Here’s how you can start, find your niche, and turn your blog into an income stream. Do you think blogging is just a hobby? Think again – it can actually make you good money.
Bloggers aren’t the most lucrative people on the planet. However, the great part is that anyone can do it. It looks excellent on your resumes as well.
To build an audience and a following, you just need something valuable to say, patience, and dedication. But how do successful bloggers make money? Several of them were kind enough to share their tips.
This guide will give you step-by-step instructions on how to launch a profitable blog and grow it into something that takes you out of the house.
Blogging: How To Get Started
We’ll take you through everything you need to know about setting up a blog and discussing its pros and cons. When it comes to actually set up a blog, two options are available – you can use a free blogging platform or create your own website.
1. PLATFORMS FOR BLOGGING FOR FREE
Ideal for: Casual bloggers and those without a business or monetization goal.
Positives: The setup process is extremely straightforward, and it’s free.
Negatives: Limited customization and video/image uploads, inability to place adverts and affiliate links, inability to create a custom URL, right to delete your blog if you’re no longer interested in it.
If you just want to blog casually at first, you might find a platform that lets you set up a blog for free. They’re extremely easy to use and are great for setting up blogs for free.
In contrast, free blogging platforms can be very limited. You can only adjust your blog in a limited way, and you have a limited amount of storage, so you may have difficulties uploading large videos and images.
Another downside is that your blog URL will be branded with the platform, such as ‘www.myblog.wordpress.com’, or ‘www.myblog.blogspot.com’.
Furthermore, free blogging platforms without charge don’t allow you to place banner advertisements or affiliate links on your site, which is a major source of revenue for bloggers.
You can still opt for one of the top free blogging platforms if these things don’t bother you.
The Top Blogging Sites
1. WordPress –: If you don’t pay a monthly fee, you won’t see any WordPress ads on your website. You also cannot add ads to your site. Other than those few options, the blog hosting service is free and easy to use.
2. Blogger –: Blogger is the free blogging service offered by Google; however, the customization and design options are limited, and you can’t add new features very easily.
3. Medium –: As a blog for writers, journalists, and experts, Medium focuses on the writing rather than the design. It’s a great way to share your work. No ads are allowed though, and creating your own branding is difficult.
2. CREATE A WEBSITE OF YOUR OWN
Ideal for: Blogging enthusiasts and those who wish to earn income from their blogs
Positives: Design and customization are completely in your hands, as is your own custom URL. You can even use affiliate links and advertisements as you see fit
Negatives: First, you need to pay for a domain name (URL), then you need to pay your hosting provider.
The idea of creating your own website might seem frightening to someone who is not particularly tech-savvy – but it’s actually quite simple, and you can get one up and running in just a few minutes, say 20-30 minutes.
Having your own website allows you to create your own brand (with your own URL), and you won’t have to worry about your blog being deleted by the blog platform since you own it.
Choosing the right template for your blog is essential – there is an endless number of themes for WordPress – take your time to find one which matches both your personality and the topic of your blog.
Be sure to use a clear, simple layout with large images and easy-to-read fonts (Comic Sans and Courier fonts are not recommended).
How To Increase Traffic To Your Blog
Your website has been created, you’ve landed on an amazing blog topic, and you’ve posted your first blog post, but where are your readers?
There is no magic formula that will make people find and read your blog. You have to work at marketing/promoting it.
To grow your blog readers, these are the best ways:
1. Use social media to promote your blog
Without a social media presence this present time, any business doesn’t have a chance of getting noticed.
Setting up pages and accounts for your blog on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and even LinkedIn (if you’re basically your own company, right?) is highly recommended.
By sharing your content and tagging other bloggers/influencers/companies, you can reach an even broader audience by helping them share your content.
2. Generate and Public Viral Content
The creation of viral content will give you the opportunity to tap into a new market and thus increase your readership.
As you can imagine, this often involves newsjacking, as mentioned above. The key to creating viral content is to leverage controversial or highly-discussed topics related to your blog niche.
3. Write blog entries about recent news stories
You should be aware that ‘newsjacking’ is the process of getting involved with something that is relevant to your niche in the news. It can work well for getting you some great exposure.
4. Make new connections with bloggers
How To Earn Money From Blogging
When you have your blog set up and running, you can (finally!) start thinking about how you can earn money from it.
Here are a few of the easiest and most effective ways to make money through blogging:
1. Promote Your Blog Using Affiliate Marketing
In affiliate marketing, you can make money by including tracked affiliate links in your blog posts. When a reader clicks through to a site you recommend and makes a purchase you receive a small commission.
In exchange for sending readers to the website of a brand through your links, you will receive money to say “thank you” for bringing them to their brand website.
Amazon, ASOS, and Apple are a few of the online eCommerce websites with affiliate programs.
2. Promote Your Website With Banner Ads
It is possible to sell banner advertising space on your blog page to brands that relate to your readers as a more visual way of advertising.
Advertising can be displayed anywhere, but it’s most common to see them in the sidebar or at the top of blog pages.
A CPC (cost per click) campaign pays a set amount for each reader who clicks on the advertisement, whereas a CPM (cost per thousand) campaign pays a set amount for every 1,000 views the advertisement receives.
Setting up an AdSense account is a quick and easy way to get started.
3. Contribute To Media Outlets’ Blogs As A Guest Writer
Some brands and members of the press (or even bloggers) will contact you at times in response to your expertise on a certain topic and ask you to guest-blog and make a brief contribution.
Likewise, do not be shy about pitching to publications with your ideas – if the editor doesn’t know who you are, an email introducing your blog will make sure they know it exists.
4. Consider Hiring An Agency To Help You With Your Blog
There are now agencies that specialize in promoting bloggers to big brands exclusively, regardless of whether you believe it or not.
It’s super lucrative and offers security to work with an agency, but you’ll need to have a decent following to get picked up.
In addition to high agency fees, only the biggest brands can afford to work with you, and smaller independent companies won’t consider working with you.
This may or may not work to your advantage, depending on what kind of blogging business you’re seeking.
5. Blog About Digital Products And Sell Them
Offering ebooks, video tutorials, courses, or workshops for a fee is another way you can make money if you have skills or advice to offer.
A key component of making this option successful will be demonstrating that you are exceptionally good at what you do, or that your content has a lot of value. This is not an easy task.
As it tends to be the case with online communities, it can be hard to convince them to pay, as they tend to believe that everything online should be free. Worth a shot nevertheless, right?
Is blogging really a method for making money?
We’ve seen that blogging can make you money, but not necessarily the amount you’d expect. It can take some time to monetize a blog, but when it is done right, bloggers make great money.
It takes time to monetize a blog, and it depends on your audience. That is why the more readers you have, the more advertisers are interested in advertising with you.
Having multiple income streams from different sources and through different means will help you make an honest living from blogging.
WE HOPE YOU FIND THIS GUIDE HELPFUL!
