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- How I Overlooked a 1000 Visitor a Day Source of Traffic [And What I Did to Grow it to 3000 Visits a Day]
Last week I was digging around in my Google Analytics stats and drilling down to look particularly at sources of traffic to my photography tips site.
I noticed a new source of readers that has been creeping up in terms of how much traffic it sends. Here’s the chart from the last few months.
It started as a trickle, but as you can see, in the last month there have been days on which traffic from this source has spiked up to over 2000 unique visitors. Even on an average day we’re up over 1000.
While it’s not the biggest source of traffic to the site by any means, it was a bit of a surprise and made me realize that I’ve not been as diligent in checking referral traffic sources as I once was.
Referrers are key
Before I reveal the source I want to emphasize my point: keep a watch on your referral stats. The source of this traffic doesn’t really relate to many of you who are operating in different niches, but the principle does. Be diligent in watching where traffic is coming from because there are almost always ways of growing traffic from these unexpected sources.
- If the source is another blog, you can build the relationship with the other blogger.
- If the source is a social network, you can get more active in that network, consider putting sharing buttons on your site, and educate your current readers about how to use it.
- If the source is a search engine, you can look at what you’re doing right on that post SEO-wise and try to replicate it. You can also tweak the posts getting the traffic to make them rank even higher.
- Whatever the source, you can look at the content that’s working out and produce more of it.
There are any number of ways of exponentially increasing growing sources of traffic, but if you don’t know about them, you will never be able to take action!
So what was the source of the traffic?
I know some of you skipped down here without reading the above section. You really should go back and read over it … but I’ll tell you now if you promise you will!
The traffic is coming from Pinterest.
Pinterest is a growing social bookmarking/network site (they call themselves a Virtual Pin Board) that is particularly popular in some niches like home decoration, weddings, craft, fashion, food, and more.
The traffic has literally arrived without me doing anything at all. I didn’t have an active account on Pinterest until the last week or so when I set up an account (connect with me here). I haven’t promoted the site there, or used their buttons (until this last week when I put it on a few of our hotter articles). The growth has been purely organic. I guess photography is one of those niches that Pinterest users are interested in!
Since finding out about Pinterest I’ve begun to participate there a little more myself, and have added a few share buttons to some pages that have been doing well for us. I’m taking my time as I don’t want to do anything spammy, but even since I’ve known about it and participated on this low level, I’ve seen traffic rise from a spike of 2000 or so visits in a day to over 3000—lucky I checked my stats!
As I say, this isn’t about Pinterest (although I’m sure some of you will find it fun and useful)—it’s about being diligent about your metrics, always being on the lookout for what’s growing, and working out how you can position yourself to be able to leverage that.
Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger
Переслать - When Should You Launch Your New Blog? [Complete or On the Go?]
I’m regularly asked this question by PreBloggers: “How much work should I do on my blog before I launch it?”
- How many posts should it already have live?
- How many posts should I have in reserve and ready to go?
- Should I have a customized or premium theme, or just start with a default one?
- Should I invest in a logo before I launch?
The list of questions goes on, but they all boil down to the same thing: how complete should a blog be before it’s launched?
There’s no real right or wrong answer to this question. I asked my followers on Google+ about how they launched their blogs recently and the array of responses was huge.
Image copyright Byron Moore - Fotolia.com
Some spent considerable time (and money) in preparing for their launch, while others launch very much “on the fly,” and made improvements as they went.
Do what I say … not as I do
I remember writing a post on this at some point in the past, and creating a list of important things to do before launching a blog. However the reality is that with the blog I launched after writing that post, I managed to do almost the exact opposite—I launched it almost completely on the fly.
I guess there’s an “ideal” launch scenario, and then there’s the reality. The ideal is to give your next blog launch careful consideration and plan out a great strategy. The reality is that when you’re launching a new blog, you’re often really excited about it and want to get it out quick while you have momentum and energy.
The other element of this is that sometimes the strategy and planning can almost kill the idea. As Shareef Jackson called it on Google+, “analysis paralysis” can kick in.
Here’s what I’d aim for (the “ideal” blog launch)
So with the admission that I don’t always put a heap of planning and strategy into the launch of a new blog, here’s what I “ideally” would aim for when launching a new blog. I’ll attempt to note the importance of each point.
Brainstorm post topics
I think this one is really important—essential, even. I would generally do a brainstorming exercise before I even commit to the idea of starting a blog to see if the topic is a viable one. If I can’t come up with a list of 20 or so post topics in a five- or ten-minute brainstorm, that indicates to me that it’s just not a blog topic that will be sustainable.
Having a list of brainstormed post topics is also so helpful after you’ve launched because finding a topic to write about is often the big stumbling block for many bloggers, and leads to the dreaded “bloggers block.”
Write ten blog posts (three published and seven drafts)
I really like to have at least a few posts already published before I launch.
Some bloggers like to have more than three (when I was working with b5media we used to have ten already published), while others think that one published post is enough. My theory is that if you at least have a few published posts, you’re showcasing the type of content that you’ll be publishing in future to those first readers who come to check you out.
These posts should be typical of the types of posts you’re going to be writing in the future in terms of topic and style. Evergreen content is good too, as it’s this content that will be useful to people today but also in months and years to come (some call this “cornerstone” content).
Also I think it’s important to at least have a few posts written up as drafts that you’ll be able to roll out in the first week or so of your blog. Having some in reserve to draw on in this way is good because it gives you a little more time in that important first week or so to do other activities like promote your blog, write guest posts on other sites, and so on.
Have a unique(ish) design
There’s a variety of approaches that you can take with design.
At one end of the spectrum, you can go with the free, default template that comes with your blogging platform.
At the other end is a custom design, where you get a designer to come up with something completely unique for you (though of course this can be expensive).
In the middle is the use of a premium theme: you pay a smaller amount for a design that is professionally designed, and customizable but not completely unique.
I have tried all three approaches with my own blogs over the years.
Ideally, I would love to advise a custom design for your new blog, but the reality is that most of us don’t have the budget for this for a brand new blog—particularly when you’re sometimes not even sure if the blog will be something that works out in the long term.
As a result, I tend to advise people to look at the premium theme option, but to customize it where they can by tweaking the colors, layout, and even adding a unique logo.
As someone who is “design-challenged” myself, I know that this can be a little daunting. You might like to have a go at it yourself, or perhaps engage the services of someone to help you get set up.
Don’t worry if the design isn’t perfect when you start—while your design does create an impression, you can always put more time and resources into improving it later. All of my blogs have evolved in their designs over time, and most started with what I considered to be temporary designs.
Set up an email newsletter
Today my biggest source of traffic and income generation on my photography blog is the emails that we send to our community. Fortunately, on that blog I began gathering email addresses of readers from day one. However on other blogs, I’ve not set newsletters up until much later. In doing so, I feel like those blogs could have been much bigger if I’d taken that step earlier.
I’ve written extensively on the why and how I use email newsletters here, so won’t rehash it all except to say that setting this up would be on my list of new blog essentials.
Set up social outposts
High on my list of priorities for a new blog would also be setting up social media outposts.
My approach to social media as it relates to my blogs is that my blog is my home base, and around it I try to set up outposts, which are places where I have a presence as a way of supporting my home base. I’ve written more on home bases and outposts here.
The outposts will vary from blog to blog, depending upon who I am trying to reach and what social media networks they use, but in many cases this would be about setting up a Twitter account, Facebook page, LinkedIn Group, Youtube Page, and so on.
I may not be highly active from day one on these accounts, but at least reserving an account and promoting it a little when I am active can pay off if I do it early on.
What would you add?
What do you like to have done before you launch a new blog? I’d love to hear your own suggestions and stories below.
Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger
When Should You Launch Your New Blog? [Complete or On the Go?]
Переслать - 5 Tips for Getting Free Media Exposure for Your Blog
This guest post is by Michael Haaren of Creators Syndicate/Dallas Morning News.
Many bloggers and other brandbuilders are moving en masse into Twitter, Google+, and other new media. While these should certainly be part of your overall media strategy, don't neglect TV, radio and other legacy media. They still have plenty of reach and prestige, and are starving for cool stories to tell. Here are five tips for getting your name in lights.
1. Grab the big picture
Legacy media is grappling with tectonic changes. Before you pitch any idea to a TV producer, radio-show host, or newspaper or magazine journalist, take a few minutes to see what's happening in their industry. Since your "target" is dog paddling in those trends, knowing them helps your pitch bob to the top instead of sinking to the bottom.
Sites to check include I Want Media and Media Bistro.
2. A good pitch is usually short and succulent, like a fish hook with a worm on it
It's trite but worth remembering—the journalist is a fish and you're the angler. You've got to cast something we'll bite at. And since we're even more info-stupefied than everyone else, you only have a moment to catch our eye.
For example, I recently put out a query on Peter Shankman's Help a Reporter Out, better known as HARO, which many journalists and producers use to find interviewees. (Queries are distributed three times daily and are free, so be sure to sign up while you're there.)
Since I write about home-based gigs and careers—which now includes many bloggers and experts, like Darren working in a home office in Melbourne—I wanted to hear from people who have unusual home-based businesses.
As soon as the query went out, pitches began to flood in. I scanned them in spurts, in between posting to our Facebook page and screening a job lead for our website and trying to keep the dog from chewing his hot spot again. (Like many journalists, I work from a home office, too.)
Soon, I was "hooked" by a lead-in that described a baby fawn lying on a bed of broken glass, in Pennsylvania Amish Country. The glass, I learned, came from antique bottles, discarded long ago. Collectors would scoop up intact bottles but leave the broken ones behind, and wildlife like the fawn had to cope. The artist pitching me, Laura Bergman, turned these fragments into remarkable pieces of jewelry. The business was Bottled Up Designs, and we covered it in our column.
As a rule, keep your pitches to a three- to five-line paragraph or two. Mention briefly why you're pitching the journalist ("In reply to your HARO query on wombats…" or "Having read your Toy Industry Review article on Ken cheating on Barbie, I…"). Then add the "hook," and your relevant credentials. Close briefly with your cell phone number. Journalists are usually time-pressed and work odd hours. If you're not available, they'll quickly move down the list.
3. Target people who care
It's much easier to get a journalist to cover you if your pitch includes something we care about. For example, I often write about green issues; it's one reason I've advocated telework for so long. Laura Bergman, whether by coincidence or by research, hit a nerve when she mentioned that fawn lying in glass.
4. Identify, hone, and cue up your blog's unique stories
Every blog comes with unique facets, aspects, or stories. Bloggers are individuals, and blogs, in the larger sense, are always narratives—absent mimicry and plagiary, both unique. The trick is to find the sexiest or most intriguing or flamboyant facets, polish them down to a few lines, and share them when the opportunity presents.
A pitch might be based on something in your own life—"How blogging wrecked my marriage" could easily be a morning-show segment—or key off a subject or individual you covered in your blog.
Even a blog on a theme that many might yawn at—tax law, for example—can hold compelling tales. How about a rogue tax agent, who leaves his family with embezzled funds, and winds up on a nude beach in Brazil, surrounded by aspiring samba stars? You get the picture.
5. Pitch early and often (email is usually best), but don't call
When journalists send out queries on HARO or Bill and Steve Harrison's Reporter Connection (be sure to sign up there, too) they trigger immediate replies, often voluminous. And the first pitches to arrive in the inbox frequently end up the winners.
Pitch often, too. If you can score on 10% of your pitches, you'll beat many pros. You have to play the odds to "get ink."
Finally, unless invited, don't call to follow up on a pitch. Let the journalist call you.
Oh, and one last tip, which you may have heard elsewhere: don't believe everything you read in the papers.
Michael Haaren is the co-founder of Rat Race Rebellion, a site devoted to screened, home-based jobs, and a syndicated columnist with the Dallas Morning News. His frequent media appearances include CNN, the Wall Street Journal, and many more.
Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger
5 Tips for Getting Free Media Exposure for Your Blog
Переслать - Your "How-To" Post Will Fail If You Don't Use These Techniques
This guest post is by Neil Patel of KISSmetrics.
Gone are the days when you could write a simple "how-to" blog post and rank in the top search results. Why is that? Two very good reasons.
First, all of the general and highly-competitive posts like "how-to blog" or "how-to find a roommate" are already written.
The other reason is Google Panda. Remember Google's update this past year that took down a lot of the content farms? That algorithm was designed to penalize short and shallow articles and reward high-quality content.
Now, I've got good news and bad news for you.
The bad news: If you want to write a "how-to" guide that stands out, then you have to work. The good news: Not very many bloggers are willing to put in the hours and effort. And fortunately I'm going to give you the secrets to creating these posts so you won't have to work nearly as hard.
Start with detailed research
Great how-to blog posts have great content. But it's never easy coming up with that content, which means you need to do a little research. Here's a two-step process you can use to come up with ideas:
- Visit your competitors’ blogs and see which posts generated a lot of comments and/or got shared a lot on the social web. You can put a list of headlines into a spreadsheet along with the number of retweets and Facebook "like" on each post.
- Browse the trending topics on Tweetmeme, Google Trends, and Google News for the last week. Once you discover what people are after, start to think of topics that are related to the trending ones.
But don't stop there. When you've got your idea nailed, read about a dozen articles and posts connected to your idea.
Make notes as you read and bookmark them. Follow rabbit trails. You may not need all this information right away, but this kind of research will prepare you for what's going to come next.
Show the visual data, always
When it comes to creating blog posts in this very competitive blog world what you are really trying to do is kill the really boring blog post.
The old way of writing a how-to you could get away with just describing the steps. Here's how it was popular to do it on eHow:
Pretty lame, right? No wonder video tutorials and picture slides have taken over their content.
See, today you need to show the data. That's means you need to share charts, graphs, reports, blow-outs of details. This is one of the reasons that infographics are so compelling. You have complex data simplified in a picture.For example, here's a visual data explaining how Page Rank works:
And with the blogging tools available today, you don't have to be a designer to provide good visual data.
However, I do have to warn you. To quote Edward Tufte in his The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, "When you go about Data graphics should draw the viewer's attention to the sense and substance of the data, not to something else."
In other words, your visual data must be relevant.
Back up all your claims with examples
One of the easiest ways to separate your how-to blog posts from others is simply to provide examples of the claims you are making…namely links to other content.
This does several things.
For one, you are showing your readers that you took the time to find these examples. It also shows that you understand the unwritten blogging rule about linking to other people and keeping the conversation alive.
Besides, web readers scan the text of a blog post for three things: sub headlines, images and links. If there are no links, you are missing out on opportunities to capture reader interest.
Design your how-to post for the power scanners
How-to blog posts by their nature are scannable because you are giving your readers steps to follow. But not everyone thinks that way or even designs it with that in mind.
You have all this great research and the worst thing you could do is dump it on the page so it looks like this:
The lines are too long because the margin is too wide and the paragraphs are too thick. While this blogger has links, he's missing sub headlines.
What do you think … is it easy to scan? I don't think it is. Blogs posts should allow skimmers to read the headline, scan the sub headlines and understand what the post is about in less than 30 seconds.
Use killer images to slow down RSS readers
You have no excuse these days to not put images into your blog posts. Word Press and other blogging platforms make it drop-dead easy.
Why are images important? Because that's what people on the web prefer. Whether it is an image to open the post or a series of images throughout the post, images are much attractive to readers.
In fact, this summer Cyrus Shepherd ran an experiment where he published an article with images and an article without and then shared the results on SEOmoz. When it came to link-backs and social sharing momentum, the article with images buried the other one. There was no competition.
Another reason images are important is that for your readers who use a RSS reader to consume content, an image is more likely to get them to slow down as they scroll through their feeds. I discovered this trick about four years ago when Robert Scoble told Tim Ferriss how he read 622 RSS feeds each morning.
Finally, putting images into your blog posts brands your personality. Do you remember Dosh Dosh? His sight is no longer up, but one of the most compelling and interesting things about his blogs were his anime images.
Here's one more example: the This Isn't Happiness Tumblr blogger has branded his or herself on images alone.
Create a compelling introduction using the PAS formula
You might think that when it comes to writing "how-to" guides that you can just jump straight into the steps. Don't kid yourself.
Even if you have the clearest and most compelling headline and all the greatest data in the world, you need to prepare your reader for what's going to come next.
But just writing a short introduction isn't enough. You have to write a compelling one. Use the PAS formula to do that.
- Pain: describe a real problem that your readers can identify with.
- Agitate: make that pain seem even worse by bringing up more bad news.
- Solve: tell your reader there is a solution…the blog post they are about to read.
Now did you notice that's what I did in this introduction? Did you think it was compelling?
Craft an irresistible headline using these four elements
I saved this one for the last because it's the most important. A headline will make or break your blog post. And you should put in as much time on the headline itself as you do the article.
Headlines are what going to attract readers. And like I mentioned in the introduction, a basic headline isn't going to do it.
- Specific: for example, let's say you are a designer and you want to write a how-to on making a design illustration out of mixed media that is organic. This is specific: How-to Create an Organic Mixed Media Illustration. You could get more specific by including "in 11 Short Steps" or "in Five Minutes."
- Keyword-rich: usually when you are that specific, your keywords automatically come out and that's what you want because all the general and competitive headlines like ""how-to" Design an Illustration" are taken. You are writing for the long-tail search.
- Special: a successful how-to headline these days stands out because it is original. For example, the Inc. magazine article Overworked? 4 Signs You Need to Recharge is about a pretty common topic. But it doesn't feel that way because it's combined terms in unusual and unique ways to create a fresh headline. It feels special.
- Sensitive to time: great headlines also suggest a sense of urgency to the reader. The BPA Lurking in Your Thanksgiving Dinner was time-sensitive when it was published, because that holiday is coming up for Americans. Obviously your how-to needs to provide a practical solution for your readers' problems.
Conclusion
There are still plenty of opportunities to write "how-to" blog posts that rank in the top page. You just have to be willing to work hard to write them.
What tips can you share on making today's "how-to" blog posts compelling?
Neil Patel is the co-founder of KISSmetrics and blogs at Quick Sprout.
Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger
Your “How-To” Post Will Fail If You Don’t Use These Techniques
Переслать - What to Do When Your Niche Blog Isn't Making Money
This guest post is by Blog Lady.
There comes a time in your career as a blogger or website owner that you find yourself with a niche blog or site that isn’t meeting your expectations money-wise. That’s nothing to feel bad about. It happens to everybody, and if some say it’s never happened to them, they must be insanely lucky or they just haven’t been in the business long enough.
But what do you do when it finally happens to you?
Give it more time
It could be that the only thing your niche blog needs is more time to “prove” itself. All sites take time to build authority and gain steady traffic. If you’ve been running your site for a month or two and you get only a dozen or so visits a day, don’t be surprised if your earnings are, or are very close to, nil.
If anything, you shouldn’t worry about making money from such a young site. Instead, focus on producing quality content and establishing good relationships with your readers and fellow bloggers/webmasters. I’ve found that it’s best to give a niche blog eight to 12 months before I start to make conclusions about it.
I almost gave up on one of my niche blogs several months ago. It was doing quite poorly in comparison to my other sites. But then it suddenly took off, for reasons unknown. Today it is my biggest money earner. So don’t give up too quickly on what seems like a failed project.
Examine your target keywords
Niches aren’t equally profitable, and even keywords within the same niche do not have the same earning potential. You want to optimize your blog for keywords that can generate the most income. If you’ve been targeting and ranking for low-value keywords, the payoff may be small even with a high conversion rate.
On the other hand, if you target high-value keywords but convert rarely, you may be targeting an audience that has a low click-through/conversion rate. (In other words, the type of visitor that isn’t motivated to click ads or buy a product.)
Find keywords that have the best combination of ad value, traffic volume, advertiser competition, and conversion rate.
To give an example, one of my oldest sites targets a small niche in the New Age market. I knew what kind of information that competitor sites weren’t providing, and was sure I could deliver it. And I did. Yet what I didn’t think of was the low commercial value of the specific keywords I’d chosen. I got the traffic, all right, but not the dough. So I researched my niche for higher-value keywords with better conversion rates, and applied them to several new and existing posts. Sure enough, these keywords bumped up my AdSense and Amazon affiliate income.
As for which keyword tools to use, I’m happy with the free Google AdWords Keyword Tool. You might try commercial tools such as Market Samurai, if you can afford them.
(Note: this is no reason to delete low-earning articles by the way. If your readers enjoy them, keep them and make some more—it serves your visitors well, earns you their trust and hopefully, backlinks.)
Explore different ad placement and ad types
Sometimes, the issue might not be your choice of keywords at all, but what you sell, how you sell it, and where you sell it. Check the advertisements that show up your blog. Look over the affiliate products you sell. Are they appropriate? Are people likely to click or buy them?
If you get few clicks, try moving your ads to different places on your blog. Experiment with affiliate widgets, buttons, and text links to see which get the most attention.
When you change your ads this way, wait several days to a week before you change them again. Personally, I’d wait for as long as it takes for me to get 500-1,000 impressions. (That’s less than 24 hours for a high-traffic blog, but the average site would need more time.) Monitor your conversion rates via your advertiser’s or affiliate partner’s account.
Now don’t go to desperate means to get clicks on your ads. That means, don’t try to "mask" your ads and don’t put them where they will disturb visitors’ experience of your blog. The few extra dollars you make this way aren’t worth the contempt and loss of trust it would incur.
Modify your strategy
Are you wholly dependent on a specific type of traffic, such as search traffic? If so, you need to modify your strategy to be less reliant on that traffic source. If you rely on Google for the majority of your traffic, you’d be seriously hurt if an algorithm update were to drop your site’s ranking.
Learn to diversify. Besides search traffic, look to social traffic, word of mouth, advertising and other means. We all need to do this, whether or not our sites make money, if we are to survive in the post-Panda era.
Know when to let go
I said earlier that you should give your niche site a chance. However there is such a thing as trying too hard. If you’ve tried all ethical means to boost your site’s income and still nothing happens, face the music. Leave it alone and try something else.
To invest all your time and resources in a lost cause is foolish. And don’t feel bad doing this. You’re learning. Every niche blog you make teaches you a lesson. With every success and failure, you discover what works and what doesn’t, what your viewers want and what you are capable of delivering. So even a failed site—if it is that—is not a complete waste of time. Learn from your mistakes, vow to do better and move on.
Blog Lady. A former freelance website content writer and now full-time niche blogger. Visit my blog for more articles on niche marketing, blogging and social media. Website: Blog Lady RSS Feed: Blog Lady RSS Feed.
Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger
What to Do When Your Niche Blog Isn’t Making Money
Переслать - Easy Goal Setting for Your New Blog
This guest post is by Aman Basanti of ageofmarketing.com.
Ask any success guru out there and they will tell you that the most important part of becoming a successful blogger is to set clear goals.
And that is good advice for people who know how they want to tackle problogging. It is good advice for bloggers who know how they want to create content, generate traffic and monetize their blog.
But for the rest of us, who are on a journey where we start somewhere, try things and then respond to the result of our actions, slowly tweaking our strategy and tactics, it is not useful. How do we set clear goals? How do we define exactly where want to be in 12 months when we don't have clarity on what we want to achieve?
Goal setting for new bloggers
The answer comes down to shifting your focus from end-state goal setting to activity-based goal setting.
On my consumer psychology blog, for example, I don't know how I want to monetize it. Am I going to make money from ads? Am I going to make money by selling affiliate products? Am I going to make money from consulting? Do I even want to monetize it? I do not know. It all depends on what I discover about my market.
What I do know, however, is that no matter what I want to achieve in the end, I am still going to have to create content and promote my blog. So rather than setting goals around what I want to achieve in the end, I set goals around what I want to do weekly/monthly/yearly.
Accordingly, here are my top three goals:
- Write two blog posts every week.
- Submit one guest post every week.
- Read one non-fiction book a month.
This way if I have a bad week, as I do from time to time, I can make up for it in another week.
Goal setting for new or confused bloggers
So if you are a new blogger or an old timer who does not know what they really want out of their blog yet, but still wants to maximize their chances of success, set activity based goals. Here are some ideas to get you started.
Posting goals
I will write _____ post(s) a week equaling _____ posts a year.
I will read _____ book(s) a month equaling ______ books a year.
Blog promotion goals
I will submit _____ guests a month equaling _____ guest posts a year.
I will comment on ______ blogs posts a week equaling ______ comments a year.
I will network with ______ people on Facebook/Twitter/StumbleUpon a month.
This is a far easier way to set goals when you are new to the world of problogging.
Aman Basanti writes about the psychology of buying and teaches you how you can use the principles of consumer psychology to boost your sales. Visit www.Ageofmarketing.com/free-ebook to get his new e-book – Marketing to the Pre-Historic Mind: How the Hot New Science of Behavioural Economics Can Help You Boost Your Sales – for FREE.
Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger
Easy Goal Setting for Your New Blog
Переслать - How to Keep Track of Your Accounts as a Remote Blogger
This guest post is by Jane Meighan of www.RunawayJane.com.
One of the main benefits of being a blogger has always been that you could work from anywhere in the world—whether you are surrounded by the hustle and bustle of New York City, or sitting in a quiet, secluded beach hut somewhere in Thailand.
Provided you have good internet access and a computer, you can be based anywhere. It’s one of the key factors why so many of us become bloggers in the first place—to travel or be based anywhere, and earn a living at the same time.
Through my experiences over the last two years of blogging remotely and traveling the world, I have encountered some problems along the way. I am sure many of you remote bloggers out there will have experienced some or all of these at some point too. Keeping track of your accounts, storing receipts, and converting multiple currencies from those receipts based on each day’s exchange rates are only some of many issues.
Image copyright Dudarev Mikhail - Fotolia.com
If you’re taking your blog seriously, and treating it as a business, then your accounts are something you need to be on top of. But when your "office" is basically anywhere with free wifi, how do you store, back-up, keep track of, and effectively sort out your affairs, so that when it’s time to fill in your tax return, everything’s in order?
Back up everything
Every receipt you get for anything, take a picture of it with your camera. Things like scanners are not always available on the road, or when you need them, but if you’re traveling, you’ll no doubt have a camera.
When you’re moving from one place to another, with no real filing system like you may have in an office, receipts can get lost or damaged to the point where you can’t read them any more. Having pictures of everything saves that problem. Also, if you can pull them all up on your computer screen, it just makes creating a spread sheet easier than having to sift through real paper documents to create your accounts.
Make sure you have copies of all important documents in at least three different locations, plus a hard copy kept somewhere at home if possible. Your computer will be 1 location, possibly a memory stick, or extra hard drive could be another twp. Alternatively, if it’s pictures you have taken of receipts then your memory card could act as another storage location.
Use programs to make it easier
Microsoft Excel, or open source, free programs such as Open Office provide fantastic spreadsheet services. If you want Excel in particular, but don’t want to pay for it, if you have a Windows Live email account, then you can use Excel on the Sky Drive there without having to bother with risky illegal downloads.
Another useful program is Xpenser, a free expense accounting program. You can update it via the Web, by voice, by text, by email, and by Twitter! Probably the most useful aspect of using Xpenser, however, is that you can attach a digital photo of the receipt to the updated expense.
Dealing with exchange rates
If you’re travellng to a variety of countries throughout the year as you are blogging, then like me, you will probably find that when it’s time to do your taxes, you have various receipts in various currencies which you then have to convert into whatever your home currency is.
The main problem with this is that currencies can change drastically over the course of a year. To be sure you have your accounts as accurate as possible, you have to find the local exchange rate on the day of purchase so you can convert it into your home currency and add it to your total expenses.
Most currency exchange sites will have an archives section that gives you exchange rates for at least the last 12 months, and sometimes a lot longer. Check the date of your receipt, and then enter it onto the site to find out the rate on that day.
I personally use the historical exchange rates on Oanda, but there is no reason why you couldn’t use another exchange rate website.
Alternatively, use a foreign currency card while traveling. When I’m in Europe I use a Euro card most of the time. I transfer all or part of my money for the trip onto the card, and it is all converted to Euros based on the exchange rate of that date.
Therefore, when you spend money, you only have to work with one exchange rate per currency, regardless of the date you spend it on, because it’s been converted into Euros before you use it rather than at the time of each transaction or withdrawal.
Stay on top of your blog finances
Filling your taxes, and doing your accounts can be a headache even for stationary bloggers situated in one place all the time. So when you are moving from country to country without a real office, it becomes even more important to keep everything in order, and have everything backed up.
The other important factor to keep in mind is to not let yourself get behind with things. Keeping track of your expenses should be as important as writing your next blog post. Schedule in time for it. If for nothing else, it lets you know if you are actually making a profit from your blogging activities, and if not, makes you stand up and look at how you can move forward.
Jane has been blogging since January 2010 from her flagship travel blog RunawayJane.com. She travels full-time using nothing but the earnings from her blogs. Such resulting travels have included learning Spanish in Spain for 3 months, and learning about the history of the former Yugoslavia in Serbia, to name just a few trips she has been on. None of this would have been possible had she had not set up her blog back in 2010.
Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger
How to Keep Track of Your Accounts as a Remote Blogger
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