Trying To Make Money Blogging

Yesterday I came across a contest over at bloggernoob.com. I’m not usually interested in contests because the prizes are usually a bit dull. The prize bloggernoob offers though is great, you can win a iriver PMP or $100. To win this great prize, all you have to do is write a review about his blog. Once you’ve wrote your review, post it Here

What is bloggernoob.com?
Bloggernoob.com is a blog about making money online. It’s updated daily by someone who calls himself the noob. The noob claims to be a total novice in the world of making money online and blogging. At first I was a little sceptical of his claims, for such a new blogger, how was this guy pulling in such fantastic amounts of revenue each month? I was totally convinced that, ”The noob” was in fact a pro blogger. And I felt, ”The noob” was just a masquerade that this pro blogger was using to draw attention to his blog.

After further inspection of bloggernoob.com, (reading nearly all of The noobs blog posts) my scepticism started to disappear. His blog is one big experiment. He not only tells you his own methods of making money online, he shows you his results, what to do and encourages you to try the same. Surely a pro blogger would be a little more selective in passing out such valuable information?

What can The noob do for me?

A simple answer to that question is Lots. Bloggernoob.com plays host to over 500 blog posts about making money online or related subjects. O.k, some of the posts you may not find interesting, but I’m sure somebody else will. That’s one of the great things about bloggernoob, it caters for all. Bloggernoob also gives you an A+ example on how to interact with your visitors. If someone leaves a comment it wont take long before The noob comments back. You’re never left waiting for a response like on the bigger blogs. The noob is also very happy to help you out if you have a more direct question to ask.

Not so long ago I sent bloggernoob.com an email, I wanted to know about advertising programs. It wasn’t long before I got my response. A very helpful response too! Try sending an email to the Cow or Chow, you’re not going to get any respone back for a while, probably never. At the moment, I really can’t find any faults with helpfulness and information on bloggernoob.com. I sincerely hope ”blog fame” doesn’t ruin bloggernoob.com. And, I hope The noob will still be as friendly and helpful this time next year. If you’re the kind of person who loves to interact with other blogs? I highly recommend bloggernoob to you.

The Look and Feel

The bloggernoob.com empire is housed inside a 3 column WordPress theme. The first thing you will notice on this blog is ”The noobs” header logo. The logo is a mildly blurred image of a baby with a finger in its mouth sitting at a computer. Very different, but very clever. Noob = baby. The next thing you’re going to notice are the 11 125×125 ad banners on the blog. They take up pretty much all of the top right side of blog. O.k, banners may bring in precious revenue, but I feel bloggernoob.com needs to spread the banners over the site a little more. When the site first loads, you eyes are drawn away from the content and you find yourself staring at the nice colourful banner ads. This can cause problems. A visitor might be drawn in to clicking one of the ads, this then causes Bloggernoob to loose a visitor.

I’d suggest bringing some of the brilliantly titled ”popular posts” to the top of the right side, and drop some of the non profitable or cheaper ads below that. Exposing at least some of the blog content straight away to a new visitor should benefit the blog. Another thing I might consider doing on this blog, is introducing a section displaying users who have commented the most. Bloggernoob seems to have a decent enough amount of visitors to pull this off. It might encourage people to post even more comments. Remember, If this feature starts to encourage one word comments it only takes 2 seconds to remove.

I will give the blog design a 7/10. The blog is simple enough to navigate and isn’t over populated with pointless widgets and information. I feel in order for bloggernoob.com to progress a bit further, The noob might want to consider paying someone to add that finishing touch to the blog. A better blog title design wouldn’t do any harm and a tidy up of the footer would be wise. Then again, having an average blog looking blog title and leaving areas slightly messy, might be part of the noob effect?

How is bloggernoob.com different from other blogs in the same niche?

Bloggernoob doesn’t provide you with any ground breaking money making tactics. I’m sure you will find the same sort of content plastered on 1000’s of other blogs out there. But what sets bloggernoob apart from the others for me is the way he delivers that information. When talking about advertising or building traffic, The noob makes every thing so simple. He cuts out all the jargon and boring stuff and gives you the vitals. If you have any questions about a topic, you’re 100% guaranteed a quick and intelligent response. Try getting a question answered on one of the bigger blogs out there.

Amongst the make money topics on this blog, you will sometimes come across a ”paid post”. A post where bloggernoob is paid to review a product or service. I feel if your going to do paid posts you should only really review things that are related to your blog. Most of bloggernoobs paid posts are off topic. I know this doesn’t really matter, but a new visitor might stop buy, read two posts about face cream and loose interest in the blog. Other visitors might feel they’re are being used, more traffic, higher rates for paid blog posts. I can assure you now though, that isn’t what bloggernoob is about.

Bloggernoob.com also hosts contests. Lots of contests. Some might say that The noob is straying away from the whole make money blogging game. Contests are great for attracting visitors, but with all the contests going on, is the quality of the main content suffering? Only time will tell.

Conclusion

Bloogernoob.com is a fantastic blog. It’s run by a hard working blogger who likes to help newer bloggers get in to the ”make money online” niche. At bloogernoob, you’re never going to have referral links or scam projects pushed in your face, the information your getting is mostly tried and tested by The noob and there’s a great community atmosphere. It’s very clear to see that this self proclaimed noob, is slowly turning in to a online money making master!

What more could your ask for!?

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