One of the main issues professional bloggers face is the dilemma how to monetize their sites. There are plenty of different ad networks available and they all promise the golden pot at the foot of the rainbow. As part of a promotional campaign, I had the pleasure of interviewing Karen Noonan from RevResponse (1). I must honestly admit that the answers were not only satisfying but also stimulated me to look deeper at the offering of RevResponse. More even, I am embedding RevResponse on one of the main sites I manage.

Read the interview with Karen and give RevResponse a try if you are looking for a different way to earn money with your blog, this could be the dark horse you were looking for.

Hello Karen, thanks for your time. First of all, could you in short introduce RevResponse to our readers?

RevResponse.com is a performance based B2B specific affiliate network which gives related website publishers an exciting new way to generate revenue while providing their users with free content of real and tangible value. Simply put, web publishers and/or bloggers join RevResponse, we give them access to a library of hundreds of free business and technology related magazines, ebooks, downloads, webinars, etc. Then, RevResponse partners promote the offers in that library to their audience via blog post, newsletter inclusion, ad space, text link, etc. Lastly, we pay the partners when their users request the free resources.

What makes us different from typical ad networks that display links of questionable interest to readers, or affiliate networks that pay only when users part with their hard-earned money, RevResponse pays website publishers to present free content that’s of genuine value to site visitors.

One of the first things visitors to the RevResponse site notice is the $1.50-$2.50/lead. These numbers seem rather high, how is the conversion generally and also, it seems that some of these leads seem higher than leads from eg. Amazon. Where’s the catch? read more

When I was a Media Studies undergrad in the late 90s, I vividly remember assembling clip packets. These were photocopied bundles of my best written work that were shipped off to print media. The goal was to get paid assignments or a full-time job.

Years later, as I made the transition from print media to digital media, physical clip packets evolved into e-mails and links. Not only was it a time saver, but I saved money on envelopes and postage too.

Through the years I picked up more blogging gigs and the world was grand. Who needed newspapers and magazines anyway. The writing seemed to be on the wall: Print was a dying relic, the future of the Web bright. That still might be the case. But suddenly I have the urge to take a step “backwards” and concentrate on scoring more print gigs. Hmmm. read more

Smoke signals. They were effective in ancient China when soldiers needed to communicate over the Great Wall. But send one up today and your message will go up in – well – smoke. Getting the attention of a blogger you would like to work with or for is no easy task. Life feels like one big cluttered inbox. Here are a few ways to cut through the noise.

1) Write about them. Bloggers are not a vain bunch, but they do check their referring traffic on a regular basis. Insult them on your Website and they will defend their honor. Compliment them and they will be thankful.

2) Ask them for help. It’s a generalization but I’m going to go there anyhow; people love to hear themselves talk. read more

I’ve never understood Blogger. In my humble opinion, it is a cumbersome blogging platform that has always dragged way behind the competition. Even under the Google umbrella, the novice CMS has failed to impress. But perhaps there is hope…

Starting today, Blogger is rolling out the Blogger Template Designer, a tool that will give users much greater control over how their blog looks and operates. read more

A crusty old journalism professor I once had used to preach the following:

“To get where you want to go, you should talk to someone who has been there.”

Ideally, that’s where a mentor comes in. A wise and trusted counselor who influences our work and supports us along the way. You know, the older guy who has earned our respect by example. Now all he has left to accomplish is helping shape today’s youth. I’ve yet to find my blogging Mr. Miyagi (See Karate Kid), and I have a few ideas why: read more

When I think back to grade school, I still break out into a sweat remembering the horror of being called on unexpectedly by a teacher and asked to read a passage aloud. You always had the feeling that you were one stammer or mispronunciation away from being ostracized.

My wife, who is a teacher but still takes advanced education classes, recently asked me to help her with an assignment. My job? Read the paper she wrote aloud. And you know what? The tactic that she employs with her second grade class could be beneficial to bloggers. read more

As you learned from my Myers-Briggs self-assessment, I’m the kind of guy that rather blend in than stand out in a crowd. That means I can produce killer content, but don’t get a gold medal when it comes to self-promotion.

As I was sitting in traffic this morning thinking up ways to promote my blog offline, it occurred to me that a great opportunity could be staring me right in the face…literally. read more

A wise man once said, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

That genius was Ferris Bueller, the fictional namesake of the ever-popular 1986 movie written and directed by John Hughes.

Time as a blogger flies by. When you’re not busy pounding out quality content, you are researching post ideas, reading about SEO, promoting your work on social networks, etc. At any given point, you are juggling a dozen different balls, and like most of the bloggers I know, you are amazing – because you keep most of them in the air. But there’s one I’ll bet you are dropping. read more

I recently read an article where 64 graphic designers were asked to record their Myers-Briggs personality type results. For those of you unfamiliar with The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI), it asks the taker a series of questions (there are no incorrect answers) and then generates a four-letter acronym that lumps people into one of 16 personality-type categories.

An argument on the validity of the test is for another day. Plus you have to pay (anywhere between $29 – $100) to take the questionnaire. Since most of us are fiscally-challenged, let’s take an unofficial poll. read more

As sure as I eat my breakfast, there are certain blogs that I read first thing in the morning. I’m not a coffee drinker, so caffeine addiction is foreign to me, but if you keep me from my A.M. blog reading, then I can get downright nasty!

Here’s my blog reading routine. read more