Some people reading this may think that this is too basic!
You are probably saying: “I already know this! Show me something advanced!”
To which my reply will be, “Do you? Why then, are you not doing it?”
If you are not already making money with blogging, or driving traffic to your blog to sell your products, this is just a reminder. Others may genuinely want to know the basics.
Have you ever wondered if Blogging is a legitimate way for you to make money?
Is blogging really a writers game? Do you need to have immense writing chops to blog and make money from it?
Of course not!
However, a lot of people are extremely skeptical about blogging. They think it’s a waste of time and not a source of income.
Let me ask you a question.
What would happen if you suddenly announced to your friends and family that you’re quitting your job and devoting your time entirely to blogging?
Would they be thrilled about it? Probably not.
Most likely they would think that you’ve gone mad. But here’s the catch…
There are thousands of people who blog and make money.
To name a couple….
Jon Morrow, one of the best known bloggers out there, blogs about – blogging! Jon started making serious money with his blog a couple of years back but the blog that he now runs, SmartBlogger, pulls in over 100K per month!
John Wu was a student when he started a blog way back in 2006 and he sold it for over $15 million. Tens of thousands of people make money blogging and there’s no reason why you could not be one of them!
Why Blogging Is A Great Way to Make Money Online
Blogging can be a great source of income because it costs next to nothing to start. All you need is a blog page and an audience. You can pretty much have your pick of the topic - lifestyle, automotive industry, fashion, books - anything goes as long as you have a passion for it and there are enough people interested in the same topic. Blogging can also be monetized in a lot of different ways so you’re not entirely dependent on one source of income.
Ways to Monetize With Blogging
How do you actually make money by blogging? There are many options. Ad Revenue, product reviews, affiliate products, paid blogging gigs, you name it.
Join Ad networks – partnering up with ad networks will show relevant ads on your blog. You make money every time someone clicks on one of the ads.
Post Product reviews – depending on what you’re blogging about, you can occasionally write product reviews for things in your niche. An affiliate link to Amazon or a direct partnership with the seller can turn into a profitable business.
Sell your own products – you can also use your blog to sell your own products or services. These can range from small handcrafted items to consulting services.
Paid blogging gigs – great bloggers are often paid to contribute to other sites. If you’re consistently read by a lot of people, expect to be approached by online publishers with an offer for collaboration.
Offering blogging services – sites such as PayPerPost allow bloggers to find clients willing to pay for certain types of content.
Who can be a Blogger?
Pretty much everyone can be a blogger. True, knowing how to write in an interesting manner is going to make things easier but that is a skill that can be learned over time.
Consider starting a blog if:
You have insight and experience others could use
You can share tips and tricks that will help people
You can weave an interesting story that people will share
Patience and persistence are paramount if you want to make money blogging. You need to consistently put up fresh, new content that is going to keep your audience interested and engaged.
How to Start Blogging
STEP 1 - Domain and hosting - The first thing that you need to do is buy a domain name and find a hosting service that suits your needs. GoDaddy is a great marketplace for both and it has been around for years but you can also have everything related to hosting taken care of right here at Webpreneur Media.
STEP 2 - Set up and design your WordPress page - Pretty much everyone is using WordPress these days because it’s simple to use and easy to set up. With WordPress you get to play around with the design of your page by installing different themes you can find on ThemeForest. In my opinion, WordPress is the best solution for your blogging needs – easy to learn and maintain and more than affordable.
STEP 3 - Create a content plan and write, write, write - The biggest mistake you will probably end up doing is not having a solid content plan. Life gets in the way and if you’re only blogging halfheartedly it’s going to be easy to skip a day and eventually it all grinds to a stop. When you have a content plan and schedule it’s easier to force yourself to sit down and do the work, consistently and without delays.
STEP 4 - Promote your blog - It’s going to take some time for the search engines to catch on and start showing your content in the results pages. Even then, it might be a little difficult to get on the first page. Make sure you’re promoting your blog and your content through various social media such as Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon, Reddit, Pinterest, and others and connect with others in your niche for guest posting opportunities.
STEP 5 - Monetize your blog - find several different ways to monetize your blog so you're not left with nothing if one of them fails. Obvious sources of monetization are ad networks such as Google AdSense and AdClick Media but look beyond that and consider promoting products using your blog, writing reviews, or selling your own services and products.
Blogging Resources
1. Domain name & Hosting companies
2. Wordpress Install
3. Buy themes
4. Content Planning Tools
5. Monetize
Display Ads on your site and get paid per click or paid per impression.
Other Ways To Monetize.
6. Content Promotion Tools
Hootsuite | Followerwonk | Taboola | Buzzstream | StumbleUpon | Facebook | Pinterest
Making money by blogging is not a fiction and it's definitely not as difficult as everyone is making it out to be.
Make sure you don't pass up on a great opportunity just because someone told you it can't be done! However, if you happen to be a fairly decent writer with a flare for words you can make even more money by writing advertising copy!
Great copywriters are hard to come by and are sometimes paid their weight in gold!