How to Start a Blog and Make Money
How to start a blog
Starting your own blog takes creativity, some technical know-how, and quite a bit of strategic thinking.Here are five steps to take to help your website succeed:
1. Pick the right topic
It could be the most frequently cited piece of writing advice: write what you know. This is especially true when it comes to your own blog.
When you’re starting your own site, it’s important to center it around issues that you’re both passionate and knowledgeable about.
This will help you stay motivated to create new content frequently, which will be essential to your blog’s popularity. You’ll also be more likely to create engaging, truly helpful content that readers are likely to share in social media.
Additionally, writing about topics you have established expertise on increases your credibility and authority — which can help you both grow an audience and improve your ranking in search engine results.
2. Buy a domain name
Put simply, a domain name is the name of your website, or what comes after the “www” in a web address.You can choose your new domain name before building your website or later on, if you decide to start with a free blog domain. However, it’s a good idea to buy it as soon as you have an official brand or blog name.
You’ll also have to decide on a domain extension or a top-level domain (TLD). Even though there are hundreds of domain extension options, .com and .net are the most popular and are usually given preference by search engines like Google.
Choosing one of these two could, in the long run, help your blog rank higher in the results page than if you choose less common extensions like .blog or .club, for instance.
3. Select a hosting service
To get your blog online, you’ll need a web hosting service.
A web host is a company that can store, maintain and manage access and traffic to your website. A web hosting service is necessary — it gives your website a home, and without it you wouldn’t be able to publish your site on the internet.Shared hosting: Refers to a service where a single web server hosts many websites. It’s one of the most popular types of web hosting, and affordable since the server is shared with multiple users.
Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting: A service where multiple websites are hosted on the same server, but each user gets dedicated resources. VPS hosting is more expensive than shared hosting and may require some technical knowledge to configure.
Dedicated hosting: Provides a dedicated server for your website. It’s ideal for websites with heavy traffic that can benefit from more responsiveness and the flexibility to upgrade and control performance. It’s expensive, though, with monthly plans ranging from $100 to over $200.
When choosing a web hosting provider, check whether it offers the type of service you need at a price you’re able to afford for at least a couple of years. In addition, consider factors such as the server’s uptime, response time, scalability, ease of use and customer support
Choose a blogging platform
A blogging platform is a web-based service that allows users to create, manage and publish blog posts. Most blogging platforms also include tools for optimizing your website with metadata, title descriptions and keywords that make it easy for search engines to identify what the page is about.
Many popular blogging platforms offer both free and paid options, including some of the most widely used sites like WordPress, Medium, Weebly and Blogger. There are also website builders like Wix and Squarespace, which require less tech-savviness.
Many blogging platforms already come with pre-made themes that you can customize. A theme typically includes templates, layouts, colors, images and other features you need to format the website and its content.
But your theme affects much more than your page’s looks — your blog’s theme can also impact your ranking in search engine results. When choosing a template, do some research first and make sure it’s responsive, loads quickly, is mobile-friendly and works with plugins.
5. Publish your first blog post
Once you’ve picked a web hosting service, a blogging platform and a theme for your website, you’re ready to start your blogging journey.
The key to generating page traffic is to create original, high-quality content and publish new blog posts on a regular basis.Keep in mind what potential readers are looking for and why (otherwise known as the user search intent), your blog’s central theme, and what others have already published on the topic. This way you can identify what needs to be written or how to present the information in an original and creative way.
Keyword research through Google Analytics (or even just Google Search) is key to finding relevant content ideas. Learning proper search engine optimization (SEO) techniques is also essential if you want to increase traffic to your site and rank higher in the results page.
Lastly, it’s important to stay authentic to your voice and be mindful of your grammar. Mistakes and typos can be off-putting to many readers and take a toll on your site’s credibility. If grammar isn’t your strong suit, it’s a good idea to invest in one of the many writing-assistance apps on the market now, which are designed to catch and correct spelling and grammar mistakes.
How to make money blogging
Revenue largely depends on generating traffic to your website. Gaining and growing an audience may take a lot of time and effort, but with the right strategy you might see results sooner rather than later.
It’s important to create content consistently and establish a social media presence — once you do so, there are quite a few ways to start making money from your blog.
1. Display ads
A simple way to start earning some revenue is to sell ad space.
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