Key Takeaways
- Find a niche and post consistently to see the best results.
- Focus on quality, longer-length posts.
- Use your content to build authority and monetize services.
If you’ve been daydreaming about creating a blog during yet another endless conference call, an excellent place to start is right here.
In case you haven’t heard, content is king. And there are plenty of full-time bloggers who prove it and make a living writing about hobbies, recipes, or workouts.
Writing with authority on a topic provides serious value in an internet landscape, often filled with subpar information.
With that said, starting up a blog doesn’t mean you can put in your two weeks as soon as you press “Publish” on your first blog post. Monetizing your blog and turning a profit takes hard work and dedication.
Like almost everything else in life, you get what you put in.
A great blog involves research, content strategy, and a fresh perspective.
So, if you have a story to tell or a niche to fill, it’s time to learn how to start a blog and unleash your creativity.
Step 1: Pick Your Blog Niche
Although you can simply start a blog based on broad topics, it’s smarter to narrow your focus. A unique point of view and a distinct voice are essential to building an audience.
There are two main questions you should ask yourself when setting up your blog and choosing your focus. The first is, “Do I enjoy learning about this subject?”
Good writing is infused with the passion of the author. If you’re writing something with thought and care, you’re more likely to benefit from actively engaged, inspired readers while building authority. On the flip side, if you don’t particularly like a topic, it’ll quickly surface in your writing and potentially turn readers off.
It’s important to be intellectually curious about the topic – otherwise, your creativity and ideas for new content might run dry.
Still not sure? Think about what your close friends and family come to you to discuss.
Do you know the best secret hiking spots in your state? Do your vegan recipes on Instagram get the most engagement? Let these answers guide your blog focus.
The second question you should ask is, “Does this already exist?”
You might think that a blog centered around crocheting crafts out of found materials is unique. Lo-and-behold, after a little Googling, you find a blog floating around focused on that exact niche.Although your blog will share space with similar blogs, it needs to be different enough for an audience to seek you out. You need to provide value – especially if you want to monetize your blog down the road.
Step 2: Choose a Blog Name
Finding a name for your blog might seem intimidating at first, but don’t overthink it. Here are some tips to remember when you’re brainstorming your blog name:
- Choose words related to your niche
- Keep it simple and stick to one or two words
- Don’t pick overly general terms like “travel”
- Dotcom domains are preferred
- Avoid hyphens or numbers
- For a personal blog or branding, consider using a variation of your name
You can keep your domain name as long as you continue to pay your annual fees, which typically run $10 to $15 per year.
Step 3: Choose Your Web Host
So, you’ve chosen a niche around perfecting the art of macramé on a budget and named it. Now, what? The next step is to select your web host.
Web hosting is a service that makes your blog accessible through the web – it has a significant impact on your site’s overall functionality and its performance.
There’s a vast array of web hosts to choose from at all price points, from a few dollars to thousands. Above all, a good web host will walk you through setting up and launching your blog.
Hosted vs. Self-Hosted
You have two options here: hosted (Blogger, WordPress.com) and self-hosted (WordPress.org). “Hosted” blogging platforms, like Wix or Squarespace, offer a hands-off approach to your blog. You deal with one company, and all of your content and files live on the blog platform’s servers. These platforms manage data and web hosting, so you don’t have to.
Unfortunately, hosted platforms can be limiting and slow down the growth of your blog. Some might even put restrictions on how much money you can make from your content. Or you might be prohibited from monetizing at all.
“Self-hosted” platforms require you to install blogging software on your own web server.
Self-hosted platforms like WordPress.org allow you to set up and maintain your blog with a unique domain and web hosting. If you want to sell products, sell a service, or run ads, this is the right choice.
You’ve probably heard of WordPress’s blogging platform already, and there’s a reason for that – it’s easy to use and powerful. WordPress also delivers tons of free plugins you can leverage to customize and optimize your blog.
Step 4: Protect and Secure Your Blog
New bloggers may not realize they should protect their blog by doing some basic security housekeeping tasks.
Backup Your Blog
Backing up your blog should be one of the first things you do after setting up your blog. While it’s rare that a web host will lose or delete your site, it can still happen.
But your site suddenly disappearing isn’t the biggest threat to your blog — hackers are.
Hackers and other cybercriminals can infect your site with malicious code.
If the worst-case scenario occurs, but you have a backup of your blog available, you can restore a clean version of your website.
Be Careful With Copyrights
Copyrights need to be respected, especially when it comes to the visual elements of your blog.
Small-time bloggers are often the victims of what is called “Copyright Trolls.” Well-meaning bloggers might accidentally use copyrighted images to add visual interest to their content.
Copyright lawyers can sue you for damages based on the use of a copyrighted image, even if the lawyer doesn’t own the copyright or represent the entity with the copyright. As a result, bloggers can be bilked out of money.
How do you avoid this? Never use copyrighted images for your blog posts. If you’re not sure, it’s better to be safe than sorry and choose an image you’re confident that you can use.
It’s actually very easy to find images available for free through the public domain or free stock photo sites. And on that note, it’s good practice to credit the website or artist (or both), however. A step above using free images you find on the internet is to use your own graphics. Smartphones offer basic but helpful editing tools, and you can get surprisingly high-quality photos. Websites like Canva offer free tools you can use to create blog header graphics and other visual elements you can insert into your text to make your posts look more attractive.
Opt for Domain Privacy
Besides securing your blog, you should also take steps to protect your personal identity. Your web host should offer a domain privacy service that keeps your personal information private.
Besides domain privacy, avoid sharing identifying details in your blog like where you live, your schedule, names, and other similar details.
Use Hard-to-Guess Passwords for Your Blog Login
Although this might seem like a no-brainer, there’s evidence that millions of people still using passwords like “password,” “abc123,” and other easily-guessed combos.
Here are some basic password tips to keep in mind:
- Use 12 characters minimum
- Include numbers, capital letters, lower-case letters, and symbols
- Don’t use dictionary words
You can use a password manager like Keeper if you’re concerned about forgetting a complex password.
Step 5: Design and Customize Your Blog
Now for the fun stuff. Installing a theme for your blog is a straightforward task, but it can take time to accomplish since there are thousands of free themes to explore. While it’s essential to ensure that your blog is attractive and user-friendly, it’s equally important that it complements your blog content. If you’re working on a WordPress site, look for themes that say “SEO optimized”, “responsive” or “fast loading” themes. Many free themes can make sites look odd when viewed on a mobile device, or make for increased page speed (aka the time it takes a page to properly load). For users on sites like squarespace or Wix, you shouldn’t have to worry about these potential issues.
For example, if you’re starting an urban photography blog, a theme emphasizing visuals is preferable to text-oriented themes.
To get more relevant results, you can apply filters while searching for themes like designs based around your blog subject, for instance.
Step 6: Add Basic Blog Pages
Before you start posting regularly, it’s smart to add a few basic, standard pages to your blog to boost your website’s credibility.
Create an “About Me” Page
Your “About Me” page should explain who you are and the focus of your blog. Spend time making it interesting and fun.
Readers are often interested in getting to know you and how you started your industry or niche. You don’t have to write an entire autobiography, just describe how you got to the point you’re at now. Over everything else, be relatable.
For example, show your readers that you’re a credible source. Why should they listen to you? What experience do you have that makes you knowledgeable on this specific topic? If you’re writing a finance blog, are you a CPA? If you’re sharing recipes, what do you bring to the table that will make your audience want to listen to you? A coupon-cutter, perhaps? Tell your readers how long you’ve been doing it, how much money you save, and why they can benefit from the information you’re sharing.
Add a Privacy, Disclosure, and Comment Policy Page
If you want to monetize your blog, you’ll need to make sure you comply with all laws regarding data collection, privacy, and advertising. Adding standard disclosure language is an essential step if you want to make money.
You should also note your commenting policy. For example, do you allow anyone to comment? Do you ever delete comments? Are there commenting rules?
Craft a Simple Contact Page
It’s important to make it easy for readers and businesses to contact you. Set up a dedicated page with an embedded contact form or just list out your email — speaking of which…
Step 7: Set Up a Custom Blog Email Address
Another step you should take during the initial phases of your blog set up is registering a customized blog email address. At the outset, this may not seem all that important to you.
But details matter — especially to your readership and people who might reach out to you for partnerships, content writing services, and other reasons.
A professional email that matches your blog looks professional, credible, and helps build up your brand’s authority. An email from an email address with tons of numbers and a mishmash of letters can look spammy. If you’re unlucky enough, any email sent from a suspicious-looking email can be automatically filed to the “junk” category of your recipient’s mailbox.
As a professional blog owner, you don’t want to be confused with a Nigerian prince who needs a one-time investment to set up a new school playground. An email that’s simply firstname@yourblogname.com lends polish to your brand and can help you monetize your blog later. Nobody wants to do business with xoxo_tigerprincess442@hotmail.com.
Step 8: Register Social Media Accounts for Your Blog
When you’ve done all the hard parts on your actual blog, it’s time to branch out to the world of social media. Social media is another channel you can use to alert followers to new posts and attract new visitors and more traffic.
Many social media platforms also allow you to set up ads that you can use to extend your blog’s reach.
Have a post on your blog that is performing well? You may want to consider targeting ads for it to get even more people on the page. Or, maybe you have an underperforming post you revamped — you might consider sending more traffic to that post with social media ads.
Below are some basic social media tips and which platforms to target.
Set up a Twitter profile for your blog. Add a Tweet button to all blog posts you publish on your blog so followers can easily retweet them.
Follow other big names within your niche and interact with people in the industry already. Tweet out alerts for new posts.
Set up a Facebook page for your blog. Share your content on Facebook, schedule posts, and invite friends and families to like your page.
Set up an Instagram page. Find compelling images and use tools that allow for longer, evenly spaced captions to publish snippets of full-length blog posts or even exclusive “mini-blogs.”
Although this is a platform for building a professional network, almost any blog can still be relevant to a professional audience. Obviously, a blog about marketing is going to be more relevant to a wider group of people on LinkedIn, but don’t write it off if your blog is more niche.
LinkedIn provides the ability to connect with other bloggers and thought leaders within your industry.
Step 9: Optimize Your Blog
SEO or search engine optimization is crucial, especially if you want to monetize your blog. SEO helps improve your site’s chances of appearing high on Google’s rankings for relevant search queries.
Although SEO can be intimidating at the outset, WordPress actually makes it pretty simple – even for beginners.
One of the best ways to get started on your blog’s SEO journey is by downloading a plugin called Yoast SEO. Yoast can give you readability ratings, keyword density, and point out pages on your blog that need a little SEO boost.
If you want to do a deeper dive into SEO, you can also conduct some keyword research. In most cases, you’ll naturally be using keywords as a result of providing valuable content around a particular subject.
But SEO tools like SEMrush, for example, can suggest alternate keywords to incorporate. Just don’t get too hung up on keywords and stuff too many in your posts, because Google can penalize your blog for doing so.
Once you have the keywords you want to target, use them in your title, title tags, first sentence, heading, subheadings, and any anchor text you use (the text you link to related pages on your website).
You can also optimize your images for SEO. When you upload images to your blog, use keywords in the file name, and use the alternate text space to write a keyword-rich description.
Step 10: Choose a Posting Schedule and Write Posts to Build an Audience
In most cases, it’ll take a few years to build an audience. Yes, years.
Here are a few blog tips to help nurture a loyal blog following and audience:
- Stay Consistent: Try to post at least once a week and try to avoid skipping weeks. You can write a few posts ahead of time and schedule them out if you wish. In an ideal world, you should aim to post two to three times a week.
- Focus on Quality: For every post you write, push for quality. Google tends to rank longer blog posts higher on their results pages, but if you’re writing fluff — that doesn’t help anyone.
- Observe Your Competition: What is the focus of other similar blogs? Can you do it better or answer a query more comprehensively?
- To Thine Own Self Be True: Find your unique voice – are you funny, heartfelt, honest? Build your brand. Write as if you’re talking to a close friend if you’re unsure of the right tone to adopt.
- Get Active in Related Communities: Facebook groups, subreddits, podcast interviews, and speaking engagements can be lucrative opportunities for publicizing your blog.
Tips for Keeping a Strong Content Flow
Not every blog post you write will be award-winning. There might even come a time where you feel like you’ve run out of ideas. To avoid frustration and creative dead ends, consider brainstorming smart blog post content ahead of time.
If inspiration for a new post doesn’t pop into your head and you’re stuck fighting through a severe case of writer’s block, you can choose from that list of vetted topics you’ve created.
Okay, but what if you’re out of topics, and now you need to create new ones from scratch?
- Read Books, Forums, and Comments: Reading books about your niche or people within your industry. Forums and your own blog comments can also be useful sources of potential inspiration.
- Leverage Google: You can mine Google’s “People Also Ask” sections or query suggestions that pop up when you type in a keyword for blog post ideas.
- Travel: Some bloggers also find success in coming up with new ideas by traveling somewhere and getting a fresh perspective. A new physical environment might just open up your brain.
- Interview Industry Leaders: Can you reach out to other people who can provide insight on a topic? Or maybe you can join a friend in the industry for a cup of coffee and talk shop.
Crowdsource Topics: Use your readership for new ideas. Ask what your readers would like to see with polls on your social media platforms.
Step 11: Promote Your Blog
So, you’re posting regularly, and everything’s set up. Now, how do you encourage people to visit and read your blog?
Create social media posts immediately after publishing a new post.
Since you’ve already taken the first step of setting up your social media sites, it’s now time to leverage them as the fantastic promotional tools they are.
By publishing immediate social posts promoting your new blog content, you can get immediate follows, shares, likes, and retweets that can build momentum, so your post to go farther.
It’s important to remember that your audience is likely to follow you on a few different social media accounts.
That means you need to customize each snippet or preview text you use when promoting a blog post.
What you don’t want to do is copy and paste the same verbiage repeatedly for each of your accounts — it comes off spammy and uninteresting. Optimize your messaging for each social stream and audience.
Re-promote Successful Content
Did you hit virtual gold with a blog post that went viral? Don’t be shy about promoting it again after some time passes.
Re-promoting content that didn’t do well in the first place might not be the best strategy, but posts that have strong stats initially can do well again in the future.
It’s a good idea to focus your efforts on creating evergreen content that stays relevant over time.
“Evergreen” is just a term that internet marketers use to refer to posts considered timeless. This type of content stays useful years after the initial publication because it tackles a core problem or subject. An evergreen post might be “How to Clean Your Bike Chain.” A non-evergreen post would be “How to Clean Your Bike Chain During a Pandemic.”
Spice Up Your Blog Post Descriptions
Are you only sharing a blog post’s headline through your social media channels and calling it a day? Well, that gets boring very fast. To keep the interest in your blog higher, change up the messaging, and get inspiration from your own content.
- State the Main Takeaways: Was there a “moral to the story” that sums up your post? Use that to give potential readers a basic, exciting summary.
- Reuse Your Meta Description: Your meta description is the preview snippet that shows up in Google search results. (Yoast, that plugin we talked about earlier, will prompt you to customize yours – if you don’t customize it, Google will simply pull the first line or two from your blog.) Reuse your meta description to sell your blog post.
- Use Your Subheadings: Your subheadings help readers navigate through your blog post. You can mine these subheadings for copy that you think might attract traffic to your website.
- Pull Interesting Quotes: Did an industry leader, influencer, or celebrity give you a quote in your post? Pull out any interesting, odd, or thoughtful quotes and tag the person who said it in your social promotion post.
- Use Images: Posts with visual elements get much more engagement than those without visual elements. Don’t just rely on boring stock images. Overlay images with text, create your own memes or use GIFs to demand attention.
- Use Hashtags: For Twitter, you can use trending hashtags to see what people are already talking about or focus on hashtags relevant to your industry. For Instagram and Facebook, you can take advantage of pertinent hashtags to your blog. Don’t be afraid to get super specific with your hashtags.
- Use Social Media Regularly: Post at least once a week, engage with commenters, and answer messages.
Guest Post
Guest posting is a way to promote your blog by contributing to another blog within your industry. By providing a guest post to another blogger, you can help build your own website’s credibility.
Guest blogging can accomplish three different goals for your blog: showing others you’re an expert, pushing traffic to your blog, and building backlinks.
Quick Explainer on Backlinks: Backlinks serve as a “vote” for your site. But not all backlinks are created equally. Links from relevant, trusted websites pointing to your website can your site move up in Google’s rankings. But, if spammy websites are giving you backlinks, that’s a red flag that may result in a ranking drop.
To pursue guest blogging, you’ll need to find places to submit a guest post. If your blog is about bikes, you’ll want to search for similar blogs focused on your bikes and make sure the blog owner is active with an engaged audience.
You can also use a simple Google search to find blogs accepting guest posts. Just use a keyword relevant to your niche plus “submit a guest post” or “guest post guidelines” and other similar search terms.
Once you’ve found blogs to guest post for, you’ll need to pitch a few content ideas. Make sure you do your due diligence and research the blog’s tone of voice, type of audience, and other information you need to know. Pay attention to guidelines like the required word count.
Some guest post bloggers allow you to post links to your blog in the content itself, while others will enable you to post your blog link in your byline. Each guest blogging site operates differently.
Step 12: Monetize Your Blog
There are many ways you can monetize your blog, but the two you can most easily leverage are affiliate links and services.
Affiliate programs work through pushing links to products relevant to your audience. When your audience clicks through the link to that recommendation, they get a unique tracking code. If they end up purchasing, you’ll get a portion of the sale.
Another way to monetize your blog is to offer services or intensive information related to your topics of expertise or industry.
Depending on your blog’s focus, you can provide live workshops, one-on-one consulting sessions, or comprehensive online courses. Your blog serves as the jumping-off point, but your audience will only convert into customers if you’ve demonstrated authority and knowledge. Neither of which happens overnight.
Takeaways: Building a Blog, Step by Step
Creating a blog requires patience, strategy, and the desire to develop quality content. You don’t have to be a professional writer to create a successful blog. Plenty of everyday people have created a blog out stemming from a genuine interest that exploded into a successful brand. If you’re ready to try something new, blogging is a great way to flex your creative muscle and potentially earn some money.
FAQs: How to Start a Blog as a Beginner
Still, have a few remaining questions about starting a blog? Get answers to your blogging FAQs below.
Can I Start a Blog for Free?
While it’s true that you can, if your end goal is to monetize your blog and transform it into a lucrative side hustle, it makes more sense to pay to host your blog on your own server with your own domain name. Not only will this make your blog more “legit” from the outset, but it also gives you much more flexibility for monetizing down the line.
Is it Difficult to Start a Blog?
Yes and no. While starting a blog is a reasonably straightforward process, the key to creating a successful one is consistency. Consistency and developing a strong content strategy are going to be the most difficult parts of maintaining your blog, especially if you have other responsibilities demanding your attention like a day job, kids, or other obligations.
With that said, writing regularly for your blog is easy once it’s a habit, and you have a running list of future blog post ideas from which to choose.
How Much Money Can I Realistically Make Blogging?
It’s not unrealistic to make a range from just one cent to ten cents per page view through ads. If you get around 1,000-page views each month, you can earn $10-$100! And depending on the success of your blog, it can go up from there. Not everyone will be able to live off their blog income full-time, but there’s still the potential to make a good chunk of change.
Do People Still Read Blogs Anymore?
Yes! Blogs are still critical in the internet landscape. There are a few things to note about how people read blogs that have changed over time. For example, people are much less likely to read a blog post from beginning to end.
Instead, people tend to skim a post for the information most relevant to them. Keep that information in mind as you’re writing your initial blog posts.
Well-structured blog posts should utilize headings and subheadings so that information is organized efficiently, and readers can find what they need.
How Do I Make My Blog Stand Out?
Ultimately, you’ll need to provide value. Good information on a particular subject is the best way to set your blog apart from others. But a difficult-to-use site with a lot of great information is unlikely to garner much attention. First impressions matter, in real life and in virtual life.
Your site should be user-friendly, easy to navigate, and easy to skim. And don’t forget to integrate enough negative space to give your readers somewhere to “rest.”
Focus on making a site that even an older relative could navigate.
How Do I Stop Spam Comments?
If you allow comments, you need to be prepared for spammers and trolls. One way to deal with this issue is by turning off commenting altogether. Or you can also moderate the comments yourself or install plugins that can help reduce the frequency of spam.
How Do Successful Bloggers Monetize Their Blogs?
Bloggers may use their blogs to increase their authority within a certain niche or industry, sell things like memberships, sell digital products like e-books or courses, use affiliate links, or monetize with CPC or CPM ads.
FYI: CPC and CPM stand for “cost-per-click” and “cost-per-thousand-impressions,” respectively.
What Kind of Blogs Make the Most Money?
Before you get your answer, it needs to be said: don’t let the list of blog types inform the choice of your blog alone.
Why? Well, if you want to start a blog about newborns because that’s a niche that’s historically made money, you can only do so confidently if you’ve had a baby yourself or work with babies.
If you’re an 18-year-old single college student without a kid, it doesn’t make sense to start a blog about newborns. Keep that concept in mind before pursuing a subject simply because it historically makes money in the blogging world.
Top Blogging Niches:
- Crafting
- Parenting or newborn
- Health
- Lifestyle or family life
- Budgeting
- Interior Design or home decor
If your blog doesn’t fall under one of these umbrella categories, don’t panic. Ultimately, these are just basic categories that won’t make or break the success of your blog. Stay authentic to what you’re actually passionate about.
How Can I Better Analyze My Website Traffic For Free?
If you want to know what types of people visit your site, you have a few free tools you can leverage. Two of the best are Google Console and Google Analytics.
Both of these tools are easy to install and offer training so you can learn to use them. GC and GA can reveal interesting insights into visitor behavior, backlinks to your site, and other pertinent information about your site’s ranking for particular keywords.
How Long Should My Blog Posts Be?
While there isn’t a hard and fast rule about content length, if you’re trying to get ranked on Google, longer is better. Blog posts between 1500 and 2000 words seem to be ideal. Again, your posts shouldn’t be full of fluff for the sake of reaching those word count goals. Instead, try to create comprehensive posts that cover a particular subject in rich detail.
Will I Make Money Off My Blog Right Away?
While instantaneous success isn’t unheard of, you will probably need to blog for a few months or closer to a year before you see any revenue. Your initial year operating the blog should focus on analyzing what’s working and what isn’t working. Here are some questions you should ask (and know the answer to!) after your first few months to a year of blogging.
What are the most popular posts? The least popular?
What are the demographics of my blog visitors?
How long are people staying on my page?
Is traffic trending up, down, or is it steady?
Starting a blog isn’t going to be an overnight project, but with time and patience, you can turn it into a real side hustle.
How to Start a Blog is a post from: I Will Teach You To Be Rich.
Via Finance http://www.rssmix.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment