The blog lives between an idea and a purchase. It compiles and provides information to help people buy things. When we think about how people consume entertainment online, blogs used to be something that people consumed for entertainment. But it has completely shifted to social media and YouTube. Now blogs are primarily information-driven. They are not about entertainment, but information.
How to start a blog for beginners
First of all, before you start blogging, you need to clearly understand what blogging is and what it is not.
Blogging is:
• A science, not an art.
• To be the arbiter of purchasing decisions.
• Ranking on Google in an evergreen way.
Blogging is not:
• creative writing.
• A hobby.
• A way to update the audience over time.
Step 1: How to set up your blog
Now that you know what blogging is and what it isn’t, it’s time to set up your blog!
There are a few key things you’ll need to get started:
Domain name: This is the address that people will type into their browser to find your blog. It should be something that is memorable and easy to write.
Host Web: Your blog’s files will be stored here. It’s similar to renting online space for your blog.
Blogging Platform: This is the software you will use to create and manage your blog posts. We recommend using WordPress. It’s easy to use and has templates to guide you.
Once your content management system is set up, you’ll need to focus on four main pages.
1. Home
2. About
3. Blog Archive
4. Blog Post
Homepage
The home page is the first thing people will see when they visit your blog, so it’s important to make a good impression. It’s not meant to tell the whole story, but it should provide a high-level view of your site. You should have a hero image that, hopefully, has your face on it, a little information, a sentence or two about what you teach and why you teach. Don’t think too much about your homepage.
About Page
Your About page is where you tell visitors who you are, what you do, and why they should care. We don’t want it to just be like a LinkedIn account that has all your professional stuff or stuff that makes you look good. It’s about being vulnerable. Talk about why you’re teaching what you’re teaching—what your story is, and the journey to that point. The good news is that you can always edit it and make changes to it over time.
Blog Archive
The blog archive page is a way for your readers to easily find all of your blog posts in one place. This can be especially helpful if you have a lot of content or are writing on a variety of topics. You can also use this page to highlight your most popular posts or those most relevant to your readers. Platforms like WordPress make it easy to add, with pre-made layouts for easy visualization.
Blog Post
And finally, we have blog posts. Here you will share your insights, stories and experiences with our readers. Remember to keep your tone conversational and accessible – after all, you’re writing for a real audience, not just for yourself.
Callout
Don’t think too much about this part. All you need is a minimum viable website (MVW). This means you don’t need a lot of bells and whistles, just the basics. You can always add more later!
One last thing to keep in mind is that your blog should be a reflection of you and your personality. So enjoy it! Play with different designs and layouts until you find something that feels right
Step 2: What to write about (i.e. choosing your topic)
Now that you’ve got the technical stuff sorted out, it’s time to think about what you’re actually going to write about. This can be a daunting task, but we’ve got you covered. Here are some top and important questions to help you get started:
• What are you passionate about?
• What do you want to be known for?
• What subject do you have experience in?
• Who is your ideal reader?
Answering these questions will help you focus on a topic or topic to write about. If the sole purpose of your blog is entertainment because you love writing, stop there. But if you want to enjoy what you’re doing and make money doing it, keep reading.
How to choose a specific area to make money
There are two main ways to make money blogging: through advertising and affiliate marketing. Advertising is when a company pays you to promote their product on your blog, usually in the form of banner ads or sponsored posts. Affiliate marketing is when you promote a product on your blog and receive a commission for every sale you generate. For example, let’s say you have a blog about knitting. You can sign up for an affiliate program with a knitting company and receive commission for every product sale they generate. Or, you can work with a local yarn store to promote their products on your blog. The key here is to choose a niche that you’re passionate about, with products that people are ready to buy.
Step 3: How to come up with ideas for a blog post
When starting a blog, one of the most common questions is, “How do I come up with ideas for my blog posts?” In fact, there is no single answer to this question. However, to get you started, here are some important and good ideas:
• Use social media: Social media is a great way to find out what people are talking about and what’s trending. You can use this information to come up with blog post ideas that are timely and relevant.
• Look for gaps in the market: What information is missing that you can provide? This is a great way to establish yourself as an expert in your field.
• Use keyword research: Keyword research can help you identify topics people are searching for. You can use this information to come up with blog post ideas that will appeal to your audience.
411 keyword research
The term keyword research may sound a bit daunting, but it is actually very easy. Simply put, keyword research is the process of finding words and phrases that people are searching for. You can use keyword research to come up with blog post ideas, find out what topics are popular, and even optimize your website for search engines. There are a few different ways to conduct keyword research, but we’ll focus on just one for now. The first step is to think of some topics you want to write about. For this example, let’s say we want to write about knitting. Next, go to Google and type in your topic + the word “keyword”. So in our example, we’ll type “weaving keyword”. This will bring up a list of related and top most keywords. These are the words and phrases people are searching for. Scroll through the list and find something related to your topic. For our example, some relevant keywords might be “knitting patterns,” “knitting for beginners,” and “knitting supplies.” Now take those keywords and turn them into topic ideas.
Step 4: Converting keywords into blog topics
Remember, a good blog topic is one that is relevant to your audience and something you are passionate about. With that in mind, here are some ideas for our knitting example:
• Knitting patterns for beginners
• Best knitting supplies for beginners
• How to knit a scarf for beginners
As a knitting blog, there are two types of posts you should focus on: how-to articles and affiliate articles.
How-to articles: These are articles that teach your audience how to do something. In our example, a how-to article might be “How to Knit a Scarves for Beginners.” These types of articles are popular because they provide value to the reader. They help the reader learn something new or complete a task.
Affiliate articles: These are articles that promote a product. In our example, an affiliate article might be “Best knitting supplies for beginners.” These types of articles are popular because they help the reader make a purchasing decision. Their articles contain affiliate links to specific companies, and when you click on them and buy from them, you may earn a commission.
Keyword Research Tools: There are many various different-different types of keyword research tools available. Some are free, and some require you to pay. Here are some of our favourites:
• Google Keyword Planner: This is a free of cost tool provided by Google. You can use it to find keywords related to your topic.
• Moz Keyword Explorer: This is a paid tool, but they offer a free trial. You can use it to find keywords related to your topic.
• SEMrush: This is a paid tool, but they offer a free trial. You can use it to find keywords, run competitive analysis, and more.
Once you have a few tools in your toolbelt, you’re ready to find topics that aren’t saturated.
Here are some suggestions:
Look for long tail keywords: These are keywords that are specific and usually have low search volume. An example of this might be “best knitting needles for all total beginners.”
Search for questions: People are always searching for answers to their questions. You can use tools like Answer the Public to find popular questions related to your topic.
See what’s new: What products are coming? What trends are going on? You can use Google Trends to see what’s popular and what’s growing. By following these tips, you will be able to find topics that provide value to the reader and for which you can easily rank in Google. And once you publish a few articles, you will start getting traffic to your site.
Step 5: How to Format Your Blog for Best Results
Now that you’ve chosen your topic and done keyword research, it’s time to start writing your blog post. But how do you format it for best results?
Here are some suggestions:
• Use subtitles: This will help break up your content and make it easier to read.
• Use images: People are visual. Adding images to your blog posts will help break up text and make it more visually appealing.
• Use short paragraphs: Again, people are visual. Short paragraphs are easier to read than large blocks of text.
• Use bulleted or numbered lists: These are easy to scan and will help highlight key points in your article.
More Information About Titles
Headings are important for two reasons. First, they help break up your content and make it easier to read. Second, they give you the opportunity to include keywords and improve your SEO. Here’s an example of how you might format a blog post: Heading Hacks: How to Write Headlines That Get Results Subheadings: Why Headlines Are Important The first thing people see when they land on your blog post is the headline. Headline. And if it’s not attractive or attention-grabbing, they’ll move on. Your headline should do two things: it should be interesting, and it should include your target keyword. If you can do both of these things, you’re on your way to writing a headline that will get results.
Now let’s look at how you can write headlines that are interesting and include your target keyword. First, let’s start with a list of words that are considered attention grabbers:
• Mystery
• hacks
• tips
• tricks
• Methods
• Strategies
• Strategies
As you can see, these words are all about giving the reader something they can’t get anywhere else. They are curious and want to know more.
Next, let’s look at how we can incorporate our target keywords into our title. Here are some examples: • The Secret to Writing Headlines That Get Results
• How to write a catchy title every time
• Tips for writing better headlines in less time
• Tricks to write titles that people can’t ignore
• How to write titles that get clicks
• Strategy for writing headlines that get shares
• Tricks for writing headlines that go viral
As you can see, each of these titles includes our target keyword, “writing titles.” But they also give each reader something they can’t get anywhere else. So now let’s put everything together and write a title that includes our target keyword and is also eye-catching: The Secret to Writing Titles That Get Results Every Time.
Step 6: Link Building
When doing keyword research, you may find sites that are ranking on the first page of Google even though they have low Domain Authority (DA).
Callout: Domain Authority is a score that ranges from 0 to 100. This is a measure of how well a website is likely to rank in search engine results.
So how are they doing it? The answer is link building.
Link building is the process of getting links from other websites back to your website. These links serve as votes and signal to Google that your site is popular and relevant. The more links you have, the higher your site will rank. There are many different ways to build links. Here are some of our favorite methods:
• Guest blogging: This is when you write an article for another website in your niche. In return, they will link back to your website.
• Broken Link Building: This is when you find a broken link on another website and you offer them an article from your site in exchange.
• Resource page link building: This is when you find websites that have resource pages with links to articles on your topic. You can then contact the website and ask to join their resource page.
Other words to know for blogging
There is a long list of terms in the blogging vocabulary that you may or may not have heard of before. If you want to create a successful blog, you should know these words first.
Internal link
Internal links are links that go from one page to another on your website. For example, let’s say you have a blog post about starting a blog. You can include a link to another post about choosing a domain name in that blog post. That would be an internal link. Internal links are important for two reasons. First, they help improve your SEO by giving Google a better understanding of your website’s structure. Second, they help keep people on your website longer by giving them more content to read. Here’s an example of how you can use internal links in a blog post: If you’re new to blogging, you may be wondering how to choose a domain name. I wrote a whole post about this, but the short answer is that you should choose a domain name that is relevant to your niche and easy to remember. If you need some help choosing a domain name, I have a great post that will walk you through the process. See how I linked the post about choosing a domain name in the sentence above? This is an internal link. If you don’t know how to add links to your blog posts, most blogging platforms make it easy. For example, in WordPress, you can simply highlight the text you want to link and click the “Link” button.
Anchor Text
Anchor text is the text that people see when they hover over a link. For example, let’s say you’re writing the blog post described above. In that blog post, you want to include a link to another post about choosing a domain name. The anchor text of that link could be “Choose a domain name.” Anchor text is important because it can help improve your SEO. This is because anchor text helps Google understand what the linked page is about.
Nofollow Link
Nofollow links are that types of links that tell Google not to follow them. For example, let’s say you’re writing a blog post and you want to link to another website. But you don’t want Google to count that link as a “vote” for that other website. In that case, you would use a nofollow link. Nofollow links are important because they can help you control your link profile. This is the number and quality of links pointing to your website. If there are a lot of low-quality or spammy links pointing to your website, Google may penalize your website. But if you use nofollow links, you can prevent this from happening.
Step 6: Link Building
When doing keyword research, you may find sites that are ranking on the first page of Google even though they have low Domain Authority (DA).
Callout: Domain Authority is a score that ranges from 0 to 100. This is a measure of how well a website is likely to rank in search engine results.
So how are they doing it? The answer is link building.
Link building is the process of getting links from other websites back to your website. These links serve as votes and signal to Google that your site is popular and relevant. The various types of more links you have, the higher your site will rank. There are many different ways to build various types of links. Here are some of our favorite and best methods:
• Guest blogging: This is when you write an article for another website in your niche. In return, they will link back to your website.
• Broken Link Building: This is when you find a broken link on another website and you offer them an article from your site in exchange.
• Resource page link building: This is when you find websites that have resource pages with links to articles related to your topic. You can then contact the website and ask to join their resource page.
Checklist:
What you need to make money with your blog So ultimately, we have to think about how to make money from a blog, and it depends on many different factors. Mastering your content strategy, keyword research, search intent, and what people want to read. Then there is monetization. How do you join these affiliate programs? How do you make money by selling?
SEO
SEO, or search engine optimization, is the best and top process of optimizing your website for Google search. There are many different factors involved in SEO, but the basic idea is to make sure your website is relevant and easy for Google to find. If you want people to find your website when they search specific keywords, you need to make sure those keywords are included in the tags and titles of your website and your blog posts. You can also use Google AdWords to pay for ads that appear when people search for certain keywords. SEO is important because it can help you drive more traffic to your website. And the more traffic you have, the more opportunities you have to make money from your blog.
Content Strategy
Your content strategy is a plan for what kind of content you will create and how you will publish it. For example, let’s say you want to start a blog about fashion. Your content strategy might include plans to write blog posts about the latest fashion trends, fashion tips from yourself, and interviews with fashion designers. Your content strategy should also include a plan for how often you’ll publish new content. If you want people to keep coming back to your website, you need to give them a reason to do so. One way to do this is to publish new content on a regular basis. Another way is to create evergreen content, which is content that will remain relevant and useful for a long time. For example, a post about how to choose the right jeans for your body type will remain relevant and useful for a long time, even as fashion trends come and go.
Keyword Research
Keyword research is the process of finding the right keywords to target in your blog posts. When you do keyword research, you are essentially trying to find out what people are searching for on Google. You can use keyword research tools like Google AdWords Keyword Planner and Moz Keyword Explorer to find keywords related to your topic. Once you have your list of keywords, you can start writing blog posts targeting those keywords.
Monetization
At present time in whole world monetization is the process of making money from your blog. There are a few different-different types of ways to make money from your blog. One way is to sell products or services through your website. Another way is to place advertisements on your website. You can do this through Google AdSense or by working with ad networks. Another way to make money from your blog is to work with brands as an influencer. This could include writing sponsored posts, working with brands on ambassador programs, or doing product reviews. Finally, you can also make money from your blog by selling e-books or online courses.
Search Intent
Search intent is why someone searches for a particular keyword. For example, someone who searches “buy shoes” probably means to buy shoes. But someone who searches “how to tie a tie” probably wants to learn how to tie a tie. Understanding search intent is important because it can help you write blog posts that are more likely to be found by people who are looking for what you have to offer. For example, if you sell shoes, you might want to write blog posts about “how to buy shoes” or “where to buy shoes” because these are things people interested in purchasing shoes will be searching for. On the other hand, if you write a blog post about “how to tie a tie,” it’s unlikely that people interested in buying shoes will find it. So when you’re doing keyword research, be sure to pay attention to the search intent of the keywords you’re targeting.
Make Money Doing What You Love
If you love writing, blogging is a great way to share your passion with the world, build an audience, and even make some money.
Use this guide to get started, and you’ll be well on your way to becoming a successful (and money-making) blogger.
Read Also:
- The Essential Guide To Blogging
- 20 Blogging Resources To Help You Scale
- Blogging Domain and Hosting
- 5-Stage Blogging Process
- Blogging and Uses of Blogs in Libraries
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