, I have a very bad headache. In fact, last night, I had hardly any sleep and as a result, today I could not write anything until now. It is almost bed time and I should go to sleep. Then I thought that I should write something and this is the thing I am doing now. You see that it is very important to update your blog everyday. Or else, you will be behind in competition. It is not that I am direct competition with any blog or website but there is the competition always. If others write something and I don’t then naturally I am going to fall behind. This is very easy to understand.

So, I could write this entry now and I hope that tomorrow will be a better day.

Do you Understand that Blogging is one kind of Self Publishing

noreply@blogger.com (Razib Ahmed) — Wed, 06 May 2009 18:53:00 +0000

If you look at the kind of advertisements that some publishing houses are trying to attract wanna be writers for self publishing. Well, it is like Publishing on demand. You give them money and they publish on behalf of you. I like to call it as self publishing because in the end the entire investment and risk is with you. The same way, in blogging, you are on your own unless you work for a network or a company.

You have to manage everything and produce content and then hope to find a way to earn money. Internet is the place where people find content at free of charge. So, you have to attract visitors and earn by advertising. There is no gimmick here or there is no hide and seek. Everything is crystal clear. You have to write. You have to find visitors and in return you will get some money by displaying advertisements in a part of your blog or website.

Are you a Cat and Dog Blogger?

noreply@blogger.com (Razib Ahmed) — Tue, 05 May 2009 07:21:00 +0000

Please, do not get offended by the title of my blog. I have no disrespect to any blogger and I have no disrespect against any animal. Well, some people who say that they want to earn money by blogging but they write about their daily life and then wonder why they don’t see any money in blogging. Unfortunately, what they do not understand is that most people are not too much eager to hear about their daily life or about their pets unless they are celebrities. In blogging, the more visitors you can get the more money you can expect to have. This is a plain rule.

So, if you want to earn money then remember that you need to change your style and write about the topics that people want to know about. Otherwise, just think that blogging is a great hobby.

Do you know why You are Blogging?

noreply@blogger.com (Razib Ahmed) — Mon, 04 May 2009 19:22:00 +0000

I think that most people do not have good answer to this question. Obviously, many of them came in this field for money but they forget that earning money in this field is difficult. It is difficult because here you cannot get any salary from any company unless you work for a blog network or do ghost blogging for another person or company. The reality is that very few bloggers have this luckiness to get paid by a company. Their number is very small and I don’t think it is even more than 10,000. If you are among them then you have no problem. However, vast majority of bloggers are on their own and most of them even earn less than $100 per month.

So, think of another factor for blogging and it will be helpful for you. If you are here only for money then you will lose your focus very fast and get frustrated very easily.

Too many Blogs in the world: Don’t get Discouraged

noreply@blogger.com (Razib Ahmed) — Fri, 01 May 2009 18:37:00 +0000

According to Technorati there are more than 100 millions blogs. You can find blogs almost everything. So, you may feel discouraged to be a blogger because you may feel that the market is over crowded and it will be impossible for your to compete and earn money. You should be happy to know that you are wrong about it. First of all, although most people think that they want to earn money by their blog, they do not give any time. I have noticed that most blogs are not updated even weekly let alone daily. So, if you are serious then you do not need to worry. You just need to commit some time and hard work and then you will see some success and money.

How to get attract your visitors to write comments?

noreply@blogger.com (Razib Ahmed) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 18:40:00 +0000

If you have a blog then you know very well that we all love to get comments. In fact, one of the reasons that blogging became very popular was because of its opportunity to create conversation between the writer and the readers. For example, here, I am writing an entry. After writing it, I am going to post it and then some readers like you will read it. It is not that anyone who reads it is going to post a comment. But if someone wants to do it then it is very easy to do it. Even the readers have the option to post anonymous comments (well not blogs have this option).

Now, let us come back to the question that we wanted to find answer. First of all, try to write in an interesting way so that some readers may feel that they want to get more information from you. You should also try to create some emotion among the readers that they feel the need to share what they feel. Never be afraid to express your opinion honestly. This way, you are more likely to get comments.

Do not play with the Search Engines

noreply@blogger.com (Razib Ahmed) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 19:26:00 +0000

If you think that you can play with the search engine then I have to say that you are daydreaming. The people who were behind the major search engines are very smart and they get a lot of money to do their job. If they cannot provide us Good quality search results then naturally they will become obsolete. So, if you produce bad content or want some kind of shortcut and promised something in the title but do not give it inside your article then, be sure that you will not be able to be in good position in search engine results.

This is a rule that you must follow or else you will be in deep trouble. Never tried to play with your content and never become greedy. So, you have to be always on alert about this matter. Many people feel that they're very smart and they do not need to listen to such kind of cliché advise but in the end, most of them fail and they start to say that there is no money in blogging.

Becoming Rich Quickly is Impossible

noreply@blogger.com (Razib Ahmed) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 19:41:00 +0000

I have seen many people who have the idea that blogging is very easy and you can earn a lot of money very quickly. Of course, they are not right and they do not have any idea about the basic nature of this field. Yes, maybe there are some people who have seen money within one year but I can tell you that most others have not seen any kind of success even after two or three years. It takes a lot of time and a lot of effort. Finding money is very difficult in any field and when it comes to blogging, you have to earn cent by cent. So, next time if you find anyone who try to tell you that it is very easy to become rich quickly in blogging then do not believe that.

Do you have any Daily or Weekly Goal?

noreply@blogger.com (Razib Ahmed) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 09:14:00 +0000

This is one area that most people neglect in life. In childhood in our writing classes, we read about the importance of having a goal in life but we do not give proper value to this matter. In blogging, it is a must if you want to earn money. If you do not have any goal then you can be sure that you will not go anywhere. Of course, if you are doing it as a hobby and you don’t want to earn money or success then it is no problem. Most people come to this field with some kind of hope to get some benefit- be it money or fame.

First, of all, if you want to earn money by blogging then you should work daily and that is why you should have a daily goal. If you cannot make it daily then set a goal weekly. Do not be lazy and if you are not regular and consistent then you cannot become successful. Don’t make your goal too difficult or ambitious. Start with something that is small and achievable. For example, this week, my goal is to put at least 29 entries in my Sports37 blog.

Honest Hard Work Always Brings Success

noreply@blogger.com (Razib Ahmed) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 06:10:00 +0000

It is true for any sector not just for blogging. Many people think that blogging is very easy and you can become successful by finding some secret short cuts. However, if you look at some experts who are successful in this field then you will find that they have to work hard a lot. Just look at perhaps the most successful two blogs: Tech Crunch and Huffington Post and you will notice that they are updated round the clock. They work hard to provide breaking news and views. I recently noticed that a person was taking advantage from his website with healthy amount of Google back links, Yahoo back links and post archive. Last month, she got good traffic by using this strength. Her content was not up to the mark and not good quality. However, this month, what happened is that traffic decreased significantly. In fact, it is never a good idea to write for search engines only. Instead hard work is always the key.

Should You Comment in Other Blogs or Just Spend the Time Creating More Content

noreply@blogger.com (Razib Ahmed) — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 06:46:00 +0000

This is a question comes to the mind of most bloggers. I studied economics and according to Economics, our wanted or desires are unlimited but we have limited time and resources. The same way, I want to write good content and comment on other people’s blogs but I do not have infinite time. There is third factor too- submitting in social bookmarks. Those who are famous bloggers and are very successful, they do not need to worry about this matter that much. Many visitors and readers would love to submit their content and even vote for them. Well, I am not a celebrity blogger and I know that most bloggers in the world are like me. So, we have to give time for submitting to social bookmarking sites too.

Now, let us go back to the original question. I love to write comments in other blogs and I do that a lot. Just type my name Razib Ahmed in Google search and then you will find many comments I have done in other blogs. This is good and I enjoy it a lot. However, when it comes to priorities, I feel that if you do not have enough time then writing content should be your first and only priority. If you can do so then you will surely have something in your achieve.

Frustrated in Blogging: What to do?

noreply@blogger.com (Razib Ahmed) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 17:40:00 +0000

Well, sometimes I feel frustrated when I do not get that desire result from blogging. You know that blogging is a kind of self publishing and here you are totally on your own. Not only that but also you need to remember one thing is that it is a very tough field and competitive. You can not always win. Sometimes what you will see is that your entries are bringing a lot of traffic that means visitors and page views but you are not earning enough money or the amount of money you expected. It happens to the all professional bloggers all the time. It has happened for me a lot and especially during the time of economic recession, it is a very bad thing and sometimes it really puts pressure on my nerve.

I depend on Blogger for my only source of livelihood and this is a very big challenge for a person living in any country. Yes, there are some professional bloggers who have found a lot of success but I am not one of them. I have found decent amount of success but it is still mediocre level. So, I assume that most bloggers are like me and there is a good chance that out of hundred visitors who will read this entry sometimes in near future or after that at least eighty or eighty-five of them will have the same problem like me. You may wonder what to do in this kind of situation.

As I stated earlier, I give all of my time in blogging and I tried to earn my living by it. I have been doing it successfully for the last three years and only recently because of economic recession this source of livelihood has come under threat. I understand the condition because no matter what profession I would have been right now, I would have suffered and suffered some kind of anxiety and uncertainty because look at the economy of United States of America. In the last one year, nearly six million people have lost jobs and it is surely not a joke. Here in third world countries, we depend on our families and relatives a lot. Our family members even sometimes close relatives or some friends come in support of each other in time of crisis. This is a very big advantage of Asian countries where society is still traditional and family based. That is why, when I think of the American bloggers I really get afraid and feel some sympathy for them because they have lost a lot in the last few months.

Well, if you are looking for my way of consolation then I should share my advice with you. To be honest with you, when I was a school student, one day a teacher asked to write about our aim in life. Most of the students wrote that they wanted to be a doctor, engineer, businessman or a teacher. I was the only person who wrote that I want to be a journalist. In fact, I did not have that much idea about the meaning of the word but I understood that it is related to the newspaper and it is related to the writing. I enjoyed reading books form an early age. All my life, I feel that this was the profession for me. I feel that it was destined in my fate or I always felt that this will be the field for me.

So, from the age of eight or nine, I had the dream to be a journalist or writer. Well, in third world countries, journalism does not bring a lot of money and I understood this matter when I entered into university to study bachelor. Then, instead of studying journalism, I went to study English because in my country, if you are good at English then finding a job is never a problem. Fortunately I could have some decent grade in university and all through my academic life. So, I did not have problem to find a job but as I stated earlier that writing is in my blood literally because both of my parents were journalists when I was born. So, after finishing university I joined in a university job and when I was a university student, I started writing news paper just for hobby. Yes, I started to earn some money but it was never enough and I understood that journalism or freelance writing can never be the main source of income for me because I had a lot of family responsibility. However, I had the dream and continued the dream. In fact, after few years of doing teaching job in some universities, I understood that I always wanted to be that. Teaching is a good but I wanted to be a full time writer. Well, I also found that it was impossible because journalism or freelance writing as a hobby is excellent but it is not ideal for me who needs to pay the house rent and some other bills and manage home expenses.

Then I found not only that, but there was another problem that bothered me a lot. I did not have enough space to write. I felt that my writing was not bad but I could not find enough writing assignments that would bring payment. This matter frustrated me a lot. Well, looking back at the past, I understand that the magazine editors and news paper editors had limited space to fill up. It is not that they don’t give me many articles every week that I can write and they can pay me. They have to fill up the limited space with the writing of other people too. That is why; it was difficult for me to write the things that I wanted.

Another big problem that I encountered was that I wanted to write about business and economy especially about Asian business and economy. However, most of the news papers and magazine I saw- they published syndicated reports of news agencies or foreign media. So, there was hardly any scope for me to write about this topic. Or I wanted to write about sports but there was not adequate opportunity for me.

Then I found out blogging in 2005. At first it was like a hobby for me and when I had some time I wrote some entries. Then in 2006, I decided that I wanted to be a full time blogger because this is the best place for me to showcase my skills as a freelance writer. Well, I applied for almost everyday for two months to every opportunity that I could find in internet. However, most of the people were not eager to hire me because I live in a third world country like Bangladesh and I do not have any credit card or any other form of online payment at that time.

Fortunately, God was kind with me and I got an amazing breakthrough in my career. I continued writing in my two personal bloggs and I tried my best to write quality content. I never had this feeling because I was not earning any money so I should tried easy write content without giving enough effort at that time. Fortunately, I applied to Know More Media who just started a few months ago. They were impressed with my personal blogs and felt that I could be the right person for their South Asia business blog. So, I got the job and fortunately at first they didn’t ask for any result. They invested on all the bloggers and I could use the time in a very good way. The rest is literary history for me and I have been earning full time revenue from blogging for the last few years.

Now, let me come back to the original topic of how we can find consolation when the condition is tough. I have seen many ups and downs in the last few years. I told you my background and my story because this way you could get the exact picture. You see, I always wanted to write on the topic that I like and love. So, with blogging this is the best way. I said to myself that at least with blogging I can write whatever I like and whenever I want. It doesn’t matter if the magazine or news paper doesn’t have any space. With any kind of hosting and domain offers by popular hosting companies like Godaddy or Blue host, you can literary write millions of words and yet the space will never be finished. So, I really do not need to worry about with. If you do not wan to spend any money for domain and hoisting there is always Google Blogger/Blogspot that gives you everything for free and even you can put some advertisements to earn money. Second thing is that blogging has given me really the scope to turn my passion into a living.

When I was in university or after I finished my university, I could never imagine or dream that with writing someday I could earn my living. To be honest with you, still it is impossible for me in my own country. However, blogging has given me the opportunity to work with internet and work with American companies and advertisers. I am particularity grateful to Google because Adsense has really given me the opportunity to make some decent amount of money with my content.

So, we can see that the main thing that I said to myself is that with blogging I have really got the opportunity to do the thing I love most in my life. I always though that for writing I would have to suffer a lot but blogging have really given me the space and opportunity to write. I do not need to worry if the magazine editor will like it or not. I do not need to worry if my writing will be published in next month’s issue or not. Even I do not need to worry that after getting a published whether I will get the money in time or not. Really these are very big blessings for me.

In blogging, I can publish anytime I like. It does not matter if it is Sunday or Monday or Friday. It also doesn’t matter if it is 500 words or 5000 words entry or article. All it matters is that I have to try and write some content. Thanks to searching engine like Google, Yahoo or MSN, there will be always some people who will come and read my entries. If my contest is good, there is no need to worry as other people will happily read and even some other people write about me and prevailing to my entries. It has happened many times and some of my entries even got linked by Wikipedia, my blogs, blog mentioned by Times Online, Channel 4 of UK, even New York Time blog. I could never dream that someday my works will be linked by New York Times. It is an honor and I feel always very happy for this matter.

So, this is the thing you can also say to yourself when feel frustrated about blogging.

Chair and Internet Very Important to Blogging Success

noreply@blogger.com (Razib Ahmed) — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 17:13:00 +0000

I would not blame you if you laugh at me after reading the title of his entry. You may wonder that what is the relationship of Chair and Internet and success in blogging. I believe that these two things are of vital importance in this field. You need to have a comfortable chair and you need to have a good high speed Internet connection. Otherwise it will be almost impossible to be successful in this field.

A chair is very important for any job because if the chair is not comfortable then it will be very difficult for you to work continuously for a long time. In blogging, you have to work continuously and sometimes, I have to work ten to twelve hours a day and I know that successful Bloggers sometimes have to work more than sixteen hours. You have to do all that work by sitting on a chair and that is why it is very important that you feel comfortable table and good.

The same goes for Internet connection. Unfortunately, in my country high speed broadband Internet connection has not yet come or even if it has come it is very expensive for a blogger like me. It is also a very important thing before blogging success.

Hard Work in Isolation is the key to become a Top Blogger

noreply@blogger.com (Razib Ahmed) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 17:25:00 +0000

When we look at the top Bloggers who are earning a huge amount of money every month then we get amazed at their celebrity status and popularity. Just, look at the problogger Darren Rose himself. He is entries are followed by more than 50,000 Feedburner readers. Wherever he goes he is a met by a number of fans and he is respected highly in the industry. Do not look at him at this moment because he has overcome the obstacles to become a top blogger. Rather, try to know about his past and what he used to do when he started his blogging. He could not start as a fulltime blogger and in fact, he could not even think of blogging as a part time income source. He did it as a hobby and he tried a lot just for a few dollars a day but he never stopped quitting and he was alone in his quest to become one of the most successful Bloggers in Internet.

He did not get support from anyone and other people he knew did not take this matter very seriously and thought that why did not socialize that much. He has told a story in a blog entry that should be a must read for anyone who wants to be a successful Blogger. Whenever I feel frustrated or I find that my efforts are not bringing the result that I desire then I read this entry: Becoming a ProBlogger - A story in Many Parts

So, you can read it too.

How to Make Your Blog Popular?

noreply@blogger.com (Razib Ahmed) — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 15:36:00 +0000

We all want to be successful in anything we do and the same thing goes for every blogger who has a blog. They want to be successful and they want to make their blog very popular to all the people and they also want to make their name popular. There is nothing wrong with it and we all want it deep inside in our heart. This is not an easy task and most people will not become popular in the world because in real life, we can see that only a handful amount of people can become famous. So, what to do to?

I started a new blog 3 months ago, South Asia Blog and in just 3 months, it got a Google Page Rank of 4 and these days, around 900 visitors come and read my entries.

Find your own definition:

I can give you a huge amount of tips but I know that you will not be able to follow most of them because most of you simply do not have the time to do that. I do not want to say that I am a very popular blogger but I have seen some decent amount of success and in fact, first of all, I’d like to say to you that you have to decide the definition of popularity. They want to that every day, Hundreds of people will visit your blog and read what you write or do you want your articles to be loved and linked by other blogs websites. Do you like that your Feedburner account gets more than 1000 readers? Does, the first thing I would like you to do is to find a definition for yourself.

The most Important thing is Good Content:

If I have to give you just two or three tips then the first one would be to write content regularly. At first, do not bother about Quality but focus on quantity. The more you write and the more regularly you write, you will be skilled in it and you will see that your quality improves very naturally.

Good Content needs Knowledge and Passion

But do not write about a topic unless you either know about it or you have a genuine passion and interest. Just think that you are a reader and you were looking for information about that topic. Try to think that what kind of information are you looking for about it? Talk to some of your friends and colleagues and anyone you know who have some kind of knowledge or interest about the topic and ask them what kind of eight entries they would like to see in your blog? This kind of feedback is very useful and I have noticed that they can guide you to the right away because most people in a field are looking for almost similar things. When you know that what kind of things people are searching about your field then try to know about them and write about them in a very good manner.

Quality Comes with Time and Effort

Do not worry if your writing is not up to the mark in the beginning because the more you try the better you will become and this is the rule of every field not just blogging. I have been professionally blogging for over three years and I have noticed that many Bloggers leave the field too early and they get frustrated when they do not see any money. If you are like one of them and get frustrated very quickly then do not bother to read the rest of this article. Rather, you can spend your time for another work that will bring more fun and entertainment for you.

Spread your name and Message

Thanks to the social book marking websites, you can now display your blog entries to many people and if they like then you can get a lot of visitors. In fact, if you can make the homepage of some popular social marking web sites like Digg or Fark, thousands of people will visit your blog entry. Just remember that it is not easy and a few blogger has the same dream like you. Another way is to write comment in other Blogs and some forums.

I like to come back to the topic of quality content because most Bloggers think that blogging is very easy and you do not need to focus on your quality. I have stated earlier that at first, do not think of quality but focus on quantity. However, I also like to say that at one stage, you must focus on quality because otherwise you cannot go far in this field.

Blogging Success: You Must have a Dream

noreply@blogger.com (Razib Ahmed) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 19:07:00 +0000

Yesterday, I talked about having a sense of purpose in order to be successful in blogging. Another thing that is very important for having success is a dream. You may laugh at me for talking about the importance of a dream but despite the fact that I am a very realistic person, I have understood after three years of blogging that if you do not have a dream you can hardly hope to become successful. If you have a dream then you know what you want to do and what you want to become.

Yes, most of the time the dreams are unreachable and we have too much in our imagination but at the same game, remember one thing that If you do not know where you want to go then it is very difficult for you to find a way to go there. You may call it as blogging goal but I would like to term it as a dream. Dream means that you like something strongly and you are ready to try a lot for that.

Of course, I’m not talking about the dreams that we’d like to fancy but we’re not ready to try for it.

A Sense of Purpose Needed for Blogging Success

noreply@blogger.com (Razib Ahmed) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 18:38:00 +0000

I have been professionally blogging for three years and I have seen the best of times and the worst of times and I have seen many Bloggers who came and became successful and who left the field because they could not find any success and revenue. In fact, every day many people joined blogging with the hope of earning a lot of money and many people think that it is a very easy field but you should know one thing for me that it is indeed a difficult field and it’s very difficult just like any other field to earn money.

I often wonder that what is the secret behind success in this field and why so many people feel that despite the fact that they came here to earn money and everyone in this world loves to earn money and many people are ready to do a lot of hard work for this matter. What I feel is that most people who come to blogging do not have any sense of purpose. They just heard from some people that Blogging has a lot of money and you can earn money just by writing some articles. You can find many advertisements promising thousands of dollars And all you need to do is to buy a e-book or do some course under them but I do not agree with this kind of advertisements and I feel that if you were thinking of becoming rich very quickly then it is the wrong field.

So, what is the thing that I am talking about a sense of purpose? It means that you know the reason and you know why you join blogging rather than just thinking of money. But of course there is money in blogging and we all like it and behind joining for any profession are in money is the prime factor that is the thing that makes us to join or not join. However financial benefits should not be the only reason and you should think that why you are joining blogging rather than any other field.

I started blogging because I wanted to earn some money with writing and I love writing. So, for me the love of writing was very important and I’m very happy that I tried for it and in the end, I became a professional blogger and it is very helpful for me because I can do the work that I really enjoy most in the world- writing.

Thus, you should try to know what is the sense of purpose and what is the reason that you want to be a Bloggers instead of joining another profession that can also bring some extra money. If you are doing as a hobby then you should also know that with hobby, we rarely can excel unless we are ready to give it a lot of time.

When you can find a sense of purpose then it will be clear to you that whether you want to be in this field or not even as a hobby or you want to take it as a fulltime profession. Of course, if you’re living in Europe or North America then I would not advise you to come to a fulltime blogging because it is very difficult to earn good amount of money at the beginning. First, come in this field as part time and as a hobby and then see how you can do and then you should be making the final decision of whether you want to do it full time or not.

Earn Money Online: There is no Short Cut

noreply@blogger.com (Razib Ahmed) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 19:02:00 +0000

It is fascinating to see that there are so many blogs and websites to help people with earning money. So much content is produced in this field that I never feel the need of buying an ebook or get enrolled in a course or pay anyone anything for learning how to earn money online. I have read extensively about this field in the last 2 and half years simply because I want to become a top Blogger. A top Blogger means a highly successful Blogger who earns a lot of money through online. The main secret is writing about a topic that has good prospects for advertisements and traffic.

So, you don’t need to become a genius to realize that with same number of traffic, a car blog will earn money than an entertainment blog or a politics blog. We all know that topics related to business and finance, technology, cars bring more money than most topics in blogging. So, if we just open a blog say about car or mobile phone and then write some entries or outsource the content production work to a third world country bloggers and then we should be able to earn a lot of money. Well, ask any problogger and they will say that it is not easy. You may wonder that why it is not easy. Blogging is easy. Anyone can type and write some entries. Google is there to give you money with Adsense. You can open a blog at Blogspot at free of charge even. I have done it. I have opened some blogs in Blogspot and I did not to spend even one dollar for setting up the blogs.

The catch is that when something is easy then there is a lot of competition. You want to write abut car and earn money. Yes, thousands of people want to do the same thing. Suppose, there is a new model of Toyota car in the market. You write about it and then you will find that many blogs have covered it too. So, you are in cut throat competition. There is no guarantee that your entry will hit the first page of Google. In fact, everyone wants to be in the first page of Google search.

If you want your blog to shine and get a lot of visitors every day then you will need to work very hard. You need to write good content. You need to promote them actively and aggressively. You need to make sure that some other bloggers give link to your entries. You have to know about your competitors in your blog topic. You need to subscribe to a lot of RSS feeds so that you know about the latest developments about your field. All these things are hard work and they need time. Really, I feel to laugh at everyone who claims that they will teach you to how to become rich by blogging one hour every day. There is really no short cut in earning money. Think of real life. Is there any short cut to earn money? I guess not unless you are doing something illegal or unethical. The same goes to blogging too. In fact, most of the hours of a day goes by reading about my blog topics rather than writing about the topics. I need to read to know more and always get updated about what is happening. Let us go back to the example of Toyota car. If you do not read then how you can know what model will come when?

I admit that some people are genius and they can do anything faster than average people. Well, their number is few and that is why they are called as genius. If you are a genius then normal human rules don’t apply for you. You can become a university professor at the age of 20. You can create a new software in a week. Yes, you can do all these things at a very short time. However, most people are average and they need time and effort to build something- even in earning money online.

How Life Changes in Blogging and Blog Networks

noreply@blogger.com (Razib Ahmed) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 20:58:00 +0000

In the last few days, we have seen several reports and discussions about blog networks. It seems that many blog networks are facing a tough time to make enough revenues to sustain themselves. In fact, the recent slowdown in US economy is having its negative impact on everything including blog network business. I was surprised to see that top networks like Weblog Inc (Under AOL) and Gawker Media have decreased the amount of money they pay to their bloggers. Then, the sad news came that Know More Media was going to stop its operation from today (1 August 2008).

I used to write for them and I was one of the most successful bloggers for the network. Many of you may face similar condition in future. The best thing to do is to take blogging seriously. Fortunately, I had back up plans even from 2 years ago and I have started working on a new blog called SouthAsiaFair.

The lesson I learnt from the latest setback is that you have to take blogging very seriously if you want survive here.

What is a Blog? Why not a Website?

noreply@blogger.com (Razib Ahmed) — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 21:16:00 +0000

When I tell others that I am a Blogger and I write on some blogs then often, I get the question: what is a blog? What is the difference between a website and a blog? Yes, these two are very common questions. Then, I also hear this question that a blog is like a diary of a person or like journal or log. So, how I earn my livelihood from blogging? I have heard these questions a lot.

Frankly, I do not see too many differences between a blog and a website. I have some experience of designing and maintaining websites before I started blogging. The best part of a blog is that almost everything is automated. You do not need to give that amount of time for designing and maintaining. In fact, when I had my own website, I had to give a lot of time for just designing, maintaining and updating it. That is why, I love to write on blogs instead of websites. When it comes to website design, I am very poor and that is perhaps why, I love Blogger/Blogspot of Google. I can write my entry and then upload it within a few minutes. Sometimes, I can upload my entry in less than one minute.

A blog is easy to set up and the best part is that you can do it without spending one dollar. I do two kinds of blogging. I blog for Know More Media- one of the top blogs in Internet today. Then, I have my own personal blogs (including this one- Top Blogging) and all of my personal blogs are in Blogger/Blogspot. So, I don’t need to spend a cent for maintaining my personal blogs. If I had gone for a website for myself then it would need money. You may argue that there are some free hosting services but they are not really free in the end. They are advertisement supported.

The best thing with Blogs is that you can easily add new features. For example, earlier today, I added sitemter in this blog and it took just one minute for me. All the pages get linked to the homepage automatically. I know that most of you are already aware of these things. Still, I wrote about this matter because I know from my own experience that there are many many people who still do not know about blogging and also about the advantages that a blog has over a website.

Welcome to Top Blogging

noreply@blogger.com (Razib Ahmed) — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 20:32:00 +0000

Hello, a warm welcome to all of the readers of this blog. I opened an account in Blogger with this name and domain in March 2007. That time, I had little knowledge about blogging and I got frustrated after a few weeks. Well, I was too busy too with my other blogs. I have been professionally blogging since March 22, 2006. By the way, March 22 is my birthday too. So, it is 26 months of pro-blogging career for me. I have seen ups and downs in this career. It took exactly 1 year for me to get some decent success in blogging. Then, I did not have to look behind and I am moving quite smoothly these days.

It is not that I have seen amazing success in blogging. However, I am very happy with what I have got in blogging so far. More than everything, I am happy to be in a career that I really enjoy and is never boring. Yes, I never felt that blogging is boring. Of course, I felt many times that it is a very tough and challenging job but never got bored.

I am very busy with my other blogs and I always read a lot about blogging, earning money online, search engine optimization, advertisements etc etc. I love to read a lot and that is perhaps why, I can give less time for writing.

Anyway, I like to write about different things related about blogging in this blog. I know that I cannot give a lot of time for it. Still, if you come here then you will find some useful information about blogging.