Have you ever thought of earning some extra cash through blogging, maybe you want to blog for fun, want to earn some money in the long run while doing what you love. Well you’re not alone. Over the years blogging has become a profitable way of making money, whether it’s a few extra bucks every month or earn a living and quit that stressing job. Today they are thousands of people who make money blogging, their average income is from 200$ per month to even 2000$ some are estimated to be worth more than 10,000$ per month but I won’t go into specifics.
Getting started blogging requires one to determine an interest, a niche. A topic you would be interested blogging about. Some examples are; technology, health, insurance, career the list is endless.
Making money through blogging requires a carefully thought out topic. If you have an existing blog with a small audience, be honest when considering whether the topic has broad appeal that isn’t already covered by other established bloggers. If it does, great! Otherwise, there’s nothing wrong with starting a second blog that will be more successful in attracting an audience, marketing itself, and making money through a variety of methods described below.
That being said, lets jump right into it; the following are things you need to do in order to start making money as a blogger.
- Choose the best platform for your blog.
There are many options to consider when creating a blog both free and paid. Many people opt to start out with a free blog using popular platforms like wordpress.com, blogger.com, this is not a bad start is you’re not familiar with web design, little do they know that such services have a lot of limitations but can still be used if your budget is tight.
What I would recommend is hosting your own blog. First you will have to purchase you own domain name and then subscribe to an annual hosting plan with a recommended hosting provider. Yes you spending some extra cash, but the advantages are greater.
2. Identify a Niche and blog topics your passionate about.
This should be your first thought before you even consider setting up a blog. It may sound stressful but truth be told, you can’t write about every topic out there, you have to attract a specific audience. It is very important to choose a topic you can see yourself writing about on the daily. Remember it’s always better to write your own content, do not copy and paste. It’s always good to have an authentic voice.
Update you blog continuously. People need a reason to keep coming back to your blog. None of the techniques you will employ to make money or generate income will matter if you blog lacks content and traffic. Post at least twice a week, maybe 8 times a month depending on your topic. For some blogs you will have to post daily to keep your audience engaged.
4. Monetize your blog.
Now the moment you’ve been waiting for. People always ask questions like, how do I monetize my blog, what are the best ways to make money using my blog. And my answer will always be Google AdSense. This is especially for a newbie blogger, they are a lot of other services out there, but the best is Google AdSense at least until you get enough traffic then you can consider using others. For now I will not go into alternative ways, but I will make sure to mention them in another article. This method will only work if your website has traffic, which takes me to my next point.
5. Market your blog.
First of all, it’s always important to make you blog search engine optimized, choose relevant key words people always search for in your blog. I would recommend a plugin such as Yoast SEO for WordPress.
You can use the Google Keyword Research tool to get an estimate on how much Google is being paid for keywords by advertisers.
Share your posts on social media and other blog directories. Consider opening a Facebook fan page, a google plus business page and a twitter page for a start. Get traffic to your site with frequent updates on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media sites.
You can also consider gaining traffic through paid advertisements. If you are serious about growing your audience. I would recommend Facebook ads, google AdWords and submitting your blog to stumble upon.
Like any job or profession, it’s very important to invest some time and money in your work, the end results will always be fruitful. Happy blogging
