How to Make Money Blogging

So you have come to the realization that you want to start your own blog, and make money in the process doing so, good for you!

In this article, I will outline the process of making money blogging.

Start Your Blog on a Good Foundation

It's important that you start the right way. Just like a home needs a good foundation, so does your blog.

Choose the Right Niche

The first step of creating a good blog is to choose a niche that suits you and your personality.

Don't overthink this process, you do not need to go live in a cave for a year, or do some deep soul searching, nor find enlightenment.

Most people find their purpose by taking action.

Why not just start blogging about something that you already know, or something that you are eager to learn about.

If you nag your friends and family about a certain topic over and over again. That is a strong indication that it would be a good topic for you to focus on.

Select Your Domain Name

It's easy to go down a rabbit hole with this one.

I am certain everyone starting their first website does.

Finding a domain name is really hard, due to the fact that most domain names are already taken.

People like Mike Mann speculates on domain names and register thousands in a matter of seconds. So that they later can reap the reward from the domain aftermarket by reselling it.

Don't worry tough, you can drive plenty of traffic and gain a massive readership with any domain.

So don't over think this process either.

Choose a name that you are happy enough with.

A name that is targeted enough for your niche, yet broad enough to let your site grow and expand to related topics.

Choose the Right Hosting & Software

The most important thing when you are starting your blog is that you own your own content. I can't stress this enough.

A blogging platform like Medium or Blogger won't cut it.

Similar goes for website builders like Wix and similar. They do allow you to own your content, but they do not allow your blog to be modular and expand upon with plugins or custom code.

If you're just starting out I would recommend that you use WordPress, the self-hosted version.

WordPress started as blog software and has grown into a fully fledged CMS that can do most things, like setting up your own e-commerce store or start a membership site.

Write What People Want to Know

It's important to understand that it's not about you. It's about your readers.

If you write what people want to know it's easy to rank for in search engines like Google, Bing or DuckDuckGo.

By solving peoples problem you will gain authority in your niche and people will remember your site as the source that helps them solve their problem or answer their question.

In return you will get notoriety and maybe even backlinks which will help your blog to grow even more.

Get That Traffic

Without website visitors your blog is nothing.

Traffic is the lifeblood of your blog, or any online business for that matter.

There are many ways that you can gain free traffic to your blog. Which is crucial when you just start out.

Organic Search Engine Traffic

The mother of all traffic. Search engine traffic is not only "free" but also extremely targeted.

When you derive your traffic from search engines you can be sure that the intent of the user is aligned with your content. Which is perfect for generating any form of leads.

Facebook Group

With facebook, you can create groups based around topics relative to your niche. Facebook group post has more organic reach within Facebook when compared to a Facebook page.

Reddit Traffic

Reddit is known for crashing blogs and websites. If you reach the first page of Reddit, I pray that you have a load balancer in place or a server structure that scales automatically based on requests.

The best way to drive traffic from Reddit is to be natural. Engage in the communities surrounding your topics and provide useful information. Don't spam, only provide links when the information is truly useful to the individual community.

Twitter Traffic

Twitter is different from most other social platforms. Your posts will be shown to all of your followers, but so will everyone else.

With Twitter, you can beneficially post multiple times a day, even the same articles.

• Generate Free Traffic With Twitter

Pinterest Traffic

Pinterest is yet another beast for driving traffic to your blog. Especially if your blog is targeted to a female audience.

81% of Pinterest users are Females.

• How to Drive Free Traffic With Pinterest

Guest Posting Traffic

With guest posting, you can drive some traffic to your blogs as well. However, the true value in guest posting is not the traffic generated from the post itself.

The real value lies in the backlinks generated from guest posting, which in the long run will equate to more authority in your niche and better search engine rankings.

Yes, there are many ways to drive traffic to your blog. And all these techniques takes both time to learn and master.

Rather than trying to master them all. I urge you to master some of these techniques.

Try to identify the 80/20 rule of what works for you. Then double down on what works.

Build an Email List

This is another one that I can stress enough.

Build an email list.

And the earlier you start, the happier you will be.

An email list is a perfect way to build trust and stay in touch with your audience.

Email lists convert extremely well and are an important tool when it comes to monetizing your blog.

Monetize Your Blog

This is the rewarding part of the process.

So you have worked your butt off. You have written articles, built backlinks, grown your selected social presence and you have identified what works and what doesn't.

As your blog now receives a steady stream of visitors, it is time to look at monetization options.

Ads

Ads are probably the first thing people think of when it comes to monetizing a blog.

Its simple to get started, and you can see your revenue growing from the day its implemented.

The most common forms of ad pricing models are CPC (Cost-per-Click) and CPM (Cost-per-Mille).

Google AdSense is the most known form of CPC/CPM advertising network in the world.

It is really easy to get started with. But your returns are not amazing.

People usually see $2-4 per 1000 impressions.

That won't make you rich any time soon.

The key here though is that it is now minimum pageview requirements. It perfect for people starting out, to see that first dollar coming in is more powerful than you think.

Back in the day, many brick and mortar business framed or saved their first dollar bill as a memory, and as a reminder how far they have come.

If you are not interested in pennies, well there are more options that will generate you a more respectable RPM.

Let's take a look at premium ad networks.

With some premium ad networks, bloggers see between $4 - $25 CPM, a drastic increase to the traditional Google Adsense.

What's the catch though?

With premium ad networks your site are more thoroughly vetted.

Your blog needs minimum monthly pageviews, have a neat design and quality content that is genuinely appreciated by your audience.

On top of that, your content and brand need to align with the advertisers of the network that you are trying to join.

The barrier to entry with premium ad networks is much higher.

Affiliate Marketing

Amazon Associates is an easy way to start with affiliate marketing.

Sell Your Own Product

This is where the most money is to be made. It is also where the most effort is required.

Selling your own product include duties like providing customer service and support, managing payments and chargebacks and finally actually providing a quality product or service.

A craft that takes a lifetime to master.

If your product or knowledge is not up to par it might be better to settle for affiliate marketing.

because if your product is not better than others that you can promote, whats the need for the product in the first place?

If you, however, have seen success with your own product, and any of the other forms of monetizations, it is time to take a look at the last step of making money blogging.

Scale Everything

I said that the previous part might be the most rewarding, however, if we are talking purely of monetary gains, the scaling process is the true money maker. If it's done the right way.

Freddie (0)

Creator of FellowAffiliate.com
Published 4 years, 10 months ago on the 2019-06-06 11:21