Do you want to start a successful, profitable blog?
Starting a Blog is one of the many easy online businesses you can start and, if you follow these steps, you can make substantial income. You don’t need to be tech-savvy to do it. Read this article to the end, where we will walk you through the entire process; from start to finish. Your blog will be up and running in no time!
Let’s get started.
You probably have been googling how to start a blog; you read other people’s blogs and wonder: how to become successful like other bloggers. Perhaps you’re a stay-at-home mom, or you’re currently stuck at your 9–5 job, and you’re overwhelmed. Perhaps you are temporarily out of work and trying to make ends meet. Whichever reason fits you, the time to start your blog and make money online is now.
If you want to start a blog for fun and share thoughts that comes to your mind with the world, that’s quite easy; but starting a successful blog is different from just starting a blog. In this post I will show you exactly how to start a successful money-making blog.
1. Find Your Niche
Firstly, you must figure out what it is you wish to write about. It may be challenging at first but my suggestion is to take some time to truly think about what you want to write about. Use a pen & paper, do some Google searches; whatever works best for you, until you come up with a niche that you’re truly passionate about.
So to figure out your niche, ask yourself this question:
What are you passionate about?
Do you enjoy talking? What is your area of expertise or have deep knowledge of? What’s that topic that you surf the internet about consistently?
Is there an Existing Market about it?
We have all heard about “supply and demand” (hopefully). Your greatest chance of making money online is choosing a niche that there is an online appetite for. So, how do you find out if there’s an existing market for your chosen? One of the easiest ways is to type in your keyword and see if there are many questions regarding that topic. Additionally, there are several online tools such as Google Keyword Planner and Keyword Sh*tter which will give you an idea on various keywords’ online popularity. Conversely, you may want to shy away from overly popular subjects in your early stages, as these may be highly competitive and difficult for your new blog to be ranked on the various search-engines. Take your time and do your research and you will find a viable niche.
Can you monetize it?
Our goal here is making money, yes? The next step will be considering suitable ways to monetise your blog. Displaying advertisements, sponsored post and linking relevant affiliate products (affiliate marketing) to elements of your articles are the most common ways. It’s easy.
2. Choose A Blogging Platform
There are various options; however, the most commonly used platform is WordPress. If you’re reading this on LexMedia.tech, you’re looking at a WordPress site, in addition to 30% of all the websites currently online (and growing). I prefer and recommend WordPress because:
- There is an endless selection of themes, plugins and widgets (both free and paid), which you can use to customise your site in to virtually anything.
- WordPress is highly optimized for search engines and monetisation. With this in mind, you certainly want to choose a platform that give you the best chances of getting found and your blog being read.
What You Need To Start A Blog
Here’s what I recommend:
- You first need to decide on a name for your site, we recommend using namecheap
- You will need hosting, somewhere for your site to reside. We recommend SiteGround. It’s fast, affordable and you get excellent customer support.
- Building your site using the latest version of WordPress. This will ensure you have the latest version of all your chosen themes and plugins, thereby ensure the security and seamless function of your site.
Installing WordPress site is usually a simple, one-click process through your web hosting service.
Follow this guide and implement the steps, and you will have a fully functional WordPress blog.
So let’s get started.
Steps To Build Your Blog:
- Choosing a domain name
- Registering your domain and Signing Up for Hosting
- Installing WordPress
- Installing a Theme
- Adding important pages to your website
Step 1. Choose A Domain Name for your Blog
Choosing a domain name is the very first step you must take to build a website. Your domain name is the address your website visitors will type into the search bar when they want to visit your site. Example, yourdomain.com
Having your own personalized domain shows that you’re ready to build a serious business. And it’s just $10–15 per year.
The only challenge you may have is finding or choosing the domain you want because most names are taken. It’s getting tougher and tougher to find one; you just need to be creative
You’ll see a few different endings out there — example .com, .org, .net and others. The .com is by far the most popular and what most people expect; however, use of the other types will not adversely affect your search engine favourability.
It’s also a good idea to choose a name which is available across all your social media accounts. Go to namecheckr and see if the domain and social media accounts are available. You certainly don’t need ALL social media accounts, but I’d think about the top 4 — Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest. Even if you don’t start using all of them immediately, reserving them for the future is a great idea. (It’s what I did)
Tips For Choosing A Domain Name
- If you are building your personal brand website, then use your name. (http://www.yourname.com)
- If you are building a website for your business, then use your business name. (http://www.yourbusinessname.com)
- Use the general domain name extension, such as .com, .org
- Keep it short and simple, to make it easy for your readers to remember.
Check if your name is available, if it is, don’t procrastinate; snatch it up. It may not be there the next time you go looking.
I use Namecheap and I love their services. It’s cheap, easy to use & has fantastic customer support. I also recommend it because it easily integrates with most other tools.
You can still buy your domain name from Siteground if you’re okay with the price. We will get to that shortly.
My domain name registrar is not the same as my host. That’s a personal preference.
If you decide to buy your domain name from namecheap follow namecheap’s guide on how to change DNS for a domain name and point your domain name to Siteground.
Step 2. Register A Domain And Sign Up For Hosting
In addition to having a domain name, you will also need a web host.
Web hosting is the service that stores the content of your site securely on a server. Without a web host, your website will not be accessible for others.
It’s important to choose a good host for your website. Because the last thing you want to deal with when creating your website is a slow loading site and poor support.
While I have not done the research myself, I have followed the published advice of multiple independent reviewers who agree that Siteground is the best of the lot. It’s only $3.95 per month and includes an SSL Security Certificate to protect your site. (https:// instead of http://)
STEP 3. Add Necessary Pages
There are pages that are necessary that you have on your blog from day 1.
They are:
About Me : This page lets your visitors know who you are, what your page/brand is about and how you will add value to their lives.
Contact Me Page: This page should have a contact form, so that your readers can contact you and other optional information such as email addresses and physical location.
Privacy Policy: This page acts as a form of legal protection for your page. Upon installing WordPress, there will be a standard privacy policy page. Edit and make changes so that it suits your website and then publish it.
Steps 1–3 are all relatively manageable; however, if you want a website that has additional flare to ‘wow’ your visitors from their first visit, contact our sister company Lex Marketing. Our experienced developers have built tens of attractive websites affordably. Additionally, if you mention LexMedia2021, you will get an automatic 30% discount off the overall cost of whatever services you require.
After you have done these, it’s all a matter of creating your individual blog entries.
Step 4: Your Blog Posts
On average, each blog entry should be around 1000–2000 words, minimum. A good practice is to do a bit of market-research. See what your competition is doing. Check out successful blogs with similar articles and follow their lead (to be clear: i’m not suggesting that you copy their articles).
I also recommend having 5–6 completed articles, minimum before you launch your blog to the world. Thereafter, try to post with regular frequency; whether daily, weekly or bi-weekly. Whatever suits your schedule.
Once the articles are complete, apply the monetization strategy you decided on. As a new blogger, don’t expect the money to start rolling in immediately; it takes time. However, once you’re consistent, use relevant keyword, follow the rules of SEO and provide an overall high-quality piece of work; with time your traffic flow will steadily increase.
Check out our other article on 10 Online Business Ideas for 2021.
This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive commissions if you choose to purchase through the links that I provide (at no extra cost to you).