How to Start a Blog and Make $4137 Every Month

I know the reason you are reading this is because you want to know how to start a blog and make money blogging.

Starting a blog can be overwhelming at times. In case you are intending to start one, I can tell you have been searching on things like how to start a blog and make money. It is true that most people who start blogging tend to give up along the way without having made any money.

There are many factors that contribute to this and one of them information overload. The problem here is that most of this information tends to offer contradictory dimensions on how to start a blog to make money.

The abundance of information, in this case, doesn’t translate to an increase in knowledge or the number of the knowledgeable.

When you become bombarded with a multitude of information, it can feel overwhelming and lead to complete paralysis – the point where you just end up doing nothing.

This is why I have decided to write a post on how to start a blog and make money from it.

This post is meant to help anyone; even if you are just there trying to ask yourself the question “should I start a blog?”

The write-up offers you valid blogging tips on how to start a successful blog.

From my side, starting a blog is one of the best things that I have ever done.

The blogging journey has been quite interesting as I have learned several things along the way.

If you are interested in knowing how to start making money blogging, keep reading.

What is a Blog?

It is good first to know what is a blog and how does it work.

It will also be good to know what is a blog used for.

The website that you’re visiting right now, Bigbangforex.com, is an example of a blog.

Blogs, however, have various formats and flavors. You can browse several blogging sites on the web to see what people are doing out there.

There are blogs about cooking that are mainly full of recipes, while other blogs are for military families or stay-at-home moms.

You’ll even find blogs about travel and how to manage trips around the world.

All blogs have one common factor.

A blog is a website created by an individual, a group of people, or by a business with the objective of providing information on a certain topic or topics; normally referred to as a niche.

The information shared is normally in the form of blog posts. A blog post is more like what you are reading right now.

I will dig more into what is a blog post later in this write-up.

I know there are many people who start blogging for fun, but there are bloggers who have turned their blogs into money-making platforms.

If their blogs end up being successful; by this, I mean having a handful of followers, they end up monetizing and making money as a result.

There are people who earn enough money on their blog to boost their incomes, but then there are others who make money blogging to sustain all their financial needs.

I personally know several people who are doing this.

The moment you start blogging to make money, there is a need to network with people sharing the same ideologies.

This helps to speed up your learning process and enable your blog to start making money earlier than it would have taken on normal circumstances.

There are top bloggers making even millions of dollars annually though it is a small percentage that manages such numbers.

Should I Start a Blog?

After asking the question “can a blog make you money,” I know this is the next thing that might be lingering in your head on matters to do with blogging business.

You’re most probably reading this page because you are considering to start your own blog.

However is it really a good idea?

In all honesty, I am so glad I didn’t take so much time thinking about whether I should start a blog or not when I first started out.

At that time, I wasn’t very good at writing, but I was doing very well as a forex trader.

I had very few reasons to want to blog. I was comfortable with my life as it was and probably thought of blogging as just a way to have possible leads and exposure.

It was more of a distraction after I have already placed my trades so that I can become less attached and not make emotional decisions when I am already in.

Letting your trades run without interrupting them is one of the ingredients of being a successful trader.

However, making the decision to start a blog was among the best decisions I have made in my life.

The truth is that you don’t need any authorization to start a blog on any topic.

You only require to have the desire to begin and a passion for the topic you care about.

Again, starting a blog can be more meaningful when:

• You have a creative mind but you have no way to tap into that creativity.
• You are looking for an opportunity to make passive income from home.
• You have so much to say and want a platform to share your thoughts.
• You hardly have free time, and you need a side job for nights and weekends.
• You just feel like blogging and have the time to get started.

If this is a path you are willing to follow, below are several start a blog tips that will help to jumpstart your blogging career.

One thing I can tell you is that, the moment you approach your blogging career the right way, you will not regret.

This is an investment that is profitable and I can vouch for it since I am currently making money with my blog. I have also seen two of my friends blogging away debt.

There are some blogging examples that I can give you to show case how profitable this income generating activity can be.

A good example is the Avocadu Blog that was first established on Bluehost, and it is still hosted there. The site is now earning close to $100,000 per month in terms of revenue. This is a health and fitness blog.

Another success story when it comes to blogging is Timothy Sykes. He makes over $1 million a month while teaching people how to trade penny stocks.

Without wasting much time, I can now move on how to start a blog or more of blogging how to.

Also Read: How To Make More Money

How to Start a Blog: The Ultimate Guide

Let us now delve into start a blog how to.

I know in blogging, where to start can be problematic more so if it is the first time you are encountering it.

I believe it is better to move slowly in anything that you are doing, and make sure you are doing it right. This means that you have a favorable foundation moving forward, and it makes it possible for you to scale up with ease.

Blogging for beginners can be overwhelming when you are starting, but with some guidance, it can be quite simple to move forward.

As a result, when you are starting a blog, there are things you ought to put into consideration and ensure that you have implemented them.

To begin with,

1. Define Your Blogging Goals

Why start a blog in the first place?

Before I discuss the technical steps to building your website, it’s important for you to know what you want out of it.

What role will your website serve for you or your business? Also, if you wish to monetize your future traffic, what will your main business model be?

This where you try to answer questions like how to make money with a blog.

There are several ways that you can monetize your blog in order to make money.

There are limitless opportunities on the internet, which makes it hard for many people to choose.

This is, therefore, a problem because when you have to choose, you feel as if you’ll miss out on the rest of the good offers as you concentrate on one thing.

This is however exactly what you require to succeed.

Forget about FOMO. It always seems as though the grass is greener on the other side, until you are finally on that other side.

It is particularly hard with the internet since you get to hear about many success stories from people who do many types of things.

This is the reason why it is very important for you to have a clear vision. When you have a vision and then combine it with a deadline, passion, consistency, and milestones broken down into actionable daily steps, the results you will get will shock you.

Many people get stuck at this point since they are thinking of numerous things that they want, and in the end result in doing none.

Pick something and get started, that is a huge step on its own. Don’t maintain the belief that something else is much better than what you are doing just because of the stories.

I have seen people making money with things that I had never thought one could make money from. If you are determined and remain consistent, you can achieve more in blogging than you can even think of.

2. Picking the Blog Topic/Niche

What can a blog be about?

When it comes to picking a blog topic, there are several questions that I have seen most people ask. Among them

• What if I don’t know what to blog about? 
• How do you start a blog?
• How do I come up with a blog idea? 
• What should I blog about?
• What are the most popular blogging niches?  
• How do I choose blogging topics? 

These are just but a few of those that I have seen; the list is quite extensive. 

Such questions are very common, and they are normally from people at their wit’s end.

Truth is, there are many blogging ideas out there.

The biggest problem with blogging is that many people are not aware that there is a big chance of failure.

They, therefore, spend months or even years building a blog that has no potential of succeeding.

In the end, they give up and begin again, unfortunately, they again invest months or even years into creating a second or even third blog that fails to work.

This happens not because such bloggers are lazy or lack the needed knowledge, but because they are choosing the wrong blog topic.

Provided you’re starting a personal blog, without the intention of making money from it, the rules are different.

Do you enjoy the topic? Is it fun? Those are the two main factors that should concern you.

However, if your intention is to start a blog that will bring in traffic, if you wish to build a blog that will give you passive income, it is important for you to choose a viable blog topic that is competitive enough.

I know that’s some bad news that you might not have expected to hear, but this should not worry you.

There is some good news since I am going to show you how to pick a winner. It is quite simple than you would think.

How to Choose a Winning Blog Topic

You should start by outlining a list of topics that you find interesting. They could include topics you feel are highly profitable, your hobbies, or something you randomly read somewhere.

Check these questions.

For a topic to be viable for your blog, your answer to these five questions should be “yes.”

1. Have you seen a blog that revolves around this topic and has over 10k followers on Facebook?
2. Is there a book on Amazon on this topic with over 30 reviews?
3. Is there any of the blogs with over 50k Twitter followers?
4. When you search for related phrases or words (using your desired SEO tool), do topics with over 100k searches come up?
5. When you search for phrases on this topic, do you see any Google ads?

Why are the questions important?

These questions will give you insight on whether or not there’s an existing audience for the topic you choose.

This is important because:

Numerous bloggers try to look good. They look for an audience that is not being served by anyone else.

They imagine that if a topic has no competition, then building a successful blog will be easy.

This is however wrong. If there are no competitors on a certain topic, who is going to link to you?

Where will you get an audience from?

How will anyone even find you?

This is counter-intuitive, but when there is more competition in a blogging space, it is easier for a newbie blogger to achieve success in that space.

Therefore, do not attempt to be unique. Avoid trying to be too clever.

Choose a blog topic that already has an audience and common blogs already competing for the audience’s attention.

3. Choose the Right Blogging Platform

The most preferred platform for bloggers is Word Press.

There are various reasons why most bloggers prefer to start a blog on WordPress.

Among them is that:

1. It’s very easy to use even for people who have no experience in building a blog
2. WordPress offers more than 5,000 free themes to choose from to make your blog look good
3. It’s free for anyone to use. All you need is a cheap web host & a domain name
4. The biggest percentage of blogs on the web are run through WordPress.

Should you Create a Blog on a Free Platform?

My answer to this question is NO.

Free blogging sites (or blogging apps) might be enticing, but this is not a path I would encourage you to take.

People are not aware of the differences that exist between using free blogging websites and starting a self-hosted blog.

Among the greatest mistakes beginner bloggers make, is using a free blogging platform when they are just beginning.

Everyone wishes to learn how to start a blog for free, imagining they will become a famous writer and make a lot of money.

If you do this, however, you will limit your possible success as a blogger in a big way.

All of the main free blogging platforms such as Medium and Blogger tend to experience the same serious flaws:

No Customization

You are not able to use any of the many free WordPress themes and plugins and can only use very basic templates.

Lack of Control

You do not have any control over your blog. Tumblr, BlogSpot, Medium, or any other person may decide to shut down your blog and delete it whenever they want.

There is nothing you can do about this.

No Custom Domain Name

You will have to keep using an ugly domain name such as http://yourblog.blogspot.com instead of simply yourblog.com.

Limits

The number of images and videos you can upload as well as the number of people who visit your blog is limited.

Nobody Will take you Seriously

The worse part about using a free platform is that it makes you appear to be an inexperienced blogger in whatever that you are writing about and no one will take you seriously.

If you seriously want to learn how to start a blog and make money, then purpose to do things the right way the first time you do them.

The choice is yours.

Also, it only costs $2.99 monthly to do it the correct way and there is, therefore, no point in taking shortcuts.

Actually, I have seen people blogging on Facebook, blogging on Medium, blogging on Instagram, blogging on LinkedIn and blogger among other free blogging platforms.

The problem comes in when their audience starts to grow. You would expect that this is something that should be making them happy, right?

You are WRONG!

Fear starts to creep in as they see the possibility of losing it all given that they don’t have any control.

Some changes on these platforms could also cripple their businesses at any time without any prior notice.

In case you are wondering what is Blogger or what is Blogspot, you can check it here.

As you can see, you can start a blog for free, but it is not the most ideal thing to do.

As a result, I would advise you to start a blog in WordPress, and take advantage of the benefits that come with it.

To some extent, most of the resources out there about how to start a blog are geared towards WordPress.

This means that starting a blog with WordPress will make things a lot easier for you due to the availability of informational resources.

Start blogging on WordPress and you will never regret it.

4. Choose a Domain Name

You should ensure that the domain name that you choose is easy to

1. Type
2. Remember
3. Pronounce

Always keep these 3 attributes in mind when choosing a domain name for your blog.

Your blogging name can be a major part of your success.

If you are not aware, a domain name is the URL of a blog which is used by a visitor to open the blog.

For instance www.BigBangForex.com

Www.bigbangforex.com is an example of a custom blogging domain name that I am required to pay $14 annually.

Below however is a tip that will help you save this $14 when acquiring your domain name.

There are some rules which will assist you in picking the best name for your new blog.

These are some of the tips, from experience:

• Prefer .com domain name above all else.
• Your domain name ought to be easy to type and easy to pronounce.
• Ensure your domain name is not confusing to the listener.

You can check whether your preferred domain name is available by using the Bluehost domain suggestion feature.

Simply enter any word that you have selected for your blog and it will also show you other domain name suggestions that are available. These are domains that are closely related to the one that you are choosing.

I would advise that you be creative and adhere to the three rules that I have shared above.

Here are some things you should not do when selecting the domain name for your new blog:

• Avoid using a domain name that is too long. Strive to ensure that your domain name does not exceed 12 characters. A good example is BigBangForex
• Don’t use a domain extension such as .net, .info and so on, because they have a bad ranking record in search engines. It is better to use a domain name extension such as .org or .com.

5. Choosing Your Hosting 

Let us now build your blog on a hosting.

Web hosting is where WordPress is installed.

Web hosting is a server that stays online 24/7 and all your future blog images, your blog design, and everything will be stored on this server (hosting).

This is how your website will be up and running 24/7.

The advantage is that the hostings are cheap (though not all).

There are numerous hosting service providers but Bluehost would be the best choice for your blog because it offers everything you need to create a blog.

It offers features such as:

• Unlimited bandwidth
• Free SSL
• Unlimited storage
• 30 days money-back guarantee
• Live chat support
• Easy to use Bluehost cPanel
• Free domain name

Another advantage is the Bluehost pricing. It only costs $2.95/month when you purchase the 36 months time frame package.

You can follow the following steps to purchase it:

• Go to Bluehost.com
• Click on “Get Started”

 

Select the Basic plan if your intention is to start one blog or Plus plan if your intention is to start more than one blog.

You can claim your free domain name on the page that follows. In case you are not yet ready with your domain name/blogging name, you can click on “Choose Later.”

On the next page, fill up your contact information. Pay very close attention to “Package extras” as you can skip a few things to save some money.

Most of these extras are not even necessary.

Other than “Domain Privacy Protection,” uncheck everything.

On the payment section, you can pay via debit or credit card, or should you want to pay via PayPal, you can click on “more payment options.”

As soon as you’ve made the payment, Bluehost proceeds to create your blog in 10 minutes.

This will be done automatically and saves beginners so much hassle as most of them simply want a ready-made blog.

6. Installing WordPress (Your Blogging Software)

It is not possible to start a blog without a blogging software.

Bigbangforex is running on WordPress since it is user-friendly, powerful, and free.

When you choose to create a blog that’s not on WordPress, you will end up paying more as WordPress gives thousands of free plugins which make it possible for you to modify your blog in any way, form, or shape.

Even with no technical bone in your body, you can install WordPress in just 5 clicks.

Below is how you can do this:

Upon getting your free domain and hosting account, you can log in and use your first click on the “Install WordPress” icon.

Select the “do it yourself” version and click the “Install” button.

Use your third click on the “Check Domain” button.

Your last two clicks will be for agreeing to their terms of service and finalizing your install.

 

In a minute, you’ll have a completely functional WordPress blog up and running.

Here is the cool part:

Alternatively, as soon as you are done buying hosting and domain name, Bluehost can automatically install the WordPress software on your domain name.

This signifies that your blog is installed and this gives you the cool stuff which is what all beginner bloggers like.

The biggest advantage with Bluehost is that it automatically installs the blog for you. Nevertheless, that is not the end because you have to complete some other things before you are able to write your first blog post.

However, I think this can be considered as another advantage of blogging with WordPress.

7. Choose the Appropriate Theme/Design for Your Blog

Since you already have a WordPress account, you now need to choose your WordPress theme.

This is a collection of templates, files, and style sheets that direct the appearance and design of your WordPress-powered website.

After installation of WordPress, your blog might look something like this:

This appearance is the default WordPress theme, and on the left side is your appearance customization menu which enables you to customize your theme.

Even though this is not the best, it is possible to use it to familiarize yourself with the appearance editor.

It will help you have an idea of what to do when you will be dealing with your preferred theme.

In the theme appearance editor, you are able to edit:

• Menus – here you have the ability to edit the placement of the menu navigation and the pages that you want to include.
• Colors – you can select the colors for buttons, blocks, fonts, and other items.
• Site identity – Here you are able to set your business name, logo, and other navigation items.
• Additional CSS – It is an area where you can place custom CSS as this prevents you from messing with your theme editor files.

Blog Design Principles to Keep in Mind

For instance, fonts are supposed to be between 14 and 17 points, legible, and easily readable. You also need to have menu navigation that looks good on mobile and desktop.

Websites that have a poorly arranged layout are not easy to navigate and impair your blog’s user experience.

Keep in mind that, you don’t really need to spend money to install a paid theme when you get a free one that you like. Nevertheless, ensure that it looks nice, loads quickly, and that readers are able to easily access information.

Finally, avoid overdoing the design; a blog needs to be highly-functional and not complicated.

Install the Desired Theme for Your Blog

As always, the first impression is very critical in any line of business. This is something that also applies when you start a blog.

The impression that potential clients get the moment they land on your blog determines whether they are going to proceed further or just exit the website.

The most important aspect of your blog is the blog design and this is because a good design makes your blog appear lovely and visitors will love your blog.

This is why you should be vigilant while choosing your blogging template.

Your readers will actually remember your blog because of the design that is in play.

Think of your blog design as a nice outfit. How you feel when in a new outfit determines how you will end up treating the outfit and how frequent you will be wearing it.

There is a concept in WordPress known as “WordPress themes”. These are ready-made designs that are available for all kinds of blogs.

There are numerous free and premium WordPress themes available hence giving you a variety to choose from for your blogging design.

However, it is advisable to go for a premium theme as it offers you all the necessary support and starter guide.

You will also have a quality design for your blog as the premium themes come with several demo blogs that you can just import to your website.

Installing a New WordPress Theme

Begin by logging in to your WordPress account through the admin page.

Logging in helps you to access the WordPress dashboard.

In order to access your WordPress login page, you can visit yourdomainname.com/wp-admin.

You will see something like this:

To proceed further, you will need to add your WordPress login credentials.

After logging in, this is how your WordPress dashboard looks like.

If you want to install your theme, click on the “Appearance” option that is on the sidebar menu.

Then from the “Appearance” section, you will select the “Themes” option as shown below.

Click the “Add New” button at the top of the page so as to search for the theme options offered by WordPress.

From this point, you have two options.

1. You can search themes from WordPress.org’s directory. Here you will have access to free WordPress themes, and directory is quite huge.

On the other hand,

2. In case you like a specific theme, you can click on the “Install” button. When you don’t want to make use of the free WordPress themes, there are many other sites that you can use to get your perfect theme. This includes sites such as GeneratePress and StudioPress. Here, you will find paid themes that you can purchase.

The moment you purchase a theme, a zip file is sent to you through email or you can download it from the account that you have just created.

In order to install this external theme, you only require to go to “Appearance” then “Themes” and select “Add New.” Here, you will just upload the zip file and click install.

After this process, you now have a WordPress site with a newly installed theme.

Extra tips when it comes to choosing the right theme

1. Go for a responsive theme that works well on both mobile devices and desktop. Unlike in the past, most of the themes are now responsive.
2. Go through the descriptions of the different WordPress themes to get an insight into the inherent features. This will enable you to know if the theme will be compatible with your niche. There are some themes that are niche-specific.
3. Before you install a theme, ensure to preview its demo(s) to have an idea of the way it will look like.
4. Additionally, WordPress and other platforms like Evanto allow users to give ratings to their themes. Ensure you check out the reviews to see how people feel about the theme and the experiences that they have encountered.

8. Install WordPress Plugins

I consider plugins to be among the important blogging tools that you will need to help actualize success when you are taking blogging as a career.

When it comes to installing WordPress plugins for your blog, there are some questions that are likely to arise. Among the common questions, there is

• What is a WordPress plugin?
• How do I get to use WordPress plugins? 
•  Are WordPress plugins free?
•  How do I install WordPress plugins? 

WordPress is packed with numerous features.

Plugins tend to add even more of these features hence making WordPress a very favorable platform to start a blog.

From the more than 50,000 free or free premium plugins in the WordPress.org source to the thousands of premium plugins available from third parties, there is a WordPress plugin for nearly everything.

For those who might ask, a free-premium plugin is one that has both a free and premium option (regarded as a freemium). Usually, the premium option has additional features compared to the free option.

Since there are very many available options, and with numerous articles littered across the web touting “essential” and “must-have” WordPress plugins, most people who are new to blogging tend to go overboard.

They install very many plugins and this makes their sites very slow since some of the plugins are poorly coded.

There are particular types of WordPress plugins you really need. There is however nothing like an essential plugin and any person telling you otherwise is giving you the wrong information.

Below I have outlined the six categories of WordPress plugins that you might require to install.

I have gone a step further and outlined a plugin recommendation for every category.

These recommendations are based on the plugins that I have encountered and used during my blogging career.

As a result, it does not necessarily mean that they are the best.

In case you don’t like any of the recommendations that I have outlined, that is fine.

Just find a different plugin that you like, and it is offering a similar functionality.

Categories of Plugins

1. Security Plugins – I recommend Wordfence or iThemes Security
2. Performance Plugins – I recommend WP Super Cache
3. SEO Plugins – I recommend Rank Math or Yoast SEO
4. Social Sharing Plugins – I recommend Social Warfare
5. Backup Plugins – I recommend UpdraftPlus
6. Email List Building Plugins – I recommend Convert Pro

9. Blog Set-Up and Permalink Structure for SEO           

 On your WordPress dashboard, go to the “Settings” button and click on “Permalinks”:

When you are there, you will see “Common Settings” for your permalink structure.

Your site permalink structure is just but a word used to describe the way your URLs will appear on your blog.

Why this aspect is important is because the default structure for your posts appears in a way that is not SEO friendly.

Check the image below

Should you send someone a link to one of your posts with the default setting, the person would not know what your post is all about before they open the link.

This is also very bad in terms of SEO since search engines use the keywords in your URL as a ranking factor.

As a result, you must always ensure that your post URL includes the primary keyword.

Lastly, purpose to ensure you sign up for Google Search Console and Google Analytics.

These are free tools that help to track website blog visits, conversions, and other aspects of the blog.

I hope up to this point we are still together on how to start a blog.

In case you have followed the steps outlined above, then congratulations as you are now the proud owner of your new piece of online wealth.

This is a great journey that you have commenced and if you take it seriously, you will make a substantial amount of money from it.

So far, you have identified your niche, delineated your vision, decided on your domain name, your hosting company, installed the WordPress blogging platform, and chosen your desired theme and plugins.

That’s great!

You are taking serious steps in the right direction. It is commendable.

Your blog is now up and ready if you have followed all the steps keenly.

Do you see how it is easy to start a blog?

After completing the steps above, now we are getting to the part which you need to be doing over a period of time.

This involves adding new content to your blog.

10. Creating Content for Your Blog

A single piece of content that is published on your site is usually referred to as a blog post. The write-up that you are reading right now is a good example.

You have so far built your foundations and it’s now time to begin content creation for your blog.

Getting to know how to create great content cannot easily be taught in a single blog post, but I will go through some basics that will help you along the way.

If you want your content to get on Google’s first page (or other search engines), ensure it is as good as or better than the content you get on the first page for your target keywords.

Creating content should come from a place of adding value and not only educating but entertaining your readers too.

Flat content on your blogging page can be monotonous and you need to keep your readers excited.

The blogging content that does well is basically detailed, long-form, and entails videos, blogging images, infographics, and more.

It is not necessary to have all of these in your posts. What you need more is to break down your content with visual aids that your readers will find appealing.

You should have something like a blogging journal where you detail all the things that you ought to include in your content. This is something that you will use as your blogging content checklist at all times.

As soon as you start writing and publishing great content, you should start to promote it. Traffic will not come automatically from just creating the content.

You should actually spend only 20% of your time creating content and 80% promoting it.

When you promote your content in the right way, you will be able to land links from powerful websites.

These links will help you rank in the search engines.

Now that you know what is a blog post, we can look into other aspects of your website posts.

Keywords in your Blog Posts

Every blog post ought to focus on one main target keyword. There are various sections of the post where you should include the keyword.

They include:

• In the title of your post. Ensure that it appears in the first 10% of the content.
• In your blog’s permanent URL.
• Include the keyword in the first paragraph.
• Integrate it into your headings.
• Add it to your Meta description. Though I normally consider this to be optional.
• Include the keyword all through your paragraph text.

People out there talk of using like 1% to 2% keyword density. When your keyword density is 1%, it means that the keyword is included once for every 100 words and twice for every 100 words when it is 2%.

This seems appropriate, but when your blog post is so long, the keyword could appear very many times.

As a result, it might seem like keyword stuffing, and it would not seem good for user experience too.

From what I have seen, and assessed from pages that rank on the first page of search engines, there is no rule of thumb when it comes to keyword density. Just use your best judgment and don’t keyword stuff.

Writing Your First Blog Post

Below I have outlined how to write your first blog post on the WordPress platform.

To begin, click on “Posts” in the left sidebar of the WordPress dashboard.

This will be followed by selecting the “Add New” button as shown below.

Next, you will be directed to the editor section, where you can begin to write your first blog post.

By now I know you are aware of what is blog writing, and how to do it the right way.

11. Monetize: Make Money Blogging 

Since now you have learned how to start a blog, I can give you some information on how to make money with your blog. This is what people call blog monetization.

With regards to this area, the kind of questions that I have encountered from beginner bloggers include but not limited to:

• Is blogging still profitable?
• How do bloggers get paid?
• How do new blogs make money?
• How much time does it take to start making money from blogging?
• What type of blogs make money?

I think over 90 percent of people start a blog make money and that is why learning how to monetize your blog is important.

The truth is that blogging is still profitable. Actually, You can now even make more money blogging than you would have made ten years ago.

The number of people consuming information from the internet keeps increasing, and more people are now more open to getting their products and services from online platforms.

Any blog can make money so long the content being generated has an audience.

When it comes to blog monetization, I will commence by telling you what not to do as a beginner blogger.

Whatever you do, don’t cover your blog with Google AdSense when you are a beginner.

The moment you start a blog, your first objective is to get eyeballs to your content. As a result, you are supposed to ensure that the user experience is good.

This is why it is important to ensure that the monetization strategy that you are going to choose does not hinder your blog from developing.

This is why I usually believe that blog ads are not good when it comes to monetizing your blog, more so for beginner bloggers.

• Ads on your blog tend to distract your readers.
• They tend to pay very little.
• To some extent, they make your blog appear shady and cheap.

As a result, you should be focusing on other ways to monetize your blog. Among them is affiliate marketing.

Affiliate Marketing

I always believe that the best way to make money while blogging is to build an audience that trusts you, and then offer high-quality services or products that will honestly help that audience.

Not just promoting a service or a product because it has a potential for high payouts. It ought to give value to your readers.

Many bloggers, upon hearing this advice, tend to go and create a course or a book.

This may not be the right way to approach it when you’re a beginner blogger.

If you are not keen, you may end up wasting months and sometimes even years building a product your audience is not interested in.

This is really bad. Right?

Instead, I recommend that you promote affiliate programs from reputable companies that give money-back guarantees.

A company that offers money-back guarantee means that they trust in the quality of their product or service and the value it can bring to the end consumer.

There are several reputable affiliate marketing programs for every blogging niche out there.

Actually, it is quite easy to find companies with affiliate marketing programs. It is a concept that many companies are now adopting given its efficiency.

There is also the existence of affiliate marketing companies that offer a variety of affiliate programs from different companies under one platform. This includes companies like Clickback, CJ Affiliate, ShareASale and MoreNiche among others.

This is how affiliate marketing works.

1. You start by introducing your readers to a service or product from a source that you trust.
2. Your readers will then review the service or product, make a decision on whether it will be helpful, and proceed to buy it
3. You end up earning a commission on the sales you make

The good thing about affiliate marketing is that you win in many ways.

You help your audience, you make money, and also most importantly, you learn the kinds of services and products your audience likes to buy.

With this information, you can now proceed to create your own courses, e-commerce sites or products around it.

The good thing about having this information is that you now won’t be guessing whether there’s an audience for it. You will have a definite answer.

Affiliate marketing for beginners can be somewhat challenging when you are commencing and that is why it is important to read about it extensively to ensure that you do it right. There are numerous affiliate marketing blogs and affiliate marketing courses out there, that can help gather the appropriate information.

Apart from affiliate marketing, there are other money-making opportunities when you own a blog.

Affiliate marketing is the easiest method for beginners to make money online, but there are other options too.

They include but not limited to

• Sponsored posts
• Direct Ad Sales
• Staff Writing
• Product Creation
• Ebooks
• Consultation
• Online Courses
• Amazon Affiliate Program

12. Blog Promotion to Boost Your Traffic

Traffic is most likely the most written about topic on the internet; even in the specific spectrum of blogging news.

And honestly, there are millions of ways to get people onto your blog.

But getting your initial traffic to your blog is very simple:

1. First get to know where your audience/readers spend their time
2. Identify the best way to connect with the audience
3. Generate content that will answer their questions
4. Share the content with them

When it comes to blog traffic, I have seen several questions being asked. They sound something like

• How do you promote a blog?
• How do I get people to read my blog?
• How do I compete in a competitive niche?
• How can I increase my blog traffic?
• Why is social media good for promotion?

In all honesty, as a beginner blogger, no one is giving you any attention. This is what makes blogging marketing difficult as you are starting a blog.

You could write the greatest piece of content the world has ever seen, and no one will even know it even exists.

Not unless you tell them about it.

As a result, you should make ample time to promote your content. You will ideally, spend more time promoting the posts than writing them if you want to succeed in blogging.

You should spend like 20% of your time generating content and the other 80% promoting the content.

Generating Traffic Through Social Media

Having a social media presence can help you build traffic, connect with new readers and increase your audience reach.

Social media is a good platform to inform people about a post immediately it goes live.

However, you should avoid spreading yourself too thin.

Most of the new bloggers sign up to Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Periscope.

But in all honesty, that is not manageable.

Focus your time on one channel instead, where your audience spends most of their time.

You can take Pinterest for instance. Get to learn their policy and be really good at that one channel.

This way you will be able to scale up your traffic quickly.

When you have figured it out, move on to another social media platform, and do the same.

With time you will find that you have developed a good following across different platforms without feeling overwhelmed.

Generating Traffic Through SEO

Further below you can learn how to integrate good SEO habits and start getting traffic through Google.

Yes, there are other search engines on the web, but Google tends to dominate search traffic. That is why I sometimes refer to SEO as blogging with Google.

SEO is an advanced topic and it is not possible to fully cover it in one article. I know most beginners try not to focus on Search Engine Optimization(SEO).

I think this is wrong.

SEO my take time to materialize, and the earlier you start the better.

Search engine optimization enables you to drive targeted traffic from organic search, which then makes more money for you. It is easier to make conversions from targeted traffic.

This is one aspect that makes SEO a very good source of traffic for any blog.

SEO has three main parts:

•       On-page SEO: Involves Keyword placement, quality of your content, and other factors.
•       On-Site SEO: Crawling and indexing of your blog.
•       Off-Site SEO: Generating backlinks from other websites.

When it comes to SEO evaluation, there are other two aspects that I can add.

User experience: The current search engine optimization trend is about giving a good user experience. Among the key aspects of good user experience are website load time, navigation, readability, website design, and so on.

Social signals: Social media is important in improving your blog ranking on search engines. This is a ranking factor that companies like Google came to introduce.

Build Your Email List

To generate traffic to your blog, you can also create a mailing list where your registered readers receive your articles once they are published.

This is among the most direct ways you can reach your audience and they are able to directly access your full post by simply clicking the link.

Building an email list is something that most bloggers ignore for a long time before they can start to implement.

If you carried out a poll among a hundred experienced bloggers who have been around the block for some time, and happened to ask them for their biggest blogging mistake, one answer would stand out: “I wish I had started to build my email list earlier.”

I know you are a wise person.

Wise people learn from other people’s mistakes.

Start building your email list on day one.

Start now.

I can take you through the process of getting started.

1. Choose an email marketing service provider

There are plenty of good email marketing service providers. They include:

• ConvertKit
• AWeber
• Drip
• Keap
• MailChimp

Just to mention a few.

However, when you are starting a blog, you should closely monitor your expenses.

As a result, in case there is a free service provider for something that you intend to use, you should consider it.

This is why I recommend MailerLite, to my readers, as it is free for users with 1,000 or fewer subscribers.

The moment you hit 1,000 subscribers, you can choose to either upgrade to one of MailerLite’s paid plans or switch to a different email marketing service provider.

Therefore, avoid over thinking about it.

You require an email marketing provider to begin building your email list. Go for a good one that won’t cost you money.

You can switch at any time as you progress.

2. Place opt-in forms strategically on your blog

Use an email list plugin such as Sumo, Convert Pro or Elementor to place opt-in forms throughout your blog:

Among the areas that you can include the forms is

• Inside your content
• In your sidebar
• On a landing page
• In your header
• In pop-ups
• On your about page, homepage, or contact form page

You ought to give people a reason to provide their email address. Offer your readers something that is more of a bribe to entice them; ethical bribe.

Most people will not give you their email address simply because they like you.

It doesn’t work that way and you have to offer them a reason to give their email address to you.

Ethical bribes are also referred to as lead magnets, subscriber bribes, free offers, opt-in bribes, content upgrades, and free gifts.

They tend to give readers a reason to give their email address to you.

How it works is that you give them a free gift when they give you their email address.

Many bloggers try to be too creative and too big with their lead magnet and as a result, they normally fail to create one at all.

You should keep your subscriber bribe simple.

I would recommend that

You start with a simple, one-page PDF checklist.

I have seen successful bloggers do this, and it works.

13. Blogging FAQ

How long does it take for me to earn money blogging?

The blogging job is a business like any other, so it is possible to start earning little amounts of money blogging immediately, but it’s also possible to spend like six months or even a year still figuring out the best ways to make money.

Keep in mind that it is important to create a selection of quality content before you can begin to get recognized in search engines, and this alone takes time.

I would like to advise beginner bloggers to focus on writing excellent content and honing your craft for at least 4 or 5 months before you can even start worrying about trying to monetize your website.

It is more about the process. When you start a blog, making money should not be your main focus.

This way, you will be able to do a lot of the things the right way, and within no time, money will follow you.

The moment you commence blogging while putting all your focus on making money immediately, you tend to try a lot of shortcuts and there will be a lot of frustrations if things don’t work out quickly.

As with any business, you will become a blogging pro as you progress hence making it easy for you to make money with ease even from a new blog.

I can tell you from experience, as long as you keep doing the job, your blogging income will keep increasing. Blogging and making money at the same time can be very fulfilling too.

How much does it cost to start a blog?

Starting a blog is not costly.

You can start a blog with less than $100 as long as you are using a hosting plan that is affordable and comes with a free domain.

A good example of such a hosting platform is Bluehost as it has been recommended above.

It is good to note that you can spend much more than this, although you really don’t have to. You should be avoiding most of the paid services as you begin.

How do I choose a profitable blog niche?

Any blog niche can be profitable as long as the consumers are willing to pay at least for some few products in that niche.

While you are discovering what you want to blog about, think about it in terms of services and products that consumers pay for in the areas you wish to write about.

In case you intend to blog about parenthood, you can monetize by promoting baby supplies and baby gear. You can even go to the extent of creating your own products that parents can purchase. Though creating your own products should come later on after you have assessed your niche sufficiently.

In case you intend to start a camping blog out of your love for camping, then you could think of monetizing the blog with affiliate links for varied camping products coupled with sponsored content from outdoor brands.

On the other hand, If you desire to blog about travel, you can monetize this by promoting airlines, hotels, and basically any travel brand that has an affiliate program.

The point here is that you should aim high and know that any blog niche is profitable so long as it can generate traffic.

How do bloggers get paid?

If you are asking this question, most definitely you are getting into blogging to earn money.

I know before you commence the blogging the journey you are always wondering how to start a blog and get paid.

How to make money blogging is not something that has a single answer. Bloggers make money using various strategies like sponsored posts, display ads, and affiliate marketing among others.

There are bloggers who focus on only one monetization source to generate the income they want, while others attempt all monetization strategies that are relevant for their brand.

There is no rule of thumb here, you just use what is working for you.

The moment you commence you will see several successful blogging websites, you can check how the bloggers running them are making money.

You can also read some blogging books to learn how you can make money from your blog.

By now I hope you have an answer to the question of “how do you make money blogging.”

Should I start more than one blog in order to make more money?

To be honest this is a question I was also asking myself when I started blogging.

If you are able to make money with one blog, why not start two or three and earn even much more?

It looks like a no brainer, right?

But it is not that simple.

Blogging is unfortunately not always as easy as it seems and having two or three blogs might strain you a lot.

The best thing is to start one blog on a topic you really care about, learn how you can monetize it, and have that blog making money before worrying about starting a second blog.

Having done that, you can grow by making mistakes and learning more about blogging before you start another online business.

The moment you strain yourself, you end up achieving very little in the long run since you have stretched your time and resources.

Even if you are blogging for money, you should be wise and ensure that you use an approach that is sustainable for the long-run.

In conclusion, you can see how easy it is to start a blog business. Yes, I said business. The moment you start treating your blog as a business, that is when you will start seeing substantial results. I know now you’ve learned how to start a blog and make money. If you implement the step by step guide, you will easily kick start your career in blogging and making money in no time.