Quick CPM Answer: Sometimes the click-through ratios for CPM-based advertising is low. According to Wikipedia, "CPM is frequently used in advertising to represent cost per mille (thousand)." You can check out the Wiki here.

The thing to remember when you start exploring methods to monetize your blog is the fact that even an un-clicked (but viewed) advertisement has the potential to play a role in promoting your blog through site indexing methodology. Interesting, well-designed advertisements tend to catch a reader/user's attention, promoting brand recognition and connects your writing to their search engine inquiry, even if the viewer doesn't click through after clicking on your blog from a search engine link. No one really knows what they are going to get when they click a search engine link. What you give them is entirely up to you.

So the discussion really hinges upon what you want to do with them... My Google Alerts have started going off for the advertising items embedded in my Blogger account which has small blurbs about what I am doing with my kids. Since shorty gave me a Thomas the Train and Polar Express moment, I shared with people the actual items by linking them in so if people want to buy them the impulse to buy can be satisfied. It is not a sales pitch, it is a conversation with perks (LOL). It appears to be working for the stats in the affiliate program shows readers clicked through, then continued to click on other items in Amazon.com... A rarely used forum has just become a bounce page to send readers every place I want them to go if they care to go there.

Writers make information available... Readers decide what to do with the knowledge gained. You don't have to be weighty and serious either. Just be yourself and have a small conversation.

uberMental.com

uberMental Store

Strange is logging into your social media accounts through IE and have having all of your icons in the tabs reflect the WordPress logo (LMAO). I went to sleep and woke up in a digital twilight zone (ROTFL). My laptop has been wigging out since yesterday. I wrote a post recently about not being able to upload photographs for a while and now it appears I have lost control of my widgets. Instead of embedding scripts from my affiliate programs to potentially help monetize my blogs and other websites I am now tripping over a blue "W" (LOL). I want my AR logo back... seriously... I shall fix this in a moment. While I do, click the store link so you can see how it is possible to manipulate your pages to showcase your friends first in your digital stores. I actually have an ActiveRain WPfave category on the store sidebar and moved it to the top of the list so the first thing readers see are me and my virtual friends. I also picked a 160 pixel wide carousel with controls on the bottom to showcase 10 items for my blog. It doesn't just have my music, it has other Rainer's work and people I like to read as well. Look under "My Picks" on the side of my AR dashboard over Links... I find widgets to be very cool and useful if you don't overdo them. The carousel widget control option means the script is not running in circles looping the product as an animation and you can scroll up and down through the items as you see fit (or ignore it). :-)

My next uberMental moment will be explaining the scripts I have selected and how you can go out and select your own to create and embed. I have to go log into WP so I can cross link my thoughts and write both posts at the same time. Tip of the day: Draft them together then release one, eventually releasing the other (which means you have to pay attention to the order in which you link across blogs). It improves your work flow because it gives you time to pause and reflect on what you may have missed out on regarding your initial thoughts and impressions of your subject. Pay strict attention regarding where you are sending your readers. Doing so cuts down on the multiple edits and broken links which annoy people to no end. If it is still in draft the public can't access your writing so be very careful of the order in which you launch them. Even if they are only minutes apart, the potential is there for someone to click on a link that has not posted yet (LOL).

I work with multiple tabs up and bounce back and forth between several in a series. That is why I get a lot done while working in 20 minutes intervals. I am monitoring my social media accounts at the same time. There are 7 up in FireFox and 6 up in IE. I routinely IM, DM, Tweet, FB, e-mail and post in tandem. Working in draft mode is a beautiful thing. Playing tag team across blogs gives my ADD something interesting to do (LOL). :-)

My Digital Store is up and running. It took less than an hour and cost nothing to do so later on today I am going to show you how to make your own. It is a heck of a lot easier than you think and a lot of affiliate programs automate custom pages for you so feel free to start without me. Seriously. I was not kidding when I said I was going to take you guys with me on the quest to monetize blogs. Link love is key and if you can't make money with your friends then shame on you. You are squandering a stellar networking moment. We all have product we want to move and if you see your digital exploits as a team effort you will fare a lot better. Sellers need buyers. A listing broker loves when a buyer's broker brings them a pre-approved buyer with a viable offer. Appraisers and Inspectors love being contracted to help facilitate the transaction. We are a RE team. Doesn't matter that it is temporary and specific to the transaction at hand, what matters is the teamwork involved by independent contractors to get the job done.

Affiliate programs rely on teamwork. The affiliate provides you with the tools to help you succeed to move their product while offering you a small commission (0-15%) depending upon what moves. The fun part? You get to pick the items you want to help move. I buy music and books all the time so that's what I selected. I am looking forward to hearing and seeing what you guys select later on today when I show you how to do it. Each item has a link that takes you to a purchase page so it's not like you have to store inventory, collect sales tax and spend money on shipping. All you are doing is bringing the items of your choice to the attention of the consumer while they are floating through cyberspace during the course of their day. While looking at your listings for new construction if there is a furniture ad there they just may click it.

It is up to you if you want it to be your virtual store or a spouse's. How about a sibling or friend's? You guys have already seen my strange widget stats. If you had the attention of 15 million plus people across multiple websites because you do more than sell real estate what would you do with them? Would you try to engage them in dialog? Would you try to share your thoughts? Would you try to introduce them to what you liked and disliked? Would you want to discover what they liked and disliked? Would you introduce them to your business ventures? Would you ask them what they did or what they wanted to do? Would you ask them how you could service their needs?

I really do want a 5 hour work day and I believe that 2010 is going to be quite an adventure because I am thinking very big and I am trying to figure out how I can service more of my reader's needs. Helping them helps me. Supplying what they want means I get to make a living from multiple streams of revenue. Win win is the name of the digital game. I am devoted to making win win situations happen because when that happens everyone is happy. Go look at your stats. More people read you than comment. People bookmark you because they like you and what you do matters to them. They would not bother if that were not true. How do I know? Because they keep coming back for a reason. YOU, the writer, are that reason. I don't know about you but I'd like to give them even more reasons to stay. 

Just remember not to spam the crap out of people if you do decide to take this adventure with me. Relationships matter... even with your silent readers so select your affiliates very carefully. Start with small, unobtrusive, tasteful 125 x 125 flash banners for your sidebar. You want your pages to load quickly and you want a small collection of quality ads.

NEVER COMPETE AGAINST YOUR HOST. That would be like a rival link spam posting all of their real estate listings on your RE Business Facebook Pagesand flipping you the digital finger because they are stealing your viewers attention from your mandate (plus stealing your Google Juice) and forcing you to take the time to delete it all (LOL). Ad spam sucks so use courtesy and discretion. Make a small text link to your store for your blogs and start hooking up with a few friends to promote each other's interests. They, your readers, will opt in and click it if they want to. Do not use auto sound. It wakes people up if you are surfing late at night or in the wee hours of the morning. Always let people click to play sound. Seriously...

Having your store on another reputable blog is a huge branding plus so be kind and keep your ads small. Let your host specify the maximums regarding size. Think of your web pages as virtual real estate. You can only build so much in the space afforded you. Small ads let you maximize that space. Check out my rotating one on my AR sidebar as an Amazon Affiliate. Very small footprint, rotates a couple of ads as a flash presentation, takes you to the "sales of the day" on my Amazon music referral page... Four ads rotating in one spot means more possible messages and sales. If I gave each ad its own individual spot, I would be wasting valuable AR space.

Big and gaudy is not the way to go to monetize your blog. Small and manageable helps everyone load their pages faster. Working with a reputable affiliate program also means their code is veted and checked against malicious scripts.

Guard your host's platform the way you would guard your own virtual house.

The host is the foundation of your blog. It gives all of your digital pages a server foundation to stand on. I and my readers would be really pissed off if this site crashed because one of you read this and failed to do your due diligence on the quest to monetize your blog. Research your affiliates very carefully people and watch your desire to embed banner and box ads because when you share them with friends like me who may want to help promote you, you are placing our sites in jeopardy if you do not do your homework. 

                     http://TannStarr.net                                                http://uberMental.com

I own 35 websites. I am systematically destroying and rebuilding them because I want to do something new with my creative side. After hanging out in the Rain for a little over two years and reading Ewen Chia, Mark Victor Hansen, Robert G. Allen, Timothy Ferris, Penelope Trunk, Donald Trump and a host of Rainers, I have come to discover some fascinating truths about the Internet and Social Media: If you don't squander your social media connections you can do very well for yourself by developing multiple streams of revenue. They do not have to be big streams. Small streams can add up to five, six and even seven figures if you take the time to develop social media distribution hotspots...

Rule 1: just get the public reading you. Rule 2: start offering small potential solutions to specific problems that are actually useful to solving what a person needs. Rule 3: You do not need 35 websites to do this (LOL). A few good ones will do and do not rush to be a problem solver. Just start talking to people like they are really there and you are sharing something about your life, your interests and tidbits about what you have gone through.

People like to learn. Did you go to a family friendly restaurant? Share it. Did you find a really cool bakery that caters to people with food allergies? Share it. Is Wednesday buy one get one free at your neighborhood store? Share it. Doing a seminar next month? Share it. Career advice as an employer? Share it.

Writing about different things you are familiar with means people Googling shared interests have the potential of finding you. uberMental is a baby blog with its social media pampers on but it will be a good site. Do you know why? Thought, perception, memory, emotion, will and imagination... Those six categories drive all of my blogs and my goal is to start launching some interesting PDFs from that site.

TannStarr.net is where I am going to network with some talented, artistic friends and launch quirky, fun  ebooks. The two domains are already showing each other link-love and sending traffic back to my other blogs. Your ability to be found is the name of the game, not how many comments you rack up. If you don't cross link your work people will have less reasons to come back.

Why mess with Wordpress and GoDaddy? Your ability to capture subscription leads by people opting in at your sites is crucial for further expansion. How can you follow up with the people who read you if you do not know who any of them are? When you start to monetize your blogs you have to visualize those readers. I want you to think of these simple points when you feel the doubt setting in:

01. "The 4 Hour Workweek" (Timothy Ferris) was turned down by 26 out of 27 publishers... Ironically, it took five days to make the New York Times bestsellers list. My point? Keep writing. People who think they know sometimes don't know a thing about you and how people will receive the messages you decide to share. Consumers make bestsellers, not critics.

02. "The One Minute Millionaire" (Mark Victor Hansen & Robert G. Allen) defines money as a tool and as not being good or bad, but neutral. They speak of how to be enlightened millionaires, they explain that it is a path and mindset one needs to embrace and they drive home the fact that even millionaires (a) experience setbacks inclusive of bankruptcy and (b) they also experience embarrassing moments of devastating financial instability. My point? Start where you are and stop waiting for the perfect moment to save up to doing your thing at some future date. Start now, not later. Keep writing with the messed up credit, the looming divorce, the ridicule, the resentment, the speculation. Just do it because if you don't you will never get it done. 

03. "How I Made My First Million On The Internet" (Ewen Chia) is a must read. He tells you about his stress and tears regarding the devastating mistakes he made and the mounting debt he incurred only to discover he knew the answers to his problems but was so used to searching for answers and paying other people to find solutions for him he missed the fact that he was not using the knowledge already gained to maximize his efficiencies. My point? Been there, done that, do not want to do this anymore - am watching a lot of you spin your heels as well. I have been picking some very intelligent brains. Now its time to see if I learned anything useful (LOL). We can do this together or I can do this alone. I am going to do this because I want to change where my life is going. I want to enjoy a fun job and have more time for my little minions. A 5 hour work day would make me very happy.

04. Penelope Trunk wrote a very interesting post entitled, "Popular Posts of 2009. Sort Of." My fave quote: "I want to say something upbeat about 2010. You know, start on a good note. But it seems so artificial. I don't think we need to magically be in a great place at the end of a year. Or magically know our goals to start off a new year. I think, sometimes, that it's already magical that every day we wake up with the strong belief that we can make things better." My point? Make things better to the best of your ability one day at a time. Write one day at a time. Write one post at a time. Don't create an artificially rigid schedule for writing. Pop in and say hello if that is all you have. You can always come back later and say hello again with another tidbit of information about your day. Sometimes, just being truthful about a simple thought can connect with more people than a brilliantly researched paper. Sometimes, writing the brilliant post with several comments gives a writer more satisfaction than the ones with over 400 comments (LOL).

05. My fave two Donald Trump quotes this morning: "Anyone who thinks my story is anywhere near over is sadly mistaken." and "As long as you are going to be thinking anyway, think big." I need you to think big thoughts about your blog. I need you to believe that as you write across the multiple platforms of your choice you are going to formulate ideas to create multiple streams of revenue. Affiliate program? Seminar? PDF? Publications? CD/DVD? Digital downloads? I want you to start thinking about the work that you've done before and how you can update and revise it into something new, relevant and eye catching like a very useful e-book or newsletter with advertising space.

Try this: write a blog post that spans from your AR dashboard, to your outside blog to your Localism blog to your personal site to your other social media sites. I want you to do it in a way where each site gets a piece of the idea and not a replicated re-blog. Your dashboard will have all of the components but not each site. This is how you series write. This is how you get one idea to vie against itself in Google. This is how you discover which components of your writing do well (or not) in the rankings for the same idea... 

That little excercise was gifted to me by a very talented writer. That bit of advice was when the Mind of Minion created uberMental.com because being a Google Whore I have every intention to taking this game to a whole new level (LOL). The WP entries are already on page one of Google. It took approximately 4 hours. Lets see where my Outside Blogs go in the rankings. :-)

UPDATE: Number 1 regarding results 1 - 10 of about 9,850 for the term ubermental in Google in 21 minutes flat on ActiveRain.com  How cool is that? VERY!