Guys? I have NOTHING going on today. NOTHING. You don’t understand, this never happens. I have no articles due or big projects hanging over my head.

I was also recently inspired by The Middle Finger Project who had a brilliant idea last week where they offered crazy discounted prices for their services since they were all sitting around bored. Then one of my favorite bloggers, Catherine Caine, basically spent a whole day offering her tagline service and just brainstormed and did fun things all day.

And I thought – ummmm, I can do that!

The 30 Minute Strategy

Last week I launched my latest service, the 30 Minute Twitter Strategy, which is super cool video consulting with a step-by-step outline on how to step up your Twitter presence. It’s basically a pimped up version of Critique My Profile.

This is me endorsing 30 Minute Strategy

It usually costs $100, but for TODAY ONLY (Monday, July 26) I’m offering up the service for $30. Holy mackerel!

That’s less than a dinner out.

That’s less than your weekly travel.

That’s way less than a pair of shoes.

I’m Actually Useful

In case you don’t feel like clicking over to the 30 Minute Strategy page, the service includes a 30 minute critique of your Twitter profile and a crazy detailed strategy on what you should be tweeting about, tweaks to make to your profile, how to maximize your presence and how to get the best engagement for your time. Sound good? That’s cuz it is. Here are some snippets from people who’ve gotten my critiques:

“I’ve gained new followers; I’m following new people and hopefully I’m getting the balance right between being too ‘salesy’ and just commenting… Critique My Profile fires up your imagination on how to take your business further with Twitter.”

- Elaine Nicholsons, Nicholsons Jewellers

“Over the past few weeks there has been a noticeable increase in responses and engagement from my following, which is exactly what I was looking for. I have more followers, been added to a few more lists, and I fully expect the trend to continue as I further implement [Marian's] suggestions.”

- Jeffrey Pia, Front End Web Developer

So What Are You Waiting For?

The next 24 hours I’m going to do nothing but Twitter critiques and I’m taking on EVERYONE that emails me with their Twitter handle and a list of goals. Videos will be made in the order they are received and I’ll be taking orders until midnight Eastern Time.

UPDATE 7/27/10: Thank you so much to everyone who participated! It was a crazy crazy day and I’ll probably spend the next week making videos! The $30 sale is now over, but you can always hit me up here for the full version. Looking forward to working with your profile!

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Like many bloggers, I’m a regular reader of Darren Rowse’s ProBlogger and have had an eye on his book, 31 Days to Build a Better Blog for a while. I initially didn’t buy it because I’m stingy and in true Gen Y fashion, figured I could find all the information I needed for free.

Convenience is very much underrated though, especially for people lacking in the finances department. So while 31 Days can most likely be found in various forms on the ProBlogger website, it was absolutely worth the $20 I shelled out to have it as a concrete guide.

Blogging Is Overwhelming

Almost every single one of my closest friends now has a blog and I’m always like, “Ah! You should include YouTube videos!” and “Why aren’t you on Twitter?” and “Start linking between posts more!” Not a-one has actually included any of my tips and I think they’d really like me to shut the hell up. The thing is, there are so many blogging rules now that it’s taken me a year to get them all straight and incorporate everything into a daily and automated machine. While I love the catchy title of this book, 31 days can build you a better blog, but I think it takes up to a year to build a really great one.

That said, those steps you take during that year? All in this book. It’s THAT good. And… here’s the kicker: Some of this stuff I didn’t already know.

Gasp! Oh my! Yeah, I know.

In all seriousness, I’d like to think I’m relatively blog competent, so learning something new was a really great surprise. To give you a taste of some of the things I learned:

1. Build a Sneeze Page. This is basically a page built around a specific theme. For example, I could create a separate page just on Twitter advice. ProBlogger has one on making money. Apparently it’s supposed to get people to keep reading your content, even if it’s not recent.

2. Come Up With 10 Post Ideas. This one seems generic, but Rowse is a God among men. He shows you how to make a kick ass brainstorming chart where you come up with one post idea, and expand on it. For example: The first idea is “Why you SHOULD Use AdSense on your Blog”. Then Rowse takes it ten steps farther by coming up with ideas off that idea:

• Why You SHOULDN’T Use AdSense on Your Blog
• Write a case study on a blogger who’s successfully using AdSense
• Collect links from around the web on how to improve AdSense earnings
• Interview someone on AdSense

Pretty brilliant, right?

3. Write an Opinion Post. I see a lot of bloggers not doing this and it’s actually a really great way to jump start your community. The first opinion post I did got me a whole 6 comments. This was maybe a month after I started my blog and while most of the comments weren’t nice, it was a rush to get people arguing on my site. If you’re a blogger and wonder why no one’s commenting, get your opinions out there!

Pros & Cons

My one complaint with 31 DBBB is that the book links to various ProBlogger posts, and I feel like that’s a bit of a cop-out. Still, that’s really my only complaint. Like I explained above, it’s the convenience of this book that makes it worth the money. Going through the chapters and implementing some of their tactics has been extremely helpful in the week I’ve had it.

Any blogger who’s even remotely serious about having a great blog should spend their time reading these tips and putting them to good use. I can’t disagree with anything this book says and highly HIGHLY recommend it. Click here to buy.

UPDATE: Ugh, I am so annoyed. The ProBlogger site ran a challenge back in 2007, that’s laid out just like the book. Some of tips are different, but the idea is the same. Click here to see all 31 blog challenges. Buy the book for the updated 2009 version, but keep in mind the layout is basically available for free on the site. I’m feeling kind of ripped off…

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This week has been interesting in terms of “studies” done on how social media is affecting our brains. According to Mashable and Fast Company, using sites like Facebook and Twitter increases the amount of oxytocin we produce. Basically, tweeting makes us feel good in our brains, reduces stress, etc etc. I could quote the whole study or you can just click on the links above for the facts so I don’t butcher them.

I’ve stopped freaking out in groups

The reason I wanted to write about this is because my boyfriend, Sam, pointed out a change in my social skills when I visited last month. I hadn’t seen the guy in almost a year, and, well, people change. Obviously. The thing is, I used to be enormously shy. I remember this one time I went to a party at Sam’s, probably a few months into our relationship. He has this amazing group of friends who have been nothing but welcoming and lovely to me. The thing is, they’ve all been friends for years and I just waltz in, which would make anyone uncomfortable. I remember this party because I stayed for maybe 5 minutes. I felt physically ill being in a group of people, knowing I had to talk to them when they’d probably be having more fun talking to each other. While I eventually got over myself a little bit and became friends with all these fabulous people, it took a long time and engaging new people was still difficult for me.

Fast forward a year and I go stay in a house full of them for 3 weeks. And let me tell you, I never got that uncomfortable feeling. I used to die a little inside when Sam would leave the room for a bit because then I’d have to attempt to be entertaining and whatnot without him as support. I expected that to happen this time around. But it didn’t.

It’s weird because I didn’t notice it at first. Sam just said to me one day, “It seems like you’re really more comfortable around people now.” That makes me sound like kind of a hermit before, but the general idea is true.

Social media has made me more confident of my mad skillz

And honestly? I think it’s this blog. I think it’s Twitter. We all have our strengths, and “working a room” isn’t one of mine. I’ve never been able to go up to strangers and just strike up a conversation. But lately I’ve been meeting so many Twitter friends – people I’ve never met before, but our common social media obsession has us chatting for hours in bars or cafes.

There’s also the fact that I finally feel like I’m useful, like I know what I’m talking about and am worth listening to. That sounds emo, I know, but I don’t know how else to put it. When it comes to blogging and social media and freelancing and books, I know my shit. So it’s beyond great to meet new people and talk about all the shit we know together! It’s made me more comfortable in groups.

Am I the only one who’s noticed this about myself? For all you folks on Twitter or keeping blogs, has the attention changed how you interact with people in real life?

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I don’t want to be that person. That person who has more followers than followees. I’ve been getting a lot of Twitter requests lately though from people who aren’t spammy, but act like it. Um. Dear People, I don’t want to follow you when you’re this oblivious.

This post is about how your profile first looks to potential followers. This post is about looking like a newbie even if you’re not. This post IS NOT about content. I’m just going to assume you’re sending out quality shit, with a fair amount of conversing and retweeting in there for funsies.

Want to know if you’re one of them? Curious if what you’re doing is hindering your Twitter success? The title’s a little self explanatory, so let’s just jump right in, shall we?

Don't do this...

8 Reasons You’re Not Getting Twitter Followers

1. Your profile info isn’t complete.

If I don’t know your real name, who you are and what you do, I won’t follow you.  I’m also much more likely to follow people who have a link to some sort of website, blog or – at the very least – a LinkedIn profile.

2. You’ve only tweeted one or two times. Or worse, never.

How will I know whether or not I should follow you unless I know what kind of stuff you tweet about? TIP: Before you start following anyone, make sure you’ve tweeted enough times to fill the page. HOWEVER. Don’t do it all at once because then when someone does start following you you’ll clog up their home feed. And no one likes that. To time your tweets I highly recommend HootSuite.

3. No photo! Dude, only spammers and newbies leave their Twitter avatar as the generic image.

There’s an interesting graph on Fresh Networks showing that users with a photo have around 10 times as many followers as those without. In my personal opinion (which is in no way based on fact), photos should be photos of YOU. Not of your dog, your logo or a cartoon image of yourself. Look at Pete Cashmore of Mashable. The site is a Giant but he still makes it personal by using his own image.

That being said, I know plenty of great Twitter profiles with tons of followers that use a logo. So I’ll cut you some slack there, but only a little.

4. Your background is either a) generic, or b) cheesy as hell.

A generic background says you don’t care enough to do something cool. A cheesy background (like, a really dorky photo of yourself Photoshopped over a panorama of your hometown) says your trying to sell me something. Use a favorite photo relevant to your industry or design your own background.

5. An inappropriate follower ratio.

If you follow hundreds of people at once without having any followers yourself, you start to look like a spammer. First, follow a few people you know personally and who will most likely follow you back. That way you can build up a little following so it doesn’t look like you’re a TOTAL newbie ;-)

Also, if you use a program (that-which-will-not-be-named) to get followers and use an auto-following system so you end up following 50,000 people and 50,000 followers, you’ll look insincere. So no funny business, okay?

6. You haven’t tweeted in ages.

Listen up friends, this post isn’t just for newbies and people totally out of the loop. This is for you too! Even if it’s only been a week, you’re not going to get new followers, so don’t start complaining that it “doesn’t work.” I use HootSuite to schedule tweets for when I’m busy or won’t be in front of my computer, but I tweet at least once a day, usually around 5 or 6 times. Before you start bitching that it’s too much it’s 140 CHARACTERS YA’LL! Mmm-kay?

I’m following so many people that I want to weed out the boring and inactive ones on a regular basis and I’m not the only one who does that. Once a week I use a program like Twitter Karma or Tweepi and unfollow anyone who hasn’t tweeted in the last week. So make sure you tweet semi-regularly to keep your followers and so you can keep a recent date at the top of your feed so new followers know you have your shit together and are consistently contributing new content. Find out how often you tweet here.

7. Your bio says absolutely nothing useful.

Okay, I know I mentioned an incomplete profile, but I wanted to put this separate in case you added a famous quote or, perhaps, “lover of cheese” to your bio. Irrelevant facts can be funny when called for, but you’ve got 160 characters, baby. Use it well. Read my post on About Pages to read more ranting about personal info.

8. Your profile is private.

I actually totally get why some people have private profiles. My Facebook is private because I only use it for personal reasons, but if you’re trying to use Twitter to network, do not, I repeat: DO NOT, set your profile to private. Seriously? Why in the name of God would I follow someone when I can’t see any of their tweets or info? I wouldn’t. The end.

—-

For those of you who have this stuff and lots and lots of followers, leave a comment and tear me a new one. But before you cry because I’ve insulted you, take a good look at how you present yourself.

Click. Do it now.

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I was recently hired to do some social media work for an author who is already set up on Facebook and Twitter. Before agreeing to take on the project I took a look at her profiles and saw almost 2,000 Twitter followers and 400 Facebook fans (sounds better than “likers”). My job would be to maintain and grow the fan base as well as engage the already established community.

However, once I logged onto her homepage I was bombarded with spam, which was when I realized whoever she had originally hired to take care of her marketing had completely screwed her over.

How is following spam useful AT ALL? Really. Answer me! I honestly don’t understand.

First of all, the author was following 2,000 people, all of whom promise their followers they’d “get rich quick,” “lose

Ugh. *Shudder*

20lbs overnight!” or “meet a special lady tonight.” Honestly, people.

Apparently, the other company she had hired were late jumping on the social media bandwagon. They assumed the most important thing was numbers, completely disregarding that those numbers would never buy her book because they’re too busy shouting over one another. Didn’t matter that those numbers consisted of spammers and porn. Add to that the fact that many authors don’t know the first thing about Twitter, this asshole company banked on her never knowing about their little spam attack. Unfortunately for them, I took over. Muahahahahahaaa!

Seriously though, I know there are sites out there that can get you thousands of followers for a “modest sum”, but I didn’t know that legit marketing companies use these services and then charge their clients an arm and a leg.

It’s more than just annoying though. What if someone checked out this author’s followers only to find porn? Not only does that not help her marketing plan but could actually ruin her reputation. It’s disgusting and I’m angry and going to write a very angry letter to this company on behalf of (now) my author.

Then there are my issues with auto-following…

As long as I’ve been on Twitter I’ve been under the impression that it’s just good manners to follow anyone who follows you back. But that’s how spam gets in your feed and spam is (obviously – see above) one of my biggest pet peeves.

Guy Kawasaki has this to say about it: “Ignore people who tell you that it’s the quality of your followers not the quantity.” In another article he writes this charming piece of logic:

“Follow everyone who follows you. When I first started on Twitter, Robert Scoble told me to follow everyone who followed me. “But why, Robert, would I follow everyone like that?” The answer is that it’s courteous to do so and because when you do, some people will respond to you and everyone who follows them will see this—which is more exposure for you.”

Sorry Pumpkin, but I disrespectfully disagree. Mostly because your tweets are crap. You tweet way too often and I honestly can’t be bothered to weed through your crap when I’m trying to find out what significantly more interesting (and yes, seriously “less important”) people are saying.

That being said, when I taught my mom how to use the ol’ Twitter, she whined for ages saying, “What!? I have to see what other people have to say every day? Can’t I just skip over the home page?”

As rockin’ as my mommy is, she had a slow time of learning the social part of social media. I get it though; she’s a busy lady and isn’t used to this newfangled promoting-yourself-by-connecting-with-people thing…

I’m really curious what you guys think though. Does my author deserve to get her money back? Should companies that use these methods be called out on their complete and utter lack of social media know-how? What about auto-following?

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I have some seriously exciting news my dear friends! As you can tell from the ridiculously spazzy headline, I am officially announcing the launch of the GREATEST job hunting tool on the planet. What is the tool you ask? Um. Yeah. That would be me. And social media. Together.

Hells to the yeah my friends.

What’s in store for you:

• Four 60-minute video tutorials with step-by-step instructions on how to use LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and blogs to connect with people in your industry and land the perfect job.
• A fabulous and interactive Facebook group for members who can share their stories as they navigate the job hunt world and all its perils.
• The top tips and tricks for being seen as an expert in your field.
• How to connect with thousands of people in days
• The best job hunting tricks on the planet
• Questions you forgot to ask your career counselor
• Ballsy answers to obnoxious interview questions
• 4 traits employers find irresistible
• And the biggest social media mistakes Gen Y is making (and no, it’s not something boring like putting up drunk pictures on Facebook. God people, give me some credit here!)

Okay. Before you pee your pants, it hasn’t launched yet. The first video should be available in the next couple week so keep your eyes peeled.

Bad memory? Sign up to be notified here.

____

Final piece of business: Want to be my favorite person on the planet? If you could retweet this, post it on Facebook, email someone and/or generally spread the word, I would greatly appreciate it. I can’t tell you how stoked I am to launch this program and I know the need is there :)

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As the third and final post in my Blogging for Money series, I want to steer you all away from the direction of donations, advertising and affiliate programs and towards creating and selling your own content.

Gasp!! But that requires work outside of blogging! Which is totally what I just preached against! Let’s take a breath so y’all can get your panties unwadded…

Creating your own content requires more effort and a definite niche, so I’m not saying it’s for everyone. But I had a nice long chat with my buddy Michael, and he had some amazing thoughts on the subject.

Build a Tribe

By blogging, or “building a tribe,” you’ve made a community of people who are giving you their attention. “In today’s economy,” Michael said,  “attention is the most scarce and valuable resource there is out there.” His advice is to use that valuable asset instead of steering people’s attention away from your content and towards someone else’s advertisement/book/product/whatever.

According to Michael, if you want to be playing a game where you’re getting pennies, using ads and getting a little

Rolling in dough now!

money from affiliate programs is the game to play. “If you want to get potentially thousands of dollars out of people’s attention you have to play a different game. That game is figuring out: what’s the highest value service or product you could sell?” Now, these services can either be your own, or a product you’ve created or a really high quality (and relevant) product of someone else’s.

An Example

A great example of someone who does this very well is Brian Clark over at Copyblogger. “He is the gold standard of how you should monetize a blog,” Michael told me. “He would never let some random company pay him pennies to flash unrelated ads to his audience. All his efforts go toward getting people subscribed on his email list and into his various products and services that he sells.”

So it looks like the ultimate goal is to be selling something that has a higher price tag down the road. Your own service or boot camp or mastermind group or community or info product is where you can use the trust and attention bestowed upon you. If it’s of a really high value it can have a higher price tag rather than using people’s coveted attention to sell something that’s low value and has a low price tag.

Make sense?

Your Blog is a Doorway to Your Business

Like I said, this doesn’t work for everyone. If you have a pretty successful personal blog and no desire to spend the time and energy on creating your own product, a couple dollars here and there through donations might be just the thing for you. I think what Michael means though, is that the blogs used for business/entrepreneurial purposes would benefit from this tactic.

The man actually has me thinking about my own business. The one thing you know people are interested in is you. I adore my freelance work, but I think opportunities exist for me to sell myself. So I am going to use this space to tentatively announce a a bad ass project in the works. Through the Virtual Mastery program with Marie Forleo, I (and the other amazing women in the program) have been brainstorming away and I’m happy to announce I will soon be launching an incredible course for recent grads.

Watch this space…

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Sorry about that last post, it was way too long. I know blogs are tricky in that our audience usually has 10 other tabs open and no one can be bothered to read my ridiculously long investigation on donations. So this one will be shorter(ish).

As the second post in my series on making money blogging, I want to address affiliate programs and sponsorships, two things I absolutely do not have. I keep meaning to sign up for an affiliate account with Amazon, but I don’t really talk about products and I rarely do book reviews, and most of my audience is too poor to buy anything anyways so affiliate = pointless.

But what about those who do have sponsorship-applicable blogs? If all you do is write book reviews, it makes sense to link to those books and get a cut (however small), if someone buys that book. Or whatever else Amazon sells.

Except what if you want to recommend products not on Amazon? This is where I further embarrass myself by talking about how much I love OpenSky. LoveloveLOVE.

OpenSky Is Badass

I’m too lazy today to go into a whole thing about them because I already wrote them a love letter on Digital Book World (go there and read, they really are that awesome). For those of you who are equally lazy, OpenSky is kind of like the Amazon Affiliate program but…

1. You’re not limited to Amazon products.
2. You get a bigger cut of the profits.
3. You get your own little “shop“.

Last week I went into the OpenSky offices and had some chats with the people there. First of all, there is a dog that wanders the office and his name is Pixel. Not even kidding. I almost wet myself.

Sitting backwards = Super Cool

Secondly, I felt waaaay uncool, but only because EVERY SINGLE PERSON in that office is insanely attractive. But also nice, which made me hate them more.

Here’s my point (that has nothing to do with the two above): OpenSky was hoppin’. People were meeting, everyone worked together, employees were piled onto one desk and everyone did that thing where you sit backwards on your chair that makes you look really cool but makes uncoordinated people like me fall over. Obviously OpenSky only hires the Super Cool & Coordinated.

OpenSky Works Because There Is Trust

Jimmy Moore, who we met yesterday from Livin’ La Vida Low Carb, makes some of his money from affiliate programs like Amazon as well as actively seeking out sponsors. But he’s not a huge fan of any affiliate programs because he only gets a minimal percentage and the company gets free advertising, even if no one buys. “I go out and find my own sponsors,” he told me. “Most of those programs are garbage so I’d rather vet them for myself.”

In terms of product endorsement, Moore says he tries the product and only if he feels like he can endorse that product honestly does he feature it on his site with an affiliate link. “It’s not a perfect science but I’m making it work,” he told me.

Because Moore has integrity (and is awesome) he actually turned down a lucrative (six figure) offered to endorse a certain “carb blocker”. “I had already railed against carb blockers, essentially saying ”stay away from them, they’re of the devil’ so while I definitely considered it, it was really just a fleeting thought. No way I can keep my integrity and since I’m always flat out honest with my readers, I would be lynched and my career would be over.”

And the Lesson…?

So the lesson here kids, is that sponsorships and affiliate programs may be a great way to make money (if you already have a high readership – again, this all depends), but blogging is different than any other medium. A snazzy newspaper can advertise with whoever they want because they’re a snazzy newspaper and there are tons of writers and employees. But a blogger, well, that’s different. A good blogger builds up an important trust with their readers and you can’t just going recommending products willy nilly unless you really and truly believe in them. And yeah, I just said willy nilly.

I can rant about this all day, but I’m going to leave the specific teachings to the experts. Check out the excellent site, The Smart Passive Income Blog, and see the blogger’s monthly income report (so cool!). To learn more about blogging for money I highly recommend Pro Blogger’s, Make Money Blogging.

Tomorrow’s post on creating your own content/products to sell is actually going to be posted on Friday because I have big important places to be, like DBW’s Digitize Your Career. Word.

I’d also like to leave you with this…

This is me as a child. And this is why I can't sit in a chair backwards... Apparently my sense of direction is severely impaired.

Related posts :

• The Truth About Blogging For Money. Part 1: Donations
• Why blogging about my life rather than anything actually relevant is good for business

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You know when people tell you that the thing you should do with your life is what you find yourself doing at all hours of the day and night? That thing that gets you so worked up you would do it for free for ever and ever and ever? Yeah. For me, that thing is blogging. I love everything about it and I’m starting to think my ideal life would be traveling, sitting in random cafes for hours while the staff give me the stink eye for taking up valuable space so I’m guilted into tipping them lots of money, and making that lots of money back by blogging whilst sitting in said cafe.

Is that even possible? I still don’t have a specific niche, and while my audience is growing, I don’t want to abuse this trust I’ve built by bombarding you with ads or affiliate links. As of right now, the only money I’ve made through blogging has been indirect. Most of my clients find me via the site, so in one respect, my blog has helped me earn a living. Just not in the way I’d eventually like it to.

This is what got me thinking. Advertisers have yet to start beating down my door, my topics aren’t well suited for an Amazon affiliate program and there’s no way I can charge for the content I provide. So what’s a blogger to do? How can you really make a living via your blog? What do other people do? Are there more creative ways to make some cash doing what we love?

The answer is yes, and through a series of 3 posts I want to highlight the ways I’ve found bloggers are making (or not making) money. Today’s post is about donations.

How does a blogger use donations?

Some bloggers include a PayPal donation button on their site, usually justifying their “busking.” For example, a fashion blogger might write, “Love my blog? Keep me in shoes and show your support by donating here.”

I, for one, have never donated via said buttons and doubt I’m the only one who wonders if they work. In terms of my favorite blogs, I’d actually love to donate, but I’m broke so never have.

If you want to learn how to add a PayPal button to your site, click here.

An example from My Repurposed Life

Okay. But do they work?

VAGUE ANSWER ALERT: Yes and no.  I asked a couple bloggers with buttons and my uneducated answer is going to be… no. THAT BEING SAID. Only one blogger I interviewed has a ton of traffic so, like I said, totally uneducated answer.

Gail Wilson, of My Repurposed Life (a really fabulous DIY blog), told me:

I have had the button up for a couple of weeks and have not had any luck as of yet. No one has made any comments. It’s a lot like people do when they see a homeless person on the street, they just tend to look the other way.  I didn’t put it near the top of my side bar, I sort of put it where it falls near the end of  “today’s” post each day. I am going to leave it up a couple of more weeks, if nothing happens, I’m sure I will remove it.  I had mixed feeling about putting it up at all.

Wilson, who originally tried Google ads (Google will send you a check whenever your account reaches $100.00 and it took her several months to get her first check), has about 540 followers and almost 1100 subscribers.  The blog isn’t huge but Wilson says it’s been growing consistently.

Jimmie Bise of The Sundries Shack wrote me, “Alas, I can’t report anything that remotely resembles success with my donate button.” He once received a $100 donation from a friend to help finance a trip to appear on Jeopardy! but  really only gets one donation every 3 months or so. “I have heard that the tip jar is the toughest way for a blogger to make money,” Bise said, “but as I don’t really have the traffic to warrant paid advertisements, it’s one of the only ways I’ve made anything (Amazon Associates sales is the other, and that’s not all that much either).”

HOWEVER. Jimmy Moore, of Livin’ La Vida Low Carb, makes a couple hundred bucks per month from donations. While he may not be rolling in dough, the man makes a good living from his blogging career, with revenue coming in from  donations, sponsorships, ads and affiliate links.

At first, Moore thought asking for donations was tacky, but after almost 3 years of blogging, readers asked for a way to support him, not his sponsors. “They believe in what I do so strongly that they want to support it with their dollars,” Moore told me. “I give them a great service. I don’t charge for my content but if they feel they’re getting someone out of it, they show their support through donations.”

With a couple hundred thousand visitors per month and a successful podcast, it seems like Moore is the ideal candidate for donations. Not too successful that it looks like he’s cheap, but successful enough to have a loyal fanbase. Moore knows it’s that loyalty that makes donations possible. He said, “Having a donation button doesn’t make any sense for someone just starting off. That’s ignorant and makes you look like a money grabber. “

How to make donations work for you

I don’t think donations can financially sustain any blogger. Moore consistently receives large donations from doctors who refer their patients to his blog and outside of those regular donors, the PayPal button is really just some extra cash. (Not that I wouldn’t mind some extra cash.)

Problogger wrote a while back about who should and shouldn’t use donation buttons. They say to successfully implement one a blogger should have a large and loyal fanbase without any other income. Not sure about that last point, but I agree with the first two.

Gratitude might play a small roll as well. Life Coach Anni Ory told me that she’s actually donated to blogs a few times, but unless she gets a thank you, she wont donate again. “I find that rude,” she told me.

Agreed. When it comes to having a following that actually gives you money, acknowledge that donation happened because of that loyalty. Confirm to them they have yours too by sending a simple thank you email. Didn’t your mama teach you right?

Think about that when implementing the interweb tip jar. As for whether you should implement one at all? “It’s a judgment call,” Moore advised. “Determine if your readership is ready and if you’re worthy.”

I like it better when they say "Thanks a latte!"

**Keep your eyes peeled for tomorrow’s post! Part 2: Affiliate Programs & Sponsorships

Related posts:

• The Truth About Blogging For Money. Part 2: Affiliates & Sponsors
• The Truth About Blogging For Money. Part 3: Creating Content

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A friend recently started a blog and spent THREE DAYS working on her About page. While that may sound excessive, it’s one of the most important parts of your blog. Sometimes people read your About page before they even read your posts. It says everything about you: who you are, what you do when you’re not blogging, why we should listen to you, why we continue to  read your blog… It needs to be smart, to-the-point, funny (if possible), engaging and – above all things – up-to-date.

I’ve seen a lot of extraordinarily shitty pages lately and it’s driving me crazy pants. So without further ado, a little ranty rant on…

The 5 things that make me want to stab myself in the eye when I read your About page:

1. I don’t care about your life story. Not even a little bit.

Seriously, cut that crap out. Unless you’re a celebrity with a fan page, no one cares where you were born or your 20-year career history. We don’t care about those “Fun Facts” (where you went to high school, every obscure publication you’ve written for, how old you were when your parents got divorced).

2. Don’t make me search around for what I want to know.

Do you provide a service? Is your blog uber-personal? Business-oriented? A hobby? If all you’re doing is listing irrelevant stuff (see above) and I can’t figure out what kind of authority you provide – if any – then your About page is a complete waste of space.

3. You have a smallish blog that obviously has no staff yet you write in third person… pssst… We know it’s you.

I don’t think I really need to explain this. Unless you’re working for a major blog with lots of readers, third person bios only work when making the distinction between bloggers. If you’re an author, TV personality, or some other public figure, then a third person bio is okay. Just a blogger writing from your own expertise on cars/birds/planes? Not okay.

4. There’s nothing visually stimulating.

If you have a personal blog, insert a picture. We don’t care what you look like, honestly (except if you’re hot, then everyone wants to do you), but it’s nice to know the person behind the posts. If you have an interesting life story that absolutely must be included (see below), insert subheadings, bold the important stuff and, for God’s sake, insert something pretty here and there so our eyes take a little break.

And the kicker…

5. You don’t have an About page.

WTF? Really, people? Really?

When some of this stuff is okay:

Your life story (if it’s short) can be helpful. For example, in terms of many food blogs, especially dietary. Have a food allergy that made you sick for years? Then it’s okay to talk about your childhood. Have an inspirational blog that started off as your own inspirational story? Appropriate. Does that inspirational story run 17 paragraphs and mention every little detail of said inspiration? Not appropriate.

Irrelevant facts can be used – sparely – if they’re beyond hilarious and it’s obvious you know no one cares about your glass animal collection.

Tired of my bitching? Want to know what makes a really excellent About page?

1. Who are you? Who, who, who, who?

For reals. A banker by day, craft blogger by night? Artist extraordinaire? College student looking for a post-grad career in book jacket design?

2. Make me give some obscene four-letter-word what you have to say.

Is this a personal blog for your friends whilst you travel abroad? Does your unhealthy love for books mean you should share that love via book reviews? Does your 500-year career as a banker mean you give radtastic finance advice? Think of your audience, not about yourself.

3. Extra points if I pee my pants.

Even if your blog is super serious and/or doesn’t lend itself to humor, there isn’t anyone in the whole existence of the universe that doesn’t like to chuckle.

4. Make it easy to find.

Where the hell is your About page? If I have to scroll down for 50 years it’s inconspicuous. Good places: up top in your navigation menu. On the left or right sidebars, but not far enough down that requires scrolling.

5. Links!

We all love links! Links to your best posts, links to a more detailed bio should people want it, links to your Twitter/Flickr/Facebook account(s), linkslinkslinkslinks. LINKS.

(Like what I did there? It’s called linking)

NOTE: It’s been a long day and, as my mom likes to say, “Baby, you need to drink less coffee.”

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