How to start a blog (And Earn Money from It) in 2022
Blogs are like opinions: Everybody has one. It's a good thing!
A properly designed blog with helpful content is one of the most powerful advertising methods available. It makes it clear to potential clients that they're experts in the field and helps build your reputation online. It also shows potential customers that you're a media Centric SaaS Companies like Hubspot who maintain active, useful blogs can even see greater traffic than major media publications in their industries. That's massive.
In this piece we'll explain why blogs are such an essential strategy for building brand awareness prior to diving into the specifics of what you need to do to create with a blog. We'll then go over the core strategies bloggers use in order to earn money for their blogs, so you'll have the steps to transform your blog into a serious source of passive income. (Because there's no one who doesn't want to think about this!)
Let's get started, to take you from being a novice to blogging hero. There are a few shortcuts to follow, if you're eager to skip ahead to a particular section:
The advantages of blogging
The benefits of having your website to be more prominent in search results, and to helping build your brand's bond with your audience -- there are several reasons why every creator and company needs a blog.
Boosting your website traffic
We won't go deep into the lingo, but this method is known as inbound marketing. It's when you write about something the people actually are looking for, and, along the way, they'll discover your name. That means you won't have to pay for ads to be seen. (That's outbound marketing!)
Conway later explains that by making a statement on hot-button issues in his industry, he got the "huge uptick in the number of visitors" and grew his readership to 20,000 monthly readers. Now, he works in conjunction with freelancers who produce great material. This is a model that you could imitate, whatever the industry you're in.
Getting discovered via social media
Content from blogs isn't only useful for driving traffic to your website -- it can be utilized to be used on social media. Through this method, you'll increase the reach of your brand and reach leads you wouldn't find in other ways. This is better shown than explained, so we'll take a look at the details of an instance.
Suppose you sell lint rollers in the form of a blog post about strategies to remove cat hair from couches. You go in-depth, and discuss every method you can think of to take the feline out of where you recline. (Meow.) This post as well as the study that you have put into it form your foundation.
If you want to take things a step further, you could make your own Twitter thread in which you break the hair removal techniques within a mere 280 words. It's less lengthy, digestible and gives you access to a new audience. Equally, you could create an Instagram carousel that gives your five best tips for getting cats off of sofas. If you're feeling adventurous, you could even film a TikTok tutorial on how to make a professional lint roll.
Suddenly, that blog post isn't only a writing piece. It's actually a mini marketing plan, that includes elements that you can use to advertise your business on different social channels. Your blog post is where you should spend the longest. Once you've written it, you'd be missing out by not spending an hour or two spinning it out for the social media.
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Building your online reputation
Blogs are also an efficient method to establish your online reputation and make yourself known as an authority on a particular topic. A good online brand is valuable for solo entrepreneurs and big companies alike, and the content you create today can be influential for many long time to come.
In simple terms, consumers prefer to buy from businesses that help them than from unnamed corporate giants. Businesses would prefer to hire consultants who offer a certain amount of benefits upfront than those that don't provide any evidence they'll deliver on their say they will.
High-quality, consistent blog content is the way to give away the value of your blog and demonstrate your value.
Generating long-term business
Another massive benefit that blogging has is its capacity to generate long-term business for your company. After you've written an piece, you're the sole author of it (and it's there for all time). It is possible to update and republish key articles yearly so that they remain highly ranked, and people will continue finding your company through your blog on their own.
Best of all, your blog posts will form first impressions for you. When a customer or client contacts you for the first time, they'll already be able to form a picture of you formed by reading the blog articles. You won't have to introduce yourself -- and you'll have the ability to focus on solving their problems and building connections.
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How to start a successful blog in 2022
So now that you know what makes blogs so well-known, let's dive into the nitty gritty details on how you can start your own successful blog. Because blogging has changed significant amount since the beginning of LiveJournal and TypePad and is expected to be prosperous by 2022, you have to have a solid program and plan for your blog, right from the get-go.
1. Pick your niche
Before you start your blog, it's important to pick the core subject you'll be focusing your content on. That's your niche.
However, if you pick an overly specific niche, nobody will ever be able to find you. Sure, you might be the biggest fish in a small water body, but if nobody's fishing there, then you shouldn't expect to make a huge impact on the business.
Imagine you're a tailor who is obsessed with making quilted reproductions of album covers in the 1960s and 1970s. Sure, there might be a small audience who wants to view your Trout Mask Replica quilt. But if you're trying to attract new customers for your business, you might want to blog about sewing. Sewing is a wider field with more potential customers looking for it.
Luckily, there are a couple of steps to take to find a profitable niche and one that isn't very crowded or that people are searching for. How to find it:
Imagine your favorite hobbies as well as your skills and experience.
Searching for a blog niche should start by doing some self-reflection. Ask yourself the following three questions. You can also write down some brief notes while you're at it:
- What do you love to do? What could you talk about all day?
- What skills or life experiences could you impart or share with others?
- In the field you're interested in, what angles haven't been covered until death?
The majority of the time you're in business, or have real-life passions will be the niche you want your blog to concentrate on. This is a place where you already have a wealth of knowledge.
The importance of knowing your market is vital, as it'll take time to build your blog's readership. If you're not passionate about the subject matter of your blog then you'll face an existential crisis and abandon it prior to reaching the year-mark. (And this won't make you feel great (I promise you that). )
Check Google Trends to find out how well-known your area of expertise is
Once you've identified an area of interest, you'll need to do some very basic analysis to discover what that people are looking for in your field. This is a much simpler task, and does not require as much soul-searching.
Begin by visiting Google Trends -- the most effective and free method to gauge search volumes (a.k.a. how many times people search for the phrase on Google each month). Next, you should think of core keywords related to your niche. If you're in the field of photography, think of phrases such as "learning photography," "best camera for beginner" and perhaps "photography." Put these terms into Google Trends, and you'll be able to see the volume of searches as they change over time.
That's all there is to it. What Google's Trends study process is doing is reveal the routes people are using to get into your market. It will reveal trends within your field, as well as point to whether your niche is expanding or shrinking.
This phase can assist you assess whether your chosen niche is the right one. If you're afraid that your niche is too saturated for you to be noticed, keep looking -- it's an issue you'll be able to solve.
Explore further to discover another sub-niche that you may own
Your blog niche might be something that's already really famous, such as photographs, finance, or even healthy food. However, if you consider which areas within the niche aren't yet saturated You can create a healthy sub-niche to develop.
As an example, if you're a photographer can narrow your focus from the extensive niche of photography to the sub-niche in studio photography. It's up to someone else to write about long-exposure landscape photos. It is possible to concentrate on lighting, arranging indoor photography sessions, and acquiring equipment for studios.
This way it will appear that you are an expert in a particular profession. (Which will help make your company stand out too. What's the reason?)
2. Pick a name for the blog
Once you've picked your niche (or sub-niche! ) It's now the time to pick a name for your blog. It's the name people will search for and will remember, therefore it's essential to select something simple, memorable, as well as true to your branding.
In choosing your username, you'll want to think about the target readership, the topics which you'll be writing about and also what your voice as a writer is like.
In the light of that background, you're ready to pick names. There are many different ways to name strategies for your brand new blog:
You can use your own name
The creative director Nathan Allebach uses his last name to name his blog and his communications firm. This has assisted people who read about his experiences at Steak-Umm to discover his firm and then become clients.
But, on the other hand, this naming strategy may not work for teams, or for industry-focused blogs. If you're using a common name like John Smith, you may not be ranking well on Google. (But it's the reason middle names are, right? )
Get a dictionary
If the blog you're writing about is in a particular field or industry Your name might pigeon-hole the blog. It is better to choose a more broad title that reflects the sort of blog content that you're writing about.
It's not easy, however, so make sure you get your closest thesaurus (or Thesaurus.com). You're going to take the industry-related keywords that you had in mind earlier then plug them into the search engine then look up keywords that are similar to them to make a base for your blog title.
A name such as The Camera Blog feels generic So, take the word "camera" and input it into your online thesaurus. There are related words like "lens," "mirror" and "35mm" -which suddenly is much more interesting.
It is easy to flip them into a new title suitable for your blog- something like Lens Tracker, 35mm Mayhem or Mirrorless Magic. People searching for photography will be able to identify what your blog's about, and you will not disappear into the sea of badly-named blogs.
Create a blog's name generator
A different method for naming your blog is by plugging certain terms into a blog name generator. Select a handful of keywords that are related to your business, and allow a name generator like BlogTyrant's do the hard job. (This name generator can even check what domain names are in use. )
There's no better proof of the power generated by name generators then the future EGOT winner Childish Gambino. He got his stage name via the Wu-Tang Clan name generator in the early 2000s which is still doing the rounds the name a decade later. (It's in existence. Plug in "Donald Glover" here, if you're in the market for a new song. )
The point is: there's no shame in letting a robot help you brainstorm. As long as you come up with an appropriate, unique name, it won't ever matter how you got the name.
3. Create your blog's hosting
Before you build your blog, you'll need to set up hosting. This is buying your domain or the URL that your readers will use to access your posts.
Be sure to select an established hosting provider. If you go with a bottom-of-the-barrel, extra-cheap hosting provider, your blog may see performance issues, such as lag time while loading. You might not notice this, but Google's search algorithm certainly will, this means that you'll be at risk of not showing up in the search results.
But hosting isn't that expensive. Actually, most hosting services will charge the cost of a few cups of coffee each month and keep your blog up and functioning 24/7.
The top five hosting company recommendations (in no particular order): (in not in any particular order):
4. Make your blog available on a CMS
When you've got your domain You're all set to create your blog out in the form of a Content Management System, also known as a CMS.
CMS platforms allow you to build your own site without needing to write code. Your CMS will be where you'll go to create new pages, post posts, and even update older material in the future. If you're a blogger, choosing the right CMS is like picking the right partner -- so choose carefully.
The most common CMS platform is WordPress which is an open source classic utilized by businesses of any size. There are many great ones out there, though. These are our top choices to help you get started:
5. Make and distribute material
After you've achieved having your CMS in place, your next step will be creating and publishing your content. Content creation is an issue on its own, and we could write an entire book (or cry you a river) on the process to decide which content to publish.
always you should think about these important questions:
- Who is my target audience?
- What do they like about HTML0?What are the problems they face?
- What lessons can I give them?
This method will prevent from going outside of your field, creating off-brand articles, or even writing about topics that someone else has written about. This will help you uncover fascinating, hidden stories that you can bring to life for your readers. Enjoy writing with me, dear readers!
6. Promote your blog
After you've got your content available, the next step is to make it more visible.
The most effective strategy that we'd recommend is to reuse blog posts for your social media platforms. Make a lengthy article an Instagram carousel on Instagram or even the deep dive on Twitter. Open your iPhone and take an TikTok that describes the main points of your article, and then redirect people to your website for the full story.
It kills two birds with one stone. This solution eliminates the "what to post on Instagram" conundrum, and it drives people back to your blog post.
In addition to content reuse We also suggest making your blog searchable. It requires a amount of SEO research however it's a rabbit hole that's really worth exploring. All you need to do is conduct the necessary keyword research, discover important terms that rank high, and then incorporate the terms into your post.
This informs Google that your article solves problems that people are searching for. This will increase your organic traffic to the next level.
How to earn money blogging using Four ways to make money blogging:
At this point, you've created your blog and are up and running. Congrats! People are finding your content and it appears that they're truly enjoying the posts you're putting up.
So how do you actually monetize all of the video content?
It is important to know the ways that content creators earn income:
- If you sell your content You earn revenue directly from the users. If, for instance, your content is protected by a paywall or structured to be an online course you're marketing your service.
- If you're selling attention to an audience that you're cooperating with a third party to meet their needs in marketing. Think of your "word from our sponsors" part of your favorite podcast or links in your favorite recipe blog which lead you directly to Amazon products. These are examples of selling your listeners.
1. Advertise your blog
Setting up Google AdSense (Google's advertising toolkit) for your blog is a great method to convert the traffic your blog is earning into cold, hard direct deposits to your bank account.
What is the process? You make your blog available to the Google's advertising network and permit ads to appear on your website. Clicks and impressions from ads add up to a monthly AdSense payout.
AdSense is completely free to join, the eligibility conditions are not too high as well as your earnings from ads is scalable like your blog's, too.
There are a variety of kinds of AdSense adsthat include:
- Image ads: Graphic ads which are available in a variety of dimensions.
- Text ads: Adverts that are text-only that can display either several or one offer.
- Ads with rich media include video, HTML, as well as flash advertisements.
- GIF advertisements: animated image advertisements.
This means that if you discover that a particular ad can distract from the content on your blog, you can swap the ad type for one that is more discreet. If you're looking to make big bucks by selling lots of advertising spaces There are advertisements that will allow you to do this too.
2. Sign up to an affiliate network
Affiliate marketing is an effective way to monetize your blog. You provide affiliate links to items, and when someone who has started their journey on your blog purchases You earn a tempting commission.
You'll want to advertise products that your audience is truly keen on. Your readers on your cooking blogs at home doesn't want to buy moisturizer... but they'd definitely be interested in crockpot suggestions. Select the correct products and you'll transform the affiliate advertisements that promote cast iron cookware into gold.
From our own experience, we know that there is a lot of confusing information out there concerning affiliate programs. Since we're interested, we've put together a brief list of eight reliable affiliate programs which you can sign up for today:
- Instagram Affiliate
- FlexOffers
- AWIN (prev. Affiliate Window)
- Amazon Associates Program
- CJ Affiliate
- Affiliaxe
- Affiliate Program
- ShareASale
- Udemy Affiliates Program
3. Create sponsored posts
Sponsored posts are another great way to turn the traffic on your blog into passive income -- especially with a committed audience. In exchange for a per-post fee, you'll blend ads for products of the company into your blog posts.
This is winning for everyone. The benefit for you is cash. To your partner, it's an authentic piece of third-party of content that promotes their product (without appearing to be an empty product placement).
Posts sponsored by sponsors can come in a variety of formats, including:
- Blogs that are made by a sponsor who you share
- Posts written by you regarding a sponsored product
- Links to the sponsor's webpage and/or product pages
- A listing that contains positive coverage of a brand's product
- An announcement of a new product which gives a limited-time discount to bloggers
It's important to mention that in most cases, you'll be approached to write sponsored content. You don't want to chase companies, but in the end, that can make you look desperate. Concentrate on creating good material that's distinctive within your field In time, they'll come to you.
4. Online courses can be sold
Offering online courses is the fastest and most effective method to generate revenue from your blog. Blog content is a fantastic method of introducing people to your company or personal brand However, the process of assembling your experience into well-organized courses is more beneficial. (And you can make it very lucrative!)
Furthermore, after you've made a course, it's done. You might need to update course content from time to intervals, but the course is an asset you are able to send your blog's viewers for a long time. And if your blog becomes the go-to for your particular niche, your bank account could skyrocket. (No, really--we've seen many instances of this. )
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So, what's next?
If you've learned the steps to begin your own blog, you're probably looking for ways to turn your website into a profitable cash-flowing business. As we've said before: the most quick, efficient way to monetize your blog as well as generate passive income is to start developing classes.
Here's where the power comes in. We help you generate revenue from your blog through repurposing material into self-guided online courses and membership websites. Our simple-to-use platform for course design aids educators, coaches and digital content creators build unique, personalized eLearning courses to help grow profitable online business.
Start for no cost and receive courses as well as marketing and sales instruments you'll need to bring your company to the next level. (No tech skills required! )