What is a blog? By definition, a blog is simply a personal website on which an individual records text, images or media objects in a chronological sequence.
For many people, the word “blog” conjures up the stereotypical mommy blog where mothers gush about their children, log the mundane details of their day and occasionally interject attempts at wildly unrealistic Pinterest creations.
While online diaries like that are certainly a type of blog, they are not the only type of blog. There are many types of blogs, including business blogs and niche blogs.
What is a personal blog?
A personal blogs are essentially online diaries that allow the author to share their experiences, feelings and opinions with an audience. These blogs don’t usually have a focus or a point other than chronicling the author’s life.
These blogs are usually hosted on Blogger, Tumblr or WordPress.com. They are free to start and are usually only read by the author’s friends and close family.
Personal blogs are not viable sources of online income. Even when monetized, they are NOT profitable.
What is a business blog?
A business blog is a marketing tool for an existing business. Blogging is one of the most powerful online marketing tools a business can use because well-researched, well-optimized blog posts can bring in a lot of organic traffic from Google and other search engines.
These blogs generally focus on topics related to the business’ products or services. For example, a mobile animal grooming service might blog about basic veterinary care tips and other animal-related topics.
Blogging is a marketing tactic that can serve businesses from the smallest startup to the largest retail empire. However, these blogs are usually used to market the business itself and usually don’t produce income on their own.
What is a niche blog?
A niche blog is the lovechild of personal and business blogging. It’s the perfect mix!
Like a personal blog, a niche blog is quick and easy to setup. They are affordable and often written by just one person.
However, like a business blog, a niche blog is tightly focused. It has a clearly defined topic and an audience. Niche blogs stick to one narrowly-defined subject. Instead of selling products or services, niche blogs can simply provide information and collect ad revenue as a passive income source.
The process is simple:
Step One: The niche blog writes content on a specific subject. People who are interested in this topic visit the blog to read the content.
Step Two: Each post has a few relevant, contextual ads in it. People who are interested in this topic are likely to be interested in these ads because they are relevant to the topic you’re already writing about.
Step Three: The advertisers pay per impression or per ad click, depending on the terms of the program.
Of course, it is very important that you, as the website owner, never click on or encourage others to click on those ads! Doing so will get you banned from the ad programs for invalid click activity.
Step Four: Write more content. More content = more pages = more ads = more revenue.
Rinse and repeat.
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