SMTP Server Setup with Postal (Step by Step Guide)
There are several methods to build SMTP servers, in this guide I will build the SMTP server using a free open source software called “Postal“.
Postal is a fully-featured open source mail delivery platform for incoming & outgoing e-mail and gives you all the tools and features needed to build a full mailing system for your business.
What is the SMTP Server?
I don’t like robotic definitions like Wikipedia, I love to make things simple.
Simply, SMTP is that thing that allows you to send emails over the internet.
SMTP stands for “Simple Mail Transfer Protocol”. It’s a Concept in Networking that you don’t have to worry about.
Just Know that SMTP is the technical thing that is responsible for delivering emails over the internet.
Let’s connect things, how this is related to email marketing?
Email marketing system consists of two parts:
- The sender: (SMTP service) this is the technical part. It allows you to send emails over the internet.
- The Management Application, where you can configure and manage your Email Lists, Marketing Campaigns, monitor and analyze results, manage your sending servers, and so on.
So we connect both together to get an Email Marketing System.
What do we mean by Sending Unlimited Emails?
When we say unlimited emails, this means that we can send unlimited emails from our server, there are no restrictions by companies or monthly plans to buy or so.
It’s your own server, u can send as much your server can handle in terms of resources. so when you have more (CPU and RAM), you can send more emails and so on.
Setup the SMTP Server, Let’s Start!
Ok, So Let’s start the real work! but before, you need to know what is required.
Requirements to Setup SMTP Server.
In order to Build and Setup an SMTP Server, you will mainly need two things:
- A Domain name
- VPS Server with port 25 opened.
1. Domain name
When you send emails, you will be sending from an email address like this one:
mail@rashedrare.com
So in my case, “H-educate.com” is the domain name that I use to send my emails. so simply it’s required to have a domain name to use when you send emails from your SMTP server.
Usually, it’s your website domain name, except if you are working with cold emails, then it’s better to get and use another domain in case it got blacklisted, to keep your main business domain safe.
So if you don’t have a domain yet, go and get one NOW! in order to continue the Setup.
How to get a domain? simply you buy one! and it costs around 11$ per year, so it’s not that big deal!
We have a lot of DOMAIN REGISTRATION PROVIDERS where you can get a domain from like:
- Godaddy.
- Namecheap.
- freenom.
- Enom.
- Google Domain.
Here in the course, I will be using Namecheap to get my domain, but you can use any other service if you want, all work in the same way, and if you need any help, I will be here 🙂
2. VPS Server with Port 25 opened.
The second thing you will need is a VPS server. a public server to install & Setup SMTP on.
What is a VPS server?
If you don’t know what is a VPS server, simply its a computer (a server) running in the cloud that you buy from a Web Hosting or Cloud Services company. And it’s publicly accessible with a Public IP.
A VPS can be used to host your websites with higher performance, can be used to run a machine 24/7 in the cloud to do any task you want.
Note: If you are interested in learning how to host your own websites on a VPS server, you can
Anyway, In our case, we will be using the VPS Server for Building an SMTP server.
Port 25 open??
I mentioned that the VPS must have port 25 opened, what does this mean?
I don’t want to bother your head within deal technical stuff but in short. Any network service or software uses a certain port to communicate over the internet or network. Examples:
- Connecting remotely to another Windows Machine using RDP software works over port 3389.
- SQL database systems like MYSQL on our computer works over port 3306.
- Connecting to a Linux machine remotely to manage it with SSH, uses port 22.
- When you surf the web and open websites, we use port 80. and so on.
By default, all servers and computers have a firewall running which blocks all ports except the ones you want. so In order to use a certain service, we need to open that port in the firewall.
So, in our case, we are building an SMTP server, and the SMTP software or protocol communicates over port 25. so we need to have port 25 opened.
So when you get a VPS server, just make sure that the company allows Port 25 an don’t block it, because some companies do this to protect from spammers.
Here is a list of some companies that allows port 25 by default:
- Host wind.
- Contabo.
- Interserver.
- OVH.
- Digital Ocean*
- AWS (some accounts are blocked)
*Digital Ocean Sometimes block some accounts and restrict port 25, but in general they allow all ports.
Are there any other Companies?? yes, simply you can contact the support of any company you want and ask if they block any ports by default. if not, then perfect, you can go with it.
Feel free to use any VPS company you want, It’s up to you!
After you select your VPS company, just create a VPS Server with the following specifications:
- Ubuntu 18 x64 as your operating system
- You can start with 1 CPU/2 GB RAM (And resize later).
VPS Server basic configuration.
Now we have our new Ubuntu VPS server, Let’s prepare it for out Setup.
Connect to your server, using an SSH client like putty or bitvise.
First, check your hostname:
hostname -f
If you don’t see a form of ANYTING.YOURDOMAIN.COM, then you need to change the hostname using the following command:
sudo hostname host.domain.tld
Where the host is anything you want. so in my case, my sample domain for this tutorial is mailknock.net, the command will look like this:
sudo hostname postal.mailknock.net
Map your domain name.
Now we have our VPS server and we set its name. Go to your Domain Provider and map your Domain to your VPS server. simply open DNS management zone and add a new A record like this:
Host: Postal points: YOUR SERVER IP.
*postal is in my case, you can choose whatever you want for your server name.
Setup Free SMTP Server
The VPS is ready, and we can start the installation process. So in order to setup SMTP Server on our VPS, we need to install an SMTP software.
Install Postal Free SMTP Software
Prerequisites
Postal runs entirely using containers which means to run Postal you’ll need some software to run these containers. We recommend using Docker for this purpose but you can use whatever software you wish.
To install docker, run below commands. (NOTE: Each command starts with a – )
-sudo apt-get update
-sudo apt-get install \
apt-transport-https \
ca-certificates \
curl \
gnupg \
lsb-release
-curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/docker-archive-keyring.gpg
-echo \
"deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/docker-archive-keyring.gpg] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu \
$(lsb_release -cs) stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null
-sudo apt-get update
-sudo apt-get install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io
-sudo curl -L "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/1.29.2/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m)" -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
-sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
-docker-compose --version
System utilties
There are a few system utilities that you need to have installed before you’ll be able to run some of the Postal commands.
apt install git curl jq
Git & installation helper repository
Make sure you have git installed on the server by running below commands.
-git clone https://postalserver.io/start/install /opt/postal/install
-sudo ln -s /opt/postal/install/bin/postal /usr/bin/postal
Maria DB
You can run MariaDB in a container, assuming you have Docker, using this command. Copy and paste this all in Putty.
docker run -d \
--name postal-mariadb \
-p 127.0.0.1:3306:3306 \
--restart always \
-e MARIADB_DATABASE=postal \
-e MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD=postal \
mariadb
This will install your postal database on MariaDB.
RabbitMQ
RabbitMQ is responsible for dispatching messages between different processes. As with MariaDB, there are numerous ways for you to install this. For this guide, we’re just going to run a single RabbitMQ worker. Copy all the below as one command and paste on putty.
docker run -d \
--name postal-rabbitmq \
-p 127.0.0.1:5672:5672 \
--restart always \
-e RABBITMQ_DEFAULT_USER=postal \
-e RABBITMQ_DEFAULT_PASS=postal \
-e RABBITMQ_DEFAULT_VHOST=postal \
rabbitmq:3.8
Installation
Run the command below and replace postal.yourdomain.com
with the actual hostname you want to access your Postal web interface at. Make sure you have set up this domain with your DNS provider before continuing.
postal bootstrap postal.YOURDOMAIN.COM
Initializing the database
Run the following commands to create the schema and then create your first admin user.
postal initialize
postal make-user
Running postal
You’re now ready to run Postal. You can do this by running:
Postal Start
This will run a number of containers on your machine. You can use postal status
to see details of these components.
Installing WEB Client
You can use any web client to run postal on your web, but in this guide, we are going to use Caddy. Install it with an SSL using below command.
docker run -d \
--name postal-caddy \
--restart always \
--network host \
-v /opt/postal/config/Caddyfile:/etc/caddy/Caddyfile \
-v /opt/postal/caddy-data:/data \
caddy
Once this has started, Caddy will issue an SSL certificate for your domain and you’ll be able to immediately access the Postal web interface and login with the user you created in one of the previous steps.
Ginger VS Grammarly: Which Grammar Checker is Better?
As a beginner digital marketer, it may be daunting to choose the one for you. In this Ginger VS Grammarly comparison, you’ll decide on your tool depending on what matters the most for you.
Both Ginger and Grammarly can catch grammar and spelling mistakes. They also check to make sure there are no typos, homonyms, and other grammar errors.
While there are similarities between the both, there are a few differences as well. Let’s jump straight into Ginger vs Grammarly comparison and we’ll individually understand each software. Sounds fair? Let’s get started right now.
What is Grammarly
If you write something online, you must have heard of Grammarly before. With over 10 million daily users across the globe, it’s probably the most popular AI writing assistant, without a doubt. That’s why the chances are that you already know what Grammarly is.
But for the sake of its comparison with Ginger, let’s define Grammarly here. Like Ginger, it’s also an AI writing assistant that checks for grammatical errors, punctuation, and spellings. The free version covers the basics.
While the Premium version offers a lot more functionality than just identifying grammar and spelling mistakes, for example, Grammarly detects plagiarism in your content, suggests word choice, or adds fluency to it.
Read my Grammarly review for digital marketers if you want to dig deeper. In this post, I’ll let you know the top features and benefits of using the software.
Grammarly: Top Features & Benefits
So it detects basic to advanced grammatical mistakes. And if you aren’t sure about a mistake, Grammarly helps you understand why it may be a mistake. It does it all in real-time while you write. And it also suggests to you how you can improve sentences.
Have a look at some of the top benefits you get while using Grammarly
- Check spellings in American, British, Canadian, and Australian English
- Understand inconsistencies
- Detect unclear structure
- Explore overuse of words and wordiness
- Get to know about the improper tones
- Discover the insensitive language
- Align with your intent, audience, style, emotion, and more
Grammarly is a pretty powerful AI writing tool to help you write your content on the go, and it works with every type of website easily.
What is Ginger
Ginger is an AI writing tool that checks spelling and grammar mistakes while you write. It works seamlessly in your favorite apps and browsers, giving you instant corrections for everything from common typos to sophisticated grammar errors.
Ginger offers you all the tools you need to outshine your blog post or articles for your site. It also helps improve your grammar on the go. So, it doesn’t just identify grammar mistakes but enables you to enhance your writing skills by showing synonyms and other details.
Ginger vs Grammarly: Differences Between the Two
Ginger and Grammarly are AI tools that help you edit your writing on the go. They can catch mistakes in spelling, grammar, word choice, and more. Each tool casts a wide net, but they do have some differences.
Ginger Offers Desktop App for Mac (Unlike Grammarly)
Ginger is a writing assistant that’s available via browser and an iOS and Android app. It’s also available for Mac and Windows.
Grammarly is an editor that has a desktop app for Windows but not for Mac. But it does have a Grammarly Keyboard for iOS and Android.
Ginger is a clear winner here because it offers the desktop app for Mac, unlike Grammarly.
Grammarly Has a Plagiarism Checker (Unlike Ginger)
Grammarly offers a fantastic tool that checks your content for plagiarism, but Ginger doesn’t provide you with such a tool. Ginger doesn’t help you avoid copying someone else’s work, which is extremely important in today’s world.
Grammarly is a clear winner here because it has an excellent plagiarism checking tool.
Grammarly Helps You Check Uploaded Docs (Unlike Ginger)
Grammarly allows you to check the uploaded documents. In contrast, Ginger grammar software doesn’t help you with that. That’sUsing Grammarly as your writing assistant is an added advantage because you don’t want to copy and paste the text sometimes.
Ginger Offers Text to Speech Feature (Unlike Grammarly)
So Ginger software helps you perfect your spoken English and see if your text has talking fluency. It does it all because of its awesome tool called Text Reader. It’s helpful when you want to write something conversational.
Ginger Software: Features & Benefits
Ginger software helps you check the common grammatical mistakes like consecutive nouns or contextual spelling correction. It also helps you correct the typos on the go. The sentence rephrasing feature enables you to come up with a perfect sentence to convey your meaning.
Ginger acts like your personal trainer, that gives you practice sessions based on your mistakes. Also, it offers a text reader, so you know the conversational level of your content. The dictionary feature helps you see the definition of any word.
Let me enlist all these features in bullets:
- Grammar check
- Spell check
- Sentence rephrase
- Personal writing trainer
- Text reader
- Translator
- Dictionary
- Emoji feature
Yeah, it has an emoji feature that brings hundreds of emojis to outshine your content. Also, it’s mobile-friendly, which means you can edit on your phones as well. Last but not least, Ginger works with Microsoft, Mac, iOS, Android, Safari, Chrome, and whatnot!
On the other hand, Grammarly doesn’t offer a text-to-speech feature. But you can voice-type your text with the software. However, Ginger wins here!
Ginger Supports Over 40 Languages (Unlike Grammarly)
That may be the most significant difference for non-English writers and marketers, without a doubt. Grammarly may be more popular than Ginger, but it doesn’t support grammar checking and translation for over 40 languages. Ginger wins here, once again.
Ginger VS Grammarly: Pricing Difference
While both the writing tools offer essential features for free, they have their Premium and Business plans. Let’s dig into the pricing of these AI writing assistants.
Ginger offers a Premium subscription for $19.99/month ($13.99/month for a special promo) for a monthly plan. For an annual subscription, it comes at $12.48/month ($7.49/month for a special promo).
And for a two-year plan, you get Ginger for $9.99/month ($6.99/month for a special promo). The special promo is valid at the time of writing and may finish at any time. You would want to check out the pricing on their official page.
Ginger for Business subscription starts at $149 and scales up to $249 and $349 per month, depending on your company’s needs.
On the other hand, Grammarly offers a Premium subscription for $30/month for a monthly plan. It comes at $20/month for quarterly and $12/month for an annual subscription.
Grammarly for Business plan starts at $12.50/month for each member of your company’s team. And you require at least three members of your team to buy the subscription.
Final Thought: Grammarly is a little more expensive than Ginger, especially for monthly plans. But let’s be honest and get to know more about both the software programs before we conclude. Let’s get started with Grammarly.
Summarizing the Ginger VS Grammarly: My Recommendation
While both the writing assistants are fantastic in so many ways, you need to choose the one for you. And it depends on your needs. For example, go for Grammarly if you don’t want to pay separately for plagiarism tools.
Choose Ginger if you want to play with words in languages other than English. Let me summarize the differences for you:
- Ginger has a desktop app for Mac (Both have Windows, iOS, and Android apps)
- Grammarly offers a plagiarism checking tool
- Ginger provides text to speech tool
- Grammarly helps you check uploaded documents
- Ginger supports over 40 languages
- Grammarly has a more friendly UI/UX
Ginger and Grammarly are awesome writing tools, without a doubt. Which one you choose depends on your needs. You’d want to go for Ginger if you’re going to listen to your text.
As per my experience, I found Grammarly to be easier and more user-friendly than Ginger. It also helps me check plagiarism in my content. And that’s why I recommend going without giving a thought. But Ginger is the only option when you write in a language other than English.
How to Generate Content Ideas for One Year Ahead (2022)
You always have to create content and then market it as a digital marketer. And the best thing in content marketing is planning the entire content for an entire year. You never run out of content ideas next time. This post will help you learn how to generate content ideas for one year for your blog or website.
As a blogger, I never find it challenging to find topic ideas for my blog or website. You can also easily find them if you look around and pay attention to the content around you.
You’ll get more ideas than you can handle, especially with how I’ll discuss this post. You’ll also learn how to do keyword research for your blog. Without further ado, let’s get started right away.
How to Generate Content Ideas for One Year Ahead (2022)
Generating content ideas may require a lot of effort at the start. But after you plan out your content for an entire year, you don’t have to worry about it again. And it means the effort is completely worth it.
In this first section, you’ll learn how to generate content topics with the help of the people around you. And then you’ll learn ways to do it yourself. The last section of the post will outline step-by-step guidelines to do keyword research for your blog.
How to Generate Content Ideas for One Year With Others
Small businesses grow 126% more with blog posts than those without them in the online world. For making a successful blog, you need to fill it with topics relevant to your audience. And for that, you need to brainstorm within the organization and understand your audience.
Brainstorm Content Topics Within Your Organization
Coming up with video or blog post ideas can be challenging for one. But if you do it with your team, it becomes way easier than you think. Organize brainstorming sessions and note every idea regardless of how ridiculous it seems.
This is how you do it correctly:
- Note every idea thrown by your team members
- Don’t limit your team’s ideas
- Help them generate as many ideas as possible
- But stay focused on your niche or theme
- Break up the bigger groups into smaller ones
- Include people who have little to no idea of what your business is
Group brainstorming sessions can be extremely valuable for your business, without a doubt. And you can do it among your family members and friends as well. Let’s jump on another way to generate content topics for your blog or website.
Listen to Your Audience
Start adding value to your audience, and they’ll respond. Listen to them always. Pay attention to their responses. And you’ll get to know what you need to do to grow your business.
For that, you need to:
- Ensure the right solution to their problems
- Think of the correct content formats for your audience
- Understand your audience by making buyer’s persona
- Encourage them to share their ideas (Create a survey asking what they want to learn)
How to Generate Content Topics Yourself
In this section, you’ll learn how to generate content ideas yourself. Of course, you can just think of the topics. But you need to look around carefully. Explore forums, social media, trends, and more.
Explore General Forums and Communities like Quora & Reddit
One great way to generate content topics is to explore general forums and online communities. Sites like Quora and Reddit are filled with passionate people who love to talk about a wide range of topics.
By spending some time browsing these sites, you can quickly develop a long list of potential content ideas. You can also get some great feedback and inspiration for different content formats.
Dive Into Social Media: Hashtags & Questions
Social media is all about people and their interests. Your audience is surely there too. All you need is to find them and see what they’re talking about. One of the best ways is to use hashtags on Twitter and posts on Facebook.
And if you look at questions people ask in Facebook groups; you can find some really good topics. This could be a great topic for an ebook or a blog post.
Social media helps you understand what people are up to. You must pay attention to trends if you create content around trends.
Benefit from the Power of ‘Google Autosuggest’
Most content marketers know the power of Google Autosuggest. This is a great way to get hot topics that align with what you type in Google.
For example, if you type “Email marketing” in Google, you’ll have these suggestions immediately:
And the list goes on. You can easily come up with dozens of potential blog post ideas just by doing this. Keep track of anything that looks promising.
Research Other Bloggers in Your Niche
A quick way to generate dozens of content ideas is to explore other influencers in your niche. For example, researching what Neil Patel writes on his blog will surely help if you are into digital marketing.
Here’s how you can do the research:
- Go to Google
- Search for the niche related blogs
- Make a list of the blogs that appear in SERPs
- Read individual blogs and see what resonates with you
The best thing about this method is that it saves a lot of time doing keyword research. You’re getting content ideas directly from your target audience. And you’ll have plenty of ideas for your blog posts, YouTube videos, or Quora spaces.
Answer the Public Using AnswerThePublic
AnswerThePublic is a great tool that allows you to develop your potential topics on the fly. How it works is that you type in any keyword on the site and see all related phrases categorized as questions and more.
It’s like having an idea of what people are interested in on Google Autosuggest, but more accurate and organized.
The results you get are categorized into questions, comparisons, and more. You can also export the data to a CSV file for further analysis.
Repurpose Your Content for Other Platforms
One great way to come up with content topics is to repurpose your existing content. How many times have you already written blog posts? How about turning those posts into an ebook or a webinar?
This approach works because you already have the knowledge and expertise on the topic. All you need is to find a new medium for it to reach a new audience.
How to Do Keyword Research for Generating Content Ideas for One Year Using Ahrefs
Keyword Explorer is Ahrefs’ premium keyword research tool—and it does not disappoint! With this tool, you can get keyword ideas, generate lists of related keywords, and see how difficult it will be to rank for a given keyword.
It also predicts whether a keyword is worth targeting. You can divide keywords based on CPC, word count, and more.
Log into Your Ahrefs Account and Go to Keywords Explorer
Log into your Ahrefs account and go to Keywords Explorer to get started. If you’re not a member yet, you can also sign up for a 7-day trial.
- Type in a seed keyword.
- Ensure you choose ‘Google’ and press the ‘Enter’ button.
- Hover over to ‘Phrase match’ to see a list of related keywords.
- Use subfolders to organize your results.
Filter Results by Adding ‘Defining’ Words
Defining words define the stance of a keyword. These words include
- How to
- What
- Best
- Top
- Review
- Alternative
- Template
- VS
- Ideas
- Free
As you can see, these words define the intent of a keyword. For example, a keyword with ‘how to’ refers to a keyword requiring a how-to tutorial on something. If your niche is email marketing and you include ‘how to,’ you’re likely to get results like:
- How to get started with email marketing
- How to run a successful email marketing campaign
- And how to implement an effective email marketing strategy
People typing these lines and phrases in Google must look for different email marketing tutorials. And it’s not about ‘how to’ only. You can include the words like review, alternative, template, and more.
In this way, you’ll have different categories of content ideas for your blog. Download the results in .CSV format and start creating content.
Expand Your Research by Adding More Niche Keywords
Click on the ‘Phrase match’ and ‘Having same terms’ to see all the keywords related to your niche. You can follow the same steps to filter your results by adding more ‘defining’ words.
Another method is to enter your competitor’s site in Ahrefs Site Explorer. And see all the keywords he or she is ranking for. And then add those defining keywords to categorize your content accordingly.
Prioritize Your Keywords Based on These Factors
There are tons of parameters you can decide on while generating content ideas. These include
- Keyword difficulty
- Search volume
- Clicks
- Traffic potential
- Cost per click (CPC)
Let’s understand them one by one now.
Keyword difficulty shows you the approximate difficulty level of ranking for a given keyword. This metric considers the overall domain rating of the sites appearing on SERPs, content relevance, search intent, and more.
Search volume is the average number of times people search for a keyword per month. However, it’s not accurate but an estimate only. The higher volume a keyword has, the better it is. However, it’s not a hard and fast rule! But then, it may be more difficult for you to rank for that keyword.
Clicks in the Keyword Explorer refer to the average number of clicks a keyword gets per month. It may be different than the volume. For example, ‘time in the US’ may have an extremely high volume compared to clicks.
Traffic refers to the potential traffic a keyword gets per month.
Cost per click (CPC) refers to advertisers’ pay for each ad click from a keyword.
All these factors play an important role in prioritizing or categorizing your content.
I hope this post on generating content ideas for one year helps you never run out of topics. And after that, you can prioritize your content pieces based on keyword difficulty, CPC, volume, and more.
But as for questions, I always recommend answering them regardless of their difficulty and more.
FAQs on Generating Content Ideas
These are some of the most frequently asked questions.
What are Good Content Ideas?
For me, good content ideas are those that are evergreen. They are always relevant and will continue to be popular for a long time. These could be topics like “How to Do Email Marketing” or “The Best Ways to Lower Your Energy Bills.” You can also find content ideas by looking at what’s trending in your industry or social media.
How Can I Come Up with New Ideas?
One way to develop new content ideas is to look at what’s popular on other blogs in your industry or on social media. Brainstorm a list of topics related to your niche and then research to see which ones are most popular.
You can also look for content gaps – topics that haven’t been covered as much as you think they should be. And do your research with tools like Ahrefs, SEMRush and generate content ideas for one year or more.
How Do I Keep My Content Fresh?
One way to keep your content fresh is to update it regularly with new information. You can also switch up your content formats from time to time.
For example, if you usually write blog posts, try creating a video or infographic. Also, participate in conversations on social media and offer your insights on current trends.
Do I Need to Come Up with New Ideas All the Time?
No, you don’t need to come up with new content ideas all the time. You could even reuse some of your old content to repurpose it for a new audience or platform. You can also team up with other content creators to come up with content ideas.
How Do I Research Content Ideas?
There are a number of different ways to research content ideas. You can use Google Trends, BuzzSumo to find out what’s popular in your industry.
So that’s how you generate content ideas for one year or more. Have questions? Share them in the comments below.
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AdSense Tutorial: How to Make Money With Google AdSense
I have divided it into three major parts. First, you’ll get to know the basics. In the second part, you’ll learn how to earn $67 per day at least.
To make money with Google AdSense, you need to create a website, get approved for AdSense, and start displaying ads. But let’s get to know the basics first.
Google AdSense: Things You Need to Know
In this section, I’ll help you understand the basics of Google AdSense. It includes what AdSense is, how it works, and much more. Skip this section only if you’re here for the AdSense tutorial.
What is Google AdSense
Google AdSense is a program run by Google through which you as a website publisher make money by displaying ads. These ads may be text, images, videos, or any interactive media. They are targeted to the site based on the content and audience.
There are tons of benefits of using AdSense ads on your site. For example, there’s no limit to how much you can make with AdSense. It doesn’t require any specific product for a user to sell. And it doesn’t require a complicated process to get started on the platform.
One of the biggest advantages of using AdSense is that you can manage your ads on several sites. There’s no charge to get into the program. So, if you’re looking to make money using your site, look no further than AdSense.
Google AdSense Metrics: What Are the KPIs
But how will you measure your success? Yes, you got it. Using the most important AdSense metrics or KPIs, you can measure the progress. Metrics refers to the values you’re measuring. Understanding them will help you act accordingly and earn money effectively.
Some of the most important Google AdSense metrics include:
- Earnings
- Ad Views
- Number of clicks
- Clickthrough Ratio (CTR)
- AdSense revenue per visit
- AdSense eCPM (Cost Per Mille)
And you can add all these metrics to your Google Analytics (GA) to measure your progress in real-time. But first, you need to link your AdSense account to your GA account. Here’s the giveaway; pick the right AdSense metrics for measuring your success.
How Does AdSense Work
The entire process of making money with Google AdSense is straightforward. It’s a brilliant way for publishers like you to make money using the power of quality content. Advertisers want to display their ads on Google and Google-approved sites. Google displays them and gets a little money in return. And you get your money as a publisher as well.
And this is how it works for you:
- You make ad spaces available on your site
- Advertisers bid to show ads in those ad spaces
- The highest paying ads get displayed on your site
- Your website visitors start seeing and clicking on those ads
- And you get paid by the Google AdSense program in return
As you can see, Google AdSense works on a cost-per-click revenue sharing basis. Isn’t it simple? Comment under this post if it’s not! And I’ll shed more light on the subject. But how much can you get paid?
How Much Does AdSense Pay
Google AdSense pays 68% of the revenue generated by the number of ad clicks on your site. Google keeps the remaining revenue. This is how mainly Google makes money. And just to give you a number, it has made $146.9 billion in 2020.
Website owners get 51% of the revenue generated by the number of ad clicks using Google Search. So how much will you earn with AdSense? It’s hard to say exactly. Why? It’s because your earnings depend on a lot of factors:
- Type of content
- CPM, CTR, and CPC
- Location of your audience
- Your ad placements and sizes
- The niche of your site
And more. However, you can use Google’s revenue calculator to estimate how much your site might earn. As per my experience, it lets you know a little more than you should really expect. Based on a number of factors, CPM (cost per 1000 ad impressions) can range from $0.3 to $2.
But if you create content around high CPC keywords, you may get as much as $50 revenue per click. And that’s huge!
AdSense Requirements
For displaying AdSense ads, you need to apply for the program first. And for getting approved, you need to fulfil the minimum eligibility requirements for AdSense. For example, you must have your own unique content and abide by the AdSense policies.
Let me reveal a few more criteria for you to follow:
- You must be 18 years of age
- Own your site
- Your site must have unique content
- It must have clear navigation
- Don’t go for fake traffic
- Abide by Google Content Policies
- Respect the copyright law
- Use the AdSense supported language
- Have technical pages like Privacy, Contact or About pages
Also, your site should be at least six months old before you apply to AdSense. But it’s not a requirement. You can apply for AdSense anytime. But I recommend going for it once you have at least 100 visitors per day. The more, the better!
3 Types of Website for Quality AdSense Revenue
There are three types of sites that have quality AdSense revenue, according to Google. And it’s important to understand this because this is how you’ll monetize your site effectively. These website types include:
- A blog site
- Forum site
- Free online tool site
You need to create quality content regardless of the type of sites you choose. And you can use Google Keyword Planner to see if your kind of topic gets traction on Google Search. After that, you would want to create your site and run ads on it to make money.
AdSense Tutorial: How to Make Money With Google AdSense
This step-by-step guide will help you learn how to earn money with Google AdSense. From picking your niche to making bucks, I’ll outline everything for you here. Sounds exciting? Let’s get started right now.
Pick Your Niche
Picking your niche is probably the first step of starting almost anything online. Why? It’s because the general horizon is pretty too competitive for you. Also, in this noisy world, you want to have your voice heard.
So choose a niche or theme you want to create content around. Even the tools have specific niches.
This is how you can choose a niche for your blog:
- Explore yourself – pay attention to what you enjoy
- Do the market research and monitor the gaps
- And fill in those gaps by creating content
What ads will be shown on your website and how much money you’ll get depends on the ads displayed in your blog. Ads should be related to the contents of your site but not too general or specific either.
Buy Domain & Hosting
After you choose your niche, go for the perfect domain name and hosting as well. AdSense is a text-based Ad Network, so make sure your domain name has relevant keywords in it. But it’s not a must, of course.
Branding domain names work just fine. Choose a hosting service that’s reliable, fast, and secure. These are some of the top hosting services
I have been using their hosting services, and I vouch for their reliability. Connect the domain name with your hosting account. And set up WordPress to manage your blog’s content.
Don’t forget to benefit from these top WordPress plugins and tools to increase your site’s functionality. After that, you would want to start creating awesome content.
Start Creating Quality Content
Content is the backbone of all the businesses in the world. Now that your site is ready with all the necessary tools, it’s time to start creating quality content.
You don’t want your blog visitors bouncing away in just a few seconds, right? So how do you create quality content?
By following these tips:
- Research and back up your claims with data or sources
- Write in a way that’s easy to understand
- Break up your content into shorter, readable paragraphs
- Use images, infographics, and videos to break the monotony and add value
- Stick to a publishing schedule
Your blog will start getting traction. This is how you start a publishing business online. Now is the time to get started with Google AdSense.
Get Started with Google AdSense
Well, it’s quite easy. Just create an AdSense account and add the AdSense code to your blog. This is how it will look like:
- Read and implement the Google AdSense requirements
- Go to Google AdSense
- Click on ‘Get Started’
- Choose your payment country
- Read and accept the terms and conditions
- Start using AdSense
Some people find it challenging to get approved for AdSense ads. Let’s understand why and how you can avoid disapproval from Google.
Get Your Site Approved for AdSense
If you are honest with your job, it’s unlikely for your blog to get disapproved from Google AdSense. But for that, you must know how things work here. Let me share a few tips on avoiding any disapproval from Google.
- Provide all the correct information when applying for Google AdSense
- Create high-quality content that adds value to your readers
- Build some must-have pages like about, contact, and privacy
- Don’t use any copyrighted content at all
- Ensure your website doesn’t have illegal or pornographic content
- Remove other ads when applying for AdSense
- Create at least 30 posts before your apply (it’s not a must but a recommendation)
Wait after you’ve done everything right. Google AdSense has never rejected me. And the tips given above are the reasons for that. After getting approval, your site will start making money.
Earn More Money With Your AdSense Site
Google AdSense is a great way to monetize your website and start making money. But it’s not just enough to place the ads on your site and wait for the money to start rolling in.
Here are a few things you can do to increase your ad revenue.
Place AdSense ads on high-traffic pages.
Place AdSense ads on pages that get a lot of traffic. This will ensure that as many people see your ads as possible. The more people who see your ads, the more money you’ll make.
Select appropriate ad formats and sizes
AdSense provides a variety of ad formats and sizes to choose from. Select the ad formats and sizes that work best for your site. This will help you maximize your AdSense earnings.
Place ads above the fold
It’s important to place your AdSense ads to be seen easily. Placing the ads above the fold will ensure that many people see them as possible.
Use AdSense optimized themes.
There are several AdSense optimized themes available that you can use on your website. These themes have been designed to help you get the most out of your AdSense ads.
Place ads in appropriate locations
Place your AdSense ads in appropriate locations on your website. AdSense allows you to place ads on various locations, including the header, footer, sidebar, and within the content. Experiment with different locations to see which ones work best for you.
Create AdSense optimized content
Google AdSense is a text-based Ad Network. So it’s important to create AdSense optimized content. This means using the right keywords and writing content relevant to your AdSense ads.
Use AdSense channels
AdSense channels allow you to group your AdSense ads. This makes it easier to track your AdSense performance and identify which ads perform the best.
Try new AdSense ad formats.
Google AdSense has AdSense ad formats that you can use on your AdSense optimized content. Experiment with new layouts and ad units to help you create a better AdSense experience for your users.
Use these AdSense optimization tips to increase your AdSense revenue.
- Monitor your progress and keep improving yourself
- Do the A/B testing for the ad units
- Optimize the color of your Google AdSense ads
- Implement responsive ads
- Work on your niche and the quality of content
That’s all. By now, you must have created your site that is up and running Google AdSense ads. Drop your questions in the comments below.
10 Best Chrome Extensions That Are Perfect for Everyone
This post will help you learn about the best Chrome extensions, whether you’re a freelancer or entrepreneur with online ventures.
Google Chrome is the best browser known for its speed, security, and simplicity. That’s why it has over 2 billion users globally, making it the most popular browser in the world.
One of Google Chrome’s greatest strengths is its ability to integrate with other Google services. One of the many ways of extending your browser’s functionality is through extensions.
These are small scripts installed on your browser to perform various functions. A lot of extensions are created by Google itself.
However, a majority of extensions are created by third parties worldwide with various goals. They add features to your browser and improve your web surfing experience.
Do More with Your Browser
Google Chrome has an in-browser app store, also known as Chrome Web Store. The apps are called extensions because they extend the functionality of your Chrome browser.
They make Chrome even better by adding new features or taking some off your shoulders.
For example, you may not want to bother storing saved passwords in browsers. Or you can design your own webpage with one click when surfing the internet. There’s always a Chrome extension for your needs!
10 Best Extensions for Google Chrome
There are many best Google Chrome extensions available which simplify your work and help you to complete it quickly. And I have made a list of my top 10 Google Chrome extensions perfect for people who work online. Let’s get started!
INSSIST: Instagram Assistant
Have you ever wanted to post to Instagram on your laptop or PC? You might have tried using photo capture or other extensions to take quick photos for Instagram on your desktop.
But what about uploading video covers, scheduling posts?
INSSIST, a Google Chrome extension, lets you do all of those things and more.
“I found it frustrating having to open the Instagram app every time I wanted to post something,”
@youcanbeast.
INSSIST makes uploading photos, videos, stories, and carousels to Instagram much easier.
If you’re uploading a video, it will automatically take screenshots before uploading the whole thing in one go. You can also schedule your posts and manage your IG profile.
Grammarly: Best Chrome Extension for Marketers & Freelancers
As a marketer, freelance writer, or entrepreneur, you always deal with written content. Either you write something or get it written by someone else for your site or social media pages. However, your job is not over after you’re done writing.
You have to proofread your article to make sure it’s flawless. The problem is that even if you are a good writer with a commendable grip on grammar, some mistakes may slip through the cracks sometimes.
You may miss some articles or prepositions. That’s where Grammarly pops up! I absolutely love it. Read my Grammarly review for digital marketers here. And luckily, it has an extension for Chrome as well.
Grammarly‘s Google Chrome extension helps you write grammatically correct blog or social media posts. It enables you to proofread your content while you’re writing it. Here are a few things you can do with Grammarly‘s Chrome extension:
- Set your tone and style
- Find the right words to express yourself
- Proofread while you’re writing in Chrome
- Improve your articles and prepositions usage
And more. It’s a must-have Google Chrome extension for everyone working online. That brings us to the next contender here onboard.
vidIQ: Top Chrome Extension for YouTubers
If you are a YouTuber like me, you will love this extension without a doubt. vidIQ is an all-in-one tool that helps do the YouTube SEO for your channel.
It also helps you find new ideas for your following YouTube videos. In addition, its Chrome extension does many things for absolutely free.
Here’s what you can do with vidIQ‘s Chrome extension:
- Get to know the insights and metrics that go beyond YouTube Analytics
- Find great videos with the Trending tab.
- View YouTube rankings for any video, including your own.
- Track keyword ranking history to determine when a keyword is trending up or down in popularity over time.
- Quickly see which videos are doing best on YouTube right now.
- Get suggestions on keywords to use in your title, description, tags
With all these features, you can judge the likelihood of a video going viral. You can also analyze comprehensive optimization report cards for YouTube videos on your browser. This way, you enjoy the insights on how to get more views and subscribers.
Also, have a look at these 8 of my favorite YouTube keyword tools to grow your channel.
Keywords Everywhere: Best Chrome Extensions for SEO
Keyword Everywhere is a free Chrome plugin that aids in keyword research. However, you can always upgrade to the premium version for increased functionality. I believe it’s a handy extension for SEOs and online marketers.
The extension helps you know some important SEO metrics like:
- Keyword search volume
- Cost per Click (CPC)
- The ranking difficulty for over 15 websites like Google
Keywords Everywhere shows the SEO metrics within the search engine. It saves tons of time, without a doubt. But wait, there’s more. It also indicates trend charts, related & long-tail keywords on the right-hand side of Google.
Furthermore, you can also see the estimated organic traffic and the top 5000 keywords for web pages on Google. So, there’s a lot you can expect from this brilliant Chrome extension, primarily if you work online.
GMass: Powerful Chrome Extension for Gmail Marketers
If you’re a Google Workspace user, you may want to stick with it. However, even if you’re a Gmail fan like me, you’ll love GMass for increasing your emailing functionality on the platform.
GMass (or Gmail Mass) allows users to compose and send mass emails using Gmail. It’s a great tool because you can use it as a replacement for a third-party email sending platform.
GMass Chrome Extension Features:
The Gmail Extension lets users do the following:
- Uses SMTP Authentication
- Supports HTML and Multipart MIME content type
- Send email marketing campaigns to thousands of email addresses
- Mail merge with data from Google Sheets
- Scheduling option for your mass email campaigns
SimilarWeb: Traffic Rank & Website Analysis Extension
SimilarWeb is an online tool that helps you do competitive analysis. By analyzing your competitors, you can figure out the most effective ways to gain profit and increase sales.
SimilarWeb gives you valuable information about websites like their ranking, traffic, keywords, social media statistics, geolocation, and more.
Use the web app to get the most detailed information about your competitor’s websites. But if you’re like me and want quick information, download Similarweb’s Chrome extension. With the extension, you can:
- Discover keyword trends
- Know fresh keywords
- Get benefit from the real traffic insights
- Analyze engagement metrics
- Explore unique visitors data
- Analyze your industry’s category
- Use month to date data
Similarwebs’s Chrome extension is a must-have tool for SEOs and internet entrepreneurs, without a doubt. It helps you know website rank, visitors over time, geography, traffic sources, and more.
Notion Web Clipper: Chrome Extension for Geeks
It’s a Chrome extension for geeks that lets you highlight and save what you see on the web. After a time, it becomes your personal knowledge base.
It’s been built by Notion, which is a Google Workspace alternative that helps teams craft better ideas and collaborate effectively.
But I’m here to talk about its Chrome extension only. So, let me tell you a few of its awesome features now:
- Save anything online with just one click
- Use it on any device
- Organize your saved clips quickly
- Tag, share and comment on the clips
If you are someone working online, you must be surfing the net to do your business. And there are a lot of times when you don’t have time to read or analyze something.
But it’s important for you to do so. That’s where Notion Web Clipper helps you.
ColorZilla: Top Chrome Extension for Picking Any Site’s Color
ColorZilla for Chrome is a free color picker and palette browser you can use in almost any web environment. And you can do it from any point in your Chrome. It helps designers and developers to work with colors like
- Pick colors from a page
- Adjust HEX/RGB/HSV values of colors on a page
- Save colors picked from any site
And yes, you can also use it on Firefox and enjoy a similar feature set. ColorZilla for Chrome is a really helpful preview of colors chosen from a palette on a gradient or web page. If multiple colors are being used on a website, this tool makes finding them all easier.
You can also use it on retina displays if you wonder. So, get inspiration from other sites. Combine different ideas. And rebrand your site just like the way you want. Now comes the 9th top Chrome extension that shows the fonts used on any website.
WhatFont: Best Chrome Extension for Knowing Any Site’s Fonts
Are you a web designer who is interested in fonts? Or maybe you are a standalone website owner who wants to customize their website. You’ll love WhatFont, an extension for Chrome that reveals the fonts of any website.
WhatFont is a Chrome Extension that allows web designers to easily identify and compare different fonts on a page. The first time you use it on any page, WhatFont will copy the selected page.
It uses this page to find out what fonts are present and generate an image showing all these fonts in different sizes. Besides the obvious websites like Google or Amazon, you can also use it on sites where embedded fonts are used.
Wappalyzer: Know the Tech Behind Any Online Business
This extension shows up as an icon that shows what CMS was used on any website you visit. It gives you a breakdown of what tools and frameworks were used to create this website.
This application allows you to detect all types of information about any website you visit. It can discover different applications and frameworks used for this site, including Bootstrap, jQuery, and more.
Why is it helpful? It’s because you can understand the tech behind a site to use the same for yours. Even if you’re not a web developer, you may still be curious to discover the tech behind a site.
So that’s all! These are the 10 of the best Chrome extensions for everyone working online. But wait, there’s more. Have a look at some more extensions for geeky Chrome users.
Other Top Google Chrome Extensions You Need to Use in 2022
Screencastify | Blurring | Unshorten.link | AdBlocker | RescueTime |
Privacy Badger | User agent switcher | Papier | FlowCrypt | BeFunky |
HabitLab | OneNote Web Clipper | Wikiwand | Better history | Loom |
Session Buddy | The Great Suspender | Mercury Reader | CrxMouse Gestures | Buffer |
Checker Plus for Gmail | MailTag | Print Friendly & PDF | Boomerang for Gmail | StayFocusd |
Which of the Best Chrome Extensions Do You Like the Most?
The internet has become extremely important for business. You need to get to know many things related to your work continuously. To get the most out of it, you need to know the best Chrome extensions for your work.
That intrigued me to compile the 10 of my favorites. However, everyone’s needs are different. If you are an Instagrammer, you’d love INSIST. But if you’re a YouTuber, you’d love vidIQ‘s Chrome extension. Let me know which extension for Chrome do you like the most?