We’re in the digital era, and a blog on a website is vital for publicizing products or services because it is a visual platform for synthesizing relevant information from different perspectives.
As the world evolves and constantly changes, we always need updated news, reviews, and general information about our interests. That explains why, out of the 1.7 million websites in the world, more than 500 million are blogs. Don’t be intimidated by these numbers, though. Today we’ll guide you through the essentials of blogging with this beginners’ guide to blogging.
What is Blogging, Exactly?
A blog is a website where brief posts with fresh, updated information are frequently posted on predetermined or unrestricted subjects. Blogging is the process of creating, posting, and managing that information.
Blogs are simple to use and a great way of delivering what you want the world to know. They’re also advantageous for the user because blogging platforms provide online text editing and image and video content hosting.
What Are the Benefits of Blogging?
A successful blog is one of the main goals of digital marketers. That’s because a well-done blog offers endless benefits such as
Attracting Website Traffic
Blogging is one of the main search engine optimization practices. As it allows you to answer your target audience’s frequently asked questions and solve their queries through keyword research. It gives you a chance to give potential customers what they need, and that also assists in building a reputation in your industry, which will open up new business opportunities.
A website owner who is constantly updating their website’s blog with new information about their, or other’s products or services, increases their chances to earn a spot in the search engine ranking pages.
Sharing Your Passions With The World
Blogging is not a new practice. It started years ago as a form of expression. People wanted to share their points of view with the world by using blogs as personal diaries. And it worked!
That hasn’t changed too much, as it allows you to connect with people who share your interests and speak your language.
Building An Online Presence
You can share your thoughts, knowledge, and insights with the world on a blog. People are more inclined to conduct business with you and recommend you to their peers and coworkers if they are aware of who you are and what you stand for.
Attracting New Clients
Becoming an authority in your niche will also help you attract new clients, as consistently sharing your expertise will make you a trustworthy vendor. Writing blog posts that readers find helpful will make them more inclined to purchase from you in the future.
What Do You Need to Start a Blog?
Starting your own blog may seem overwhelming, as there are millions out there. However, Not all of them will have real value for their audience, so here are the essential steps every blogger needs to follow to start a blog
Select a Blog Niche
It’s critical to decide how and for whom you will approach the topics you choose before you start a blog. Although you presumably already have a solid notion of what you want to write about, planning can help you establish the identity of your blog and make it simpler for you to create blog content that is relevant to your intended or target audience.
Research, Research, Research
Once you set up a blog theme, research will be constant. Utilize market research techniques to start learning more particular details about your target or to verify an assumption or fact that you were aware of.
Analyze Your Competition
Not to imitate other bloggers but rather to develop a better understanding of what readers value in a high-quality blog. Their latest blog posts with a lot of positive feedback are worth looking at because their execution and strategy are what helped them gain a reputation among customers.
Set your Blog’s Name
A name can help to brand and make your blog more distinctive, so you have to pick a unique name that, of course, relates to your content, but it is also critical to select one that is simple for readers to remember.
Create a Custom Domain Name
Your blog’s domain name is what goes between www. and .com, so it’s what people will see on their search bar. You usually need to pay for it, but it’s not expensive. When picking a web hosting company, look at the domain prices.
You can find yearly plans for less than $5 a month, and some even offer a free domain name for the first few months.
Pick The Right Platform and Hosting Provider
It’s important to pick the best web hosting plan because it’s the interface for your blog pages. Nobody would want to come back to blog sites that constantly crash, have poor security, or have slow loading speeds.
A blog doesn’t require too many hosting features, but fast operating times and high performance are key.
Many bloggers use the services of a WordPress development company or the WordPress blogging platform, as it’s accessible and easy to use. And the best of all: it’s free. It’s a bit limited, but perfect if you’re starting a blog and need something basic at a low price.
WordPress has two versions: the one I just mentioned and the self-hosted version. The latter is paid, but worth it. A self-hosted WordPress blog offers flexibility to choose hosting solutions tailored to your needs, such as Dedicated Servers in South Africa, Cloud Hosting in Europe, or Managed Hosting in the US, which provide better reliability and speed compared to shared hosting.
A self-hosted WordPress blog is better when you want to have control over your page, as it gives you complete customization freedom in the WordPress dashboard. It also allows plugins, unlike the free version. But be careful, as not all WordPress plugins will be beneficial for your blog.
Customize your Blog Design
Customize the look of your blog page so that it matches your brand image and what you want to send to your readers. You can use a WordPress theme for this step.
Well-designed and creative custom logos can also play a crucial role in enhancing your blog’s branding and making it more distinctive if they visually represent the essence and core message of your blog.
Write Your First Post
Once the technical part and the research are set and done, it’s time to start working on your posts. Let’s check the do’s and don’ts
Come Up With an Original Post
There are thousands of new blog posts being released each minute. Try to make your first blog post about something that is not covered or is not well covered yet. You can come up with blog post ideas by doing a content gap analysis.
Make Sure The Topic Is About Something You Know
If you know what you’re talking about, people will know it. When you don’t, people will know it even more. So if you want your blog post to be epic and to reach the right audience, write about something you have expertise in.
Google your topic
Even if you are an expert on the blog topic, googling it will show you what people want to know about it. Just take a look at the “People also ask” section and get ideas from there.
Write an outline
The purpose of an outline is to prevent you from rambling on and on about unrelated topics. It doesn’t have to be extensive or even detailed. Look at it as a guide or general idea to set up the content anatomy of your blog post. You can also leverage AI writing tools to make this process even faster. For example:
- Blog post title
- Brief introduction
- Section 1
- Section 2
- Section 3
- Conclusion
Develop your outline
Here is where you start writing the actual post content. Take your outline and start developing each section. Always look for reliable and convincing information to utilize in your post when doing this. When you start blogging, you need to earn credibility, and one single piece of misinformation can make you look unreliable.
If you want to be a part of the reputable blogging community, make sure to fact-check before submitting new content or coming up with new post ideas. It will take just a few clicks to do it.
How to Monetize Your Blog
You’ve done your research, you’ve worked hard on your blog, and you think it’s time to make money blogging but don’t know how. Don’t worry, we’ve got you. Here are some ways to start earning with your new blog:
Optimize Your Blog For Search Engines
We already know that blogging is one of the most common SEO practices. But how do we optimize our content to rank well in search engines?
First of all, you must upload your sitemap to the Google Search Console. That way, Google will index your blog.
Next, use a keyword research tool to find the keywords with the best chance of ranking. Use keywords with high search volume to find new blog topics, and use them as much as you can in your headers and sub-headers. Do it naturally; don’t stuff the words ten times in a single sentence.
We recommend using Google Analytics to gather information and data that you can use to maximize your opportunities to rank in the first Google search results.
Promote your Blog
A strong promotion plan gives your audience more options to find your blog content across various marketing platforms. The ability to influence your followers’ purchasing decisions is made possible by strong relationships and higher loyalty, which you can earn through digital marketing strategies.
On-Site Advertising
Adding banner ads that relate to the content on your blog is one of the most common ways to earn money from your blog. Ad networks usually pay per click or per thousand clicks, so make sure you already have a solid blog before starting to run ads. We recommend applying to Google Adsense for that.
You can also create sponsored posts to earn a few extra bucks.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate programs work by paying you to promote a link that leads to their site. The key to successful affiliate marketing is enjoying what you promote. So join an affiliate program for a product or service you like, write a review, and invite your readers to try it.
FAQs
Can I Start a Blog With No Experience?
Yes. You can start blogging with zero experience. The only requirement is to enjoy writing. If you want to create a blog just because you think it will make you rich, you will fail. Creating content is a practice that involves patience and consistency.
How Long Does It Take a Blog to Be Successful?
It depends on what you consider successful. If you determine it by money, you may start earning after the first six months of consistently blogging. It usually takes a couple of years to make a steady income.
What Kind of Blog Is More Profitable?
According to RankIQ, food blogs are the most profitable ones.They produce the highest median revenue. In comparison to blogs in other blog areas, the majority of blogs with more than 50,000 average monthly visits are food blogs.
Other highly profitable niches are digital marketing and health & fitness.
The Wrap-Up
It’s not difficult to start a blog, the real difficulty is deciding on the appropriate niche and regularly posting new information. You’ll establish an audience and eventually be able to monetize you blog if you accomplish that while keeping the foundations of SEO in mind and marketing your blog.
