10 Steps To Start Making Money Blogging
Lets Talk!
The aim of “making money” via blogging is what a lot of bloggers all around the world struggle with today. Meanwhile, it is one of the major reasons why individuals want to begin a blog in the first place and sometimes it’s not. Unfortunately, beginners they will start to blog about their passions, maybe talk about their lifestyle, likes and dislikes and they will kind of get “carried away” and not really understand or focus on how blogging actually works. You need to understand the difference between a “Vlog” and a “blog business”, and “hobby type blog posts”. Now you can honestly start a blog site about anything literally, but most of the time “hobby” type blogs just don’t do very well, I believe they don’t because individuals they don’t know how to advertise or manage their hobby site properly. If you’re wanting to make money with blogging anything is possible. Remember not everyone is going to be interested in the same things..
In this article we will help you to properly understand how to start a blog, and share some ideas on how some blogs make money. After going through this guide on how to start making money online with blogging, you will be on the path to generating revenue via your blog as well as creating a terrific and wonderful “brand” or business as well. iMoney Daily what do you mean brand? Brand is basically a specific niche or topic and/or the “main focus” of your blog site. You want to make sure you choose a category within the niche, and you need to establish your “brand” in a specific area..
Just like going to Walmart, at Walmart they have different departments to shop from right? The clothing department, pet department, toy department, electronics department, so forth and so on. Within those said departments there is a ton of stuff to choose from and buy from – correct? So when starting up a blog site you ideally want to within those said departments pick just “one niche” and you want to focus on that “one specific thing”.. You can’t be a “pet blogger”, or a “mommy blogger”, or a “food blogger”.. I mean you could but talking about variety of foods, variety of mommy things, and providing information about multiple pets – you could do this but if you’re wanting to make money with blogging you need to focus on “one thing” within that niche. Are you following?
You need to narrow it down more and blog about “fish” only, “dogs” only, “birds” only, “smoothie recipes” only, ” so forth and so on. For example you don’t want to start up a pet blog site or a food blog site and then start creating a weight loss product, or trying to promote and sell renters insurance, friendly DYI birdhouses, and/or popular types of salt water and fresh water fish, and as well, start selling security cameras and how to books.. Please AVOID DOING THIS. Now if you wanted to start a pet blog site and write about variety types of animals, their ideal habitat, variety pet foods, so forth and so on you could but, if people are coming to your blog site and they want to learn about fish, chances are more then likely they “will not” want to learn about lizards, snakes, dogs, or the best dog food for your furry friends..
Your brand and/or “niche” is going to be your “main blog site”, so when people land on your blog site or web page, you want them to instantly connect with you, and you want your “targeted audience” to come back and “remember you”, this is key for running a successful blog site – so be the “reason why” they continue to come back..
To prosper in the world of blogging, there is a need to “build value”. This is the main reason why it is pertinent to build your blog business concept and/or hobby prior to even starting up your blog business. The main thing here is not about building or creating multiple blog sites, but rather focus on building a blog with the potential of being a success business, that will eventually make you some money or a steady stream of passive income. If you study carefully about the information below nothing should stop you from running a profitable blog business, and/or having a successful brand – as well as making money from it..
1. Research A Topic
A lot of people they don’t have any ideas about blogs, what to write about, a business plan, or even a basic website name, all they want to do is make millions of dollars a month online. The distinct difference between people who succeed and others that fail is those who take action.. Before you even start a blog the first thing to know is the topic or “niche” that you’re going to be blogging about. A lot of times first time bloggers will create a blog based on something that they have a passion for. Although your passions will take you far, it’s going to be a bit harder to promote and/or “advertise” your brand, if lets say you’re starting up a coffee type blog site and it’s like a go to source but you’re also talking about smoothies, milkshakes, alcoholic beverages, donuts, to holiday favorite recipes, so forth and so on, this is not good.. You need to make money and build a business around this “said passion” of yours, and you need to be more “specific”. When deciding on what to create your blog on, ponder on various ways you can start to monetize your site as well..
We have outlined a few questions you need to ask yourself when selecting a niche.
1. Will I be able to write on this topic for over 6 or 12 months without getting short of content?
2. Do I honestly enjoy writing about this topic, or is there a need to be outsourced?
3. How can I go about monetizing this topic that is currently on Google Search?
4. What is in this niche that I can learn from on other competing sites and blog content?
5. What are the best ways to promote and advertise this niche?
Before you go live with your blog, ensure you go through all these questions and think deeply about your blog site and where do you see your site in the next 6 or 12 months..
2. Niche Down
After you have found a suitable topic for your site, the next thing to do is to niche down. The reason why you need to niche down is that you want your blog to become the “authority” in that aspect. This is very important and yes we’ve already talked about this up top but again this is always overlooked and there is so many beginners that they start to get “off topic” about the niche they’ve chosen. So if you choose a suitable topic that is too generic such as baseball, it will be very difficult to know what your audience wants to read. By selecting a niche that is wide enough, it will provide you with a bigger chance of getting lost in the mix or able to create and write content which gives your readers value. Also this gives you a less chance to compete with a larger already well-established bloggers within these “said niches”.
3. Create An Editorial Calendar
Finding a good topic and breaking it down into a niche is not only very specific but it can also be very profitable. All that you write on your blog, “surrounding this topic” is going to give “real value” to your audience and it might perhaps fetch you some serious money in the process. Before I create content I personally use word pad or notes, it really helps me quickly jot down ideas or something that comes to mind so later on I’m not kicking myself in the butt trying to remember that million dollar idea.. Remember that you’re not always going to be perfect on all areas of your content creation. Before launching your blog live, we highly recommend that you create an editorial calendar to determine if you have high-quality “ideas” which you will then start your content to write on and/or about. There are various ways to determine what people are searching for on google, which if you take advantage of this, you can use top “keyword” searches and convert it to your articles or the content that you write about. Which this will keep you one step ahead of your competitors, and will allow you to keep pushing out high quality content. A simple and quick way to go about this is to simply search for your primary keyword topic and see other “related keywords” that google will suggest. The aim here is to write out a lot of article headlines or ideas for your blog before you even start. Something to also keep in mind that if you discover that you’re having a hard time trying to come up with at least 15 or 20 headlines, then you might want to focus on another niche. Also iMoney Daily we highly recommend that you learn about “internal links”, “external links” and “backlinks”. For more information and understanding about “keywords” what are they and how they work, check out “Yoast.com”
4. Choose A Web Host And Domain Name
With all the preparatory work we have seen above – now is the time to set up your domain name and web hosting. imonedaily.com recommends WP Engine. Another good choice is Bluehost and Godaddy when choosing a domain name and hosting. When you go to choose your domain name, use a .net, .com, or .org. Never make use of numbers or hyphens and try to be more creative – don’t over think this. Ensure that your domain name should be a little bit short and provide people with a better idea of what your site entails, without a need for additional description – keep it short and straight to the point! This is very important because you dont want to start creating and developing your blog site, and 3 months in you decide to go a different rout. And it’s a headache to change everything over, so please make sure that you have done your “research”, because you don’t want to mess this up.. If you do this – this could cost you money and reputation.. After you have chosen your domain name that is “related to your blog niche”, then you can now set up your web hosting. Setting up web hosting with WP Engine, Bluehost, or Godaddy, they have the best platform and services. Setting up your first hosting account might look like a big headache or a huge task, but it is very simple. Once you have everything set up and it’s looking good, you now want to go ahead and install WordPress!
5. Install WordPress
After you have set up your web hosting and created your domain name, the next thing to do is install “WordPress”. WordPress is the software that helps in powering almost all blogs and most websites on the internet, and it is free to access, download, and use. After you have installed WordPress on your site, You can then start to add popular plugins and select a premium WP Engine – Premium StudioPress Themes, suitable for your blog site. WordPress can be downloaded from Bluehost or WP Engine – Plans (with exclusive offer) for free, and so many more plugins to choose from to help customize and create your soon to be million dollar blog site!
6. Create Quality Content
One of the most vital parts of any successful blog is the content of the “blog post” of the site. In terms of creating content for your audience, you should consider how you can offer value to them as well and why they’re visiting your site in the first place, and how to furnish your content to become better or the new “go to” source rather then your audience going to other related competing sites – you don’t want this happening.
Let us take for example “blogging”, if you were to create a blog for this type of audience, you must try to focus your content on “how to” posts and resources for an individual to learn from. The reason for this is simple as anyone who searches for “how to blog” or “blogging ideas” related terms, is more then likely curious and/or wanting to learn more about “how to make money with blogging”. Another vital focus when creating your content is to ensure that your content is detailed, offer value, and give your “targeted audience” what they want. All of the content on your blog site should include the following, at least 800 – 1500 words per article. Good and quality images relating to the content of the article. Headers, subtitles, and paragraph to separate the content. A call to action – it could be to have your visitors “sign up” in return offer them a free e-book, or give them something in value and/or in conclusion where you tell your visitors what they need to do next “if you’re promoting any affiliate programs or services” maybe they can join your “membership” website or simply create an online course and teach them something. These are pretty “key” very important components in creating quality content that will build a successful blog, brand, and/or a successful online business. After building a reasonable amount of high value quality content with offers, then you can start with a content promotion like “guest blogging”. When you engage in guest blogging on other already well established sites in your “related niche”, you will not only gain strong backlinks to your site, but there will be an increase in your exposure as well as brand reach in the process. Giving you more visitors plus the opportunity to make more money doing what you love!
7. Have A Social Network Following
With more then 1.3 billion users on Facebook and millions on Instagram and just on the internet in general, Twitter, and Pinterest, you cannot just overlook what social media has in store to offer and how you can channel it “the traffic” straight to your site 24/7. Today the biggest blogs all around the world are all making use of social media to draw in new traffic to their site, create a brand, and get their audience to share their content in the process. The simplest way to set this up is by adding social sharing buttons attached to your site. After your setup, you will notice that there will be a Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, YouTube, and other buttons that will be seen at the bottom and/or top of each blog post. Any visitor that visits your site can conveniently “click” on any of those social media buttons and decide to share your content with their audience now – spreading the love! It is also pertinent for you to create individual social profiles for your blog site. With this you can build a great following that can increase over time and at the same time keeping your followers “up to date” on the latest content that is being posted to your blog site. You want to make sure you create a Facebook and Instagram page, so that people can join your page, learn more about your business and over time you will grow a “relationship” and “trust” with your audience and followers. This is also perfect for promoting and advertising products and services later. Lets say you have a Instagram page with over 250,000 followers and you decided to advertise something a product or services on your niche related “Instagram page”. This is huge because that’s “free traffic” and out of those 250k followers how many will actually be interested in buying what you’re advertising? Also you could start up a YouTube channel.. Something to think about it!
8. Set Up An Email List
Your site content is very paramount, but the real money attached to any successful blog is in the mailing list. The unfortunate thing about this is that about 70% of people that visit your site will never return, ideally like we mentioned before you want to offer something when someone lands on your web page, give them a offer and in hopes they sign up for it or exchange their email for your offer and/or “gift”. It has nothing to do with your content or even your site in general, but because there is simply a lot of other content and sites out there and so people can get distracted and simply forget about the blogs and sites that they have visited before. And if you get lucky they might just “bookmark” your site. Meanwhile, using an email listing it can get people to continue coming back to your site once in a while, or help generate sales if you’re trying to promote products and services.
9. Creation Of A Product, Service, And Monetizing
The next thing that you’re wanting to do after setting up a mailing list is product and service creation. The methods of monetizing your site are going to serve a key role in how you make money from your audience. Here we have outlined a few methods that will help you greatly. Google Adsense. One of the most common monetizing methods of a site is on-site advertising. The simplest way to go about this is by joining the Google Adsense program. All that is required of you is for you to copy and place a line of code on your blog and/or site, and then google shows the banner ads. Then anytime a visitor clicks on one of the google ads, your blog or site then earns money. Also iMoney Daily recommends you learn how to use “Ad Inserter”. This plugin can be downloaded inside WordPress, ad inserter will help you display more ads properly, and correctly on your site, where you want and how you want.. Learn “Direct Ad Placements”. If you operate or own a very popular high traffic site that has a targeted audience, then you can begin to sell advertising at a high premium rate, “this is when people want to advertise on your blog or site”. Usually advertising is sold at a monthly rate and/or cost per thousand [CPM] basis directly to the advertiser.
“Affiliate Marketing”. Review sites and informational sites do very well with affiliate marketing. When using affiliate marketing to earn money online there is no need for creating any products, any services, zero inventory, process sales, or having to talk directly with customers.
“Product Creation”. A lot of blogs start as informational sources but as they expand and grow with more followers and readers, “brand loyalty”, they may likely create their own e-books as well, “how to” courses, possibly start a membership website and products to help build a successful online business.
“Services”. If you are a professional in your niche and provide consulting, online lessons, teaching others, then services would be a better method of monetization for your blog and/or site. Regardless of the said methods above you have many options to choose from. Each method is scalable and can be used in almost any niche. Just choose the right niche market, offer value to your audience, build your traffic or “the audience”, and monetize in the process.
10. Business Partnerships
This is the most unpredictable way of monetizing your blog. You don’t ever really know who you may or may not meet in the process of building your blog. You might meet future guests on your podcast or on your the blog site. There is an endless possibility of stumbling into “partnership opportunities”. There are so many ways to genuinely engineer the creation of these types of partnerships, apart from building your brand and the reach or communication, “the core part” of your blog. It is also important to be receptive to the creative people and the ideas that cross your path as others find your blog content. On the other hand if there is someone around you that surely wants to collaborate and work with you, the first plan is to find a way to “add value” to the business. Create a community of people that you’re sure they want to take the risks and are wanting to take that leap of faith and have the same desire and motivation as you do to adventure out and start some type of business opportunity with. Start to create a relationship with your influencer/s before including them on any collaboration idea, (in some cases you might have talked about an idea but never took action on it and then a week or so later someone else stole your idea and now they’re applying it).
As your business starts to grow you need to make sure that you’re 100% “involved” in your business still, don’t ever think a partnership is a turnkey operation in other words –
You’re never there to help out with any business strategies or ideas, yet YOU’RE STILL COLLECTING A PAYCHECK, while everyone is always showing up on time and putting in the work and yet “you’re never there”, you’re out enjoying your life and still getting paid.. Be clear and have everyone understand their duties and responsibilities. Communication is key!