We’ve all heard of it, it sounds great! Blog a little every day and earn money from it while you do it. Don’t give up your day job just yet as there are a few things you will need to accomplish first. So where is it that one should start?
Before you begin to blog and this might sound painstakingly obvious but you need to know what you are going to blog about. Sounds simple enough but this very crucial and often ignored point leaves blogs somewhat empty and very dry in terms of value they will present. Blog about something you love, something you have a passion for. Think of the long term goal of the blog, will you be able to provide reviews on topics related to your blog. Will you be able to give your opinion as your subject evolves in the real world? Do you have expertise that can backup claims and opinions that you have? Think about what you love talking about to friends and family. Have they ever commented that you sound like an expert? If so that’s what you should be blogging about. Don’t just follow the money and pick a market that has the highest advertising budget. After a few posts you will feel drained from all the research you have to do on that topic. It’s a good idea to write three or four articles before you start, make them engaging and read them again a few days later. Did you find what you said interesting or that it would benefit someone. If you want to earn money from blogging, blog straight from the heart!
Once you’ve decided on what you are going to blog about, where do you start to get yourself published on the internet. There are free blogging websites on the internet where you will be able to find a home The most popular platform choices are WordPress and blogger.
WordPress Vs Blogger
Blogger is a free platform. Simply sign up, follow the easy to use control panel and get your first post onto the World Wide Web. Your blog will be found off a sub domain from the main blogger domain (mynewgreatblog.blogger.com). You can of course purchase a domain and point your domain to your sub domain. One of the biggest disadvantages and where a WordPress self hosted solution has its advantage is that you can’t customise too much. You are limited to what you are given. A self hosted WordPress blog can see you adding themes, plug-ins and being able to do pretty much whatever you want. Not all plug-ins are free but if you are buying you will be buying quality. Not saying free WordPress templates are hard to come by, even this website is a free template (see footer for website link for more great templates like this) The downside would be that you would have to pay a monthly subscription to host your website but if you are new to the webmaster world it would be advisable to get a webhost that has cPanel with Fantastico as an added feature. You will then be able to install WordPress with the click of a button and any updates that follow will be in the same manner.
The choice would be up to you and there’s no real winner when it comes to WordPress Vs blogger as both are very successful in their own right. It’s basically down to what your preference is. If you want something basic go with blogger. Want to get your hands a little dirty and have more customisation go for WordPress.
Getting traffic to your blog
Another important point is getting people to read your blog. Start by notifying all your friends and family. If they are interested hopefully they will social bookmark you by becoming a fan of your Facebook page or following you on twitter. Make sure you setup social tools for your blog. That way you can send out Tweets or Facebook notifications every time you add a new blog post. Start by reading other blogs in the same interest as you. Engage in conversation on their blogs and ensure that you put your URL in when you leave a comment. Don’t just say visit my website. Rather add something of benefit as then you will get quality readers and not one time passers-by. You can spend a lifetime trying to chase passers-by just because it looks good on your visitor stats but they won’t leave comments or add any opinion to your site. So in this case go for gold!
Making money from blogging
Ah, the reason you started in the first place! How to make money with your blog? Blogs these days are covered in advertising. From affiliate programs to pay per click programs. I would suggest using both but use them where it counts. If you are doing a review on a certain product and you know can get commission sale for every sale you can generate, definitely add your affiliate link. Google Adsense is one of the best networks for generating cash online. You can embed their code into your article therefore getting more targeted advertising. All you have to do is sign up for an account, wait for them to come and inspect your website and voila, you are earning from your blog! Sounds simple but make sure that your blog doesn’t just look like a big overkilled advertisement. Google will want to know that you really are there to blog about that subject and that you are offering quality. If you love what you are blog about then it will come across like you do.
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