The great thing about blogging is that you can have a very diverse audience, but how do you get there.
Some bloggers have been blogging for a few years, mostly as a hobby, and now want to get more out of it.
Most new bloggers often ask me the same question “what’s the best tip to build a money-making blog?”.
So here I’ve compiled some of my best blogging tips for beginners.
1. Choose a profitable niche
Your niche (the topics you want to publish on your blog) matters A LOT. If you’re in the wrong niche, you’ll fail miserably no matter what.
Make sure to pick a niche that’s both profitable and fun to blog. Consider your passion, skills, and experience while picking a niche.
Make sure the niche has a decent amount of search on Google.
Also, don’t go for broad niche ideas like fitness, marketing, etc as there’s too much competition and you can’t survive. Instead, narrow your focus by picking sub-topics like;
- Credit cards for students
- Fitness for adults
- SEO for marketing agencies
- Self-help for anxiety
- And the list goes on
The idea is to pick a NARROW niche that is profitable and has ample products to make money from blogging.
2. Use WordPress
There are many blogging platforms out there but the self-hosted WordPress platform is the BEST among all.
It offers excellent features, plugins, and themes to run a website effortlessly. But you need a reliable web host to start your own blog on WordPress.
Don’t go for free web hosts as they are pathetic and often give downtime issues. Instead, pick affordable yet reliable hosting choices like Dreamhost, Bluehost, etc.
You can read this in-depth guide on how to start a blog if you want to learn how to build a money-making blog from scratch.
3. Learn SEO
If you want to be a successful blogger, build an audience from day one.
If there’s only one thing that helped me immensely grow my traffic and sales, it’s SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
SEO involves many things such as;
- On-page optimization
- Off-page optimization
- Technical SEO
- Keyword research
- Link building
- Competitor analysis and many more
The best way to learn SEO is to start a blog, follow some top SEO blogs, and implement whatever you learn on your blog.
4. Work hard for 1 to 2 years
If you want to build a money-making blog, you need to work hard. There are no other shortcuts.
Blogging is not a get-rich-quick scheme. It’s a BUSINESS. You need to work at least 2 to 3 hours a day for 1 to 2 years if you want to make a decent income ($1000 or more per month) from blogging.
5. Make an outline before you write
Don’t begin writing a blog post without making a framework.
With an outline, you will have a guide. This will help you keep a good flow in your blog post.
6. Make sure your post is easy to read
Readability matters. Remember to put bullet points, and pictures and if possible, include some numbers and stats in your blog post.
7. Write for your audience, not for Google
Don’t get too caught up with SEO. Especially when you’re starting out.
Write for your audience and be a great storyteller first. Google will pick that up eventually.
8. Pick the right blog topic.
When you want to start a new blog, you must consider your blog topic.
Choose a viable blog topic that has a chance to be successful and remember that not all blog topics are viable.
For those, you should do research and pick a niche blog that has an existing audience.
9. Choose a domain name.
Imagine you as a visitor and what the domain name can catch your attention.
There are 3 methods to finding a good domain name: name the audience, name the topics, and name the benefits.
10. Purchase a web hosting plan.
If you are not familiar with web hosting, you can pay a small fee to make your website still on the internet.
This can help you handle your visitor, back up your website, provide customers support, manage your website security, and so on.
11. Choose a good theme.
You can customize your blog to be better designed with the themes on the WordPress theme.
Choose one that matches your blog topic, but remember the most important it’s not about the themes but the content that you write.
12. Install WordPress plugins
WordPress is packed with features and plugins.
There are 6 types of WordPress plugins that I recommend be installed:
- Performance Plugin
- Security Plugins
- Backup Plugins
- SEO Plugins
- Social Sharing Plugins
- Email List Building Plugins.
13. Promote your website.
When you are a new blogger and want people to know about your website or read your content, you must spend time promoting it.
Use social media to share your link website or content. This can help you get visitors.
Those are some tips and tricks to start a new blog, for additional tips to build your website faster you can try to write a guest posting. Guest posting is a good method to get backlinks that can improve your SEO.
14. Actively build networks and relationships.
Don’t hesitate to interact with other bloggers. You should build good relationships with them by actively commenting on their blogs or social media.
Share your ideas and respond to them kindly, this would build your reputation among the bloggers. This also will help you get guest post opportunities.
15. Improve your retention.
Traffic is an important indicator.
But the most important thing is the indicators that you never look at. Even though they are on the homepage of your Google Analytics.
- Average session time = Is your reader passionate about your blog and reading your articles in full? For that, learn how to write
- Number of “returning visitors” Pages visited per session. Number of comments & shares
These indicators say a lot about your blog. This is the backbone of your traffic.
16. Publish regularly
The best way to drive traffic to your blog is to publish regularly as readers will come back to discover your new article. It will also show that you are a diligent and active blogger.
Being regular also allows to have more content and therefore to be better referenced on the search engines.
17. Identify your community and participate in them.
For each topic, you are looking for blogs and forums that correspond and participate in discussions.
It will allow you to gain visibility on these sites but also to confront your ideas with other people interested in the same subject and refine them.
18. Write high-quality blog posts.
Your posts will be of high quality if they are helpful, informative, engaging, compelling, and remarkable and will attract hundreds of thousands of readers.
To start writing such quality blog posts, read other people’s blog posts in your niche from time to time and learn more from authority blogs to improve your writing skills.
19. Address Your Readers’ Needs.
Once you start writing to address readers’ needs and solve problems.
A lot of people will begin to develop a keen interest in visiting and reading your blog posts and you will get more readers to your blog on a daily basis. Your bounce rate will eventually decrease.
20. Be Topically Relevant.
Once Google finds that your content is topically-relevant, your overall ranking potential increases to appear on the first page.
This ranking signal outranked many other ranking factors.
21. Share All Posts On Social Media.
Leverage social media like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn and share at least a post with friends, groups, communities, and fans daily.
22. Prepare To Become Successful.
While starting a blog, you need to set a money goal which has a lot to do with how much you would be ecstatic earning and the amount of time and effort you would be devoted to the building of your blog.
