Advice on how to start a blog.
There are a few key factors to focus on if you want to know how to start a blog. However, starting a blog is one thing, turning it profitable is quite another. There is a huge difference between a click, a visitor and a buyer.
The first and most important step of starting a blog as a professional blogger is discovering your profitable niche.
Without determining this first, chances are increasingly more probable to failure. And also where most newbie bloggers go wrong, horribly wrong. This being quite transparent judging by questions on sites like Quora.
Everyone wants to be a successful blogger, but the most common question among newbies remain. How do I start a blog, and what do I write about? This however is a question only you can answer for yourself because only you know what you love doing most.
It is of utmost importance that you focus on the one thing you love doing most. Because it will naturally also be something you have some knowledge of. Remember that to blog is to inspire and share knowledge, offering solutions to identified problems within a certain niche.
Your level of knowledge ultimately determine your level of success, regardless of the niche you choose.
Create order with this simple tactic.
When you start your first blog, it is also important to create order by using separate folders. And to start a successful blog you need to create these folders with Word documents to keep track of your research.
Create a folder and name it “Keywords and Search Phrases”, then add a Word document with the same title to this folder. Next folder, “Title and Domain” followed by saving the same Word document in the folder.
The title and domain go hand in hand. Because the target keyword as the first word of the blog title, must also be in the blog domain.
The “trick” however is placing this target keyword within the context of the title and domain. The time of cramming a bunch of senseless keywords together is over, search engines have evolved. And it is important to keep up because there is no final destination to professional SEO.
Bring your ideas to life by writing and managing your blog whenever inspiration strikes, on your desktop or on the go – Source
All the keywords and search phrases you will be researching must be typed in the word document inside the folder marked “Keywords and Search Phrases”. Which you will then later use to choose the best blog title and domain in order to get the most interested visitors from search engines.
Nothing on Earth drives free organic traffic like SEO (search engine optimization) but the more specific the targeting. The better the result will be. The higher your audience interest, the higher your sales will ultimately end up to be.
Keyword research to start your Blog.
Based on your niche, this is that one thing you love doing most. And in many cases it is not your day job, but rather a hobby. From gaming to cycling, gardening, hiking, and even photography. The options are endless but you must be specific and focus on one niche or interest at a time.
Do not multitask with this one, focus on one niche to get started. And never use multiple niche content. Because then search engines cannot categorize your content correctly.
You will need a Google Ads account (formerly known as Google Ad-Words), which you can easily create. Simply fund the account with any amount to activate in order to be able to use the Google Keyword Planner tool.
Without this tool you research the best target keywords. Without which your blog will be going nowhere. Get to know your way around the tool once inside, just do a couple random searches. Use single keywords that best describe your niche.
Then use the best ones with a high search volume and low competition which will be indicated with the Google keyword planner tool. You can target keywords with searches in the tens of millions per month.
Surprisingly with low competition. But it requires a lot of research to get to the really profitable keywords.
Keyword placement starting a Blog.
For the purpose of this demonstration on how to start a blog, let’s use the affiliate marketing niche. Now the two separate keywords “affiliate” and “marketing” each receive from 100K to 1M searches per month with a low competition.
However, grouping them together as “affiliate marketing” only receive from 10K to 100K searches per month with a medium competition. So in order to attract the most visitors, you must choose between one of the two as a single target keyword.
In short, a blog is a type of website that focuses mainly on written content. Also known as blog posts. In popular culture, we most often hear about news blogs or celebrity blog sites – Source
The word “affiliate” or “marketing” must be the first word of your blog title when starting your blog. And that first word of the title must also be present in the domain name. Therefore, with this demonstration a domain name like “marketingbasics (dot) com” may be a good choice.
And a blog title like “Marketing affiliate products online” may prove surprisingly profitable.
Basic hosting to start your first Blog.
How to start a blog and getting basic hosting. Do not go for business pro accounts when getting started because you first need to know your way around the WordPress C-Panel. Which is an arsenal of useful editing tools and especially the use of plugins.
Blue Host is the only hosting provider (I know of) that offer a full refund. Which is why I recommend you go with a basic Blue Host hosting account.
When choosing your domain name you may have to play around with the keyword or keywords a little. Because in many cases the domain you choose may already be taken. Just be sure your single target keyword is part of the domain name. Furthermore, your blog domain name must be short, precise and most importantly easy to remember.
After creating your hosting account with Blue Host, you want to install the WordPress site builder. Which is accessible through the WordPress icon on your Blue Host home page or C-Panel. Find it fourth from the top and second from the left under “website” tools.
Just follow the easy steps to access your WordPress C-Panel, and get to know your way around it a little. Remember, read the screen and don’t rush in an attempt to “make money faster”. Because that is not going to happen.
Best plugins for a new Blog.
If you want to have a blog that’s actually going to rank in search engines, then you will need the Yoast SEO Premium plugin for WordPress. And yes, the premium membership will cost you some $80 because there is no such thing as making money for free.
With blogging you are competing with professionals that spend the needed money to get on top and stay there.
For the floating social share button you may have noticed with many professional blogs, you want to use the Digg Digg plugin and follow the simple steps to complete the setup.
And for professionally cloaking affiliate links you will need the Pretty Links Lite plugin which is also accessible on wordpress (dot) org.
Furthermore you want to avoid using banner html code to display affiliate banner offers on your blog. But rather using a plugin called WordPress Insert and paste the banner html code into the plugin.
This way your affiliate banner will display within the blog post or on a certain page.
As with the WordPress C-Panel, you must get to know your way around these tools (plugins) in order for it to work properly. It is not all that difficult, but it is important that you take your time. Do not rush this process.
Enjoy WordPress website design, domain registration, hassle‑free automatic software updates. And secure hosting on servers spread across multiple data centers. Start with modern site design and customize it with your branding, content, and features. All Premium blogs include custom CSS – Source
Also install WP-Super Cache, WP-Spam shield and WP-Auto terms which are all accessible through wordpress (dot) org.
Best Training to start Blogging.
Founded by Lucrezia and Marina Iapichino. Over 15 years of legal expertise to share with new bloggers. From SEO to Legal Pages. Apart from a guide to starting your blog. There are various blogging courses.
Which include Pinterest Course, GDPR Course, GDPR Compliant Blog e-Course, Blogging for New Bloggers Fast Track, Legally Blogs. And many more. This is how to blog profitably.
Where to get Affiliate Products.
How to start a blog and affiliate products display. An affiliate platform I have been working with since 2012 is Clickbank. And they come highly recommended because they pay on time every time.
With over 300,000 digital products in any niche you can think of. And over 100,000 affiliate marketers promoting their products.
When you want to make money through blogging and affiliate marketing. Then it is important that the products you promote offer a money-back guarantee. It makes the buyer feel safe and confident to complete the purpose. All Clickbank products come with a full 60-day money-back guarantee.
Which is exactly the “safety net” your visitor is looking for, from a platform that started back in 1998. And proved themselves both legit and extremely profitable since then.
In order to get the right products to promote on your blog however, it will require product knowledge. And the only way to get that, is to first purchase what you intend to promote. Because you need to be certain that what you offer does in fact meet the claims made.
If you’re looking for an easy, step-by-step guide to learn how to start a blog and make money from it, then you’ve come to the right place. I’ve been blogging for 10+ years and I’m here to show you the most simple way to get started – Source
How to promote affiliate products.
When you start a blog and using affiliate marketing to make money online. You want to avoid using raw banner html code in places like text widgets. But rather use the WP-Insert plugin as mentioned earlier.
Display banner images in the blog side bar by using an image widget, and redirect the image to your affiliate link cloaked inside Pretty Links Lite.
But always be sure that all images, from page images, post featured images and banned images all contain the required “alt attribute”. This is easily added to images from the media tab inside the WordPress C-Panel.
The image alt attribute must also contain the target keyword and search phrases.