How to start a blog to make money online is a blogging guide for beginners. Yes, it is a guide on how to blog and make money online blogging.
How to create a blog. How to make money online with a blog.
Both topics are discussed here.
Blogging pays when done right. I will give you
examples of dollar millionaire bloggers. I want to prove to you blogging can
make you rich.
So, my friend, if you seriously want to become a rich
blogger, pay attention. This guide is for you. There are seven critical
footmarks in blogging. Namely;
a) Blog Niche – or Topic, or Subject
b) Blogging platform
c) Domain name
d) Web host
e) Blog installation or set up
f) Blog design
g) Quality, useful, and entertaining blog content
Having said the above, lets us get into details on how to
start a blog to make money online. Welcome.
How to create a blog – the process:
- a) Blog
Niche – or Topic, or Subject
For a blog to make money online it needs a lot of content.
The content could be in the form of articles (or blog posts,) photography,
videos, or music, etc.
You need to choose a blog niche and specialize in it. Your
niche or topic has to be something you comfortable writing about.
If your chosen topic is golf stick to it.
Specialize in golf until you become an authority on golfing. Golf is
a huge topic.
To make money in golf you need a niche. You could pick golf
balls as your niche. Then become a specialized marketer and seller
of golf balls online.
For clarification purposes, I have used golf as
an example to highlight a point – niche blogging.
What you blog about is your choice. There are thousands of topics to choose
from.
Take away blogging tip:
You need a niche in a given area (or subject) to excel and
make money blogging. Pick a Topic. Become an expert in your
chosen topic by focusing all your energy on your topic. Period!
b) Blogging platform
To get your content on the internet you need a quality blogging
platform. Blogging platforms are many.
Some blogging platforms are free while others are paid. The
important blogging platform for you is WordPress.org. It offers a self-hosted
solution to millions of bloggers who take blogging as a serious business
opportunity.
No other blogging platform is better. Do not use free
platforms to make money online. Use free blogging platforms to learn and
practice blogging.
WordPress.com, Blogger.com, Medium, and Tumblr, are free
blogging platforms.
Why not use free blogging platforms to make money online?
i) You have no control of the blog
ii) You cannot use it to make money online because it’s not
allowed
iii) It can be deleted any time without warning
iv) Lacks important blogging features and tools
Why use WordPress.org as your blogging platform?
You pay to host your blog because it’s your business. With
a self-hosted blog;
i) You have total control of your blog
ii) You use your custom domain
iii) You use your chosen website host
iv) You use it to make money online
v) Customers respect you for being a serious blogger
That is it. Your chosen blogging platform is
WordPress.org
c) Domain name
You need your blogs’ address. A domain name is your blogs’
address on the internet. You need to find a simple, easy to remember and unique
domain name. Google.com is a unique, easy to remember, and yet a simple domain
name.
Characteristics of a good domain name:
– Top-level domain names such as .com and
.net are the best because they are known. The point is – use top-level domain –
only
– Your domain should be less than 15 characters long. The
shorter the better it becomes
– Avoid using hyphens in your domain. Hyphens
are associated with spammers
– Do not use subdomains to create blog categories
After finding your domain name you buy it from a registrar
of domain names. Search for domain name registrars in your country.
I use the international domain name registrars. The
best domain names registrars on the planet include:
– Namecheap.com
– Domain.com
– Bluehost.com
– GoDaddy.com
– HostGator.com
My domain name is dijitomarketing.com and
it’s a mixture of English and Swahili. Dijito is a Swahili word for the English
word – digital.
What will your domain name be?
d) Web host
Your blog needs a home. A web host provides a home for
websites. You buy hosting services from website hosting service
providers. The recommended web hosts for WordPress blogs are;
– Blue host
– Site ground hosting
– HostGator
– Dreamhost
– WPengine
– Name cheap hosting
– Hostinger
Any of the above will do. Many people like Bluehost.
Hostinger is the cheapest.
d) Blog set up
If you have chosen one of the recommended WordPress blog
hosts, installing your blog easily. From your hosting account’s Cpanel, you click
install WordPress.
There you have your blog. Bluehost has a short video
tutorial to help install a blog.
-e) Blog Theme
WordPress gives you many free blog theme options. You can
choose any of the free themes or you could choose to buy a premium theme.
The premium theme I use is Avada. You could also choose
StudioPress. You could do some research on blog themes.
You could search for “best free WordPress themes.” The other
option is to search for the “best premium theme for WordPress.”
Either way, you will find a theme that you like. You don’t
have to use a premium theme in the beginning.
Free blog themes:
- Zillah
- iMax
- Neve
- GeneratePress
- VentureLite
- OceanWP
- Astra
- Hemingway
Characteristics of a good blog theme:
- Has
a sidebar
- The
theme must be SEO ready
- The
theme must be Mobile responsive
- Must
have Effective navigation
- Allow
Images in post
- Has
Colour schemes
- Subscription
forms integration
- Social
media integration
- Footer
design
- User
friendly
- High
loading speed
- Beautiful
f) Configure Your Blog
The next thing is to configure your blog. WordPress.org
has instructions on how to configure your blog. They are easy to follow
instructions.
g) Blog Content Development
Quality, useful, and entertaining blog content will help
grow your blog. Quality sells. Useful content creates a following.
Entertaining content helps sustain a happy fan base.
Satisfied users come back for more and they pay.
Thus, your goal is to develop content that is helpful to
blog readers. Being helpful and useful implies finding and solving user
problems. Yes, providing solutions is the bread and butter of a blogger.
Hence, every bit of content you publish on your blog should
aim to solve a user problem. A blog post that helps solve a problem will
attract many readers.
The question is, how do you produce content that is
useful to your blog readers?
i) RESEARCH
You need to research before you begin writing. You need to
please yourself that the topic is relevant, useful, and helpful. You need to be
certain that the topic is going to offer a solution to a blog user.
Keyword Research
To reach the right blog user you need to use appropriate SEO
keywords. You have to do keyword research first. What words are people using in
search of your target topic? Some tools help you find keywords. These keyword
research tools are free while the best ones you pay for their use.
Free keyword research tools:
- Google
Keywords: Keyword planner
- Adword
& SEO Keyword Permutation Generator
- Google
Correlate
- IMforSMB
Bulk Keyword Generator
- Keyword
In
- Soovle
- Ubersuggest
- Wordtracker
Scout
- WordStream
Free Keyword Tool
With these tools, you should be able to find the right
keywords.
ii) Strive to Provide Value
You don’t want readers to think you made them waste
time reading your post. Sometimes you feel cheated after reading an article
only to realize you got no value for your time.
What is the value?
Value is a promise. When your post title promises a reader –
10 best free keyword research tools, – you provide the list. That is providing
value. The user didn’t know but now they know courtesy of your blog post. That
is a solution provided to a blog user.
If you understand a user’s search intent, you
will begin to offer concrete solutions on your blog.
iii) Write Readable Blog Posts
Great content is not only useful and helpful but sweet
entertaining grammar masterpieces. Informative and yet easy to read and
comprehend.
To help write readable blog posts use free writing tools.
Some of these tools are;
- Prowriting
Aid
- Sapling
- Ginger
- Paper
Rater
- Sentence
Checkup
- Hemingway
- Grammarly
- Slick
Write
- iv)
SEO – Search Engine Optimization
All your blog post should be Search Engine Optimized. This
way readers will find your content on the internet through Google search. Thus
if you are not familiar with SEO you need to learn it.
A tool to help generate killer blog posts:
BuzzSumo for blog post writing ideas
v) Blog Marketing
After you have written and published your blog post, you
need to promote it. Otherwise, very few people will ever read it. Blog
promotion tools:
- QUUU
Promote
- Bitly
helps track your link
- Buffer
for content scheduling
- Zapier
for automation and integration
- Later
for Instagram Publishing
- Meet
Edgar for evergreen automation
Use every means possible to promote a new blog post
immediately you published it. You should spend most of your blogging life
promoting your CONTENT.
How to make money online with a blog
How do you make money with a blog? Here are a few
examples of making a living online with a blog. There are many other ways
though.
- Advertising – Sell
AD Space on Your Blog:
The easiest and quick way to make money with a blog is to
sell ad space. Advertisers are looking for opportunities to
advertise their products and service online.
When you have over 100 articles on your blog you could begin
to sell ad space to companies.
How do you sell ad space on your blog?
Create an account with Google Adsense. Adsense
finds advertisers willing to buy ad space from you. Hence Google ads will
appear on your blog. When one of your readers clicks an ad you share ad revenue
with Google.
- Affiliate
Marketing – Sell Products or Service on Your Blog:
Affiliate Marketing is a good way of making money online
with a blog
Once you start getting more than a thousand visitors per day
you should get into affiliate marketing.
What is affiliate marketing?
When you market and sell a product or a service that doesn’t
belong to you, that is affiliate marketing. You sell products belonging to a
company or an individual to earn a commission.
How do you find affiliate products to promote through
your blog’s content?
The easiest way to find a product or a service to promote
online is to create an account with an affiliate program.
There are many excellent affiliate programs online. Search
for – affiliate programs- and you will find one that fits your blog topic.
Examples of affiliate programs;
– Amazon Associates
– CJ Affiliates
– Shareasale
– Jumia
– ClickBank
– Affiliate Window
– Apple
– Bluehost
– eBay Partner Network
– HostFiti Website Builder
– Travelstart
– Kilimall
– iPay Africa
Write product reviews. Give the advantages and disadvantages
of a product or service with utmost honesty. The pros and cons of the product.
And then give a recommendation.
- Accept
Sponsored Content on Your Blog:
Companies pay bloggers to write promotional articles
about their products or service. As long as your blog as a large following
companies approach you to blog for them.
Create and publish content on your blog to promote their
product. This is a fine method of making money with a blog online.
- eCommerce – Use
Blog to Sell Your Product or Service:
You could create an online store to sell products of your
choice. You either make the product or buy in wholesale from manufacturers.
Then use your blog to market, promote, and sell.
What types of products can you sell online with a blog?
Digital products:
– eBooks
– Online courses
– Software
– Music
– Comedy
– Webinars
– Info-graphics
Physical Products:
– Wall decorations
– Artwork
– Jewelry
– clothes
– shoes
– etc.
Online Services:
– Freelance writing
– Web design
– Couching
– Teaching
– Social Media management
– Virtual assistant
Etc.
How to start a blog to make money online F.A.Q
- How
long should a blog post be?
Your blog post should have a minimum of 1,500 words. Anything
less is not serious blogging. No short cuts. Write for human beings.
That way you provide value or meet user expectations. Longer
detailed articles give in-depth information to your readers.
Answers are exceptions:
But there is an exception – when answering a question you
don’t have to write a long article. You would use any number of words as long
as the question is answered adequately.
Take away tip:
Provide as many details as you possibly can to satisfy user
intent.
2. How many blog posts should a blog contain?
If you want a money-making blog you need to publish a
minimum of 100 blog posts. These blog posts should be at least 1500 words long.
They must be search engine optimized and well promoted. This way you will start
seeing a small improvement in daily traffic numbers. But a serious money-making
blog should have thousands of quality blog posts. The more quality content you
have the more money you could make with a blog. Write more. Deliver more
quality and value to make money online.
3. Can You Make Money Blogging? Can you get rich
from blogging?
Yes, you can make money and you can get rich
from blogging. But there are things you need to fulfill first. For you to make
money with a blog you must;
- Reach
a daily traffic count of at least 1000 visitors:
The more visits you have the more money you make. That means
a blogger’s success depends on the quantity and quality of visitors to his or
her blog. With daily traffic of 100,000 visitors and proper monetization, you
become rich within a year. With over 1,000,000 visitors daily you will become a
millionaire sooner than expected.
- A
Sound Blog Monetization Formula:
You need to have a diverse blog monetization plan. Depending
on a single product to generate revenue is risky. At least promote an affiliate
product or service, sell ad space, and a digital product. You could also create
and sell a digital course. With these four income streams, you will make money
online blogging.
Take away tip:
- traffic
is the meat and bones of blogging. Work hard to generate high traffic
numbers. Traffic is everything to a blogger.
- The
higher the traffic numbers the higher the income amount.
How to start a blog to make money online Conclusion:
How to start a blog to make money online concludes
here. As shown above, you can start a blog and start making money online
blogging.
It is not as easy as it sounds. It takes a lot of work to
succeed in blogging. Thousands of content pieces of high quality need
publishing on schedule.
You need to meet user intent when creating content
otherwise, the blog wouldn’t make money.
In the end, if you follow the above guide, you will succeed.
The more you develop the content, the better you become.
Well, thank you for reading – how to start a blog to make
money online.