How To Start A Blog – it isn’t hard, you can learn as you go…
A blog can be a business, a hobby, or a journal of sorts with varied descriptive subjects that you love to write about. With a blog, you can upload daily posts about anything that you want. Some people create personal blogs as a way to keep in touch with family members. Pictures, videos, and other information can be uploaded to fit your blog/website’s content.
We are going to talk about business blogs today. A business blog is a blog that you create to make money. However, you need to focus on a positive goal mindset.
You create content and begin to attract traffic to sell products or services. To be interesting to others, your blog will need to:
• Have updated content for visitors
• Be marketed to draw traffic
• Register with search engines so it can be found in the rankings – Start with Google.
How to Start a Blog For Free
I do not regularly advise this because I think I lost a lot of time doing this in the beginning. That was almost eight years ago when I started. However, everyone’s needs are not the same.
If you are new to blogging and do not want to spend any money, you can use a free blogging platform to get your feet wet. Sites like Blogger.com, WordPress.com, Squarespaces.com, and others offer free blogs to users.
When you are using free blogging platforms, you must thoroughly read their guidelines regarding their policies to see if you can make money on their site. They will give you free information about all of your advertising questions.
How to Choose a Domain Name
The first thing you have to do is come up with a good domain name for registration. The title/domain name to your website/blog should contain part of the subject matter of your site. A one-word domain is not a good choice. Instead, come up with dual-word combos.
A domain name is a one-year purchase usually. Some of the cheapest places to purchase a domain name as well as hosting is listed on this page. It is possible to get a discount on your first purchase, for the first year.
Here are examples of great domain names that already exist online and you have probably read some of these:
| The Daily Worth Financially Wise Women Cosmopolitan.com Woman Magazine Women of Grace Men’s Journal Making Sense of Cents *by Michelle Schroeder-Gardner, you will hear more about her later The Good Men Project Women Deliver Huffington Post **Millions moreThis also depends on your brand. Are you setting up a site to sell products? What are you writing about? |
Are you preparing to make a Lifestyle Blog that includes several categories? Lifestyle blogs include but not limited to:
Mommy blogs
Family
Travel
Fashion
Finances/money
Food
Exercise-Diet- Health
Beauty and so much more
Lifestyle Blogs can have several categories that are written about. As you get deeper into this you will see how all of these Domain names/topics/categories all work together. Lifestyle blogs can also have a section/category for a shop with products you want to sell. Books, products that match your content, and what you are promoting.
Copyrighted Material © *important
You cannot copy someone else’s work, domain name, or content. If the name is taken you will have to change it to something that does not exist already online. All work online is copyrighted unless it states it can be used elsewhere.
You nor I want someone to copy our hard work and make a duplicate blog or use our content without permission.
Making a professional site…
If you are just interested in making a personal blog for home and family, you can do it any way you like, without worrying about getting traffic to your site.
If you’re putting together a professional site, you will want to make sure your domain name is catching. It needs to be easy to find and describes to some point what you will be offering. On your website with WordPress, you can add a description of your site.
Purchasing your domain name and hosting…
Once you are comfortable with this process, you should buy a domain name for your site. Domain name registration, if you do it right, is one of the key components of having your site rated high in the search engines. The right domain name is memorable and can get your site to rank higher than other names. The wrong domain name won’t help you be successful.
Some people purchase their domain name and hosting at the same vendor. However, for me, I have purchased most of them in different places.
Bluehost
Weebly.com *website can get the entire package
My Hosting Package
HostGator – I have my hosting for all of my sites at HostGator at this time. I have a business account and it is $16.95 monthly. I have the option for addon domain names and I use this account for all of my websites hosted at this time. It is called a shared account so that I can share my hosting packages. They may change later.
Up to 60% Off New Hosting + $4.99 on Select Domains with Promo Code 60OFF2017! Link Direct to Order Page
When You Buy Your Hosting Package
You do not have to start with a business account. It will be cheaper if you start with what they call a Hatching Plan or Baby Plan and the first year may be lower than $10 monthly.
Before you start posting, decide what will be the theme, or niche of your blog. It is said that a jack-of-all-trades type of blog does not do as well as one that is set towards a certain niche. That opinion varies from person to person.
Some blogs have broad topics-categories and do very well. For instance, a lifestyle blog can cover several subjects as well. This website also covers varied subjects as we write about real life, happiness, personal growth, money, relationships, health, motivation, goals, women in the workplace, age doesn’t matter, faith, and more.
If you like talking or teaching about parenting, that can be your niche. Topics vary in health, diet, personal development, mommy blogs, relationship blogs, how-to blogs, home décor, faith, Christianity, and others, are all great and important subjects.
Creating Content For Your Blog or Website
Once you have decided on a path, it is time to create that great content. Content is one of the main focuses that will bring you a lasting engaged audience.
You should love what you are going to write about, and at least know how to research the topic if you do not already know about it. If you know nothing about a subject it will show and you will not be able to hold your audience. It is essential that you love talking about, writing about, and knowing what your audience needs.
Your content must tell the story of your keywords selection. When you find the topic/subject of your online content, your content should explain, convey, and answer questions the audience might have.
You Do Not Want to Disappoint Your Audience
If your topic is about “Personal Growth/Self Help” you will need to focus on possible solutions to problems that people sometimes need to pay attention to. Not some mumble jumble, but some serious facts that will garner the reader’s interest, and help resolve their problem.
Another example is: if you were to choose home décor’ as your blog’s title you would want to know something about it, love to talk about it, and give great content, photos, or videos, about how to decorate. Some break it down further by having a blog about “Decorating your home with re-furbished furniture.”
Well Written Content Is Essential
The content must be written with correct spelling, sentence structure, and be popular, to get noticed by the search engines. It must have your keywords within the information and be consistent with the story you are presenting.
Traffic to Your Blog-Website Is Essential
To make money with your blog, you need to have people visiting it. You will see articles everywhere that tell you how to get traffic.
Do not fall for every “buy this,” and you will get unlimited traffic to your website. You should make sure you know who you are buying from and their status within marketing a blog.
This is where marketing comes in. To draw traffic you have to get the word out about your blog. *Traffic discussion in a later post
Any moneymaking venture will take place once you have built your readership with interesting posts.
Then you can put into play some profitable additions:
You can add certain profitable ways to make money. It will not happen overnight, and most unlikely within a month. It is not easy to make money, so do not let anyone tell you that it is.
• Google AdSense * Almost everyone starts with AdSense, and some people do very well with this. Go to Google, and sign up for AdSense once you are ready. *Free
• Selling Physical Products *more on that later
• Affiliate Marketing *advertise other people’s products and information
Here is where you can sign up for different affiliate programs all in one place. This includes, but is not limited to Clothing, Home and Garden, Back to School, and much more. Shareasale is one.
To begin the simplest one to pursue is Google AdSense. You are using targeted advertisements to create revenue for your blog. You are paid per click on the ads. *Never tell anyone to click on AdSense as that will get you banned.
There are other options where you can get paid when someone makes clicks on your website and purchases a product. That is more likely to happen when you join an affiliate program. Join the affiliate program that works well with your website niche.
eBooks -Write Your Own
EBooks are short downloadable electronic books that you can create yourself and sell on your website. They can be on a variety of subjects but for them to sell, you must be able to offer new, valuable information to your customers. * later
Yes, You Can Make Money
Making money with your website or blog can become a reality. To be very honest, it takes time, effort, and study. You can learn a lot by reading, implementing, and being consistent with your efforts to make it work. However, it does not happen overnight or without thought and work.
Reminder: There are affiliate links that are in this post and I will receive a commission if you buy through my links. This will not change your cost one way or the other.
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