I see this mistake every single day. The guy sets up a blog, writes one or two posts and fills every corner with an ad. Adsense, Amazon etc etc.

I've seen recently launched blogs displaying over 5 different affiliate programs.

When I launched my first blog, over 2 years ago, I placed one or two Adsense ads and forgot about it. I didn't even check the stats for a long time. Because I knew those ads would bring no considerable money in the short run.

My main target on those days was building traffic. Only traffic can make you money, and John Chow knows what he's talking about.

Building traffic seems to be the big challenge for most newbies, but there is no secret. Write quality content and help people discover what a great writer you are.

There are hundreds of tips on building traffic, even softwares that promise to take you from 0 to thousands of readers in a minute.

Let me get this straight: there's no such thing as a free lunch. There's no secret formula or magic software that's going to turn your blog into the new Techcrunch.

No Comments | Read full story »