Easy ways to backup your WordPress blog
Blogging is a surprisingly time consuming task. You have to update your blog on a regular basis for an extended period of time before you are likely to develop any real traffic to your site. After spending hours and hours getting your blog up and running, the last thing you want to deal with is a crash that destroys all of your hard work.
It is so important to backup your blog. With regular backups, you can avoid the painful process of trying to rebuild your blog from scratch. There are multiple ways that you can backup your blog and they require very little effort on your behalf.
Before we get into specifics, it is important to understand the two major things you will want to backup: the actual database and all of the files (pictures, etc.) you have uploaded for your blog. Both the database and the files can be backed up separately using different methods.
For the files, it is easy to back them up in a method similar to the way you probably uploaded them. Open up your FTP client and connect to the blogs files. Simply copy them over to a folder on your computer. This folder can then be backed up on a DVD or external hard drive for an additional layer of safe keeping.
For the database, there is an easy to use plugin called WP-DPManager. In addition to backing up your database, this plugin will also help you optimize it in order to achieve the best possible performance.
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Filed under Blogging, Blogging Tips
Diversify your monetizing strategies for your blog
If you are attempting to earn some extra money through your blog, it is extremely important to diversify. Many bloggers immediately place Google ads in strategic locations on their site and then wait for a lucky reader to click on them. Over time, you may notice that your Google Adsense account begins to grow and you are fast on your way to that first $100 payout.
I just recently talked about the fluctuation of Adsense earnings. Most bloggers have noticed swings (both up and down) in their account and can testify that this is a real phenomenon. If you are dependent on the revenues you receive from your blog, you probably don’t want to rely on Adsense for this very reason.
I’m not going to lie to you. Google Adsense is one of the easiest and best paying methods to earn money blogging. Luckily it is not the only way to earn money blogging either!
If you are lucky enough to live in a state that is not affected by the “Amazon Tax,” I highly recommend you sign up for the Amazon affiliate program and find a way to successfully implement this into your blog. This is one alternative that will help you earn some extra money.
A lot of bloggers avoid context links because they feel it takes away from their site and their readers might find them annoying. I feel like so many popular sites have implemented context links that they almost seem normal to me. For this very reason I have no issues with adding them to a blog.
Filed under Blogging Tips, Make Money Blogging
Why do my Adsense earnings fluctuate so much?
I check my Google Adsense account on a regular basis. I’m not particularly anal retentive, but I find it is extremely important to monitor this account because it fluctuates on a regular basis. One month my earnings are low, and then the following month they quadruple, and then they fall again.
So what is causing my Adsense revenues to fluctuate so much? According to Google, your earnings fluctuate because they are constantly changing the way their Adsense program functions. They also tell us that this is because they are trying to improve their program although in many cases it ends up hurting the publishers.
Every Google ad that appears on your blog has a different value. One ad might earn you a penny, while the next one that displays on your blog might earn you several dollars. If Google changes its targeting system, you may find that your blog is getting more of the inexpensive ads and your earnings will fall.
Here is the problem. Even if the targeting system is greatly improved and the ads that are displayed on your blog are more relevant than ever, this in no way means that you are going to start earning more money. If the ads aren’t worth much, you aren’t going to earn much even if more people start clicking on them.
How can I improve my Adsense earnings?
Trust me – there is hope for your blog if you have seen your earnings fall with the recent adjustments to the Adsense targeting system. Solution: Pick better keywords. It is as simple as that. Take advantage of the Adsense Keyword tool and select several high paying keywords that you can integrate into your blog!
Filed under Blogging Tips, Make Money Blogging
Contextual versus placement targeting for Adsense
If you are an advertiser and you want your ads to appear on the Adsense network, there are two basic terms that you need to understand: contextual targeting and placement targeting. You will need to determine which of these methods you want to use to display your ads.
Let’s start with contextual targeting. This basically means that you are targeting the context of a particular site. You can do this by creating an ad group in Google Adsense that contains keywords you have predefined. When a site in the Adsense network displays an article with the keywords in your list, your advertisement could appear on that site.
Now in order to take advantage of contextual targeting, you have to first enable it. Open up your Campaign Settings page in Google Adsense and simply turn on this form of advertising and you are ready to get started!
Placement targeting is more complicated than contextual targeting. With placement targeting, you are specifying that you want your ads to appear in a particular spot regardless of the keywords being used. You can target a specific website (as long as it is within the Adsense Network) to display your advertisement.
There is a trick with placement targeting. If you want your advertisement to appear on a really popular website or blog, and there is already a high demand from other advertisers, you can expect to pay a lot more to see your ad displayed there.
Filed under Blogging
Set up custom reports to improve your Adsense tracking
Google Adsense is a great way to monetize your blog with ease. There are several different ways to place Google Ads on your blog. Changing where these are placed and what kind of ads they are will impact your revenues. It is important to track your revenues so you can easily see how these different changes impact your blog!
The easiest way to track your Google Adsense revenue is by taking advantage of their reports. There are a few basic reports provided to you by Google, but you also have the option to create your own custom reports. In order to get the real picture about how your blog is performing, learning how to use these custom reports is essential!
With custom reports, you can easily select what type of information you want to see. Start off by selecting the type of Adsense you want to monitor (content, feeds, search, etc.). Then you can select the date range for the information. You will also be able to choose which of your custom channels (if not all) you want to include in your report.
One area that you might want to pay special attention to is the “choose unit” radio buttons. You can select ad units, link units, or both. I like to run separate reports for both ad units and link units for each of my channels. This tells me which type of ads that my visitors are clicking. If nobody is clicking on my link units, I can move them around, change them, or covert them into ad units to see if I can improve my revenues!
Filed under Blogging Tips, Make Money Blogging
How can I add Google Adsense videos to my blog
The other day I happened to notice that a video I wanted to watch was preceded by a Google Adsense video. Now advertisements before videos are certainly nothing new. In fact, it seems like just about every video you click on anymore is preceded by an advertisement. But this was the first time I noticed that it was an Adsense video.
So it got me thinking. How can I put Adsense videos on my blog? It seems like a brilliant concept and I’m always looking for new ways to increase my blogging revenues. Having used Google Adsense quite a bit already, I knew there wasn’t an option to create a video in my ad setup area.
Basically what you need to do to get these video ads to appear on your blog requires you to opt into image ads. Many of us have probably already done this. Next you need to make sure that you are creating image ads in the required sizes: 300×250, 336×280, or 250×250 Square.
Now here is the downside of video advertisements. Just because you have image ads enabled and you create advertisements of the correct size, there is no guarantee that the video ads will be displayed. If you have a suitable video on your blog, Adsense will play a complimentary video ad for it. Otherwise, you just get video!
Add Google Adsense videos to your blog and increase your revenues. Learn about the advantages of ad videos and how to implement today!
