Money in Blogging Part 1: SEO and SEM

I've been reading a lot lately about how you can earn through blogging with affiliate ads, blog reviews and search engine marketing but only a few I've read were quite solid and has proof of the said experience. My approach in my research didn't quite go well since none participated, I anticipated that anyways. It's a good thing I've already made my research from the past and I just want to confirm the latest approach or programs that may add to my research.

In my previous research, the best earning option for a user to earn online is the use of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Blogging on their sites or blogs.

SEO Blogging

Optimizing your site or blog to be more visible to search engines is the best way in earning income. If you are using Google's Adsense and you have executed the best pratices in optimizing your site which means best ad placements, best ad type (picture or text), best ad size and best keywords then you are on the right track already and of course quality content.

This is true. One time one of the niche I've used got a click and was amazed at how much I got for a single click - $2.23, that is cheap compared to sample earnings I've seen from some successful sites. Imagine if you have a hundred of that click a day - $223 in just a single day - Wow!. It is a dream come true for me if ever I am earning that much for a day.

I remembered when I was experimenting with Google Adwords from the free $100 voucher that Google gave me before. I felt excited to see lots of clicks a day and lots of visitors as well. It was well worth of an experience and it was one of the best learning adventures I've ever had.

Right now I can say that I still have lots of things to learn in this nature of business and hobby. However, my progress I can say is a lot better than before. I remember I used to exert a lot of effort just to get Google's attention, I mean the search engine. Now, based on Google Analytics, my blog earned a dramatic increase from search engine traffic (Google) which means my optimization paid off and I am using the right keywords.

SEM Blogging

It's the same as SEO but it is paid. Actually it is derived from SEO so if you compare them it's like Father vs Son. 

Just imagin me as SEO and my son is SEM.

Basically, what this means is that people using this technique paid to be inserted on Google's top searches. If you want to know how this works you can try going to gooogle and try to make a search. It is quite easy to spot them, you'll be able to spot their sites on the top of your searches and isolated above others -of course it is related to the site you are browsing.

So why do they do that? First they have the money and second they believe they have a lot to offer, I mean their site or blog has lots to offer. Most blogs/sites paying to be on top of searches already made sure that their sites/blogs are ready for their visitors because if not then it would be a lot of waste for their money. The key here is the right keyword and the best landing page.

SEO or SEM?

So which is better? SEO or SEM? This approach is a case to case basis. There are times that you have to invest in order to attract attention. For example, your keyword is about "money-making website". If you check the Google Traffic Estimator, and you happen to find that it has around a hundred thousand queries each they then it's good but check again cause you may find that there are around millions of people competing or using the same keyword to be on top of Google's list which is a bad news for you. So if you're confident that your site or blog is worth visiting and you are confident of the quality of your blog/site's content and you have the money, then go for SEM. But if you have optimized your site carefully, sometimes a need for investment isn't necessary. Of course earning from nothing is still the best.

Do I need SEO?

If you really want to earn through your blog or site, even if you just started, it is best to optimize your site. Concentrate on your niche and populate it with quality contents of the same niche. By the way, optimizing your site properly can also help you increase your PageRank. So if you like to earn through blog review or product review in your site - use SEO.

Check out some SEO related topics I've written before: SEO / SEO Blogging.