Many people are increasingly looking for ways of making money online. Blogging is one such way. If you are reading this then it means you are thinking of starting a blog. Blogging has been there for years and people blog for various reasons. Some people start blogs as a hobby, while others do it as a business. So, if you want to start a blog that makes you some cash, then you are in the right place. I will give you a step-by-step guide on what you need to know to have a successful blog that generates passive income for you.
Some people think that
because there are millions of blogs on the internet, it is impossible to start
a blog and make money from it. I’m here to tell you that you can do it.
All you need is some business insights and you are good to go. Now let’s take a
rough note of what you need to get started;
- Choose a niche for your blog
- Choose a domain name that matches your
niche
- Get domain hosting
- Connect your blog to WordPress
- Choose a theme
- Write your blog posts
- Market your content
- Make money blogging
In this beginner’s
guide, I will show you how to do all that I’ve mentioned above step by step in
a language that will be easily understood by you-beginner.
Let’s do this.
The best easy steps to
start a blog
Let us look at some
basic fundamentals before diving into the full guide on how to start a blog and make money from it.
What motivates you to start a blog?
People start blogs for
different reasons, but you need to know why you are stating one. Maybe you have
a topic you are passionate about that you wish to share with others, you want
to improve your writing skills, you want to share in the prestige of having a
website, or like me, you want to make some passive income and become
financially independent so that you don’t have to go to a 9-5 job. Whatever
your reason is, you should know it right from the beginning. This way, you will
not struggle with a lot of things that beginners struggle with and, you will be
writing about topics that actually make money.
Digging deeper into
your reason for starting a blog will not only enable you to understand your
goal but also know what exactly those goals will help you accomplish as far as
this journey is concerned.
Take me as an example,
I have always had the fear of having to retire one day after having worked for
some organization for the better part of my life, only to realize that I have
not accumulated enough money to sustain myself in my old age. I often see retired
people struggling to make ends meet when they are too old to do anything else
to generate them some income. Even the children they educated in the hope that
they will help in the future are not any better. Everyone is struggling with
bills and commitments. It is this fear that drove me into starting a blog to
enable me to generate some passive income which I can invest to help me in the
future when am retired and too old to work.
Who wants to suffer
after working so hard their entire life? Certainly not me. I said I will never
be broke in my life in Jesus’ name. Someone shout Halleluyah!
So my first reason for
starting a blog was financial freedom.
Secondly, I have
always loved writing. I started writing for blog owners some time back, and
what surprised me was that after writing a few articles for them, they would
start saying that my work was not quality. I always wondered how yet my quality
score was always very high. Little did I know that these guys had devised a
method of defrauding me by blaming my work hence not paying. I got tired of
this and desired to work on my own terms. I wanted to be the one to choose
topics that I am comfortable writing on, set my own deadlines, and decide on
the quality of articles to produce. This marked my second reason to start
a blog.
Therefore, my second
reason for starting a blog was the freedom to set my own writing terms.
This is not my first blog by the way. I created a blog some years back and failed. That’s why am here to help you so you don’t end up like me. I was green in this sector and had no one to hold my hand, so I’m here to hold your hand so you don’t fail. Though it’s not entirely wrong to fail. We learn from experiences. Let me now share with you what you need to do to start a successful blog.
#1. Choose a Niche for Your Blog
Choosing a niche is a
very important step when starting a blog. There are various niches to choose
from e.g. lifestyle, cooking, exercise, marketing, and so on. While passion is
important when choosing a niche, a mixture of passion, skill, and experience is
better. This combination will ensure you end up with a good niche that you can
produce enough quality content on.
However, you remember
the ‘why’ question you answered up there? This is where the answer to that
question comes in. You will be okay with passion, skill, and experience if you
are blogging for fun/as a hobby.
However, if you want to earn money from your blog, then you need to consider monetization when choosing a niche.
#2. Choose a domain name
A domain name is a
name that will act as your online address regardless of which niche you decide
to write on. There are numerous domains to choose from such as .com, .org,
.net, or country-specific domains. It is better to choose a name that I easy to
remember to enable your users to find you with ease.
However, if you can’t get a simpler domain name, then you can settle for your name as the domain name. It really doesn’t matter that much. Just ensure you get a name that resonates well with your audience and content.
#3. Get hosted
From my experience, this is a very important step in creating a blog. It is very important to get a reliable hosting service provider.
You can decide to go
for a paid posting service or use free hosting if you are just starting out and
still don’t have money to buy a hosting service. However, I recommend you get a
hosting service provider, for your blog to look more professional.
How your blog
functions and performs will depend on your choice of a host to a greater
extent. Your blog host is responsible for storing all your blog files, as well
as ensuring that your content is available to your readers 24/7.
Most hosting service
providers will also give you a free domain registration within the first year
of your hosting purchase.
#4. Launching WordPress
After you have hosted
your blog, the next step now is to connect your blog to a blogging platform, to
which I recommend using WordPress. WordPress is the best blogging platform for
beginners.
Launching WordPress on
your blog is just a one-click affair. You don’t need to be a pro to know how to
do it. Moreover, your hosting service provider should have 24/7 chat support to
assist you with the integration of your domain to WordPress.
Now that you are done
with hosting and WordPress launching, it is time to write your first post and
publish it.