Start a blog to make money:Starting a blog isn’t that hard as you might think in fact it’s so simple that you can be up and running in no time. The issue really is not starting a blog…but keeping a blog alive and active. Just like anything else in life it won’t make any progress if you don’t work on it. I have seen many people complaining that their blog sucks and hardly has any traffic forget about monetizing or making real money. Yes, they are right your blog will suck if you will not be motivated to share something new or add value with your content in the target market. These things are simple and pretty basic but most of the people just don’t seem to get it.
Again just like we talked about affiliate marketing and e-commerce store earlier what will ensure success is proper planning and that includes you. Starting a blog and making money is a journey and if you are persistent enough with a clear strategy you can have $ hitting your bank account. Today I will cover the main aspects of setting up a blog and making sure it makes money.
There are more than one ways to set up a blog and monetize it. What I am going to share is not really the only way. Creating a blog is really easy and does not really involve any advanced technical skills like Coding HTML or CSS you can jump into it straight…and here you go 🙂
1. Finalize the platform: As I said there are many ways to set up a blog but the most popular and the one I love is WordPress. I seriously feel it’s a Matt Mullenweg’s gift to mankind. Watch this video below to know more about him and how WordPress came into being.
WordPress has been downloaded more times than you have checked your Facebook feeds and does more than your utility knife when it comes to fighting it out in the trenches of the online world. (Bit of rant there… :)) but you will know what I mean once you start using it.
So why I am I so sold on WordPress and what’s really great about it?
• WordPress is an open source application and that means you can use it for free.
• WordPress has pretty straight forward installation and can be completed within a minute or two.
• There is a whole lot of tribe that supports WordPress if you are a nice guy or gal with a little patience you will find yourself almost invincible with the support your will get.
• You can easily modify look and feel ( a bit of a learning curve there) and get into the foray fast forward. You have all the tools, bells, and whistles easily accessible which are mostly free by the way.
• WordPress is very flexible and has an amazingly high level of functionality. If there is something you think no blog application can do… try WordPress.
Now, remember that we are talking here about a self-hosted blog and that means we will have our own domain name and hosting. This is unlike using Blogger.com or Tumbler.com where you will be assigned a subdomain and extremely restrictive control on your blog backend. Another important thing is that self-hosted blogs demand greater attention from the search engines and bring you immense credibility.
2. Registering a domain name and hosting your blog/website: Finalizing a domain name needs a bit of planning too. The normal thumb rule that has been followed since the “stone age” is to have a domain name in your business or niche name with a keyword in it. Recently with the Pandas, Penguins, and Gorillas let loose by search engines…less and fewer people recommend stuffing your keyword in the domain name (but it still works). I would recommend you to start your first blog in your own name and go through the journey a bit…and then you can always book domains whatever you like.
Booking a Domain Name: I would recommend booking your domain names from Namecheap or even buy hosting with Bluehost and get a domain FREE (They have this promotion running most of the time). Yes, there are hundreds of other places you may do the same…but this is what I generally use for myself and my clients.
3. Installing your blog: Installing your blog is easy you have to just click few buttons as the installer to do the work for you once you hit the install button. If you are using any other host you will still have an installer tool to get this done but just have a different name and steps to do it. All in all this step is very easy but still sometimes it can get tricky if you are looking for a descriptive tutorial on this click here [coming soon]. Also if you are the guy or gal who enjoys doing something new and getting hands dirty try doing it manually. Remember that you have all the WordPress documentation available to you if you ever need help.
4. Customizing your blog: Once your blog is installed its time to customize it to your interest and taste. It has bit of learning curve and you can sign up here to gain access to free tutorials on how to do this quickly[coming soon]
Remember not to waste too much time here… (Talk about the problem with perfectionists) this is something you have to work continuously and you can do it anytime. Remember the most important thing in a blog is content and that’s the reason you created this and that’s what will get you cash coming in when it does. Also, remember at this stage don’t get lured into buying extras or themes and stuff you can always do that later. First, you need to understand what’s going around here :).
5. Making money with your blog: The Brass-tacks really is this and this is where you should be spending your maximum time. Now again there are hundreds of ways to monetize your blog and the ones I share here are not the only ones…But remember one thing that your monetization will always ride on your content and traffic. For this thing to work, you should have things like niche, domain name, reliable hosting, content and monetization strategy working in tandem. Don’t just pick up anything to monetize and just like that don’t just pick up anything to write or make a video. You should have a proper content pipeline (depending on the niche) and monetization strategy that is best suited with content and your blog layout. That being said here are some of the popular techniques blogs are monetized with.
a. Adsense/Chitika
b. Selling other people products as affiliates
c. Selling your own product or service (Like consultation)
d. Blog advertising (Letting other people advertise on your blog)
e. Reviewing/Writing about products and drop shipping them
I presume this provided you the necessary information to get primed up with the idea of starting a blog to make money with your small internet business. If you liked what you read don’t forget to like, share and comment. As always now don’t just sit here and gaze the screen. It’s time for action and you need to do some research on what niche you want to operate. Better I would recommend just going and buying hosting on Bluehost and book a domain in your own name. If you do this right now by clicking this link I am ready to help you with a FREE 30 minute coaching that will “blow your fear of creating content” into pieces and also share with you a fantastic tool and some great techniques that you can use to never run out of valuable content and really enjoy your journey to success. Go Here!