Anyone can start a blog. But how to start a blog and make money? Let’s get right in to that!
How to start a blog and make money?
So you have decided you want to start a blog and make money online. Congratulations! This is a very exciting moment, but it can also be frustrating as you try to figure out what steps you need to take to choose a niche, set up your blog, and make it profitable.
It is not as complicated as you might think. The steps below will walk you through what you need to consider and the actions you need to take to launch and maintain a successful blog.
Choosing a Niche
Choosing a niche is the first step you need to take in your blogging journey. It also happens to be the most important step.
There is a lot of online advice on how you should chose your blog, but let’s simplify it.
First, make a list of all the things you can do and all the things you enjoy learning about. For example, let’s say you enjoy baking desserts and you also like to read about mythology. These are both popular topics on the internet, but one is more profitable than the other.
After you have your list of possible niches, set up a Google Ads account [SOURCE https://ads.google.com/home/]. It’s free. While you are logged into your Google Ads account, click Tools and Settings at the top right of the screen. Click Keyword Planner. Next, click Discover New Keywords and begin searching each item on your list.
Going back to our example, a search on “baking desserts” and “dessert recipes” shows me that there are businesses willing to pay money to advertise on the subject but the bid amounts are low, searches are high, and the competition is fierce. A search on “mythology” and “Greek mythology” shows me that there are fewer bids for mythology keywords than there are for dessert keywords, the competition is low for these keywords, and so are the monthly searches. The clear choice would be to choose baking desserts as a niche.
Another thing to think about before choosing your niche is whether or not you are enthusiastic enough about the topic to write about it for the next few years. If your niche is not something that you want to discuss all of the time, you may want to choose something else. Most new blogs die early deaths because someone chose a topic they were not passionate about.
Tip: some profitable niches are making money online, health & fitness and self development. If you can’t seem to find your niche, picking one of these can definitely help!
Get a Domain Name
Now that you have chosen your niche, it is time to settle on choosing a domain name.
Most of the common domain names are taken, but do not let that discourage you. It simply means you are going to have to get creative.
Write your niche down and begin brainstorming phrases or words that go with your niche. After you have created your list, begin searching for your domain names on one of the many domain name search engines available online.
Things to keep in mind are to keep your domain name related to your niche. For example, if your niche is about knitting you will want a domain name that mentions the word “knit” or “knitting.” You will also want to avoid using strings of irrelevant numbers in your domain name because most people will remember a name better than numbers. Also, if possible, avoid using dashes in your domain name. Most people will forget about those dashes when they try to type in your domain name and may end up on someone else’s blog.
If you are having trouble finding a suitable and available domain name, you can use the domain name generator by Namecheap:
Choose a Blog Host
You have chosen a niche and a domain name. Now it is time to choose a web host.
For beginners, choose a popular web host with an easy click WordPress set up. You may also want to shop around for the best prices and current deals.
Avoid web hosts that have spelling errors on their main site and hosts that do not make it into the top ten lists of hosts.
You will also want to avoid free hosting plans. These will often limit or ban altogether affiliate marketing ads.
Web hosts offer different plans. As a beginner, you will want to choose a basic startup package. As your blog grows, you can increase your plan for more website space.
I recommend checking out Namecheap, this is the one I personally use to host my WordPress blogs. You get a free domain name if you opt for the shared hosting plan. Click here to check it out.
Why WordPress is Best for Blogging
There are other content management systems, such as Joomla and Drupal, but WordPress is by far the best. It is user friendly and it is easy for absolute beginners to set up and begin using.
There are numerous free and paid themes available on WordPress. A WordPress theme is a template of how your blog is going to look to users. Choosing a WordPress theme will determine how your front page looks and the layout of your posts.
For beautiful and feminine WordPress themes, I recommend you to check out Bluchic.
After choosing your theme, you will begin adding your personal touches to your blog. This will include plugins.
WordPress plugins are software add-ons. They can allow you to link your blog to your social media accounts, help you with SEO, create a contact form, and even help you layout list articles. Most of these plug-ins are free and rely on user donations to keep the software updated.
Creating Content for Your Blog
As you set up your blog, you may already have some great ideas for your first batch of blog posts. That’s great!
Create a file on your computer or grab a notebook and begin writing down all the ideas and possible titles of blog posts you think should go onto your blog. Then visit other websites that cover your niche and look at their current articles. While you don’t want to copy their exact titles, you will want to brainstorm for more title ideas. Also, do an online search on some of the major keywords you plan to use on your blog. Add those to your title list.
An hour of brainstorming and online researching should give you at least 20 different article ideas for your blog. Plan on spending an hour a week just coming up with content and title ideas for future posts.
With your list of ideas, you can begin crafting your first post. Your word count should be over 500 words, with the most popular blog posts being between 1,000 to 3,000 words.
If writing is not your strong point, you can look into hiring content writers. You can use popular gig sites, such as Upwork or Fiverr, to find inexpensive content writers to help develop your blog.
Pro tip: aside from writing a good SEO-optimized blog post, you will also need stock photos that stand out to go with your article. You will also need stock photos if you are going to promote your posts on social media.
You can find some free stock photos here.
How to monetize your blog
So now you have created your WordPress blog, and now it’s time to monetize it! I will discuss a few ways you can start making money from your blog.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is when you promote another business or service and earn a commission from sales made from your blog or clicked link. You see affiliate marketing all the time when you are on the web. It can be a simple text link that leads to a product page or it can be a banner that advertises a product or service.
One of the most popular affiliate markets is Amazon.com. When a blogger links to a product or book and the user clicks on the link or image and makes a purchase on Amazon, the blog owner earns a small commission off the sale.
Other popular affiliate marketing programs include CJ Affiliate, Ebay Partner Network, and Shareasale. As a blogger, you will want to stick with affiliate programs that offer products and services that will interest your users. For example, if you are blogging about cats, you might want to sign up with a pet supply affiliate, but you would avoid an affiliate for car maintenance.
Selling Digital Products
Another way to make your blog profitable is to create and sell digital products on your blog. One of the best examples of this is digital products for crafters.
Let’s say you have a blog about quilt making. You have created blog posts about the different stitches used in quilting, the best fillers to use inside of quilts, and you have even shared some of your original patterns for quilt samplers. Your users love your content, so it is time to take things a step further and create a series of quilts around an upcoming holiday. You take your original patterns and instructions and turn them into a PDF book. Visitors can now visit your blog and purchase these patterns directly from you, earning you an income from your hobby.
Creating original digital products is probably one of the easiest and fastest ways to earn an income on your blog. Depending on your niche, you will probably earn more money from selling digital products than from creating affiliate links. You can find out more about creating digital products here.
The only downside is that it takes time to create original content to sell, but you can outsource this process to other writers on gig platforms.
There is another way to create digital products fast: PLR. “PLR” stands for Private Label Rights, and this basically means that you can buy a readymade digital product for a low price and then re-brand and sell as your own. There are many website where you can find PLR products. My go-to websites for PLR are IDPLR and PLR.me.
Writing Kindle Books
Finally, another popular way to make money from your blog is to write an ebook and sell it on Amazon.com. You can use your blog to advertise your book or books and link to them on Amazon.
Many Kindle book writers have gotten their start in book writing through blogging.
One common trick Kindle writers use is to take all the content they have written on their blog and edit it into a book. The book is then sold on Amazon and the blogger can offer all of her content in one book to her visitors.
A Final Word on Patience
Most new blogs are abandoned within a year. People expect immediate, huge returns on their posts when in reality it takes time to build a blog and attract an audience.
When you step into the world of blogging, realize that this is a decision you will spend years working on. Yes, you may meet with immediate success, but for most blogger they find that success and the income that comes with it takes time.
So there you have it, my top tips on how to start a blog and make money. Let me know in the comments below which if you already started your blog and if you are already making money!