Complete Setup Guide For Automated

Blogs...by Michael Smith for MetaFever.com

One of my strengths is setting up autoblogs so I wanted to

start putting together an online guide devoted to the tips,
tricks, and hacks that I have learned in setting up effective
autoblogs.

First off what is an autoblog and why do you want them?

An autoblog is simply a blog that is on auto pilot . . . this means you don’t have to do any
maintenance (or very little). The content will be streamed in automatically and traffic is largely
organic.

The reason you want an autoblog is pretty simple, to make money. There are several ways
which you can monetize your autoblogs. The primary way to monetize of course is by using
Google Adsense, but as we dive into the various aspects of setting up and maintaining an
autoblog we will discuss more advanced methods of monetization.

So in this multi-post guide we are going to focus our efforts on discussing the following points:
● Goals
● Monetization Strategies
● Content
● Plugins
● Control Panels
● Hacks
● Hosting
● Design
● Link Building
● Overall Strategies
Before I dive in, I am going to assume that you will be using Wordpress, and that you know how
to install Wordpress and do the basic configurations.

Goals of an Autoblog:
You might start off thinking of building 1 autoblog, but then you will soon realize it’s just as easy
to deploy hundreds of these gems and before realize you can build a bona-fide blog farm. If it’s
done right you can have your blog farm running 100% on auto pilot.

The type of autoblog you build can either be one that is based on quality and user experience or
a very un-attractive autoblog that is designed to get maximum Adsense clicks.

MashGet is an example of a autoblog that is designed for maximum user experience. If you look
close every element of this site is automated.

EnergyFromHome is an example of an autoblog that is designed to promote an affiliate product

and earn Adsense income.

So before you set out to build a blog that runs on autopilot it would serve you well to decide
what kind of autoblog you would like to build.

Don’t worry about deciding now as you read this guide you will get a better understanding of the
possibilities.

AutoBlog - Part 2 - Monetization Strategies

20 Monetization Strategies with Autoblogs:

When you first ask the question of how to monetize an autoblog, blog, or blog farm . . . the first
that comes to mind is Google Adsense. I wanted to say loud and clear that Adsense is NOT the
only method or strategy in making money from your autoblog.

Now that we are clear, Google Adsense is 1 way you can monetize your blogs. I am sure you
have all seen the famous Shoemoney Google Adsense check for $100K+, while this can take
place it’s not realistic to make that your goal.

If you read between the lines you will find that he

placed Adsense on his ringtone landing pages and
was then driving massive amounts of traffic to those
landing pages via PPC.

He placed Adsense on each landing page as a way

to recoup some of his ad-spend . . . and it worked
well!

So let’s dive straight in and talk about a variety of

monetization strategies for an autoblog.

Selling Merchandise
If you focus on certain Niches that give way to people making purchases then selling
merchandise can be a big money maker.
● CafePress.com: Cafepress is the number 1 spot for merchandising online. Their system
makes it easy to grab products and set start selling in minutes. If you want to grab some
 of their existing inventory they use CJ.com as their affiliate network with a payout around
15% if my memory serves me correct.
● Zazzle: Zazzle is the similar to CafePress.com although they seem to target a much
younger and hipper user. Make sure to check out their community feature.

Text Ad Networks
Running ads are usually the primary source of income when running autoblogs and blog farms.
● Adsense: Adsense is the number one way most use to monetize their blog. Its fast and
easy to set up and there is a ton of plugins when using Wordpress to integrate Adsense
into your autoblog or blog farm easily.
● Yahoo! Publisher Network: Just like Adsense they display contextual ads from their
network. (are they ever coming out of beta?)
● AdBriteInc.: Adbrite typically has pretty low payouts especially if you run on a CPA basis.
The nice thing about Adbrite is that they have a CPA model. SO you can sell off your low
quality traffic and at least build some revenue back.
● BidVertiser.com: If you build up an autoblog or individual blog that shows promise, you
will want to check this out.
RSS Advertisement
**TIP** when running autoblogs and blog farms (let people scrap your entire articles – make
sure to enable full text RSS) then incorporate some of the below advertising methods.
● Pheedo Inc.: This is RSS + some really cool video advertising features.
● Feedvertising: This is a sub division of texlinkads, but integrates into your RSS feed.
● CrispAds: Crisp ads will build a bridge between your RSS and Main site blog by serving
up ads across both.
● FeedBurner Inc.: FeedBurner’s ads attract some pretty high end advertisers such as
Best Buy and Comcast.

Text Link Advertisement

Running text ads are my personally favorite since it’s a low profile way to engage your readers
without annoying them completely. You can earn a lot of cash running text ads with a highly
optimized autoblog or blog farm. If you gain any PR, selling text links is an easy thing to do.

● LinkAds: You will get a lot of control over your ad space by using these guys.
● PaidTextLinks.com: Again, what makes these guys great is you maintain control over
your ad space. You can reject and approve links at will.
● Kontera ContentLink: There is a lot of cool widgets to help optimize Kontera with
Wordpress. THIs is one service that has done well by keeping up to speed.
● Text Link Ads: One of my personal favorites, very clean interface, but be warned they go
after quality and good PR. (same day paypal payments)
● LinkAdage Auctions: This is a great link auction to get started with.
● Digital Point Forums: Want an easy sell? Go sell links on the digital point forums.
● Textlinkbrokers.com: These guys are the clear leaders and they make it very easy to
monetize your autoblog and blogfarm.
Affiliate Programs
Do not miss the opportunity to include affiliate links into your autoblog and blog farm. If you
do you are leaving a lot of money setting on the table. (I know there are many more, but for
the sake of this guide the below 3 are the easiest to get approval for). If you are an advanced
affiliate make sure to check out Market Leverage and Azoogle (my personal favorites). Also
check out EPN – again sometimes hard to get approval.
● Amazon Associates: Get 10% commissions and the amazing conversion that Amazon
brings to the table.
● Commission Junction Inc.: Everyone starts here . . . No matter what they say. By joining
CJ you will have access to hundreds of programs that will take you no matter what.
● ClickBank: Clickbank works great with auto blogs. For instance if you have a autoblog
about Acne or Forex you can find tons of guides / ebooks to sell here. Typically
advertisers on clickbank have good payouts as well.
So there you have it . . . 20 great money making strategies with autoblogs and blog farm
networks.

The above strategies can also work well with regular blogs.

AutoBlog - Part 3 - Automated Content

After you have decided that building an autoblog is

the thing to do, and now you have a good idea of
several ways you can monetize your autoblog . . . the
next step is how to generate your content without
lifting your finger . . . or lifting it very little.

Again, I am going to assume that you are using

Wordpress as your base. Truly I don’t know why
anyone would want to use anything else, but that will
be another post for another time.

Now since you’re using the words most popular blog

option you have a mini arsenal at your finger tips to
drive tons of automated content to your autoblog. As
you will see below there is no shortage of software,
plugins, and websites that have various solutions that
can help you achieve your goal of automated content with Wordpress.
My Personal Favorites:

http://www.metafever.com/free-wordpress-autoblog-plugin.html <<< Read About My New

Favorite
http://www.wpArticleFetch.com <<< Go to my new favorite

www.LunaticStudios.com
Lunatic Studios produces some VERY nice software. From time to time I will include one of their
plugins to enhance my autoblogs, or instance if I want to add EPN or Amazon products as a
part of my monetization strategy.

What makes Lunatic Studios special is that they offer several different types of automated
content plugins. Their software can be used to target Amazon, EPN, articles, and Yahoo
Answers.

Each of their plugins come with a free version that will limit you to the number of keywords you
can include and a bit of the more advanced functionality, but if you are looking for a VERY good
and low cost alternative to some of the more expensive plugins you will defiantly want to check
out their software.

Other Automated Content Systems:

www.wpAnswers.net
Now my honest opinion is that www.wpAnswers.net is not all it’s cracked up to be and there is
a lot of lower cost alternatives. However it is a great product and wpAnswers.net will do exactly
what Neil claims it to do.

www.wpVideoTube.com
THE REAL GEM that Neil produces is www.wpVideoTube.com, this handy little plugin can drip
Youtube.com videos to your blog based on relevant keywords. This is one item that can add a
ton of value to your blog and increase traffic almost overnight.
I prefer to use wpVideoTube.com in conjunction with a few other plugins to create a look and
feel of quality.

www.SyndicateKahuna.com
I have used Syndicate Kahuna in the past and it works well. You can add all of the sites in your
blog farm and since works more like a blog farm co-op you are not only the recipient but you are
giving something back to fellow marketers.

The main reason I choose to not use Syndicate Kahuna is the content that is dripped into your
blog will contain a ton of back links to other sites. Now you are welcome to manually remove
these links, but I prefer to build my blog farms for my own benefit and keep all the link juice.

www.ArticleMarketingAutomation.com
Article Marketing Automation is essentially the same as Syndicate Kahuna; I have used this
service and also rejected it as my primary method for obtaining automated content.
One main reason you might choose to use Syndicate Kahuna and Article Marketing Automation
is that they are free. So it’s very easy to get up and running.
Both Synidcate and AMA are 100% automated. . . (one big plus to each).

FREE Plugins (in the Wordpress.org Directory)

Wp-O-Matic
This is a great automatic RSS scraper. It’s easy to use, just search the internet and look for
RSS feeds from other sites that relate to your Niche. One nifty thing that wp-o-matic can do is
turn your keywords into clickable affiliate links. The truth is (at least on my opinion) is that wp-
o-matic takes too long to set up for a truly optimized autoblog. The idea is to set up sites quick
and nimble and this just takes a bit too much time. One big problem of wp-o-matic is that unless
you have full RSS feeds to scrape you will be relegated to the partial RSS feeds that most sites
will provide by default. Check the end of this guide and I am going to discuss some tips / tricks /
hacks and I will show you how to turn a partial RSS into a full RSS.

Yaab
Also available in the wordpress.org plugin directory it is yet one more solution out there.
Unfortunately for Yabb and me, I only installed it and checked it out after I was well into my
autoblog and blog farm network production.

To me it looked like just one more plugin that was out there and thus its name also implies (yet
another auto blog).

So I honestly don’t know enough about this particular plugin to really comment on it, but I did
want to include it in this list.

Plugins That Are Out There, That I Have Not Tried:

www.autoblogged.com – Premium plugin, I emailed their support once and it took them 4 –
5 days to respond to a simple question about a turning a short RSS into a full RSS (it didn’t
include this feature) so I decided not to buy based on their support time and lack of this one
feature.
http://autocontent.wordpresszone.com – its $57, and I just had to much going to test / install
another autoblog / auto content plugin.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/feedwordpress – this one is free and in the Wordpress.org
directory, I have every intention of testing it, but as I write this guide, I have not tested it yet so I
can’t really comment on how good or bad it is.
http://kansieo.com/ – Caffeinated Content for Wordpress – this is a premium plugin I never did
buy it, but a lot of people swear by it. Perhaps one day, I will make time and give it a whirl.

June 20th, 2009 - Copyright © 2010, MetaFever.com. All Rights Reserved