What is a blog and how does it work (Beginners Guide to Blogging)
In a world that has become virtual and millions of people spend a lot of their time on the internet searching for one information or the other, blogging has become a great way to earn some extra cash.
Blogging is a great way to make money on the go, especially for people who have something to tell the world. It is like killing two birds with one stone.
Anyone can blog, you don’t have to be a web guru to start your own blog and earn from it.
Contrary to popular belief, it is not rocket science, with a rudimentary knowledge of the internet, an interesting set of topics to discuss and a great writing skill, you can be a proud owner of a money-making blog.
Even though it is not rocket science, it is also not so easy. One has to be determined and consistent to build traffic and get followers.
As a newbie blogger, don’t expect to start making money as soon as you get your blog started, well except you are a social media star with thousands of followers.
If you are looking to start a blog and earn a tangible income from it, there are certain things you must do that will set you apart from thousands of others who are doing the same thing you are doing.
How to start a blog
There are some steps you must take to start your own blog and create an online presence, putting you on the internet map for your potential readers to find you.
Decide on a niche
You can’t be a jack of all trades. Before you start your blog, you have to decide on what you will be writing about.
Your niche should be what a lot of people can relate with because this will help your blog get a good following.
You are not for everyone, so you should not be all over the place. Decide on the theme of your blog and stick to it. The theme of your blog will help you in deciding on a good name for the blog.
Get a good domain name
After deciding on a theme, the next step is getting a domain name. These days, domain names are high in demand and there are a lot of new extensions available. However, I will advise that you get one with the .com domain extension.
If you cannot find one with a .com extension, be careful when choosing other extensions so as not to make it country-specific.
Also, make sure your domain name is as short as possible. Make sure your domain name is not more than 15 characters and avoid using hyphens. A trick for SEO bonus is to use a keyword in your niche within the domain name.
Once you have your main keyword, you can try a website like LeanDomainSearch to get an idea of the domain name.
Let’s say for example you want to be writing about coffee on your blog.
If you type in the word ‘coffee’ in LeanDomainSearch, the website will give you an idea of words you can have before or after the word coffee.
Choose a web hosting services
There are several great hosting companies but make sure to select the best one for your blog.
Before settling for a hosting account, read reviews on the account to make sure the provider comes with little or no problem.
Most importantly, ensure that your hosting account has a WordPress plugin.
There are a lot of web hosting providers you can choose from. SiteGround and BlueHost are two of the best out there. This blog (Abundance Aware) is hosted on SiteGround and it’s really been the best decision because SiteGround service is excellent.
If you are just a beginner and want one of the cheapest in the market, BlueHost is the one to go for. If you are thinking long term and want the most robust and reliable hosting service, you can consider SiteGround.
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Choose Content Management System (CMS)
The next thing you need after chosen a web hosting service is a content management system (CMS).
What your blog is about will influence the CMS that will be best.
For most bloggers, WordPress is far the best CMS. WordPress is free and open-source.
About 30percent of world websites use WordPress. The majority of bloggers use WordPress because it is the best. The major advantage of WordPress is the fact that almost anything is possible on WordPress.
Because it is open-source, there is a mind-blowing number of plugins available to help you do almost any customization on your website.
The majority of the other CMS are templates and have limitations to what you can do.
WordPress Theme
While setting up your WordPress account, you need to select a theme, i.e what will your blog look like?
There are thousands of themes to choose from, and you can opt for either a free or premium theme.
One of the best ones I will recommend to you is Astra. I use Astra Pro on another website I own. I own another website where I write on another passion I have. Cacao & Cocoa use the Astra Pro theme.
Astra is a simple theme to use. It is a fully customizable & fast theme that you will love.
Within a short period of time, you can create your website because Astra Pro comes with a lot of pre-built templates.
| You can get Astra by clicking here. |
Install Google Analytics
Google analytics help in tracking your blogging experience.
Through Google Analytics you will be able to see how your blog is making progress regarding the number of views it’s getting.
Start creating contents
After doing all this, you can now start your writing properly. To garner a lot of followers to your blog, you have to write keyword-focused content and do it consistently.
While curating your content, you must make sure it is engaging and one that will keep your readers coming back for more.
Writing engaging content will boost your engagement and help you rank high on Search Engine Results Pages.
Decide on a way to monetise your blog
Your blog may not start making money as soon as you’d like but with consistency and smart work, you can build a large following and then monetise your blog.
Monetisation Methods
As a blog owner who has several followers and generates lots of traffic on their website, you can earn real money from your blog through the following:
Affiliate Marketing
This is one of the most common ways for a blogger to make money.
This involves promoting the products of other brands or business and they, in turn, pay you some commission for every client you bring.
Affiliate marketing is one of the best and easiest ways to earn money from your blog.
It is when you advertise a business’ product on your site and get paid for every purchase that is made through you.
To be an affiliate marketer, having great traffic to your site is not enough, you have to convince your readers to buy the product.
It is usually advisable to not promote products or services you do not use or do not know about.
The sales you make through affiliate links are tracked so the company you are in partnership with could tell how many customers come from you and pay you accordingly.
Advert
Generating a lot of traffic on your blog would attract brands in your niche who want to advertise their business.
You may also consider Google Adsense as it is a great way to start using ads to monetise your blog if you have no brand pining for you.
There are other advertising agencies like MediaVine, Ezoic, and AdThrive.
They do have high requirements. When your blog gets to meet their requirements, you can earn good morning when you get accepted by them.
Freelance Writing
Being a good writer of a great blog already qualifies you to be a freelance blogger. You can offer your service as a writer to other bloggers, brands, or businesses who find it hard to express themselves.
Having well-written blog posts on your page would serve as reference points for would-be clients.
Write and sell online books or courses
As a professional in your field and a blogger who interacts well with their followers, you can create and sell courses or books on what your readers want.
If your followers already see value in what you are dishing out for free so they would definitely pay to learn more.
Offer a consulting service
Sometimes, people want a one on one coaching as regards some things because it provides a more in-depth and personalised experience.
Being an expert in your field, you can offer to teach, coach, or advise your audience personally.
To get the right audience interested in your consulting service, you have to write targeted posts on topics your type of potential clients cares about.
How to boost your web traffic
As a blog owner looking to monetise their blog, web traffic is no joke as this would serve as a yardstick for your blog’s success as well as monetising capabilities.
There are a lot of ways you can increase web traffic to your site.
Social Media
You can leverage social media channels to get traffic to your blog. It is free to open an account on social media channels.
It is now a must for a business or website to have a page on social medial channels like Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and others.
You need to be active on social media. You can choose a social media channel that is relevant to your niche. It can be a grind to use all of them so it is better to choose about two and be active on the platform.
Youtube is one of the great ways to get traffic. The good thing about Youtube is that you do not need to show your face if you don’t want to.
One of the ways most bloggers get traffic to their website is Pinterest.
Pinterest is an image-sharing social media platform. What makes Pinterest a good place where people go to find information is the attractiveness of the images on it.
Pinterest is a must for any blogger that wants to drive a lot of traffics to their website.
Guest Post
Make sure to familiarise yourself with bloggers in your niche.
Inviting guest bloggers to your blog will boost your traffic as some of their own members might take an interest in your content through them.
You can also decide to write for other blogs as well as this will have the same effect.
Advertise
As a beginner, this might not be advisable because it can cost a lot of money.
Advertising your blog through paid search can bring traffic to your website. You can put your blog in front of a lot of people by using different paid channels suited to your purpose.
You can advertise on Google or social media channels like Facebook and Instagram.
Use SEO Optimally
Optimize your blog posts for search engines to boost traffic to your site. Make the most of image alt text, use meta descriptions, and don’t forget to create internal links to new content.
All these would boost your content’s engagement and help your blog to come up in Google search.
Use popular keywords
Using popular keywords in your content will make sure it gets seen fast. Make sure to use long-tail keywords as they account for a large number of web searches.
Eye-catching headlines
A lot of great posts go unread because of wacky headlines.
Writing a headline that would pique your reader’s interest is a great way to direct traffic to your site.
