"Everyone in the world except me is blogging. Many of them claim that they are making money through blogging. How does a blog differ from a website?" Sudhir asked me.
"In essence all online content are websites. We give different names to websites based on how the content is created and used. In the case of a basic website, the website owner creates web pages and other people read them. In a forum, any visitor can create an article and others join him in the discussion though he can change only his content. In a Wiki, a person starts a topic and any one can add content or change any content. In a blog, the blogger starts a topic and others can comment on it though they cannot start a topic. The list is long," I explained to him.
Sudhir said, "Like any other average Indian I know how to read and write English. But I am not able to create any article of my own." I responded, "If you are resourceful, you can create an opportunity even in the middle of the deserts of Sahara. If you are not resourceful, you will not find fish even in a sea. If you are not able to create articles for your own blog, create them for others' blogs."
"I don't understand," he said. I explained, "We have been taught at school and college how to prepare well for examinations. You would be given a set of text books, and notes. You would go through these notes and reproduce in the examination what you studied to score high marks. While educators and think-tanks debate on our present education system, let us not lose our head over the issue. Every system or method is good if you see it from a different angle. Our angle is how to make money from what we know, and the method we learnt at school will work well for us. Many of us can write reasonably good articles if we are given notes. Our employers will give us notes, we will create blogs with these articles and we will be paid for the service."
"But no one will read our articles if it is based on notes and if readability is missing," Sudhir.
I said, "What you say is true. But your employer is more concerned about search engine traffic than your writing skills. I will explain it. A website owner creates an excellent website with hundreds of useful, readable articles. To become successful, his website requires a lot of traffic. Search engines are usually the best source of free traffic if you rank high in the search results. Your website will get favorable rank from search engines if your website is recommended by other websites or linked by them. The more number of free links you get from other websites, the more score will your website get from search engines. Nowadays it is very difficult to get links from other websites. So, webmasters try all sorts of low cost methods to get inbound links. One of the methods is to create SERP blogs."
Sudhir asked, "What is a SERP blog?" I replied, "SERP means Search Engine Rank Position. The employer will give you the address of his website and a few key points. After going through his website, you will create a free blog on a free blogging service such as Blogger, post a few articles on the theme of the employer's website and tell the visitors that they can visit the employer's website for more information. You will be required to create as many blogs with 3 or 4 articles as your employer may need. All your articles will be based on the content of your employer's website. So, you will find it easy to write articles. In addition to search engines giving good score to your employer's website, your blogs may also get some traffic that will be a bonus to your employer."
"How much time does it take to create a blog of 3 articles and how much will I be paid for each blog?" asked Sudhir. "Depending on the complexity of the work, it takes 2 to 3 hours to create a blog. Again depending on how much original content you would supply the rate changes. You can expect Rs.30 to Rs.50 per hour. If you create two blogs a day, you will earn Rs. 3,000 to Rs.5,000 a month. A good pocket money for housewives and it gives you an excellent opportunity to practice online content creation. Please visit webmaster forums to find out such work opportunities."
Sudhir has just started. Let us wait to hear good news from him.