How To Start A Blog: Tips To Make Yours Successful And Profitable | Money

Focus on your niche

If you haven’t chosen a blog topic yet, thinking about your hobbies, passions, and personal experiences is a good starting point.

Pamela Rae-Welsh, creative director at online visibility specialist Worsley Creative, says: “With so much content online, you’ll need to carve out a unique purpose that serves your blog. For example, instead of creating a general cooking and recipe blog, consider a specific niche, like Italian-inspired vegetarian cooking.”

Whatever your topic, also think about what you hope to achieve in order to refine the goal of your blog. For example, that could be to help people, make them laugh, or teach them something.

Choose the name of your blog

Once you have decided on the theme, you need a blog name. Keep in mind that your blog and domain name should be the same, and ideally one that stands out from the crowd.

It might be relevant to your topic, but it doesn’t have to be. Lynn Beattie, personal finance expert and founder of Mrs MummyPenny, says, “You just need to keep it as short and memorable as possible, so it can be a specific word, phrase, or pun.” You can generate some ideas by using the Google Keyword Planner and the Wordtracker Keyword Tool to search for terms you might write about.

Aerial shot of a female blogger typing on laptopThe name of your blog does not have to be relevant to the topic. Photograph: lechatnoir/Getty Images

However, make sure your name is not already in use, so check all web domains and social networks. You can search and buy your domain through different registrars like GoDaddy and 123 Reg. See if you can buy the .com and .co.uk extensions.

Choose your platform

You will also need to choose a blogging platform that you will use to design and write your blog posts and publish online. There are several to choose from, including WordPress, Typepad, Blogger, and Tumblr.

WordPress claims to be the most popular platform in the world and is great for beginners who are looking for a simple site that allows them to create a blog in minutes. There are plenty of YouTube tutorials that can help you set it up. You can then work on customizing your blog.

tumblr social media websiteBlogging platforms include Tumblr, WordPress, Typepad, and Blogger. Photography: NetPhotos/Alamy

design your blog

Choosing your design theme is important because first impressions count. Francesca Henry prefers WordPress for her money-saving blog, Money Fox. She says: “You can buy some beautiful and functional themes from around £50 to £150, and get free plugins that help you do a lot of things, like create a page. stand-alone start”.

A simple theme is usually best, while making your blog as user-friendly as possible, including a call-to-action to let your readers know where they can find you, with links to Twitter and Instagram, for example. . You can also get a professional logo designed to complete your brand or work on one yourself.

Find your audience

See where your readers are. This could be in specific Facebook groups, for example TikTok, Instagram or LinkedIn. Follow blogs on similar topics, start conversations, and tweet their posts.

Georgina Durrant runs the SEN Resource Blog, which is for parents and teachers of children with special educational needs and disabilities. “The blog now has over 30,000 social media followers, but it took a lot of regular and consistent posting on my site, as well as social media posting, and a lot more work than I initially expected to get it done,” he said. she. she says she.

“You don’t get very far just by sharing links. It is about building a community around the blog. My followers increased when I joined and started conversations on social media. My blog readership continued to increase as the community grew.”

youtube logoYou could add a YouTube channel to your blog. Photograph: Eric Piermont/AFP/Getty Images

Add other channels

There will be people who would rather listen or watch than read, so you could add a YouTube channel or podcast to your blog. Marie Brown, a blogger for Beyond the Kitchen Table, which builds websites for small businesses, also has a podcast called Website Coach. She says, “A podcast is a great way to market her blog, and guesting on other people’s podcasts is another option.”

Match the topics of your podcast and blog. “You can use the podcast transcript as the basis for the blog, or like I do, write the blog post and use it as the outline for the podcast episode. I link the blog post in the show notes to the podcast episode,” she says.

keep building your blog

You’ll want to focus on getting your brand out there, producing content, and sharing your expertise before earning any potential profit. Networking to build backlinks will also ultimately help you monetize your blog.

Rae-Welsh says, “Google is looking for unique, relevant, and trustworthy content to rank for in search engines—the more quality, relevant content you add, the more traffic you’ll get, giving you more opportunities to monetize.”

There are free tools like Google Search Console or Google Analytics that will help you create content that will be seen by search engines. “But it is worth investing in learning SEO [search engine optimisation] properly if you want your blog to be a success,” adds Rae-Welsh.

make a profit

There are several ways to earn money with your blog. For example, businesses that are relevant to their blog topic may want to purchase space and advertise their services using a box or banner. You may also consider reaching out to a particular brand to collaborate and produce a specific campaign around a topic you are passionate about.

You will need to make sure to make it clear that the post is sponsored

You can also earn money from sponsored links, where advertisers pay bloggers to post a post that links to their website. But you’ll need to make sure you make it clear that the post is sponsored.

Alternatively, there is affiliate marketing, where links are placed in your posts or on your page that direct readers to a website that sells something. You will earn a commission for any sale. You can find companies looking to place affiliate links on sites like Tradedoubler and Amazon Associates.

Beattie adds: “There are many other ways a blogger can earn money, including writing for brands, selling products, public speaking and advertising on social media. The key is to get a well-diversified income stream.”

Source: news.google.com