Starting a blog can become your best investment in the future. It can be the most cost-effective but still high-paying occupation if you treat and manage it properly. Blogging is a popular way to reach different purposes: earn extra money, establish a brand name, promote your product, build a community, etc.
Despite the huge number of already existing blogs in various sectors, there is always a place for creative and compelling content. Be it a travel blog, an investing blog, or a NZ Zodiac blog, if you deliver value, the audience will see, feel, and appreciate it.
We want to provide you with a guide on how to enter the blogging sphere if you’ve firmly decided to make a business of it.
Choose a niche for your blog
The first and most important decision is selecting the category for your blog. Take your time and consider what interests or appeals to you the most. Some popular categories include freelancing, online business, food, sports, online gaming, personal finance, and more.
Many bloggers advise to niche down after you’ve picked the preferred category. If it’s online gambling, the examples may be online casinos or sports betting apps for US residents. If it’s sports, you may focus on activities for people over 70, for instance.
Why should you do so? There are several reasons. Writing on everything you like within your blog will confuse the readers. Choosing a particular niche makes it easier to monetize your blog, helps to avoid fierce competition, and provides you with the audience interested in specific topics you write about. Moreover, these people are more likely to pay for subscriptions and buy products from you.
Setting up a websiteSelect a domain name and get your blog hosting
You need to think out an easy-to-remember engaging name for your blog. Try to include the target keyword in the name, too. You can simplify the task by using blog name generators. This can help you find inspiration and choose a unique domain name.
Opt for a good hosting provider as the functionality of your site will depend on it. 9 out of 10 articles will tell you that Bluehost is the most reliable company and a perfect solution due to its reasonable service fees. Plus this is a recommended web hosting service for WordPress platforms.
WordPress is a smart option
35% of all websites are based on WordPress. It powers over 68% of blogs. For comparison, the second most popular CMS, Joomla, has a market share of 6.6%. WordPress is super easy to install, configure, customize and maintain even if you do it for the first time.
Design and customize your blog
While it may seem not so important to you, readers do pay attention to the website’s design and functionality. These elements contribute to the first impression of your website so it’s reasonable to make it nice and appealing.
It doesn’t mean that you need to hire web designers, it’s enough to use customization options available at the WordPress platform. The process involves selecting an appropriate theme for your blog from a free WordPress collection or buy one. Also, consider installing plugins that will extend the functionality and add new features like stats tracking. You will find a large library of plugins for free.
Create a few compelling blog posts
Now you know that you should create niche-specific articles that target a particular audience. Keep in mind that your blog is not about you, it’s about your readers. After all, you follow someone’s blog because you care about what it tells.
Even if you know a lot about the niche you’ve chosen, you still need to analyze the demands of your target audience. You should learn about their pain points and provide a solution via your content. Your blog post must bring value to people if you want them to interact with it and come back for more. Without great content, neither a well-designed site nor well-structured posts will help you hook the readers. Doing keyword research will help you generate ideas that engage readers.
Publish a few quality blog posts that are educational or entertaining. They should ideally contain a few keywords. This will help your blog rank high in organic search. SEO-friendly, genuine and helpful content will not take long to attract loyal readers to your blog.
Promote your blog and build readership
You have published your first blog posts. And what’s next? Nobody knows about the great content that you have to offer. How to drive traffic and show your blog to potential readers? Via promotion. Actually, promoting your content will take more time than writing it.
There are many great ways to share your posts and attract a large audience.
- Social media. It’s a must for any blogger to have a profile on a social media platform. Consider which platforms suit your niche best and where your audience spends most of the time. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Reddit are effective channels for promoting your blog posts. Pinterest and Instagram are good platforms for visual content and infographics.
- Online communities and forums can give better results as they target people with more specific interests. Search for topically relevant groups to join. They allow you to communicate and interact with your potential readers more efficiently.
- Guest blogging is a way to cooperate with other bloggers within your niche. Writing posts for other relevant blogs will help you reach out to their established audience.
- Email newsletter. Once your blog gains readers, an email newsletter will be a powerful way to keep them excited about the work you are doing.
Monetize your blog
After producing quality content, promoting it, and carving out a niche for yourself, you will be able to create a list of subscribers and followers. From this point on, you can make money from your blog. There are dozens of ways to do so, but only three of them work at scale: joining the affiliate network, selling products, and writing sponsored posts.
To sum up
Blogging is an investment that can bring massive returns. But don’t expect it to happen immediately. It’s a long-term venture. Starting a blog is not the same as running a blog. It takes a lot of time and effort to continue attracting new readers, building relationships with them, delivering valuable content. Only this large-scale work can assure a bright future for your blog.
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