Do you remember back a few years when blogs were first getting going. Like a lot of people back then I thought “Oh yeah, another fad.” I was so busy with working on getting my websites ranking and spending hours getting my fledgling affiliate marketing business going that I didn’t think I had time to waste on another scheme.

Then one day I took note of what was happening and when I saw the potential in blogging I was hooked.

These days, blogs are common place simply because they are one of the easiest ways to get a website up onto the internet. You don’t require any programming or html skills so absolutely anyone can create a blog about something they are interested in. And if you take advantage of the free blogging services that are available then you don’t need to purchase a domain name or hosting service. Google just loves blogs because the content is updated on a regular basis, so a blog that is looked after by its owner has the ability to rank really well in Googles search engine.

Don’t know what a blog is? Well you are not alone. Although blogging is quite common these days, it is not always apparent to someone who has never seen a blog or used one before. With some of the templates that are in use, it is not always completely obvious that you are looking at a blog as in a many cases they can just look like a regular website.

So for those that don’t know what a blog is then here is a definition from Wikipedia that might help with your understanding:

A blog (a contraction of the term “Web log”) is a web site, usually maintained by an individual, with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. “Blog” can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.

So that is the technical explanation now let’s break it down to make it even easier to understand.

A blog (a contraction of the term “Web log”) is a web site…

I’d have to agree with this, a blog is essentially just a website and a website is essentially a group of pages which includes a home page and is managed by one or more persons. A blog works in the same way.

..usually maintained by an individual…

Unless we have some actual stats on this, we really don’t know if this is correct or not although from experience I would have to say that a large number of the blogs I’ve seen are probably maintained by an individual. On the other hand, if you check any business website these days you will most likely find a blog attached to it and this may indicate that more than one person manages the blog.

…with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video.

This is correct although I think it is lacking a bit here in that it is not just commentary or a description of events. If we take this blog post I am writing right now for instance, I wouldn’t really call this commentary or a description of events. I would call it information.

Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order.

This is one of the main characteristics of a blog that distinguishes it from regular websites. Take a look at this blog and you will see the dates at the top of each blog entry. You need to be on the home page to see this in action. The dates run in reverse order so that anything new added to this blog goes to the top of the blog home page.

“Blog” can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.

It’s a good idea to get used to the terminology used if you are going to be developing your own blog. These are the most commonly used words and examples of each.

Blog

“I have a blog”
“I am working on my blog”
“I am adding content to my blog”.
“He has a great blog”
“I wish I had a blog”.
“I am going to blog today”

Blogger

“I am a blogger because I own a blog”.
“Bloggers are great people”

Blogging

“I spent the day blogging.”

So how do you get your own blog?

Essentially there are two ways to go about this. You can go via the free route which means you won’t have to pay a cent or if you are really serious about blogging then you can take the paid route which involves paying for a domain name and hosting.

1. Free Blogs

There are two major players that offer free blogging services:

- Blogger
- WordPress

Both allow you to create a blog quickly and easily.

Advantages

- Hey, it’s free! That has to be one big advantage.
- Free hosting
- Free domain name
- It’s easy to set up.

Disadvantages

- You are stuck with using their domain name
- You are limited as to what you can do in terms of customization
- You have to follow the Terms & Conditions as set by the blogging company

2. Paid Blogs

This involves a bit more work but in the long run it is worth it. If you are really serious about blogging then you should go via this route.

1. You will need a domain name.
2. You will need hosting – look for a hosting company that has Fantastico installed as part of your hosting package (just ask the hosting company before you purchase). With Fantastico installed you will be able to set up your WordPress blog with just a few clicks of your mouse.

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Learn How Super Affiliate Bronwyn Bamber Turned Her Business Around
with James Martell’s Proven 8-Step Approach (Part 1)

When Bronwyn Bamber joined James and countless other merchants and online publishers for Affiliate Summit, little did she know her life was about to change.

It took a chance meeting in Halifax, Nova Scotia at a small Alexander Keith’s
pub, for Bronwyn to realize that she was on the wrong side of the field, so to speak.
So, after talking to James, Arlene, and a handful of their students, Bronwyn made
the life-changing decision to resign from her job as an affiliate manager and start
her own online business as an affiliate/publisher.

Bronwyn tells listeners all about the mistakes she made as she painstakingly built her first
site and how she used James’ Affiliate Marketer’s Handbook to bring her back around
to the 8 steps, which she applied to achieve her own online success.

Listeners also hear how Bronwyn and her partner started out by working around-the-clock to get nearly 20 sites (and 5,000 pages of content) on the Net before realizing
they were doing something wrong. Frustrated and questioning her decision to workfrom home as an affiliate, Bronwyn called James.

Ready to throw in the towel, she found information in James’ Handbook about linking and refocused her efforts. She also quickly signed up for James’ Affiliate Marketer’s BootCamp, which was held in James’ hometown of White Rock, British Columbia and got the clarification on the 8 steps that she needed to “get back to the basics” and build two new sites which now generate earn her a substantial monthly income!

Bronwyn talks candidly with James about the trials and tribulations and even the hard lessons she learned, such as success on the Net is based on quality and not quantity. Proof, she points out, is in the fact that two of her websites (the two she built after referring back to the Handbook and attending the BootCamp) are what bring in her jaw-dropping income.

And she credits James’ training and her work on creating high-quality links to her
site’s pages that she needs to “rank” as the real difference.

As someone who has been in the trenches and found her way to financial freedom,
what does Bronwyn advise to those of you who are just starting out and to those
of you who need a bit of help? And what does Bronwyn suggest you never, ever do?
Listen in now and hear these insider’s secrets and more – all from an online publisher
who has succeeded, despite never having built a website and having absolutely no
technical skill at all!

Way to go Bronwyn!

INSTRUCTIONS: Right-click the ‘MP3′ icon below and select “Save target
as…” to download the audio to your hard drive to listen.

- Total Length: 72 minutes

For more information on James Martell’s affiliate

marketing training, including additional complimentary Coffee Talk interviews,
click the link:

http://www.work-at-home-net-guides.com

About James Martell

James Martell, a successful affiliate marketer and natural search expert has published many dozens of sites over the years, and uniquely derives most of his traffic through natural search at the major search engines. James shares this knowledge with other webmasters in the THIRD EDITION of his highly acclaimed Affiliate Marketers Handbook,

his twice monthly Affiliate Buzz audio newsletter and his online Affiliate Marketers BootCamp where he holds classes via the Internet for those wanting to learn how to start an online business from home. James resides in a seaside community south of Vancouver, BC Canada with his wife Arlene and four children, Adam, Justin,Shelby and Victoria.

Comment from Listeners (38)

• Bronwyn is a great example of hard work. It’s motivating to hear her success and to know that if you workhard and stay determined, you will succeed. Joe Minneapolis, MN

• Very inspiring talk, I feel I am on the right track.

• Most helpful. Combining James’book with “real experience” is invaluable to me! Its nice to hear her say shemade some of the same mistakes I’ve made or am making and yet succeeded beyond
  her wildest dreams! you go girl!!! Randy Rhodes, Westerville, Ohio

• Your question for adding commentsis did I find this talk with Bronwyn Bamber interesting, informative and helpful?
  Yes, yes and yes. Interesting because I haven’t lost my scepticism and all the main strategies of a few years ago are now said to be reversed. Informative because the redirection to scale down and focus on refocusing the tactics and strategies seem sound though without serious detail. And helpful due to the fact that the only sure thing is that if you get other super affiliates and high quality incoming links to link to you you will probably earn a dime, perhaps a living… we’ll see. Rick, San Jose, USA

• Bronwyn, thank you so much forthis valuable information. Now I can see that “PAD technique” is very importantstep to make the whole business work. I really enjoyed the coffee- talk interview.
  Thanks again. Alexander Vershinin

• Thanks Bronwyn for sharing whatis working for you. It has pointed me in the right direction. Scott, Ladner BC

• Bronwyn’s story is so inspiring.
  There have been many times I’ve felt like “I’ll never make it” but listening
  to Bronwyn I know that sticking to the basics I can and will! -Don Conner

• Refreshing. Bronwyn’s honestand straight talking style is a testament to her. Like James, she is open, honestand the story she tells is pure gold dust. Thank you James, and thank you Bronwyn;
  this interview is a real pleasure to listen to and learn from. Paul GB

• I just want to say that Bronwynwas very inspiring and confident. I myself have over 100 sites online and Ihave kind of lost focus, especially with merchants. But this call has really
  given me a boot in the right place. Writer Unknown

• Just the information we needed.
  Bronwyn gives us a great model to follow – fun, sharing, and successful with
  her site-building…. Mike and Beth, Port Townsend, WA

• It was terrific that the interviewwith Bronwyn was not long after her getting started. It was extremely helpful in giving insights to the start-up phase, along with the mistakes as well as the potential. I know this will shorten my learning curve tremendously. I‘ll surely be listening to this interview a number of times. James is right on target in getting to the fundamentals by asking Bronwyn to discuss the pitfalls to avoid and take the audience through a process step by step.
  Often in interviews of people who have become successful in affiliate marketing a lot of the steps
  may not be as fresh in their mind. That is not the case in this interview. By James asking for an example or to clarify a process it becomes understandable. He recaps to make sure the audience understands and by doing so reinforces the point. That is so helpful and appreciated .I came away with a much clearer idea of the process and what obstacles might be encountered and hopefully avoided as well as expectations and amazing possibilities.
  Well done I forward to the
  other Coffee Talks. Denise, Cedar Grove, NJ

• The interview was useful and gave clarity to the issues associated with getting inbound links to a website. It was useful to hear about mistakes and how they were overcame and the importance
  that was given to trial and error as a method of learning. Clayton Palmer, Shanghai

• This would have to be the most inspiring interview. I listen to it regularly and in fact I am listening to
  it again now. This interview keeps me focused. Paula, Australia

• I was a bit overwhelmed with all the information in online bootcamp. Then I attended the first Coffee Talk with Bronwyn and became inspired again. I love her story, and I appreciate her sharing her insights, particularly about launching a site with 18 pages and growing it from there. As Bronwyn said, and as James has often stated, “just get that first site out there.” Regina, Denver, CO

• The number one tip I took away from the interview that changed my PAD prospecting strategy forever, was to target similar but non competing sites. My current list is in the hundreds now
  and growing. Thanks James and Bronwyn. Leanne Tremblay, White Rock, BC

• After going through a whole lot of second guessing myself and listening to this it seems to have gotten me back on track and instilled new confidence in myself. John, Sechelt, BC, Canada

• Very inspiring, thanks Bronwyn.
  I have been online for a little over 12 months now and started out down the AdSense track. Twenty four sites later and just into the four figures a month I thought I was doing well. I have always said James’ Affiliate Handbook is the best product I have read since being online. Duh! Bronwyn has just re-emphasized to me I need to start practicing what I preach! Thank you Bronwyn for sharing
  your story and to you James for being one of the trustworthy guys out there.
  Dean, Atlanta, GA

• All of the interviews in the Coffee Talk series have been great and each helpful in its own way but these two interviews with Bronwyn are really where the rubber meets the road for affiliate
  marketers. Don, Barrie, Ontario, Canada

• A final reason for to not give up. Refreshing and straight forward. Thanks again! JT Bo, Norway

• The interview with Bronwyn has left me with two important things to remember. One, that a regular “non-guru” person can do it if she applies the correct methods to her site building and
  promotion. Two, that I should focus my efforts on just a few proven methods – e.g. using PAD for back links. I have been hearing and reading about so many tricks and techniques that it’s so difficult to determine what actually works. Thanks, James and Bronwyn. Willie B

• Thank you so much Bronwyn for your infectious enthusiasm, openness, and wonderful insights. One of the biggest hits of your coffee-talk series to date, James.

• I loved this interview. Bronwyn’s story is inspiring. I appreciate her candour and her energy is infectious. Thank you. Charlotte Bradley, Ottawa, Ontario

• As a relative newcomer to the Affiliate Marketing business, this interview was extremely informative and encouraging. Thank you for bringing folks like Bronwyn into our loop. I so enjoy listening and learning from people succeeding in this interview. Lord willing, maybe you’ll be interviewing me
  in the next few years. Keep up the great work! Tim W – Virginia, USA

• The timing was awesome. I am in the middle of building my first sight and this interview was encouraging and pointed out some things I hadn’t thought about or overlooked. Great interview!
  Writer Unknown

• Great Coffee Talk! We had the opportunity to met Bronwyn at the first Bootcamp, so we knew she is a work-holic. It is great to see that she has come so far in such a short time. She is one
  to watch. THANKS Bronwyn for sharing the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Really
  do appreciate you putting it all out there for us to learn. Gerald & Linda,
  Lafayette IN

• Very inspiring talk, Bronwyn has definitely got this figured out. This was a real eye opener as to where
  to invest my time & effort and more importantly where not to waste my time.
  Very timely and relatable…well except the income part. Dan, Surrey BC

• I very much enjoyed this interview with Bronwyn. I would say the biggest thing I took away from this interview, is the fact that a site could be put up in March and be so successful in November.
  I was also inspired by the story of someone who would take out a second mortgage
  on her house and then give herself a year to “do or die”. This lady has the guts of a river boat gambler. I realize that Bronwyn is a good business person and would probably be a success at anything she put her mind to. I also realize that any one of us could duplicate this success if we are only willing to do
  what she has done. She’s been kind enough to share exactly what she’s done.
  To sum it up I was inspired by Bronwyn’s story. Tony Pompano Beach, FL

• I found the interview HIGHLY effective. I always appreciate it when James will ask the person he is interviewing to reiterate certain points, and in some cases request concrete real life examples
  of how certain techniques are performed. The interview with Bronwyn was particularly helpful in this manner. Sometimes I need a visual perspective so that I may grasp the concept thoroughly. I want to make sure that I have the correct “mental model” of how the technique is performed. I find that his interview process reinforces the proper “mental model” of how to go about executing various techniques.
  So far the Coffee Talks have been well worth the investment! Thank You! Christian
  Chapa, San Francisco USA

• Refreshing, honest insight by a student who has “grabbed your training by the throat” and forged a successful affiliate publishing career. Best information: It’s all about the links first,
  then quality content. Think fewer sites, pages, & merchants, but do it “right”
  (follow the 8 steps). This is not & never will be a “static” business. Thanks
  so much Bronwyn for being a positive role model. Ed P. Chambersburg, PA, USA

• Bronwyn’s enthusiasm is infectious!
  It’s apparent that she has worked very hard and is a “student of James’ 8 steps”.
  It sounds like the “magic pixie dust” is working smarter and following the system.
  I am looking forward to future interviews with Bronwyn and James. Congratulations
  to you both! All the Best, Joel Smith

• I can relate to her original focus on building huge sites (that have no traffic). For me this comes from
  the fact that building a site is completely under my control. But, the best site with no traffic makes no money. She emphasized the key point, product pages on my sites need inbound links to get traffic, and then make money. I got great encouragement by hearing how Bronwyn experienced many of the same things I experienced.
  It was a great Coffee talk. Mike R. Sunrise, FL, United States

• I just want to let you know, this has been the greatest positive shot in the arm for me since I started my online business as an affiliate. Some two months in, mainly researching day and night with my site still not seeing any page rank, and having only made $1.36 from Google’s ad sense, some doubts were starting to appear. Even though in your manual James, you warn of this likelihood. So for me the discussion between James and Bronwyn has been very timely, and I plan to trot it out again
  if ever any doubts appear again in the future. Bronwyn has blown away all the clouds of doubt for me, and reinvigorated my motivation completely. I really hope someday to be in a position financially to come across to the States and meet you all, hopefully with a success story like Bronwyn’s. Cheers, Pete, Australia

• Bronwyn is someone worth keeping an eye on to learn, even borrow some of her special techniques. Anyone who has reached the plateau Bronwyn has in such a sort time-span is to be highly commended and watched closely. Cool interview. Writer Unknown

• I can’t thank you enough for the invite to the Bronwyn coffee-talk. It’s exactly what I needed at this point.
  My story is very much like hers so far, having the fortune to meet you both at bootcamp, building a site, and watching it mature. Just a few weeks ago I received my first page ranking of 4 on my site. Woohoo! I’m hoping now that things will pick up and my success will increase. Hearing Bronwyn’s successes AND failures have both been equally important to me, giving me direction and
  warning simultaneously. I can relate to some of her struggles, having fumbled a few things here and there. Her knowledge, personality, and experience shared is like a beacon to me in the midst of sometimes overwhelming circumstances in progressing this business. Thanks Bronwyn! And thanks to you James and Arlene!
  All the best, – Eric Nunamaker

• Great interview. Way to go Bronwyn…
  Ted, Issaquah WA

• At my next visit to an affiliate related event, I’m looking for the table full of food and Bronwyn Bamber! This is one of the most helpful coffee-talks in the series! Thanks, Bobbie Grennier
  (Affiliate-Blogger.com)

• The best coffee talk to date!
  Very inspirational and informative. It proves James point that if one is persistent,
  works hard, and pays attention to detail good things happen. Writer Unknown

• Bronwyn is someone worth keeping an eye on to learn, even borrow some of her special techniques. Anyone who has reached the plateau Bronwyn has in such a sort time-span is to be highly commended and watched closely. Cool interview… Darryl Ruff, Kelowna, BC, Canada

A backlink is simply a link sitting on another website that links to your website. They are also referred to as backward links, inlinks or inbound links.

Google uses an algorithm to determine where a web page is going to rank in their search engines. They use a number of factors as part of this algorithm but it is thought that the number of backlinks coming into a page is one of the most important.

To be more specific, however, it is not the number of backlinks but the quality of those backlinks that makes a page rank better than another. So the more quality links you have coming into a web page on your site the more likely that page will rank highly in Google. And the higher it ranks, the more traffic you are likely to get to your website.

In the words of Google, “In general, webmasters can improve the rank of their sites by increasing the number of high-quality sites that link to their pages.”

So with this in mind it might be worthwhile for us to be able to determine how many sites are actually linking to our website. There are a few ways to do this but you may find that each method may display different results. For one thing, Google doesn’t always display the correct number of links to your website. In the past, Google used to show only those links with a pagerank of 4 or higher. Today Google displays a random number of backlinks with varying pagerank and doesn’t display them all.

For this reason, Yahoo is a better choice to gauge the number of backward links coming into your site. However, we have still included instructions for both search engines below.

Any one of the following methods will provide you with your backward link numbers:

Using the Google Toolbar

To determine the number of backward links coming into your site use the Google Toolbar. If you haven’t installed this on your computer then do so now. It’s an important tool for internet marketers.

To view the backward links for your website take the following steps:

1. Open up your website in your browser.
2. Ensure that you have the ‘Pagerank and Page Info’ option available on your toolbar. It will look like this (circled in red in the image below):

If this feature is not displayed then go to Settings -> Options on the Toolbar and select the ‘More’ tab. Ensure that the ‘Pagerank and Page Info’ box is checked and click OK.

3. Click the drop-down arrow next to the pagerank icon and select ‘Backward Link’ from the options shown in the drop-down box.

Using Google Search

To find the number of backward links to your site using Google search take the following steps:

1. Go to www.google.com.
2. In the search box type in: link:www.yourdomainname.com

Be sure to change www.yourdomainname.com to the actual domain name of your website.

Using Yahoo Search

To find the number of backward links to your site using Yahoo search take the following steps:

1. Go to http://search.yahoo.com/
2. In the search box type in: link:www.yourdomainname.com

Be sure to change www.yourdomainname.com to the actual domain name of your website.

Using Google Webmaster Tools

As of February 2007, Google introduced a new facility as part of their Webmaster Tools to assist with backward link checking. The tool lists all of the incoming links to your website and allows you to see how many are linking in to a specific page on your website.

To view your links you will need to set up an account with Google and you can log in here.

Note : Google engineer Matt Cutts has indicated that just because a link is shown under Webmaster Tools doesn’t mean it carries any value.

For the most comprehensive information on successful backlinking we recommend the James Martell Backlinks Course.  James Martell is the guru on natural search and backlinking and his methods have given us fantastic success with our websites.  So if you want to achieve Top 10 rankings then you can’t get better advice than his step by step guide to building backlinks.

When I was recently at one of the Affiliate Summits I was talking with a group of James Martell students when a guy approached us and immediately launched into a speech promoting his affiliate program. He rambled on about himself and then proceeded to mention that his program related to Forex and his words were something like ‘and of course I don’t need to explain what that is…’ as if we all knew what he meant. Now I should have just said there and then that I had never heard of it and at that point I hadn’t. Forex might be a common term in the US but in Australia, unless you are really into the foreign exchange market, I doubt many would have heard of it before.

When someone mentions Forex in Australia most people immediately think they are talking about the brand of beer that is brewed in Queensland which is labeled as XXXX but verbalized as ‘four X beer’. Which just reminds me of a joke – Why do Queenslanders spell their beer with four x’s? It’s because they can’t spell beer. Now I can tell that joke only because I lived in Queensland for 18 years…but now I’m getting sidetracked.

The point I am wanting to make is that we shouldn’t ever assume anything. You may know the old adage, ‘When you assume, you make an ass out of u and me’.

The guy that approached us shouldn’t have assumed we were all residents of the US or Canada or that we would know what Forex was. If he had just added a couple of sentences to explain what it was then I might have been more interested in what he was saying. Instead I lost interest really quickly because I had no idea what he was on about.

When it comes to blogging, your visitors will lose interest just as quickly if you skip the basics. If you assume that everyone has the knowledge you have, and you write blog posts according to your level of expertise then you are going to attract readers at that level of expertise but lose a whole other audience that is desperate for the basics. In the case of the gentleman that approached us, he totally missed the basics so I was missing vital information that would have clarified the rest of his conversation. Make sure your readers don’t have the same problem when reading your blog.

Providing a few basics within your posts can make the difference between keeping new readers and losing them. They may see your blog as just way too advanced and click the back button to find something a little more tailored to their needs.

Now we’re not talking about turning every blog post into a step-by-step tutorial for everything you write about. If you started doing this, you would most likely lose your more advanced audience. What we are talking about is adding a few extra lines to clarify things. For instance, just before I started writing this blog post, I was writing another post on backlinks. I was half way through the article before I realised that I hadn’t provided a definition of what a backlink actually was. It would only take a couple of sentences to explain it but I had totally missed it. I had to step back a little and look at the article as if I had no idea what a backlink was. When I did that, I was better able to explain the whole concept.

Another useful method is to write ‘What is’ type posts that you can use to refer to in later posts. For instance, I could write a post on ‘What is a backlink’ which provides all the basics about backlinks. Then in future posts whenever I referred to backlinks I can just link it to that post. This is also a great way to develop content for your site and builds up a nice resource which will keep visitors coming back.

On the flip side your blog posts shouldn’t just focus solely on basic concepts. Everyone is a beginner at some point but as they learn they require more advanced content. If keep your content written purely for beginners then you are likely to lose them at some point as they start looking for more advanced concepts.

In the end, we are not always going to get this right. It’s a fine balance between providing content that is both useful for the beginner and the more advanced reader. And some might say why should you even bother? But in my opinion, I believe that if you write content that will appeal to all your readers, you are going to get more traffic and more readers coming back.

If you own a blog and are looking for ways to start making money from it, then Sponsored Reviews is a good place to start.

Sponsored Reviews is a website that brings together bloggers and advertisers. It allows the blogger to make money and the advertiser to promote their products.

What I like about Sponsored Reviews is that you can make money in two ways. Firstly you join as a blogger and write reviews about ‘products’ on behalf of advertisers. Products is a general term for anything an advertiser wants reviewed, it may be their website, a service or a physical product. And the other way you can earn money is to become one of their affiliates and promote their link on your website.

When you are writing a review on behalf of an advertiser, you must be sure to thoroughly read what the advertisers requirements are prior to doing a review and make sure you follow those requirements otherwise your review will be rejected.

So how do I get started?

Firstly you need to sign up with Sponsored Reviews. The process is relatively simple, it’s just a matter of going to the “Manage Blogs” tab and then clicking on “Add New Blog”. One thing I will stress is that you read the requirements in the ‘Bloggers Policy’ section.

It won’t take long before Sponsored Reviews will advise you if your blog has been accepted, and once you receive an email advising that everything is okay you can go in and bid on the opportunities that are relevant to your site.

Part of the process for adding your blog requires you to enter some details about your blog. This is so the advertisers know what your blog is about and how much you want to write a review.

The things that you need to complete are:-

Desired Price - Set your price in this field.
There are some suggested prices which have been set by Sponsored Reviews and if you want to be successful in getting reviews to write you need to set your price somewhere in the suggested range. When an advertiser is looking for someone to write a review they will see your price so it pays to make sure it is reasonable.

Blog Category – Select the category that best suits your blog.

Blog Title – As with any application you are recommended to add descriptive keywords to your blog title. “Wanda’s Travel & Hotel Reviews” will get a better response from advertisers than “Wanda’s Blog”. You are more likely to attract advertisers if you use keywords in your title. This is because advertisers only get to see the title of your blog so they are more likely to purchase a review from you if they see a keyword that is relevant to their product.

Description – In this field you enter the number of visitors you have, or show some examples of posts you have written. This is your opportunity to sell yourself so make sure you enter information that is likely to attract advertisers.

Blog Tags/Keywords – This is where you enter keywords. i.e. travel, technology, pets.. etc…

Once your blog has been approved it is time to start bidding on opportunities and earning money.

There are times when an advertiser will find you when they are searching the directory and they will approach you directly. This is quite an acceptable practice as long as it is done via the Sponsored Reviews website. Just recently I was approached by a travel firm to write a review of their products on my travel blog.

But as with everything it makes sense that you will earn more money the more proactive you are. Once you find something you think you would like to write a review for, you submit your bid and you will be notified by email if your bid is successful.

So off you go, get in there and search out some reviews to write and start earning.

Now once you have completed your review and made sure you have double-checked your work to ensure it meets the advertiser’s requirements and that the spelling and grammar are correct, you simply submit the URL to Sponsored Reviews. Full details on how to do this are provided on their homepage.

All payments are paid into your Paypal account every 2 weeks for reviews completed in that 2 week period.

The second method for making money from Sponsored Reviews is to sign up as one of their affiliates and place the link that they provide on your website. If other bloggers click on the link and join you will receive a payment.

You can earn up to $175 per Advertiser and $90 Per Blogger Referred.The payment structure:

Just recently I wrote an article about how to become a successful blogger and in my research for that post I gathered together some stats on how frequently some of the successful bloggers post to their blogs. I had always thought that it was necessary to post every day in order to have a successful blog but my analysis showed that this isn’t necessarily the case.

The ‘successful’ bloggers post anywhere from 2-3 times per day (Shoemoney and John Chow) to 3 times per week (Dosh Dosh) and sometimes longer. So is it necessary to post regularly to make your blog a success?

I think the answer to this depends on what stage you are at with your blog. If you are so popular that you get enough traffic from return visitors, links from other sites and just general search engine traffic then I would think that posting frequency would not be as necessary or important as someone who is just starting out with their blog and has hardly any traffic.

It’s general knowledge that the more you post the more likely you are to get traffic to your blog. I know myself that with each piece of content I post to this blog I get new traffic because of the different keywords being searched for. I know that the more often I post the more traffic I am likely to get. But do I want to become a slave to posting frequently?

There are some blogs out there where 20 new posts go up on a daily basis. Now this is fine if you have a topic that lends itself to a 20 post a day marathon, but somehow I can’t see myself spending the whole day writing blog posts. That seems like a lot of hard work to me and in my opinion; I may as well be working at a full-time job.

I am sure if you were going to be working at this rate you would need to have someone help with the writing because as an individual you would be hard pressed to maintain both the momentum and the quality of content for 20 posts per day without eventually burning out.

And would it be worth it in the end?

You would most likely be making some money but would you have the freedom to just take off even for one or two days without your blog coming to a crashing halt? To me the whole point of working from home is to have more freedom and not be regimented into working long hours because I have to but because I want to, and I think this applies to anyone who has made the decision to work from home.

The main reason I started this blog was because I have a passion for the topic. I enjoy writing about internet marketing and blogging. However, I can’t see myself sitting at the computer writing up to 20 blog posts a day. Ideas need to flow naturally and as things just pop into my head I find I can write about them without too much effort. If I was forced to think about enough new ideas to complete 20 blog posts a day, I would soon run out of good ideas and I am sure the content would suffer.

As you can probably tell from this blog, we don’t write every single day. We maintain consistency because I think that it is important but we sometimes miss a day here or there because we don’t force ourselves to write something just to ensure that we have a blog post up there. Now maybe this will work and maybe it won’t but I don’t want to be a slave to my blog…I want to enjoy it and have fun with it.

What about you? How many times a week do you post to your blog and do you enjoy it or see it as a chore?