What does that mean? Well, you can expect that as soon as we roll into 2009, the site will have the following in place:

• A popular blog with funny dog pictures and news that is uploaded daily.
• A section on dog health with a nice collection of articles.
• A section on dog training with a fleshed out series called Canine Manners 101
• A collection of photo galleries of many popular dog breeds with many still to come.
• Information and pictures for over 200 dog breeds

Once we’ve moved into BETA, what remains to move into full production? Well, for starters we are going to be completing two major projects. First, we will be editing and releasing a book. Second, we will be building an online store with products we believe in.

But if social media isn’t conducive to the message that you are trying to market, you may need to turn to more traditional advertising. So how do you advertise on blogs without wasting money?

At the end of the day, the key is to identify your goals and then do a careful cost/benefit analysis.

If your goal is to brand a new product or service, then you should use a popular blog advertising service like BlogAds sidebar ads or PerformancingAds 125×125 blog ads. There are three things you need to consider when purchasing an ad on one of these sites:

1. Location of the ad on the site

It does you very little good to have an ad that’s hidden, out of view, at the bottom of the blog. You want the ad to be front and center, as much as possible. For sidebar ads, this means the ad should be visible when first loading the site.

2. Influence of the blog

You want to target blogs that have a high daily readership of devoted fans. Look for sites that have a lot of traffic and seem to be fairly well known in their topic. You can use directories like EatonWeb to find the best ranked blogs in any particular category.

3. Cost

Sometimes you can get more bang for your buck by targeting a large number of B-list and C-list blogs rather than the A-listers. If the A-listers are demanding too much for their premium spots, then you can go straight to your target audience by spending your ad budget on the B-list and C-list blogs.

The important thing about branding is that you want to reach critical mass. You want everyone who reads about your topic to be familiar with your brand.

However, some blog directories are GREAT. Below, we’ve listed what we view as the 5 best blog directories. To be on this list, the directory must be more than a link farm. It must offer some added value to the Internet. They must be *worth* submitting to.

1. Best of the Web Blog Directory

This is the most selective, comprehensive, and perhaps the overall best quality blog directory out there.

2. Blog Catalog

Blog Catalog is a social community blog directory. User interaction and comments makes it stand out. Submissions to Blog Catalog still show up high in Google SERPS.

3. Blogflux

Blogflux is a great directory because of the tools it offers to bloggers. We especially like Blogflux Top Sites which ranks blogs by traffic.

4. EatonWeb Blog Directory

EatonWeb is cool because it algorithmically ranks blogs according to perceived quality. Surprisingly, the algorithm does a good job at showing the best sites first. EatonWeb also assigns each blog a score, which is worth monitoring.

5. Blog Hub

BlogHub shines as a community of blog owners. Submit your site to the directory and join the conversation.

So there you go. If you’re looking for a condensed list of ultra-effective blog directory submissions, this is the one to use. The directories are quality and will actually benefit your blog.

But don’t forget about the entertainment niche. Some of the highest trafficked sites have to do with entertainment. For example, celeb blogs get a ton of traffic because celebrity keywords have very high search volumes. And Maki says that entertainment has an advantage over information niches because entertainment taps into the emotion while information works primarily on the mind.

Because of this emotional pull, he writes:

Entertainment sites are inherently easier to monetize and are excellent ways of earning some extra cash.

Then he gives four reasons why the entertainment niche is a very profitable industry. Also, these reasons highlight more differences between the entertainment niche and the information niche. Maki’s four reasons are in bold and the comments after the reasons are mine.

1. Unilateral Content Structure and One-Way Dialog

Probloggers will tell you that engaging your readership is important for building your blog. However, that rule doesn’t apply to entertainment blogs. Visitors of entertainment blogs are looking for the latest news about TV shows, movies, or celebrities. They’re not looking to engage the entertainment blogger. And even though they leave comments, they don’t expect the blogger to respond. In information niches, the readership is much more likely to engage the blogger and except him to respond to their comments.

So, in the entertainment niche, you can basically just report the news and get a lot of traffic. Of course, adding your opinion will build the brand of your blog but it isn’t as important as in the information niche.

Since you don’t have to interact with entertainment visitors, entertainment sites are low maintenance. This will save you a lot of time and you can use that time to earn more money.

2. No Need to Solve Problems, No Need to Provide Specialized Knowledge

Good marketing is based on figuring out your audience’s problems and then providing a solution. But with an entertainment site, you don’t have any problems to solve. Your audience won’t be visiting your site to get solutions to a problem. They’re there to be entertained. So again, you save time in the entertainment niche because you won’t have to do the in-depth market research that’s required to be successful in information niches.

Also, Maki makes a great point about the wide appeal of entertainment sites. He writes:

Entertainment is a flat, one-dimensional niche that only requires you to consistently offer zero-barrier information based on popular and widely established concepts (celebrity brand names etc.). Anyone can enjoy pictures of Christian Bale or Jessica Alba but not everyone is fascinated by a blog about WordPress.

3. Non-Savvy Audiences Are Great for Conversions

I’m not sure if I fully agree with Maki on this one. Yes, entertainment audiences are more likely to click on an ad because they are less tech savvy and less ad blind than information audiences. However, when it comes to affiliate links, I think entertainment audiences are less likely to convert because they’re not looking to buy. I think information audiences are more in the buying mode.

4. Exceptional Traffic Potential + Ease of Monetization

Like I said before, the potential traffic for entertainment sites is huge. Think about it. More people will search for Britney Spears than social media marketing. More people will search for the latest movie blockbuster than the latest internet marketing product. The entertainment audience is much bigger than niche markets.

Also, monetizing an entertainment site is easy. Maki says that the entertainment visitors don’t mind if the entertainment sites are too commercial and filled with a lot of ads.

Conclusion

If you’re looking to start a site or buy a site, you may want to jump into the entertainment niche. Here are Sea Waves, we have a couple entertainment blogs. These blogs are doing pretty well for us. Feel free to check them out for inspiration in starting your own entertainment site network.

http://popcrunch.com/
http://hiphop.popcrunch.com/
http://style.popcrunch.com/
http://tv.popcrunch.com/
http://celebritycowboy.com/
http://style.celebritycowboy.com/

Read Maki’s whole blog post: Four Reasons Why the Entertainment Niche is Great for Making Money

Ever since we acquired The Dog Guide we’ve been very happy with the progress the site has made. Not only have we hired an editor of the site, but we have also started taking the steps to move the site to the next level. Part of that plan is this contest. Future plans that are already in the works include the development of online dog video tutorials. So stayed tuned for great things.

But in the meantime!!! If you have a dog, and take lots of digital photos, why not submit them to our dog photo contest! You might even win!

One Big Health Nut is a fitness and health blog that focuses on practical tips for eating better and keeping in shape. Written in a conversational language, the blog aims to provide readers with the tools they need to eat well, exercise and make healthy living a lifestyle.

Puzzling Thoughts is a carefully crafted blog name that highlights the fact that this blog is about challenging math and logic puzzles. Want to improve your brain age? Want to stretch your mind? Check out these thought provoking puzzles and your bound to have a good time.

http://codeprofessor.com
http://itsmytelevision.com
http://myglobalcity.com
http://productfilter.com
http://ridelust.com
http://songwritingforums.com
http://soundalchemyonline.com
http://thepokerblog.net
http://webfeedmail.com

We are extremely happy to have Claire and Dan on board and can’t wait to see how the Dog Guide develops over the next few years.

SeaWaves hopes that its growing presence in the celebrity blog niche will lead to unique opportunities with high-end advertisers. In addition to Celebrity Cowboy, SeaWaves also produces the PopCrunch Network.

In addition to the beautiful logo and sharp design, we’ve added a prominent spot for video highlights. After all, what’s a sports websites without highlight video!

Go check it out. You’ll like what you see.

And if you do like it (we know you will!) why not have SeaWaves give your website or blog a design overhaul?