Writing for Yourself Part I; Creating a Content Site and Using Google’s Adsense

Many people who want to make money from home through their writing often turn to copywriting or ghostwriting for others. However, by creating your own content site, with the help of a pay-per-click program, such as Google’s Adsense, you can earn money with your own writing.

The first step is to decide what kind of market you would like to target. The options are limitless. We will use an example of creating a content site targeted to stay-at-home moms who home school their children. That is still a very broad category, and you can limit that further by focusing on lesson plans for stay-at-home moms who home school their children that are between the ages of 4 – 8, for instance.

You will also want to do some keyword research. By using a service such as www.wordtracker.com, you can pinpoint what people are typing into search engines when they are trying to find your product or service. By doing a little keyword research, you will know if history lesson plans are more popular than science lesson plans.

Once you have determined what people are looking for, you can start creating your site. One option is to outsource the creation of your website to a web designer, but if you are going to be adding lots of new content and making many changes, it is best to learn how to create the site yourself. You no longer need to know HTML in order to create a website. There are many web design editing programs on the market that essentially do all the work for you; two of the most popular being Microsoft FrontPage and Xsite Pro.

After you have the framework of your site completed, it is time to start filling it with articles. People are going to visit your site to learn something, so give them clear, concise information. Keep adding fresh content and your visitors will keep returning to learn more.

You can apply for Google’s Adsense program by visiting https://www.google.com/adsense. Google will review your site, and once it is approved you simply add some HTML code to your site. Google will place small text ads on your site that have something in common with your site’s content. When one of your site’s visitors clicks on an ad, you will earn a commission. The amounts vary, and you are strictly prohibited from clicking on the ads that appear on your site.

Over time, you will gain search engine traffic and repeat visitors. Keep your content fresh and relative to your target market and the money you earn with your content site will really start to add up!