Websites generally do one of two things: they sell products or they provide information. Of course, you have websites that do both. We’re going to mainly talk about sites that provide information. If you want to start a website that’s both informative and profitable, I would advise you to get into a really popular topic. General entertainment is one such topic. Salon.com and IGN.com are two preeminent sites in the entertainment niche.
This guide will present you with the basics on starting a general entertainment blog and how to make money online through your blog.
Subjects to Blog On: Generally, you would veer towards the theme that you enjoy. If you especially enjoy romantic comedies, you would tend to write on these more. You could have a blog exclusively on romantic comedies, but that would limit your audience. But you don’t particularly enjoy watching sci-fi or horror, and you like writing about these even less. Well, an alternative is asking a guest blogger to write about the genres you’re not fond of. Guest bloggers are a great way to spice up your website.
Reviewing Television Shows: You can post comments on new characters of a television series, on TV series that are coming out in DVD format, changes in a network’s schedule or format, or even issues affecting the television industry, such as a scriptwriters’ strike. You will surely get a lot of traffic from writing about television as there are multitudes out there who are TV junkies.
Reviewing Other Stuff: You can go beyond reviewing TV shows, just like IGN and Salon do. Illustrated novels, anime, books, and music CDs are some things that can be reviewed. However, it takes a higher level of skill to review these. These are more specialized topics. It’s good to offer a choice of subject matters on your website. Soon you’ll be able to discern which topics are popular with your visitors.
Opinion Pieces: You can also write commentaries on things. Compare it to a newspaper. The main sections feed you the news. Just the facts. But then there are the editorial pages that offer people’s different perspectives and opinions on current events or on just about anything. Your website can have editorial pages also, so to speak. And just like newspapers have regular and also guest columnists, your website can too. You can invite people especially knowledgeable about a particular subject to come and write a piece or be responsible for a part of your website.
Breaking News: To get people checking into your site regularly, a good thing to do is have breaking news in the entertainment industry. Which actor has been tapped for the upcoming movie of this famous director… which actress is moving out of her current series and signing up for a series on a competing network…or is it moving out of her current husband’s apartment and moving in with a competing actress’s beau? Entertainment groupies love stuff like that. They want to know what’s hot. Has Paris Hilton broken up with whomever? Is J.K. Rawlings starting to write a new book? They want to know these things before anyone else does. Satisfying their need for feed should keep you on your toes.
Money Making Through Your Blog: So how do you make money from all this? Well, probably the simplest and most profitable way is by selling ads. You can take in ad space for new movies or about to be released music CDs. Or you can ask for commissions for items you offer to review or feature. These are two good ways. It’s not difficult to be creative and come up with other money-making ideas once you get the hang of making money online through your entertainment blog.
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