How To Start A Blog And Make Money

“How do I start a blog and make money?” It is a question people ask me all the time. How do I become a successful blogger? How can I pay bills as a blogger? 

Other similar questions get thrown at me now and then. 

And it makes me wonder if people are into blogging for its love or just there for the money. 

Everybody wants to pay bills, and money is one huge part of every business—something you can’t deny. 

The truth is, starting a blog isn’t hard. 

You could be a blogger within minutes. 

Anybody can be a blogger. 

The boy next door to you can be a blogger;

that beautiful daughter of your neighbor can decide to sit in front of her computer all day and become a blogger by simply pasting random articles or any other content on her blog site. 

Becoming a blogger isn’t a big deal, but making money as a blogger is a real deal, and that’s what differentiates successful bloggers from those who are not. 

That’s what differentiates people who are willing to put in the work from those who are not because making money as a blogger isn’t what you think. 

It’s simple but not that easy. 

There is a lot of consistency to keep churning out good content,

with a lot of persistence for low-to-no ranking on web pages, low-to-zero monthly visitors,

and some other forms of disappointment because they will happen (except you are super lucky). 

Sometimes,

you will write content that you think is superb only to realize later that it is a little piece of garbage due to reader feedback. 

Take it from me;

it took me approximately four months of consistent writing to get many visitors and constant learning of SEO skills to rank on a web page. 

Most importantly, you need to love writing because if money is all you are after,

frustration will become your best friend. 

Writers’ block is one thing most writers have to deal with every day.

Yes, you heard me loud and clear. It will help if you write every day to be good at writing. 

The secret to being a good writer is consistent writing. 

Many people will stop reading this article, knowing it is not easy to make money from blogging. 

You probably want to see some magic formula or shortcut. 

Or you think you can wake up one day to see millions of dollars paid by Google Adsense in your account without effort. 

It doesn’t work that way, and it never has and never will. 

How to make money as a blogger you’ve been looking for because this has worked for me. 

The best way to avoid the pain and disappointment of wanting to succeed is to find someone who has already grown in that field to lead the way. 

I don’t claim to have achieved much,

but I can at least guide you with my hard-learned methods and experience over the years. 

This is definitely for you if you want to start a blog with little to no money. 

Let’s dive into the real deal if you are still motivated so I don’t bore you. 

Pick A Niche of Interest

Just as writing must interest you to be a blogger (except you choose to pay someone to write for you),

the same goes for the niche you wish to stick your content around. 

If your niche doesn’t entice you enough, you probably won’t stick around long enough to reap the rewards. 

Whenever I ask: how do I start a blog and make money? 

I always like to start by finding out what their blog will be all about and believe me; most people have no clue about their niche of interest. 

They probably just woke up one very morning after seeing a friend,

or a colleague at work who used to be broke,

now making it big with blogging, then decide that’s where they are going to make it big too.

Look, I am not trying to discourage you.

I wouldn’t sit down to waste my precious time if that’s what I am interested in. 

You have to understand this:

you must see the destination of every journey before embarking on such an endeavor, and you can’t picture the goal if you can’t decide whether to go by land, air, or water. 

A friend of mine told me he wanted to start shooting Tik-Tok videos, and the first question I asked was:

what will your videos be all about? 

It will surprise you that he is still yet to start shooting such videos.

He must have seen many videos on Tik-Tok and then decided to jump into it without first sitting down to carve out a niche. 

Just in case you don’t know, defining a niche plays a significant role in the success of your blog. 

Because if you choose a niche that doesn’t interest you or a niche with a low potential for a massive amount of visitors,

you should spend your time doing something else. 

Choose a Suitable Platform – How To Start A Blog And Make Money

WordPress has witnessed increased use due to its flexibility, easy maneuvering, and other essential features that make it suitable for blogging. 

It isn’t the only platform out there. Platforms like Tumblr, Medium, and Blogger.com, amongst others, offer convenient features for blogging.

Many platforms are readily available to host your blogsite but ensure that you choose the one you can afford. 

A platform like BlueHost, HostGator, and 1&1Hosting is some of the popular ones you can choose from. 

Choose a domain name 

After deciding on the platform to host your blog, the next thing to carve out is a proper domain name. 

Getting a proper domain name is essential in Search Engine Optimization (SEO). 

It would help if you considered some factors when deciding on your domain name

.com or. Net is the top-notch domain type and is highly visible on search engines like Google. 

It increases the chances of ranking high on search engines, so get one if possible. 

Your domain name should not belong.

The shorter, the better.

Humans hardly remember long domain names. 

People don’t want to crack their brains when trying to remember a domain name when many competitors are ready to take your place. 

15 characters would do the trick 

Never purchase a domain name with hyphens, as these are mostly connected to spammers and other fraudulent activities on the web. 

Choose wisely 

Design your blog 

This is where your creativity will come in handy. Readers or visitors are likely to get attracted to the beautiful landing page. 

Make sure the pages or sections are well structured for easy navigation—I am sure you don’t want to confuse your readers. 

I have visited many poorly designed blogs, and what surprises me most is that such blogs still get vast amounts of traffic every day. 

Of course, the customer base was already established a long time ago, so you will not want to jeopardize your chances with a poorly designed blog. 

A pro can get away with anything, but a newbie can’t afford to take such risks. 

Don’t forget to include a feedback section to engage your audience. For example, you want to know how visitors feel about your blog. 

What is currently going on in their minds as they scroll down your blog page should be of importance to you as this will help future adjustment, thus increasing growth. 

Write quality and informative content

Blogging isn’t for you if you don’t write quality and informative content. Maybe learning a trade will do good. 

This is one reason why experienced bloggers say: that blogging isn’t for everyone. 

One factor determining successful bloggers from those who are not is the quality of content they offer their visitors. 

If you can’t give me quality content filled with the information I need,

you are probably wasting my time, and believe me when I say: readers don’t have time to spend on your blog. 

They want quick information, after which they put their time into something they deem worthwhile. 

The more technological advancements we have, the more readers grow impatient,

so make every second of the time they spend on your blog count; else, you will keep praying and hoping for visitors who may never come. 

Promote your blog and build engagement 

You’ve designed your blog, and you’ve managed to create great content. 

What’s next? 

Well, the work is not over. 

You need to do everything possible to make sure your target audience finds your blog when they search the web because if they don’t see you on search engines, you won’t make the cool dollars you are looking for. 

Of what use is quality content if it doesn’t reach its targeted audience. Doing everything possible to get the content to its target audience involves things like:

Having a strong command of SEO

If you are interested in ranking on web pages, especially the first page, you need to know how to use specific keywords, research keywords, and keyword research tools like Neil-Patel. 

Let me go over some of the essential steps of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to drive home my point.

It all starts from knowing what niche you intend to write about and then getting a keyword around it. 

The niche of this article is freelancing; its sub-niche is blogging. You will decide on what you want to write about blogging. 

Take the word from the sub-niche and paste it into the Google search bar. 

In this scenario, blogging, many different topics, and other suggestions will be generated as search results. 

Each of the results is keywords you can choose to write on but wait, is that it. 

Is that all there is to know about keyword research? I bet you must have said “No.”

Take the particular keyword of interest generated from the search results and paste it on tools like Neil-Patel to know its search volume, competition index, and Cost-per-Click.

You should be after a keyword with a high search volume and low competition. 

A high search volume means a lot of people are searching that particular keyword on Google,

and a low competition implies the number of people you have to out-rank if you choose to use the specific keyword. 

After getting a keyword with a high search volume and low competition,

It’s time for you to use the said keyword in as many places in your content as possible. 

Don’t just paste it randomly but try to use it in many sentences; else, it will be flagged as spam. 

Most importantly, ensure to use the keyword in the first paragraph of the content. 

You must have seen some suggested keywords from your search results on Google.

Use as many suggested keywords in your content to increase your chances of being seen on search engines. 

Search Engine Optimization is an invaluable skill when it comes to blogging. 

There is so much to learn about search engine optimization as it is a vast field but necessary if you want to start a blog and make money. 

Engage your audience by asking them to leave a comment below in the comment box

This will enable you to get a sense of how visitors feel about your content.

You’ve got your content on your blog, which is visible on search engines,

but it’s still not over yet as there are still ways you can make money through your blog. 

Besides, this article is all about how to make money through blogging, 

and justice will not be served if I don’t point out the other hand ways to get those dollars rolling in apart from the traditional income called Google Adsense. 

Interested Let’s dive in.

Advertising: Is one way How To Start A Blog And Make Money

As your readers increase,

people who want to promote their business or specific products will offer you some percentage of the product cost for advertising on your blog, and you will be amazed at how much you got rolling in every month. 

You advertise their product on your blog,

more people get to see their products which equals higher chances of more sales, and you, in turn, get paid. 

But, as you can see, it’s a win-win situation.

Promoting a business or brand 

This is somewhat similar to advertising, except you don’t only deal with products anymore. 

Instead, you get to push an entire brand or business to your vast audience. 

Affiliate marketing 

Affiliate marketing has become a top-notch skill in recent times.

It entails getting a commission for every product purchased through your affiliate link, which you can have on your blog or social media. 

The draw-back of the above-mentioned additional income streams in blogging is that you need to have a tremendous amount of traffic to achieve significant results. 

As a newbie, you might want to put more effort into increasing your traffic and readers.

Services

Services are another thing you can offer to your visitors.

For example, you might have a side skill that you want to market, and having a blog is one good way to find customers. 

Skills such as copywriting, coaching, and freelancing never get old. 

If you’ve come this far, thumbs up for your effort because it shows you are interested in making money from your blog. 

Don’t forget that this post: 

how to start a blog and make money is here to teach you the essentials of making money through your blog, and as such, no stone will be left unturned. 

Here are some additional tips you might want to do on your blog to increase your chances of ranking high, which equals more visitors, thus more money in your pocket. 

Enable permalinks 

Permalinks enable blog posts to link to another exact blog post. 

These can help users quickly locate the content they search for without scrolling up and down a blog page to search for the particular content of interest. 

Install Google Analytics 

This will maximize your effort in the long run by allowing you to glimpse where your traffic is coming from. 

Knowing where your traffic is coming from, you can channel more efforts and resources to the particular segment. 

Google Webmaster Tools 

This helps to know the particular keyword you are ranking for and allows the submission of an XML sitemap along with tracking keyword impression and click-through-rates

I hate to bore readers with too many details if you’ve been keeping on trend with my post. 

At the beginning of our journey, how do I start a blog and make money? r

Readers no longer want to get bored with details. 

Instead, their attention span has been cut short by technological advancements. Just give them what they need and let go. 

Simple as it is. 

Let’s stop our journey at this point. 

You might be tired of reading. 

Don’t forget to take action on what you’ve learned so far,

and don’t forget to keep track of our posts because helping you make some cool dollars is all we care about here. 

Stay tuned for our next money-making piece.