Did you know some people are making a full-time income by blogging online? You don’t need to pinch yourself, because it’s true!
Blogging is like writing a journal, but you do it online instead. However, this can be a challenge for many people who are looking to start a blog to make money.
This is why I recommend people to keep their regular job while building their website. There are exceptions, of course, you can focus 100% on your blog if you have enough savings to pay for all expenses for a long time.
If you are new to blogging, it can be very overwhelming, but once you get the hang of it, blogging can be fun. A lot of businesses are seeing the value in blogging because it builds a relationship, credibility, and the brand. This is why you will notice more and more companies using blogs as a way to deliver a message.
I was told by some friends who blogged back in 2012 about how difficult it was because of limited resources and tools. Fortunately for you, it is now 2018 and there are lots of useful tools available for absolutely FREE.
I remember spending upwards of $50.00 (not so much) on tools that supposedly promises positive SEO results, but ended up wasting my money. This is why it is so important to do your research when you are unfamiliar with what you are doing. It’s okay to ask questions, it’s okay to search for answers because we don’t know everything!
Blogging or running an online business is one of the most inexpensive and effective ways of making money online. If you look at my website, I am an affiliate marketer of Wealthy Affiliate and I use blogging as a method of communicating and sharing information with my visitors like yourself.
How inexpensive is blogging? Well, you will need your personal domain and that usually cost around $15.00 per year. The next expense is monthly web hosting which can cost around $4.00 per month with upgrades such as SSL for additional charges. Click here if you want to spend less on quality web hosting plus more!
Choosing Your Platform
Regardless of who you choose as your web hosting service, you should have the option to install WordPress (currently one of the most popular platforms available). WordPress is beginner friendly and you have the option to choose from thousands of plugins that can improve your blog!
You can get started right now by using the sign-up form below! Prepare yourself because you will have a running website in about 30 seconds!
If you have your blog set up, then good for you! You’ve taken a huge step toward making money online. Remember, if you try and not give up, you will eventually succeed. Whereas, if you never try, you will never succeed.
Build Your Brand with Social Plugins
Now that you have your blog, what’s next? Increase your traffic and make yourself known of course! There are many ways to gain traffic to your blog, but we will focus on social media for the purpose of this article.
There are social media integration plugins for WordPress, so it’s easy to install and configure to your blog. This can bring in multiple benefits:
This will allow your visitors to easily share and like your blog on Google Plus, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, MySpace (If they are still popular).
Sharing articles is basically a free advertisement and if you deliver quality content, this will cause a chain reaction of referral sharing after referral(:
Ultimately, this will show future visitors that people have liked and shared your article and that it is worth the time to read.
The one that I currently used is known as Sumo. Personally, this is my favorite because it’s so well-designed and aesthetically pleasing to your visitors compared to other plugins. However, it does cost money, so if you desire something FREE, you can find it in the plugins directory on WordPress.
Take Blog Awareness To The Forums
Wow, this is quite refreshing because I haven’t used forums in a very long time. I remember using it for games and information.
As a matter of fact, the forums are one of the best ways to find information because it mostly consists of comments from people who are also searching for that particular information.
Let’s use an example if you have a niche website similar to mine. You can post on forums like Warrior Forum – The #1 Digital Marketing Forum & Marketplace. This will allow you to share your blog with people who are interested in making money online
Obviously, not everyone is in the make money online niche, so you can simply search on Google for your niche keyword plus forums to find the appropriate forum that you can use. Example, how to get fit forum would be something like Forum.Bodybuilding.com
Guest Blogging
Guest blogging is a great way to get your name out there! When you write a guest post, you as the author will have a bio link that directs the visitors to your website. First, you must find a high authority blog that is relevant to your niche.
Afterward, you can contact the website owners about writing a blog post for them to publish now or at a future date. However, if done wrong, it can actually backfire on you.
This is why you want to pay attention to the following:
- You want to make sure the blog is relevant to the website’s niche.
- You want to make sure the blog contains ZERO spelling and grammatical errors.
- You want to make sure the blog is HIGH quality for the readers.
- Finally, you don’t want to include any form of affiliate links.
If you decide to completely ignore the above, you run the risk of getting blacklisted by the owners and not getting a second chance to blog for their blogs in the future.
My Final Thoughts
I recommend that you take blogging as a hobby because I make it that much more enjoyable. Remember how I said blogging is like the modern day of writing a journal?
When you’re writing a journal, do you think it’s stressful? Probably not, because you’re writing about something that you have an interest in. This is why choosing a niche that you have a passion for is so important, so don’t be afraid to spend an hour, a day, or a week to come up with the right niche.
If you choose the right niche, you will be able to write interesting blogs for many years to come. If you choose the wrong niche, you can struggle to come up with content very fast.
Well, thanks for reading, I wish you all great success and Happy New Year! Let’s start 2018 off with nothing, but enthusiasm and hunger for success.
Kind Regards,