Final Assessment: Modules 4 & 5

Module 4: Monetize Your Blog

I do not expect you to earn money with your blog -- but if you do, good for you! I also do not expect you to publish your blog publicly, unless you want to. What's important is that you demonstrate that you know how to monetize a blog.

Blogger provides an option for you to monetize your blog by including advertisements in your blog. You'll find a place to select ads manually (search for it). You can create spaces/banners for ads that you can insert manually to "monetize" your blog. You can make space for your advertisements at the top and bottom of your blog, and on the right side of the blog.

What should you sell from your blog? If, for example, you had selected “education” as your theme, you may be interested in selling textbooks from your blog, or other items of interest to people who will spend time on your blog reading about education. You could then become an affiliate of another site, i.e. Textbook Publishers. As an affiliate of Textbook Publishers (I made that up) you can promote products sold by Textbook Publishers and earn a commission for selling them. Or you may own a product -- your own eBook about education, for example -- and you could sell it on your blog and keep the money. One benefit to joining an affiliate program is that the program will provide free training for affiliates and will also provide you with a variety of free banners and other ads to post on your blog. 

Insert 3 advertisements in your blog. Place them wherever you so desire. You can select gadgets to position the advertisements, or you can manually insert the advertisements.

For the content of your advertisements you can find ads on other blogs, or online, and “copy” them. This is not stealing. You are merely using the advertisements as examples to demonstrate that you know how to (a) insert an advertisement in your blog and (b) select appropriate ads for your blog. Remember, the advertisement must be pertinent to the theme of your blog.

Module 5: Build the Content

Your blog may be "pretty" and it may be monetized, but it's the content that creates a blog's value. The blog is only as good as its popularity among readers, and it won't become popular unless it "speaks" to a specific, receptive audience. You need traffic (visitors) to your site, and while you can attract traffic (initially) via good marketing (we'll get to that), only good content will keep the traffic coming back.

Good content will also encourage the visitors to tell others about your blog. Good content encourages visitors to tweet about your blog, to spread the word on social media, and to verbally tell others why they should make it a point to visit your blog. That's how you build an audience. 

Follow these specific directions:

If you are creating a traditional content blog (with articles) your blog must include at least 3 articles, or what we call blog posts. If you are creating a video blog, your blog must include at least 3 videos which you will post on Youtube.com. But you can copy the images of your video into your blog and provide a short description of the video.

Follow these guidelines if you are creating a traditional content blog:

1.  At least two articles must be original -- that means written by you. You must "author" these articles yourself.

2.  One article can come from an online source. You've been introduced to a variety of sources during the semester so use one of these sources to find an article that’s pertinent to your readers.

3.  All of the articles must include at least 100-150 words.

4.  Each article must include:

     -- At least 1 hyperlink.

     -- A headline and at least 1 subhead.

     -- An image with a caption.

5. One article must include a link to a survey that you created, and the article must tell readers about the importance of the survey and how to complete it. (See Survey Rules below).

Follow these guidelines if you are creating a video blog:

1. Your blog must include 3 videos.

2. Each video must be at least 90 seconds in length. No video can be longer than 5 minutes. The videos must be original – that means written and produced by you. (You do not have to appear in the videos, but I'll give extra credit if you do). 

3.  One video must address a survey that you created; the video must explain why the survey is important and how people can complete the survey. You must show the survey link in your video.

4.  You can include a screen caption of each video in your blog, which you create at Blogger.com. 

5.  You must link your screen shots to your video, which you must upload to Youtube.com.

6.  Under each video screen shot you must include descriptive content, or a short article. This content must describe your video and motivate people to watch it. Include the link to your video. Include a headline over your description. Be sure to include an email address in 1 video description. 

All videos must be relevant to your audience and your theme.

You can use any tools you desire to create your videos. You can use your smartphone or a laptop computer or camera.

To upload your videos to Youtube.com you will need to create an account; it’s free. Follow the directions at Youtube for uploading your videos. If you want to restrict who sees your videos, read this info.

Survey Rules

Visit Surveymonkey.com and create a survey.

•   The survey must include at least four questions. You decide the topic of your survey, but it must 

relate to your theme. You develop the survey questions and create the survey at Surveymonkey.com

It probably goes without saying, but it's worth noting: Basic English counts!

More to come!

Final Assessment Deadline is 6 December 2015.